Ellis now breathed hard. 'Alas!' she cried, 'justice, reason, common sense, all seem against me! If, therefore, Lady Aurora approve this scheme,--my fears and my feelings must yield to such a tide!'
Again, painfully, she paused; and then, sighing bitterly, added, 'Tell Miss Arbe, Sir,--acquaint Lady Kendover,--let Lady Aurora be informed,--that I submit to their opinions, and accept, upon their own terms, their benevolent assistance.'
He held out his hand to her, now, with exulting approbation; but she seemed overwhelmed with grief, apprehension, and regret.
He looked at her with surprise. 'Why now, my dear,' he said, tenderly, 'what's the matter with you? Now that you are going to do all that is right, you must be happy.'
'What is right, alas!--for me, at least,' she cried, 'I know not!--I should not else be thus perplexed.--But I act in the dark!--The measure in which I acquiesce, I may for ever repent,--yet I know not how, else, to extricate myself from difficulties the most alarming, and remonstrances--if not menaces--the most shocking!'
Heavily she sighed; yet, definitively, she agreed, that, since, unhappily, the debts were incurred, and her want of credit made immediate payment necessary, she could not, herself, in combining the whole of her intricate situation, find any plan more eligible than that of performing at this subscription-concert.
This resolution once made known, not an instant was allowed to retract, or even to deliberate: to let it reach Miss Arbe was to put it into execution. That lady appeared now in her chosen element. She suggested all that was to be attempted; she directed all that was to be done. A committee of ladies was formed, nominally for consultation, but, in fact, only for applause; since whoever ventured to start the smallest objection to an idea of Miss Arbe's, was overpowered with conceited insinuations of the incompetency of her judgment for deciding upon such matters; or, if any one, yet bolder, presumed to hint at some new arrangement, Miss Arbe looked either sick or angry, and declared that she could not possibly continue to offer her poor advice, if it were eternally to be contested. This annihilated rather than subdued interference; for the whole party was of opinion, that nothing less than utter ruin to the project could ensue from her defection.