I suspect, on whose
good wishes you may rely. If we cannot shape your destiny, there is no
such thing as witchcraft. No, Endymion, marriage is a mighty instrument
in your hands. It must not be lightly used. Come in and lunch; my lord
is at home, and I know he wants to see you."

CHAPTER LVIII

What was most remarkable, and most interesting, in the character of
Berengaria was her energy. She had the power of exciting others to
action in a degree rarely possessed. She had always some considerable
object in contemplation, occasionally more than one, and never foresaw
difficulties. Her character was, however, singularly feminine; she never
affected to be a superior woman. She never reasoned, did not read much,
though her literary taste was fine and fastidious. Though she required
constant admiration and consequently encouraged it, she was not a
heartless coquette. Her sensibility was too quick, and as the reign of
her favourites was sometimes brief, she was looked upon as capricious.
The truth is, what seemed whimsical in her affections was occasioned
by the subtlety of her taste, which was not always satisfied by the
increased experience of intimacy. Whenever she made a friend not
unworthy of her, she was constant and entirely devoted.

At present, Berengaria had two great objects; one was to sustain the
Whig government in its troubles, and the other was to accomplish an
unprecedented feat in modern manners, and that was no less than to hold
a tournament, a real tournament, in the autumn, at the famous castle of
her lord in the North of England.

The lord-lieutenant had not been in his county for two years; he had
even omitted to celebrate Christmas at his castle, which had shocked
everybody, for its revelry was looked upon almost as the tenure by which
the Montforts held their estates. His plea of ill health, industriously
circulated by all his agents, obtained neither sympathy nor credence.
His county was rather a weak point with Lord Montfort, for though he
could not bear his home, he was fond of power, and power depended on his
territorial influence. The representation of his county by his
family, and authority in the local parliamentary boroughs, were the
compensations held out to him for the abolition of his normal seats. His
wife dexterously availed herself of this state of affairs to obtain
his assent to her great project, which, it would appear, might not only
amuse him, but, in its unprecedented magnific