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Chapter 29
DRIVING INTO HAILSHAM in Lady Denham`s carriage, Charlotte felt anxious and uneasy as she contemplated her approaching meeting with Miss Elizabeth Brereton. The two hours of her journey,had been occupied solely with her own concerns; but now she thrust these resolutely aside and began considering the explanations she would soon be called upon to make, and hoping Clara`s reliance on her cousin`s sympathetic response would be quite justified. The stormier explanations, another two hours hence, to an intolerant, suspicious -- perhaps even unreasonable -- Lady Denham would lose some of their terror if her new accomplice did indeed possess those virtues of calmness, common sense and resource with which Charlotte had already endowed her. The sight of Clara`s letter to Lady Denham lying beside her on the seat of the coach conjured up visions of the same letter being opened on their return to Sanditon -- the exclamations, accusations and scenes of anger which might follow! Would she be required to take the lead in this drama or would Miss Elizabeth Brereton agree to handle it all? And what would the Parkers say when they realised the part their guest had played that morning in straining their relations with their most important neighbour? Charlotte s courage was still high and her belief in the necessiey for such measures still unshaken; but she was beginning to dread the consequences of her own complicity as the time for closer involvement drew nearer. She was, therefore, considerably relieved to discover, from Saunders` enquiries at the coaching-inn, that the London mail was not expected for nearly an hour; and she had leisure to stroll about the outskirts of the town, to walk to recover her spirits and order her thoughts, before hurrying into this important first encounter with an entire stranger. Clara`s letter now being discovered as too large for either reticule or pocket, Charlotte left it in the temporary charge of Saunders; and with the illogical feeling that she was shelving a heavy responsibility, walked briskly out of the inn yard and along several tidy streets which led her almost into the countryside. A signpost pointing south east to Willingden was a comforting sight: she remembered her own family and reflected that, whatever the unpleasantness -- how many distressing scenes -- she might have to face in Sanditon in the next few days, her return home was already determined. On Thursday, she would be here in Hailsham once again, the family coach to meet her, at least some of her brothers and sisters to greet her; and within three hours, they would have conveyed her safe back to her own dear world. For the first time since leaving home, Charlotte felt a longing to return. The novelty of Sanditon, the kindness of the Parkers, her pleasure in their society -- all now seemed to count for nothing; and as she walked along the road that would soon be taking her there, Charlotte almost wished she could anticipate the intervening days and the warm security of her family`s welcome -- all the blessings of stability and those peaceful, unchangmg rural values which formed the accepted pattern of existence in Willingden. So intent was she on her own thoughts that the sound of a carriage behind her scarcely broke through her reverie. Even when the rhythm changed from a trot to a walk and ceased as the carriage drew alongside her, Charlotte did not trouble to glance round. And she was considerably startled to hear a low laugh behind her and a masculine voice declaiming melodramatically, "You have walked away from me once too often, my fair charmer. But this time you will not find me so complaisant. This time -- " Charlotte spun round in astonishment to find herself confronting Sir Edward Denham in his gig. A bewildered look of complete stupefaction, which replaced the sardonic and impassioned expression Sir Edward had been trying to assume, immediately made it plain to her that her pelisse, her bonnet and her presence in Hailsham had led him to mistake her identity from behind; and his immediate exclamation -- "Good God! But where is Miss Brereton?" though ludicrously inadequate in accounting for the very great difference in their height, colouring and mode of dress proved this conjecture beyond all doubt. Charlotte was so fascinated by Sir Edward`s range of facial contortions that she found it almost impossible to reply for a few moments to either of his very singular outbursts. lt was clear to her he must have planned such an assignation in Hailsham without Clara Brereton`s knowledge and that, in his usual absurd style of gallantry, his intentions towards Clara at this meeting were as muddled as ever. Deciding her best course was to behave as conventionally as possible, she mastered a very strong inclination to laugh and said coolly, "Good morning, Sir Edward. I had not the least expectation of seeing you in Hailsham. What business has brought you here?