The period at which Lord Glenfallen had arranged to visit Ashtown House was now fast approaching,and it became my mother's wish to form me thoroughly to her will,and to obtain my consent to the proposed marriage before his arrival,so that all things might proceed smoothly,without apparent opposition or objection upon my part.Whatever objections,therefore,I had entertained were to be subdued;whatever disposition to resistance I had exhibited or had been supposed to feel,were to be completely eradicated before he made his appearance;and my mother addressed herself to the task with a decision and energy against which even the barriers,which her imagination had created,could hardly have stood.
If she had,however,expected any determined opposition from me,she was agree-ably disappointed.My heart was perfectly free,and all my feelings of liking and preference were in favour of Lord Glenfallen;and I well knew that in case Irefused to dispose of myself as I was desired,my mother had alike the power and the will to render my existence as utterly miserable as even the most ill-assorted marriage could possibly have done.
You will remember,my good friend,that I was very young and very completely under the control of my parents,both of whom,my mother particularly,were unscrupulously determined in matters of this kind,and willing,when voluntary obedience on the part of those within their power was withheld,to compel a forced acquiescence by an unsparing use of all the engines of the most stern and rigorous domestic discipline.
All these combined,not unnaturally,induced me to resolve upon yielding at once,and without useless opposition,to what appeared almost to be my fate.
The appointed time was come,and my now accepted suitor arrived;he was in high spirits,and,if possible,more entertaining than ever.
I was not,however,quite in the mood to enjoy his sprightliness;but whatever I wanted in gaiety was amply made up in the triumphant and gracious good-humour of my mother,whose smiles of benevolence and exultation were showered around as bountifully as the summer sunshine.
I will not weary you with unnecessary prolixity.Let it suffice to say,that I was married to Lord Glenfallen with all the attendant pomp and circumstance of wealth,rank,and grandeur.According to the usage of the times,now humanely reformed,the ceremony was made,until long past midnight,the season of wild,uproarious,and promiscuous feasting and revelry.
Of all this I have a painfully vivid recollection,and particularly of the little annoyances inflicted upon me by the dull and coarse jokes of the wits and wags who abound in all such places,and upon all such occasions.
I was not sorry when,after a few days,Lord Glenfallen's carriage appeared at the door to convey us both from Ashtown;for any change would have been a relief from the irksomeness of ceremonial and formality which the visits received in honour of my newly-acquired titles hourly entailed upon me.
It was arranged that we were to proceed to Cahergillagh,one of the Glenfallen estates,lying,however,in a southern county,so that,owing to the difficulty of the roads at the time,a tedious journey of three days intervened.
I set forth with my noble companion,followed by the regrets of some,and by the envy of many;though God knows Ilittle deserved the latter.The three days of travel were now almost spent,when,passing the brow of a wild heathy hill,the domain of Cahergillagh opened suddenly upon our view.
It formed a striking and a beautiful scene.
A lake of considerable extent stretching away towards the west,and reflecting from its broad,smooth waters,the rich glow of the setting sun,was overhung by steep hills,covered by a rich mantle of velvet sward,broken here and there by the grey front of some old rock,and exhibiting on their shelving sides,their slopes and hollows,every variety of light and shade;a thick wood of dwarf oak,birch,and hazel skirted these hills,and clothed the shores of the lake,running out in rich luxuriance upon every promontory,and spreading upward considerably upon the side of the hills.
'There lies the enchanted castle,'said Lord Glenfallen,pointing towards a considerable level space intervening between two of the picturesque hills,which rose dimly around the lake.
This little plain was chiefly occupied by the same low,wild wood which covered the other parts of the domain;but towards the centre a mass of taller and statelier forest trees stood darkly grouped together,and among them stood an ancient square tower,with many buildings of a humbler character,forming together the manor-house,or,as it was more usually called,the Court of Cahergillagh.
As we approached the level upon which the mansion stood,the winding road gave us many glimpses of the time-worn castle and its surrounding buildings;and seen as it was through the long vistas of the fine old trees,and with the rich glow of evening upon it,I have seldom beheld an object more picturesquely striking.
I was glad to perceive,too,that here and there the blue curling smoke ascended from stacks of chimneys now hidden by the rich,dark ivy which,in a great measure,covered the building.Other indications of comfort made themselves manifest as we approached;and indeed,though the place was evidently one of considerable antiquity,it had nothing whatever of the gloom of decay about it.