Alice, or the Mysteries — Complete

								

for getting up an impromptu dance or a gypsy dinner,--enlivening the
neighbourhood, in short. Caroline was the eldest; then came a son,
attached to a foreign ministry, and another, who, though only nineteen,
was a private secretary to one of our Indian satraps. The acquaintance
of these young gentlemen, thus engaged, it was therefore Evelyn's
misfortune to lose the advantage of cultivating,--a loss which both Mr.
and Mrs. Merton assured her was very much to be regretted. But to make
up to her for such a privation there were two lovely little girls, one
ten, and the other seven years old, who fell in love with Evelyn at
first sight. Caroline was one of the beauties of the county, clever
and conversable, "drew young men," and set the fashion to young
ladies, especially when she returned from spending the season with Lady
Elizabeth.
It was a delightful family!
In person, Mr. Merton was of the middle height; fair, and inclined to
stoutness, with small features, beautiful teeth, and great suavity of
address. Mindful still of the time when he had been "about town," he
was very particular in his dress: his black coat, neatly relieved in the
evening by a white underwaistcoat, and a shirt-front admirably plaited,
with plain studs of dark enamel, his well-cut trousers, and elaborately
polished shoes--he was good-humouredly vain of his feet and hands--won
for him the common praise of the dandies (who occasionally honoured him
with a visit to shoot his game, and flirt with his daughter), "That old
Merton was a most gentlemanlike fellow--so d-----d neat for a parson!"
Such, mentally, morally, and physically, was the Rev. Charles Merton,
rector of Merton, brother of Sir John, and possessor of an income that,
what with his rich living, his wife's fortune, and his own, which was
not inconsiderable, amounted to between four and five thousand pounds a
year, which income, managed with judgment as well as liberality, could
not fail to secure to him all the good things of this world,--the
respect of his friends amongst the rest. Caroline was right when she
told Evelyn that her papa was very different from a mere country parson.
Now this gentleman could not fail to see all the claims that Evelyn
might fairly advance upon the esteem, nay, the veneration of himself and
family: a young beauty, with a fortune of about a quarter of a million,
was a phenomenon that might fairly be called celestial. Her pretensions
were enhanced by her engagement to Lord Vargrave,--an engagement which
might be broken; so that, as he interpreted it, the worst that could
happen to the young lady was to marry an able and rising Minister of
State,--a peer of the realm; but she was perfectly free to marry a still
greater man, if she could find him; and who knows but what perhaps the
attache, if he could get leave of absence? Mr. Merton was too sensible
to pursue that thought further for the present.
The good man was greatly shocked at the too familiar manner in which