If, therefore, Markham had need of management and direction, that he might take his leave of Clara without betraying any undue emotion, so had the young lady also as great need to exercise a commanding discretion on her part. But in this matter the lady was not so well prepared as the gentleman; for the latter was somewhat aware of the state of his own mind, but the former knew not aright the nature of the interest she felt in the company of her kind and intelligent friend. Markham had told Mr. Martindale of the day fixed for his departure, and the old gentleman insisted that he should spend his last day in their company.
It is very remarkable, but not less true than strange, that though Mr. Martindale had cautioned the young gentleman against losing his heart when he saw Clara in old Richard Smith’s cottage, and regarded her merely as a country girl, yet it never occurred to the old gentleman, now the real circumstances of the young lady were known, and Markham was in the daily habit of seeing and conversing with her, that there was any danger of an attachment springing up between them. Mr. Martindale, if he thought at all upon the subject, thought that all Markham’s visits and attentions were to himself, and for his sake; and he was pleased with the young gentleman for devoting so much of his time to the party. Signora Rivolta, however, thought and saw otherwise. It was clear to her observing eye and her discerning mind, that Markham’s visits, if not attracted by Clara, were at least rendered agreeable by her company. It was also very obvious to her that the barrister’s visits were agreeable to Clara, and that an attachment to the young gentleman had been gradually and insensibly forming in her heart. It might be supposed that the faith in which Signora Rivolta had been educated, would have influenced and determined her to oppose every obstacle in her power to the growth of such an attachment; but the truth is, that she had understanding enough to discern that the dangers and difficulties of opposition were as great and as serious as the danger threatened by this young attachment: for she knew that such had ever been the imaginative and ardent complexion of Clara’s mind, that if love should ever take possession of her heart, it would have a strong hold there, beyond the power of ordinary arguments and every-day principles to expel. She was not quite satisfied, for she had never had an opportunity of ascertaining how deeply the principles of her religion were infixed in her mind, nor could she conjecture what power these principles might have over her affections. She thought it safer, therefore, to avoid bringing these principles into danger by any premature experiment of their strength. There was also to be added to these considerations another thought; it was possible that Markham might be brought over to the true faith; and it may also be remarked that Signora Rivolta herself was not so very decided, as some persons of her faith are supposed to be, in the conviction that there could be no salvation out of the pale of that church to which she belonged. That there could be many virtues out of the pale of that church, she had learned from the amiable and excellent character of her maternal uncle, poor old Richard Smith; and that a religion which she had been taught to esteem heretical, could afford a calm and placid support in the hour of death, had been also manifested by her uncle’s dying-bed. These considerations rendered Signora Rivolta less decidedly hostile to the supposed intentions of Markham than otherwise she might have been.