, now that she was left under his
sole protection, seemed inclined to treat her with even more liberality than his
mother had done. He had seen her grow up under his eye, and therefore, though
there were but six years difference in their ages, he felt a kind of paternal
interest in her welfare. Habit had rendered her in a manner necessary to him,
and in every recess from the occupations of the field and the pleasures of the
table, he found himself solitary and forlorn without the society of miss
Melvile. Nearness of kindred and Emily's want of personal beauty prevented him
from ever looking on her with the eyes of desire. Her accomplishments were
chiefly of the customary and superficial kind, dancing and music. Her skill in
the first led him sometimes to indulge her with a vacant corner in his carriage
when he went to the neighbouring assembly; and, in whatever light he might
himself think proper to regard her, he would have imagined his chambermaid,
introduced by him, entitled to an undoubted place in the most splendid circle.
Her musical talents were frequently employed for his amusement. She had the
honour occasionally of playing him to sleep after the fatigues of the chase;
and, as he had some relish for harmonious sounds, she was frequently able to
soothe him by their means from the perturbations of which his gloomy disposition
was so eminently a slave. Upon the whole she might be considered as in some sort
his favourite. She was the mediator to whom his tenants and domestics, when they
had incurred his displeasure, were accustomed to apply; the privileged companion
that could approach this lion with impunity in the midst of his roarings. She
spoke to him without fear; his solicitations were always good natured and
disinterested; and, when he repulsed her, he disarmed himself of half his
terrors, and was contented to smile at her presumption.
    Such had been for some years the situation of miss Melvile. Its
precariousness had been beguiled by the uncommon forbearance with which she was
treated by her savage protector. But his disposition, always brutal, had
acquired a gradual accession of ferocity since the settlement of Mr. Falkland in
his neighbourhood. He now frequently forgot the gentleness with which he had
been accustomed to treat his good natured cousin. Her little playful arts were
not always successful in softening his rage; and he would sometimes turn upon
her blandishments with an impatient sternness that made her tremble. The
careless ease of her disposition however soon effaced these impressions, and she
fell without variation into her old habits.
    A circumstance occurred about this time which gave peculiar strength to the
acrimony of