MARGARET CAPEL.
VOL. I.
MARGARET CAPEL.
A NOVEL.
By the Author of "The Clandestine Marriage," &c.
"One of the best kind of fashionable novels, not only free from thevulgar impertinences of the 'silver-fork school,' but has the tone ofgood society, and better still, a vein of pure and healthful sentiment.The grave incidents of the story are treated with good taste and genuinepathos, but enlivened by very amusing scenes, in which the ridiculousand vicious peculiarities of character, so often met with in real life,are cleverly hit off with a pencil which emulates the witty drollery ofcaricature without its coarseness."—Spectator.
"A very superior work. Without the coarseness of Mrs. Trollope'swritings, it has all her vigour and rapidity of narrative, with touchesof ideal grace and beauty, and a perception of the elevating impulses ofthe heart to which that lady seems utterly a stranger. It might almostbe called a dramatic novel, for the characters and story are developedin a series of animated conversations which are sustained withremarkable power, distinctness, and variety. The descriptive portions ofthe work are written with much elegance."—John Bull.
MARGARET CAPEL.
A NOVEL.
BY THE AUTHOR OF
"THE CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE."
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
1846.
LONDON:
Printed by Schulze and Co., 13, Poland Street.
MARGARET CAPEL.
CHAPTER I.
[Pg 1]And he had ever on his lip some word of mockery.
MAISTRE WACE.
Therefore whenever that thou dost behold
A comely corse with beauty fair endewed,
Know this for certain, that the same doth hold
A beauteous soul, with fair conditions thewed;
Fit to receive the seed of vertue strewed,
For all that fair is, is by nature good;
That is a sign to know the gentle blood.
SPENSER.
"Left guardian to her, are you?" said Mr. Casement, looking with anexpression of much satisfaction at his friend Mr. Grey.
"I told you so three months ago," [Pg 2]returned Mr. Grey, in a tone of voicethat betrayed his vexation.
"I have been very busy for these three months, and forgot all about it,"said Mr. Casement.
"I thought you never were busy, Casement," remarked Mr. Grey.
"One of your mistakes," returned Mr. Casement, as if Mr. Grey's mistakeswere a synonyme for the dullest of all possible blunders. "Why, you seemto have the luck of it; you are always being made guardian, or executor,or what not."
"I know I am," said Mr. Grey, looking more and more cold, and vexed, andpeevish; and rubbing his knee with great perseverance, as he drew closerto the fire; "but never before to a