` "Where is Miss Brereton?" Sir Edward only repeated through clenched teeth. "I do not at all know," said Charlotte with perfect truth. "I have not seen Miss Brereton since this morning when she asked me to take her place in meeting her cousin at Hailsham today." "You are lying," cried Sir Edward, almost beside himself with rage. "I have just been speaking to Saunders and he told me Miss Brereton had walked out of the inn yard scarcely ten minutes ago in this direction -- "Then I am afraid you were mistaken," Charlotte replied pleasantly, "Are you sure you did not use some such phrase as "your young mistress" or "your passenger" which Saunders could have misunderstood as relating to me? There is no need for this confusion, I assure you, Sir Edward. I am very willing to accompany you back to the inn where Saunders may clear the matter up within a few seconds." Another facial contortion as Sir Edward`s mind ran swiftly over his brief conversation with Saunders told Charlotte her guess was correct and he was now acknowledging his own mistake to himself. Dropping the reins so suddenly that his horse shied and kicked, covering his face with both hands, groaning, cursing and venting his temper, Sir Edward presented a most distasteful spectacle to Charlotte`s critical eye. She did not even pity him. His own conceit and his own preposterous conduct had led him into this ridiculous adventure -- where he had betrayed his intentions by his first remarkably foolish utterance and now in a most inglorious fit of temper -- and she felt no desire at all to make his recovery any easier for him. She realised, however, that it would be better to overlook the implications of the incident and to pretend Sir Edward`s violation of all social canons to this lavish extent was not quite so obvious to an outsider. He stood revealed to her as a very shallow character pretending to be a romantic hero, but she did her best to treat him as a common acquaintance. "Come, Sir Edward. Let us drive back into Hailsham and find Saunders. I believe it is almost time I was turning back in any case to meet the mail coach." As he made no reply but continued only to groan and lament in the most incoherent manner, Charlotte climbed sensibly on to the vacant seat beside him, picked up the reins and began to turn the gig back towards the town. "Too late! You are too late," cried Sir Edward with an almost hysterical laugh. "It is done -- the die is cast. Inevitable ruin stares me in the face. Nothing is left now but to lose myself in a vortex of dissipation." "Whao" said Charlotte, considerably taken aback. "What die is caso" "Saunders! He is on the road back to Sanditon. With four horses. We cannot hope to catch him up with one. I was three hours in driving here yesterday, rested my horse overnight and planned -- how, oh! how can my schemes be thus tragically overthrown?" Though Charlotte had been trying to ignore these schemes of his and remain on terms of civility with him, her sense of proportion was now strained to its limits. She halted the gig astride the road. "On what pretext and whose orders did you send Saunders back to Sanditon?" she enquired coldly. For once, Sir Edward seemed capable of a more intelligible reply. "I told him his services were no longer required; that I had learned Miss Elizabeth Brereton would not be arriving on the mail coach, and I would drive his passenger back to Sanditon myself. But I gave him a letter to deliver to Lady Denham on arrival which explained everything -- I cannot now halt it. I cannot intercept it. All, all is now undone. You see before you, Miss Heywood, a doomed man!" In the midst of her vexation with Sir Edward, Charlotte could still summon up some amusement at the thought of the two discordant letters, addressed to Lady Denham, which Saunders was now carrying back to Sanditon. Sir Edward`s account of the day`s events at such cross purposes to Clara Brereton`s! She bit back the retort that, if doomed he was, then it was his own idiotic fault, and said calmly, "Sir Edward, I can no longer pretend that I do not understand you. Am I to take it you have written a letter to Lady Denham announcing your intention of eloping with Miss Brereton today?" "Five pages," nodded Sir Edward. "Throwing myself on her mercy, begging her to forgive us both, proudly and finally declaring my unbounded passion -- driven by sublimities of such intense feeling that I was at last ready to dare all and hazard all -- even her displeasure -- in the unlimited ardour of this overruling fire in my breast. To what suffering, to what depths of depravity has it led me!" Charlotte was perfectly convinced that Sir Edward was quite incapable of either truth or suffering. And if he had not brains enough in his head to realise that Clara Brereton would never have consented to such an elopement, and that a one-horse gig was a completely unsuitable vehicle for carrying it through, then he thoroughly deserved his present ruin. She sighed. He did not really merit her compassion but she