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to doubt either her father or so affectionate and dear to her and to think of her love for each of them by turns with fear distrust and wonder yet now began to do so and the doing of it was a task imposed upon her by the very purity of her soul as one she could not fly from she saw her father cold and to as to her hard could it be she asked herself with starting tears that her own dear mother had been made unhappy by such treatment and had away and died then she would think how proud and stately was to every one but her with what disdain she treated him how she kept apart from him and what she had said on the night when she came home and quickly it would come on almost as a crime that she loved one who was set in and son to her father and that her father knowing of it must think of her in his solitary room as the unnatural child who added this wrong to the old fault so much wept for of never having won his from her the next kind word from the next kind glance would shake these thoughts again and make them seem like black ingratitude for who but she had cheered the drooping heart of so lonely and so hurt and been its best of thus with her gentle nature yearning to them both feeling for the misery of both and whispering doubts of her own duty to both in her wider and expanded love and by the side of endured more than when she had up her secret in the mournful house and her beautiful mamma had never dawned upon it one exquisite that would have far this was spared she never had the least suspicion that by her tenderness for her the separation from her father or gave him new cause of dislike if had conceived the possibility of such an effect being wrought by such a cause what grief she would have felt what sacrifice she would have tried to make poor loving girl how fast and sure her quiet passage might have been beneath it to the presence of that higher father who does not reject his children s love or their tried and broken hearts heaven knows but it was otherwise and that was well no word was ever spoken between and now on these subjects had said there ought to be between them in that wise a division and a silence like the grave itself and felt that she was right in this state of affairs her father was brought home suffering and and gloomily retired to his own rooms where he was tended by servants not approached by and had no friend or companion but mr who withdrew near midnight and nice company he is miss said oh he s a precious piece of goods if ever he wants a character don t let him come to me whatever he does that s a l i tell him vol ij i and sou dear urged don t oh it s very well to say don t miss returned tlie much exasperated but begging your pardon we re a coming to such passes that it turns all the blood in a person s body into pins and needles with their all ways don t mistake me miss i don t mean nothing again your ma in law who has always treated me as a lady should though she is rather high i must say not that i have any right to object to that particular but when we come to mrs and having them put over us and keeping guard at your pa s door like only make us thankful that they lay no eggs we are a growing too outrageous papa thinks well of mrs returned and has a right to choose his housekeeper you know pray don t well miss returned the when you say don t i never do i hope but mrs acts like early upon me miss and nothing less was unusually emphatic and destitute of in her discourse on this night which was the night of mr s being brought home because having been sent down stairs by to inquire after him she had been obliged to deliver her message to her mortal enemy mrs who without carrying it in to mr had taken upon herself to return what miss called a answer on her own responsibility this into presumption on the part of that sufferer by the mines and a deed of upon her young lady that was not to be forgiven and so far her emphatic state was special but she had been in a condition of greatly increased suspicion and distrust ever since the marriage for like most persons of her quality of mind who form a strong and sincere attachment to one in the different station which occupied was very jealous and jealousy naturally attached to who divided her old empire and came between them proud and glad as truly was that her young mistress should be advanced towards her proper place in the scene of her old neglect and that she should have her father s handsome wife for her com and son aiid she could not any part of her own dominion to the handsome wife without a grudge and a vague feeling of ill will for which she did not fail to find a disinterested justification in her sharp perception of the pride and passion of the lady s character from the background to which she had necessarily retired somewhat since the marriage miss looked on therefore at domestic affairs in general with a resolute conviction that no good would come of mrs always being very careful to publish on all possible occasions that she had nothing to say against her said who was sitting thoughtfully at
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looked so would he so she his weeping child who should say when so all the world of love and hatred and indifference around them when that time should come it would not be the heavier to him for this that she was going to do and it might fall something lighter upon her she stole close to the bed and drawing in her breath bent down and kissed him on the face and laid her own for one brief moment by its side and put the arm with which she dared not touch him round about him on the pillow awake doomed man while she is near the time is flitting by the hour is coming with an angry tread its foot is in the house awake in her mind she prayed to god to bless her father and to soften and son him towards her if it might be so and if not to forgive him if he was wrong and pardon her the prayer which almost seemed and doing so and looking back at him with blinded eyes and stealing timidly away passed out of his room and crossed the other and was gone he may sleep on now he may sleep on while he may but let him look for that slight figure when he wakes and find it near him when the hour is come sad and was the heart of as she crept up stairs the quiet house had grown more dismal since she came down the sleep she had been looking on in the dead of night had the solemnity to her of death and life in one the and silence of her own proceeding made the night secret silent and oppressive she felt unwilling almost unable to go on to her own chamber and turning into the drawing rooms where the clouded moon was shining through the blinds looked out into the empty streets the wind was blowing the lamps looked pale and shook as if they were cold there was a distant glimmer of something that was not quite darkness rather than of light in the sky and night was shivering and restless as the dying are who make a troubled end remembered how as a by a sick bed she had noted this bleak time and felt its influence as if in some hidden natural to it and now it was very very gloomy her mamma had not come to her room that night which was one cause of her having sat late out of her bed in her general uneasiness no less than in her ardent longing to have somebody to speak to and to break this spell of gloom and silence directed her steps towards the chamber where she slept the door was not fastened within and yielded smoothly to her hesitating hand she was surprised to find a bright light burning still more surprised on looking in to see that her mamma but partially was sitting near the ashes of the fire which had and dropped away her eyes were intently bent upon the air and in their light and in her face and in ner form and in the grasp with which she held the elbows of her ey and son as if about to start up saw such fierce that it terrified her mamma t she cried what is the matter i started looking at her with such a strange dread in her face that was more frightened than before mamma said hurriedly dear mamma what is the matter l i have not been well said shaking and still looking at her in the same strange way i have had bad dreams my love and not yet been to bed mamma no she returned half waking dreams her features gradually softened and suffering to come close to her within her embrace she said in a tender manner but what does my bird do here f what does my bird do here i have been uneasy mamma in not seeing you to night and m not knowing how papa was and i stopped there and said no more is it late asked fondly putting back the curls that mingled with her own dark hair and strayed upon her face very late near day near day she repented in surprise dear mamma what have you done to your hand said drew it suddenly away and for a looked at her with the same strange dread there was a sort of wild in it as before but she presently said nothing nothing a blow and then she said my and then her bosom heaved and she was weeping passionately mamma i said oh mamma what can i do what should i do to make us happier i is there an nothing she replied are you sure of that can it never be if i speak now of what is in my thoughts in spite of what we have agreed said you will not blame me will you it la useless she replied useless i have told yon and son that i hare had bad dreams nothing can change them or pre rent their coming back l do not understand said gazing oa her agitated face which seemed to as she looked i have dreamed said in a low voice of a pride that is all powerless for good all powerful for evil of a pride that has been and through many shameful years and has never except itself a pride that has its owner with the consciousness of deep humiliation and never helped its owner boldly to resent it or avoid it or to say this shall not be a pride that rightly guided might have led perhaps to better things but which and like all else belonging to the same possessor has been self contempt mere and ruin she neither looked nor spoke to now but went on aa if she were alone i have dreamed
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she said of such and arising from this self contempt this wretched miserable pride that it has gone on with steps even to the altar yielding to the old familiar finger oh mother oh mother while it it and willing to be hateful to itself for once and for all rather than to be stung daily in some new form mean poor thing and now with gathering and darkening emotion she looked as she had looked when entered and i have dreamed she said that in a first late to achieve a purpose it has been trodden on and trodden down by a base foot but turns and looks upon him i have dreamed that it is wounded hunted set upon by dogs but that it stands at bay and will not yield no that it cannot if it would but that it is urged on to hate him rise against him and defy him her clenched hand on the trembling arm she had in hers and as she looked down on the alarmed and wondering face her own subsided oh she said i think i have been nearly mad to night and her proud head upon her neck and wept again don t leave me be near me i have no hope but in you these words she said a score of times and son soon she grew calmer and was full of pity for the tears of and for her waking at such hours and the day now dawning folded her in her arms and laid her down upon her bed and not lying down herself sat by her and bade her try to sleep for you are weary dearest and unhappy and should rest i am indeed unhappy dear mamma to night said but you are weary and unhappy too not when you lie asleep so near me sweet they kissed each other and worn out gradually fell into a gentle slumber but as her eyes closed on the face beside her it was so sad to think upon the face down stairs that her hand drew closer to for some comfort yet even in the act it faltered lest it should be him so in her sleep she tried to reconcile the two together and to show them that she loved them both but could not do it and her waking grief was part of her dreams sitting by looked down at the dark lying wet od the flushed cheeks and looked with gentleness and pity for she knew the truth but no sleep hung upon her own eyes as the day came on she still sat watching and waking with the placid hand in hers and sometimes whispered as she looked at the hushed face be near me i have no hope but in you vol it and son chapter a separation with the day though not so early as the sun miss there was a in this young maiden s exceedingly sharp black eyes that somewhat of their sparkling and suggested which was not their usual character the possibility of their being sometimes shut there was likewise a swollen look about them as if they had been crying but the so far from being cast down was singularly brisk and bold and all her energies appeared to be up for some great feat this was noticeable even in her dress which was much more tight and trim than usual and in occasional of her head as she went about the house which were expressive of determination in a word she had formed a determination and an one it being nothing less than this to penetrate to mr s presence and have speech of that gentleman alone i have often said i would she remarked in a threatening manner to herself morning with many of her head and now i herself on to the accomplishment of this desperate design with a that was peculiar to herself haunted the hall and staircase during the whole without finding a favorable opportunity for the assault not at all baffled by this discomfiture which indeed had a effect and put her on her she diminished nothing of her vigilance and at last discovered towards evening that her sworn foe mrs under pretence of having sat up all night was in her own room and that mr was lying on his sofa and son with a not of her head merely this time but of her whole the went on to mr s door and knocked come in said mr encouraged herself with a final and went in mr who was the fire gave an look at his visitor and raised himself a little on his arm the dropped a what do you want said mr if you please sir i wish to speak to you said mr moved his lips as if he were repeating the words but he seemed so lost in astonishment at the presumption of the young woman as to be incapable of giving them i have been in your service sir said with her usual rapidity now twelve year a on miss my own young lady who couldn t speak plain when i first come here and i was old in this house when mrs was new i may not be but i am not a child in arms mr raised upon his arm and looking at her no comment on this preparatory statement of facts there never was a dearer or a young lady than is my young lady sir said and i ought to know a great deal better than some for i have seen her in her grief and i have seen her in her joy there s not been much of it and i have seen her with her brother and i have seen her in her loneliness and some have never seen her and i say to some and i do and here the black
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eyed shook her head and slightly stamped her foot that she s the and dearest angel is miss that ever drew the breath of life the that i was torn to pieces sir the more i d say it though i may not be a fox s martyr mr turned ot paler than his fall had made him with indignation and astonishment and kept his eyes upon tha speaker as if he accused them and his ears too of playing him false no one be anything but true and faithful to miss sir pursued and i take no merit for my service of twelve year for i love her yes i say to some and all i do here the black eyed shook her head again and slightly and son stamped her foot again and checked a sob but true and faith all service gives me a right to speak i hope and speak i must and will now right or wrong what do you mean woman said mr glaring at her how do you dare what i mean sir is to speak respectful and without but out and how i dare i know not but i do said oh you don t know my young lady sir ou don t indeed you d never know so little of her if you did mr in a fury put his hand out for the bell rope but there was no bell rope on that side of the fire and he could not rise and cross to the other without assistance the quick eye of the detected his helplessness immediately and now as she afterwards observed she felt she had got him miss said is the most devoted and most and most dutiful and beautiful of daughters there an t no no sir though as great and rich as all the greatest and richest of england put together but might be proud of her and would and ought if he knew her value right he d rather lose his greatness and his fortune piece by piece and beg his way in rags from door to door i say to some and all he would cried bursting into tears than bring the sorrow on her tender heart that i have seen it suffer in this house woman cried mr leave the room begging your pardon not even if i am to leave the situation sir replied the steadfast in which i have been so many years and seen so much although i hope you d never have the heart to send me from miss for such a will i go now till i have said the rest i may not be a indian widow sir and i am not and i would not so become but if i once made up my mind to bum myself alive i d do it and i ve made my mind up to go on which was rendered no less clear by the expression of s countenance than by her words there an t a person in your service sir pursued the black eyed that has always stood more in awe of you than me and you may think how true it is when i make so bold as to say that i have hundreds and hundreds of times thought of speaking and son to you and never been able to make my mind up to it till last night but last night decided of me mr in a of rage made another grasp at the bell rope that was not there and in its absence pulled his hair rather than nothing i have seen said miss strive and strive when nothing but a child so sweet and patient that the best of women might have copied from her i ve seen her sitting nights together half the night through to help her delicate brother with his learning i ve seen her helping him and watching him at other times some well know when i ve seen her with no encouragement and no help grow up to be a lady thank god that is the grace and pride of every company she goes in and i ve always seen her cruelly neglected and keenly feeling of it i say to some and all i have and never said one word but ordering one s self lowly and reverently towards one s is not to be a of images and i will and must speak is there anybody there cried mr calling out where are the men where are the women is there no one there i left my dear young lady out of bed late last night said nothing checked and i knew why for you was ill sir and she didn t know how ill and that was enough to make her wretched as i saw it did i may not be a but i have my eyes and i sat up a little in my own room thinking she might be and might want me and i saw her steal down stairs and come to this door as if it was a guilty thing to look at her own pa and then steal back again and go into them lonely drawing rooms a crying so that i could hardly bear to hear it i cannot bear to hear it said wiping her black eyes and fixing them on mr s face it s not the first time i have heard it not by many and many a time you don t know your own daughter sir you don t know what you re doing sir i say to some and all cried in a final burst that it s a sinful shame why cried the voice of mrs as th and son black garments of that fair into the room what s this indeed favored mrs with a look she had invented expressly for her when
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they first became acquainted and resigned the reply to mr what s this repeated mr almost foaming what s this madam you who are at the head of this household and bound to keep it in order have reason to inquire do you know this woman i know very little good of her sir mrs how dare you come here you go along with you but the merely mrs with another look remained do you call it managing this establishment madam said mr to leave a person like this at liberty to come and talk a gentleman in his own in his own room assailed with the of women servants well sir returned mrs with vengeance in her hard grey eye i exceedingly it nothing can be more irregular nothing can be more out of all bounds and reason but i regret to say sir that this young woman is quite beyond control she has been spoiled by miss and is to nobody you know you re not said mrs sharply and shaking her head at for shame you along with you if you find people in my service who are not to be controlled mrs said mr turning back towards the fire you know what to do with them i presume you know what you are here for take her away sir i know what to do retorted mrs and of course shall do it snapping her up particularly short a month s warning from this hour oh indeed cried yes returned mrs and don t smile at me you or i ll know the reason why along with you this minute i intend to go this minute you may rely upon it said the i have been in this house waiting on my and son young lady a dozen year and i won t stop in it one hour under notice from a person to the name of trust me mrs p a good of bad rubbish said that old lady get along with you or have you carried out my comfort is said looking back at mr that i have told a piece of truth this day which ought to have been told long before and can t be told too often or too plain and that no amount of i hope the number of em t be great here mrs uttered a very sharp go along with you and miss repeated the look can what i have said though they gave a whole year full of beginning at ten o clock in the and never leaving off till twelve at night and died of the exhaustion which would be a with these words miss preceded her foe out of the room and walking up stairs to her own apartment in great state to the choking of the sat down among her boxes and began to cry from this soft mood she was soon aroused with a very wholesome and refreshing effect by the voice of mrs outside the door does that bold faced said the fell intend to take her warning or does she not miss replied from within that the person described did not that part of the house but that her name was and she was to be found in the housekeeper s room you baggage retorted mrs rattling at the handle of the door along with you this minute pack up your things directly how dare you talk in this way to a who has seen better days to which miss rejoined from her castle that she pitied the better days that had seen mrs and that for her part she considered the worst days in the year to be about that lady s mark except that they were much too good for her but you needn t trouble yourself to make a noise at my door said nor to the key hole with your eye i m packing up and going you may take your and son the expressed her lively satisfaction at this and with some general opinions upon young as a race and especially upon their after being spoiled by miss withdrew to prepare the s wages then herself to get her trunks in order that she might take an immediate and dignified departure sobbing heartily all the time as she thought of the object of her regret was not long in coming to her for the news soon spread over the house that had had a disturbance with mrs and that they had both appealed to mr and that there had been an piece of work in mr s room and that was going the latter part of this confused found to be so correct that had locked the last trunk and was sitting upon it with her bonnet on when she came into her room cried to leave me you oh for goodness gracious sake miss said sob don t speak a word to me or i shall myself before them pi i and wouldn t have em see me cry miss for worlds said my dear girl my old friend what shall i do without you can you bear to go away so no n o o my darling dear miss i can t indeed sobbed but it can t be helped i ve done my duty miss i have indeed it s no fault of mine i am quite i couldn t stay my month or i could never leave you then my darling and i must at last as well as at first don t speak to me miss for though i m pretty firm i m not a marble my own dear what is it why is it said won t you tell me for was shaking her head no n no my darling returned don t ask me for i mustn t and whatever you do don t put in a word for me to stop for it couldn
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t be and you d only wrong yourself and so bless you my own precious and forgive me any i have done or any temper i have showed in all these many years with which entreaty very heartily delivered her mistress in her arms my darling there s a many that may come to serve you and j i v r v i y v v r y i v v r if r i r a r i j i very old and son be glad to serve you and who ll serve you well and true said but there can t be one who ll serve you so affectionate as me or love you half as dearly that s my comfort go ood bye sweet miss where will you go asked her weeping mistress i ve got a brother down in the country miss a farmer in said the heart broken that keeps ever so many co o and pigs and i shall go down there by the coach and op with him and don t mind me for i ve got money in the banks my dear and needn t take another service just yet which i couldn t couldn t couldn t do my heart s own mistress finished with a burst of sorrow which was broken by the voice of mrs talking down stairs on hearing which she dried her red and swollen eyes and made a melancholy of calling to mr to fetch a cab and carry down her boxes pale and hurried and distressed but withheld from useless interference even here by her dread of causing any new division between her father and his wife whose stem indignant face had been a warning to her a few moments since and by her apprehension of being in some way unconsciously connected already with the dismissal of her old servant and friend followed weeping down stairs to s dressing room whither herself to make her parting now here s the cab and here s the boxes get along with you do said mrs presenting herself at the same moment i beg your pardon ma am but mr s orders are imperative sitting under the hands of her maid she was going out to dinner preserved her haughty face and took not the least notice there s your money said mrs who in of her system and in recollection of the mines was accustomed to the servants about as she had her young to the everlasting of master and the sooner this house sees your back the better had no spirits even for the look that belonged to mrs by right so she dropped her to mrs and son who inclined her head without one word and whose eye avoided every one but and gave one last parting to her young mistress and received her parting embrace in return poor s face at this crisis in the intensity of her feelings and the determined of her sobs lest one should become audible and be a triumph to mrs presented a series of the most extraordinary phenomena ever witnessed i beg your pardon miss sure said outside the door with the boxes addressing but mr is in the dining room and sends his compliments and to know how and master is quick as thought glided out and hastened down stairs where mr in the most splendid was breathing very hard with doubt and agitation on the subject of her coming oh how de do miss said mr bless my soul this last was occasioned by mr s deep concern at the distress he saw in s face which caused him to stop short in a fit of and become an image of despair dear mr said you are so friendly to me and so honest that i am sure i may ask a favor of you miss returned mr if you ll only name one you ll you ll give me an appetite to which said mr with some sentiment i have long been a stranger who is an old friend of mine the oldest friend i have said is about to leave here suddenly and quite alone poor girl she is going home a little way into the country might i ask you to take care of her until she is in the coach miss returned mr you really do me an honor and a kindness this proof of your confidence the manner in which i was beast enough to conduct myself at yes said hurriedly don t think of that then would you have the kindness to to go and to be ready to meet her when she comes out thank you a thousand times you ease my mind so much she doesn t seem so desolate and son s tou cannot think how grateful i feel to you or what a good friend i am sure you are and in her earnestness thanked him again and again and mr in hu earnestness hurried away but backwards that he might lose no glimpse of her had not the courage to go out when she saw poor in the hall with mrs driving her forth and jumping about her and mrs to the last degree by making at her skirts and howling with anguish at the sound of her voice for the good was the dearest and most cherished aversion of his breast but she saw shake hands with the servants all round and turn once to look at her old home and she saw bound out after the cab and want to follow it and testify an impossibility of conviction that he had no longer any property in the fare and the door was shut and the hurry over and her tears flowed fast for the loss of an old friend whom no one
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said in a low voice the knowledge of what i have to say at least madam i would leave it to you to decide whether she shall know of it or not i owe that to you it is my duty to you after our former interview it would be monstrous in me if i did otherwise she slowly withdrew her eyes from his face and turning to the servant said some other room he led the way to a drawing room which he speedily lighted up and then left them while he remained not a word was spoken herself upon a couch by the fire and mr with his hat in his hand and his eyes bent upon the carpet stood before her at some little distance before i hear you sir said when the door was closed i wish you to hear me to be addressed by mrs he returned even in accents of reproach is an honor i so greatly esteem that although i were not her servant in all things i should to such a wish most readily if you are charged by the man whom you have just now left sir mr raised his eyes as if he were going to surprise but she met them and stopped him if such were his intention with any message to me do not attempt to de liver it for i will not receive it i need scarcely ask you if you are come on such an errand i have expected you some time and son it is my misfortune he replied to be here wholly against my will for such a purpose allow me to say that i am here for two purposes that is one that one sir she returned is ended or if you return to it can mrs believe said coming nearer that i would return to it in the face of her is it possible that mrs having no regard to my unfortunate position is so determined to consider me inseparable from my as to do me great and wilful injustice sir returned bending her dark gaze full upon him and speaking with a rising passion that her proud and her swelling neck and stirred the delicate white down upon a robe she wore thrown loosely over shoulders that could bear its snowy neighborhood why do you present yourself to me as you have done and speak to me of love and duty to my husband and pretend to think that i am happily married and that i honor him how dare you venture so to me when you know do not know better sir i have seen it in your every glance and heard it in your every word that in place of affection between us there is aversion and contempt and i despise him hardly less than i despise myself for being his injustice if i had done justice to the torment you have made me feel and to my sense of the insult you have put upon me i should have slain you she had asked him why he did this had she not been blinded by her pride and wrath and self humiliation which she was fiercely as she bent her gaze upon him she would have seen the answer in his face to bring her to this declaration she saw it not and cared not whether it was there or no she saw only the and struggles she had undergone and had to undergo and was under then as she sat looking at them rather than at him she plucked the feathers from a of some rare and beautiful bird which hung from her wrist by a golden thread to serve her as a fan and rained them on the ground he did not shrink beneath her gaze but stood until such outward signs of her anger as had escaped her control subsided and son with the air of a man who had his sufficient reply in reserve and would presently deliver it and he then spoke looking straight into her eyes madam he said i know and knew before to day that i have found no favor with you and i knew why i knew why you have spoken so openly to me i am so relieved by the possession of your confidence confidence she repeated with disdain he passed it over that i will make no pretence of concealment i did see from the first that there was no affection on your part for mr how could it possibly exist between such different subjects and i seen since that stronger feelings than indifference have been in your breast how could that possibly be otherwise either as you have been but was it for me to presume to this knowledge to you in so many words was it for you sir she replied to that other belief and to thrust it on me day by day madam it was he eagerly retorted if i had done less if i had done anything but that i should not be speaking to you thus and i foresaw who could better foresee for who has had greater experience of mr than myself that unless your character should prove to be as yielding and obedient as that of his first lady which i did not believe a haughty smile gave him reason to observe that he might repeat this i say which i did not believe the time was likely to come when such an understanding as we have now arrived at would be serviceable serviceable to whom sir she demanded scornfully to you i will not add to myself as warning me to refrain even from that limited of mr in which i can honestly indulge in order that i may not have the misfortune of saying anything distasteful to one whose aversion and contempt with great expression are so
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the indignation with which i regard the part i am required to fill she sat as if she were afraid to take her eyes from his face and now to the last ring of the it is growing late said after a pause and you are as you said fatigued but the second object of this interview i must not forget i must recommend you i must entreat you in the most earnest manner for sufficient reasons that i have to be cautious in your of regard for miss cautious what do you mean to be careful how you exhibit too much affection for that young lady too much affection sir said knitting her broad brow and rising who judges my affection or measures it out you it is not i who do so he was or feigned to be perplexed who then and son can you not guess who then v i do not choose to guess she answered madam he said after a little hesitation meantime they had been and still were regarding each other as before i am in a difficulty here you have told me you will receive no message and you have forbidden me to return to that subject but the two subjects are so closely i find that unless you will accept this vague caution from one who has now the honor to possess your confidence though the way to it has been through your displeasure i must the you have laid upon me you know that you are free to do so sir said do it so pale so trembling so impassioned he had not the effect then his instructions were he said in a low voice that i should inform you that your towards miss is not agreeable to him that it suggests to him which are not favorable to himself that he desires it may be wholly changed and that if you are in earnest he is confident it will be for your continued show of will not benefit its object that is a threat she said that is a threat he answered in his manner of assent adding aloud but not directed against you proud erect and dignified as she stood him and looking through him as she did with her full bright flashing eye and smiling as she was with scorn and bitterness she sank as if the ground had dropped beneath her and in an instant would have fallen on the floor but that he caught her in his arms as she threw him ofi the moment that he touched her and drawing back confronted him again immovable with her hand stretched out please to leave me say no more to night i feel the of this said mr because it is impossible to say what consequences might arise or how soon from your being with his state of mind i understand miss is concerned now at the dismissal and son of her old servant which is likely to have been a minor consequence in itself you don t blame me for that miss might not be present may i hope so i do not please to leave me sir i knew that your regard for the young lady which is very sincere and strong i am well persuaded would render it a great to you ever to be a prey to the reflection that you had injured her position and ruined her future hopes said car hurriedly but eagerly no more to night leave me if you please i shall be here constantly in my attendance upon him and in the transaction of business matters you will allow me to see you again and to consult what should be done and learn your wishes she him towards the door i cannot even decide whether to tell him i have spoken to you yet or to lead him to suppose that i have deferred doing so for want of opportunity or for any other reason it will be necessary that you should enable me to consult with you very soon at any time but now she answered you will understand when i wish to see you that miss is not to be present and that i seek an interview as one who has the happiness to possess your confidence and who comes to render you every assistance in his power and perhaps on many occasions to ward off evil from her looking at him still with the same apparent dread of him for a moment from the influence of her steady gaze whatever that might be she answered yes and once more bade him go he bowed as if in compliance but turning back when he had nearly reached the door said i am forgiven and have explained my fault may i for miss s sake and for my own take your hand before i go she gave him the hand she had last night he took it in one of his and kissed it and withdrew and when he had closed the door he waved the hand with which he had taken hers and thrust it in his breast and son i f chapter and among sundry minor alterations in mr s life and habits that began to take place at this time none was more remarkable than the extraordinary diligence with which he applied himself to business and the with which he every detail that the affairs of the house laid open to him always active and penetrating in such matters his eyed vigilance now increased twenty fold not only did his wary watch keep pace with every present point that every day presented to in some new form but in the midst of these occupations he found leisure that is he made it to review the past transactions of the firm and his share in them during a long series of years frequently when the clerks were all gone
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touched him on the shoulder why where s my rob been all this time she said as he turned round the rob whose was very much diminished by the salutation looked exceedingly dismayed and said with the water rising in his eyes oh why can t you leave a poor alone brown when he s getting an honest and conducting himself respectable what do you come and deprive a of his character for by talking to him in the streets when he s taking his master s horse to a honest stable a horse you d go and sell for cats and dogs meat if you had your way why i thought said the producing his concluding remark as if it were the climax of all his injuries that you was dead long ago this is the way cried the old woman appealing to her daughter that he talks to me who knew him weeks and months together my and have stood his friend many and many a time among the pigeon ring and bird let the birds be will you brown retorted rob in a tone of the anguish i think a had better have to do with lions than them little for they re always flying back in your face when you least expect it well how d ye do and what do you want these polite the as it were under protest and with great and he how he speaks to an old friend my said mrs brown appealing to her daughter but there s some of his old friends ot so patient as me if i was to tell some that he knows and has and cheated with where to find him and son will you hold your tongue brown interrupted the miserable glancing quickly round as though he expected to see his master s teeth shining at his elbow what do you take a pleasure in a core for t at your time of life too when you ought to be thinking of a variety of things what a gallant horse p said the old woman patting the animal s neck let him alone will you brown t cried rob pushing away her hand you re enough to drive a penitent mad why what hurt do i do him child returned the old woman hurt v said rob he s got a master that would find it out if he was touched with a straw and he blew upon the place where the old woman s hand had rested for a moment and smoothed it gently with his finger as if he seriously believed what he said the old woman looking back to and at her daughter who fi kept close to rob s heels as he walked on with the bridle in his hand and pursued the conversation a good place rob eh said she you re in luck my child oh don t talk about luck brown returned the wretched facing round and stopping if you d never come or if you d go away then indeed a might be considered tolerably lucky can t you go along brown and not me rob with sudden defiance if the young woman s a friend of yours why don t she take you away instead of letting you make yourself so disgraceful what the old woman putting her face close to his with a grin upon it that up the loose skin down in her very throat do you deny your old have you to my house fifty times and sound in a corner when you had no other bed but the stones and do you talk to me like this have i bought and sold with you and helped you in my way of business and what not and do you tell me to go along could i raise a crowd of old company about you to morrow morning that would follow to ruin and son copies of your own shadow and do you turn on tne with your bold looks v go come stop brown cried the distracted what are you doing of don t put yourself in a passion don t let her go if you please i haven t meant any said how d ye do at first didn t i but you wouldn t answer how da you do besides rob look here how can a stand talking in the street with his master s a waiting to be took to be rubbed down and his master up to every thing that happens the old woman made a show of being partially appeased but shook her head and mouthed and muttered still come along to the stables and have a glass of something that s good for you brown can t you said rob instead of going on like that which is no good to you nor anybody else come along with her will you be so kind said rob i m sure i m delighted to see her if it wasn t for the horse with this apology rob turned away a picture of despair and walked his charge down a bye street the c d woman at her daughter followed close upon him the ter followed turning into a silent little square or court yard that had a great church tower rising above it and a s and a bottle maker s for its places of business rob the delivered the white legged horse to the of a quaint stable at the corner and inviting mrs brown and her daughter to seat themselves upon a stone bench at the gate of that establishment soon reappeared from a neighboring public house with a measure and a glass here s master mr child said the old woman slowly as her sentiment before drinking bless him why i didn t tell you who he was observed rob with staring e es we know him by sight said mrs
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brown whose working mouth and nodding head stopped for the moment in the of her attention we saw him pass this morning afore he got off his horse when you were ready to take it aye aye returned rob appearing to wish that his and son ness had carried him to any other place what s the matter with her won t she drink this inquiry had reference to who folded in her cloak sat a little apart profoundly to his offer of the glass the old woman shook her head don t mind her she said she s a strange if you know d her rob but mr hush said rob glancing cautiously up at the s and at the bottle maker s as if from any one of the of mr might be looking down softly why he ain t here cried mrs brown i don t that muttered rob whose glance even wan to the church tower as if he might be there with a supernatural power of hearing master inquired mrs brown rob nodded and added in a low voice precious sharp lives out of town don t he said the old woman when he s at home returned rob but we don t live at home just now where then asked the old woman lodgings up near mr s returned rob the younger woman fixed her eyes so upon him and so suddenly that rob was quite confounded and offered the glass again but with no more effect upon her than before mr you and i used to talk about him sometimes you know said rob to mrs brown you used to get me to talk about him the old woman nodded well mr he s had a fall from his horse said rob unwillingly and my master has to be up there more than usual either with him or mrs or some of em and so we ve come to town are they good friends asked the old woman who retorted rob he and she what mr and mrs said rob how should i know and son not them master and mrs replied the old woman i don t know said rob looking round him again suppose so how curious you are brown least said mended why there s no harm in it exclaimed the old woman with a laugh and a clap of her hands rob has grown tame since he has been well off there s no harm in it no there s no harm in it i know returned rob with the same glance at the s and the bottle maker s and the church but if it s only about the number of buttons on my master s coat won t do i tell yoa it won t do with him a had better drown himself he says so i shouldn t have so much as told you what his name was if you hadn t known it talk about somebody else as rob took another cautious survey of the yard the old woman made a secret motion to her daughter it was momentary but the daughter with a slight look of intelligence withdrew her eyes from the boy s face and sat folded in her cloak as before rob said the old woman him to the other end of the bench you were always a pet and favorite of mine now weren t you don t you know you were yes brown replied the with a very bad grace and you could leave me said the old woman flinging her arms about his neck you could go away and grow almost out of knowledge and never come to tell your poor old friend how fortunate you were proud lad oh here s a dreadful go for a that s got a master wide awake in the neighborhood exclaimed the wretched to be howled over like this here won t you come and see me cried mrs brown won t you ever come and see me yes i tell you yes will returned the that s my own rob that s my said mrs brown drying the tears upon her face and giving him a ten der squeeze at the old place rob and son t yes replied the soon dear cried mrs brown and often v yes yes yes replied rob i will indeed upon my soul and body and then said mrs brown with her arms uplifted towards he sky and her head thrown back and shaking if he s true to his word i ll never come a near him though i know where he is and never breathe a syllable about him never this seemed a drop of comfort to the miserable who shook mrs brown by the hand upon it and implored her with tears in his eyes to leave a and not destroy his prospects mrs brown with another fond embrace assented but in the act of following her daughter turned back with her finger stealthily raised and asked in a hoarse whisper for some money a shilling dear she said with her eager face or sixpence for old acquaintance sake i m so poor and my handsome looking over her shoulder she s my half me but as the reluctant put it in her hand her daughter coming quietly back caught the hand in hers and twisted out the coin what she said mother always money money from the first and to the last do you mind so little what i said but now here take it the old woman uttered a moan as the money was restored but without in any other way opposing its restoration at her daughter s side out of the yard and along the bye street upon which it opened the astonished and dismayed rob staring after them saw that they stopped and fell to earnest conversation very soon and more than
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you who are tender of his welfare and reputation there is no one in the house from yourself down to the lowest i sincerely believe who does not in that feeling you lie said the manager red with sudden anger you re a john and you lie james cried the other flushing in his turn what do you mean by these insulting words why do you so use them to me i tell you said the manager that your and that all the and of this place is not worth that to me snapping his thumb and finger and that i see through it as if it were air there is not a man employed here standing between myself and the lowest in place of whom you are very considerate and with reason for he is not far off who wouldn t be glad at heart to see his master who does not hate him secretly who does not wish him evil rather than good and who would not turn upon him if he had the power and boldness the nearer to his favor the nearer to his insolence the closer to him the further from him that the creed here and son ail i don t know said his brother whose roused feelings had soon yielded to surprise who may have abused your ear with such representations or why you have chosen to try me rather than another but that you have been trying me and with me i am now sure you have a different manner and a different aspect from any that i ever saw in you i will only ay to you once more you are deceived i know i am said the manager i have told you so not by me returned his brother by your if you have one if not by your own thoughts and suspicions i have no suspicions said the manager mine are you abject dogs all making the same show all the same story all the same professions all the same transparent secret his brother withdrew without saying more and shut the door as he concluded mr the manager drew a chair close before the fire and fell to beating the coals softly with the the faint hearted he muttered with his two shining rows of teeth laid bare there s not one among them who wouldn t to be so shocked and outraged there s not one among them but if he had at once the power and the wit and daring to use it would scatter s pride and lay it low as as i out these ashes as he broke them up and them in the grate he looked on with a thoughtful smile at what he was doing without the same queen too he added presently and there is pride there not to be forgotten witness our own ance with that he fell into a deeper reverie and sat pondering over the grate until he rose up like a man who had been absorbed in a book and looking round him took his hat and gloves went to where his horse was waiting mounted and rode away through the lighted streets for it was evening he rode near mr s house and falling into a walk as he approached it looked up at the windows the window where he had once seen sitting with her dog attracted his attention first though there was no light in it but he smiled as he carried his eyes up the tall front of the house and seemed to leave that object behind and son time was he said when it was well to watch even your rising little star and know in what quarter there were clouds to shadow you if needful but a planet has arisen and you are lost in its light he turned the white legged horse round the street comer and sought one shining window from among those at the back of the house associated with it was a certain stately presence a hand the remembrance how the feathers of a beautiful bird s wing had been down upon the floor and how the light white down upon a robe had stirred and as in the rising of a distant storm these were the things he carried with him as he turned away again and rode through the darkening and deserted at a quick rate in fatal truth these were associated with a woman a proud woman who hated him but who by slow and sure degrees had been led on by his craft and her pride and resentment to endure his company and little by little to receive him as one who had the privilege to talk to her of her own defiant disregard of her own husband and her of high consideration for herself they were associated with a woman who hated him deeply and who knew him and who him because she knew him and because he knew her but who fed her fierce resentment by him to draw nearer and yet nearer to her every day in spite of the hate she cherished for him in spite of it for that very reason since iu its depths too far down for her threatening eye to pierce though she could see into them dimly lay the dark whose faintest shadow seen once and shuddered at and never seen again would have been sufficient stain upon her soul did the phantom of such a woman about him on his ride true to the reality and obvious to him yes he saw her in his mind exactly as she was she bore him company with her pride resentment hatred all as plain to him as her beauty with nothing to him than her hatred of him he saw her sometimes haughty and at his side and sometimes down among his horse s feet fallen and in the dust but
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and ever will be but what i do is not done for myself is it for me mamma v asked it is enough said a pause to know what it is why matters little dear it is better it is necessary it must be that our association should be less frequent the confidence there has been between us must be broken off when cried oh mamma when i now said for all time to come added i do not say that answered i do not know that nor will i say that companionship between us is at the best an ill and union of which i might have known no good could come my way here has been through paths that you will never tread and my way henceforth may lie god knows i do not see it her voice died away into silence and she sat looking at and almost shrinking from her with the same strange dread and wild that had noticed once before the same dark pride and rage succeeded sweeping over her form and features like an angry across the strings of a wild harp but no softness or humility ensued on that she did not lay her head down now and weep and say that she had no hope but in she held it up as if she were a beautiful and son looking on him face to face to strike him dead yes and she would have done it if she had had the charm mamma said anxiously there is a change in you in more than what you say to me which me let me stay with you a little no said no dearest i am best left alone now and i do best to keep apart from you of all else ask me no questions but believe that what i am when i seem or capricious to you i am not of my own will or for myself believe though we are stranger to each other than we have been that i am unchanged to you within forgive me for having ever darkened your dark home i am a shadow on it i know well and let us never speak of this again mamma sobbed we are not to part we do this that we may not part said ask no more go my love and my remorse go with you she embraced her and dismissed her and as passed out of her room looked on the retiring figure as if her good angel went out in that form and left her to the haughty and indignant passions that now claimed her for their own and set their seal upon her brow from that hour and she were as they had been no more for days together would seldom meet except at table and when mr was present then imperious and silent never looked at her whenever mr was of the party as he often was during the progress of mr s recovery and afterwards held herself more removed from her and was more distant towards her than at other times yet she and never encountered when there was no one by but she would embrace her as affectionately as of old though not with the same of her proud aspect and often when she had been out late she would steal up to s room as she had been used to do in the dark and whisper good night on her pillow when unconscious in her slumber of such would sometimes awake as from a dream of words softly spoken and would and son l to feel the touch of lips upon her face but less and less often as the months went on and now the void in s own heart began again indeed to make a solitude around her as the image of the father whom she loved had become a mere abstraction so following the fate of all the rest about whom her affections had themselves was fleeting fading growing paler in the distance every day little by little she from like the retiring ghost of what she had been little by little the chasm between them and seemed deeper little by little all the power of earnestness and tenderness she had shown was frozen up in the bold angry with which she stood upon the brink of a deep precipice unseen by daring to look down there was but one consideration to set against the heavy loss of and though it was slight comfort to her heart she tried to think it some relief no longer divided between her affection and duty to the two could love both and do no injustice to either as shadows of her fond imagination she could give them equal place in her own bosom and wrong them with no doubts so she tried to do at times and too wondering speculations on the cause of this change in would themselves upon her mind and frighten her but in the calm of its once more to silent grief and loneliness it was not a curious mind had only to remember that her star of promise was clouded in the general gloom that hung upon the house and to weep and be resigned thus living in a dream wherein the overflowing love of her young heart expended itself on airy forms and in a real world where she had experienced little but the rolling back of that strong tide upon itself grew to be seventeen timid and retiring as her solitary life had made her it had not her sweet temper or her earnest nature a child in innocent simplicity a woman in her modest self reliance and her deep intensity of feeling both child and woman seemed at once expressed in her fair face and fragile delicacy of shape and gracefully to mingle there as if the spring should be unwilling
