LADY SUSAN
Jane Austen
PART 1
Editor’s
Note
This
is the very barest list of Dramatis
Personae. I have provided very
little background, because the main thing about an epistolary novel (one
consisting entirely of letters) is that the Reader gradually builds up their
own view about the people, what they are like, what they are doing, and why
they are doing it, and there is no authorial voice telling us what to think.
Lady
Susan Vernon
Lady Susan is recently widowed and has been
left in a financially precarious state after the death of her first husband.
Frederica
Vernon
Daughter of Lady Susan.
Catherine
Vernon (nee de Courcy)
Sister-in-law to Lady Susan (wife of Charles
Vernon). Charles Vernon
Brother-in-law to Lady Susan (brother of her late husband).
Reginald
De Courcy
Brother of Mrs. Vernon. Lady De Courcy
Confidante and mother of Mrs. Vernon.
Alicia
Johnson
Lady Susan’s confidante.
LADY SUSAN
I
LADY
SUSAN VERNON TO MR. VERNON
Langford,
Dec.
MY
DEAR BROTHER,—I can no longer refuse myself the pleasure of profiting by your
kind invitation when we last parted of spending some weeks with you at Churchill,
and, therefore, if quite convenient to you and Mrs. Vernon to receive me at
present, I shall hope within a few days to be introduced to a sister whom I
have so long desired to be acquainted with. My kind friends here are most
affectionately urgent with me to prolong my stay, but their hospitable and
cheerful dispositions lead them too much into society for my present situation
and state of mind; and I impatiently look forward to the hour when I shall be
admitted into your delightful retirement.
I
long to be made known to your dear little children, in whose hearts I shall be
very eager to secure an interest I shall soon have need for all my fortitude,
as I am on the point of separation from my own daughter. The long illness of
her dear father prevented my paying her that attention which duty and affection
equally dictated, and I have too much reason to fear that the governess to
whose care I consigned her was unequal to the charge. I have therefore resolved
on placing her at one of the best private schools in town, where I shall have
an opportunity of leaving her myself in my way to you. I am determined, you
see, not to be denied admittance at Churchill. It would indeed give me most
painful sensations to know that it were not in your power to receive me.
Your
most obliged and affectionate sister,
II
LADY
SUSAN VERNON TO MRS. JOHNSON
Langford.
You
were mistaken, my dear Alicia, in supposing me fixed at this place for the rest
of the winter: it grieves me to say how greatly you were mistaken, for I have
seldom spent three months more agreeably than those which have just flown away.
At present, nothing goes smoothly; the females of the family are united against
me. You foretold how it would be when I first came to Langford, and Mainwaring
is so uncommonly pleasing that I was not without apprehensions for myself. I
remember saying to myself, as I drove to the house, "I like this man, pray
Heaven no harm come of it!" But I was determined to be discreet, to bear
in mind my being only four months a widow, and to be as quiet as possible: and
I have been so, my dear creature; I have admitted no one's attentions but
Mainwaring's. I have avoided all general flirtation whatever; I have
distinguished no creature besides, of all the numbers resorting hither, except
Sir James Martin, on whom I bestowed a little notice, in order to detach him
from Miss Mainwaring; but, if the world could know my motive THERE they would
honour me. I have been called an unkind mother, but it was the sacred impulse
of maternal affection, it was the advantage of my daughter that led me on; and
if that daughter were not the greatest simpleton on earth, I might have been
rewarded for my exertions as I ought.
Sir
James did make proposals to me for Frederica; but Frederica, who was born to be
the torment of my life, chose to set herself so violently against the match
that I thought it better to lay aside the scheme for the present. I have more
than once repented that I did not marry him myself; and were he but one degree
less contemptibly weak I certainly should: but I must own myself rather
romantic in that respect, and that riches only will not satisfy me. The event
of all this is very provoking: Sir James is gone, Maria highly incensed, and
Mrs. Mainwaring insupportably jealous; so jealous, in short, and so enraged
against me, that, in the fury of her temper, I should not be surprized at her
appealing to her guardian, if she had the liberty of addressing him: but there
your husband stands my friend; and the kindest, most amiable action of his life
was his throwing her off for ever on her marriage. Keep up his resentment,
therefore, I charge you. We are now in a sad state; no house was ever more
altered; the whole party are at war, and Mainwaring scarcely dares speak to me.
It is time for me to be gone; I have therefore determined on leaving them, and
shall spend, I hope, a comfortable day with you in town within this week. If I
am as little in favour with Mr. Johnson as ever, you must come to me at 10
Wigmore street; but I hope this may not be the case, for as Mr. Johnson, with
all his faults, is a man to whom that great word "respectable" is
always given, and I am known to be so intimate with his wife, his slighting me
has an awkward look.
