The Courtship of Mrs Elton:
Part V

"I told you," Mrs. Partridge announced to Augusta with satisfaction, "that I would get you married before you was any older; and here you are with two very particular beaux. You need only pick and choose, Miss Hawkins, pick and choose."

"I am very far from knowing what you mean, Mrs Partridge," Augusta answered. "I have had no offers since coming to Bath, although at Maple Grove there are several gentlemen who would be very glad for me to accept any one of their hands; only I am nice in my taste, and not to be so easily suited. To pick a partner in marriage, you know, is not the same as choosing a gown or a ribband, that you can send back again."

Mrs. Partridge and her guest were seated in her drawing room on a sleety February afternoon. No visitors could be expected in such weather; though Mrs. Jeffereys had come to sit with her mother, and the Miss Milmans had struggled through the wet and cold.

"I do hope it will clear before evening," said Miss Milman anxiously, "otherwise we will have a nasty walk in the cold and the dark, to Mrs. Brown's party. It is a great shame we have no carriage of our own."

"Why, Philly, there is always room for you in our carriage, you know very well," said Mrs. Partridge comfortably, "sure we can carry four, since Clara will go in her own. I should think Mr. Cooper would wish to drive his bride-elect, but howsoever, if he does not, you can come with us. And you need not go back to your rooms to dress, you are both fine enough for Mrs. Brown's, as you are; and I can lend you some feathers if you want to rig up a turban or some such fal-lal."

The invitation for the carriage, thus angled for, was accepted, an arrangment that had been made and carried out too often for more words to be wasted upon it. Mr. Cooper would not be going to the party; he had a sore throat, Miss Susan was at some pains to explain. She had begged him to remain at home; and she believed that she had enough influence with him, that it would be so.

"I knew we would be going to Mrs. Brown's tonight, that is why I wore my silk velvet," said Miss Milman, "and I brought the green feathers in my basket. They are not spoiled by the wet at all. Not that it matters what I wear; the gentlemen have no eye for me as they do for Miss Hawkins. Why, at one time, do you know, I suspected that Mr. Bird was positively in love with you."

"He is indeed, and you, Philly, are quite out in the cold," agreed Miss Susan, not without some satisfaction. "Why, he is writing poems to Miss Hawkins! Is it not so, Augusta? And every body knows that a poem is as good as a proposal."

"Well, if that is so, then we are both engaged to him," said Philadelphia with a toss of her head, "for he has written a poem to me too. An acrostic upon my name. I dare swear it is very clever, for it is much longer than yours, Miss Hawkins. He must have spent much more time on it."

"Naturally, as your name is longer, the poem would be longer," said Augusta with some irritation, "but I told him to do it, so am not surprised he made the attempt."

"And I have learnt it by heart. I can say the sweet words for ever. I shall never tire of them. Could you, yourself, if such were written to you?"

And she repeated them:

"Perchance your heart, the heart I see
Holds a charming place for me?
I dearly pray that I may find
Love is what you have in mind.
A little love; as by the stream
Dreaming will give way to dream:
Even as the waters flow,
Life slides by, as we all know.
Perchance the remedy for dying,
Happiness never yet expiring,
Is Love: the song that I am sighing.
And so, my loveliest, sweetest maid,

My angel, where my heart is laid,
I implore you, oh, indeed I do,
Love me, sweet, as I love you.
My heart, my hand, my wealth, my name
Are all your own, for you to claim.
Now tell me: is your heart my gain?"

There was a silence when she had finished. "It does sound like a proposal," said Mrs. Partridge doubtfully, "but then why does he not follow it up by stating his terms? We have not seen him these three days."

"How can you think that any lines so sacred, could be any thing but a proposal?" said Miss Milman, with some anger.

"Heavens, that is not a proposal, it is a *Valentine* poem, that is all," observed Mrs. Jeffereys. "Is this not the middle of February? A poem at such a time does not mean any thing. Mr. Jeffereys did not propose to me in a poem, I can tell you. He proposed to me in the flesh and told me at once what my clothing allowance would be. It is much better to know than not."

"Is it not possible that he grew carried away with his compliments, as your name is so long?" asked Augusta.