hoped he could be talked into some semblance of reason by kindly treatment. Why, he was a child -- not a very nice child -- and his faults were bragging, childish pinpricks without any real power to inflict hurt on anybody. He was a man of straw, but she felt she should do her best with this very poor material available and try to make Sir Edward behave sensibly. `I do not think you have yet considered your present situation quite rationally, Sir Edward," she said with admirable patience. "I am sure we shall be able to retrieve your letter -- or even perhaps pass it off as a joke. Now, is it indeed true Miss Elizabeth Brereton is not arriving on the mail coach?" "How should I know thao" cried Sir Edward with such a burst of irritation as dismayed her of making him listen to her with any lucidity. "I suppose she is arriving. But her presence in Sanditon is quite unacceptable to me. I have left her a letter too -- at the coaching-inn -- that will send her straight back to London where she belongs. I told her nobody would be meeting her from Sanditon -- she was not wanted there, neither by her cousin, nor Lady Denham nor anybody else." "And why should you have done thao "Why should I noo I planned this day`s adventure very thoroughly, let me tell you. Down to the very last detail -- disposing of one cousin at the same time as I gained the other -- " "Yes, yes," agreed Charlotte. I can see you planned it very well indeed. But your plans have gone wrong now. Can you not realise we must now think of some alternative? Sir Edward -- please listen to me carefully for a moment." It had occurred to her that the revelation of Clara`s long-standing attachment to Henry Brudenall and her elopement with him that very day might have a salutary and sobering effect on Sir Edward and bring him under reasonable control. "I believe I should perhaps tell you that your chances of success were a great deal less than you imagined. When I told you some minutes ago I did not know where Miss Brereton was, it was only true in a literal sense. I do, in fact, know that she is somewhere on the road between Brighton and Hull. She did indeed leave Sanditon today, but in quite a different direction. She will not be returning -- she is already on her way to India. She has eloped with her cousin, Henry Brudenall, to whom she has been sincerely attached since childhood." She spoke very slowly and very distinctly as to a backward child; and he seemed to be listening with a solemn concentration which gave some hope that her words were having the moderating effect she intended. "I am very sorry to tell you there was never any hope of your gaining Miss Brereton`s affections. She would never have eloped with you." "Eloped?" cried Sir Edward, suddenly infuriated. "Who talked of elopements? I wrote in my letter to Lady Denham that we were eloping -- but I never considered that for one moment. Mine was to be an abduction, not an elopement," he shouted, as though proud of this superior boast. "Clara Brereton spurned my noble passion, my generous emotion -- she paralysed my heart with her indifference. This day was to have been her ruin and not mine!" Charlotte almost gasped at the effrontery and the violence of this loud bragging. Sir Edward was sunk indeed. He was cheap and impudent and so puffed up by vanity that it had injured what little intelligence he had ever possessed. She still believed him manageable by adult understanding, still thought she had only to find and press the right spring and Sir Edward would respond; but she counted without his present unusual excess of rage. Beneath his glossy and handsome surface, Sir Edward was a petty tyrant, to whom rational conduct meant nothing whatsoever when he found his will crossed. He seized the reins from her hands, and whipping and backing his poor horse, set it at a gallop along the Willingden road. "What do you think you are doing now?" cried Charlotte in alarm as the gig lurched and bumped, forcing her to clutch at the seat for support. For a moment she believed the horse had bolted with them; but although she was not over-impressed by Sir Edward`s reckless style of driving, she soon realised he had his horse under control. On his whipping it even further, she recognised that he was only trying to frighten her. And this had the odd effect of calming her instead. "Thwarted of one fair charmer, why should I not take another? ` shouted Sir Edward with a savage laugh. Glancing up at his profile on the first occasion their erratic progress would allow her, Charlotte saw that his features were again becoming set in that sardonic and impassioned expression he had been doing his best to assume at the outset of this very peculiar encounter. Charlotte was by now very angry, much more angry than alarmed. Sir Edward`s last action -- this wild and theatrical charge into the countryside -- released her from any remaining obligations of civility towards him. And she spoke quite as sharply as she felt. "Sir Edward, rein your horse