In the former case the gentle beauty was loud and pertinacious;
in the latter, terrified to the extreme, and clamorous in her
complaints; in both, perfectly regardless of the means she employed to
promote her purposes, or insure her safety.
Sedley had long discovered a guarded circumspection in his father's
conduct, which, as it exceeded prudence, must be called timidity. His
perplexed look and restless manner spoke a soul ill at ease with itself,
and more suspicious of persons, and the motives of their actions, than
was consistent with fortitude and integrity. From the period of his
assuming the title of Bellingham, Sedley could date a gradual increase
of domestic misery. Even in his childhood he had been obliged to
interfere in the disputes of his parents, each complaining to him of the
faults of the other, and of their own injuries. The Earl ever spake of
the sacrifices he had made to oblige his wife; the Countess, of the
title, fortune, and importance she had bestowed on her husband. Many
circumstances led him to fear that mutual guilt was the only bond which
kept them from separation, as they often hinted in their quarrels that
they were equally in each other's power for some punishable offences;
and once, in an ungovernable transport of rage, Lady Bellingham bade her
trembling Lord "remember her brother.
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