"La! Miss Hawkins, I do believe you are jealous. Mr. Bird would not call my sister an angel, and sweet, and all that, if he did not love her and it was not a proposal. You are only jealous because she will be married before you, and live at that fine house in Kent."

"As to that, Mr. Bird has no fine house; the house in Kent is his brother's, and his income is so very small that he will not be able to afford to marry for many years, if ever. However, you are welcome to him," said Augusta composedly.

Miss Milman subsided in mortification and the ladies sat in what would have been an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, had they not had the diversion of slapping at Mrs. Partridge's two kittens, which had become miserably entwined in Mrs. Jeffereys' tatting.

"Oh! my lace, it will be spoilt. Mama, I told you to get rid of Euphemia, she is the most insolent cat I have ever seen, without comparison."

"My dear, insolent! It is only her claws, which will get into the tatting if you trail it upon the floor like that. It is positively dangerous. Take care! you will be scratched. Well, I declare, you are being quite cruel to poor Euphemia."

What began to resemble a quarrel between mother, daughter and cats was interrupted by the sound of a carriage that was heard in the street, pulling up before the house.

"Good heaven! somebody coming here! A gentleman, too - why, it is Mr. Elton, I do believe. In this rain! No wonder he has hired a carriage. But what is he about? Clara - Miss Milman, Miss Susan, you had better come upstairs with me. We can sort out the feathers there. I am sure, Miss Milman, that Mr. Bird will like you better in a white feather: you will never win a proposal in green. Come along, come along. Take Euphemia with you, and all the tatting, that's right - Miss Susan, just pick up Sophronia, will you. We must clear the way for the two of them to be alone," she finished, in a whisper. "Oh, yes, very necessary. I am sure he has come particularly on that errand."

Despite Mrs. Partridge's good intentions, Mr. Elton was announced and in the room before the ladies could make their escape. Mrs. Partridge received him with effusive welcomes, and asked if they would have the honour of seeing him at the party at Mrs. Brown's.

"Yes, indeed - to be sure - I had intended to be there. But to say the truth, I called this afternoon on an errand related to this evening. I wonder, in short, Miss Hawkins, if you would do me the favor of reserving for me the first two dances?"

Augusta assented graciously, and Mrs. Partridge made her move. "That is so very gallant of you, Mr. Elton, to come out in all this rain to ask such a question! I hope you will forgive me, therefore, if I am so rude as to - I was just on my way upstairs, to show the Miss Milmans something very particular. Will you excuse me? Will you excuse us all? I am quite ashamed - but Miss Hawkins can entertain you, to be sure."

She tweaked Miss Milman's arm, and grasped Miss Susan by the hand, so that they had no choice but to gather up kittens and fancywork and follow their hostess out of the room. Mrs. Jeffereys, with a resigned air, glided after the other ladies.

Left alone, Augusta found herself blushing. "Mrs. Partridge is very agreeable," she said, "but not always a model of the best breeding. I hope you will excuse her."

"Excuse her? I am grateful to her - I will thank her for ever, if the result of this visit is what I have long hoped," exclaimed Mr. Elton, seizing her hand. He thereupon proceeded to present to her nothing less than a very earnest proposal of marriage, to which she listened with as receptive a delight as Mr. Elton himself could wish.

If our lovers were in fact a venial pair, marrying only in a spirit of self-seeking, how much worse were they than half the world? It was such a perfect case of like marrying like, that the most elevated love between two pure souls could be no more perfectly matched. With a strong mutual wish for matrimony, and for each finding a partner who could bring benefits to the other, and a determination and resolve to be bettering themselves, Mr. Elton and Miss Hawkins stood a great chance of finding as lasting a happiness as exists in this mutable world.

In as short a time as could possibly be, the matter was happily settled between them, and when Mrs. Partridge and the other ladies came back down stairs, their arms full of feathers, after a judicious quarter of an hour's absence, they had nothing to do but to set the frippery aside and give Mr. Elton and Miss Hawkins very voluble congratulations.

Mr. Elton and Miss Hawkins danced together for the first time as an engaged couple, that night, at the party at Mrs. Brown's.

*Yes, I am sure no one exchanged Valentine's poems at that date. Give me a break. You will find sufficient anachronisms here to satisfy you without that. And you ought to be very gentle to anyone insane enough to produce for you an acrostic on the name of Philadelphia Milman.