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and son to depart when summer came and sought to the earlier beauties of the flowers with their bloom but in her thrilling voice in her calm eyes sometimes in a strange ethereal light that seemed to rest upon her head and always in a certain pensive air upon her beauty there was an expression such as had been seen in the dead boy and the council in the servants hall whispered so among themselves and shook their heads and ate and drank the more in a closer bond of good fellow ship this observant body had plenty to say of mr and mrs and of mr who appeared to be a between them and who came and went as if he were trying to make peace but never could they all the uncomfortable state of affairs and all agreed that mrs whose was not to be surpassed had some hand in it but upon the whole it was agreeable to have so good a subject for a point and they made a great deal of it and enjoyed themselves very much the general visitors who came to the house and those among whom mr and mrs thought it a pretty equal match as to at all events and thought nothing more about it the young lady with the back did not appear for some time mrs s death observing to some particular friends with her usual engaging little scream that she couldn t separate the family from a notion of and horrors of that sort but when she did come she saw nothing wrong except mr swearing a bunch of gold to his watch which shocked her very much as an exploded superstition this youthful considered a daughter in law objectionable in principle otherwise she had nothing to say against but that she sadly wanted style which might mean back perhaps many who only came to the house on state occasions hardly knew who was and said going home indeed was miss in the comer very pretty but a little delicate and thoughtful in appearance none the less so certainly for her life of the last six months took her seat at the dinner table on the day before the second of her father s marriage to mrs and son had been lying with when tiie first came round with an uneasiness to dread she had ao other warrant for it than the occasion the expression of her father s face in the hasty glance she caught of it and the presence of mr which always unpleasant to her was on this day than had ever felt it before was richly dressed for she and mr were ia the evening to some large assembly and the hour that day was late she did not appear they were seated at the table when mr rose and led her o her chair and as she was there was that ia her face and air which seemed to separate her hopelessly from and from every one for ever more and yet for aa instant saw a of kindness in her eyes when they were turned on her that made the to which she had withdrawn herself a greater cause of sorrow and regret ever there was very said at heard her father speak to mr er sometimes on business matters and heard him softly reply but she paid little attention to what they said and wished the dinner at an end when the was placed upon the table and they were left alone with ao servant in attendance mr who had been several times clearing his throat in a manner that no good said mrs yoa know i suppose that i have instructed the housekeeper that there will be some company to dinner to morrow i do not dine at home she answered not a large party pursued mr with an indifferent assumption of not having heard her merely some twelve or fourteen my sister major b and some others whom you but slightly i do not dine at home she repeated however doubtful reason i may have mrs said mr still going tm as if the had not spoken to hold the occasion in very pleasant remembrance just now there are appearances in these things which must be y and son before the world if you have no for yourself mm i have none she said madam cried mr striking his hand upon the table hear me if you please i say if you have no re et yourself and j say i have she he looked at her but the face she showed mm in return would not have changed if death itself had looked said mr turning more quietly to thai gentleman as you have been my medium of with mrs on former occasions and as i choose to preserve the of life so far as i i will trouble you to have the goodness to inform mrs that if she has no respect for herself i have some respect for myself and therefore insist on my arrangements for to tell your sovereign master sir said that i will take leave to speak to him on this by and by and that i will speak to him alone mr madam said her husband being in possession of the reason which me to refuse you that privilege hall be from the delivery of any such message he saw her move while be spoke and followed them with own your daughter is present sir said my daughter will remain present said mr who bad risen sat down again hiding her face in her hands and trembling my daughter madam began mr but stopped him in a voice which although not raised in the least so clear emphatic and distinct that it might have been heard in a i tell you i will speak to you alone she said if you are not ma heed what i say
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i have authority to speak to you madam returned her husband when and where i please and it is way pleasure to speak here and now she rose up as if to leave the room but sat down again and and son looking at him with all outward composure said in the voice you shall i must tell you first that there is a threatening appearance in your manner madam said mr which does not become you she laughed the shaken diamonds in her hair started and trembled there are of precious stones that would turn pale their being in danger had these been such their imprisoned rays of light would have taken flight that moment and they would have been as dull as lead listened with his eyes cast down as to my daughter madam said mr the thread of his discourse it is by no means inconsistent with her duty to me that she should know what conduct to avoid at present you are a very strong example to her of this kind and i hope she may profit by it i would not stop you now returned his wife immovable in eye and voice and attitude i would not rise and go away and save you the utterance of one word if the room were burning mr moved his head as if in a sarcastic acknowledgment of the attention and resumed but not with so much as before for s quick uneasiness in reference to and s indifference to him and his censure and him like a wound mrs said he it may not be inconsistent with my daughter s improvement to know how very much to be lamented and how necessary to be corrected a stubborn disposition is especially when it is indulged in indulged in i will add the gratification of ambition and interest both of which i believe had some share in you to occupy your present station at this board no i would not rise and go away and save you the of one word she repeated exactly as before if the room were burning it may be natural enough mrs he pursued that you should be uneasy in the presence of any of these vol n and son disagreeable truths though why he could not hide his real feeling here or keep his eyes from glancing gloomily at why any one can give them greater force and point than myself whom they so nearly concern i do not pretend to understand it may be natural enough that you should object to hear in anybody s presence that there is a rebellious pie within you which you cannot too soon which you must mrs and which i t to say i remember to have seen manifested with some doubt and displeasure on more than one occasion before our towards your deceased mother but you have the remedy in your own hands i by no means forgot when i began that my daughter was present mrs i beg you will not forget to morrow that there are several persons present and that with some regard to appearances you will receive your company in a becoming manner so it is not enough said that you know what has passed between yourself and me it is not enough that you can look here pointing at who still listened with his eyes cast down and be reminded of the you have put upon me it is not enough that you can look here pointing to with a hand that slightly trembled for the first and only time and think of what you have done and of the ingenious agony daily constant you have made me feel in doing it it is not enough that this day of all others in the year is memorable to me for a struggle well deserved but not conceivable by such as you in which i wish i had died you add to all this do you the last crowning meanness of making her a witness of the depth to which i have fallen when you know that you have made me sacrifice to her p ace the only gentle feeling and interest of my life when you know that for her sake i would now if i could but i cannot my soul from you too much submit myself wholly to your will and be the that you have this was not the way to minister to mr s greatness the old feeling was roused by what she said into a stronger and existence than it had ever had again his neglected child at this rough passage of hb life put fi by even this and son t t rebellious woman as powerful where he w s powerless and everything where he was nothing t he turned on as if it were she who had spoken and bade her leave the room with her covered obeyed trembling and weeping as she went i understand madam said mr with an angry of the spirit of that turned your affections in that channel but they have been met mrs they have been met and turned back the worse for you v she answered with her voice and man ner still unchanged aye he turned sharply when she said so what is the worse for me is twenty million times the worse for you heed that if you heed nothing else the arch of diamonds her dark hair flashed and glittered like a bridge there was no warning in them or they would have turned as dull and dim as honor still sat and listened with his eyes cast down mrs said mr as much as he could of his composure you will not me or turn me from any purpose by this course of conduct it is the only true although it is a faint of what is within me she replied but if i thought it
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would you i would repress it if it were by any human effort i will do nothing that you ask i am not accustomed to ask mrs he observed i direct i will hold no place in your house to morrow or on any of to morrow i will be exhibited to no one as the slave you purchased such a time if i kept my i would keep it as a day of shame self respect appearances before the world what are these to me f you have done all you can to make them nothing to me and they are nothing said mr speaking with brows and after a moment s consideration mrs is so forgetful of herself and me in all this and places me in a position so to my character that i must bring this state of matters to a dose release me then said immovable in voice in look and son and as had been throughout from the chain by which i am bound let me go madam exclaimed mr loose me set me free madam he repeated mrs tell him said addressing her proud face to that i wish for a separation between us that there had better be one that i recommend it to him tell him it may take place on his own terms his wealth is nothing to but that it cannot be too soon good heaven mrs said her husband with supreme amazement do you imagine it possible that i could ever listen to such a proposition do you know who i am madam do you know what i represent did you ever hear of and son people to say that mr mr was separated from his wife common people to talk of mr and his domestic affairs do you seriously think mrs that i would permit my name to be handed about in such madam for shame you re absurd mr absolutely laughed but not as she did she had better have been dead than laugh as she did in reply with her intent look fixed upon him he had better have been dead than sitting there in his magnificence to hear her no mrs he resumed no madam there is no possibility of separation between you and me and re i the more advise you to be awakened to a sense of duty and as i was about to say to you mr who had sat and listened all this time now raised his eyes in which there was a bright unusual light as i was about to say to you resumed mr i must beg you now that matters have come to this to inform mrs that it is not the rule of my life to allow myself to be by anybody anybody or to suffer anybody to be as a stronger motive for obedience in those who owe obedience to me than i am myself the mention that has been made of my daughter and the use that is made of my daughter in opposition to me are unnatural whether my and son daughter is in actual concert with mrs i do not know and do not care but after what mrs has said to day and my daughter has heard to day i beg you to make known to mrs that if she continues to make this house the scene of it has become i shall consider my daughter responsible in some degree on that lady s own and shall visit her with my severe displeasure mrs has asked whether it is not enough that she has done this and that you will please to answer no it is not enough a moment cried permit me painful as my position is at the best and unusually painful in seeming to entertain a different opinion from you addressing mr i must ask had you not better re consider the question of a separation i know how it appears with your high public position and i know how determined you are when you give mrs to understand the light in his eyes fell upon her as he separated his words each from each with the distinctness of so many bells that nothing but death can ever part you nothing else but when you consider that mrs by living in this house and making it as you have said a scene of not only has her part in that but miss every day for i know how determined you are will you not relieve her from a continual irritation of spirit and a continual sense of being unjust to another almost intolerable does this not seem like i do not say it is sacrificing mrs to the preservation of your pre eminent and position again the light in his eyes fell upon her as she stood looking at her husband now with an extraordinary and awful smile upon her face returned mr with a frown and in a tone that was intended to be final you mistake your position in offering advice to me on such a point and you mistake me i am surprised to find in the character of your advice i have no more to say perhaps said with an unusual and in his air y u my position when you honored and son me with he in which i have been engaged here with a motion of his hand towards mi s not at all sir not at all returned the other you were being an inferior person for the humiliation of mrs i forgot oh yes it was expressly understood said i beg your pardon as he bent his head to mr with an air of deference that accorded ill with his words though they were humbly spoken he moved it round towards her and kept his watching eyes that way she had better have turned hideous and
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dropped dead than have stood up with such a smile upon her face in such a fallen spirit s majesty of scorn and beauty she lifted her hand to the of bright jewels radiant on her head and it off with a force that dragged and strained her rich black hair with heedless cruelty and brought it tumbling wildly on her shoulders cast the gems upon the ground from each arm she a diamond flung it down and trod upon the glittering heap without a word without a shadow on the fire of her bright eye without of her awful smile she looked on mr to the last in moving to the door and left him had heard enough before the room to know that loved her yet that she had suffered for her sake and that she had kept her sacrifices quiet lest they should trouble her peace she did not want to speak to her of this she could not remembering to whom she was opposed but she wished in one silent and embrace to assure her that she felt it all and thanked her her father went out alone that evening and issuing from her own chamber soon afterwards went about the house in search of but she was in her own rooms where had long ceased to go and did not dare to ven ture now lest she should unconsciously new trouble still hoping to meet her before going to bed changed from room to room and wandered through the house so splendid and dreary without remaining anywhere r m i f li h v f a t tj and son she was crossing a gallery of communication that opened at some little distance on the staircase and was only lighted on great occasions when she saw through the opening which was an arch the figure of a man coming down some few stairs opposite instinctively apprehensive of her father whom she supposed it was she stopped in the dark gazing through the arch into the light but it was mr coming down alone and looking over the railing into the hall no bell was rung to announce his departure and no servant was in attendance he went down quietly opened the door for himself glided out and shut it softly after him her invincible to this man and perhaps the stealthy act of watching any one which even under such innocent circumstances is in a manner guilty and oppressive made shake from head to foot her blood seemed to run cold as soon as she could for at first she felt an dread of moving she went quickly to her own room and locked her door but even then shut in with her dog beside her felt a chill sensation of horror as if there were danger brooding somewhere near her it invaded her dreams and disturbed the whole night rising in the morning and with a heavy recollection oi the domestic of the preceding day she sought again in all the rooms and did so from time to time all the morning but she remained in her own chamber and saw nothing of her learning however that the projected dinner at home was put off thought it likely that she would go out in the evening to fulfil the engagement she had spoken of and resolved to try and meet her then upon the staircase when the evening had set in she heard from the room in which she sat on purpose a footstep on the stairs that she thought to be s hurrying out and up towards her room met her immediately coming down alone what was s and wonder when at sight of her with her tearful face and outstretched arms and don t come near me i she cried keep away let me go by and son mamma said don t call me by that name don t speak to me don t look at me shrinking back as moved a towards her don t touch me as stood before the haggard face and staring eyes she noted as in a dream that spread her hands over them and shuddering through all her form and crouching down against the wall crawled by her like some lower animal sprang up and fled away dropped upon the stairs in a and was found there by mrs she supposed she knew nothing more until she found herself lying on her own bed with mrs and some servants standing around her where is mamma was her first question gone out to dinner said mrs and papa mr s in his own room miss said mrs and the best thing you can do is to take off your things and go to bed this minute this was the sagacious woman s remedy for all complaints particularly of spirits and inability to sleep for which many young victims in the days of the castle had been committed to bed at ten o clock in the morning without promising obedience but on the plea of desiring to be very quiet disengaged herself as soon as she could from the of mrs and her attendants alone she thought of what had happened on the staircase at first in doubt of its reality then with tears then with an indescribable and terrible alarm like that she had felt the night before she determined not to go to bed until returned and if she could not speak to her at least to be sure that she was safe at home what indistinct and shadowy dread moved to this resolution she did not know and did not dare to think she only knew that until came back there was no repose for her aching head or throbbing heart the evening deepened into night midnight came no could not read or rest a moment she paced her own room
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opened the door and paced the staircase gallery out and son tide looked out of the window on the night listened to the wind blowing and the rain falling sat down and watched the faces in the fire got up and watched the moon flying like a storm driven ship through the sea of clouds all the house was gone to bed except two servants who were waiting the return of their mistress down stairs one o clock the carriages that in the distance turned away or stopped short or went past the silence gradually deepened and was more and more rarely broken save by a rush of wind or sweep of rain two o clock no more agitated paced her room and paced the gallery outside and looked out at the night and with the rain drops on the glass and the tears in her own eyes and looked up at the hurry in the sky so different from the repose below and yet so tranquil and solitary three o clock there was a terror in every ash that dropped out of the fire no yet more and more agitated paced her room and paced the gallery and looked out at the moon with a new fancy of her likeness to a pale fugitive hurrying away and hiding her guilty face four struck five no yet but now there was some cautious stir in the house and found that mrs had been awakened by one of those who sat up had risen and had gone down to her father s door stealing lower down the stairs and observing what passed she saw her father come out in his morning gown and start when he was told his wife had not come home he a messenger to the stables to inquire whether the coachman was there and while the man was gone dressed himself very hurriedly the man came back in great haste bringing the coachman with him who said he had been at home and in bed since ten o clock he had driven his mistress to her old house in brook street where she had been met by mr stood upon the very spot where she had seen him coming down again she shivered with the nameless terror of that sight and had hardly enough to hear and understand what followed and son who had told him the man went on to say that his would not want the carriage to go home in and had dismissed him she saw her father turn white in the face and heard him ask in a quick trembling voice for mrs s maid the whole house was roused for she was there in a moment very pale too and speaking she said she had dressed her mistress early full two hours before she went out and had been told as she often was that she would not be wanted at night she had just come from her mistress s rooms but but what what was it heard her father demand like a madman but the inner dressing room was locked and the key gone her father seized a candle that was flaming on the one had put it down there and forgotten it and came running up stairs with such fury that in her fear had hardly time to fly before him she heard him striking in the door as she ran on with her hands wildly spread and her hair streaming and her face like a distracted person s back to her own room when the door yielded and he rushed in what did he see there no one knew but thrown down in a costly mass upon the ground was every ornament she had had since she had been his wife every dress she had worn and everything she had possessed this was the room in which he had seen in yonder mirror the proud face him this was the room in which he had wondered idly how these things would look when he should see them next them back into the drawers and them up iu a rage of haste he saw some papers on the table the deed of settlement he had executed on their marriage and a letter he read that she was gone he read that he was he read that she had fled upon her shameful wedding day with the man whom he had chosen for her humiliation and he tore out of the room and out of the house with a frantic idea of finding her yet at the place to which she had been taken and and son s trace of beauty out of the triumphant face with his bare hand not knowing what she did put on a shawl and bonnet in a dream of running through the streets until she found and then clasping her in her arms to save and bring her back but when she hurried out upon the staircase and saw the frightened servants going up and down with lights and whispering together and falling away from her father as he passed down she awoke to a sense of her own and hiding in me of the great ms that had been made gorgeous for this felt as if her heart would burst with grief compassion for her father was the first distinct emotion that made head against the flood of sorrow which overwhelmed her her constant nature turned to him in his distress as fervently and faithfully as if in his prosperity he had been the of that idea which had gradually become so faint and dim although she did not know otherwise than through the suggestions of a fear the full extent of his calamity he stood before her wronged and deserted and again her yearning love impelled her to his side he was not long away for was yet weeping in the great room and these thoughts
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when she heard him come back he ordered the servants to set about their ordinary occupations and went into his own apartment where he trod so heavily that she could hear him walking up and down from end to end yielding at once to the impulse of her affection timid at all other times but bold in its truth to him in his and by past dressed as she was hurried down stairs as she set her light foot in the hall he came out of his room she hastened towards him with her arms stretched out and crying oh dear dear papa as if she would have clasped him round the neck and so she would have done but in his frenzy he lifted up his cruel arm and struck her with that that she on the marble floor and as he dealt the blow he told her what was and bade her follow her since they had always been in league and son she did not sink down at his feet she did not shut out the sight of him with her trembling hands she did not weep she did not utter one word of reproach but she looked at him and a cry of desolation issued from her heart for as she looked she saw him that fond idea to which she had held in spite of him she saw his cruelty neglect and hatred dominant above it and stamping it down she saw she had no father upon earth and ran out from his house ran out of his house a moment and her hand was on the lock the cry was on her lips his face was there made paler by the yellow candles hastily put down and away and by the daylight coming in above the door another moment and the close darkness of the shut up house forgotten to be opened though it was long since day yielded to the unexpected glare and freedom of the morning and with her head bent down to hide her agony of tears was in the streets and son s chapter the flight of the of her sorrow shame and terror the forlorn girl hurried through the sunshine of a bright morning as if it were the darkness of a winter night wringing her hands and weeping bitterly insensible to everything but the deep wound in her breast stunned by the loss of all she loved left like the sole on a lonely shore from the wreck of a great vessel she fled without a thought without a hope without a purpose but to fly some where any where the cheerful vista of the long street by the morning light the sight of the blue sky and airy clouds the vigorous freshness of the day so flushed and rosy in its conquest of the night awakened no feelings in her so hurt bosom somewhere anywhere to hide her head somewhere anywhere for refuge never more to look upon the place from which she fled but there were people going to and fro there were opening shops and servants at the doors of houses there was the rising clash and roar of the day s struggle saw surprise and curiosity in the faces flitting past her saw long shadows coming back upon the pavement and heard voices that were strange to her asking her where she went and what the matter was and though these frightened her the more at first and made her hurry on the faster they did her the good service of recalling her in some degree to herself and reminding her of the necessity of greater composure where to go still somewhere anywhere still going on but where she thought of the only other time she had been and son lost in the wide wilderness of london though not lost as now and went that way to the home of walter s uncle checking her sobs and drying her swollen eyes and to calm the agitation of her manner so as to avoid notice to keep to the more quiet streets as long as she could was going on more quietly herself when a familiar little shadow darted past upon the sunny pavement stopped short wheeled about came close to her made off again bounded round and round her and panting for breath and yet making the street ring with his glad bark was at her feet oh di oh dear true faithful di how did you come here how could i ever leave you di who would never leave me bent down on the pavement and laid his rough old loving foolish head against her breast and they got up together and went on together di more off the ground than on it to kiss his mistress flying tumbling over and getting up again without the least concern dashing at big dogs in a defiance of his species with touches of his nose young who were cleaning and continually stopping in the midst of a thousand to look back at and bark until all the dogs within hearing answered and all the dogs who could come out came out to stare at him with this last hurried away in the advancing morning and the sunshine to the city the roar soon grew more loud the passengers more numerous the shops more busy until she was carried on in a stream of life setting that way and flowing indifferently past and churches market places wealth poverty good and evil like the broad river side by side with it awakened from its dreams and rushes and green moss and rolling on bid and troubled among the works and cares of men to the deep sea at length the quarters of the little arose in view nearer yet and the little himself was seen upon his post intent as ever on his observations nearer yet and the door stood open inviting her to enter
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who had again quickened her pace as she approached the end of her journey and son tl ran across the road closely followed by whom the bustle had somewhat confused ran in and sank upon the threshold of the well remembered little parlor the captain in his glazed hat was standing over the fire making his morning s with that elegant trifle his upon the chimney piece for easy reference during the progress of the hearing a footstep and the rustle of a dress the captain turned with a remembrance of the dreadful mrs at the instant when made a motion with her hand towards him and fell upon the floor the captain pale as pale in the very upon his face raised her ike a baby and laid her on the same old sofa upon which she had long ago it s heart s delight said the captain looking intently in her face it s the sweet grow d a woman captain was so respectful of her and had such a for her in this new character that he would not have held her in his arms while she was unconscious for a thousand pounds my heart s delight said the captain withdrawing to a little distance with the greatest alarm and sympathy depicted on his countenance if you can hail ned with a finger but did not stir my heart s delight said the trembling captain for the sake of r in the deep turn to and up something or another if able finding her insensible to this impressive also captain snatched from his breakfast table a basin of cold water and sprinkled some upon her face yielding to the of the case the captain then using his immense hand with extraordinary gentleness relieved her of her bonnet her lips and forehead put back her hair covered her feet with his own coat which he pulled ofl for the purpose patted her small in his that he was struck with wonder when he touched it and seeing that her eyelids quivered and that her began to move continued these with a better heart and son cheerily said the captain cheerily stand by my pretty one stand by there you re better now steady s the word and steady it is keep her so drink a little drop o this here said the captain there you are what cheer now my pretty what cheer now at this stage of her recovery captain with an imperfect association of a watch with a physician s treatment of a patient took his own down from the mantel shelf and holding it out on his hook and taking s hand in his looked steadily from one to the other as expecting the dial to do something what cheer my pretty said the captain what cheer now ve done her some good my lad i believe said the captain under his breath and throwing an glance upon his watch put you back half an hour every morning and about another quarter towards the afternoon and you re a watch as can be by few and by none what cheer my lady captain is it you exclaimed raising herself a little yes yes my lady said the captain hastily deciding in his own mind upon the superior elegance of that form of address as the most he could think of is walter s uncle here asked here pretty returned the captain he an t been here this many a long day he an t been on since he off poor r but said the captain as a quotation though lost to sight to memory dear and england home and beauty do you live here asked yes my lady returned the captain oh captain cried putting her hands together and speaking wildly save me keep me here let no one know where i am i ll tell you what has happened by and by when i can i have no one in the world to go to do not send me away send you away my lady exclaimed the captain and son t my heart s delight stay a bit i we ll put up this here dead light and take a double turn on the key with these words the captain using his one hand and his hook with the greatest dexterity got out the of die door put it up made it all fast and locked the door when he came back to the side of she took his hand and kissed it the helplessness of the action the appeal it made to him the confidence it expressed the unspeakable sorrow in her face the pain of mind she had too plainly suffered and was suffering then his knowledge of her past history her present lonely worn and appearance all so rushed upon the good captain together that he fairly with compassion and gentleness my lady said the captain the bridge of his nose with his arm until it shone like copper don t you say a word to ed ard until such times as you finds yourself a riding smooth and easy which won t be to day nor yet to morrow and as to giving of you up or where you are yes verily and by god s help so i won t church make a note on this the captain said reference all in one breath and with much solemnity taking off his hat at yes verily and putting it on again when he had quite concluded could do but one thing more to thank him and to show him bow she trusted in him and she did it clinging to this rough creature as the last asylum of her bleeding heart she laid her head upon his honest shoulder and clasped him round his neck and would have down to bless him but that he divined her purpose and held her up like a true man steady said
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the captain steady you re too weak to stand you see my pretty and must lie down here again there there to see the captain lift her on the sofa and cover her with his coat would have been worth a hundred state sights and now said the captain you must take some breakfast lady and the dog shall have some too and that you shall go to old room and fall asleep there like a angel captain patted when he made allusion to vol xi and son idea into his head he would have considered it an outrageous breach of hospitality to allow her to do so was too weak to dispute the point and the captain carried her up out of hand laid her down and covered her with a great watch coat my lady said the captain you re as safe here as if you was at the top of st paul s cathedral with the ladder cast off sleep is what you want afore all other things and may you be able to show yourself smart with that there for the still small voice of a mind when there s anything you want my heart s delight as this here humble house or town can offer pass the word to ed ard as stand off and on outside that door and that there man will with joy the captain concluded by kissing the hand that stretched out to him with the chivalry of any old knight and walking on out of the room descending to the little parlor captain holding a hasty council with himself decided to open the shop door for a few minutes and satisfy himself that now at all events there was no one about it accordingly he set it open and stood upon the keeping a bright look out and sweeping the whole street with his spectacles how de do captain said a voice beside him the captain looking down found that he had been by mr while sweeping the horizon how are you my lad replied the captain well i m pretty well thank ee captain said mr you know i m never quite what i could wish to be now i don t expect that i ever shall be any more mr never approached any nearer than this to the great theme of his life when in conversation with captain on account of the agreement between them captain said mr if i could have the pleasure of a word with you it s it s rather particular why you see my lad replied the captain leading the way into the parlor i an t what you may call exactly free this morning and therefore if you can clap on a bit i should take it kindly t certainly captain replied mr who seldom and son had any notion of the captain s meaning to clap on is exactly what i could wish to do naturally if so be my lad returned the captain do it the captain was so impressed by the possession of his tremendous secret by the fact of miss being at that moment under his roof while the innocent and unconscious sat opposite to him that a perspiration broke out on his forehead and he found it impossible while slowly drying the same glazed hat in hand to keep his eyes off mr s face mr who himself appeared to have some secret reasons for being in a nervous state was so disconcerted by the captain s stare that af er looking at him for some time in silence and shifting uneasily on his chair he said i beg your pardon captain but you don t happen to see anything particular in me do you no my returned the captain no because you know said mr with a chuckle i know i m wasting away you needn t at all mind alluding to that i i should like it and co have altered my measure i m in that state of it s a gratification to me i i m glad of it i i d a great deal rather go into a decline if i could i m a mere brute you know upon the sur face of the earth captain the more mr went on in this way the more the captain was weighed down by his secret and stared at him what with this cause of uneasiness and his desire to get rid of mr the captain was in such a scared and strange condition indeed that if he had been in conversation with a ghost he could hardly have evinced greater but i was going to say captain said mr happening to be this way early this morning to tell you the truth i was coming to breakfast with you as to sleep you know i never sleep now i might be a except that i don t get any pay and he s got nothing on his mind carry on my lad said the captain in an voice certainly captain said mr perfectly true and son happening to be this way early this morning an hour or so ago and finding the door t what were you waiting there brother demanded the captain not at all captain returned mr i didn t stop a moment i thought you were out but the person said by the by you keep a dog do you captain the captain shook his head to be sure said mr that s exactly what i said i knew you didn t there is a dog captain connected with but excuse me that s forbidden ground the captain stared at mr until he seemed to swell to twice his natural size and again the perspiration broke out on the captain s forehead when he thought of taking it into his head to come down and make a third in
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the parlor the person said continued mr that he had heard a dog barking in the shop which i knew couldn t be and i told him so but he was as as if he had seen the dog what person my lad inquired the captain why you see there it is captain said mr with a perceptible increase in the of his manner it s not for me to say what may have taken place or what may not have taken place indeed i don t know i get mixed up with all sorts of things that i don t quite understand and i think there s something rather weak in my in my head in short the captain nodded his own as a mark of assent but the person said as we were walking away continued mr that you knew what under existing circumstances might occur he said might very strongly and that if you were requested to prepare yourself you would no doubt come prepared person my lad the captain repeated i don t know what person i m sure captain replied mr i haven t the least idea but coming to the door i found him waiting there and he said was i coming back again and i said yes and he said did i know you and i said yes i had the pleasure of your acquaintance you had given me the plea y and son f ture of your acquaintance after some and he said if was the case would i say to you what f said existing and prepared and as soon as ever i saw you would i ask you to step round the corner if it was only for one minute on most business to mr s the s now i tell you wliat captain whatever it is i m convinced it s very important and if you like to step round now i ll wait here till you come back the captain divided between his fear of in some way by not going and his horror of leaving mr in possession of the house with a chance of finding out the secret was a spectacle of mental disturbance that even mr could not be blind to but that young gentleman his as merely in a state of lor the interview he was going to have was satisfied and did not review his own discreet conduct without at length the captain decided as the lesser of two evils t run round to s the s previously the door that communicated with the upper part of the house and putting the key in his pocket if so be said the captain to mr with not a little shame and hesitation as you ll excuse my doing of it brother captain returned mr whatever you do is satisfactory to me the captain thanked him heartily and promising lo come back in less than five minutes went out in quest of the person who had mr with this mysterious message poor mr left to himself lay down upon the sofa little thinking who had there last and up at the and himself to visions of miss lost all heed of time and place it was as well that he did so for although the captain was not gone long he was gone much longer than he had proposed when he came back he was very pale indeed and greatly agitated and even looked as if he had been shedding tears he seemed to have lost the faculty of speech until he had been tc the cupboard and taken a of rum the ease bottle when and son he fetched a deep and sat m a with his before his face captain said mr i hope and trust there s nothing wrong v thank ee my ad not a bit said the captain quite yon have the appearance of being observed mr why my lad i am took the captain admitted i am is there anything i can do captain mr if there fe make use of me the captain removed his hand from his face looked at him with a remarkable expression of pity and tenderness and took him by the hand and shook it hard no thank ee said the captain nothing iii take ft as a favor if you ll part company for the present i believe brother wringing his hand again that after and on a model you re as good a lad as ever stepped upon my word and honor captain returned mr giving the captain s hand a preliminary s ap before shaking il again it s delightful to me to possess good opinion thank ee and bear a hand and cheer up said the captain patting him on the back what f more than one sweet in the world not to me captain replied mr gravely not to me assure you the state of my feelings miss is of that unspeakable description that my heart is a desert island and she lives in it alone i m getting more used up every day and i m proud to be so if you could see my legs when take my boots form some idea of what is i have been prescribed bark but don take it for i don t wish to have any tone whatever given to my constitution d rather not this however is forbidden ground captain good b ye f captain e cordially the of mr s farewell locked the door behind him and shaking hia and son d head with the same remarkable expression of pity and tender ness as he had regarded him with before went up to see if wanted him there was an entire change in the captain s face as he went up stairs he wiped his eyes with his handkerchief and he polished the bridge of his nose with his sleeve as he had done already that
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morning but his face was absolutely changed now he might have been thought happy now he might have been thought sad but the kind of gravity that sat upon his features was quite new to them and was as great an improvement to them as if they had undergone some process he knocked softly with his hook at s door twice or thrice but receiving no answer ventured first to peep in and then to enter to take the latter step perhaps by the familiar recognition of who stretched upon the ground by the side of her couch his tail and winked his eyes at the captain without being at the trouble of getting up she was sleeping heavily and moaning in her sleep and captain with a perfect awe of her youth and beauty and her sorrow raised her head and adjusted the coat that covered her where it had fallen oflf and darkened the window a little more that she might sleep on and crept out again and took his post of watch upon the stairs all this with a touch and tread as light as s own long may it remain in this mixed world a point not easy of decision which is the more beautiful evidence of the almighty s the delicate fingers that are formed for and sympathy of touch and made to minister to pain and grief or the rough hard captain hand that the heart teaches guides and in a moment slept upon her couch forgetful of her and and captain watched upon the stairs a louder sob or moan than usual brought him sometimes to her door but by degrees she slept more peacefully and the captain s watch was undisturbed vol ii and son chapter the makes a it was long before awoke the day waa in its prime the day was in its and still uneasy in mind and body she slept on unconscious of her strange bed of the noise and turmoil in the street and of the light that shone outside the shaded window perfect of what had happened in the home that existed no more even the deep slumber of exhaustion could not produce some and mournful recollection of it uneasily but never sleeping pervaded all her rest a dull sorrow like a half sense of pain was always present to her and her pale cheek was wet with tears than the honest captain softly putting in his head from time to time at the half closed door could have desired to see it the sun was getting low in the west and glancing out of a red mist pierced with its rays opposite and pieces of in the of city churches as if with golden arrows that struck through and through and far away the river and its flat banks it was gleaming like a path of and out at sea it was sails of ships and looked towards from quiet upon hill tops in the country it was distant prospects in a flush and glow that seemed to mingle earth and sky together in one glorious when opening her heavy eyes lay at first looking without interest or recognition at the walls around her and listening in the same regardless manner to the noises in the street but presently she started up upon her couch gazed round with a surprised and vacant look and recollected all my pretty said the captain knocking at the door what and son friend cried hurrying lo him is it you the captain felt so much pride in the name and was so pleased by the gleam of pleasure in her ce when she saw him that he kissed his hook by way of reply in speechless gratification what cheer bright di said the captain i have surely slept very long returned did i come here f yesterday this here blessed day my lady replied the captain has there been no night is it still day asked getting on for evening now my pretty said the captain drawing back the curtain of the window see with her hand upon the captain s arm so sorrowful and timid and the captain with his rough face and figure so quietly of her stood in the rosy light of the bright evening sky without saying a word however strange the form of speech into which he might have fashioned the feeling if he bad had to give it utterance the captain felt as sensibly as the most eloquent of men could have done that there was something in the tranquil time and in its softened beauty that would make the wounded heart of and that it was better that such tears should have their way so not a word captain but when he felt his arm clasped and when he felt the head come nearer to it and lay itself against bis homely coarse blue sleeve he pressed it gently his rugged hand and understood it and was understood better now my pretty said the captain cheerily cheerily i ll go down below and get some dinner ready will you come down of your own self pretty or shall j ld ard come and fetch you v as assured him that she was quite me to walk down th captain though evidently doubtful of his own in it left her to do so and immediately set t a fowl at the fire in the little parlor to achieve hi ery wi the greater skill he pulled off his coat tucked m w and put on his hat without which and son be never applied himself to any nice or difficult taking after her aching head and burning face in the fresh water which the captain s care had lor her while she slept went to the little to bind up her disordered hair then she n a moment for she it instantly that on her breast there was the
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darkening mark of an angry hand her tears burst forth afresh at the sight f she was ashamed and afraid of it but it her to no anger against him and she forgave him everything hardly thought that she had need to forgive him or that she did but she fled from the idea of him as she had fled from the reality and he was utterly gone and lost there was no such being in the world what to do or where to live poor girl could not yet consider she had indistinct dreams of finding a long way off some little sisters to instruct who would be gentle with her and to whom under some feigned name she might attach herself and who would grow up in their happy home and marry and be good to old and perhaps her in time with the education of their own and she thought how strange and sorrowful it would be thus to become a grey haired woman carrying her secret to the grave when was forgotten but it was all dim and clouded to her now she only knew that she had no father upon earth and she said so many times with her head hidden from all but her father who was in heaven her little stock of money amounted to but a few guineas with a part of this it would be necessary to buy some clothes for she had none but those she wore was too desolate to think how soon her money would be gone too much a child in worldly matters to be greatly troubled on that score yet even if her other trouble had been less she tried to calm her thoughts and stay her tears to quiet the hurry in her throbbing head and bring herself to believe that what had happened were but the events of a few hours ago instead of weeks or months a they and went down to her kind protector and son the captain had spread the cloth with great care and was making some egg in a little the fowl from time to time during the process with a strong interest as it turned and on a string before the fire having propped up with cushions on the sofa which was already wheeled into a warm comer for her greater comfort the captain pursued his cooking with extraordinary skill making hot in a second little boiling a handful of potatoes in a third never forgetting the egg in the first and making an impartial round of and stirring with the most useful of every minute besides these cares the captain had to keep hb eye on a pan in which some were hissing and in a most musical manner and there was never such a radiant cook as the captain looked in the height and heat of these functions it being impossible to say whether his face or his glazed hat shone the brighter the dinner being at length quite ready captain and served it up with no less dexterity than he had cooked it he then dressed for dinner by taking off his glazed hat and putting on his coat that done he wheeled the table close against on the sofa said grace his hook his fork into its place and did the honors of the table my lady said the captain cheer up and try to eat a deal stand by my liver wing it is it is it is and all of which the captain ranged on a plate and pouring hot on the whole with the useful spoon set before his cherished guest the whole row o dead lights is up for ard lady observed the captain and is made try and pick a bit my pretty if r was here ah if i had him for my brother now cried don t don t take on my pretty said the captain to me he was your bom friend like t he pet had no words to answer with she only said oh dear dear paul oh walter the she walked on murmured the captain looking at her drooping face was as high esteemed by ff v and son as the water is by the which never i see him now the day as he was on them books a speaking of her with his face a glistening with with his modest like a new rose at dinner well well if our poor r was here my lady or if h could be for he s an t he shook her head yes yes said the captain soothingly as i was saying if he could be here he d beg and pray of you my precious to pick a bit with a look out for your own sweet health whereby hold your own my lady as if it was for r s sake and lay your pretty head to the wind to eat a morsel for the captain s pleasure the captain meanwhile who seemed to have quite forgotten his own dinner laid down his knife and fork and drew his chair to the sofa r was a trim lad t he precious v said the captain after sitting for some time silently rubbing his chin with his eyes fixed upon her and a brave lad and a good lad assented and he s beauty an t he said the captain in a soothing voice could not but assent again he was older than you my lady pursued the captain but you was like two children together at first warn t you answered yes f and r s said the captain an t he the repetition of this inquiry was a curious source of consolation but it seemed to be one to captain for he came back to it again and again fain to push from her her dinner and to lie back on her sofa gave him
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her hand feeling that she had disappointed him though truly wishing to have pleased him after all his trouble but he held it in his own which shook as he held it and appearing to have quite forgotten all about the dinner and her want of appetite went on growling at intervals in a tone of sympathy poor r aye aye an t he and and son dis waited for her answer in which the great point of these singular reflections appeared to consist the fowl and were cold and the and the egg before the captain remembered that they were on the board and fell to with the assistance of whose united quickly the banquet the captain s delight and wonder at the quiet of in assisting to clear the table arrange the parlor and sweep up the only to be equalled by the of his protest when she began to assist were gradually raised to that degree that at last he could not choose but do nothing himself and stand looking at her as if she were some fairy performing these offices for him the red rim on his forehead glowing again in his unspeakable admiration but when taking down his pipe from the mantel shelf gave it into his hand and entreated him to smoke it the good captain was so bewildered by her attention that he held it as if he had never held a pipe in all his life likewise when looking into the little cupboard took out the case bottle and mixed a perfect glass of for him and set it at his elbow his ruddy nose turned pale he felt himself so and honored when he had filled his pipe in an absolute reverie of satisfaction lighted it for him the captain having no power to object or to prevent hei and her place die old sofa looked at him with a smile so loving and so grateful a smile that showed him so plainly how her forlorn heart turned to him as her face did through grief that the smoke of the pipe got into the captain s throat and made him cough and got into the captain s eyes and made them and water the manner in which the captain tried to make believe that the cause of these effects lay hidden in the pipe itself and the way in which he looked into the bowl for it and not finding it there pretended to blow it out of the stem was wonderfully pleasant the pipe soon getting into better condition he fell into that state of repose becoming a good but sat with his eyes fixed on and with a beaming not to be described and stopping every now and then lo a and son cloud from his lips slowly puffed it forth as if it were a coming out of his mouth bearing the legend poor r aye aye an t he which he would resume his smoking with infinite gentleness unlike as they were and there could scarcely be a more decided contrast than between in her delicate youth and beauty and captain with his face his great broad weather beaten person and his voice in simple innocence of the world s ways and the world s and dangers they were nearly on a level no child could have surpassed captain in experience of everything but wind and weather in simplicity and generous faith hope and charity shared his whole nature among them an odd sort of romance perfectly yet perfectly unreal and subject to no considerations of worldly prudence or was the only partner they had in his character as the captain sat and smoked and looked at god knows what impossible pictures in which she was the principal figure presented themselves to his mind equally vague and uncertain though sanguine were her own thoughts of the life before her and even as her tears made colors in the light she gazed at so through her new and heavy grief she already saw a rainbow faintly shining in the far off sky a wandering princess and a good monster in a story book might have sat by the fire side and talked as captain and poor thought and dot have looked very much unlike them the captain was not troubled with the faintest idea of any difficulty in retaining or of any responsibility thereby incurred having put up the shutters and locked the door he was quite satisfied on this head if she had been a ward in it would have made no difference at all to captain he was the last man in the world to be troubled by any such considerations so the captain smoked his pipe very comfortably and and he meditated their own manner when the pipe was out they had some tea and then entreated him to take her to some neighboring shop where she could buy the few necessaries the immediately wanted it being quite dark the cap and son tain consented peeping carefully out first as he had been wont to do in his time of hiding from mrs and himself with his large stick in case of an appeal to arms being rendered necessary by any circumstance the pride captain had in giving his arm to and her some two or three hundred yards keeping a bright all the time and the attention of every one who passed them by his great vigilance and numerous precautions was extreme arrived at the shop the captain felt it a point of delicacy to retire during the making of the purchases as they were to consist of wearing apparel but he previously deposited his tin on the counter and informing the young lady of the establishment that it contained fourteen pound two requested her in case that amount of property should not be sufficient to the expenses of his niece s little at the word niece