this instant and set me down. I have had quite enough of this nonsense." For answer, he gave another of his hollow, seductive laughs and tried to look more dangerous than ever. "Rein my horse indeed! You are now my captive, my hostage, and there is no chance of escape. Have you not yet realised it is you who is now being abducted?" "In a gig?" cried Charlotte scornfully. But sarcasm was too subtle a weapon to have any effect on her companion. When he had cooled off and abated some of his fury in a headlong dash down the road, she could not fail to believe some shreds of sanity would return to him. She had scarcely needed this present, rather dramatic illustration to be convinced that Sir Edward was a mountain of conceit and selfishness. But she wondered why -- without violently caring, or even pretending to care, for her -- he had chosen to abduct her. She imagined he must have talked himself into some semblance of real passion for Clara Brereton. But it made little sense that he should set out on this particular morning to abduct one young lady and then, quite illogically, seize another instead. From various spiteful and fatuous sentences which he threw over his shoulder from time to time, she could only conclude that the muddled state of his mind only equalled his extremely bad temper; and if this were the case, she decided he was not a companion she could endure for many miles longer. As the direction they were travelling could eventually take them to almost any channel port, her first rapid conjecture was that Sir Edward had planned to abduct Clara Brereton to France. But a very few seconds sufficed to make her decide that even Sir Edward could never have hoped to accomplish such a protracted and complicated journey with a reluctant companion. He had, moreover, taken the trouble to drive his one horse from Sanditon to Hailsham the day before, and it would seem unlikely .that he was planning to cover more than a similar distance today. It required very few more seconds for her to hit upon their most probable destination, as the memory of little snatches of conversation overheard in the tea room came into her mind. "A friend of mine has a little hunting lodge he wants to convert into a cottage orne." "My friend Atwell has gone to Switzerland for the summer and left me his keys." "Willingden Abbots." "Somewhere due east of Hailsham, I believe." How typical of Sir Edward`s careful planning, Charlotte reflected, to be now intent on abducting a young lady to within a few miles of her own home! But having reached this very comfortable conclusion, she found the few remaining inconveniences of this abduction (for Charlotte had never regarded them as terrors) vanished completely; and she was left only with a strong curiosity to observe in what manner Sir Edward would at last be brought to his senses. She was forced to admit she had not yet found any successful method of handling this conceited, stupid braggart herself. His behaviour was quite outrageous; but expostulation and wrath would not help her. And although she remained in a high state of indignation, she was not at all frightened to be careering across the country on a summer day in an open gig. She had no intention of either jumping out or of shouting at Sir Edward; and she would have thought it unpardonable weakness to begin crying, even as a means of gaining her own way. Common sense told her that, however much Sir Edward might whip up his one fairly staid horse in an effort to appear villainous, sooner or later he would be forced to reduce its present pace to a point where conversation would again become possible. So she merely sat, clutching at the seat till the horse dropped into a canter. Some of his ill humour being dissipated in enjoyment of the unusual burst of speed he had extracted from his gig, Sir Edward was in a slightly better frame of mind. Though not yet sufficiently discriminating to think matters out clearly, he was at least cheerful enough to essay one of his quotations, declaimed with typical inaccuracy and equal perversity of interpretation. "Assuaging your alarm, my fair one, must now become my chief aim. Those lines of the poet will be my guide to our future brief life of adventure together -- When lovely woman stoops to folly And finds too late that men betray What charms shall soothe her melancholy What arts will wash her tears away? Delicious! Delicious! Dryden has stated my case with such unrivalled, immortal sublimity that I can accept him as my guide and mentor." "Goldsmith," Charlotte contradicted bluntly. Sir Edward, she felt, no longer merited even the compliment of politeness from herself. And although she believed judicious flattery might have been a very good method to adopt -- probably an excellent device in pulling the marionette strings by which Sir Edward might be expected to behave -- scorn was a technique which held more appeal for her at the moment. "And your quotation in this case is even more inaccurate and inappropriate than