I
take London in my way to that insupportable spot, a country village; for I am
really going to Churchill. Forgive me, my dear friend, it is my last resource.
Were there another place in England open to me I would prefer it. Charles
Vernon is my aversion; and I am afraid of his wife. At Churchill, however, I
must remain till I have something better in view. My young lady accompanies me
to town, where I shall deposit her under the care of Miss Summers, in Wigmore
street, till she becomes a little more reasonable. She will made good
connections there, as the girls are all of the best families. The price is
immense, and much beyond what I can ever attempt to pay.
Adieu,
I will send you a line as soon as I arrive in town.
Yours
ever,
III
MRS.
VERNON TO LADY DE COURCY
Churchill.
My
dear Mother,—I am very sorry to tell you that it will not be in our power to
keep our promise of spending our Christmas with you; and we are prevented that
happiness by a circumstance which is not likely to make us any amends. Lady
Susan, in a letter to her brother-in-law, has declared her intention of
visiting us almost immediately; and as such a visit is in all probability
merely an affair of convenience, it is impossible to conjecture its length. I
was by no means prepared for such an event, nor can I now account for her
ladyship's conduct; Langford appeared so exactly the place for her in every
respect, as well from the elegant and expensive style of living there, as from
her particular attachment to Mr. Mainwaring, that I was very far from expecting
so speedy a distinction, though I always imagined from her increasing
friendship for us since her husband's death that we should, at some future
period, be obliged to receive her. Mr. Vernon, I think, was a great deal too
kind to her when he was in Staffordshire; her behaviour to him, independent of
her general character, has been so inexcusably artful and ungenerous since our
marriage was first in agitation that no one less amiable and mild than himself
could have overlooked it all; and though, as his brother's widow, and in narrow
circumstances, it was proper to render her pecuniary assistance, I cannot help
thinking his pressing invitation to her to visit us at Churchill perfectly
unnecessary. Disposed, however, as he always is to think the best of everyone,
her display of grief, and professions of regret, and general resolutions of
prudence, were sufficient to soften his heart and make him really confide in
her sincerity; but, as for myself, I am still unconvinced, and plausibly as her
ladyship has now written, I cannot make up my mind till I better understand her
real meaning in coming to us. You may guess, therefore, my dear madam, with
what feelings I look forward to her arrival. She will have occasion for all
those attractive powers for which she is celebrated to gain any share of my
regard; and I shall certainly endeavour to guard myself against their
influence, if not accompanied by something more substantial. She expresses a
most eager desire of being acquainted with me, and makes very gracious mention
of my children but I am not quite weak enough to suppose a woman who has
behaved with inattention, if not with unkindness, to her own child, should be
attached to any of mine. Miss Vernon is to be placed at a school in London
before her mother comes to us which I am glad of, for her sake and my own. It
must be to her advantage to be separated from her mother, and a girl of sixteen
who has received so wretched an education, could not be a very desirable
companion here. Reginald has long wished, I know, to see the captivating Lady
Susan, and we shall depend on his joining our party soon. I am glad to hear
that my father continues so well; and am, with best love, &c.,
IV
MR.
DE COURCY TO MRS. VERNON
Parklands.
My
dear Sister,—I congratulate you and Mr. Vernon on being about to receive into
your family the most accomplished coquette in England. As a very distinguished
flirt I have always been taught to consider her, but it has lately fallen in my
way to hear some particulars of her conduct at Langford: which prove that she
does not confine herself to that sort of honest flirtation which satisfies most
people, but aspires to the more delicious gratification of making a whole
family miserable. By her behaviour to Mr. Mainwaring she gave jealousy and
wretchedness to his wife, and by her attentions to a young man previously
attached to Mr. Mainwaring's sister deprived an amiable girl of her lover.
I
learnt all this from Mr. Smith, now in this neighbourhood (I have dined with
him, at Hurst and Wilford), who is just come from Langford where he was a
fortnight with her ladyship, and who is therefore well qualified to make the
communication.
What
a woman she must be! I long to see her, and shall certainly accept your kind
invitation, that I may form some idea of those bewitching powers which can do
so much—engaging at the same time, and in the same house, the affections of two
men, who were neither of them at liberty to bestow them—and all this without
the charm of youth! I am glad to find Miss Vernon does not accompany her mother
to Churchill, as she has not even manners to recommend her; and, according to
Mr. Smith's account, is equally dull and proud. Where pride and stupidity unite
there can be no dissimulation worthy notice, and Miss Vernon shall be consigned
to unrelenting contempt; but by all that I can gather Lady Susan possesses a
degree of captivating deceit which it must be pleasing to witness and detect. I
shall be with you very soon, and am ever,
Your
affectionate brother,
To be continued