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hand and in the dark and laid her weary head down weeping the captain did not go to bed for a long time he walked to and fro in the shop and in the little for a full hour and appearing to have composed himself by that exercise sat down with a grave and thoughtful face and read out of a prayer book the forms of prayer appointed to be used at sea these were not easily disposed of the good captain being a mighty slow reader and frequently stopping at a hard word to give himself such encouragement as now my lad with a will or steady ed ard steady which had a great effect in helping him out of any difficulty moreover his spectacles greatly interfered with his powers of vision but notwithstanding these the captain being heartily in earnest read the service to the very last line and with genuine feeling too and of it very much when he had done turned in under the counter but not before he had been upstairs and listened at s door with a serene breast and a most benevolent the captain turned out several times in the course of the night to assure himself that his charge was resting quietly and once at daybreak found that she was awake for she called to know if it were he on hearing footsteps near her door yes my lady replied the captain in a growling whisper are you all right diamond thanked him and said yes the captain could not lose so favorable an opportunity of applying his mouth to the and calling through it like a hoarse breeze poor r an t he which he withdrew and turning in again slept till seven o clock nor was he free from his uneasy and embarrassed manner all and son i that day though being busy with her needle in the little parlor was more calm and tranquil than she had been on the day preceding almost always when she raised her eyes from her work she observed the captain looking at her and thoughtfully his chin and he so often his close to her as if he were going to say something very confidential and it away again as not being able to make up his mind how to begin that in the course of the day he completely round the parlor in that frail bark and more than once went ashore against the or the closet door in af very distressed condition it was not until the twilight that captain fairly dropping anchor at last by the side of began to talk at all but when the light of the fire was shining on the walls and ceiling of the little room and on the tea board and the cups and that were ranged upon the table and on her calm face turned towards the flame and reflecting it in the tears that filled her eyes the captain broke a long silence thus you never was at sea my own no replied aye said the captain it s a almighty element there s wonders in the deep my pretty think on it when the winds is roaring and the waves is think on it when the nights is so pitch dark said the captain solemnly holding up his hook as you can t see your hand afore you excepting when the lightning the same and when you drive drive drive through the storm and dark as if you was a head on to the world without end amen and when found making a note of them s the times my beauty when a man may say to his previously a of the a stiff nor s blowing bill hark don t you hear it roar now lord help em how i all unhappy folks ashore now which quotation as particularly to the terrors of the ocean the captain delivered in a most impressive manner with a stand by were you ever in a dreadful storm asked why aye my lady ass i ve seen my share of bad weather m and son aid the captain wiping his head and had my share of knocking about but it an t of myself as i was a meaning to speak our dear boy drawing closer to her r darling as was the captain spoke in such a trembling voice and looked at with a face so pale and agitated that she clung to his hand in your face is changed cried you are altered in a moment what is it dear captain it turns me cold to see you what lady returned the captain supporting her with his hand don t be took no no all s well all s well my dear as i was a saying r he s he s an t he looked at him intently her color came and went and she laid her hand upon her breast there s perils and dangers on the deep my beauty said the captain and over many a brave ship and many and many a heart the secret waters has closed up and never told no tales but there s escapes upon the deep too and one man out of a score ah may be out of a hundred pretty has been saved by the mercy of and come home after being give over for dead and told of all hands lost i i know a story heart s delight stammered the captain o this as was told to me once and being on this here tack and you and me sitting alone by the fire maybe you d like to hear me tell it would you trembling with an agitation which she could not control or understand involuntarily followed his glance which went behind her into the shop where a lamp was burning the instant that she turned her head the captain
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sprang out of his chair and interposed his hand there s nothing there my beauty said the captain don t look there why not asked the captain murmured something about its being dull that way and about the fire being cheerful he drew the door had been standing open until now and resumed his seat and son allowed him with her eyes and looked intently in hit face the story was about a ship my lady began the cap tain as sailed out of the port of london with a fair wind and in fair weather bound don t be took my lady she was only out ard bound pretty only out ard bound the expression on s face alarmed the captain who was himself very hot and and showed scarcely less agitation than she did shall i go on beauty said the captain yes yes pray cried the captain made a as if to get down something that was sticking in his throat and nervously proceeded that there ship met with such foul weather out at sea as don t blow once in twenty years my darling there was ashore as tore up forests and down towns and there was at sea in them as not the ever launched could live in day day that there ship behaved noble i m told and did her duty brave my pretty but at one blow a most her was stove in her and carried away her best men swept overboard and she left to the mercy of the storm as had no mercy but harder and harder yet while the waves dashed over her and beat her in and every time they come a thundering at her broke her like a shell every black spot in every mountain of water that rolled away was a bit o the ship s life or a living man and so she went to pieces beauty and no grass will never grow upon the graves of them as that ship they were not all lost cried some were saved was one aboard o that there said the captain rising from his chair and his hand with prodigious energy and exultation was a lad a gallant lad as i ve tell that had loved when he was a boy to read and talk about brave actions in i ve him i ve him and he remembered of em in his hour of need for when the hearts and oldest hands was down he was firm ana cheery it warn t the want of objects to like and love ashore m and son that gave him courage it was his mind i ve seen it in his face when he was no more than a child aye many a time and when i thought it nothing but his good looks bless him and was he saved cried was he saved that brave lad said the captain look at me pretty don t look round had hardly power to repeat why not because there s nothing there my said the captain don t be took pretty don t for the sake of r as was dear to all on us that there lad said the captain working with the best and standing by the and never making no complaint nor sign of fear and keeping up a spirit in all hands that made em honor him as if he d been a admiral that lad along with the second mate and one seaman was left of all the hearts that went aboard that ship the only living lashed to a fragment of the wreck and on the stormy sea were they saved cried days and nights they on them endless waters said the captain until at last no don t look that way pretty a sail bore down upon em and they was by the lord s mercy took aboard two living and one dead which of them was dead cried not the lad i speak on said the captain thank god oh thank god amen returned the captain hurriedly don t be took a minute more my lady with a good heart aboard that ship they went a long voyage right away across the for there weren t no touching nowhere and on that voyage the seaman as was picked up with him died but he was spared and the captain without knowing what he did had cut a of bread from the loaf and put it on his hook which was his fork on which he now held it to the fire looking behind with great emotion in his face and suffering the bread to blaze and bum like fuel was spared repeated and j t r r e li i f t i f n and son and come home in that ship said the captain still in the same direction and don t he frightened pretty and landed and one morning came cautiously to his own door to take a knowing that his friends would think him when he off at the unexpected at the unexpected barking of a dog cried quickly yes roared the captain steady darling courage don t look round yet see there upon the wall there was the shadow of a man upon the wall close to her she started up looked round and with a piercing cry saw walter gay behind her she had no thought of him but as a brother a brother rescued from the grave a brother saved and at her side and rushed into his arms in all the world he seemed to be her hope her comfort refuge natural protector take care of walter i was fond of walter the dear remembrance of the plaintive voice that said so rushed upon her soul like music in the night oh welcome home
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dear walter welcome to this stricken breast she felt the words although she could not utter them and held him in her pure embrace captain in a fit of delirium attempted to wipe his head with the blackened toast upon his hook and finding it an substance for the purpose put it into the crown of his glazed hat put his glazed hat on with some difficulty to sing a verse of lovely broke at the first word and retired into the shop whence he presently came back express with a face all flushed and and the completely taken out of his shirt collar to say these words r my lad here is a little bit of property as i should wish to make over the captain hastily produced the big watch the tea the sugar and the and laying them on the table swept them with his great hand into walter s hat but in handing that singular strong box to walter he was so overcome again that he was fain to make another retreat into the shop and absent himself for a longer space of time than on his first retirement but walter sought him out and brought him back and then fl and son the captain s great apprehension was that would from this new shock he felt it so earnestly that he turned quite rational and positively any further allusion to walter s adventures for some days to come captain then became composed to relieve himself of the toast in his hat and to take his place at the tea board but finding walter s grasp upon his shoulder on one side and whispering her tear congratulations on the other the captain bolted again and was missing for a good ten minutes but never in all his life had the captain s face so shone and as when at last he sat stationary at the tea board looking from to walter and from walter to nor was this effect produced or at all heightened by the immense quantity of he had administered to his face with his coat sleeve during the last half hour it was solely the effect of his internal emotions there was m glory and ht within the captain that spread itself over his whole and made a illumination there the pride with which the captain looked upon the cheek and the courageous eyes of his recovered boy with which he saw the generous of his youth and all its frank and hopeful qualities shining once more in the fresh wholesome manner and the ardent face would have kindled something of this light in his countenance the admiration and sympathy with which he turned his eyes on whose beauty grace and innocence could have won no truer or more zealous champion than himself would have had an equal influence upon him but the fulness of the glow he shed around him could only have been in his of e two together and in all the fancies springing out of that association that came sparkling and beaming into his head and danced about it how they talked of poor old uncle and dwelt on every little circumstance relating to his disappearance how their joy was by the old man s absence and by the misfortunes of how they released whom the captain had up stairs some time before lest he should bark again the captain though he was in one continual flutter and made many more short into the shop fully comprehended but and son fl he no more dreamed that walter looked on as it were from a new and far place that while his eyes often sought the lovely face they seldom met its open glance of affection but withdrew themselves when hers were raised towards him than he believed that it was walter s ghost who sat beside him he saw them there together in their youth and beauty and he knew the story of their younger days and he had no inch of room beneath his great blue waistcoat for an save admiration of such a pair and gratitude for their being re united they sat thus until it grew late the captain would have been content to sit so for a week but walter rose to take leave for the night going walter said where he his for the present lady said captain round at s within hail heart s delight i am the cause of your going away walter said there is a sister in your place dear miss replied walter hesitating if it is not too bold to call you so walter she exclaimed surprised if anything could make me happier in being allowed to see and speak to you would it not be the discovery that i had any means on earth of doing you a moment s service where would i not go what would i not do for your sake she smiled and called him brother you are so changed said walter i changed she interrupted to me said walter softly as if he were thinking aloud changed to me i left you such a child and find oh something so different but your sister walter you have not forgotten what we promised to each other when we parted forgotten but he said no more and if you had if suffering and danger had driven it from your thoughts which it has not you id remember it now walter when you find me poor and abandoned with no but this and no friends but the two who hear me speak and son i would heaven knows i would said walter oh walter exclaimed through her sobs and tears dear brother show me some way through the world some humble path that i may take alone and labor in and sometimes think of you as one who will protect and care for me as for
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a sister oh help me walter for i need help so much miss i would die to help you but friends are proud and rich your father no no walter she shrieked and put her hands up to her head in an attitude of terror that him where he stood don t say that word he never from that hour forgot the voice and look with which she stopped him at the name he felt that if he were to live a hundred years he never could forget it somewhere anywhere but never home a l past all gone all lost and broken up the whole history of her slight and was in the cry and look and he felt he never could forget it and he never did she laid her gentle face upon the captain s shoulder and related how and why she had fled if every tear she shed in doing so had been a curse upon the head of him she never named or blamed it would have been better for him walter thought with awe than to be out of such a strength and might of love there precious said the captain when she ceased and deep attention the captain had paid to her while she spoke listening with his glazed hat all and his mouth wide open my eyes r dear lad sheer off for tonight and leave the pretty one to me walter took her hand in both of his and put it to his lips and kissed it he knew now that she was indeed a wandering fugitive but richer to him so than in all the wealth and pride of her right station she seemed further off than even on the height that had made him giddy in his boyish dreams captain perplexed by no such meditations guarded to her room and watched at intervals upon the charmed ground outside her door for it truly was to him until he felt sufficiently easy in his mind about her to turn in under the and son counter on his watch for that purpose he could not help calling once through the an t he pretty or when he got down stairs making another trial at that verse of lovely but it stuck in his throat somehow and he could make nothing of it so he went to bed and dreamed that old was married to mrs and kept prisoner by that lady in a secret chamber on a short allowance of vm and son chapter l mr s complaint there was an empty room downstairs at the wooden s which in days of had been walter s bed room walter rousing up the captain in the morning proposed that they should carry thither such furniture out of the little parlor as would grace it best so that might take possession of it when she rose as nothing could be more agreeable to captain than making himself very red and short of breath in such a cause he turned to as he himself said with a will and in a couple of hours this garret was transformed into a species of land cabin adorned with all the out of the parlor even of the which the captain hung up over the chimney piece with such extreme delight that he could do nothing for half an hour afterwards but walk backward from it lost in admiration the captain could be induced by no persuasion of walter s to wind up the big watch or to take back the or to touch the sugar and tea no no my lad was the captain s invariable reply to any of the kind i ve made that there little property over these words he repeated with great and gravity evidently believing that they had the virtue of an act of parliament and that unless he committed himself by some new admission of no flaw could be found in such a form of conveyance it was an advantage of the new arrangement that besides the greater seclusion it afforded it admitted of the being restored to his usual post of observation and of the shop shutters being taken down the latter ceremony however little importance the unconscious captain attached to it and son not wholly superfluous for on the previous day so much excitement had been occasioned in the neighborhood by the shutters remaining that the instrument maker s house had been honored with an unusual share of public observation and had been intently stared at from the opposite side of the way by groups of hungry at any time between sunrise and sunset the and had been particularly interested in the captain s fate constantly in the mud to apply their eyes to the cellar under the shop window and their with the fancy that they could see a piece of his coat as he in a corner though this settlement of him was stoutly disputed by an opposite who were of opinion that he lay murdered with a hammer on the stairs it was not without exciting some discontent therefore that the subject of these was seen early in the morning standing at his shop door as hale and hearty as if nothing had happened and the of that quarter a man of an character who had expected to have the distinction of being present at the breaking open of the door and of giving evidence in full uniform before the went so far as to say to an opposite neighbor that the chap in the glazed hat had better not try it on without more particularly mentioning what and further that he the would keep his eye upon him captain said walter when they stood resting from their labors at the shop door looking down the old familiar street it being still early in the morning nothing at all of uncle in all that time at all my
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lad replied the captain shaking his head gone in search of me kind old man said walter yet never write to you but w ny not he says in effect in this packet that you gave me taking the paper from his pocket which had been opened in the presence of the enlightened y if you never hear from him before opening it you may believe him dead heaven forbid but you would have heard of him even if he were dead some one would have written surely by his desire if he could not and have said on t tl and son a day there died in my house or under my or so forth mr solomon of london who left this last remembrance and this last request to you the captain who had never climbed to such a clear height of probability before was greatly impressed by the wide prospect it opened and answered with a thoughtful shake of his head well said my lad well said i have been thinking of this or at least said walter i have been thinking of one and another all through a sleepless night and i cannot believe captain but that my uncle lord bless him is alive and will return i don t so much wonder at his going away because leaving out of consideration that of the marvellous which was always in his character and his great affection for me before which every other consideration of his life became nothing as no one ought to know so well as who had the best of fathers in him walter s voice was indistinct and here and he looked away along the street leaving that out of consideration i say i have read and heard of people who having some near and dear relative who was supposed to be at sea have gone down to live on that part of the sea shore where any of the missing ship might be expected to arrive though only an hour or two sooner than elsewhere or have even gone upon her track to the place whither she was bound as if their going would create intelligence i think i should do such a thing myself as soon as another or sooner than perhaps but why my uncle shouldn t write to you hen he so clearly intended to do so or how be should die abroad and you not know it through some other hand i cannot make out captain observed with a shake of his head that jack himself hadn t made it out and that he was a man as could give a pretty opinion too if my uncle had been a heedless young man likely to be by jovial company to some drinking place where he was to be got rid of for the sake of what money he might have about him said walter or if he had been a reckless sailor going ashore with two or three months pay in his pocket i could and son understand his disappearing and leaving no trace behind but being what he was and is i hope i can t believe it my lad inquired the captain wistfully him as he pondered and pondered what do you make of it then captain returned walter i don t know what to make of it i suppose he never has written there is no doubt about that if so be as wrote my lad replied the captain where s his say that he it to some private hand suggested walter and that it has been forgotten or carelessly thrown aside or lost even that is more probable to me than the other event in short i not only cannot bear to contemplate that other event captain but i can t and won t hope you see r said the captain hope it s that as you hope is a for which you over haul your little sentimental but lord my lad like any other it only it can t be nowhere along with the figure head of hope said the captain there s a anchor but what s the good of my having a anchor if i can t find no bottom to let it go in captain said this rather in his character of a sagacious citizen and bound to impart a morsel from his stores of wisdom to an inexperienced youth than in his own proper person indeed his face was quite luminous as he spoke with new hope caught from walter and he con by him on the back and saying with enthusiasm my lad i m o your opinion walter with his cheerful laugh returned the salutation and said only one word more about my uncle at present captain i suppose it is impossible that he could have written in the ordinary course by mail packet or ship letter you under aye aye my lad said the captain and that you have missed the letter anyhow why r said the captain his eyes upon him with a faint approach to a severe expression an t i been on vol ii t and son the for any tidings of that man o science old your uncle day and night ever since i him an t my heart been heavy and watchful always along of him and you sleeping and waking an t i been upon my post and wouldn t have scorned to quit it while this here held together yes captain replied walter grasping his hand know you would and i know how faithful and earnest all you say and feel is i am sure of it you don t doubt that i am as sure of it as i am that my foot is again upon this door step or that i again have hold of this true hand do you no no r returned the ain with his beaming i ll hazard
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solemn treaty and compact between them that mr should be mute upon the subject of his love the question then was whether could trust mr and saying with a smile oh yes with whole heart it became important to find out where mr lived this didn t know and the captain had forgotten and the captain was telling walter in the little parlor that mr was sure to be there soon when in came mr himself captain said mr rushing into the parlor with out any ceremony in a state of mind on distraction mr had discharged those words as from a mortar before he observed walter whom he recognised with what may be de as a chuckle of misery you ll excuse me sir said mr holding his forehead but i m at present in that state that my brain is going if not gone and anything approaching to politeness in an individual so situated would be a hollow mockery captain i beg to request the favor of a private interview why brother returned the captain taking him by the hand you are the man as we was on the look out for oh captain said mr what a look out that must be of which am the object i haven t dared to i m in that rash state i haven t had my clothes brushed my hair is together i told the chicken that if he offered to dean my boots i d stretch him a corpse before me all these indications of a disordered mind were in mr s appearance which was wild and savage see here brother said the captain this here s old s r him as was supposed to have perished at sea mr took his hand from his forehead and stared at walter good gracious me stammered mr what a of misery how de do i i i m afraid you must have got very wet captain will you allow me a word in the shop i and son he took the captain by the coat and going out with him then captain is the party you spoke of when you said that he and miss were made for one another why aye my lad replied the captain i was of that mind once and at this time exclaimed mr with his hand to his forehead again of all others a hated rival at least he an t a hated rival said mr stopping short on second thoughts and taking away his hand what should i hate him for no if my affection has been truly disinterested captain let me prove it now mr shot back abruptly into the parlor and said ing walter by the hand how e do i hope you didn t take any cold i i shall be very glad if you ll give me the pleasure of your acquaintance i wish you many happy returns of the day upon my word and honor said mr warming as he became better acquainted with walter s face and figure i m very glad to see you thank you heartily said walter i couldn t desire a more genuine and genial welcome couldn t you though said mr still shaking his hand it s very kind of you i m much obliged to you de do i hope you everybody quite well over that is upon the i mean wherever you came from last you know all these good wishes and better intentions walter responded to captain said mr i should wish to be strictly honorable but i trust i may be allowed now to allude to a certain subject that aye aye my lad returned the captain freely freely then captain said mr and lieutenant are you aware that the most dreadful circumstances have been happening at mr s house and that herself has her father who in my opinion said mr with great excitement is a brute that it would be a and son flattery to a marble or a bird of prey and that she is not to be found and has gone no one knows where may i ask how you heard this inquired walter lieutenant said mr who had arrived at that by a process peculiar to himself probably by up his christian name with the profession and supposing some relationship between him and the captain which would extend as a matter of course to their titles lieutenant i can have no objection to make a straightforward reply the fact is that feeling extremely interested in everything that relates to miss not for any selfish reason lieutenant for i am well aware that the most agreeable thing i could do for all parties would be to put an end to my existence which can only be regarded as an inconvenience i have been in the habit of a trifle now and then upon a footman a most respectable young man of the name of who has lived in the family some time and informed me yesterday evening that this was the state of things since which captain and lieutenant i have been perfectly frantic and have been lying down on the sofa all night the ruin you behold mr said walter i am happy to be able to relieve your mind pray calm yourself miss is safe and well sir cried mr starting from his chair and shaking hands with him anew the relief is so excessive and unspeakable that if you were to tell me that miss was married even i could smile yes captain said mr a to him upon my soul and body i really think what ever i might do to myself immediately afterwards that i could smile i am so relieved it will be a greater relief and delight still to such a generous mind as yours said walter not at all
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slow in returning his greeting to find that you can render service to miss captain will you have the kindness to take mr up stairs the captain beckoned to mr who followed him with bewildered and ascending to the top of the l and son was introduced without a word of preparation from his tor into s new retreat poor mr s amazement and pleasure at sight of her were such that they could find a vent in nothing but extravagance he ran up to her seized her hand kissed it dropped it seized it again fell upon one knee shed tears chuckled and was quite regardless of his danger of being pinned by who in by the belief that there was something hostile to his mistress in these worked round and round him as if only at what particular point to go in for the assault but quite resolved to do him a fearful mischief oh di you bad forgetful dog dear mr i am so rejoiced to see you said mr i am pretty well i m much obliged to you miss i hope all the family are the same mr said this without the least notion of what he was talking about and sat down on a chair staring at with the of delight and despair going on in his face that any face could exhibit captain and lieutenant have mentioned miss gasped mr that i can do you some service if i could by any means wash out the remembrance of that day at when i conducted myself much more like a than a person of independent property said mr with severe self accusation i should sink into the silent tomb with a gleam of joy pray mr said do not wish to forget anything in our acquaintance i never can believe me you have been far too kind and good to me always miss returned mr your consideration for my feelings is a part of your character thank you a thousand times it s of no consequence at all what we thought of asking you said is whether you remember where whom you were so kind as to accompany to the coach office when she me is to be found why i do not certainly miss said mr and son a little consideration the exact name of the place that was on the coach and i do recollect that she said she was not going to stop there but was going further on but miss if your object is to find her and to have her here myself and the chicken will produce her with every devotion on my part and great intelligence on the chicken s can mr was so delighted and revived by the prospect of being useful and the disinterested sincerity of his devotion was so that it would have been cruel to refuse him with an instinctive delicacy to urge the least obstacle though she did not forbear to him with thanks and mr proudly took the commission upon himself for immediate execution miss said mr touching her proffered hand with a pang of hopeless love visibly shooting through him and flashing out in his face good by allow me to take the liberty of saying that your misfortunes make me perfectly wretched and that you may trust me next to captain himself i am quite aware miss of my own they re not of the least consequence thank you but am entirely to be relied upon i do assure you miss with that mr came out of the room again accompanied by the captain who standing at a little distance holding his hat under his arm and arranging his scattered locks with his hook had been a not witness of what passed and when the door closed behind them the light of mr s life was darkly clouded again captain said that gentleman stopping near the bottom of the stairs and turning round to tell you the truth i am not in a frame of mind at the present moment in which i could see lieutenant with that entirely friendly feeling towards him that i should wish to harbor in my breast we cannot always command our feelings and i should take it as a particular favor if you d let me out at the private door brother returned the captain you shall shape your own and son course you take is plain and i m sure captain said mr you re extremely kind your good opinion is a consolation to me there is one thing said mr standing in the passage behind the half opened door that i hope you ll bear in mind captain and that i should wish lieutenant to be made acquainted with i have quite come into my property now you know and i don t know what to do with it if i could be at all useful in a pecuniary point of view i should glide into the silent tomb with ease and mr said no more but slipped out quietly and shut the door upon himself to cut the captain off from any reply thought of this good creature long he had left her with mingled emotions of pain and pleasure he was so honest and warm hearted that to see him again and be assured of his truth to her in her distress was a joy and comfort beyond all price but for that very reason it was so affecting to think that she caused him a moment s or ruffled by a breath the harmless current of his life that her eyes filled with tears and her bosom with pity captain in his different way thought much of mr too and so did walter and when the evening came and they were all sitting together in s new room walter praised him in a most impassioned manner and told what he had said on leaving the
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house with every graceful setting off in the way of comment and appreciation that his own honesty and sympathy could surround it with mr did not return upon the next day or the next or for several days and in the meanwhile without any new alarm lived like a quiet bird in a cage at the top of the old instrument maker s house but drooped and hung her head more and more plainly as the days went on and the expression that had been seen in the face of the dead child was turned to the sky from her high window as if it sought hia angel out on the bright shore of which he had spoken lying on his little bed had been weak and delicate of and the and son m tion she had undergone was not its influence on her health but it was no bodily illness that affected her now she was distressed in mind and the cause of her distress was walter interested in her anxious for her proud and glad to serve her and showing all this with the enthusiasm and of his character saw that he avoided her all the long day through he seldom approached her room if she asked for him he came again for the moment as earnest and as bright as she remembered him when she was a lost child in the staring streets but he soon became constrained her quick affection was too watchful not to know it and uneasy and soon left her he never came all day between the and the night when the evening closed in he was always there and that was her happiest time for then she half believed that the old walter of her childhood was not changed but even then some trivial word look or circumstance would show her that there was an division between them which could not be passed and she could not but see that these reveal of a great alteration in walter manifested themselves in despite of his utmost to hide them in his consideration for her she thought and in the earnestness of his desire to spare her any wound from his kind hand he resorted to innumerable little and so much the more did feel the greatness of the alteration in him so much the did she weep at this of her brother the good captain her tender ever zealous friend saw it too thought and it pained him he was less cheerful and hopeful than he had been at first and would steal looks at her and walter by turns when they were all three together of an evening with quite a sad face resolved at last to speak to walter she believed she knew now what the cause of his was and she thought it would be a relief to her full heart and would set him more at ease if she told him she had found it out and quite submitted to it and did not reproach him it was on a certain sunday that took this resolution the faithful captain in an amazing shirt i and son was sitting by her reading with his spectacles on and she asked him where walter was i think he s down below my lady returned the captain i should like to speak to him said rising as if to go down stairs r rouse him up here beauty said the captain in a thereupon the captain with much alacrity shouldered his book for he made it a point of duty to read none but very large books on a sunday as having a more staid appearance and had years ag for a prodigious volume at a book stall five lines of which utterly confounded him at any time that he had not yet ascertained of what subject it treated and withdrew walter soon appeared captain tells me miss he eagerly began on coming in but stopped when he saw her face you are not so well to day you look distressed you have been weeping he spoke so kindly and with such a fervent tremor in his voice that the tears into her eyes at the sound of his words walter said gently i am not quite well and i have been weeping i want to speak to you he sat down opposite to her looking at her beautiful and innocent face and his own turned pale and his lips trembled you said upon the night when i knew that you were saved and oh dear walter what i felt that night and what i hoped he put his trembling hand upon the table between then and sat looking at her that i was changed i was surprised to hear you say so but i understand now that i am don t be angry with me walter i was too much to think of it then she seemed a child to him again it was the confiding loving child he saw and heard not the dear woman at whose feet he would have laid the riches of the earth and son tou remember the last time i saw you walter before you went away v he put hb hand into his breast and took out a little purse i have always worn it round my neck if i had gone down in the deep it would have been with me at the bottom of the sea and you will wear it still walter for my old sake until i die she laid her hand on his as and simply as if not a day had since she gave him the little token of remembrance i am glad of that i shall be always glad to so walter do you recollect that a thought of this change seemed to come into our minds at the same time that evening when we were
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will take me for your wife walter i will love you dearly if you will let me go with you walter i will go to the world s end without fear i can give up nothing for you i and son have nothing to resign and no one to but all my e and life shall be devoted to you and with my last breath i will breathe your name to god if i have sense and memory left he caught her to his heart and laid her cheek against his own and now no more no more forlorn she wept indeed upon the breast of her dear lover blessed sunday bells ringing so in their and happy ears blessed sunday peace and quiet with the calmness in their souls and making holy air around them blessed twilight stealing on and her so soothingly and gravely as she falls asleep like a hushed child upon the bosom she has clung to oh load of love and that lies so lightly there aye look down on the closed eyes walter with a proudly tender gaze for in all the wide wide world they seek but thee only thee the captain remained in the little parlor until it was quite dark he took the chair on which walter had been sitting and looked up at the sky light until the day by little and little faded away and the stars peeped down he lighted a candle lighted a pipe smoked it out and wondered what on earth was going on upstairs and why they didn t call him to tea came to his side while he was in the height of his aye lady cried the captain why you and r have had a long spell o talk my beauty put her little hand round one of the great buttons of his coat and said looking down into his face dear captain i want to tell you something if you please the captain raised his head pretty to hear it was catching by this means a more distinct view of he pushed back his chair and himself with it as far as they could go what heart s delight cried the captain suddenly elated is it that yes said eagerly and son m husband that roared the captain tossing up his glazed cap into the yes cried laughing and crying together the captain immediately her and then picking up the glazed hat and putting it on drew her arm through his and conducted her upstairs again where he felt that the great joke of his life was now to be made what r my lad said the captain looking in at the door with his face like an amiable warming pan so there ain t no other character ain t there v he had like to have himself with this which he repeated at least forty times during tea his radiant face with the sleeve of his coat and his head all over with his pocket in the intervals but he was not without a graver source of enjoyment to fall back upon when so disposed for he was repeatedly heard to say in an under tone as he looked with delight at walter and ed ard my lad you never shaped a better in your life than when you made that there little property over r f n and son chapter li mr and the world what is the proud man doing while the days go by does he ever think of his daughter or wonder where she is gone does he suppose she has come home and is leading her old life in the weary house no one can answer for him he has never her name since his household dread him loo much to approach a subject on which he is resolutely dumb and the only person who dare question him he immediately my dear paul murmurs his sister into the room on the day of ce s departure your wife that woman is it possible that what hear is true and that this is her return for your devotion to her extending i am sure even to the sacrifice of your own relations to her and my poor brother with this speech of her not having been asked to dinner on the day of the first party mrs makes great use of her pocket handkerchief and falls on mr s neck but mr lifts her off and hands her to a chair i thank you he says for this mark of your affection but desire that our conversation may refer to any other subject when i my fate or express myself as being in want of consolation you can offer it if you will have the goodness my dear paul his sister with her handkerchief to her face and shaking her head i know your great spirit and will say no more upon a theme so painful and on the heads of which two mrs visits indignation but pray let me ask you though i dread to hear some and son thing that will shock and distress me that unfortunate child says her brother sternly silence not another word of this mrs can only shake her head and use her handkerchief and moan over who are no but whether has in the flight of or has followed her or has done too much or too little or anything or nothing she has not the least idea he goes on without keeping his thoughts and feelings close within his own breast and them to no one he makes no search for his daughter he may think that she is with his sister or that she is under his own roof he may think of her constantly or he may never think about her it is all one for any sign he makes but this is sure he does not think that he has lost
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her he has no suspicion of the truth he has lived too long shut up in his towering seeing her a patient gentle creature in the path below it to have any fear of that shaken as he is by his disgrace he is not yet to the level earth the root is broad and deep and in the course of years its have spread out and gathered nourishment from everything around it the tree is struck but not down though he hide the world within him from the world without which he believes has but one purpose for the time and that to watch him eagerly wherever he goes he cannot hide those rebel traces of it which escape in hollow eyes and cheeks a haggard forehead and a moody brooding air impenetrable as before he is still an altered man and proud as ever he is or those marks would not be there the world what the world thinks of him how it looks at him what it sees in him and what it that is the haunting demon of his it is everywhere where he is and worse than that it is everywhere where he is not it comes out with him among his servants and yet he leaves it whispering behind he sees it pointing after him in the street it is waiting for him in his counting house it over the shoulders of rich men among the merchants it goes and among and son the crowd it always him in every place and is always he knows when he has gone away when he is shut up in his room at night it is in his house outside it audible in footsteps on the pavement visible in print upon the table steaming to and fro on and in ships restless and busy everywhere with nothing else but him it is not a phantom of his imagination it is as active in other people s minds as in his witness cousin who comes from purposely to talk to him witness major who cousin on that friendly mission mr receives them with his usual dignity and stands erect in his old attitude before the fire he feels that the world is looking at him out of their eyes that it is in the stare of the pictures that mr upon the book case represents it that there are eyes in its own map hanging on the wall an unusually cold spring says mr to deceive the world sir says the major in the warmth of friendship joseph is a bad hand at a if you want to hold your friends off and to give them the cold shoulder j b is not the man for your purpose joe is rough and tough sir blunt sir blunt is joe his royal the late duke of york did me the honor to say or never mind that if there is a man in the service on whom i can depend for coming to the point that man is joe joe mr his acquiescence now says the major i am a man of the world our friend if i may presume to honored i am sure says cousin is proceeds the major with a wag of his head also a man of the world you are a man of the world now when three men of the world meet together and are friends as i believe again appealing to cousin i am sure says cousin most friendly are friends the major old joe s opinion m i y and son j may be wrong that the opinion of the world on any particular subject is very easily got at undoubtedly says cousin in point of fact it s quite a self evident sort of thing i am extremely anxious major that my friend should hear me express my very great astonishment and regret that my lovely and accomplished relative who was possessed of every to make a man happy should have so far forgotten what was due to in point of fact to the as to herself in such a very extraordinary manner i have been in a devilish state of depression ever since and said indeed to long last night man of six foot ten with whom my friend is probably acquainted that it had upset me in a confounded way and made me it a man to reflect this kind of fatal catastrophe says cousin that events do occur in quite a manner for if my aunt had been living at the time i think the effect upon a devilish lively woman like herself would have been and that she would have fallen in point of fact a victim now says the major his discourse with great i beg your pardon cousin allow me another word my friend will permit me to say that if any circumstance could have added to the most infernal state of pain in which i find myself on this occasion it would be the natural amazement of the world at my lovely and accomplished relative as i must still beg leave to call her being supposed to have so committed herself with a person man with white teeth in point of of very inferior station to her husband but while i must rather request my friend not to my lovely and accomplished relative until her b perfectly established i beg to assure my friend that the family i represent and which is now almost extinct devilish sad reflection for a man will no obstacle in his way and will be happy to assent to any honorable course of proceeding with a view to the future that he may point out i trust my friend will give me credit for the intentions by which i am
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animated in this ve melancholy a iii and son point of fact i am not that i need trouble my friend with any further observations mr bows without raising his eyes and is silent now says the major our friend having with an amount of eloquence that old joe b has never heard surpassed no by the lord sir never says the major very blue indeed and grasping his cane in the middle stated the case as regards this lady i shall presume upon our friendship to offer a word on another aspect of it sir says the major with the horse s cough the world in these things has opinions which must be satisfied i know it mr of course you know it says the major sir i know you know it a man of your is not likely to be ignorant of it i hope not replies mr says the major you will guess the rest i speak out perhaps because the breed have always spoken out little sir have they ever got by doing it but it s in the blood a shot is to be taken at this man you have j b at your elbow he claims the name of friend bless me major returns mr i am obliged i shall put myself in your hands when the time comes the time not being come i have to speak to you where is the fellow the major gasping and looking at him for a minute i don t know any intelligence of him v asks the major yes am rejoiced to hear it says the major i congratulate you you will ven you major replied mr my entering into any further detail at present the intelligence is of a singular kind and singularly obtained it may turn out to be it may turn out to be true i cannot ay at present my explanation must stop here although this is but a dry reply to the major s purple and son the major receives it graciously and is delighted to think that the world has such a fair prospect of soon receiving its due cousin is then presented with his of acknowledge ment by the husband of his lovely and ed relative and cousin and major retire leaving that hu band to the world again and to at leisure on their representation of its state of mind concerning his and on its just and reasonable expectations but who sits in the housekeeper s room shedding tears and talking to mrs in a low tone with uplifted hands it is a lady with her face concealed in a very close black which appears not to belong to her it is miss who has borrowed this disguise from her servant and comes from princess s place thus to revive her old acquaintance with mrs in order to get certain information of the state of mr how does he bear it my dear creature asks miss well says mrs ia her way he s pretty much as usual suggests miss but what he feels within r mrs s hard grey eye looks doubtful as she answers in three distinct ah perhaps i suppose so to tell you my mind says mrs she still calls miss on account of having made her first experiments in the child line of business on that lady when an unfortunate and little girl of tender years to tell you my mind i think it s a good i don t want any of your brazen faces here myself brazen indeed well may you say brazen mrs returns miss to leave him such a noble figure of a man and here miss is overcome i don t know about noble i m sure mrs rubbing her nose but i know that when people meet with trials they must bear em i have had enough to bear in my time what a fuss there is she s gone and well got rid of nobody wants her back i should think i me and son this of the mines causes miss to rise to away when mrs rings the bell for to show her out mr not having seen miss for age and hopes she s well observing that he didn t know her at first in that bonnet pretty well i thank you says miss i beg you ll have the goodness when you happen to see here not to mention it my visits are merely to mrs very good miss says shocking circumstances occur says miss very much so indeed miss says miss who in her instruction of the family has acquired an ad tone and a habit of improving passing occasions that what has happened here will be a warning to you thank you miss i m sure says he appears to be falling into a consideration of the manner in which this warning ought to operate in his particular case when the mrs suddenly stirring him up with a what are you doing why don t you show the lady to the door he miss forth as she passes mr s room she into the inmost depths of the black bonnet and walks on and there is not another in the world which haunts him so that feels such sorrow and solicitude about him as miss takes out under the black bonnet into the street and tries to carry home from the newly lighted lamps but miss is not a part of mr s world she comes back every evening at dusk adding and an umbrella to the bonnet on wet nights and bears the of and the and of mrs and all to ask how he does and how he bears his mis but she has nothing to do with mr s world and as ever it goes on without her and she a by no means bright or particular star moves
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in her little in the corner of another system and knows it quite well and comes and cries and goes away and is satisfied verily miss is easier of satisfaction than the world that troubles mr so much i and son at the counting house the clerks discuss the great disaster in all its lights and shades hut chiefly wonder who will get mr s place they are generally of opinion that it will be of some of its and made uncomfortable by newly devised and and those who are beyond all hope of it are quite sure they would rather not have it and don t at all envy the person for whom it may prove to be reserved nothing like the prevailing sensation has existed in the counting house since mr s little son died but all such there take a social not to say jovial turn and lead to the cultivation of good fellowship a reconciliation is established on the occasion between the acknowledged wit of the counting house and an rival with whom he has been at deadly for months and a little dinner being proposed in of their happily restored takes place at a neighboring tavern the wit in the chair the rival acting as vice president the following the removal of the cloth are opened by the chair who says gentlemen he can t disguise from himself that this is not a time for private recent to which he need not more particularly allude but which have not been altogether without notice in some sunday papers and a daily paper which he need not name here every other member of the company names it in an audible murmur have caused him to reflect and he feels that for him and robinson to have any personal at such a moment would be for ever to deny that good feeling in the general cause for which he has reason to think and hope that the gentlemen in s house have always been distinguished robinson replies to this like a man and a brother and one gentleman who has been in the office three years under continual notice to quit on account of in his appears in a perfectly new light suddenly bursting out with a thrilling speech in which he says may their respected chief never again know the desolation which has fallen on his hearth and says a great variety of things beginning with may he again which are received with of applause in short a most delightful evening is passed only interrupted by a difference between two who quarrelling about the probable amount of mr car vol and son s late per defy each other with and are taken out greatly excited water is in general request at the office next day and most of the party deem the bill an as to perch the messenger he is in a fair way of being ruined for life he finds himself again constantly in bars of public houses being treated and lying dreadfully it appears that he met everybody concerned in the late transaction everywhere and said to them sir or madam as the case was why do you look so pale at which each shuddered from head to foot and said oh perch and ran away either the con of these or the reaction consequent on liquor mr perch to an extreme state of low spirits at that hour of the evening when he usually seeks consolation in the society of mrs perch at ball s pond and mrs perch a good deal for she fears his confidence in woman is shaken now and that he half expects on coming home at night to find her gone of with some mr s servants are becoming at the same quite dissipated and unfit for other service they have hot every night and talk it over with smoking drinks upon the board mr is always after half past ten and frequently to know whether he didn t say that no good would ever come of living in a comer house they whisper about miss and wonder where she is but agree that if mr don t know mrs s this brings them to the latter of whom cook says she had a stately way though hadn t she but she was too high they all agree that she was too high and mr s old flame the who is very virtuous that you will never talk to her any more about people who holds their heads up as if the ground wasn t good enough for em everything that is said and done about it except by mr is done in chorus mr and the world are alone together and son chapter secret good mrs brown and her daughter kept silent any together in their own dwelling it was early in the evening and late in the spring but a few days had elapsed since had told major of his singular intelligence singularly obtained which might turn out to be and might turn out to be true and the world was not satisfied yet the mother and daughter sat for a long time without changing a word almost without motion the old woman s face was anxious and expectant that of her daughter was expectant too but in a less sharp degree and sometimes it darkened as if with gathering disappointment and incredulity the old woman without these changes in its expression though her eyes were often turned towards it sat and and listening their abode though poor and miserable was not so utterly wretched as in the days when only good mrs brown inhabited it some few attempts at cleanliness and order were manifest though made in a reckless way that might have connected them at a glance with the younger woman the shades of evening and deepened as the two kept silence until tlie blackened walls were nearly lost in the prevailing gloom