usual, Sir Edward," she pursued, surprising herself by the waspishness of her own spite. " "What charm can soothe` and "what art can wash` is the correct version. And to what tears do you refer? No doubt it has entirely escaped your attention that I have none; and I am scarcely the one who has stooped to folly either!" Sir Edward was not clever enough to employ a sarcastic tongue in return. He merely shouted veiled threats, lost his temper again for several more miles and cut viciously at his flagging horse with the selfish tantrum of a spoilt child. Charlotte now perceived a very great resemblance between himself and his sister and, under the new license of freedom she had granted to herself, said so. This provoked another outburst, which Charlotte met with the greatest indifference, discovering she much preferred dealing with Sir Edward in a temper than when he was effusively amiable. He could be obnoxiously polished in compliment, but his innate manners were shocking indeed; and she found it quite a relief to have him revealed in his true character. As they covered mile after mile, and the pace of the gig slowed as the afternoon wore on, she said a great many more things, which she hoped Sir Edward might remember when he finally came to his senses. The landscape was becoming more and more familiar to her; and as she gained in confidence, she began lecturing him on his folly, pointing out the consequences he could expect from the course of action he had embarked on so histrionically and with so little forethought. Indeed, at several points on their journey Charlotte was almost ashamed of her own lack of charity towards him; but she consoled herself with the reflection that forbearance would scarcely restore the moral strength Sir Edward lacked. He still replied occasionally with some confused and impassioned outbursts; but she could see her policy of withering scorn was at last having some effect; and that he was already heartily regretting having selected her for his companion in this adventure. "You will find yourself very isolated at Denham Park on your return to Sanditon, Sir Edward," she observed. "Had you considered thao Or is it yet another of the drawbacks you have overlooked? I fear you will be quite an otttcast when the story of today`s events becomes known. Your abduction of their guest is most unlikely to improve your relations with the Parker`s." "What care I for the Parkers?" cried Sir Edward with one of his sweeping gestures of disdain. "But even if I worried about their opinion, it is you they will condemn. Naturally, they will believe you came with me willingly. I am Sir Edward Denham and my word will be listened to in Sanditon before yours." "Very true," agreed Charlotte. "We are always in a far better position to uphold our respectability on our own home ground," smiling at the familiar landmarks they were now passing on both sides of the road. Both Sir Edward and his horse were showing definite signs of fatigue by this time; and as the gig began climbing a long hill, the tired horse slowed his walking pace even further. Charlotte could have descended from it with ease at almost any point over the last few miles. But she saw no reason to start walking sooner than necessary. Any part of the present slope would be convenient for her but she decided she might as well wait till they were farther up the crest of the hill. She was also determined to avoid any undignified scuffling and recrimination; so she watched the figures of two yeomen-labourers advancing through the slanting rays of the setting sun downhill towards them. She chose her moment very carefully: the figures were almost abreast of the gig when she sprang nimbly down into the road. "Good evening, Thomas. I hope the children have recovered from their whooping cough, John?" The weary horse had stopped involuntarily, adding a final corroborating touch of normality to this seemingly prosaic homecoming. Sir Edward stared down from the gig, too stupefied to interfere. Even to his weak understanding, it was clear that Miss Heywood, pleasantly greeting two stalwart farm labourers, was a personage of some note in this district. He heard cheerful words passing between them; he even heard words addressed to himself; but they were directed, he knew, to this audience -- an audience who had known Miss Heywood of Willingden all their lives, but to whom he was a complete stranger. "I thank you for your kindness, sir," Charlotte was saying, turning back to the gig and regarding Sir Edward calmly. "It was extremely kind of you to come so far out of your way on my account. But I need not trouble you any further. It is only a step for me from here. I will be home in a very few minutes now. I wish you good evening." Nodding a final smile at her audience and dropping him a very slight curtsy, Charlotte turned on her heel; and without one backward glance, either of triumph or trepidation, she walked off across the fields.
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