"I'm sorry for it; for if they were hers, to punish her for _shirking_ me, by the Lord, I'd have every rag she has in the world out in the middle of the floor in ten minutes! You don't know me--I'm a terrible person when provoked--stop at nothing!"
As Mrs. Freke saw no other chance left of gaining her point with Belinda, she tried what intimidating her would do.
"I stop at nothing," repeated she, fixing her eyes upon Miss Portman, to fascinate her by terror. "Friend or foe! peace or war! Take your choice. Come to the ball at Harrowgate, I win my bet, and I'm your sworn friend. Stay away, I lose my bet, and am your sworn enemy."
"It is not in my power, madam," said Belinda, calmly, "to comply with your request."
"Then you'll take the consequences," cried Mrs. Freke. She rushed past her, hurried down stairs, and called out, "Bid my blockhead bring my unicorn."
She, her unicorn, and her blockhead, were out of sight in a few minutes.
Good may be drawn from evil. Mrs. Freke's conversation, though at the time it confounded Belinda, roused her, upon reflection, to examine by her reason the habits and principles which guided her conduct. She had a general feeling that they were right and necessary; but now, with the assistance of Lady Anne and Mr. Percival, she established in her own understanding the exact boundaries between right and wrong upon many subjects. She felt a species of satisfaction and security, from seeing the demonstration of those axioms of morality, in which she had previously acquiesced. Reasoning gradually became as agreeable to her as wit; nor was her taste for wit diminished, it was only refined by this process. She now compared and judged of the value of the different species of this brilliant talent.
Mrs. Freke's wit, thought she, is like a noisy squib, the momentary terror of passengers; Lady Delacour's like an elegant firework, which we crowd to see, and cannot forbear to applaud; but Lady Anne Percival's wit is like the refulgent moon, we
"Love the mild rays, and bless the useful light."
"Miss Portman," said Mr. Percival, "are not you afraid of making an enemy of Mrs. Freke, by declining her invitation to Harrowgate?"
"I think her friendship more to be dreaded than her enmity," replied Belinda.