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then broke the silence which had lasted so long and said you may give him up mother he ll not come here death give him up returned the old woman impatiently he come here we shall see said we shall see him returned her mother and said the daughter and son you think i m in my second childhood i know the old woman that s the respect and duty that i get from my own but i m wiser than you take me for hell come t other day when i touched his coat in the street he looked round as if i was a but lord to see him when i said their and asked him if he d like to find out where thej was was it so angry asked her daughter roused to interest in a moment angry ask if it was bloody that s more like the word angry ha ha to call that only angry said the old woman to the cupboard and lighting a candle which displayed the workings of her mouth to ugly as she brought it to the table i might as well call your only angry when you think or talk about em it was something different from that truly as she sat as still as a crouched with her eyes hark said the old woman triumphantly i hear a step coming it s not the tread of any one that lives about here or comes this way often we don t walk like that we should grow proud on such neighbors do you hear him i believe you are right mother replied in a low voice peace open the door as she drew herself within her shawl and gathered it about her the old woman complied and peering out and gave admission to mr who stopped when he had set his foot within the door and looked around it s a poor place for a great gentleman like your worship said the old woman and chattering i told you so but there s no harm in it who is that asked mr looking at her companion that s my handsome daughter said the old woman tour worship won t mind her she knows all about it a shadow fell upon his face not less expressive than if he had groaned aloud who does not know all about it but he looked at her steadily and she without any acknowledgment of his pre looked at him the shadow on his face was darker when and son he turned his glance away from her and even then it wandered again as if he were haunted by her bold eyes and some remembrance they inspired woman said mr to the old witch who was and close at his elbow and who when he turned to address her pointed stealthily at her daughter and rubbed her and pointed again woman i i believe that i am weak and forgetful of my station in coming here but you know why i come and what you offered when you stopped me in the street the other day what is it that you have to tell me concerning what i want know and how does it happen that i can find voluntary intelligence in a like this with a glance about him when i have exerted my power and means to obtain it in vain i do not think he said after a moment s pause during which he had observed her sternly that you are so audacious as to mean to trifle with me or endeavor to impose upon me but if you have that purpose you had better stop on the threshold of your scheme my humor is not a trifling one and my acknowledgment will be severe oh a proud hard gentleman chuckled the old woman shaking her head and rubbing her hands oh hard hard hard but your worship shall see with your own eyes and hear with your own ears not with ours and if your worship s put upon their track you won t mind paying something for it will you honorable money returned mr apparently relieved and reassured by this inquiry will bring about unlikely things i know it may turn even means as unexpected and as these to account yes for any information i receive i will pay but i must have the information first and judge for myself of its value do you know nothing more powerful than money asked the younger woman without rising or her attitude not here i should imagine said mr you should know of something that is more powerful else where as i judge she returned do you know nothing of a woman s anger you have a tongue said mr and son not usually she answered without any show of emotion i speak to you now that you may understand us better and rely more on us a woman s anger is pretty much the same here as in your fine house am angry i have been so many years i have as good cause for my anger as you have for yours and its object is the same man he started in spite of himself and looked at her with astonishment yes she said with a kind of laugh wide as the distance may seem between us it is so how it is so is no matter that is my story and i keep my story myself i would bring you and him together because i have a rage against him my mother there is and poor and she would sell any tidings she could or anything or anybody for money it is fair enough perhaps that you should pay her some if she can help you to what you want to know but that is not my motive i have told you what mine is and it would be as strong and
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all sufficient with me if you and with her for a sixpence i have done my tongue says no more if you wait here till sunrise to morrow the old woman who had shown great uneasiness during this speech which had a tendency to her expected gains pulled mr softly by the sleeve and whispered to him not to mind her he glanced at them both by turns with a haggard look and said in a deeper voice than was usual with him go on what do you know oh not so fast your worship we must wait for some one answered the old woman it s to be got from some one else out and twisted from him what do you mean said mr patience she laying her hand like a his arm patience i ll get at it i know i can if he was to hold it back from me said good mrs brown her ten fingers i d tear it out of him mr followed her with his eyes as she to the door and looked out again and then his glance sought her and son daughter but she remained silent and regardless of him do you tell me woman he said when the bent figure of mrs brown came back shaking its head and chattering to itself that there is another person expected here yes said the old woman looking up into his face and nodding from whom you are to extract the intelligence that is to be useful to me yes said the old woman nodding again a stranger v said the old woman with a shrill laugh what well well no no stranger to your worship but he won t see you he d be afraid of you and wouldn t talk you ll stand behind that door and judge him for yourself we don t ask to be believed on trust what your worship doubts the room behind the door oh the suspicion of you rich look at it then her sharp eye had detected an involuntary expression of this feeling on his part which was not unreasonable under the circumstances in satisfaction of it she now took the candle to the door she spoke of mr looked in assured himself that it was an empty crazy room and signed to her to put the light back in its place how he asked before this person comes not long she answered would your worship sit down for a few odd minutes f he made no answer but began pacing the room with an air as if he were whether to remain or depart and as if he had some quarrel with himself for being there at all but soon his tread grew slower and heavier and his face more sternly thoughtful as the object with which he had come fixed itself in his mind and dilated there again while he thus walked up and down with his eyes on the ground mrs brown in the chair from which she had risen to receive him sat listening anew the monotony of his step or i the uncertainty of age made her so slow of hearing that a without had sounded in her daughter s ears for some mo i and son ments and she had looked up hastily to warn her mother of its approach before the old woman was roused by it but then she started from her seat and whispering here he is hurried her visitor to his place of observation and put a bottle and glass upon the table with such alacrity a to be ready to fling her arms round the neck of rob the on his appearance at the door and here s my boy cried mrs brown at last you re like my own son oh brown remonstrated the don t can t you be fond of a without and of him take care of the in my hand will you thinks of a afore me cried the old woman the ceiling me that feels more than a mother for him well i m sure i m very much obliged to you brown said the unfortunate youth greatly but you re so jealous of a i m very fond of you myself and all that of course but don t you do i brown he looked and spoke as if he would have been far from to do so however on a favorable and to talk about too the as if that was a crime why look ee here do you know who this belongs to to master dear said the old woman with a grin ah replied the lifting a large cage tied up in a on the table and it with hb teeth and hands it s our this is mr s rob will you hold your tongue brown returned the what do you go names for i m said rob pulling his hair with both hands in the of his feelings if she an t enough to make a run what do you me boy cried the old m with ready vehemence good brown no returned the and son with tears in his eyes was there ever such a don t i upon you brown do you sweet rob do you truly with that mrs brown held him in her food embrace once more and did not release him until he had mode several violent and ineffectual struggles with his legs and his hair was standing on end all over his head oh returned the what a thing it is to be perfectly pitched into with affection like this here i wish she wa s how have you been brown ah not here since this night week said the old woman contemplating him with a look of reproach gracious brown returned the i said to night s a week that i d come to night didn t i
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and here i am how you do go on i wish you d be a little brown i m hoarse with saying things in my defence and my very face is shiny with being he rubbed it hard with his sleeve as if to remove the tender polish in question drink a little drop to comfort you my robin said the old woman filling the glass from the bottle and giving it to him thank ee brown returned the here s your health and long may you et which to judge from the expression of his face did not include any very choice blessings and here s her health said the at who sat with her eyes fixed as it seemed to him on the wall behind him but in reality on mr s face at the door and wishing her the same and many of em he drained the glass to these two sentiments and set it down well i say brown he proceeded to go on a little rational now you re a judge of birds and up to their ways as i know to my cost cost repeated mrs brown satisfaction i mean returned the how you do take up a brown you ve put it all out of my head again judge of birds suggested the old woman ah said the well i ve got to take care of this and son certain things being sold and a certain establishment broke and as i don t want no notice took at present i wish you d attend to her for a week or so and give her board and lodging will you if i must come backwards and forwards mused the with a dejected face i may as well have something to come for something to come for screamed the old woman besides you i mean brown returned the rob not that i want any but yourself brown i m sure don t begin again for goodness sake he don t care for me he don t care for me as i care for him cried mrs brown lifting up her hands but i ll take care of his bird take good care of it too you know mrs brown said rob shaking his head if you was so much as to stroke its feathers once the wrong way i believe it would be found out ah so sharp as that rob said mrs brown quickly sharp brown repeated rob but this is not to be talked about checking himself abruptly and not without a fearful glance across the room rob filled the glass again and having slowly emptied it his head and b an to draw his fingers across and across the wires of the s cage by way of a diversion from the dangerous theme that had just been the old woman eyed him and her chair nearer his and looking in at the who came down from the gilded dome at her call said out of place now never mind brown returned the shortly board wages perhaps rob said mrs brown pretty said the the old woman darted a glance at him that might have warned him to consider his ears in danger but it was his turn to look in at the now and however expressive his imagination may have made her angry it was unseen by his bodily eyes i wonder master didn t take you with him rob said the and son old woman in a voice but with increased of aspect rob was so absorbed in contemplation of the and in his forefinger on the wires that he made no answer the old woman had her clutch within a hair s breadth of his shock of hair as it stooped over the table but she restrained her fingers and said in a voice that choked with its efforts to be my child well brown returned the i say i wonder master didn t take you with him dear never you mind brown returned the mrs brown instantly directed the clutch of her right hand at his hair and the clutch of her left hand at his throat and held on to the object of her fond affection with such extraordinary fury that his face began to in a moment brown i exclaimed the let go will you what are you doing of help young woman brow the young woman however equally unmoved by his direct appeal to her and by his inarticulate utterance remained quite until after struggling with his into a comer bob disengaged himself and stood there panting and in by his own elbows while the old woman panting too and stamping with rage and eagerness appeared to be collecting her energies for another upon him at this crisis interposed her voice but not in the s favor by saying well done mother tear him to pieces what young woman rob are you against me too what have i been and done what am i to be tore to pieces for i should like to know why do you take and choke a who has never done you any neither of you yourselves females too said the frightened and afflicted with his coat at his eye i m surprised at you where s your feminine tenderness you dog gasped mrs brown you impudent insulting dog what have i been and done to go and give you and son brown retorted the tearful rob you was very much attached to me a minute ago to cut me off with his short answers and his sulky words said the old woman me because i happened to be curious to have a little bit of gossip about master and the lady to dare to play at fast and loose with me but i talk to you no more my lad now go i am sure brown returned the abject i never that i wished
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a certain dogged mystery in his face fc m secret r du i il v v m fe and son that was the art of it said the reluctant that a the way saw em go or has been able to say how they did go they went ways i tell you brown aye aye aye to meet at an appointed place chuckled the woman after a moment s silent and keen scrutiny of his face why if they weren t a going to meet somewhere i suppose they as well have stayed at home t they brown returned the unwilling well rob well said the old woman drawing his arm yet through her own as if in her eagerness she were afraid of his slipping away what haven t we talked enough yet brown returned the who between his sense of injury his sense of liquor and his sense of being on the rack had become so that at almost every answer he his coat into one or other of his eyes and uttered an of remonstrance did she laugh that night was it didn t you ask if she laughed brown or cried added the old woman nodding assent neither said the she kept as steady when she and oh i see you will have out of me brown but take your solemn oath now that you ll never tell anybody this mrs brown very readily did being naturally and having no other intention in the matter than that her concealed visitor should hear for himself she kept as steady then when she and me went down to said the as a image in the morning she was just the same brown and when she went away in the packet before daylight by herself me pretending to be her servant and seeing her safe aboard she was just the same now are you contented mrs brown no rob not yet answered the old woman oh here s a woman for you cried the unfortunate rob in an outburst of feeble over his own helplessness what did you wish to know next brown what became of master where did he go she inquired and son still holding him tight and looking close into his with her sharp eyes upon my soul i don t know brown answered rob upon my soul i don t know what he did nor where he went nor anything about him i only know what he said to me as a caution to hold my tongue when we parted and i tell you this mrs brown as a friend that sooner than ever repeat a word of what we re saying now you had better take and shoot yourself or shut yourself up in this house and set it a fire for there s nothing he wouldn t do to be upon you you don t know him half as well as i do brown you re never safe from him i tell you haven t i taken an oath retorted the old woman and won t i keep it well i m sure i hope you will brown returned rob somewhat doubtfully and not without a latent threatening in his manner for your own sake quite as much as mine he looked at her as he gave her this friendly caution and it with a nodding of his head but finding it to encounter the yellow face with its grotesque action and the eyes with their keen old wintry gaze so close to his own he looked down uneasily and sat shuffling in his chair as if he were trying to bring himself to a sullen declaration that he would answer no more questions the old woman still holding him as before took this opportunity of raising the forefinger of her right hand in the air as a stealthy signal to the concealed observer to give particular attention to what was about to follow rob she said in her most tone good gracious brown what s the matter now returned the exasperated rob where did the lady and master to meet rob more and more and looked up and looked down and bit his thumb and dried it on his waistcoat and finally said his how should know brown the old woman held up her finger again as before and replying come lad it s no use leading me to that and there leaving me i want to know waited for his answer and son rob after a pause suddenly broke out with how can i pronounce the names of foreign places mrs brown what an unreasonable woman you are but you have heard it said she retorted firmly and you know what it sounded like come i never heard it said brown returned the then retorted the old woman quickly you have seen it written and you can spell it rob with a exclamation between laughing and crying for he was penetrated with some admiration of mrs brown s cunning even through this after some reluctant in his waistcoat pocket produced from it a little piece of chalk the old woman s eyes sparkled when she saw it between his thumb and finger and hastily clearing a space on the deal table that he might write the word there she once more made her signal with a shaking hand now tell you beforehand what it is brown said rob it s no use asking me anything else i won t answer any thing else i can t how long it was to be before they met or whose plan it was that they was to go away alone i don t know no more than you do i don t know any more about it if i was to tell you how i found out this word you d believe that shall i tell you
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action in it while he was yet of the traitor s retreat it served to divert his mind from his own calamity and to entertain it with another prospect the brother and sister of his false favorite had no such relief everything in their history past and present gave his a more meaning to them the sister may have sometimes sadly thought that if she had remained with him the companion and friend she had been once he might have escaped the crime into which he had fallen if she ever thought so it was still without regret for what she and son l had done without the least doubt of her duty without any or of her self devotion but when this possibility presented itself to the and brother as it sometimes did it smote upon his heart with such a keen touch as he could hardly bear no idea of retort upon his cruel brother came into his mind new accusation of himself fresh inward over his own and the ruin in which it was at once his consolation and his self reproach that he did not stand alone were the sole kind of reflections to which the discovery gave rise in him it was on the very same day whose evening set upon the last chapter and when mr s world was with the of his wife that the window of the room in which the brother and sister sat at their early breakfast was darkened by the unexpected shadow of a man coming to the little porch which man was perch the messenger i ve stepped over from ball s pond at an early hour said mr perch looking in at the room door and stopping on the mat to wipe his shoes all round which had no mud upon them agreeable to my instructions last night they was to be sure and bring a note to you mr before you went out in the morning i should have been here a good hour and a half ago said mr perch meekly but for the state of health of mrs p who i thought i should have lost in the night i do assure you five distinct times is your wife ill asked why you see said mr perch first turning round to shut the door carefully she takes what has happened in our house much to heart miss her nerves is so very delicate you see and soon not but what the strongest nerves had good need to be shook i m sure you feel it very much yourself no repressed a sigh and glanced at her brother i m sure i feel it myself in my humble way mr perch went on to say with a shake of his head in a manner i couldn t have if i hadn t been called upon to undergo it has almost the of drink upon me i literally feels and son morning as if i had been taking more than was good for me over night mr perch s appearance this recital of his symptoms there was an air of feverish about it that seemed to and which in fact might no doubt have been traced to those numerous discoveries of himself in the bars of public houses being treated and questioned which he was in the daily habit of making therefore i can judge said mr perch shaking his head again and speaking in a silvery murmur of the feelings of such as is at all peculiarly in this most here mr perch waited to be confided in and receiving no confidence behind his hand this leading to nothing he behind his hat and that leading to nothing he put his hat on the ground and sought in his breast pocket for the letter if i rightly recollect there was no answer said mr perch with an smile but perhaps you ll be so good as cast your eye over it sir john broke the seal which was mr s and possessing himself of the contents which were very brief replied no no answer is expected then i shall wish you good morning miss said perch taking a step towards the door and hoping i m sure that you ll not permit yourself to be more reduced in mind than you can help by the late painful the papers said mr perch taking two steps back again and addressing both the brother and sister in a of increased mystery is more eager for news of it than you d suppose possible one of the sunday ones in a blue cloak and a white hat that had previously for to bribe me need i say with what success was about our court last night as late as twenty minutes eight o clock i see him myself w ith his eye at the counting house which being patent is another one said mr perch with is in the parlor of the king s arms all the blessed day i hap last week to let a little fall there and next and son was sunday i tee it worked up in print in a surprising manner mr perch resorted to his breast as if to produce the paragraph but no pulled out his gloves picked up his hat and took leave and before it was high noon mr perch had related to several select at the king s arms and elsewhere how miss into tears had caught him by both hands and said dear dear perch the sight of you is all the comfort i have left and how mr john had said in an voice perch i him never let me hear him mentioned as a brother more dear john said when they w re left alone and had silent fer few moments there are bad tidings in that letter yes but nothing he replied i saw the writer yesterday the writer mr he passed
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twice through uie counting house while i was there i had been able to avoid him before but of could not hope to do that long i know how it was that he should regard my presence as something offensive i felt it must be so myself he did not say so f no he said nothing but i saw that his glance rested on ne for a moment and i was prepared for what would happen what hat happened i am dismissed she looked as little shocked and as hopeful as she could but it was distressing news for many reasons i need not tell you said john reading the letter why your name would henceforth have an unnatural sound id however remote a with mine or why the daily sight of any one who bears it would be to me have to the of ail engagements between us from this date and to request that no renewal of any with me or my establishment be ever attempted by you enclosed is an equivalent in money to a generously loi notice and tliis is no and my it i a and one when we remember all if it be and considerate to yoa at all john for the of another she gently yes we bare been an ill race to him said john he has reason to shrink from the of our name and to think that there is something curved and wicked in our blood ould almost think it too but for brother don t speak like this if you have any special reason as you say you hare and think you have though i say no to love me spare me the hearing of such wild mad words he covered his face with both his hands bat soon permitted ber coming near him to take one in her own after so many years this parting is a melancholy thing i know said his sister and the cause of it is dreadful to us both we have to live too and must look about us for the means well well we can do so it is our pride not our trouble to strive john and to strive together a smile played on her lips as she kissed his cheek and en treated him to be of good cheer oh dearest sister tied of your own noble will to a ruined man whose reputation is who has no friend himself and has driven every friend of yours away john she laid her hand hastily upon his lips for my sake in remembrance of our long i he was silent now let me tell you dear quietly sitting by his side i have as you have expected this and when i have been thinking of it and fearing that it would happen and preparing myself for it as well as i could i have resolved to tell you if it should be so that i have kept a secret from you and tiiat we have a friend what is our friend s name he answered with a sorrowful smile indeed i don t know but he once made a very earnest to of his friendship and his to serve us to this day i believe him exclaimed her wondering brother where friend live and son neither do i know that she returned but he knows us both and our history all our little history john that is the reason why at his own suggestion i have kept the secret of his coming here from you lest his acquaintance with it should distress you here has he been here here in this room once what kind of man not young grey headed as he said and fast growing but generous and frank and good i am sure and only seen once in this room only once said his sister with the slightest and most transient glow upon her cheek but when here he entreated me to suffer him to see me once a week as he passed by in token of our being well and continuing to need nothing at his hands for i told him when he proffered us any service he could render which was the object of his visit that we needed nothing and once a week once every week since then and always on the same day and at the same hour he has gone past always on foot always going in the same direction towards london and never pausing longer than to bow to me and wave his hand cheerfully as a kind guardian might he made that promise when he proposed these curious and has kept it so faithfully and pleasantly that if i ever felt any trifling uneasiness about them in the beginning which i don t think i did john his manner was so plain and true it very soon vanished and left me quite glad when the day was coming last monday the first since this terrible event he did not go by and i have wondered whether his absence can have been in any way connected with what has happened how inquired her brother i don t know how i have only on the coincidence i have not tried to account for it i feel sure he will return when he does dear john let me tell him that i have at last spoken to you and let me bring you together he will help us to a new his entreaty was that h na and son might do something to my life and yours and i him my promise that if we ever wanted a friend i would remember him then his name was to be no secret said her brother who had listened with close attention describe this gentleman to me i surely ought to know one who knows me so well his sister painted as vividly as
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she could the features stature and dress of her visitor but john either from having no knowledge of the original or from some fault in her description or from some abstraction of his thoughts as he walked to and fro pondering could not the portrait she presented to him however it was agreed between them that he should see the original when he next appeared this concluded the sister applied herself with a less anxious breast to her domestic occupations and the grey haired man late junior of s devoted the first day of his unwonted liberty to working in the garden it was quite late at night and the brother was reading aloud while the sister plied her needle when they were interrupted by a knocking at the door in the atmosphere of vague anxiety and dread that lowered about them in with their fugitive brother this sound unusual there became almost alarming the brother going to the door the sister sat and listened timidly some one spoke to him and he replied and seemed surprised and after a few words the two approached together said her brother lighting in their late visitor and speaking in a low voice mr the gentleman so long in s house with james his sister started back as if a ghost had entered in the doorway stood the unknown friend with the dark hair sprinkled with grey the ruddy face the broad clear brow and eyes whose secret she had kept so long john she said half breathless it is the gentleman i told you of to day the gentleman miss said the vi coming in for he had stopped a moment in the doorway is greatly relieved to hear you say that he has been ways and means all the way here of explaining himself and has been satisfied with none mr john i am not quite a stranger here tou were stricken x and son th astonishment you saw me at your door just now i you are more astonished at present well that s reasonable enough under existing if we were not such of habit as we are we t have reason to be astonished half so by this time he had greeted with that agreeable mingling of cordiality and respect which she recollected so well and had sat down near her pulled off has gloves and thrown them into hb hat upon the table there s nothing astonishing he said in my having conceived a desire to see your sister mr john or in my having gratified it in my own as to the regularity of my visits since which she may have mentioned to you there is nothing extraordinary in that they soon grew into a habit and we are of creatures of habit putting his hands into his pockets and leaning back in his chair he looked at the brother and sister as if it were interesting to him to see them together and went on to say with a kind of irritable it s this same habit that some of us who are capable of better things in s own pride and k and others of us in of us in in that us from day to day according to the temper of our day like images and leaves us as susceptible as images to new impressions and convictions you shall judge of its influence on me john for more years than i need name i had my small and exactly defined in the management of s house and saw your brother who has proved himself a your sister will forgive my being obliged to mention it extending and extending his influence until the business and its owner were his and saw you toiling at your obscure desk every day and was quite content to be as little troubled as i might be out of my own strip of duty and to let everything about me go on day by day like a great that was its habit and mine and to take it all for and consider it all right my wednesday nights came regularly sound our parties came regularly ofl my was in good tune and there was nothing g in my z and sc f or if anything not r little or much it was nd of mine i can answer for your being more respected and beloved during all that time than anybody in the house sir said john good natured and easy enough i dare say returned the other a habit i had it suited the manager it suited man he managed it suited me best of all i did what was allotted to me to do made no court to either of them and was glad to occupy a station in which none was required so i should have gone on till now but that my room had a thin wall you can tell your sister that it was divided from the manager s room by a they were adjoining rooms had been one perhaps originally and were separated as mr says said her brother looking back to him for the of his explanation i have whistled tunes gone accurately through the whole of s in b to let him know that i was within hearing said mr but he never me it happened seldom enough that i was within hearing of anything of a private nature certainly but when i was and couldn t otherwise avoid knowing something of it i walked out i walked out once john during a conversation between two brothers to which in the beginning young walter gray was a party but i overheard some of it before i left the room you remember it sufficiently perhaps to tell your sister what its nature was it referred said her brother in a low voice to the past and to our relative positions in the house its matter was not new to me
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but was presented in a new aspect it shook me in my habit the habit of nine of the of believing that all was right about me because i was used to it said their visitor and induced me to recall the history of the two brothers and to on it i think it was almost the first time in my life when i fell into this train of reflection how will many things that are familiar and quite of course to us now look when we come to see them m that new and distant point of view which we all take up one day and son or other i was something less good natured as the phrase goes after that morning less easy and complacent altogether he sat for a minute or so with one hand on the table and resumed in a hurry as if he were anxious to get rid of his confession before i knew what to do or whether i could do anything there was a second conversation between the same two brothers in which their sister was i had no scruples of conscience in suffering all the and of that conversation to float to me as freely as they would i considered them mine by right af er that i came here to see the sister lor myself the first time i stopped at the garden gate i made a pretext of inquiring into the character of a poor neighbor but i wandered out of that track and i think miss me the second time i asked leave to in came in and said what i wished to say your sister showed me reasons which i dared not dispute for receiving no assistance from me then but i established a of communication between us which remained unbroken until within these few days when i was prevented by important matters that have lately upon me from maintaining them how little i have suspected this said john when i have seen you every day sir if could have guessed your name why to tell you the truth john interposed the visitor i kept it to myself for two reasons i don t know that the first might have been binding alone but one has no business to take credit for good intentions and i made up my mind at all events not to disclose myself until i should be able to do you some real service or other my second reason was that i always hoped there might be some lingering possibility of your brother s towards you both and in that case i felt that where there was a chance of a man of his suspicious watchful character discovering that you had secretly been by me there was the chance of a new and fatal cause of division i resolved to be sure at the risk of turning his displeasure against i which would have been no to watch my opportunity of serving you with the head of the house but the dis t and son of death courtship marriage and domestic have left us no head but your brother for tliis long time and it would have been better for us said the visitor dropping his voice to have been a lifeless trunk he seemed conscious that these latter words had escaped him against his will and stretching out a hand to the brother and a hand to the sister continued all i could desire to say and more i have now said all i mean goes beyond words as i hope yo i understand and believe the time has come john most unfortunately and unhappily when i may help you without interfering with that struggle which has lasted through o many years since you were discharged from it to day by no act of your own it is late i need say no more to night you will guard the treasure you have here without advice or from me with these words he rose to go but go you first john he said good with a light without saying what you want to say whatever that may be john s heart was full and he would have relieved it in speech if he could and let me have a word with your sister we have talked before and in this room too though it looks more natural with you here following him out with his eyes he turned kindly to and said in a lower voice and with an altered and graver manner you wish to ask me something of the man whose sister it is your misfortune to be i dread to ask said you have looked so earnestly at me more than rejoined the visitor that i think i can divine your question ha he taken money is it that v ye he has not i thank heaven said for the sake of john that he has abused his trust in many ways said mr that he has oftener dealt and to advantage for than the house he represented he has led and son m the house od to prodigious often in enormous losses that he has always the vanity and ambition of his employer when it was his duty to have held them in check and shown as it was in his power to do to what they tended here or there will not perhaps surprise you now under have been entered on to swell the reputation of the house for vast resources and to exhibit it in magnificent con to other merchants houses of which it requires a steady head to contemplate the a few disastrous changes of might render them the probably consequences in the midst of the many transactions of the house in most parts of the world a great of which only he has held the clue he has had the opportunity and he seems
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to have used it of keeping the various results afloat when ascertained and sub and for facts but you follow me miss perfectly perfectly she answered with her frightened face fixed on his pray tell me all the worst at once he appears to have devoted the greatest pains to making these results so plain and clear that reference to the private books one to grasp them numerous and varying as they are with extraordinary ease as if he had resolved to show his employer at one broad view what has been brought upon him by to his ruling passion that it has been his constant practice to minister to that passion and to flatter it is in that his as it is connected with the affairs of the house chiefly consists one other word before you leave me dear sir said net there is no danger in all this how danger he returned with a little hesitation to the credit of the house i cannot help answering you plainly and trusting you completely said mr after a moment s survey of her face you may indeed you may i am sure i may danger to the house s credit no one there may be greater or less but no danger un le ss u he of the house unable and son to bring his mind to the of its and positively refusing to believe that it is or can be in any position but the position in which he has always represented it to himself should urge it beyond its strength then it would but there is no apprehension of that said there shall be np half confidence he replied shaking her hand between us mr is by any one and his state of mind is haughty rash unreasonable and now but he is disturbed and agitated now beyond all common bounds and it may pass you now know all both worst and best no more to night and good night with that he kissed her hand and passing out to the door where her brother stood awaiting his coming put him cheerfully aside when he to speak told him that as they would see each other soon and he might speak at another time if he but there was no leisure for it then and went away at a round pace in order that no word of gratitude might follow him the brother and sister sat conversing by the fire side until it was almost day made sleepless by this glimpse of the new d that opened before them and feeling like two people ship wrecked long ago upon a solitary coast to whom a ship had come at last when they were old in resignation and had lost all thought of any other home but another and different kind of kept them waking too the darkness out of which this light had broken on them gathered round and the shadow of their guilty brother was in the house where his foot had never trod nor was it to be driven out nor did it fade the sun next morning it was at noon at night darkest and most distinct at night as is now to be told john had gone out in of a letter of appointment from their friend and was left in the house alone she had been alone some hours a dull grave evening and a deepening twilight were not favorable to the removal of the oppression on her spirits the idea of this brother long unseen and unknown flitted about her in frightful shapes he was dying calling to her staring at her frowning on her the pictures in her mind so and exact that as the and son twilight deepened she dreaded to raise her head and look at the dark comers of the room lest his the ofl of her excited imagination should be waiting there to her once she had such a fancy of his being in the next room though she knew quite well what a fancy it was and had no belief in it that she forced herself to go there for her own conviction but in vain the room resumed its shadowy terrors the moment she left it and she had no more power to herself of these vague impressions of dread than if they had been stone giants rooted in the solid earth it was almost dark and she was sitting near the window with her head upon her hand looking down when sensible of a den increase in the gloom of the apartment she raised her eyes and uttered an involuntary cry close to the glass a pale scared face gazed in for an instant as searching for an ob then the eyes rested on herself and lighted up let me in let me in i want to speak to you and the hand rattled on the glass she recognised immediately the woman with the long dark hair to whom she had given warmth food and shelter one wet night naturally afraid of her remembering her violent retreating a little from the window stood ed and alarmed let me in let me speak to you i am humble an you like but let me speak to you the vehement manner of the entreaty the earnest expression of the face the trembling of the two hands that were raised im a certain dread and terror in the voice akin to her own condition at the moment prevailed with she hastened to the door and opened it may i come in or shall i speak here said the woman catching at her hand what is it that you want i what is it that you have to say not much but let me say it out or i shall never say it i am tempted now to go away there seem to be hands dragging me from the door let me come
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in if you can trust me for this once her energy again prevailed and they passed into the fire light and son of the little kitchen where she had before sat and ate and dried her clothes sit there said kneeling down beside her and look at me you remember me i do you remember what i told you i had been and where i came from ragged and lame with the fierce wind and weather beating on my head yes you know how i came back that night and threw your money in the dirt and cursed you and your race now see me here upon my knees am i less earnest now than i was then if what you ask said gently is forgiveness but it s not returned the other with a proud fierce look what i ask is to be believed now you shall judge if i am worthy of belief both as i was and as i am still upon her knees and with her eyes upon the fire and the fire shining on her ruined beauty and her wild black hair one long of which she pulled over her shoulder and wound about her hand and thoughtfully bit and tore while speaking she went on when i was young and pretty and this contemptuously at the hair she held was only handled delicately and couldn t be admired enough my mother who had not been very of me as a child found out my merits and was fond of me and proud of me she was and poor and thought to make a sort of property of me no great lady ever thought that t f a daughter yet i m sure or acted as if she did it s never done we all know and that shows that the only instances of mothers bringing up their daughters wrong and evil coming of it are among such miserable folks as us looking at the fire as if she were for the moment of having any she continued in a dreamy way as she wound the long of hair tight round and round her hand what came of that i needn t say wretched marriages don t come of such things in our degree only wretchedness and ruin wretchedness and ruin came on came on me and son raising her eyes swiftly from their moody gaze upon the fire to s face she said i am wasting time and there is none to spare yet if i hadn t thought of all i shouldn t be here now wretchedness and ruin came on me i say i was made a short lived toy and flung aside more cruelly and carelessly than even such things are by whose hand do you think why do you ask me said why do you tremble rejoined with an eager look his usage made a devil of me i sank in wretchedness and ruin lower and lower yet i was concerned in a robbery in every part of it but the gains and was found out and sent to be tried without a friend without a penny though i was but a girl i would have gone to death sooner than ask him for a word if a word of his could have saved me i would to any death that could have been invented but my mother always sent to him in my name told the true story of my case and humbly prayed and for a small last for not so many pounds as i have fingers on this hand who was it do you think who snapped his fingers at me in my misery lying as he believed at his feet and me without even this poor sign of remembrance well satisfied that i should be sent abroad beyond the reach of further trouble to him and should die and rot there who was this do you think why do you ask me repeated why do you tremble said laying her hand upon her arm and looking in her face but that the answer is on your lips it was your brother james trembled more and more but did not her eyes from the eager look that rested on them when i knew you were his sister which was on that night i came back weary and lame to your gift i felt that night as if i could have travelled weary and lame over the whole world to him if i could have found him in a lonely place with no one near do you believe that i was earnest in all that i do good heaven why are you come again since then said with the same grasp of her arm and and son the same look in her face i have seen him i have followed him with my eyes in the broad day if any spark of my resentment in my bosom it sprang into a blaze when my eyes rested on him you know he has wronged a proud man and made him his deadly enemy what if i had given information of him to that man information repeated what if i had found out one who knew your brother s secret who knew the manner of his flight who knew where he and the companion of his flight were gone what if i had made him utter all his knowledge word by word before this enemy concealed to hear it what if i had sat by at the time looking into this enemy s face and seeing it change till it was scarcely human what if i had seen him rush away mad in pursuit what if i knew now that he was on his road more than man and must in so many hours come up with him remove your hand said go away your touch is dreadful to me
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i have done this pursued the other with her eager regardless of the interruption po i speak and look as if really had do you believe what i am saying i fear i must let my arm go not yet a moment more you can think what my purpose must have been to last so long and urge me to do this dreadful said then when you see me now said hoarsely here again kneeling quietly on the ground with my touch upon your arm with my eyes upon your face you may believe that there is no common earnestness in what i say and that no common struggle has been in my breast i am ashamed to speak the words but i i despise myself i have fought with myself all day and all last night but i towards him without reason and wish to repair what i have done if it is possible i wouldn t have them come together while his is so blind and headlong if you had seen him as he went out last you would know the danger better and son how shall it be prevented what can i do cried net all night long pursued the other hurriedly i had dreams of him and yet i didn t in his blood all day i have had him near me what can i do said shuddering at these words if there is any one who ll write or send or go to him let them lose no time he is at do you know the name and where it is yes warn him that the man he has made his enemy is in a and that he doesn t know him if he makes light of his approach tell him that he is on the road i know he is and hurrying on urge him to get away while there is if there is and not to meet him yet a month or so will make years of difference them not encounter through me anywhere but there any time but now let his foe follow him and find him for himself but not through me there is enough upon my head without the fire ceased to be reflected in her jet black hair uplifted face and eager eyes her hand was gone from s arm and he place where she had been was empty and son chapter the thb an hour short of midnight the place a french apart ment some half dozen rooms a dull cold or corridor a dining room a drawing room a bed chamber and an inner drawing room or smaller and more retired than the rest all these shut in by one large pair of doors on the main staircase but each room provided with two or three pairs of doors of its own establishing several means of communication with the remaining portion of the apartment or with certain small passages within the wall leading as is not unusual in such houses to some back stairs with an obscure outlet below the whole situated on the first floor of so large an hotel that it did not one entire row of windows upon one side of the square in the centre upon which the whole four sides of the mansion looked an air of splendor sufficiently faded to be melancholy and sufficiently dazzling to and the details of hfe with a show of state reigned in these rooms the walls and were gilded and painted the floors were and polished crimson hung in from window door and mirror and and like the branches of trees or horns of animals stuck out from the of the wall but in the day time when the blinds now closely shut were opened and the light let in traces were among this finery of wear and tear and dust of sun and damp and smoke and lengthened intervals of want of use and habitation when such shows and toys of life seem sensitive like life and waste as men shut up in prison do even night and clusters of burning candles could not wholly them though the general glitter threw them in the shade and son the glitter of bright and their reflection in scraps of and gay colors were confined on this night to one room that smaller room within the rest just now seen from the hall where a lamp was feebly through the dark perspective of open doors it looked as and precious as a in the heart of its radiance sat a beautiful woman she was alone the same defiant woman still the cheek a little worn the eye a little larger in appearance and more but the haughty bearing just the same no shame upon her brow no late repentance bending her neck imperious and stately yet and yet regardless of herself and of all else she sat with her dark eyes cast down waiting for some one no book no work no occupation of any kind but her thoughts the time some purpose strong enough to fill up any pause possessed her with her lips pressed together and quivering if for a moment she released them from her con with her her hands clasped in one another and her purpose swelling in her breast she sat and waited at the sound of a key in the outer door and a footstep in the hall she started up and cried who s that the answer was in french and two men came in with to make preparation for supper who bade them do so die asked had commanded it when it was his pleasure to take the apartment had said when he stayed there for an hour en route and the letter for madame had received it surely yes a thousand the sudden apprehension that it might have been forgotten had struck him a bald man with a large beard from
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and intense sparkling in her eyes and lighting up her brow made him stop as if a fire had stopped him stand still she said come no nearer me upon your life they both stood looking at each other rage and astonishment were in his face but he controlled them and said lightly come come we are alone and out of everybody s sight and hearing do you think to frighten me with these tricks of virtue do you think to frighten me she answered fiercely from any purpose that i have and any course i am resolved upon by reminding me of the solitude of this place and there being no help near me who am here alone if i feared should i not have avoided you if i feared you should i be here in the dead of night telling you to your face what i am going to tell t ii j t i i fa v r f li s u l i l r v f ti i h i li f l a j and son and what is that he said you handsome so than any other woman in her humor v i tell you nothing she returned until you go back to that except thb once again don t come near me i not a step nearer i tell you if you do as heaven sees us i shall murder you do you mistake me for your husband he retorted with a grin to reply she stretched her arm out pointing to the chair he bit his lip frowned laughed and sat down in it with a baffled impatient air he was unable to conceal and biting his nail nervously and looking at her sideways with bitter discomfiture even while he feigned to be amused by her caprice she put the knife down upon the table and touching her bosom with her hand said i have something lying here that is no love and sooner than endure your touch once more i would use it on you and you know it while i speak with less reluctance than i would on any other creeping thing that lives he affected to laugh and entreated her to act her play out quickly for the supper was growing cold but the secret look with which he regarded her was more sullen and lowering and he struck his foot once upon the floor with a muttered oath how many times said bending her darkest glance upon him has your bold assailed me with outrage and insult how many times in your smooth manner and mocking words and looks have i been with my courtship and my marriage how many times have you laid bare my wound of love for that sweet injured girl and it how often have you the fire on which for two years i have and tempted me to take a desperate revenge when it has most tortured me i have no doubt ma am he replied that you have kept a good account and that it s pretty accurate come to your husband poor wretch this is all well why if she said surveying him wi h a haughty contempt and disgust that he shrank under let him brave it as he would if all my other reasons for him could have been blown and son away like feathers his having you for his and ite would have almost been enough to hold their place is that a reason why you have run away with me he asked her yes and why we are face to face for the last time wretch we meet to night and part to night for not one moment after i have ceased to speak will i stay here he turned upon her with his look and the table with his hand but neither rose nor otherwise answered or threatened her i am a woman she said him who from her very childhood has been and i have been offered and rejected put up and until my very soul has i have not had an accomplishment or grace that might have been a resource to me but it has been and to my value as if the common had called it through the streets my poor proud friends have looked on and approved and every tie between us has been in my breast there is not one of them for whom i care as i could care for a pet dog i stand alone in the world remembering well what a hollow world it has been to me and what a hollow part of it i have been myself you know this and you know that my fame with it is worthless to me yes i imagined that he said and calculated on it she rejoined and so pursued me grown too indifferent for any opposition but to the daily working of the hands that had me to this and knowing that my marriage would at least prevent their of me up and down i suffered myself to be sold as as any woman with a round her neck is sold in any market place you know that yes he said showing all his teeth i know that and calculated on it she rejoined once more and so pursued me from my marriage day i found myself exposed to such new shame to such and pursuit expressed as dearly as if it had been written in the words and thrust into my hand at every turn from one mean villain that i felt as if i had never known humiliation till that time this shame my and son m t u i i
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m m m i ii i husband fixed upon me hemmed me round with himself me in with his own hands and of his own act repeated hundreds of times and thus forced by the two from every point of rest i had forced by the two to yield up the last retreat of love and gentleness within me or to be a new misfortune on its innocent driven from each to each and beset by one when i escaped the other my anger rose almost to distraction against both i do not know against which it rose higher the master or the man he watched her closely as she stood before him in the very triumph of her indignant beauty she was resolute he saw with no more fear of him than of a worm what should i say of honor or of to you she went on what meaning would it have to you what meaning would it have from me but if i tell you that the touch of your hand makes my blood cold with that from the hour when i first saw and hated you to now when my instinctive is by every minute s knowledge of you i have since had you have been a creature to me which has not its like on earth how then he answered with a faint laugh aye how then my queen on that night when by the scene you had assisted at you dared come to my room and speak to me she said what passed v he shrugged his shoulders and laughed again what passed she said your memory is so distinct he returned that i have no doubt you can recall it i can she said hear it proposing then this flight not this flight but the flight you thought it you told me that in the having given you that meeting and leaving you to be discovered there if you so thought fit and in the having suffered you to be alone with me many times before and having made the opportunities you said and in the having openly to you that i had no feeling for my husband but aversion and no care r i was lost i had given you the power to and son my name and i lived in virtuous reputation at the sure of your breath all in love he interrupted smiling the old on that night said and then the struggle that i long had had with something that was not respect for my good that was i know not what perhaps the clinging to that last retreat was ended on that night and then i turned from everything but passion and resentment i struck a blow that laid your lofty master in the dust and set you there before me looking at me now and knowing what i mean he sprang up from his chair with a great oath she put her hand into her bosom and not a finger trembled not a hair upon her head was stirred he stood still she too the and chair between them when i forget that this man put his lips to mine that night and held me in his arms as he has done again to night said pointing at him when i forget the taint of his kiss upon my cheek the cheek that would have laid her face against when i forget my meeting with her while that taint was hot upon me and in what a flood the knowledge rushed upon me when i saw her that in her from the persecution i had caused her by my love i brought a shame and degradation on her name through mine and in all time to come should be the solitary figure representing in her mind her first of a guilty creature then husband from whom i stand henceforth i will forget these last two years and undo what i have done and you i her flashing eyes uplifted for a moment lighted again on and she held some letters out in her left hand see these she said contemptuously you have addressed these to me in the false name you go by one here some elsewhere on my road the are unbroken take them back she them in her hand and tossed them to his feet and as she looked upon him now a smile was on her face we meet and part to night she said you have on days and rest too soon you might have and son and and played your traitor s part a longer and grown richer you purchase your retirement dear he retorted menacing her with his hand sit down have done with this what devil possesses you v their name is she replied her proud form as if she would have crushed him you and your master have raised them in a fruitful house and they shall tear you false to him false to his innocent child false every way and everywhere go forth and boast of me and your teeth for once to know that you are l ring he stood before her muttering and menacing and round as if for something that would help him to conquer her but with the same spirit she opposed him without in every you make she said i have my triumph i single out in you the meanest man i know the and tool of the proud tyrant that his wound may go the deeper and may more boast and revenge me on him you know how you came here to night you know how you stand there you see yourself in colors quite as if not as odious as those in which i see you boast then and revenge me on yourself the
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foam was on his lips the wet stood on his forehead if she would have faltered once for only one half moment he would have her but she was as firm as rock and her searching eyes never him we don t part so he said do you think i am to let you go in your mad temper do you think she answered that i am to be stayed i try my dear he said with a ferocious gesture of his head god s mercy on you if you try by coming near me she replied and what he said if there are none of these same and on my part what if i were to turn too come and his teeth faintly shone again we must make a treaty of and son or i may take some course sit down down too late she cried with eyes that seemed to sparkle fire i have thrown my fame and good name to the winds i i have resolved to bear the shame that will attach to me resolved to know that it that you know it and that he does not never can and never shall i die and make no sign for this i am here alone with you at the dead of night for this i have met you here in a false name as your wife for this i have been seen here by those men and left here nothing can save you now he would have sold his soul to root her in her beauty to the floor and make her arms drop at her sides and have her at his mercy but he could not look at her and not be afraid of her he saw a strength within her that was he saw that she was desperate and that her hatred of him would stop at nothing his eyes followed the hand that was put with such rugged purpose into her white bosom and he thought that if it struck at him and failed it would strike there just as soon he did not venture re to advance towards her but the door by which he had entered was behind him and he stepped back to lock it lastly take my warning look to yourself she said and smiled again you have been betrayed as all are it has been made known that you are in this place or were to be or have been if i live i saw my husband in a carriage in the street to night it false cried at the moment the bell rang loudly in the hall he turned white as she held her hand up like an at whose the sound had come hark do you hear it he set his back against the door for he saw a change in her and fancied she was coming on to pass him but in a moment she was gone through the opposite doors communicating with the and they shut upon her once turned once changed in her look and son he felt that he with her he thought a sudden occasioned by this night alarm had subdued her not the readily for her condition throwing open the doors he followed almost instantly but the room was dark and as she made no answer to his call he was fain to go back for the lamp he held it up and looked round everywhere expecting to see her crouching in some comer but the room was empty so into the drawing room and dining room he went in with the uncertain steps of a man in a strange place looking fearfully about and behind and but she was not there no nor in the which was so bare that he could see that at a glance all this time the ringing of the bell was constantly renewed and those without were beating at the door he put his lamp down at a distance and going near it listened there were several voices talking together at least two of them in english and though the door was thick and there was great confusion he knew one of these too well to doubt whose voice it was he took up his lamp again and came back quickly through all the rooms stopping as he quitted each and looking round for her with the light raised above his head he was standing thus in the when the door leading to the little passage in the wall caught his eye he went to it and found it fastened on the other side but she had dropped a veil in going through and shut it in the door all this time the people on the stairs were ringing at the bell and knocking with their hands and feet he was not a coward but these sounds what had gone before the strangeness of the place which had confused him even in his return from the hall the of his schemes for strange to say he would have been much bolder if they had succeeded the time the recollection of having no one near to whom he could appeal for any friendly office above all the sudden sense which made even his heart beat like lead that the man whose confidence he had outraged and whom he had deceived was there to recognise and challenge him with his mask plucked off his face struck a panic through him he tried the door in which the veil was shut but couldn t s and son force it he opened of the windows and looked down the of the blind into the but it was a high ea and the stones were pitiless the ringing and knocking still continuing his panic too he went back to the door in the and with some new each more stubborn than the last it open seeing ihe little staircase not far off and feeling the
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s ideas nothing clear without and nothing clear within objects flitting past into one another dimly lost sight of gone beyond the changing scraps of fence and cottage immediately upon the road a lower ing waste beyond the shifting images that rose up in his mind and vanished as they showed themselves a black expanse of dread and rage and baffled occasionally a sigh of mountain air came from the distant fading along the plain sometimes that rush which was so furious and horrible again came sweeping through his fancy passed away and left a chill upon his blood the lamps gleaming on the of horses heads with the shadowy driver and the fluttering of his cloak made hey and son thousand indistinct shapes answering to his thoughts shadows of familiar people stooping at their and hooks in their remembered attitudes strange of the man whom he was flying from or of in the ringing bell and rolling s of words that had been spoken of time and place making last night a month ago a month ago last night home now distant beyond hope now instantly accessible discord hurry darkness and confusion in his mind and all around him hi away at a gallop over the black landscape dust and dirt flying like spray the smoking horses and plunging as if each of them were ridden by a demon away in a frantic triumph on the dark road whither again the nameless shock comes up and as it passes the bells ring in his ears whither the wheels roar in his ears whither all the noise and rattle shapes itself into that cry the lights and shadows dance upon the horses heads like no stopping now no on on away with him upon the dark road wildly he could not think to any purpose he could not separate one subject of reflection from another to dwell upon it by itself for a minute at a time the crash of his project for the gaining of a compensation for past restraint the overthrow of his treachery to one who had been true and generous to him but whose least proud word and look he had up at interest for for false and subtle men will always secretly despise and dislike the object upon which they and always resent the payment and receipt of homage that they know to be worthless these were the uppermost in his mind a lurking rage against the woman who had so him and herself was always there crude and mis schemes of upon her floated in his brain but nothing was distinct a hurry and contradiction pervaded all his thoughts even while he was so busy with this thinking his one constant idea was that he would reflection until some indefinite time then the old days before the second marriage rose up in his remembrance he thought how jealous he had been of the boy bow jealous he had been of the girl how he had kept and son sm at a distance and drawn a circle round his thai none but himself should cross and then he thought had he done all this to be flying now like a scared thief from only the poor he could have laid hands upon himself for his but it was the very shadow of his defeat and could not be separated from it td have his confidence in his own so shattered at a blow to be within his own knowledge such a miserable was like being with an impotent ferocity he raged at and hated mr and hated himself but still he fled and could do nothing else again and again he listened for the sound of wheels behind again and again his fancy heard it coming oa louder and louder at last he was so persuaded of this that he cried out stop preferring even the loss of ground to such the word soon brought carriage horses driver all in a heap together across the road the devil cried the driver looking over his shoulder what s the matter hark what s that what i that noise ah heaven be quiet cursed to a horse who shook his bells what noise behind is it not another carriage at a gallop there what s that with a pig s head stand still to another horse who bit another who frightened the other two who plunged and backed there is nothing coming nothing no nothing but the day yonder you are right i think i hear nothing now indeed go on the entangled half hidden in the cloud from the horses goes on slowly at first for the driver checked in his progress takes out a pocket knife and and son puts a new to his whip then hi i away more savagely and now the stars faded ind the day and standing in the carriage looking back he could discern the track by which he had come and see that there was no traveller within view on all the heavy expanse and soon it was broad day and the sun began to shine on corn fields and and solitary labor ers risen from little temporary huts by heaps of stones upon the road were here and there at work the highway or eating bread by and by there were going to their daily labor or to market or lounging at the doors of poor cottages gazing idly at him as he passed and then there was a ankle deep in mud with steaming and vast half ruined and looking on this dainty prospect an immense old glaring stone with half its windows blinded and green damp crawling lazily over it from the terrace to the tips of the the up in a comer of the carriage and only intent on going except when he stood up for a mile together and looked back which he would do whenever there was
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a piece of open country he went on still thought and still always tormented with thinking to no purpose shame disappointment and discomfiture at his heart a constant apprehension of being overtaken or met for he was afraid even of travellers who came towards him by the way he was going oppressed him heavily the same intolerable awe and dread that came upon him in the night returned in the day the monotonous ringing of the and of the horses the monotony of his anxiety and useless rage the monotonous wheel of fear regret and passion he kept turning round and round made the journey like a vision in which nothing was quite real but his own torment it was a vision of long roads that stretched away to a horizon always receding and never gained of ill paved towns up hill and down where faces came to dark doors and ill glazed windows and where rows of mud cows and oxen and son tied up for sale in the long narrow streets and and receiving blows on their blunt heads from that might have beaten them in of bridges crosses churches post yards new horses being put in against their wills and the horses of the last stage panting and laying their drooping heads together at stable doors of little with black crosses settled sideways in the graves and withered wreaths upon them dropping away again of long long roads dragging themselves out up hill and down to the treacherous horizon of morning noon and sunset night and the rising of an early moon of long roads temporarily left behind and a rough pavement reached of and over it and looking up among house roofs at a great church tower of getting out and eating hastily and drinking draughts of wine that had no cheering influence of coming forth t among a host of beggars blind men with quivering eyelids led by old women holding candles to their faces idiot girls the lame the and the of passing through the and looking from his seat at the countenances and outstretched hands with a hurried dread of some pressing of galloping away upon the long long road gathered up dull and stunned in his comer or rising to see where the moon shone faintly on a patch of the same endless road miles away or looking back to see who followed of never sleeping but sometimes with eyes and springing up with a start and a reply aloud to an imaginary voice of cursing himself for being there for having fled for having let her go for not having confronted and defied him of having a deadly quarrel with the whole world but chiefly with himself of everything with his black mood as he was carried on and away it was a vision of things past and present all confounded together of his life and journey blended into one of being madly hurried somewhere whither he must go of old scenes starting up among the through which he travelled of musing and brooding over what was past and distant and seeming to take no notice of the actual objects he encountered but with a wearisome consciousness of being s and sun by them and having their images all crowded in his hot brain after they were gone a vision of change upon change and still the same monotony of bells and wheels and horses feet and no rest of town and country post yards horses drivers hill and valley light and road and pavement height and wet weather and dry and still the same monotony of bells and wheels and horses feet and no rest a vision of tending on at last towards the distant capital by roads and sweeping round by old and dashing through small towns and villages less scattered on the road than formerly and sitting in his with his cloak up to his face as people passing by looked at him of rolling on and on always thought and always with thinking of being unable to reckon up the hours he had been upon the road or to comprehend the points of time and place in his journey of being and giddy and half mad of pressing on in spite of all as if he could not stop and coming into paris where the river held its swift course undisturbed between two streams of life and motion a troubled vision then of bridges interminable streets of wine shops water great crowds of people soldiers military drums of the monotony of bells and wheels and horses feet being at length lost in the universal din and uproar of the gradual of that noise as he passed out in another carriage by a different barrier from that by which he had entered of the restoration as he travelled on towards the sea of the monotony of and wheels and horses feet and no rest of sunset once again and nightfall of long roads again and dead of night and feeble lights in windows by the road side and still the old monotony of bells and wheels and horses feet and no rest of dawn and daybreak and the rising of the sun of toiling slowly up a hill and feeling on its top the fresh sea breeze and seeing the morning light upon the edges of the distant waves of coming down into a harbor when the tide was at its full and fishing boats float in and glad women and children waiting fer them of and s clothes spread out to dry upon and son m the shore of busy sailors and their voices high among ships and of the and brightness of the water and the universal sparkling of receding firom the coast and looking back upon it from the deck when it was a haze upon the water and here and there a little opening of bright land where the sun
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struck of the swell and flash and murmur of the calm sea of another grey line on the ocean on the vessel s track fast growing clearer and higher of and buildings and a and a church becoming more and more visible upon it of on at last into water and to a pier whence groups of people looked down greeting friends on board of passing among them quickly every one and of being at last again in england he had thought in his dream of going down into a remote country place he knew and lying quiet there while he secretly informed himself of what and determined how to act still in the same stunned condition he remembered a certain station on the railway where he would to branch off to his place of destination and where there was a quiet inn here he resolved to and i with this purpose he into a railway carriage as quickly as he could and lying there wrapped in his cloak as if he were asleep was soon borne far away from the sea and deep into the inland green arrived at his destination he looked out and sur it carefully he was not mistaken in his impression of the place it was a retired spot on the borders of a little wood only one house newly built or altered for the purpose stood there surrounded by its neat garden the small town that was nearest was some miles away here he alighted then and going straight into the tavern unobserved by any one secured two rooms up stairs communicating with each other and sufficiently retired his object was to rest and recover the command of himself and the balance of his mind discomfiture and rage so that as he walked about his room he ground his teeth had complete possession of him his thoughts not to be or and son still wandered where they would and dragged him after them he was and he was wearied to death but as if there were a curse upon him that he should never rest again his drowsy senses would not lose their consciousness he had no more influence with them in this regard than if they had heen another man s it was not that they forced him to take note of present sounds and objects but that they would not be diverted from the whole hurried vision of his journey it was constantly before him all at once she stood there with her dark eyes again upon him and he was riding on nevertheless through town and country light and darkness wet weather and dry over road and pavement hill and valley height and hollow and scared by the monotony of bells and and horses feet and no rest what day is this he asked of the waiter who was making preparations for his dinner day sir is it wednesday v wednesday sir no sir thursday sir i forgot how goes the time my watch is wants a few minutes of fi p o clock sir been travelling a long time sir perhaps v yes by rail sir yes very sir not much in the habit of travelling by rail myself sir but gentlemen frequently say so do many gentlemen come here pretty well sir in general nobody here at present rather slack just now sir everything is slack sir he made no answer but had risen into a sitting posture on the sofa where he had been lying and leaned forward with an arm on each knee staring at the ground he could not master his own attention for a minute together it rushed away where it would but it never for an instant lost itself in sleep he drank a quantity of wine dinner in vain no such artificial means would bring sleep to his eyes his thoughts more dragged him more after as and son w if a wretch condemned to such were drawn at the heels of wild horses no oblivion and no rest how long he sat drinking and brooding and being dragged in imagination hither and thither no one could have told less than he but he knew that he had been sitting a long time by when he started up and listened in a sudden terror for now indeed it was no fancy the ground shook the house rattled the fierce impetuous rush was in the air he felt it come up and go darting by and even when he had hurried to the window and saw what it was he stood shrinking from it as if it were not safe to look a curse upon the fiery devil thundering along so smoothly through the distant valley by a glare of light and lurid smoke and gone he felt as if he had been plucked out of its path and saved from being torn asunder it made him shrink and shudder even now when its faintest hum was hushed and when the lines of iron road he could trace in the running to a point were as empty and as silent as a desert unable to rest and irresistibly or he thought to this road he went out and on the brink of it marking the way the train had gone by the yet smoking that were lying in its track after a of some half hour in the tion by which it had disappeared he turned and walked the other way still keeping to the brink of the road past the inn garden and a long way down looking curiously at the bridges lamps and wondering when another devil would come by a trembling of the ground and quick in his ears a distant shriek a dull light advancing quickly changed to two red eyes and a fierce fire dropping glowing coals an irresistible bearing on of a great roaring and mass a high wind and a rattle
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another come and gone and he holding to a gate as if to save himself he waited for another and for another he walked back to his former point and back again to that and still through the wearisome vision of hb journey looked for these approaching monsters he about the station waiting until one should stay to call there and when one did and was detached for and son m m t mi am water he stood parallel with it watching its heavy wheels and brazen front and thinking what a cruel power and might it had to see the great wheels turning and to think of being run down and crushed disordered with wine and want of rest hat want which nothing although he was so weary would these ideas and objects assumed a importance in his thoughts when he went back to his room which was not until near midnight they still haunted him and he sat listening for the coming of another so in his bed whither he repaired no hope of sleep he still lay listening and when he felt the trembling and got up and went to the window to watch as he could from its position the dull light changing to the two red eyes and the fierce fire dropping glowing coals and the rush of the giant as it fled past and the track of glare and smoke along the valley then he would glance in the direction by which he intended to depart at sunrise as there was no rest for him there and would lie down again to be troubled by the vision of his journey and the old monotony of bells and wheels and horses feet until another came this lasted all night far from the mastery of himself he seemed if possible to lose it more and more as the night crept on when th dawn appeared he was still tormented with thinking still thought until he should be in a better state the past present and future all floated before him and he had lost all power of looking steadily at any one of them at what time he asked the man who had waited on him over night now entering with a candle do i leave here did you say v about a quarter four sir express comes through at four sir don t stop he passed his hand across his throbbing head and looked at his watch nearly half past three nobody going with you sir probably observed the man two gentlemen here sir but they re waiting for the train to london m thought you said there was nobody here said turn and son ing upon him with the ghost of his old smile when he was angry or suspicious not then sir two gentlemen came in the night hy the short train that stops here sir warm water sir v no and take away the candle there s day enough fi r me having thrown himself upon the bed half dressed he was at the window as the man left the room the cold light of morning had succeeded to night and there was already in the sky the red of the coming sun he bathed his head and face with water there was no influence in it for him hurriedly put on his clothes paid what he owed and went out the air struck chill and as it breathed upon him there was a heavy dew and hot as it was it made him shiver after a glance at the place where he had walked last night and at the signal lights burning feebly in the morning and of their significance he turned to where the sun was rising and beheld it in its glory as it broke upon the scene so awful so in its beauty so as he cast his faded eyes upon it where it rose tranquil and serene unmoved by all the wrong and wickedness on which its beams had shone since the beginning of the world who shall say that some weak sense of virtue upon earth and its reward in heaven did not manifest itself even to him if ever he remembered sister or brother with a touch of tenderness and remorse who shall say it was not then he needed some such touch then death was on him he was marked off from the living worlds and going down into his grave he paid the money for his journey to the country place he had thought of and was walking to and fro alone ig along the lines of iron across the valley in one direction and towards a dark bridge near at hand in the other when turning in his walk where it was bounded by one end of the wooden stage on which he paced up and down he saw the man from whom he had fled emerging from the door by which he himself had entered there and their eyes met in the quick of the surprise he staggered and and son slipped on to the road below him but recovering his feet immediately he stepped back a pace or two upon that road to inter some wider space between them and looked at his breathing short and quick he heard a shout another saw the face change from its passion to a faint sickness and terror felt the earth tremble knew in a moment that the rush was come uttered a shriek looked round saw the red eyes and dim in the daylight close upon him was beaten down caught up and whirled away upon a jagged mill that spun him und and round and struck him limb from limb and licked bis stream of life up with its fiery heat and cast his fragments in the air when the traveller who had been recognised recovered
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from a he saw them bringing from a distance something covered that lay heavy and still upon a board between four men and saw that others drove some dogs away that upon the road and soaked his blood up with a train of ashes and son chapter several people delighted and the game chicken di g the was all alive mr and had ar at last had run up stairs like a young woman of her senses and mr and the chicken had gone into the parlor oh my own pretty darling sweet miss cried the running into s room to think that it should come to this and i should find you here my own dear love with nobody to wait upon you and no home to call your own but never will i go away again for though i may not gather moss i m not a rolling stone nor is my heart a stone or else it wouldn bust as it is now oh dear oh dear pouring out these words without the faintest indication of a stop of any sort miss on her knees beside her mistress her close oh love cried i know all that s past i know it all my tender pet and i m a choking give me air dear good said oh bless her i that was her little maid when she was a little child i and is she really really truly going to be married i exclaimed in a burst of pain and pleasure pride and grief and heaven knows how many other conflicting feelings who told you so said oh gracious me that returned i knew he must be right my dear because he took on so he s the and infant and is my darling pursued with another close embrace and burst of tears really really going to be married the mixture of compassion pleasure tenderness protection j and son and regret with which the constantly to this and at every such raised her head to look in the young face and kiss it and then laid her head again upon her mistress s shoulder caressing her and sobbing was as womanly and good a thing in its way as ever was seen in the world there there said the soothing voice of presently now you re quite yourself dear miss sitting down upon the floor at her mistress s feet laughing and sobbing holding her pocket handkerchief to her eyes with one hand and patting with the other as he licked her face confessed to being more composed and laughed and cried a little more in proof of it i i i never did see such a as that said in all my bom days never so kind suggested and so comic sobbed the way he s been going on inside with me with that chicken on the box about what inquired timidly oh about lieutenant and captain and you my dear miss and the silent tomb said the silent tomb repeated he says here burst into a violent hysterical laugh that he ll go down into it now immediately and quite comfortable but bless your heart my dear miss he won t he s a great deal too happy in seeing other people happy for that he may not be a solomon pursued the with her usual nor do i say he is but this i do say a less selfish human creature human nature never knew miss being still hysterical laughed making this energetic declaration and then informed that he was waiting below to see her which would be a rich for the trouble he had had in his late expedition entreated to beg of mr as a favor that she might have the pleasure of thanking him for his kindness and in a few moments produced that young gentleman still very much in appearance and exceedingly miss said mr to be again permitted to and son m i least not to gaze but i don t exactly know what i was going to say but it s of no consequence i hare jo thank you so often returned giving him both her hands with all her innocent gratitude beaming in her face that i have no words led and don t know how to do it miss said mr in an awful voice if it was possible that you could with your nature curse me you would if i may be allowed to say floor me infinitely less than by these expressions of kindness their upon me is but said mr abruptly this is a and s of no consequence at all as there seemed to be no means of replying to this but by thanking him again thanked him again i could wish said mr to take this opportunity miss if i might of entering into a word of explanation should have had the pleasure of returning with at an earlier period but in the first place we didn t know the name of the relation to whose house she had gone and in the second as she had left that relation s and gone to another at a distance i think that scarcely anything short of the sagacity of the chicken would have found her out in the time was sure of it this however said mr is not the point the company of has been i assure you miss a and satisfaction to me in my state of mind more easily conceived than described the journey has been its own reward that however still is not the point miss i have fore observed that i know i am not what is considered a quick person i am perfectly aware of that i don t think anybody could be better acquainted with his own if it was not too strong an expression i should say with the thickness
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of his own than myself but miss i do net perceive the state of things with lieutenant whatever agony that state of things may have caused me which is of no consequence at all i am bound to say that lieutenant is a person who appears to be worthy of the blessing that has fallen on on his brow may he wear it long and appreciated it as a very different and very unworthy individual that it and son no consequence to name would have done that however stiu is not the point miss captain is a friend of mine and during the interval that is now i believe it would rd captain pleasure to see me occasionally coming back wards and forwards here it would afford me pleasure so to come but i cannot forget that i once committed myself at the comer of the square at and if my presence will be in the least degree unpleasant to you i only ask you to name it to me now and assure you that i shall perfectly understand you i shall not consider it at all unkind and shall only be too delighted and happy to be honored with your confidence mr returned if you who are so old and a friend of mine were to stay away from this house now you would make me very unhappy it can never never give me any feeling but pleasure to see you miss said mr taking out his pocket handkerchief if i shed a tear it is a tear of joy it is of no consequence and i am very much to you i may be allowed to remark after what you have so kindly said that it is not my intention to neglect my person any longer received this intimation with the prettiest expression of perplexity possible i mean said mr that i shall consider it my duty as a fellow creature generally until i am claimed by the silent tomb to make the best of myself and to to have my boots as brightly polished as as circumstances will admit of this is the last time miss of my any observation of a private and personal nature i thank you very much indeed if i am not in a general way as sensible as my friends could wish me to be or as i could wish myself i really am upon my word and honor particularly sensible of what is considerate and kind i feel said mr in an impassioned tone as if i could express my feelings at the present moment in a most remarkable manner if i could only get a start appearing not to get it waiting a minute or two to see if it would come mr took a hasty leave and went below to the captain whom he found in the shop captain said mr what is now to take place ik and son between us takes place under the sacred seal of confidence it is the captain of what has taken place between myself and miss upstairs and aloft eh my lad v murmured the captain exactly so captain said mr whose of acquiescence was greatly heightened by his entire ignorance of the captain s meaning miss i believe captain is to be shortly united to lieutenant why aye my lad we re all here r and sweetheart will be together in the house of bondage as soon as the is over whispered captain in his ear the captain repeated mr in the church down yonder said the captain pointing his thumb over his shoulder oh i yes returned mr and then said the captain in his hoarse whisper and tapping mr on the chest with the back of his hand and falling from him with a look of infinite admiration what that there pretty as delicately brought up as a foreign bin goes away upon the roaring main with r on a to china lord captain said mr aye nodded the captain the ship as took him up when he was wrecked in the that had drove her clean out of her course was a china and r made the age and got into favor aboard and being as smart and good a lad as ever stepped and so the dying at he got made having acted as clerk afore and now he s aboard another ip same owners and so you see repeated the thoughtfully the pretty goes away upon the roaring main with r on a to china mr and captain heaved a sigh in concert what then said the captain she loves him true he loves her true them as should have loved and of her treated of her like the beasts as perish when she cast out of home come here to me and dropped upon them her sm and son heart was broke i know it i ed ard see it there s but true kind steady love as can ever piece it up again if so be i didn t know that and didn t know as r was her true love brother and she his i d have these here blue arms and legs off afore i d let her go but i da know it and what then why then i say heaven go with em both and so it will amen captain said mr let me have the pleasure of shaking hands you ve a way of saying things that gives me an agreeable warmth all up my back i say amen you are aware captain that i have adored miss cheer up said the captain laying his hand on mr s shoulder stand by boy it is my intention captain returned the spirited mr to cheer up also to stand by as much as possible when the silent tomb shall captain i shall be ready for burial not before but not being certain
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just at present of my power over myself what i wish to say to you and what i shall take it as a particular favor if you will mention it to lieutenant is as follows is as echoed the captain steady miss being so kind continued mr with watery eyes as to say that my presence is the reverse of disagreeable to her and you and everybody here being no less and towards one who certainly said mr with momentary appear to have been born by mistake i shall come backwards and forwards of an evening during the short time we can all be together but what i ask is this if at any moment i find that i cannot endure the contemplation of lieutenant s bliss and should rush out i hope captain that you and he will both consider it as my misfortune and not my fault or the want of inward conflict that you ll feel convinced i bear no malice to any living creature least of all to lieutenant himself and that you ll casually remark that i have gone out for a walk or probably to see what o clock it is by the royal exchange cap tain if you could enter into this arrangement and could and son answer for lieutenant it would be a relief to my feelings that i should think cheap at the sacrifice of a considerable portion of my property my lad returned the captain say no more there ain t a color you can run up as won t be made out and answered to by r and self captain said mr my mind is greatly relieved i wish to preserve the good opinion of all here i i mean well upon my honor however badly i may show it you know said mr it s exactly as if and co wished to oblige a customer with a most extraordinary pair of trousers and could not cut out what they had in their minds with this illustration of which he seemed a little proud mr gave captain his blessing and departed the honest captain with his heart s delight in the house and tending her was a beaming and a happy man as the days flew by he grew more beaming and more happy every day after some with for whose wisdom the captain had a profound respect and whose of herself on mrs he could never forget he proposed to that the daughter of the elderly lady who usually sat under the blue umbrella in market should for reasons and considerations of privacy be in the temporary discharge of the household duties by some one who was not unknown to them and in whom they could safely confide being present then named in of a suggestion she had previously offered to he captain mrs brightened at the name and setting that very afternoon to the to sound mrs returned in triumph the same evening accompanied by the identical rosy apple faced whose when brought into s presence were hardly less than those of herself this piece of from which the captain derived uncommon as he did indeed from everything else that was done whatever it happened to be had next to prepare for their approaching separation this was a much more difficult task as miss was of a f and son disposition and had fully made up her mind that come back never to be parted from her old mistress any more as to wages dear miss she said you wouldn t hint and wrong me so as to think of them for i ve put money by and wouldn t sell my love and duty at a time like this even if the banks and me were total strangers or the banks were broke to pieces but you ve never been without me darling from the time your poor dear ma was took away and though i m nothing to be boasted of you re used to me and oh my own dear mistress through so many years don t think of going anywhere without me for it mustn t and can t be dear i am going on a long long voyage well miss and what of that the more you ll want me of voyages ain t an object in my eyes thank god said the impetuous but i am going with walter and i would go with walter everywhere walter is poor and i am very poor and i must now both to help myself and help him dear miss cried bursting out afresh and shaking her head violently it is nothing new to you to help yourself and others too and be the and truest of noble hearts but let me talk to mr walter gay and settle it with him for suffer you to go away across the world alone i cannot and i won t alone returned alone and walter taking me with him ah what a bright amazed smile was on her face he should have seen it i am sure you will not speak to walter if i ask you not she added tenderly and pray don t dear sobbed why not miss because said i am going to be his wife to give him up my whole heart and to live with him and die with him he might think if you said to him what you have said to me that i am afraid of what is before me or that you have some cause to be afraid for me why dear i love him miss was so much affected by the quiet of and son these words and the simple all earnestness expressed in them and making the speaker s face more ful and pure than ever that she could only cling to her again crying was her little mistress really really going to be married and pitying caressing and
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protecting her as she had done before but the though susceptible of womanly weaknesses was almost as capable of putting upon herself as of attacking the from that time she never returned to the subject but was always cheerful active bustling and hopeful she did indeed inform mr privately that she was only keeping up for the time and that when it was all over and miss was gone she might be expected to become a spectacle and mr did also express that it was his case too and that they would mingle their tears together but she never otherwise indulged her private feelings in the presence of or within the of the limited and plain as s wardrobe was what a con to that prepared for the last marriage in which she had taken part there was a good deal to do in getting it ready and worked away at her side all day with the concentrated of the wonderful tions captain would have made to this branch of the if he had been permitted as pink tinted silk stockings blue shoes and other articles no less necessary on occupy some space in the recital he was induced however by various representations to limit his to a and dressing case of each of which he purchased the very largest specimen that could be got for money for ten days or a fortnight afterwards he generally sat during the greater part of the day gazing at these boxes divided between extreme admiration of them and dejected that they not gorgeous enough and frequently out into the street to purchase some wild article that he deemed necessary to their completeness but his master stroke was the bearing of them off suddenly one morning and getting the two words engraved upon a brass heart over no and son the lid of each after thb he four pipes in the little parlor by himself and was discovered at the of as many hours walter was busy and away all day but came there every morning early to see and always passed the evening with her never left her high rooms but to steal down stairs to wait for him when it was his time to come or sheltered by his proud arm to bear him company to the door again and sometimes peep into the street in the twilight they were always together oh blessed time oh wandering heart at rest oh deep mighty well of love in which so much was sunk the cruel mark was on her bosom yet it rose against her father with the breath she drew it lay between her and her lover when he pressed her to his heart but she forgot it in the beating of that heart for her and in the beating of her own for him all music was all stem hearts forgotten fragile and delicate she was but with a might of love within her that could and did create a world to fly to and to rest in out of his one image how often did the great house and the old days come before her in the twilight time when she was sheltered by the arm so proud so fond and creeping closer to him shrunk within it at the recollection how x from remembering the night when she went down to that room and met the never to be forgotten look did she raise her eyes to those that watched her with such loving earnestness and weep with happiness in such a refuge the more she clung to it the more the dear dead child was in her thoughts but as if the last time she had seen her father had been when he was sleeping and she kissed his face she always left him so and never in her fancy passed that hour walter dear said one evening when it was almost dark do you know what i have been thinking to day v thinking how the time is flying on and how soon we shall be upon the sea sweet v i don t mean that walter though i think of that too i have been thinking what a charge i am to you and sun a precious sacred charge dear heart i why think that you are laughing walter i know that s much more in your thoughts than mine but i mean a cost a cost my own in money dear all these preparations that and i are so with i have heen able to purchase very little fi r myself you were poor before but how much poorer i shall make you walter and how much richer laughed and shook her head besides said walter long ago before i went to i had a little purse presented to me dearest which had money in it ah returned laughing sorrowfully very little very little walter but you must not and here she laid her light hand on his shoulder and looked into his face that i regret to be this burden on you no dear love i am glad of it i am happy in it i t have it otherwise for all the world nor i indeed dear aye but walter you can never feel as i do i am so proud of you it makes my heart swell with such delight to know that those who speak of you must say you married a poor girl who had taken shelter here who had no other home no other friends who had nothing nothing oh walter if i could have brought you millions i never could have been so happy for your sake as i am and you dear are you nothing he returned no nothing walter nothing but your wife the light hand stole about his neck and the voice came nearer nearer i am nothing any more that is not you i have no
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earthly hope any more that is not you i have nothing dear to me any more that is not you oh well might mr leave the little company that evening and twice go out to correct his watch by the royal exchange and once to keep an with a banker which and son he suddenly remembered and once to take a little turn to gate pump and back but before he went upon these or indeed he came and before lights were brought walter said love the of our ship is nearly finished and probably on the very day of our marriage she will drop down the river shall we go away that morning and stay in k until we go on board at within a week if you please walter i shall be happy anywhere but yes my life you know said that we shall have no marriage party and that nobody will us by our dress from other people as we leave the same day will you will you take me somewhere that early before we go to church walter seemed to understand her as so true a lover so truly loved should and confirmed his ready promise with a with more than one perhaps or two or three or five or six and in the grave calm peaceful evening was very happy then into the quiet room came and the candles shortly afterwards the tea the captain and the mr who as above mentioned was frequently on the afterwards and passed but a restless evening this however was not his habit for he generally got on very well by dint of playing at with the captain under the advice and ance of miss and his mind with the calculations to the game which he found to be a very means of utterly himself the s on these occasions presented one of the finest examples of combination and succession of expression ever observed his instinctive delicacy and his feeling towards taught him that it was not a time for any boisterous or violent display of satisfaction certain floating reminiscences of lovely on the other hand were constantly struggling for a vent and urging the captain to himself by some demonstration anon his ad of and well matched truly and ml and son a of grace and interest in their youth and love and good looks as they sat apart would take such complete possession of him that he would lay down his cards and beam upon them his head all over pocket handkerchief until warned perhaps by the forth of mr that he had unconsciously been very indeed in making that gentleman miserable this reflection would make the captain profoundly melancholy until the return of mr when he would fall to his cards again with many side and and polite waves of his hook at miss that he wasn t going to do so any more the state that ensued on this was perhaps his best for then to discharge all expression from his face he would sit staring round the room with all these expressions conveyed into it at once and each with the other delighted admiration of and walter always the rest and remained victorious and mr made another rush into the air and then the captain would sit like a until he came back again occasionally calling upon himself in a low voice to stand by i or growling some to ed ard my lad on the want of caution in his behavior one of mr s hardest trials however was of his own seeking on the approach of the sunday which was to witness the last of those in church of which the captain had spoken mr thus stated his to said mr i am drawn towards the building the words which cut me off from miss for ever will strike upon my ears like a you know but upon my word and honor i feel that i must hear them therefore said mr will you accompany me to morrow to the sacred edifice miss expressed her readiness to do so if that would be any satisfaction to mr but him to abandon hia idea of going returned mr with much solemnity before my whiskers began to be observed by anybody but myself i adored miss while yet a victim to the of and son i adored miss when i could no longer be kept out of my property in a legal point of view and and accordingly came into it i adored miss the which her to lieutenant j and me to to gloom you know said mr tools after for a strong expression may be dreadful will be dreadful but i feel that i should wish to hear them spoken i feel that i should wish to know that the ground was certainly cut from under me and that f hadn t a hope to cherish or a or a leg in short to to go upon could only mr s unfortunate condition and agree under these circumstances to accompany him which she did next morning the church walter had chosen for the purpose was a old church in a yard hemmed in by a of back streets and courts with a little burying ground round it and itself buried in a kind of vault formed by the neighboring houses and paved with echoing stones it was a great dim shabby pile with high old among which about a score of people lost themselves every sunday while the clergyman s voice through the and the organ and rolled as if the church had got the for want of a congregation to keep the wind and damp out but so far was this city church from for the company of other that were clustered round it as the of shipping cluster on the river it would have been hard to count them from its top they were
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so many in almost every yard and blind place near there was a church the confusion of bells when and mr themselves towards it on the sunday morning was there were twenty churches close together for people to come in the two stray sheep in question were by a in a and being early sat for some time counting the congregation listening to the disappointed bell high up in the tower or looking at a shabby little old man in the porch the screen who was ringing the same like the bull in cock robin with his foot in a mr after a lengthened survey of the large books on the reading desk whispered miss and son s that he wondered where the were kept but that young lady merely shook her head and frowned for the time all approaches of a nature mr however appearing unable to keep his thoughts from the was evidently looking out for them during the whole preliminary portion of the service as the time for reading them approached the poor young gentleman manifested great anxiety and which was not diminished by the unexpected apparition of the captain in the front row of the gallery when the clerk handed up a list to the clergyman mr being then seated held on by the seat of the but when the names of walter gay and were read aloud as being in the third and last stage of that association he was so entirely conquered by hb feelings as to rush from the church without his hat followed by the and and two gentlemen of the medical profession who happened to be present of whom the first named presently returned for that article informing miss in a whisper that she was not to make herself uneasy about the gentleman as the gentleman said his was of no consequence miss feeling that the eyes of that portion of europe which lost itself weekly among the high were upon her would have been sufficiently embarrassed by this incident though it had terminated here the more so as the captain in the front row of the gallery was in a state of consciousness which could hardly fail to express to the congregation that he had some mysterious with it but the extreme restlessness of mr painfully increased and protracted the delicacy of her situation that young gentleman incapable in his state of mind of remaining alone in the churchyard a prey to solitary meditation and also desirous no doubt of his respect for the offices he had in some measure interrupted suddenly returned not coming back to the but himself on a free seat in the aisle between two elderly females who were in the habit of their portion of a weekly of bread then set forth on a shelf in the porch in this mr remained greatly the congregation who felt it impossible to avoid looking at and son him until his feelings overcame him again when he departed silently and suddenly not venturing to trust himself in the church any more and yet wishing to have some social in what was going on there mr was this seen from time to time looking in with a aspect at one or other of the windows and as there were several windows accessible to him from without and as his restlessness was very great it not only became difficult to conceive at which window he would appear next but likewise became necessary as it were for the whole congregation to upon the chances of the windows during the comparative leisure afforded them by the sermon mr s movements in the churchyard were ao eccentric that he seemed generally to defeat all calculation and to appear like the s figure where he was least expected i and the effect of these mysterious was much increased by its being difficult to him to see in and easy to everybody else to see out which occasioned his remaining every time longer than might have been expected with his face close to the glass until he all at once became aware that all eyes were upon him and vanished these proceedings on the part of mr and the strong individual consciousness of them that was exhibited by the captain rendered miss s position so responsible a one that she was relieved by the conclusion of the service and was hardly so to mr as usual when he informed her and the captain on the way back that now he was sure he had no hope you know he felt more comfortable at least not exactly more comfortable but more comfortably and completely miserable swiftly now indeed the time flew by until it was the evening before the day appointed for the marriage they were all assembled in the upper room at the s and had no fear of interruption for there were no in the house now and the had it all to himself they were grave and quiet in the prospect of to morrow but cheerful too with walter close beside her was finishing a little piece of work intended as a parting gift to the captain the captain was playing with mr mr waa t i k v f r i to t it t r i i i s i t oi u s and son taking counsel as to his hand of miss was giving it with all due and was listening and occasionally breaking out into a half smothered fragment of a bark of which he afterwards seemed half ashamed as if he doubted having any reason for it steady steady said the captain to what s amiss with you you don t seem easy in your mind to night my boy his tail but pricked up his ears immediately afterwards and gave utterance
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to another fragment of a bark for which he to the captain by again his tail it s my opinion di said the captain looking thoughtfully at his cards and king his chin with his hook as you have your doubts of mrs but if you re the animal i take you to be you ll think better o that for her looks is her com mission now brother to mr if so be as you re ready heave ahead the captain spoke with all composure and attention to the game but suddenly his cards dropped out of his hand his mouth and eyes opened wide his legs drew themselves up and stuck out in front of his chair and he sat staring at the door with blank amazement looking round upon the company and seeing that none of them observed him or the cause of his astonishment the captain recovered himself with a great gasp struck the table a tremendous blow cried in a roar and tumbled into the arms of a weather beaten coat that had come with into the room in another moment walter was in the arms of the coat in another moment was in the arms of the weather beaten coat in another moment captain had embraced mrs and miss and was violently shaking hands with mr exclaiming as he waved his hook above his head my lad to which mr wholly at a loss to account for these proceed replied with great politeness certainly captain whatever you think proper the weather beaten coat and a no less weather beaten cap ns and son belonging to it turned from the captain and from back to walter and sounds came from the weather beaten coat cap and as of an old man sobbing underneath them while the shaggy sleeves clasped walter tight during this pause there was an universal silence and the cap tain polished his nose with great diligence but when the cap and lifted themselves up again gently moved towards them and she and walter taking them off disclosed the old instrument maker a little thinner and more care worn than of old in his old wig and his old coat and basket buttons with his old in away in his pocket full o science said the radiant captain as ever he was what have you been up to for this many a long day my old boy v i m half blind ned said the old man and almost deaf and dumb with joy his said the captain looking round with an exultation to which even his face could hardly justice his as full o science as ever it was lay to my lad upon your own and fig trees like a old as you are and them there o in your own tis the said the captain and announcing a quotation with his hook of the i him plain you have woke me too soon i must slumber again scatter his and make em fall the captain sat down with the air of a man who had happily expressed the feeling of everybody present and immediately rose again to present mr who was much disconcerted by the arrival of anybody appearing to prefer a claim to the name of although stammered mr i had not the pleasure of your acquaintance sir before you were you were lost to sight to memory dear suggested the captain in a low voice exactly so captain assented mr although i had not the pleasure of your acquaintance mr mr x and son said on that name in the inspiration of a bright idea before that happened i have the greatest pleasure i assure you in you know in knowing you i hope said mr that you re as well as can be expected with these courteous words mr sat down blushing and the old instrument maker seated in a comer between walter and and nodding at who was looking on all smiles and delight answered the captain thus ned my dear boy although i have heard something of the changes of events here from my pleasant friend there what a pleasant face she has to be sure to welcome a wanderer home said the old man breaking off and rubbing his hands in his old dreamy way hear him cried the captain gravely tis woman as all mankind for which aside to mr you ll your adam and eve brother i shall make a point of doing so captain said mr although i have heard something of the changes of events from her resumed the instrument maker taking his old spectacles from his pocket and putting them on his forehead in his old manner they are so great and unexpected and i am so overpowered by the sight of my dear boy and by the glancing at the downcast eyes of and not attempting to finish the that i i can t say much to night but my dear ned why didn t you write the astonishment depicted in the captain s features positively frightened mr whose eyes were quite fixed by it so that he could not withdraw them from his face write echoed the captain write aye said the old man either to or or that was what i asked what you asked repeated the captain aye said the old man don t you know ned sure you have not forgotten every time i wrote to you the captain took off his glazed hat hung it on his hook and and son his hair from behind with his hand sat gazing at the around him a perfect of wondering resignation you don t appear to understand me ned observed old returned the captain after staring at him and the rest for a long time without speaking i m gone about and adrift pay out a word or two respecting them will you can t i bring up
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said the captain and staring all round you know ned said why i left here did you open my packet ned v why aye aye said the captain to be sure i opened the packet and read it said the old man and read it answered the captain him attentively proceeding to quote it from memory my dear ned when i left home for the west indies in forlorn search of of my dear there he sits there s r said the captain as if he were relieved by getting hold of anything that was real and well ned now attend a moment said the old man when i wrote first that was from i said that though you would receive that letter long before the year was out i should be glad if you would open the packet as it explained the reason of my going away very good ned when i wrote the second third and perhaps the fourth times that was from i said i was in just the same state couldn t rest and couldn t come away from that part of the world without knowing that my boy was lost or saved when i wrote that i think was from wasn t it that he thinks was from t it said the captain looking hopelessly around i said proceeded old s l that still there was no certain information got yet that i found many captains and others in that part of the world who had known me for years and who assisted me with a passage here and there and from what i was able now and then to do a little in return in my own craft that every one was sorry for me aud seemed to take a sort of and son interest in my wanderings and that i began to think it would be my fate to about in search of tidings of my boy until j died began to think as how he a scientific flying said the captain as before and with great seriousness but when the news came one day ned that was to after i got back there that a china home ard bound had been spoke that had my boy aboard then ned i took a passage in the next ship and came home and arrived at home to night to find it true thank god said the old man devoutly the captain after bowing his head with great reverence stared all round the circle beginning with mr and ending with the instrument maker then gravely said the observation as i m a going to make is c to blow every of sail as you can carry clean out of the bolt ropes and bring you on your beam ends with a not one of them letters was ever delivered to ed ard not one o them letters repeated the captain to make his declaration the more solemn and impressive was ever delivered unto ed ard of england as lives at home at ease and doth improve each shining hour and posted by my own hand and directed by my own hand number nine place exclaimed old the color all went out of the captain s face and all came back again in a glow what do you mean my friend by number nine place inquired the captain mean your lodgings ned returned the old man mrs what s her name i shall forget my own name next but i am behind the present i always was you recollect and very much confused mrs said the captain as if he were putting the most improbable case in the world it ain t the name of as you re a trying to remember of course it is exclaimed the instrument maker to be sure ned mrs captain whose eyes were now as wide open as they be and the upon whose face were and son gave a long shrill whistle of a most melancholy sound and stood gazing at everybody in a state of that there again will you be so kind v he said at last all these letters returned uncle beating time with the finger of his right hand upon the palm of his left with a and distinctness that might have done honor even to the in his pocket i posted with my own hand and directed with my own hand to captain at mrs s number nine place the captain took his glazed hat off his hook looked into it put it on and sat down why friends all said the captain staring round in the last stage of discomfiture i cut and run from there and no one knew where you were gone captain cried walter hastily bless your heart r said the captain shaking his head never have allowed o my coming to take charge o this here property nothing could be but cut and run lord love you r said the captain you ve only seen her in a calm but see her when her angry passions rise and make a note on give it her remarked the softly would you do you think my dear v returned the captain with feeble admiration well my dear it does you credit but there ain t no wild animal i wouldn t sooner face myself i only got my chest away by means of a friend as nobody s a match for it was no good sending any letter there site wouldn t take in any letter bless you said the captain under them circumstances why you could hardly make it worth a man s while to be the then it s pretty clear captain that all of us and you and uncle especially said walter may thank mrs for no small anxiety the general obligation in this wise to the determined of the late mr was so apparent that the captain
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did hot contest the point but being in some measure ashamed of his position though nobody dwelt upon the subject and walter es and avoided it remembering the last conversation he and the captain had held together respecting it he remained under a cloud for nearly five minutes an extraordinary period for him when that sun hi ace broke out once more shining on all be with extraordinary brilliancy and he fell into a fit of shaking hands with everybody over and over again at an early ur but not before uncle and walter had questioned each other at some length about their voyages and dangers they all except walter s room and went down to the parlor here they were soon afterwards joined by walter who told them was a little sorrowful and heavy hearted and had gone to bed though they could not have disturbed her with their voices down there they all spoke in a whisper after this and each in his different way felt very lovingly and gently towards walter s fair young bride and a long explanation there was of everything relating to her for the satisfaction of uncle and very sensible mr was of the delicacy with which walter made his name and services important and his presence necessary to their little council mr said walter on parting with him at the house door we shall see each other to morrow morning v lieutenant returned mr grasping his hand fervently i shall certainly be present this is the last night we shall meet for a long the last night we may ever meet said walter such a noble heart as yours must feel i think when another heart is bound to it i hope you know that i am very grateful to you replied mr quite touched i should be glad to feel that you had reason to do so said walter on this last night of her bearing her own name has made me promise it was only just now when you left us together that i would tell you with her dear mr laid his hand upon the and his eyes upon his hand with her dear love said walter that she can never have a friend whom she will value above you that the recollection of your true consideration fi r her always can never be and son forgotten by her that she remembers you in her prayers tonight and hopes that you will think of her when she is far away shall i say anything for you say replied mr that i shall think of her every day but never without feeling happy to know that she is married to the man she loves and who loves her say if you please that i am sure her husband deserves her even her and that i am glad of her choice mr got more distinct as he came to these last words and raising his eyes from the said them stoutly he then shook walter s hand again with a that walter was not slow to return and started homeward mr was accompanied by the chicken whom he had of late brought with him every evening and left in the shop with an idea that circumstances might arise from without in which the of that distinguished character would be of service to the the chicken did not appear to be in a particularly good humor on this occasion either the were treacherous or he cocked his eye in a hideous manner and likewise distorted his nose when mr crossing the road looked back over his shoulder at the room where slept on the road home he was more of intentions against the other foot passengers than with a professor of the peaceful art of self defence arrived at home instead of leaving mr in his apartments when he had escorted him thither he remained before him weighing his white hat in both hands by the brim and his head and nose both of which had been many times broken and but indifferently repaired with an air of decided his patron being much engaged with his own thoughts did not observe this for some time nor indeed until the chicken determined not to be overlooked had made divers sounds with his tongue and teeth to attract attention now master said the chicken when he at length caught mr s eyes i want to know whether this here is to finish it or whether you re going in to win v chicken returned mr explain yourself why then here s all about it master said the chicken and son i ain t a to a word away here s it is are any on em to be doubled up when the put this question he dropped his hat made a and a with his left hand hit a supposed enemy a violent blow with his right shook his head and recovered himself come master said the chicken is it to be or pluck which chicken returned mr your expressions are coarse and your meaning b obscure why then i tell you what master said the chicken this is where it is it s mean what is mean chicken asked mr it is said the chicken with a frightful of his broken nose there now master you could go and blow on this here match to the stiff un by which it has been since supposed that the game one intended to signify mr and when you could knock the and all the of em dead out o wind and time are you going to give in to give in said the chicken with contemptuous emphasis it s mean chicken said mr severely you re a perfect your sentiments are my sentiments is game and fancy master returned the chicken that s my sentiments is i can t a meanness i m afore the public i m
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to be on at the bar of the little and no nor o mine t go and do s mean it s mean said the chicken with increased expression that s where it is it s mean chicken said mr you disgust me master returned the chicken putting on his hat there s a pair on us then come here s a offer you ve spoke to me more than t or t about the public line never mind give me a fi to morrow and let me go chicken returned mr after the odious sentiments you have expressed i shall be glad to part on such terms done then said the chicken it s a bargain this here conduct o won t suit book master it s and son mean said the chicken who seemed equally unable to get beyond that point and to stop short of it that s where it is it s mean i so mr and the chicken agreed to part on this of moral perception and mr lying down to sleep dreamed happily of who had thought of him as her friend upon the last night of her maiden life and sent him her dear love and son chapter another wedding the and mrs the are early at their posts in the fine church where mr was married a yellow faced old gentleman from india is going to take unto himself a young wife this morning and six carriages full of company are expected and mrs has been informed that the yellow faced old gentleman could the road to church with diamonds and hardly miss them the is to be a superior one proceeding from a very reverend a dean and the lady is to be given away as an extraordinary present by somebody who comes express from the horse guards mrs is more of common people this morning than she generally is and she has always strong opinions on that subject for it is associated with free mrs is not a student of political economy she thinks the science is connected with or or some o them she says but she can never understand what business your common folks have to be married em says mrs you read the same things over em and instead of sovereigns get mr the is more liberal than mrs but then he is not a it must be done ma am he says we must marry em we must have our national schools to walk at the head of and we must have our standing armies we must marry em ma am says mr and keep the country going mr is sitting on the steps and mrs is in the church when a young e plainly dressed come in the bonnet of mrs is sharply turned x and son them for she in this early visit indications of a match they don t want to be married only says the gentleman to walk round the church and as he slips a genteel compliment into the palm of mrs her face and her bonnet and her spare dry figure dip and mrs her and up her for the yellow faced old gentleman is reported to have tender knees but keeps her glazed opening eye on the young couple who are w round the church mrs whose cough is than the hay in any ia ber charge you ll come to us one of these mornings my unless i m much mistaken they are looking at a on the erected to the memory of some one dead they are a long way off from mrs but mrs can see with half an eye bow is leaning on his arm and how his head is bent down over her well well says mrs you might do worse for you re a tidy pair there is nothing personal in mrs s remark she merely speaks of stock in trade she is hardly more curious in couples than in she is such a spare straight dry old lady such a of a woman that you should find as many in a mr now who is and has scarlet in his coat is of a very different temperament he says as they stand upon the steps watching the young couple away that she has a pretty figure hasn t she and as well as he could see for she held her head down coming out an uncommon pretty face altogether mrs says mr with a relish she is what you may call a mrs with a spare nod of her bonnet but of this so little that she inwardly she wouldn t be the wife of mr for any money he could give her as he is and what are the young couple saying as they leave the church and go out at the gate dear walter thank you i can go away now happy and when we come back we will come and mi again and son lifts her so bright with tears to his kind face and her disengaged hand on that other modest little hand which his arm it is yery early walter and the streets are almost empty yet let us walk but you will be so tired my love oh no i was very tired the first time that we ever walked together but i shall not be so to day and thus not much she as innocent and he as frank as hopeful and more proud of her and walter on their morning walk through the streets together not even in that childish walk of long ago were they so far removed from all the world about them as to day the childish feet of long ago did not tread such enchanted ground as do now the confidence and love of children may be given many times and will spring up in many places but the woman s heart
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of with its treasure can be yielded only once and under slight or change can only and die they take the streets that are the and do not go that in which her old home stands it is a fair warm morning and the sun shines on them as they walk towards the darkening mist that the city riches are in shops jewels gold and silver flash in the sunny windows and great houses cast a stately shade upon them as they pass but through the light and through the shade they go on lovingly together lost to everything around thinking of no other riches and no home than they have now in one another gradually they came into the darker streets where the sun now yellow and now is seen through the mist only at street comers and in small open spaces where there is a tree or one of the innumerable or a paved way and a flight of steps or a curious little patch of garden or a burying where the few and tomb stones are almost black and through all the narrow yards and and and son the shady streets goes clinging to his arm to be hi wife her heart beats quicker now for walter tells her that their church is very near they pass a few great of with at the doors and busy stopping up the way but does not see or hear them and then the air is quiet and the day is darkened and she is trembling in a church which has a strange smell like a cellar the shabby little old man of the disappointed bell is standing in the porch and has put his hat in the for he is quite at home there being he them into an old brown dusty like a comer cupboard with the shelves taken out where the a smell like faded which has set the tearful youthful and how beautiful the young bride looks in this old dusty place with no kindred object near her but her husband there is a dusty old clerk who keeps a sort of news shop underneath an opposite behind a perfect of posts there is a dusty old who only keeps herself and finds that quite enough to do there is a dusty old these are mr s and of last sunday who has something to do with a company who have got a hall in the next yard with a stained glass window in it that no mortal ever saw there are dusty wooden and in and out over the altar and over the screen and round the gallery and over the inscription about what the master and of the company did in one thousand six hundred and ninety four there are dusty old sounding boards over the pulpit and reading desk looking like to be let down on the ministers in case of their giving offence there is every possible provision for the accommodation of dust except in the churchyard where the in that respect are very limited the captain uncle and mr are come the is putting on his in the while the clerk walks round him blowing the dust off it and tlie bride and bridegroom stand before the altar there is no unless is one and no better father than captain and son a man with a wooden leg a faint apple and carrying a blue bag in his hand looks in to see what is going on but finding it nothing entertaining off again and his way among the echoes out of doors no gracious ray of light is seen to fall on kneeling at the altar with her timid head bowed down the morning is built out and don t shine there there is a meagre tree outside where the are a little and there is a in the hole of sun in a s garret over against the window who loudly whilst the service is performing and there is the man with the wooden leg away the of the dusty clerk appear like s to stick in his throat a little but captain helps him out and does it with so much good will that he three entirely new of that word never introduced into the service before they are married and have signed their names in one of the old and the clergyman s is restored to the dust and the clergyman is gone home in a dark comer of the dark church has turned to and is weeping in her arms mr s eyes are red the captain his nose uncle has pulled down his spectacles from his forehead and walked out to the door god bless you dearest if you ever can bear witness to the love i have for walter and the reason that i have to love him do it for his sake good bye bye they have thought it better not to go back to the but to part so a coach is waiting for them near at hand miss cannot speak she only sobs and and her mistress mr advances her to cheer up and takes charge of her gives him her hand gives him in the fulness of her heart her kisses uncle and captain and is borne away by her young husband but cannot bear that should go away with a mournful recollection of her she had meant to be so different that she reproaches herself bitterly intent on making one last effort to redeem her character she breaks from mr and runs away to find the coach and show parting smile the son captain her object sets off after her for he feels fit duty also to dismiss them with a cheer if possible undo and mr are left behind together outside the to wait for them the coach is gone but the street is steep and narrow and blocked up and can see it
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at a stand still in the distance she is sure captain her as she flies down the and waves his glazed hat as a general signal which may attract the right coach and may not the captain and up with it she looks in at the window sees walter with the gentle face beside him and her hands and screams miss my darling look at me we are all so happy now dear one more good bye my precious one more how does it she don t know but she reaches to the window kisses her and has her arms about her neck in m moment we are all o happy now my dear miss with a suspicious catching in her breath you yoa won t be angry with me now now you angry no no i am sure you won t i say you won t my pet my dearest and here s the captain too your friend the captain you know to say good bye once more my heart s delight the captain with a countenance of strong emotion r my lad what with the young husband at window and the young wife at the other the captain hanging on at this door and holding fast by that the coach obliged to go on whether it will or no and all the other carts and turbulent because it there never was so much on wheels but gallantly her point she keeps a smiling face upon her mistress smiling through her tears until the last even when she is left behind the captain to appear and disappear at the door crying my aad my heart s delight with his shirt collar in a violent state of agitation until it b hopeless to attempt to keep up and d with the any longer finally when the is gone rejoined by the captain falls into a state of and is taken into a baker s shop to recover uncle and mr wait patiently in the churchyard sit ting on the stone of the until captain and come back neither being at all desirous to speak or to be spoken to they are excellent company and quite satisfied when they all arrive again at the little and sit down to breakfast nobody can touch a morsel captain makes a of being about toast but gives it up as a mr says breakfast he will come back in the evening and goes wandering about the town all day with a vague sensation upon him as if he hadn t been to bed for a fortnight there is a strange charm in the house and in the room in which they have been used to be together and out of which so much is gone it and yet it the sorrow of the separation mr tells when he comes at night that he hasn t been so wretched all day long and yet he likes it he in being alone with her and tells her what his feelings were when she gave him that candid opinion as to the probability of miss s ever loving him in the vein of confidence by these common recollections and their tears mr that they shall go out together and buy something for supper miss they buy a good many little things and with the aid of mrs set the supper out quite before the captain and old came home the captain and old have been on board the ship and have established di there and have seen the put aboard they have much to tell about the popularity of walter and the comforts he will have about him and the quiet way in which it seems he has been working early and late to make his cabin what the captain calls a to surprise his little wife a admiral s cabin mind you says the captain ain t more trim but one of the captain s chief delights is that he knows the big and son watch and the sugar and tea are on board and again and again he murmurs to himself ed ard my lad you never shaped a better course in your life than when you made that there little property over you see how the land bore ed ard says the captain and it does you credit my lad hie old instrument maker is more and misty than he used to be and takes the marriage and the parting very much to heart but he is greatly comforted by having his old ally ned at his side and he sits down to supper with a grateful and contented face my boy has been preserved and says old rubbing his hands what right have i to be otherwise than thankful and happy the captain who has not yet taken his seat at the table but who has been about for some time and now stands hesitating in his place looks doubtfully at mr and says there s the last bottle of the old down below would you wish to have it up to night my boy and drink to r and his wife the instrument maker looking wistfully at the captain puts his hand into the breast pocket of his colored coat forth his pocket book and takes a letter out to mr says the old man from walter to be sent in three weeks time i read it sir i am married to your daughter she is gone with me upon a distant voyage to be devoted to her is to have no claim on her or you but god knows that i am why loving her beyond all earthly things i have yet without remorse united her to the and dangers of my life i will not say to you you know why and you are her father do not reproach her she has never reproached you i do not think or hope that you will ever forgive me
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there is nothing i expect less but if an hour should when it will comfort you to believe that has some one ever near her the great charge of whose life is to her re and son of past sorrow i solemnly assure ou you may in that hour rest in that belief solomon puts back the letter carefully in his pocket book and puts back his pocket book in his coat we won t drink the last bottle of the old yet ned says the old man thoughtfully not yet not yet the captain no not yet and mr are of the same opinion after a silence they all sit down to supper and drink to the young husband and wife in something else and the last bottle of the old still remains among its dust and undisturbed a few days have elapsed and a stately ship is out at sea spreading its white wings to the wind upon the deck image to the man on board of something that is graceful beautiful and something that it is good and pleasant to have there and that should make the voyage prosperous is it is night and she and walter sit alone watching the solemn path of light upon the sea between them and the moon at length she cannot see it plainly for the tears that fill her es and then she lays her head down on his breast and puts her arms around his neck saying walter dearest love i am so happy her husband holds her to his heart and they are very quiet and the stately ship goes on serenely as i hear the sea says and sit watching it it brings so many days into my mind it makes me think so much of paul my love i know it does of paul and walter and the voices in the waves are always whispering to in their ceaseless murmuring of love of love eternal and not bounded by the of this world or by the end of time but still beyond the sea beyond the sky to the invisible country far away a d son chapter after a li e the sea and flowed through a whole year through a whole year the winds and had come and gone the ceaseless work of time had been performed in storm and sunshine through a whole year the tides of human chance and change had set in their allotted courses through a whole year the famous house of and son fought a fight for life against cross accidents doubtful unsuccessful times and most of all against the of its head who would not contract its by a hair s breadth and would not listen to a word of warning that the ship he strained so hard against the storm was weak and could not bear it the year was out and the great house was down one summer a year wanting some odd days after the marriage in the city church there was a and whisper upon change of a great failure a certain cold proud man well known there was not there nor was represented there next day it was abroad that and son had stopped and next night there was a list of published headed by that name the world was very busy now in and had a deal to say it was an innocently and a much ill used world it was a world in which there was no other sort of whatever there were no conspicuous people in it trading and wide on rotten banks of religion patriotism virtue honor there was no amount worth mentioning of mere paper in on which lived pretty handsomely promising tc pay great sums ot goodness with no there were w short anywhere in anything but money the world was very angry indeed and the people especially who in a worse world might have been supposed to be and son themselves in shows and were observed to be indignant here was a new to presented to that sport of circumstances mr perch the messenger f it was apparently the fate of mr perch to be always waking up and finding himself famous he had but yesterday as one might say su into private life from the of the and the events that followed it and now he was made a more important man than ever by the gliding from his in the outer office where he now sat watching the strange faces of and others who quickly nearly all the old clerks mr perch had but to show himself in the court outside or at in the bar of the king s arms to be asked a multitude of questions almost certain to include that interesting question what would he take to drink then would mr perch upon the hours of acute uneasiness he and mrs perch had suffered out at ball s pond when they first suspected things was going wrong then would mr perch relate to gaping listeners in a low voice as if the corpse of the deceased house were lying in the next room how mrs perch had first come to that things was going wrong by hearing him perch moaning in his sleep twelve and in the pound twelve and in the pound which act of he supposed to have originated in the impression made upon him by the change in mr s face then would he them how he had once said might i make so bold as ask sir are you unhappy in your mind v and how mr had replied my faithful perch but no it cannot be and with that had struck his hand upon his forehead and said leave me perch then in short would perch a victim to his position tell all manner of lies himself to tears by those that were of a moving nature and really believing that the inventions of
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her eyes upon her black dress through what means our circumstances changed you have not forgotten that our brother james upon that dreadful day left no will no relations but ourselves the face was pleasanter to him now though it was pale and melancholy than it had been a moment since he seemed to breathe more cheerily you know she said our history the history of both my brothers in with the unfortunate unhappy gentleman of whom you have spoken so truly you know how few our wants are john s and mine and what little use we have for money after the life we have led together for so many years and now that he is earning an income that is ample for us through your kindness you are not unprepared to hear what favor i have come to ask you i hardly know i was a minute ago now i think i am not of my dead brother i say nothing if the dead know what we but you understand me of my living brother i could say much but what need i say more than that this act of duty in which i have come to ask your indispensable assistance is his own and he cannot rest until it is performed she raised her eyes again and the light of in her face began to appear beautiful in the observant eyes that watched her c and son dear sir she went on to say it must be done very quietly and secretly your experience and knowledge will point out a way of doing it mr may perhaps be led to believe that it is something saved unexpectedly from the wreck of his fortunes or that it is a voluntary tribute to his honorable and upright character from some of those with whom he has had great dealings or that it is some old lost debt repaid there must be many ways of doing it i know you will choose the best the favor i have come to ask is that you will do it for us in your own kind generous considerate manner that you will never speak of it to john whose chief happiness in this act of is to do it secretly unknown and of that only a very small part of the inheritance may be reserved to us until mr shall have possessed the interest of the rest fi r the remainder of his life that you will keep our secret faithfully but that i am sure you will and that from this time it may seldom be whispered even between you and me but may live in my only as a new reason for to heaven and joy and pride in my brother such a look of exultation there may be on angels faces when the one sinner enters heaven among ninety nine just men it was not or ed by the joyful tears that filled her eyes but was the brighter for them my dear said mr after a silence i was not prepared for this do i understand you that you wish to make your own part in the available for your good purpose as well as john s oh yes she returned when we have shared everything together for so long a and have had no care hope or pose apart could i bear to be excluded from my share in this may i not urge a claim to be my brother s partner and to the last heaven forbid that i it he replied we may rely on your friendly help she said i knew we might i should be a worse man than than i hope i am or would willingly believe myself if i could not give you that from my heart and soul you may upon my ho and son nor i will keep your secret and if it should be found that mr is so reduced as i fear he will be acting on a determination that there seem to be no means of i will assist you to accomplish the design on which you and john are resolved she gave him her hand and thanked him with a cordial i face he said it in his to speak to you of the worth of any sacrifice that you can make now above all of any sacrifice of mere money would be idle and to put before you any appeal to your purpose or to set narrow limits to it would be i feel not less so i have no right to mar the great end of a great history by any of my own weak self i have every right to bend my head before what confide to me satisfied that it comes from a higher and better source of inspiration than my poor worldly knowledge i will say only this i am your faithful steward and i would rather be so and your chosen friend than i would be anybody in the world except yourself she thanked him again cordially and wished him good night are you going home he said let me go with you not to night i am not going home now i have a visit to make alone will you come to morrow well well said he i ll come to morrow in the mean time i ll think of this and how we can best proceed and perhaps you u think of it dear and and think of me a little in with it he handed her down to a coach she had in waiting at the door and if his landlady had not been deaf she would have heard him muttering as he went back up stairs when the coach had driven off that we were creatures of habit and it was a sorrowful habit to be an old bachelor the lying on the sofa the two
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chairs he took it up without putting away the vacant chair and sat on it and slowly shaking his head at the vacant chair for a long long time the expression he communicated to the instrument at first though pathetic and bland was nothing to the he to his own face and bestowed upon and son the empty chair which was so sincere that ne was obliged to have recourse to captain s remedy more than once and to rub his face with his sleeve by degrees however the in with his own frame of mind glided into the harmonious blacksmith which he played over and over again until his ruddy and serene face gleamed like true metal on the of a veritable blacksmith in fine the and the empty chair were the companions of his until nearly midnight and when he took his supper the set up on end in the sofa comer big with the latent harmony of a whole full of harmonious seemed to the empty chair out of its crooked eyes with unutterable intelligence when left the house the driver of her hired coach taking a course that was evidently no new one to him went in and out by bye ways through that part of the until he arrived at some open ground where there were a few quiet little old houses standing among gardens at the garden gate of one of these he stopped and alighted her gentle ringing at the bell was responded to by a woman of light complexion with raised eyebrows and bead drooping on one side who at sight of her and conducted her across the garden to the house how is your patient nurse to night said in a poor way miss f am afraid oh how she do me sometimes of my uncle s jane i returned the woman of the light complexion in a sort of rapture in what respect asked miss in all respects replied the other except that she s grown up and jane when at death s door was but a child but you have told me she recovered observed mildly so there is the more reason for hope mrs ah miss hope is an excellent thing for as has the spirits to bear it said mrs shaking her head my own spirits is not equal to it but i don t owe it any grudge i them that is so you should try to be more cheerful remarked and son thank you miss sure said mrs grim y if i was so inclined the loneliness of this situation you ll excuse my speaking so free would put it out of my power in four and twenty hours but i an t at all rather not the little spirits that i ever had i was of at some few years ago and i think i feel myself the better for it in truth this was the very mrs who had mrs as the nurse of little paul and who considered herself to have gained the loss in question under the roof of the amiable the excellent and thoughtful old system by long which has usually picked out from the rest of mankind the most dreary and uncomfortable people that could possibly be laid hold of to act as of youth finger posts to the virtues attendants on sick beds and the like had established mrs in very good business as a nurse and had led to her serious qualities being particularly commended by an admiring and numerous mrs with her brows elevated and her head on one side lighted the way up stairs to a clean neat chamber opening on another chamber dimly lighted where there was a bed in the first room an old woman sat mechanically out at the open window n the darkness in the second stretched upon the bed lay the shadow of a figure that had the wind and rain one wintry night hardly to be recognised now but by the long black hair that showed so very black against the face and all the white things about it oh the strong eyes and the weak frame the eyes that turned so eagerly and brightly to the door when came in the feeble head that could not raise itself and moved so slowly round upon its pillow said the visitor s mild voice am i late to night you always seem late but are always early had sat down by the bedside now and put her hand upon the thin hand lying there you are better mrs standing at the foot of the bed like a and son late most decidedly and forcibly shook her head to negative this it matters very little said with a faint smile better or worse to day is but a day s perhaps not so much mrs as a serious character expressed her approval with a groan and having made some cold at the bottom of the bed clothes as feeling for the patient s feet and expecting to find them stony went among the medicine bottles on the table as who should say while we are here let us repeat the mixture as re no whispering to her visitor evil courses and remorse travel want and weather storm within and storm without have worn my life away it will not last much longer she drew the hand up as she spoke and laid her face against it i lie here sometimes thinking i should like to live until i had a little time to show you how grateful i could be it is a weakness and soon passes better for you as it better for me how different her hold upon the hand to what it had been when took it by the fireside on the bleak winter evening scorn rage defiance look herd this is the end mrs having sufficiently among the bottles now produced the mixture mrs looked
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hard at her patient in the act of drinking her mouth up tight her eyebrows also and shook her head expressing that shouldn t make her say it was a hopeless case mrs then sprinkled a little stuff about the room with the air oi a female grave who was ashes on ashes dust on dust for she was a serious character and withdrew to partake of certain funeral baked down stairs how long is it asked since i went to you and told you what i had done and when you were advised it was too late for any one to follow it is a year and more said a year and more said thoughtfully intent upon her face months upon months since brought me here and son answered yes brought me here by force of gentleness end me i said shrinking with her face behind the hand and made me human by woman s looks and words and angel s deeds bending over her composed and soothed her bye and bye lying as before with uie hand against her face asked to have her mother called to her more than once but the old woman was so absorbed looking out at the open window on the darkness that she did not hear it was not until went to her and touched her that she rose up and came mother said taking the hand again and fixing her eyes lovingly upon her visitor while she merely addressed a motion of her finger to the old woman tell her what you know to night my aye mother answered faintly and tonight the old woman whose wits appeared disordered by alarm remorse or grief creeping along the side of the bed opposite to that on which sat and kneeling down so as to bring her withered upon a level with the and stretching out her hand so as to touch her daughter s arm began my handsome heaven what a cry was that with which she stopped there gazing at the poor form lying on the bed changed long ago mother withered long ago said without looking at her don t grieve for that now my daughter faltered the old woman my who ll soon get better and shame em all with her good looks smiled mournfully at and her hand a little closer but said nothing who soon get better i say repeated the old woman menacing the vacant air with her fist and who ll shame em all with her good looks she will i say she will she shall as if she were in passionate with some un and son seen opponent at the bedside who contradicted her my ter has been turned away from and cast out but she could boast relationship to proud folks too i she chose ah to proud folks there s relationship without your clergy and your wed rings they may make it but they can t break it and my daughter s well related show me mrs and i show you my s first cousin glanced from the old woman to the eyes intent upon her face and derived from them what cried the old woman her nodding head with a ghastly vanity though i am old and ugly now much older by life and habit than years though i was once as young as any ah as pretty too as many i was a fresh country in my time darling stretching out her arm to across the bed and looked it too down in my mrs s father and his brother were the gentlemen and the best liked that come a visiting from london they have long been dead though lord lord this long while the brother who was my ally s father longest of the two she raised her head a little and peered at her daughter s face as if from the remembrance of her own youth she had flown to the remembrance of her child s then suddenly she laid her face down on the bed and shut her head up in her hands and arms they were as like said the old woman without looking up as you could see two brothers so an there was n t much more than a year between as i recollect and if you could have seen my as i have seen her once side by side with the other s daughter you d have seen for all the of dress and life that they were like each other oh is the likeness gone and is it my only my that s to change o we shall all change n other in our turn said turn cried the old woman but why not her s as soon as my s the mother must have changed she looked as old as me and full as wrinkled through her but she was handsome what have done i what have worse than her that only my is to lie there fading and son with another of those wild cries she went running out into the room from which she had come but immediately in her tain mood returned and creeping up to said that s what bade me tell you that s all i found it out when i began to ask who she was and all about her away in there one summer time such relations was no good to me then they wouldn t have owned me and had nothing to give me i should have asked em maybe for a little money afterwards if it hadn t been for my she d a most have killed me if i had i think she was as proud as t other in her way the old woman touching the face of her daughter fearfully withdrawing her hand for all she s so quiet now but she ll
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shame em with her good looks yet ha ha she ii shame em will my handsome daughter her laugh as she retreated was worse than her cry worse than the burst of in which it ended worse than the air with which she sat down in her old seat and stared out at the darkness the eyes of had all this time been fixed on whose hand she had never released she said now i have felt lying here that i should like you to know this it might explain i have thought something that used to help to me i had heard so much in my wrong doing of my neglected duty that i took up with the belief that duty had not been done to me and that as the seed wa sown the harvest grew i somehow made it out that when ladies had bad homes and mothers they went wrong in their way too but that their way was not so foul a one as mine and they had need to bless rod for it that is all past it is like a dream now which i cannot quite remember or understand it has been more and more like a dream every day since you began to sit here and to read to me i only tell it you as i can recollect it will you read to me a little more was withdrawing her hand to open the book when detained it for a moment you will not forget my mother i forgive her if i have any cause i know that she foi me and is sorry in her heart you will not forget her and son never a moment yet lay my head so dear that as you read i may see the words in your kind face complied and read read the eternal book for all the weary and the heavy laden for all the wretched fallen and neglected of this earth read the blessed history in which the blind lame beggar the criminal the woman stained with shame the of all our dainty clay has each a portion that no human pride indifference or through all the ages that this world shall last can take away or by the of a grain reduce read the of him who through the round of human life and all its hopes and from birth to death from infancy to age had sweet compassion for and interest in its every scene and stage its every suffering and sorrow i shall come said when she shut the book very early in the morning the eyes yet fixed upon her face closed for a moment then opened and kissed and blessed her the same eyes followed her to the door and in their light and on the tranquil face there was a smile when it was closed they never turned away she laid her hand upon her breast the sacred name that had been read to her and life passed from her face like light lay there any longer but the ruin of the mortal house on which the rain had beaten and the black hair that had in the wintry wind and son chapter changes have again upon the great house in the long dull street the scene of s childhood and loneliness it is a great house proof against wind and weather without in the roof or shattered windows or walls but it is a ruin none the less and the rats fly from it mr and company are at first incredulous in respect of the that they hear cook says our people s credit ain t so easy shook as that comes to thank god and mr expects to hear it reported next that the bank of england s a going to break or the jewels in the tower to be sold up but next come the and mr perch and mr perch brings mrs perch to talk it over in the kitchen and to spend a pleasant evening as soon as there is no doubt about it mr s main anxiety is that the failure should be a good round one not less than a hundred thousand pound mr perch don t think himself that a hundred thousand pound will nearly cover it the women led by mrs perch and cook often repeat a hun thou sand pound with awful satisfaction as if handling the words were like handling the money and the who has her eye on mr wishes she had only a part of the sum to bestow on the man of her choice mr still of his old wrong that a foreigner would hardly know what to do with so much money unless he spent it on his whiskers which bitter sarcasm causes the to withdraw in tears but not to remain long absent for who has the reputation of being extremely good hearted says whatever they do let em stand by one another now for there s no tell and son ing how soon they may be divided they have been in that house says cook through a funeral a wedding and a running away and let it not be said that they couldn t agree among themselves at such a time as the present mrs perch is by this moving address and openly remarks that cook is an angel mr replies to cook far be it from him to stand in the way of that good feeling which he could wish to see and in quest of the and presently returning with that young lady on his arm the kitchen that foreigners is only his fun and that him and anne have now resolved to take one another for better for worse and to settle in oxford market in the general green and and line where your kind is particular requested this announcement is received with and mrs perch projecting her
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years to come the rain that falls upon the roof the wind that outside the door may have in their melancholy sound let him remember it in that room years to come he did remember it in the miserable night he thought of it in the dreary day the wretched dawn the ghostly memory and son ed twilight he did remember it in agony in sorrow in in despair papa papa speak to me dear papa he heard the words again and saw the face he saw it fall upon the trembling hands and heard the one prolonged low cry go upward he was fallen never to be raised up any more for the night of his worldly ruin there was no to morrow s sun for the stain of his domestic shame there was no nothing thank heaven could bring his dead child back to life but that which he might have made so different in all the past which might have made the past itself so though this he hardly thought of now that which was his own work that which he could so easily have wrought into a blessing and had set himself so steadily fi r years to form into a curse that was the sharp grief of his soul oh he did remember it the rain that fell i the roof the wind that mourned outside the door that night had had in their melancholy sound he knew now what he had done he knew now that he had called down that upon his head which bowed it lower than the heaviest stroke of fortune he knew now what it was to be rejected and deserted now every loving blossom he had withered in his innocent daughter s heart was down in ashes on him he thought of her as she had been that night when he and his bride came home he thought of her as she had been in all the home events of the abandoned house he thought now that of all around him she alone had never changed his boy had faded into dust his proud wife had sunk into a creature his and friend had been transformed into the worst of his riches had melted away the very walls that sheltered him looked on him as a stranger she alone had turned the same mild gentle look upon him always yes to the latest and the last she had never changed to him nor had he ever changed to her and she was lost as one by one they fell away before his mind his baby hope his wife his friend his oh how the mist through which he had seen her cleared and showed him her true self oh how much better than this that he had loved her as he had his boy and m and son lost her as he had his boy and laid them in their early grave together in his for he was proud yet he let the world go from him as it fell away he shook it off whether he imagined its face as expressing pity for him or indifference to him he it alike it was in the same degree to be avoided in either aspect he had no idea of any one companion in his misery but the one he had driven away what he would have said to her or what consolation submitted to receive from her he never pictured to himself but he always knew she would have been true to him if he had suffered her he always knew she would have loved him better now than at any other time he was as certain that it was in her nature as he was that there was a sky above him and he sat thinking so in his loneliness from hour to hour day after day uttered this speech night after night showed him this knowledge it began beyond all doubt however slowly il advanced for some time in the receipt of her young husband s letter and the certainty that she was gone and yet so proud he was in his ruin or so of her only as something that might have been his but was lost beyond that if he could have heard her voice in an adjoining room he would not have gone to her if he could have seen her in the street and she had done no more than look at him as she had been used to look he would have passed on with his old cold face and not addressed her or relaxed it though his heart should have broken soon afterwards however turbulent his thoughts or harsh his anger had been at first concerning her marriage or her husband that was all past now he chiefly thought of what might have been and what was not what was was all up in this that she was lost and he bowed done with sorrow and remorse and now he felt that he had had two children bom to him in that house and that between him and the bare wide empty walls there was a tie mournful but hard to asunder connected with a double childhood and a double loss he had thought to leave the knowing he must go not knowing upon the evening of the day on which this feeling first struck root and son in his breast but he resolved to stay another night and in the night to through the rooms once more he came out of his solitude when it was the dead of night and with a candle in his hand went softly up the stairs of all the there making them as common as the common street there was not one he thought but had seemed at the time to set itself upon his brain while he had kept close listening he looked at their number
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and their hurry and foot treading foot out and upward track and downward one another and thought with absolute dread and wonder how much he must have suffered during that trial and what a changed man he had cause to be he thought besides oh was there somewhere in the world a light footstep that might have worn out in a moment half those marks and bent his head and wept as he went up he almost saw it going on before he stopped looking up towards the and a figure childish itself but carrying a child and singing as it went seemed to be there again anon it was the same figure alone stopping for an instant with suspended breath the bright hair loosely round its tearful face and looking back at him he wandered through the rooms lately so luxurious now so bare and dismal and so changed apparently even in their shape and size the press of footsteps was as thick here and the same consideration of the suffering he had had perplexed and terrified him he began to fear that all this in his brain would drive him mad and that his thoughts already lost as the did and were on to one another with the same and varieties of indistinct shapes he did not so much as know in which of these rooms she had lived when she was alone he was glad to leave them and go wandering higher up abundance of associations were here connected with his false wife his false friend and servant his false grounds of pride but he put them all by now and only recalled miserably weakly fondly his two children everywhere the footsteps they had had no respect for the old room high up where the little bed had been he could hardly find a dear space there to throw himself down on the floor against the wall poor broken man and let his tears flow as they would and son he had shed so many tears here long ago that he was less ed of his weakness in this place than in any other with that consciousness had made excuses to himself for coming here here with stooping shoulders and his chin dropped on his he had come here thrown upon the bare boards in the dead of night he wept alone a proud man even then who if a kind hand could have been stretched out or a kind face could have looked in would have risen up and turned away and gone down to his cell when the day broke he was shut up in his rooms again he had meant to go away to day but clung to this tie in the house as the last and only thing left to him he would go to morrow to morrow came he would go to morrow every night within the knowledge of no human creature he came forth and wandered through the house like a ghost many a morning when the day broke his altered face drooping behind the closed blind in his window imperfectly transparent to the light as yet pondered on the loss of his two it was one child no he re united them in his thoughts and they were never asunder oh that he could have united them in his past love and in death and that one had not been so much worse than dead strong mental agitation and disturbance was no novelty to him even his late sufferings it never is to obstinate and sullen natures for they struggle hard to be such ground long will often fall down in a moment what was hero in so many ways weakened and little by little and more as the hand moved on the dial at last he began to think he need not go at all he might yet give up what his had spared him that they had not spared him more was his own act and only the tie between him and the ruined house by that other link it was then that his was audible in the late housekeeper s room as he walked to and fro but not audible in its true meaning or it would have had an appalling sound the world was very busy and restless about him he became aware of that again it was whispering and it was never quiet this and the and of the and son footsteps harassed him to death objects began to take a and color in his eyes and son was no more his children no more this must be thought of well tomorrow he thought of it to morrow and sitting thinking in his chair saw in the glass from time to time this picture a haggard wasted likeness of himself and over the empty fireplace now it lifted up its head examining the lines and hollows in its face now hung it down again and afresh now it rose and walked about now passed into the next room and came back with something from the dressing table in its breast now it was looking at the bottom of the door and thinking hush what it was thinking that if blood were to that way and to out into the hall it must be a long time going so far it would move so stealthily and slowly creeping on with here a lazy little pool and there a start and then another little pool that a desperately wounded man could only be discovered through its means either dead or dying when it had thought of this a long while it got up again and walked to and fro with its hand in its breast he glanced at it occasionally very curious to watch its motions and he marked how wicked and that hand looked now it was thinking again what was it thinking whether they would tread in the blood
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when it crept so far and carry it about the house among those many prints of feet or even out into the street it sat down with its eyes upon the empty fireplace and as it lost itself in thought there shone into the room a gleam of light a ray of sun it was quite and sat thinking suddenly it rose with a terrible face and that guilty hand grasping what was in its breast then it was arrested by a cry a wild loud piercing loving cry and he only saw his own reflection in the glass and at its knees his daughter yes his daughter look at her look here down upon the ground clinging to him calling to him folding her hands praying to him i and son papa dearest papa pardon me forgive me i have come back to ask forgiveness on my knees i never can be happy more without it unchanged still of all the world unchanged raising the same face to his as on that miserable night asking his for dear papa oh don t look strangely on me i never meant to leave you i never thought of it before or afterwards was frightened when i went away and could not think papa dear i am changed i am penitent i know my fault i know my duty better now papa don t cast me off or shall die he to his chair felt her draw his arms about her neck he felt her put her own round his he felt her kisses on his face he felt hei wet cheek laid against his own he felt oh how deeply all that he had done upon the breast that he had bruised against the heart that he had almost broken she laid his face now covered with his hands and said sobbing papa love i am a mother i have a child who will soon call walter by the by which i call you when it was bom and when i knew how much i loved it i knew what i had done in leaving you forgive me dear papa oh say god bless me and my little child he would have said it if he could he would have raised his hands and her for pardon but she caught them iu her own and put them down hurriedly my little child was born at sea papa i prayed to god and so did walter for me to spare me that i might come home the moment i could land i came back to you never let us be parted any more papa never let us be parted any more his head now grey was encircled by h x arm and he groaned to think that never never had it rested so before you will come home with me papa and ee my baby a boy papa his name is paul i think i he s her tears stopped her dear papa for the sake of my child for the of the name and son we have given him for my sake pardon walter he is so kind and tender to me i am so happy with him it was not his fault that we were married it was mine i loved him so much she clung closer to him more and more earnest he is the darling of my heart papa i would die for him he will love and honor you as i will we will teach our little child to love and honor you and we will tell him when he can understand that you had a son of that name once and that he died and you were very sorry but that he is gone to heaven where we all hope to see him when our time for resting comes kiss me papa as a promise that you will be reconciled to walter to my dearest husband to the father of the little child who taught me to come back papa who taught me to come back as she clung closer to him in another burst of tears he kissed her on her lips and lifting up his eyes said oh my forgive me for i need it very much with that he dropped his head again over and caressing her and there was not a sound in all the house for a long long time they remaining clasped in one another s arms m the glorious sunshine that had crept in with he dressed himself for going out with a submission to her entreaty and walking with a feeble gait and looking back with a tremble at the room in which he had been so long shut up and where he had seen the picture in the glass passed out with her into the hall hardly glancing round her lest she should remind him of their last parting for their feet were on the very stones where he had struck her in his madness and keeping close to him with her eyes upon his face and his arm about her led him out to a coach that was waiting at the door and carried him away then miss and came out of their concealment and and then they packed his clothes and books and so forth with great care and consigned them in due course to certain persons sent by in the evening to fetch them and then they took a last cup of tea in the lonely house and son and and son as i observed a certain sad said miss winding up a host of recollections is indeed a daughter after all and a good one exclaimed you are right said miss and it s a credit to you that you were always her friend when she was a little child you were her friend long before i was said miss and you re a good
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creature robin miss addressed herself to a bullet headed young man who appeared to be in but indifferent and in depressed spirits and who was sitting in a remote comer rising he disclosed to view the form and features of the robin said miss i have just observed to your mother as you may have heard that she is a good creature and so she is miss the with some feeling very well robin said miss i am glad to hear you say so now robin as i am going to give you a trial at your urgent request as my domestic with a view to your restoration to respectability i will take this impressive occasion of remarking that i hope you will never forget that you have and have always had a good mother and that you will endeavor so to conduct yourself as to be a comfort to her upon my soul i will miss returned the i have come through a good deal and my intentions is now as straight for ard miss as a s i must get you to break yourself of that word robin if you please interposed miss politely if you please miss as a chap s robin no returned miss i should prefer individual as a s said the much better remarked miss complacently infinitely more expressive can be pursued rob if i hadn t been and got made a on miss and mother which was a most unfortunate for a young very good indeed observed miss and if i hadn t been led away by birds and then fallen and son into a bad service said the i hope i might have done better but it s never too late for a suggested miss said the to mend and i hope to mend miss with your kind trial and wishing mother my love to father and brothers and sisters and saying of it i am very glad indeed to hear it observed miss will you take a little bread and butter and a cup of tea before we go robin v miss returned the who immediately began to use his own personal in a most remarkable manner as if he had been on very short allowance for a consider period miss being in good time and and too rob his mother and followed his new mistress away so much to the hopeful admiration of that something in her eyes made luminous rings round the gas lamps as she looked after him then put out her light locked the house door delivered the key at an agent s hard by and went home as fast as she could go rejoicing in the shrill delight that her unexpected arrival would occasion there the great house dumb as to all that had been in it and the changes it had witnessed stood frowning like a dark mute on the street any nearer inquiries with the staring announcement that the lease of this desirable family mansion was to be disposed of and son chapter chiefly matrimonial the grand half yearly festival by and on which occasion they requested the pleasure of the company of every young gentleman pursuing his studies in that genteel establishment at an early party when the hour was seven o clock and when the object was had duly taken place about this time and the young gentlemen with no of levity had themselves in a state of to their own homes mr had repaired abroad permanently to grace the establishment of his father sir whose popular manners had obtained him a appointment uie honors of which were discharged by himself and lady to the satisfaction even of their own countrymen and which was considered almost miraculous mr now a young man of lofty stature in boots was so extremely full of antiquity as to be nearly on a par with a genuine ancient roman in his knowledge of english a triumph that affected his good parents with the tenderest emotions and caused the father and mother of mr whose learning like ill arranged luggage was so tightly packed that he couldn t get at anything he wanted to hide their diminished heads the fruit laboriously gathered from the tree of knowledge by this latter young gentleman in fact had been subjected to so much pressure that it had become a kind of intellectual and had nothing of its fi or flavor remaining master now on whom the forcing system had the happier and not uncommon t of leaving no impression whatever when the forcing apparatus ceased to work was in a much more comfortable plight and he and son ing then on bound for found himself forgetting with such admirable rapidity that it was doubtful whether his of would hold out to the end of the voyage when doctor in of the usual would have said to the young gentlemen on the morning of the party gentlemen we will resume our studies on the twenty of next month he departed from the usual course and said gentlemen when our friend retired to his farm he did not present to the any roman whom he sought to as his successor but there is a roman here said doctor laying his hand on the shoulder of mr b a et gentlemen whom i a retiring wish to present to my little as their future gentlemen we will resume our studies on the twenty fi of next month under the of mr b a at this which doctor had previously called upon all the parents and explained the young gentlemen cheered and mr on behalf of the rest instantly presented the doctor with a silver in a speech containing very little of the mother but from the latin and seven from the greek which moved the younger of the young gentlemen to discontent and envy they remarking oh ah it was all very well for old but they didn
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t money for old to show off with they supposed did they what business was it of old s more than anybody else s it wasn t his why couldn t he leave the boys property alone and murmuring other expressions of their dissatisfaction which seemed to find a greater relief in calling him old than in any other available vent not a word had been said to the young gentlemen nor a hint dropped of anything like a contemplated marriage between mr b a and the fair doctor especially seemed to take pains to look as if nothing would surprise him more but it was perfectly well known to all the young gentlemen nevertheless and when they departed for the society of their relations and friends they took leave of mr with awe and son mr s most romantic visions were fulfilled the doctor had determined to paint the house outside and put it in thorough repair and to give up the business and to give up the and began upon the very day of the young gentlemen s departure and now behold the wedding morning was and in a new pair of spectacles was waiting to be led to the altar the doctor with his learned legs and mrs in a bonnet and mr b a with his long and his head of hair and mr s brother the reverend alfred m a who was to perform the ceremony were all assembled in the drawing room and with her and had just come down and looked as of old a little squeezed in appearance but very charming when the door opened and the weak eyed young man in a loud voice made the following mr and mrs upon which there entered mr grown extremely stout and on his arm a lady very handsomely and dressed with very bright black eyes mrs said mr allow me to present my wife mrs was delighted to receive her mrs was a little but extremely kind and as you v e known me for a long time you know said mr let me assure you that she is one of the most remarkable women that ever lived my dear remonstrated mrs upon my word and honor she is said mr i i assure you mrs she s a most extraordinary woman mrs laughed merrily and mrs led her to mr having paid his respects in that direction and having saluted his old who said in allusion to his state well well so you are one of us are you retired with mr b a into a window mr b a being in great spirits made a at mr and tapped him with the back of his hand on the breast bone and son well old buck said mr with a laugh well here we are taken in and done for eh v returned mr i give you joy if you re as as as perfectly in a matrimonial life as i am myself you ll have nothing to desire i don t forget my old friends you see said mr i ask em to my wedding replied mr gravely the fact is that there were several circumstances which prevented me from with you until after my marriage had been in the first place i had made a perfect brute of myself to you on the subject of miss and i felt that if you were asked to any wedding of mine you would naturally expect that it was with miss which involved explanations that upon my word and honor at that crisis would have knocked me completely over in the second place our wedding was strictly private there being nobody present but one friend of myself and mrs s who is a captain in i don t exactly know in what said mr but it s of no consequence i hope that in writing a statement of what had occurred before mrs and myself went abroad upon our foreign tour i fully discharged the offices of friendship my boy said mr shaking hands i joking and now said mr i should be glad to know what you think of my union capital returned mr you think it s capital do you said mr solemnly then how capital must it be to me for you can never know what an extraordinary woman that is mr was willing to take it for granted but mr shook his head and wouldn t hear of that being possible you see said mr what wanted in a wife was in short was sense money i had sense i i had not mr murmured oh yes you had but mr said no i had not why should i disguise it i had and son not i knew that sense was there said mr stretching out his hand towards his wife in perfect heaps i had no relation to object or be offended on the score of station for i had no relation i have never had anybody belonging to me but my guardian and him i have always considered as a and a therefore you know it was not likely said mr that i should take his opinion no said mr accordingly resumed mr i acted on my own bright was the day on which i did so nobody but myself can tell what the capacity of that woman s mind b if ever the rights of women and all that kind of thing are properly attended to it will be through her powerful intellect my dear said mr looking abruptly out of the window curtains pray do not exert yourself my dear said mrs i was only talking but my love said mr pray do not exert yourself you really must be careful do not my dear exert yourself she s so easily excited said mr apart to mrs and then she forgets the medical man altogether mrs
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was on mrs the necessity of caution when mr b a offered her his arm and led her down to the carriages that were in waiting to go to church dr escorted mrs mr escorted the fair bride around whose spectacles two little fluttered like mr s brother mr alfred m a had already gone on in advance to assume his official functions the ceremony was performed in an admirable manner with her crisp little curls went in as the chicken might have said with great composure and doctor her away like a man who had quite made up his mind to it the little appeared to suffer most mrs was affected but gently so and told the reverend mr alfred m a on the way home that if she could only have seen in his retirement at she would not have had a wish now there was a breakfast afterwards limited to the same small and son party at which the spirits of mr b a were tremendous and so communicated themselves to mrs that mr was several times heard to observe across the table my dear don t exert yourself the best of it was that mr felt it incumbent on him to make a speech and in spite of a whole code of from mrs appeared on his legs for the first time in his life i really said mr in this house where whatever was done to me in the way of any mental confusion which is of no consequence and i to nobody i was always treated like one of doctor s family and had a desk to myself for a considerable can not my friend to mrs suggested married it may not be to the occasion or altogether said mr with a delighted face to observe that my wife is a most woman and would do this much better than myself allow my friend to be married especially to mrs suggested to miss to mrs my love said mr in a subdued tone of private discussion whom god hath joined you know let no man don t you know i cannot allow my friend to be especially to mrs without proposing their their and may said mr fixing his eyes on his wife as if for inspiration in a high flight may the torch of be the of joy and may the flowers we have this day in their path be the the of of gloom doctor who had a taste for was pleased with this and said very good very well said indeed and nodded his head and patted his hands mr made in reply a comic speech with sentiment mr alfred m a was afterwards very happy on doctor and mrs mr b a scarcely less so on the little doctor then in a voice delivered a few thoughts in the pastoral style relative to the rushes which it was the intention of himself and mrs and son to dwell and the bee that would hum around their shortly after which as the doctor s eyes were twinkling in a remarkable manner and his son in law had already observed that time was made for slaves and had inquired whether mrs sang the discreet mrs dissolved the sitting and sent away very cool and comfortable in a post chaise with the man of her heart mr and mrs withdrew to the mrs had been there before in old times under her maiden name of and there found a letter which it took mr such an enormous time to read that mrs was frightened my dear said mr fright is worse than exertion pray be calm who is it from asked mrs why my love said mr it s from captain do not excite yourself and miss are expected home my dear said mrs raising herself quickly from the sofa very pale don t try to deceive me for it s no use they re come home i see it plainly in your face she s a most extraordinary woman exclaimed mr in admiration you re perfectly right my love they have come home miss has seen her father and they are reconciled reconciled cried mrs clapping her hands my dear said mr pray do not exert yourself do remember the medical man captain says at least he don t say but i imagine from what i can make out he that miss has brought her unfortunate father away from his old house to one where she and are living that he is lying very ill there supposed to be dying and that she upon him night and day mrs began to cry quite bitterly my dearest replied mr do do if you possibly can remember the medical man if you can t it s of no consequence but do endeavor to his wife with her old manner suddenly restored so entreated him to take her to her precious pet her little f and son her own and the like that mr whose sympathy and admiration were of the strongest kind consented from his very heart of hearts and they agreed to depart immediately and present themselves in answer to the captain s letter now some hidden sympathies of things or some had that day brought the captain himself towards whom mr and mrs were soon into the train of not as a principal but as an it happened ac and thus the captain having seen and her baby for a moment to his unbounded content and having had a long talk with ter turned out for a walk feeling it necessary to have some solitary meditation on the changes of human affairs and to shake his glazed hat profoundly over the fall of mr for whom the generosity and simplicity of his nature were awakened in a lively manner the captain would have been very low indeed on
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he is very very ill said but dear you must not speak to me as you used to speak and what s this said touching her clothes in amazement your old dress dear your old cap curls and all burst into tears and kisses on the little hand that had touched her so my dear miss said mr stepping forward i ll explain she s the most extraordinary woman there are not many to equal her she has always said she said before we were married and has said to this day that whenever you came home she d come to you in no dress but the dress she used to serve you in for fear she might seem strange to you and you might like her less i admire the dress myself said mr of all things i her in it my dear miss she ll be your maid again your nurse all that she ever was and more there s no change in her but my dear said mr who had spoken with great feeling and high admiration all i ask is that you ll remember the medical many and not exert yourself too much and son chapter had need of help her father s need of it was sore and made the aid of her old friend invaluable death stood at his pillow a shade already of what he had been shattered in mind and sick in body he laid his weary head down on the bed his daughter s hands prepared for him and had never raised it since she was always with him he knew her generally though in the wandering of his brain he confused the circumstances under which he spoke to her thus he would her sometimes as if his boy were newly dead and would tell her that although he had said nothing of her at the little bedside yet he had seen it he had seen it and then would hide hb face and sob and put out his worn hand sometimes he would ask her for herself where is i am here papa i am here i don t know her he would cry we have been parted so long that i don t know her and then a staring dread would be upon him until she could soothe his and recall the tears she tried so hard at other times to dry he through the scene of his old pursuits through many where lost him as she listened sometimes for hours he would that childish question what is money and pond on it and think about it and reason with himself more or es for a good answer as if it had never been proposed to him until that moment he would go on with a musing repetition of the title of his old firm twenty thousand times and at every one of them would turn his head upon his pillow he would count his stop and go back and begin again in the same way and son but this was when his mind was in its most distracted state in all the other phases of its illness and in those to which it was most constant it always turned on what he would do was this he would recall that night he had so recently remembered the night on which she came down to his room and would imagine that hb heart smote him and that he went out after her and up the stairs to seek her then that time with the later days of the many footsteps he would be amazed at number and begin to count them as he followed her here of a sudden was a bloody footstep going on among the others and after it there began to be at intervals doors standing open through which certain terrible pictures were seen in of haggard men concealing something jn their breasts still among the many footsteps and the bloody footsteps here and there was the step of still she was going on before still the restless mind went following and counting ever further ever higher as to the summit of a mighty tower that it took years to climb one day he inquired if that were not who had spoken a long while ago said yes dear papa and asked him if he would like to see her he said very much and with no little showed herself at his bedside it seemed a great relief to him he begged her not to go to understand that he forgave her what she had said and that she was to stay and he were very different now he said and very happy let her look at this he meant his drawing the gentle head down to his pillow and laying it beside him he remained like this for days and weeks at length lying the faint feeble semblance of a man upon his bed and speaking in a voice so low that they could only hear him by listening very near to his lips he became it was dimly pleasant to him now to lie there with the open looking out at the summer sky and the trees and in the evening at the sunset to watch the shadows of the clouds and leaves and seem to feel a sympathy with shadows it natural that he should to him life and the world were nothing else and son he began to show now that he thought of s fatigue and often his weakness to whisper to her go and walk my dearest in the sweet air go to your good husband one time when walter was in his room he beckoned him to come near and to stoop down and pressing his hand whispered an assurance to him that he knew he could trust him with his child when he was dead it chanced one evening towards sunset
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when and walter were sitting in his room together as he see them that having her baby in her arms began in a low voice to sing to the little fellow and sang the old tune she had so sung to the dead child he could not bear it at the time he held up his trembling hand imploring her to stop but the next day he asked her to repeat it and to do so often of an evening which she did he listening with his face turned away was sitting on a certain time by his window with ber work basket between her and her attendant who was still her f companion he had fallen into a it was a beautiful evening with two hours of light to come yet and the tranquillity and quiet made very thoughtful she was lost to everything for the moment but the occasion when the so altered figure on the bed had first presented her to her beautiful mamma when a touch from walter leaning on the back of her chair made her start my dear said walter there is some one down stairs who wishes to speak to you she fancied walter d grave and asked him if anything had happened no no my love said walter i have seen the gentleman myself and spoken with him nothing has happened will you come v put her arm through his and confiding her father to the black eyed mrs who sat as brisk and smart at her work as black eyed won n could accompanied her husband down stairs in the pleasant little parlor opening on the garden sat a gentleman who rose t advance towards her when she came in but turned by reason of some peculiarity in his legs and was only stopped by the table and son then remembered cousin whom she had not at first recognised in the shade of the leaves cousin took her hand and congratulated her upon her marriage i could have wished i am sure said cousin sitting down as sat to have had an earlier opportunity of offering my congratulations but in point of fact so many painful have happened treading as a man may say on one another s heels that i have been in a devil of a state myself and perfectly unfit for every description of society the only description of society i have kept has been own and it certainly is anything but flattering to a man s good opinion of his own resources to know that in point of fact he has the capacity of himself to a perfectly unlimited extent divined from some and anxiety in this gentleman s manner which was always a gentleman s in spite of the harmless little that attached to it and from walter s manner no less that something more immediately tending to some object was to follow this i have been mentioning to my friend mr gay if i may be allowed to have the honor of calling him so said cousin that i am rejoiced to hear that my friend is very de mending i trust my friend will not allow his mind to be too much upon by any mere loss of fortune i cannot say that i have ever experienced any very great loss of fortune myself never having had in point of fact any great amount of fi to lose but as much as i could lose i have lost and i don t find that i particularly care about it i know my friend to be a devilish honorable man and it s calculated to console my friend very much to know that this is the universal sentiment even a man of an extremely habit with whom my friend gay is cannot say a syllable in of the fact felt more than ever that there was something to come and looked earnestly for it so earnestly that cousin answered as if she had spoken the fact is said cousin that my friend gay and myself have been discussing the propriety of a and son a favor at your hands and that i have the consent of my friend gay who has met me ra an exceedingly kind and open manner for which i am very much indebted to him to it i am sensible that so amiable a lady as the lovely and accomplished daughter of my friend will not require much urging but i am happy to know that i am supported by my friend gay s influence and approval as in my time when a man had a motion to make of any which hap seldom in those days for we were kept very tight in hand the leaders on both sides being regular which was a devilish good thing for the rank and file like myself and prevented our exposing ourselves continually as a great many of us had a feverish anxiety to as in my time i was about to say when a man had leave to let off any little private it was always considered a great point for him to say that he had the happiness of believing that his sentiments were not without an echo in the breast of mr the pilot in point of fact who had the storm upon which a devilish large number of fellows immediately cheered and put him in spirits though the fact is that these fellows being under orders to cheer most excessively whenever mr s name was mentioned became so that it always woke em and they were so entirely innocent of what was going on otherwise that it used to be commonly said by conversation brown four bottle man at the treasury board with whom the father of my friend gay was probably acquainted for it was before my friend gay s time that if a man had risen in his place and
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said that he regretted to inform the house that there was an honorable member in the last stage of in the and that the honorable member s name was the approbation would have been this of the point put in a flutter and she looked from cousin to walter in increasing agitation my love said walter there is nothing the matter there is nothing the matter upon my honor said cousin and i am deeply distressed at being the means of ing you a moment s uneasiness i beg to assure you that there is and son nothing the matter the favor that have to ask is simply i but it really does seem so exceeding singular that i should be in the last degree obliged to my friend gay if he would have the goodness to break the in point of fact the ice said cousin walter thus appealed to and appealed to no less in the look that turned towards him said my dearest it is no more than this that you will ride to london with this gentleman whom you know and my friend gray i beg your pardon interrupted cousin and with me and make a visit somewhere to whom asked looking from one to the other if i might entreat said cousin that you would not press for an answer to that question i would venture to take the liberty of making the request do you know walter said yes and think it right yes only because i am sure that you would too though there may be reasons i very well understand which make it better that nothing more should be said beforehand if papa is still asleep or can spare me if he is awake i will go immediately said and rising quietly and glancing at them with a look that was a little alarmed but perfectly confiding the room when she came back ready to bear them company they were talking together gravely at the window and could not but wonder what the topic was that had made them so well acquainted in so short a time she did not wonder at the look ot pride and love with which her husband broke ow as she entered fi r she never saw him but that rested on her i will leave said cousin a card for my friend sincerely trusting that he will pick up health and strength with every returning hour and i hope my friend will do me the favor to consider me a man who has a devilish warm admiration of his character as in point of fact a british and a devilish upright gentleman my place in the country and son b in a most confounded state of but if my friend should require a change of air and would take up his quarters there he would find it a remarkably healthy spot as it need be for it s dull if my friend suffers from bodily weakness and would allow me to recommend what has frequently done myself good as a man who has been extremely queer at times and who lived pretty freely i would say let it be in point of fact the of an egg beat up with sugar and in a glass of and taken in the morning with a of dry toast who kept the rooms in bond street man of very superior with whose reputation my gay is no doubt acquainted used to mention that in training for the ring they rum for i should recommend in this case on account of my friend being in an condition which might occasion rum to fly in point of fact to his head and throw him into a devil of a state of all this cousin delivered himself with an obviously nervous and air then giving his arm to and putting the strongest possible upon his wilful legs which seemed determined to go out into the garden he led her to the door and handed her into a carriage that was ready for her reception walter entered him and they drove away their ride was six or eight miles long when they drove through certain dull and stately streets lying westward in it was growing dusk had by this time put her hand in walter s and was looking very earnestly and with increasing agitation into every new street into which they turned when the carriage stopped at last before that house in brook street where her father s unhappy marriage had been celebrated said walter what is this who is here walter cheering her and not replying she glanced up at the house front and saw that all the windows were shut as if it were cousin had by this time alighted and was offering his hand are you not coming walter no i will remain here don t tremble there is to fear dearest and son s i know that walter with you so near i am sure of that but the door was softly opened without any knock and cousin led her out of the summer evening air into the close dull house more sombre and brown than ever it seemed to have been shut up from the wedding day and to have darkness and sadness ever since ascended the dusky staircase trembling and stopped with her conductor at the drawing room door he opened it without speaking and signed an entreaty to her to advance into the inner room while he remained there after hesitating an instant complied sitting by the window at a table where she seemed to have been writing or drawing was a lady whose head turned away towards the dying light was resting on her hand advancing doubtfully all at once stood still as if she had lost the power of motion the lady turned her head great heaven she said what is this no no
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cried shrinking back as she rose up and putting out her hands to keep her off they stood looking at each other passion and pride had worn it but it was the face of and beautiful and stately yet it was the face of and through all the terrified it expressed there was pity in it sorrow a grateful tender memory on each face wonder and fear were painted vividly each so still and silent looking at the other over the black gulf of the past was the first to change bursting into tears she said from her full heart oh why do we meet like this why were you ever kind to me when there was no one else that we should meet like this stood before her dumb and motionless her eyes were fixed upon her face i dare not of that said am come from papa s sick bed we are never asunder now we never shall be any more if you would have me ask his i will do it i am almost sure he will grant it now it i ask him may heaven grant it to you too and comfort you she answered not a word and son walter i am married to him and we have a son said timidly is at the door and has brought me here f will tell him that you are that you are changed said looking mournfully upon her and he will speak to papa with me i know is there but this that i can do breaking her silence without moving eye or limb answered slowly the stain upon your name upon your husband s on your child s will that ever be forgiven will it ever be it is freely freely both by walter and by me if that is any consolation to you there is nothing that you may believe more certainly you do not you do not faltered speak of papa but i am sure you that i should ask him for his forgiveness i am sure you do she answered not a word i will said i will bring it you if you will let me and then perhaps we may take leave of each other more like what we used to be to one another i have not said very gently and drawing nearer to her i have not shrunk back from you because i fear you or because t dread to be disgraced by you i only to do my duty to papa i am very dear to him and he is very dear to me but i never can et that you were very good to me oh pray to heaven cried falling oa her bosom pray to heaven to forgive you all this sin and shame and to forgive me if i cannot help doing this if it is wrong when i remember what you used to be as if she fell beneath her touch sank down on her knees and caught her round the neck she cried my better angel before i am mad again before my comes back and strikes me dumb believe me upon my soul i am innocent guilty of much guilty of that which sets a waste between us guilty of what must separate through the whole remainder of my life from purity and from you of all he earth guilty of a blind and and son resentment of which i do not cannot will not even now repent but not guilty with that dead man before upon her knees upon the ground she held up both her hands and swore it she said purest and best of natures whom i e who might have changed me long ago and did for a time work some change even in the woman that i am believe me i am innocent of that and once more on my desolate heart let me lay this dear head for the last time she was moved and weeping had she been oftener thus older days she had been happier now there is nothing else in all the world she said that would have wrung denial from me no love no hatred no hope no threat i said that i would die and make no sign i could hare done so and i would if we had never met i trust said cousin in at the door and speaking half in the room and half out of it that my lovely and accomplished relative will excuse my having by a little effected this meeting i cannot say that i was at first wholly incredulous as to the possibility of my lovely and accomplished relative having very unfortunately committed herself with the deceased person with white because in point of fact one does see in this world which is remarkable for devilish strange arrangements and for being decidedly the most unintelligible thing within a man s experience very odd of that sort but as i mentioned to my friend i could not admit the of my lovely and accomplished relative until it was perfectly established and feeling when the deceased person was in point of fact destroyed in a devilish horrible manner that her position was a very painful one and feeling besides that our family had been a little to blame in not paying more attention to her and that we are a careless family and also that my aunt though a devilish lively woman had perhaps not been the very best of mothers i took the liberty of seeking her in france and offering her such protection as a man very much out at elbows could offer upon which occasion my lovely and relative did me the honor to express that she believed i was in my way a and son good sort of fellow and that therefore she put herself under my protection which
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in point of fact i understood to be a kind thing on the part of my lovely and accomplished relative as i am getting extremely and have derived great comfort from her solicitude who had taken to a sofa made a gesture with her hand as if she would have begged him to say no more my and accomplished relative resumed cousin still about at the door will excuse me if for her satisfaction and my own and that of my friend whose lovely and accomplished daughter we so much admire i complete the thread of my observations she will remember that from the first she and i have never alluded to the subject of her my impression certainly has always been that there was mystery in the affair which she could explain if so inclined but my lovely and accomplished relative being a devilish resolute woman i knew that she was not in point of fact to be with and therefore did not involve myself in any but observing lately that her accessible point did appear to be a very strong description of tenderness for the ter of my friend it occurred to ma that if i could bring about a meeting unexpected on both sides it might lead to results therefore we being in london in the present private way before going to the south of italy there to establish ourselves in point of fact until we go to our long homes which is a devilish disagreeable reflection for a man i applied myself to the discovery of the residence of my friend gay handsome man of an uncommonly frank disposition who is probably known to my lovely and accomplished relative and had the happiness of bringing his amiable wife to the present place and now said cousin with a real and genuine earnestness shining through the levity of his manner and his speech i do my relative not to stop half way but to set right as far as she can whatever she has done wrong not for the honor of her family not for her own fame not for any of those considerations which unfortunate circumstances have induced her to regard as hollow and in point of as approaching to but because it is wrong and not right it and son j cousin s legs to take him away this and leaving them alone together he shut the door remained silent for some minutes with sitting beside her then she took from her bosom a sealed paper i with myself a long time she said in a low voice whether to write this at all in case of dying suddenly or by accident and feeling the want of it upon me i have ever since when and how to destroy it take it the truth is written in it is it for papa asked it is for whom you will she answered it is given to you and is obtained by you he never could have had it other wise again they sat silent in the deepening darkness said he has lost his fortune he has been at the point of death he may not recover even now is there any word that i shall say to him from you did you tell mc asked that you were very dear to him yes said in a thrilling voice tell him i am sorry that we ever met no more said after a pause tell him if he asks that i do not repent of what i have done yet for if it were to do again to morrow i should do it but if he is a changed man she stopped there was something in the silent touch of s hand that stopped her but that being a changed man he knows now it would never be tell him i wish it never had been may i say said that you grieved to hear of the he has suffered not she replied if they have taught him that his daughter is very dear to him he will not grieve for himself one day if they have brought that lesson you wish well to him and would have him happy i am sure you would said oh let me be able if i have the occasion at some future time to say so sat with her dark eyes gazing before her and and son did not reply until had repeated her entreaty when she drew her hand within her arm and said with the same gaze upon the night outside tell him that if in his own present he can find any reason to compassionate my past i sent word that i asked him to do so tell him that if in his own present he may find a reason to think less of me i asked him to do so tell him that dead as we are to one another never more to meet on this side of eternity he knows there is one feeling in common between us now that there never was before her seemed to yield and there were tears in her dark eyes i trust myself to that she said for his better thoughts of me and mine of him when he loves his most he will hate me least when be is proud and happy in her and her children he will be most of his own part in the dark vision of our married life at that time i will be too let him know it then and think that when i thought so much of all the causes that had made me what i was i needed to have allowed more for the causes that had made him what he was i will try then to forgive him his share of blame let him try to forgive me mine oh said how it my heart even in such a
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meeting and parting to hear this strange words in my own ears said e ith and foreign to the sound of my own voice but even if i had been the wretched creature i have given him occasion to believe me i think i could have said them still hearing that you and he were very dear to one another let him when you are dearest ever feel that he is most in his thoughts of that i am most in my thoughts of him those are the last words i send him now good bye my life she clasped her in her arms and seemed to pour out all her woman s soul of love and tenderness at once this kiss for your child these kisses for a blessing on your head my own dear my sweet girl farewell to meet again said never again never again when you leave me in thia and son dark room think that you have left me in the grave remember only that i was once and that i loved you and left her seeing her face no more but by her embraces and caresses to the last cousin met her at the door and took her down to walter in the dingy dining room upon whose shoulder she laid her head weeping i am devilish sorry said cousin lifting his to his eyes in the simplest manner possible and without the least concealment that the lovely and accomplished daughter of my friend and amiable wife of my friend gay should have had her sensitive nature so very much distressed and cut up by the interview which is just concluded but i hope and trust i have acted for the best and that my honorable friend will find his mind relieved by the which have taken place i exceedingly lament bat my friend should have got himself in point of fact into the devil s own state of by an alliance with our family but am strongly of opinion that if it hadn t been ot the infernal scoundrel man with white everything would have gone on pretty smoothly in regard to my relative who does me the honor to have formed an uncommonly good opinion of myself i can assure the amiable wife of my friend gay that she may rely on my being in point of fact a father to her and in regard to the changes of human life and the extraordinary manner in which we are perpetually conducting ourselves all i can say is with friend man who wasn t fi r an age but for all time and with whom my friend gay is no doubt acquainted that it s like the shadow of a dream and son chapter final a that has been long excluded from the light of day and is with dust and been brought into the sunshine and the golden wine within it sheds a lustre on the table it is the last bottle of the old you are quite right mr says mr this is a very rare and most delicious wine the captain who is of the party beams with joy there is a very of delight round his glowing forehead we always promised ourselves sir mr ned and myself i mean mr at the captain who shines more and more with speechless gratification that we would drink this one day or other to walter safe at home though such a home we never thought of if you don t object to our old whim sir let us devote this first glass to walter and his wife to walter and his wife says mr my child and turns to kiss her to walter and his wife says mr to r and his wife the captain v and the captain exhibiting a strong desire to his against some other glass mr with a ready hand hold s out his the others follow and there is a and ringing as of a little peal of marriage bells other buried wine grows older as the old did in its time and dust and on the bottles mr is a white haired gentleman whose face bears and son heavy marks of care and suffering but they are traces of a storm that has passed on for ever and a clear in its track ambitious projects trouble him no more his only pride is in his daughter and her husband he has a silent thoughtful quiet manner and is always with his daughter miss is not of the family party and is quite devoted to it and a great favorite her admiration of her once stately patron is and has been ever since the morning of her shock in princess place but not weakened in the least nothing has drifted to him from the wreck of his fortunes but a certain annual sum that comes he knows not how with an earnest entreaty that he will not seek to discover and with the ance thai it is a debt and an act of he has consulted with his old clerk about this who is clear it may be honor accepted and has no doubt it arises out of some transaction in the times of the old house that eyed bachelor a bachelor no more is married now and to the sister of the grey haired junior he visits his old chief sometimes but seldom there is a reason in the grey haired junior s history and yet a stronger reason in his name why he should keep retired from his old employer and as he lives with his sister and her husband they in that retirement walter sees them sometimes and the pleasant house with profound arranged for the piano and and with the labors of harmonious and how goes the wooden in these changed days why here he still is right leg foremost hard at work upon
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of the rich and the shrewd agent who gives reality to the eloquence of old when he says that the lightning may flash through the thunder shake the tempest beat upon the english peasant s hut but the king of england with his army cannot lift the latch to enter in the of course meant that in this country violence cannot defy or put itself in the place of the law this is quite true and why chiefly because the attorney is ready in all cases of with his potent strip of the great man before her sovereign lady the queen there to answer for his acts and the richer the the re keen and eager mr attorney to the suit however his own for he is then sure of his costs if he succeed again i cheerfully admit the extreme vulgarity of the motive but its effect in protecting the legal rights of the humble is not i contend lessened because the reward of exertion and success is counted out in good honest sovereigns or notes of the governor and company of the bank of england thus much by way of to the narrative of a few incidents revealed in the attorney s privileged throughout which i have of course in order to avoid any possible recognition of those events or incidents changed the name of every person concerned our old city firm then which i am happy to say still under the able direction of our active i will call the appropriated to us by imaginative ladies and gentlemen who favor the world with l the life policy pen and ink portraits of the lawyer tribe that of flint and sharp sharp being myself and flint the haired old bachelor we a few weeks since in green mr said a clerk as he threw open the door of the inner office one afternoon mr od day mr was my prompt and greeting i have good news for you take a chair the good rather intelligent and somewhat countenance of the new comer brightened np at these words news firom my he asked as he seated himself yes he your late and the changed position and prospects of your wife and boy little his you he has not much compassion for inasmuch as he attributes your misfortunes to and the want of common prudence candid certainly grumbled out mr but an odd sort of good news his deeds are kinder than his words he will allow till his majority let me see how old is that boy of yours now ten he was two years old when his went to india well then you will receive two hundred pounds per half yearly in advance for the next ten y that is of course if your son lives in order to enable you to bring him up and him properly after that period has elapsed your cousin that he will place the young man and i do not doubt will do something for you should you not by that time have conquered a fair position for yourself i i the life policy is that all said mr all why what did you expect two or three thousand pounds to set me afloat again i know of a safe speculation that with say three thousand pounds capital would realize a handsome fortune in no time mr i may observe was one of that numerous class of persons who are always on the threshold of millions the only and constant obstacle being the want of a sufficient capital i with him upon his disappointment but as words however civil avail little in the way of capital mr having the first half yearly of the made his exit in by no means a gracious or grateful frame of mind two other half yearly were duly paid him when he handed me the receipt on the last occasion he said in a sort of off hand careless way i suppose if were to die these would cease perhaps not i replied at all events not i should say till you and your wife were in some way provided for but your son is not ill i added no no not at present replied and with a confusion of manner which surprised me not a little it flashed across my mind that the boy was dead and that in order not to risk the or of the had concealed the fact from us let me see i resumed we have your present address i think yes certainly you have i shall very likely call in a day or two to see mrs and your son the life policy the man smiled ui a reassured half manner do he answered is alive and very well thank god this confidence the suspicion i had entertained and five or six weeks passed away daring which and his were almost as entirely absent from my thoughts as if no such man existed about the of that time mr unexpectedly the office and as soon as i was was into my private room he was in deepest mourning and it naturally struck me that either his wife or son was dead an impression however which a closer examination of his countenance did not confirm knowing as i did how affectionate a husband and father he was with all his and follies to be he looked nervous certainly but there was no grief no sorrow in the restless disturbed glances which he directed to the floor the ceiling the window the fire place the chairs the everywhere in except towards my face what is the matter mr i gravely inquired seeing that he did not appear disposed to open the conversation a great calamity sir a great calamity he hurriedly and answered his face still persistently averted from me has happened is dead dead i exclaimed
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considerably shocked god mess me when did this happen three weeks ago was the reply he died of of this occurred i should state ui yes he was very attended throughout his sufferings which were protracted and severe by the the life policy dr a highly respectable and skilled as you doubtless sir are aware i could not comprehend the man this dry business sort of was not the language of a parent and one too who had lost a considerable by his son s death what could it mean i was in truth fairly puzzled after a considerable interval of silence which mr whose eyes continued to wander in every direction except that of mine showed no inclination to break i said it will be necessary for me to write immediately to your cousin mr i trust for your sake the wiu be continued but of course till i hear from him the must be suspended certainly certainly i naturally expected that would be the case said still in the same quick hurried tone quite so you have nothing to say i suppose i remarked after another dead pause during which it was very apparent that he was laboring with something to which he nervously hesitated to give utterance no yes that is i wished to consult you upon a matter of connected with with a life assurance office a life assurance office yes the man s pale face flushed crimson and his speech became more and more hurried as he went on yes fearing mr sharp that should die we might be left without resource i resolved after mature deliberation to effect an on his life for four thousand pounds four thousand pounds yes all necessary were gone through the the life policy medical gentleman since dead of the by the way examined the boy of course and the was effected for four thousand pounds at his death i did not speak a suspicion too horrible to be hinted at held me dumb unfortunately continued this was only effected about a before poor s death and the refuses payment although as i have told you the lad was attended to the very hour of his death by dr a highly respectable most gentleman very much indeed i quite agree in that i answered after a while dr is a highly respectable and eminent man what reason i added do the company for non payment the very recent completion of the policy nonsense how can that fact standing affect your claim p i do not know replied and all this time i had not been able to look fairly in his face but they do refuse and i am anxious that your firm should take the matter in hand and sue them for the amount i must first see dr i answered and convince myself that there is no legitimate reason for the policy certainly certainly he replied i will write to you to morrow i said to the conference after i have seen dr and state whether we will or not take proceedings against the company on your behalf he thanked me and hurried off dr confirmed mr in every par j t he had attended the boy a fine light haired lad of eleven or twelve years of age from not long after his till his death he suffered dreadfully and died of and of nothing else of which same disease a servant and a female in the same house had died just previously it is of course dr remarked in conclusion as unfortunate for the company as it is strangely lucky for but there is no reason for payment upon this representation we wrote the next day to the assurance people threatening proceedings on behalf of mr early on the morrow one of the managing called on us to state the reasons which induced the company to hesitate at the claim in addition to the doubts suggested by the brief time which had elapsed from the date of the policy to the death of the child there were several other slight circumstances of suspicion the chief of these was that a neighbor had declared he heard the indulging in mirth in a room adjoining that in which the corpse lay only about two hours after his son had expired this scandalous of her husband the wife appeared to faintly against the had consequently resolved non dr s declaration who might they argued have been deceived to have the body in order to a post examination as to the true cause of death k the parents voluntarily agreed to this course a application to enforce it would be unnecessary and all doubts on the matter could be quietly set at rest i thought the proposal under the circumstances reasonable and called on mr and mrs to obtain their mrs was i found absent in the but her husband was at home and he on hearing the proposal was i thought a good deal startled shocked rather a natural emotion perhaps who he said after a few moments silent reflection who is to conduct this inquiry dr will be present with mr the surgeon and dr the newly appointed physician to the assurance office in place of dr who died as you are aware a short time since of true ah well then he answered almost with alacrity be it as they wish dr will see fair play the examination was e and the result was a beyond doubt or that death as dr had declared had been solely occasioned by the assurance company still hesitated but as this conduct could now only be looked upon as perverse obstinacy we served them with a writ at once they gave in and the money was handed over to mr whose joy at his sudden riches did not i was forced to admit appear to be in the
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slightest degree by any feeling of sadness for the loss of an only child we wrote to inform mr of these and to request further instructions with regard to the hitherto paid to his cousin a considerable time would necessarily before an answer could be received and in the meantime mr plunged headlong into the speculation he had been long to engage in and was as he informed me a few weeks afterwards on the royal road to a magnificent fortune clouds soon gathered over this brilliant prospect the partner whose tongue and brilliant imagination had the life policy induced mr to join him with his four thousand pounds proved to be an cheat and and mr s application to us for legal help and was just too late to prevent the accomplished dealer in and delusion from at liverpool for america with every penny of the in his pockets a favorable reply from mr had now become a question of vital importance to his cousin who very impatiently awaited its arrival it came at last mr had died rather suddenly at a short time before my letter arrived there after in a will of which one of the copies was forwarded to me by this instrument his property about thirty five thousand pounds the greatest portion of which had been from time to time for in the british was disposed of as follows five thousand pounds to his cousin for the purpose of and maintaining the s till he should have attained the age of and the whole of the remaining thirty thousand pounds to be then paid over to with accumulated interest in the event however of the death of his the entire property was devised to another more distant and cousin mr and his son charles on precisely similar conditions he exception that an of seventy pounds to and his wife during their lives was charged upon it two letters were the same evening one to the fortunate cousin mr who lived within what was then known as the post delivery and another to mr who had taken up his temporary abode in a cottage near st s these informed both ii the life policy gentlemen of the of the indian mail and the to them important it contained mr was early at the office on the following morning and the will with huge content he was really quite sorry though for poor cousin the loss of his son was a sad stroke much worse than this of a fortune which he might have expected to follow as a matter of course and the mr observed was after all no contemptible provision for two persons without family and of modest a very different scene was when late in the evening and just as i was about to leave the office mr rushed in white as a sheet haggard and wild with passion what devil s are these you write me he burst forth the instant he had gained the threshold of the room how dare you he went on almost shrieking with fury how dare you attempt to palm off these accursed lies on me rich rich and i but it is a lie an infernal device got up to torture to drive me wild mad the excited man literally with rage and so astonished was i that it was a minute or two before i could speak or move at last i rose closed the door for the clerks in the outer office were hearers and witnesses of this outbreak and led the way to an inner and more private apartment come with me mr i said and let us talk this matter calmly over he mechanically followed threw himself into a chair and listened with impatience to the reading of the will a curse is upon me he shouted jumping up as i concluded the curse of god a judgment upon the crime i but the other day committed a crime as i thought idiot that i was so contrived so cleverly executed the life policy fool villain madman that i have been for now when fortune is for my acceptance i dare not put forth my hand to grasp it fortune too not only for me but o god it will kill us both as well as me though i alone am to blame for this infernal chance this outburst appeared to relieve him and he sank back into his chair somewhat calmer i could understand nothing of all that knowing as i did that his son had from natural causes it i a severe blow i said in as soothing a tone as i could assume a very great disappointment still you are secured from extreme poverty from anything like absolute want it is not that it is that he broke in though not quite so wildly as before look you mr sharp i will tell you all there may be some mode of from this terrible and i must have your advice upon it go on i will advise you to the best of my ability here it is then my son is alive alive and well in health as either you or i i was here was indeed a revelation alive and well continued listen when the began to spread so rapidly i me of the boy s life in case of the worst but not as i hope for mercy with the slightest thought of a hair of his head this was done yery soon the terrific disease approached our neighborhood and my wife took to a country lodging returning herself the same evening the next day our only servant was attacked and died a few hours after that our first floor a widow of the name of who had been with us but a very short time was attacked
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she suffered and her son a boy about the age of and with just his hair and complexion took ill also the woman was with pain and before effective medical aid be obtained she was seized in the middle of the night she expired her son who had been removed into another room became rapidly worse and we sent for dr the poor fellow was with pain and clung round my wife s neck calling her mother and imploring her to relieve him dr arrived and at first sight of the boy said your son is very ill mrs i fear past but we will see what can be done i swear to you mr sharp that it was not till this moment the device which has ruined us flashed across my brain i my wife in a whisper not to the doctor who prescribed the most active and was in the room when the lad died you know the rest and now sir tell me can anything be done any device suggested to this miserable blunder this terrible mistake this infamous crime you should say mr i replied for the commission of which you are liable to be transported for life yes crime no doubt that is the true word but must the innocent child suffer for his father s offence that is the only consideration that could induce me to wag a finger in the business like many other clever you are caught in the trap you for others come to me tomorrow i will think over the matter between this and then but at present i can say nothing stay i added as his hand was on the door the identity of your son can be proved i suppose by better evidence than own certainly certainly that will do then i will see you in the morning k it should cross the mind of any reader that i ought to haye given this self confessed into i beg to remind him that for the reasons previously stated such a course on my part was out of the question and that had it not been impossible i should do so mr would not have me with his criminal secret the only question now therefore was how without this guilty the s could be secured for the innocent son a conference the next morning with mr flint resulted in our sending for mr and him for fear of accidents or in our plans to himself to the kingdom of france for a short time we had then no treaty of with that country as soon as i knew he was safely out of the realm i waited upon the people the money ought not to have be n received by you say mr sharp observed the managing gentleman looking keenly in my face precisely it ought not to have been received by him and why not mr sharp j that is quite an unnecessary question and one that you know i should not answer if i could that which chiefly concerns you is that i am ready to return the four thousand pounds at once here on the spot and that are dangerous if you refuse why of course and i rose from my chair i must take back the money stay stay i will just consult with one or gentlemen and be with you again almost immediately in about five minutes he returned well mr sharp he said we had i suppose better take the money obtained as you say by mistake the life policy not at all i said nothing about mistake i told you it ought not to have been received by well well i understand i must i suppose give you a receipt undoubtedly and if you please precisely in this form i handed him a copy on a slip of paper he ran it over smiled it on a stamp signed it and as i handed him a check for the amount placed it in my hands we bowed and my way notwithstanding mr s opposition who was naturally at the unexpected turn the had taken the identity of the boy whom that gentleman persisted in asserting to be dead and buried was clearly established and mr on the day he became of age received possession of his fortune the four thousand pounds had of course been repaid out of s that person has so to speak since through life a mark for the covert scorn of every person acquainted with the very black transaction here recorded this was doubtless a much better fate he deserved and in strict or poetical justice his punishment ought unquestionably to have been much greater more apparent also than it was far example s sake but i am a man not of fiction but of fact and consequently relate events not as they precisely ought but as they do occasionally occur in lawyers offices and other and comers of this matter of fact working day world ot jl or no the of flint and sharp enjoyed whether or not when i was connected with it as it still does a high reputation for keen practice and shrewd management this kind of professional me is far more profitable than the and trumpet variety of the same article or at least we found it so and often from blush of to r later eve which natural phenomena by the way were only observed by me during thirty busy years in the of the street lamps at dawn and their re at did i and my partner incessantly pursue our golden what are usually esteemed the pleasures of its music flowers and ease till the toil and heat and hurry of the day were past and a calm luminous evening by care or anxiety had arrived this conduct may or may not
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made nearly a previously was also forwarded by which he his property to about three hundred pounds per to a distant relative then in new holland by a of a subsequent date mr was to have all the money and other he might die in actual possession of after the necessary expenses this will mr stated the deceased gentleman had expressed a wish in his last moments to alter bat death had been too sudden for him to be able to give to that good but too long delayed intention it cannot be supposed that the long before practically wife grieved much at the final breaking of the chain which bound her to so a mate but as lady was entirely silent upon the subject our supposition can only rest upon the fact that arthur who had some time previously in consequence of the death of the earl of and his only son an always weakly child preceded a few by that of his own father the succeeded to the and estates hastened home on seeing the announcement of s death in the paper from the continent where he had continued to reside since his six years before and soon afterwards found his way into and so pressed the renewed of his hand that the wedding took place slightly within six months after the of mr life passed or no and happily with the earl and to whom three children a boy and two girls were bom till about five months to the present time when the earl from being caught when out riding in a shower of rain was attacked by fever and after an acute illness of only two or three days duration expired the present earl was at the time just tamed of five years of age this blow we comprehended from the sudden tears which filled the beautiful eyes of the as she spoke of the earl s was a severe one still the grief of must have been by love for her children and not after a while we may be sure by the brilliant position in which she was left as in addition to being splendidly she was by her husband s will sole guardian of the young lord her son a terrible reverse awaited her she was sitting with her ther the and her still unmarried sister jane in the drawing room of house when a note was brought to her signed edward the writer of which demanded an immediate and private interview on he alleged the most important business lady remembered the name and immediately to the man s request he announced in a insolent tone and manner that mr had not died at the time his death was announced to her having then only fallen into a state of from which he had unexpectedly recovered and had lived sl months longer the truth is added that the other day to be looking over a i noticed for the first time the of your marriage with the late earl of and i have now to inform you that it took place precisely eight days previous to mr s death that it was consequently no marriage at or no all and that your son is no more earl of than i am this dreadful announcement as one might expect completely overcame the she fainted but not till she had heard and comprehended s hurried to secrecy and silence he rang the bell for assistance and then left the house the mental agony of lady on recovering consciousness was terrible and she with great difficulty succeeded in concealing its cause from her anxious and wondering relatives another interview with appeared to confirm the truth of his story beyond doubt or question he produced a formally drawn up document signed by one pierce grave of swords which set forth that charles was buried on the th of june and that the inscription on his set forth that he had died june d of that year also a written of of that he had the stone at the head of the grave of charles in swords burying ground in and that its date was as stated by pierce june have you copies of those documents asked mr flint yes i have brought them with me the replied and handed them to mr flint in my terror and extremity continued her and by counsel for till now i have not dared to speak upon the subject to any person i have given this at various times large sums of money but he is and only yesterday i cannot repeat his audacious proposal you will find it in this note marriage exclaimed mr flint with a burst he had read the note over my shoulder the scoundrel or no my worthy partner was rather excited the was he had a of his own at home a dead sister s child very pretty just about and a good deal resembling as he told me afterwards our new and interesting i would die a thousand deaths rather resumed lady in a low tremulous voice as she let fall her veil can there she added in a still fainter voice be anything done anything that depends entirely interrupted mr flint upon whether this fine story is or is not a got up for the purpose of money it seems to me i must say like one do you really think so exclaimed the lady with joyful vehemence the notion that was perhaps imposing on her and fears seemed not to have struck her before what do you think sharp said my partner i hesitated to give an opinion as i did not share in the hope entertained by flint detection was so certain that i doubted if cunning a person as appeared to be would have ventured on a fraud so severely suppose i said avoiding an answer as
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this note an interview at three o clock to day at house we meet him there instead of your a little talk with the fellow might be serviceable lady eagerly agreed to this proposal and it was arranged that we should be at house half an hour before the appointed time in readiness for the gentleman lady left in a coach somewhat relieved i thought by having confided the oppressive secret to us and with a hope slightly flushing her pale dejected countenance or no the firm of flint and sharp had then a long conference together during which the lady s statement and mr s documents were the reader may be sure very over and commented upon finally it was resolved that if the approaching interview the manner of which we agreed upon did not prove satisfactory mr flint should immediately proceed to ireland and personally ascertain the truth or falsehood of the facts alleged by mr is announced said lady hurriedly entering the library in square where mr flint and myself were seated i need not be present i think you said she added in great tremor certainly not madam i replied we shall do better alone she retired instantly flint rose and stationed himself close by the door presently a sounding confident step was heard along the passage the library door swung back on its noiseless hinges and in stalked a man of apparently about thirty five years of age tall genteel and soldier looking he started back on seeing me i perceived my at a glance how is this he exclaimed i expected the of true but her has me to confer with you on the business mentioned in your note i shall have nothing to say to you he replied abruptly and turned to leave the room mr flint had shut and was standing with his back to the door you can t go he said in his manner the police are within call the police what the devil do you mean cried or no ton angrily but spite of his assurance visibly trembling beneath flint s searching half look very remarkable replied that gentleman or in our profession come sit down we are lawyers you are a man of business we know i dare say we shall soon each other mr sat down and awaited what was next to come you are aware said mr flint that you have rendered yourself liable to what exclaimed flashing crimson and starting to his feet what to continued my partner for seven ten fourteen years or for life at the discretion of the judge but considering the of the crime of late i should say there is a strong probability that you will be a what devil s is this exclaimed frightened but still fierce i can prove everything i have said mr i tell you well well interrupted mr flint put it in that light how you please turn it which way you will it s like the key in blue beard which i dare say you have read of rub it out on one side and up it comes on the other say by way of argument that you have not obtained money by threats a crime which the law holds to highway robbery you have in that case obtained money for a that of an awful position my good sir j choose which you will utterly chop fallen was the lately triumphant man but he speedily rallied or no i care not he at length said punish me you may but the pride of this sham and the sham earl will be brought low and i tell you once for all he added rising at the same time and speaking in ringing tones that i defy you and will either be handsomely for silence or i will at once inform the honorable james that he is the true earl of and i tell y w retorted flint that if you attempt to leave this room i will give you into at once and transport you whatever may be the consequence to others come come let us have no more nonsense or we have strong reasons for believing that the story by which you have been money is a if it be so rely upon it we shall detect and punish you your only safe course is to make a clean breast of it whilst there is yet time out with it man at once and you shall go free nay have a few score pounds more say a hundred be wise in time i you hesitated his white lips quivered there was something to reveal i cannot he muttered after a considerable pause there is nothing to disclose you will not then your fate be on your own head i have done with you it was now my turn come come i said it is useless urging this man further how much do you expect the insolent proposal contained in your note is you well know out of the question how much do you expect for keeping this wretched secret state your terms at once a thousand per was the reply and the first year down or no modest upon my word but i suppose we must i wrote out an agreement will you sign this he ran it over yes lady as she calls herself will take care it never sees the light i withdrew and in two or three minutes returned with a check her has no present cash at the i and is obliged to post date this check twelve days the rascal grumbled a good deal but as there was no help for it he took the security signed the agreement and walked off a sweet nut that for the devil to crack observed mr flint looking savagely after him i am in hopes we shall him yet bravely as he carries it the check of
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course is not to order or bearer certainly not and before twelve days are past you will have returned from ireland the agreement may be i thought of use with or if they have been together they will scarcely admire the light in which you can place the arrangement as proof that he means to keep the lion s share of the reward to himself exactly at all events we shall get at the truth whatever it be the same evening mr flint started for i received in due course a letter from him dated the day after his arrival there it was anything but a satisfactory one the date on the grave stone had been truly represented and who erected it was a highly respectable man flint had also seen the grave but could make nothing out of him there was no regular register of deaths kept in swords except that belonging to and the minister who buried and who lived at that time in had been dead some time this was and melancholy or no enough and as if to give our unfortunate the mr junior marched into the office just after i had read it to say that having been referred by lady to us for explanations with respect to a statement made by a mr edward to the honorable james for whom they the messrs were now acting by which it appeared that the said honorable james was in fact the true earl of he mr junior would be happy to hear what i had to say upon the subject it needed but this had as i feared he would after finding we had been consulted sold his secret doubtless to the heir at law there was still however a chance that something favorable might turn up and as i had no notion of throwing that chance away i carelessly replied that we had reason to believe s story was a malicious and that we should of course throw on them the of proof that was still alive when the late earl s marriage was finally however to please mr who professed to be very anxious for the lady s sake to avoid unnecessary and to arrange the affair as quietly as possible i agreed to meet him at lady ton s in four days from that time and hear the evidence upon which he relied this could not at all events render our position worse and it was meanwhile agreed that the matter should be kept as far as possible profoundly secret three days passed without any further tidings from mr flint and i vehemently feared that his journey had proved a fruitless one when on the evening previous to the day appointed for the conference at house a coach drove rapidly up to the office door and out mr flint followed by two strangers whom he very escorted into the house or no mr and mr pierce said flint as he shook hands with me in a way which in with the merry sparkle of his eyes and the boisterous tone of his voice assured me all was right mr pierce will sleep here to night ho added so had better engage a bed out an ill looking of a fellow muttered that he chose to sleep at a tavern not if i know it my fine fellow rejoined mr flint ton mean well i dare say but i cannot lose sight of you for all that you either sleep here or at a station house the man stared with surprise and alarm but knowing re or resistance to be hopeless sullenly assented to the arrangement and withdrew to the room appointed for him guarded for mr we engaged a bed at a i neighboring tavern i mr flint s mission had been and successfully accomplished he was convinced by the sullen confusion of manner manifested by that some agency had been at work and he again waited on the stone who gave you the order for the grave stone v he asked mr referred to his book and answered that he received it by letter had he got that letter very likely he replied as he seldom destroyed business papers of any kind a search was and finally this letter said mr flint worth an earl s torn and dirty as it is turned up this invaluable document which bore the london of june ran as follows hotel london sir please to erect a plain tomb stone at the head of no charles s grave who died a few month s since at swords aged thirty two years this is all that need be inscribed upon it you are referred to mr of street for payment your obedient servant edward you see continued flint the fellow had left out the date of s death merely stating it occurred a few months previously and concluded that in entering the order in his day book he must have somehow or other confounded the date of the letter with that of s armed with this precious discovery i again sought and by dint of promises and threats at last got the truth out of the rascal it was this who returned to this country from the cape where he had resided for three years previously about two months ago having some business to settle in went over there and one day visited swords read the inscription on charles s grave stone and immediately sought out the grave and asked him if he had any record of that gentleman s burial said he had and produced his book by which it appeared that it took place december that cannot be remarked and he referred to the head stone said he had noticed the mistake a few days after it was erected but thinking it of no consequence and having that he knew of seen mr since he had said and indeed thought nothing about
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it to conclude the story ultimately by payment of ten pounds down and liberal promises for the future prevailed upon the grave to lend himself to the infamous device the sight of the grave stone had suggested to his fertile brain or no this was indeed a glorious success and the firm of flint and sharp drank the of s health that evening with enthusiasm and thought of the morrow we found the drawing of house occupied by the honorable james his the messrs lady and her father and sister to whom she had at length disclosed the source of her the children were leaving the apartment as we entered it and the grief eyes of the rested sadly upon her bright eyed boy as he slowly withdrew with his sisters that look changed to one of wild surprise as it encountered mr flint s shining good countenance i was more composed and reserved than my partner though feeling as vividly as he did the satisfaction of being able not only to lady s anguish but to the exultation and on the hopes of the honorable james a stiff grave piece of propriety who was surveying from out the comers of his eye the furniture and of the splendid apartment and himself with the thought that all that was his business was proceeded with was called in he repeated his former story and with much and confidence he then placed in the hands of senior the signed by and the transient light faded from lady s countenance as she turned almost towards us what answer have you to make to this gentleman s statement thus v demanded senior quite a remarkable one replied mr flint as he rang the bell desire the gentlemen in the library to step up he added to the footman who answered the summons in about or no three minutes in marched and followed by two police officers an irrepressible exclamation of terror escaped which was immediately echoed by mr flint s direction to the police as he pointed towards the trembling that is your man secure him a storm of exclamations questions instantly broke forth and it was several minutes before attention could be obtained for the statements of our two irish witnesses and the reading of the happily found letter the effect of the evidence was decisive lady as its full significance flashed upon her screamed with joy and i thought must have fainted from excess of emotion the john returned audible thanks to in a voice quivering with rapture and miss ran out of the apartment and presently returned with the children who were immediately half smothered their mother s kisses all was for a few minutes bewilderment joy rapture flint persisted to his dying day that lady threw her arms round his neck and kissed his bald old forehead this however i cannot personally for as my attention was engaged at the moment by the adverse the honorable james who exhibited one of the most irresistibly comic wo aspects it is possible to conceive he made a hurried and most exit and was immediately followed by the family was conveyed to a station house and the next day was committed for trial he was convicted at the next and to seven years and the celebrated firm of flint and sharp derived considerable lustre and more profit from this successful stroke of dexterity t i jane the criminal business of the office was during the first three or four years of our entirely by mr flint lie being more from early practice than myself in art and mystery of and defending and i was happily relieved of duties which in the days when george he was king were frequently very oppressive and the dwelt in an atmosphere alike with cruelty and crime and alternately with merciless of death and the shrieks and of guilt and not always guilt there exist many records of proofs but obtained too late of innocence been on the gallows in other cases than that of how could it be otherwise with a code crowded in every line with of death nothing but death wiser times have dawned upon us in which truer notions prevail of what man owes to man even when sitting in judgment on and this we owe let us not forget to the exertions of a band of men who by the of the wise and men of the world and the of influential newspapers persisted in teaching that the rights of property could be more firmly than by the shedding of blood law justice personal security more effectually than by the gallows let me confess that i also was for many years amongst the and sincerely held such and as sir samuel and his fellow workers in utter contempt not so my partner mr flint constantly in the presence of criminal judges and he had less confidence in the of their than persons less familiar with them or who see them only through the medium of newspapers nothing could exceed his distress of mind if in cases in which he was attorney a died in his innocence or without a full confession of guilt and to such a pitch did this sensitive feeling at length arrive that he all at once refused to undertake or in any way with criminal and they were consequently turned over to our head clerk with occasional assistance from me if there happened to be a press of business of the sort mr flint still however retained a of the except when from some temporary cause or other he happened to be otherwise engaged when they fell to me one of these i am about to relate the result of which whatever other impression it produced thoroughly cured me as it may the reader of any to sneer or laugh at criminal law and of the gallows one during the absence of mr
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flint in a mrs margaret called at the office in apparently great distress of mind this lady i must was an old or at all events an elderly maiden of some four and forty years of age i have heard a very intimate female friend of hers say she would never see fifty again but this was spite and possessed of considerable house property in rather poor she found abundant employment for energies which might otherwise have turned to cards and scandal in collecting her weekly monthly and rents and in or v r jl she did the and moral re of her tenants very bare i well knew were the npon her good nature in money matters and i strongly the spiritual and moral promises and performances of her as much as those to rent still deceived or cheated as she might be good mrs never wearied in what she conceived to be well doing and was ever ready to pour and oil into the wounds of the sufferer however self inflicted or deserved what is the matter now i asked as soon as the good lady was seated and had and loosened her bonnet and thrown back her shawl st walking having heated her nothing worse than is i hope likely to befall any of those interesting of yours you are a hard hearted man mr sharp replied mrs between a smile and a cry but being a lawyer that is of course natural and as i am not here to consult you as a christian of no consequence complimentary mrs but pray go on you know jane one of my tenants in bank buildings the who adopted her sister s orphan child i remember her name she if i recollect rightly a balance of wages for her due to the child s father a mate who died at sea well what has befallen her a terrible accusation has been preferred against her rejoined mrs but as for a moment believing it that is quite out of the question jane continued the lady at the same time a newspaper from the miscellaneous contents of her jane works hard from morning till night keeps herself to herself her little nephew and her rooms are always as dean and nice as a new pin she regularly and pays her rent to the day this disgraceful story therefore she added placing the journal in my hands cannot be true i glanced over the police news uttering bank of england notes knowing them to be i exclaimed the devil there s no occasion to be that name out so loudly mr sharp said mrs with some especially in a lawyer s office people have been accused before to day i suppose i was intent on the report and not answering she continued i heard nothing of it till i read the shameful account in the paper half an hour the poor girl was i dare say afraid or ashamed to send for me this appears to be a very bad case mrs i said at length three ten pound notes changed in one day at different shops each time under the pretence of articles of small amount and another ten pound note found in her pocket all that has i must say a very ugly look i don t care exclaimed mrs quite fiercely if it looks as ugly as sin or if the whole bank of england was found in her pocket i know jane well she nursed me last spring through the fever and i would be upon my oath that the whole story from beginning to end is an invention of the devil or something worse jane i persisted appears to have been unable or unwilling to give the slightest explanation as to how she became possessed of the notes who is this brother of hers of such highly respectable appearance according to the report who was permitted a private interview with her previous to the examination she has no brother that i have ever heard of said mrs it must be a mistake of the papers that is not likely you observed of course that she was fully committed and no wonder mrs s faith m the young woman s integrity was not to be shaken by any evidence save that of her own bodily eyes and i agreed to see jane on the morrow and make the best arrangements for the defence at mrs charge which the circumstances and the short time i should have for preparation the old would be on in a few days permitted the matter so far settled mrs margaret hurried off to see what had become of little henry the prisoner s nephew i visited jane the next day in she was a well grown young woman of about two or three and twenty not exactly pretty perhaps but very well looking her brown hair was plainly worn without a cap and the expression of her face was i thought one of sweetness and humility contradicted in some degree by rather harsh lines about the mouth strong will and purpose as a proof of the existence of this last characteristic i may here mention that when her first confidence had yielded to doubt she although fond of her nephew at this time about eight years of age firmly refused to see him in order she once said to me and the thought brought a deadly to her face in order that should the worst befall her memory might not be involuntarily connected in his mind with images of and disgrace and shame jane had received what is called in the country a good and the books mrs had lent her she had eagerly she was to a certain extent a cultivated person and her speech and manners were mild gentle and speak religious i generally found when i visited
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her a bible or prayer book in her hand this however from my experience comparatively slight though it was did not impress me in her favor sentiment so easily for a brief time assumed being in nine such cases out of ten a deceit still she upon the whole made a decidedly favorable impression on me and i no longer so much wondered at the of manifested by mrs in behalf of apparently amiable and grateful but beyond the moral doubt thus suggested of the prisoner s guilt my with her utterly failed to extract anything from her in of the charge upon which she was about to be at first she persisted in asserting that the was based upon manifest error that the notes instead of being were genuine bank of england paper it was some time before i succeeded in convincing her that this hope to which she so eagerly desperately clung was a one i did so at last and either thought i as i marked her varying color and faltering voice either you are a or else the victim of some frightful delusion or conspiracy i will see you if you please to morrow she said looking up from the chair upon which with her head bowed and her face covered with her hands she had been seated for several minutes in silence my thoughts are confused now but tomorrow i shall be more composed better able to decide if to talk i mean of this unhappy business i thought it better to without remonstrance and at once took my leave when i returned the next afternoon the governor of the prison informed me that the brother of my james quite a dashing gentleman had had a long interview with her he had left about two hour with the intention he said of calling upon me i was conducted to where my with the prisoner usually took in a few minutes she appeared much flushed and it seemed to be alternately with trembling joy and l e and doubt and nervous fear well i said i trust you are now ready to give me your confidence without which be assured that any reasonable hope of a successful issue from the peril in which you are involved is out of the question the varying emotions i have noticed were clearly ble as they swept over her tell tale countenance during the minute or so that elapsed before she spoke tell me candidly sir she said at last whether if i owned to you that the notes were given to me by a a person whom i cannot if i would produce to purchase various articles at different shops and him the person i mean the change and that i made oath this was done by me in all innocence of heart as the god of heaven and earth truly it was it would avail me not in the least i replied angry at such trifling how can you ask such a question we must find ihe person who you intimate has deceived you and placed your life in peril and if that can be proved hang him instead of you i speak plainly miss i added in a tone perhaps you may think but there is no further time for playing with this dangerous matter to morrow a true bill will be found against you and your trial may then come on immediately if you are careless for yourself you ought to have some thought for the sufferings of your excellent friend mrs for your nephew soon perhaps to be left and destitute oh spare me spare me i the unhappy young woman sinking into a have pity upon me wretched bewildered as i am relieved her and after awhile she said it is useless sir to this interview i could not i solemnly assure you if i would tell you where to search for or find the person of whom i spoke and she added whilst the lines about her mouth of which i have spoken grew distinct and rigid i would not if i could what indeed would it as i have been told and believe avail but to cause the death of two deceived innocent persons instead of one besides she continued trying to speak with firmness and repress the shudder which crept over and shook her as with besides whatever the verdict the penalty will not cannot i am sure i know be be i understood her plainly enough although her resolution failed to sustain her through the sentence who is this brother james he calls whom you saw at the police office and who has twice been here i understand once to day a quick start revealed the emotion with which she heard the question and her dilated eyes rested upon me for moment with eager scrutiny she speedily recovered her presence of mind and with her eyes again on the floor said in a quivering voice my brother yes as you say my brother mrs says you have no brother i sharply rejoined good mrs she replied in a tone scarcely above a whisper and without raising her head does not know all our family a was i was confident concealed in these words but after again and again urging her to confide in me and finding warning and persuasion alike useless i withdrew and angry and withal as much concerned and grieved as baffled and indignant on going out i arranged with the that the brother if he again made his appearance should be detained till my arrival our precaution was too late he did not and so little notice had any one taken of his person that to a description of him with a reward for his apprehension was hopeless a true bill was found and two hours afterwards jane was placed in the dock the
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trial did not last more than twenty minutes at the end of which an verdict of guilty was returned and she was duly to be hanged by the neck till she was dead we had retained the counsel in the court but with no defence their efforts were merely thrown away upon being asked what she had to say why the sentence of the law should not be carried into effect she repeated her previous statement that the notes had been given her to change by a person in whom she the utmost confidence and that she had not the slightest thought of evil or fraud in what she did that person however she repeated once more could not be produced her only excited a smile and all necessary forms having been gone through she was removed from the bar the unhappy woman bore the ordeal through which she had just passed with much firmness once only whilst sentence was being passed her high strung resolution appeared to and give way i was watching her intently and i observed that she suddenly directed a piercing look towards a distant part of the crowded court in a moment her eye lightened the expression of extreme horror which had darkened her ce passed away and her partial composure returned i had instinctively as it were followed her glance and thought i detected a tall man enveloped in a cloak engaged in momentary communication with her i jumped up from my seat and hastened as quickly as i could through the thronged passages to the spot and looked eagerly around but the man he might be was gone the next act in this sad drama was the decision of the council upon the s report it came several were but amongst them was not jane she and nine others were to perish at eight o clock on the following morning the anxiety and worry inseparable from this most unhappy a fair which from mr flint s protracted absence i had exclusively to bear fairly knocked me up and on the evening of the day on which the decision of the council was received i went to bed much earlier than usual and really ill sleep i could not and i was tossing about vainly to banish from my mind the gloomy and terrible images connected with the wretched girl and her swiftly coming fate when a quick tap sounded on the door and a servant s voice announced that one of the clerks had brought a letter which the directed to be read without a moment s delay i sprang out of bed snatched the letter and eagerly ran it over it was from the a very worthy humane gentleman and stated that on hearing the result of the of the council all the previous and fortitude exhibited by jane had completely given way t and she had abandoned herself to the wildest terror and despair as soon as she could speak she implored the governor with frantic earnestness to send for me as this was not only quite useless in the opinion of that official but against the rules the prisoner s request was not complied with the however thinking it might be as well that i should know of her desire to see me had of his own accord sent me this note he thought that possibly the would permit me to have a brief interview with the condemned prisoner in the morning if i arrived sufficiently early and although it could avail nothing as regarded her fate in this world still it might perhaps calm the frightful tumult of emotion by which she was at present tossed and shaken and enable her to meet the inevitable hour with fortitude and resignation it was useless to return to bed after receiving such a communication and i forthwith dressed myself determined to sit up and read if i could till the hour at which i might hope to be admitted to the jail should strike slowly and heavily the dark night away and as the first rays of the cold wintry dawn reached the earth i forth a dense brutal crowd were already assembled in front of the prison and hundreds of sight occupied the opposite windows eager for the rising of the curtain upon the mournful tragedy about to be i obtained admission without much difficulty but till the arrival of the no conference with the condemned prisoners could be possibly permitted those important happened on this morning to arrive unusually late and i paced up and down the paved corridor in a fever of impatience and anxiety they were at last announced but before i could in the hurry and confusion obtain speech of either of them the dismal bell out and i felt with a shudder that it was no longer possible to effect my object perhaps it is better so observed the reverend in a whisper she has been more composed for the last two or three hours and is now i trust in a better frame of mind for death i turned sick at heart to leave the place and in my agitation missing the right way came directly in view of the terrible procession jane saw me and a terrific scream followed by frantic heart appeals to me to save her burst with effort from her white quivering lips never will the horror of that moment pass from my remembrance i staggered back as if every word struck me like a blow and then directed by one of the sped in an opposite direction as fast as my trembling limbs could carry me the shrieks of the wretched victim the of the dreadful bell and the and of the foul crowd through which i had to force my way a confused tumult of disgust and horror in my brain which if long continued would have driven me mad on reaching home i was freely
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my deeds are upon my head it is at least not my fault that i am hurled to judgment before the eternal judge himself commanded my presence there he may be unworthy to live murmured the scared but oh how utterly unfit to die that is true rejoined with vehemence those if you will are words of truth and sense go you and preach them to the makers and of english law in the meantime i would speak privately with this gentleman the reverend with a mute gesture of compassion sorrow and regret was about to leave the cell when he was stayed by the prisoner who exclaimed now i think of it you had better sir remain the statement i am about to make cannot for the sake of the victim s reputation and for her friends sake have too many witnesses you both remember jane a broken exclamation from both of us answered him and he quickly added ah you already guess the truth i see well i do not wonder you should start and turn pale it was a cruel deed a murder if there was ever one in as few words as possible so you interrupt me not i will relate my share in the business he spoke rapidly and once or twice during the brief recital the eye and voice betrayed emotions which his pride would have concealed jane and i were born in within a short distance of each other i knew her from a child she was better off then i worse than we subsequently became she by her father s i by my mo by mrs s wealthy marriage she was about nineteen i twenty four when i left ihe for london that she loved me with all the of a trusting woman i well knew and i had too for some time known that she must be either or not at all that with me was out of the question and as i told you i came about that time to london you can i dare say imagine the rest we were i and my friends i mean at a loss for agents to dispose of our wares and at the same time pressed for money i met jane by accident genteel of graceful address and winning manners she was just fitted for our purpose i feigned re awakened love proffered marriage and a home across this atlantic as soon as certain trifling but troublesome affairs which harassed me were arranged she believed me i got her to change a considerable number of notes under various but that they were she had not and could not have the remotest suspicion you know the catastrophe after her apprehension i visited this prison as her brother and her up to the last with illusions of certain pardon and release whatever the verdict through the influence of my wealthy father in law of our immediate union afterwards and tranquil american home it is needless to say more she trusted me and i sacrificed her less instances of a like nature occur every day and now gentlemen i would fain be alone villain could not help exclaiming under my breath as he moved away he turned quickly back and looking me in the face without the slightest anger said an villain if you not a one her death alone sits near and troubles my to all else hardened conscience and let me tell you reverend sir he continued his former bitterness as he the let me tell you that it was not the solemn words of the judge the other day but her pale image suddenly beside me in the dock just as she looked when i passed my last deception on her that caused the tremor and complacently attributed by that grave to his own eloquence after all her death cannot be exclusively laid to my charge those who tried her would not believe her story and yet it was true as death had they not been so confident in their own wisdom they might have doomed her to some punishment short of the and could now have their error but i am weary and would i repeat be alone farewell he threw himself on the rude and we silently withdrew a paper s declaration was forwarded to the secretary of state and duly acknowledged accompanied by an official expression of mild regret that it had not been made in time to save the life of jane no further notice was taken of the matter and the record of the young woman s sacrifice still doubtless the of the home office forming with numerous others of like character the dark sanguine background upon which the achievements of the great and good men who have so successfully the old code that now a faint only of the old remains stands out in bright relief and lustre every man his own lawyer a a of the tendencies to a rise or fall in produce more especially than john of lane it would have been difficult to point out in the wide city of london he was not so immensely rich as many others engaged in the same merchant traffic as himself nothing at all like it indeed for i doubt that he could at any time have been esteemed worth more than from eighty to ninety thousand pounds but his transactions although limited in extent when compared with those of the houses almost always returned more or less of profit the result of his remarkable and sagacity in black and bills whilst yet or deemed afar off by less sensitive at least to this wonderful of future sugar value did mr himself attribute his rise in the world and gradual increase in riches and respectability this constant success as it is too apt to do conceit self esteem vanity there was scarcely a social or economical
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problem which he did not believe himself capable of as easily as he could eat his dinner when hungry common sense business habits his favorite phrase he believed to be quite sufficient for the of the most difficult question in law or divinity the science of law especially he held to be an which any every man his own lawyer man of common sense and business could as easily master as he could count five on his fingers and there was no end to his ridicule of the men with horse hair head dresses and their cases and such like devil s lawyers according to him were a set of thorough and who gained their living by false pretence that of affording advice and counsel which every sane man could better render himself he was mad upon this subject and he carried his insane theory into practice he drew his own examined the titles of some house property he purchased and set his hand and seal to the final deeds guided only by his own common sense spectacles once he bid at the tion as high as fifty three thousand pounds for the estate and had he not been by young son of the then recently deceased eminent who was eager to obtain the property with a view to a seat in parliament which its possession was said to almost he would i had not at the time the slightest doubt have completed the purchase without for a moment dreaming of the s title to the scrutiny of a professional adviser mr i should mention had been for some time desirous of his business in lane to his son thomas the only child born to him by his deceased wife and of retiring an squire arch to the or as the case might be of a country life and this disposition had of late been much quickened by daily increasing apprehensions of negro and interference with duties changes which in with others of similar character would bring about that utter commercial ruin which mr like every other rich and about to retire merchant or his own la whom i have ever known constantly to be near at hand and inevitable with such a gentleman the firm of flint sharp had only professional when or doubtful required that he should put on the screw a process which i have no doubt he would himself have confidently performed but for the waste of valuable time which doing so would necessarily involve both flint and myself were however privately intimate with him flint more especially who had known him firom boyhood and we frequently dined with him on a sunday at his little box at we had on these occasions met there a mrs and her daughter an apparently amiable and certainly very pretty and interesting young person to whom mr informed us his son tom had been for some time engaged i don t know much about her family observed mr one day in the course of a gossip at the office but she moves in very respectable society tom met her at the but i do know she has something like thirty five thousand pounds in the the instant i was informed how matters stood with the young folk i as a matter of common sense and business asked the mother mrs for a reference to her banker or there being no doubt that a woman and a minor would be in lawyers leading strings and she referred me to messrs of lane you know the perfectly what was the reply that when she came of age wants but a very short time of that now would be entitled to the capital of thirty four thousand seven hundred pounds by an uncle and now lodged in the funds in the names of the of every man his own lawyer street by whom the interest on that sum was regularly paid half yearly through the messrs for the maintenance and education of the a common sense business like letter in every respect and extremely satisfactory and as soon as he pleases after comes of age and into actual possession of her fortune tom may have her with my blessing over the bargain i dined at laurel about two months after this conversation and and i found ourselves alone over the the young people having gone out for a stroll attracted doubtless by the gay aspect of the thames which flows past the miniature grounds attached to the villa never had i seen mr in so gay so a mood pass the he exclaimed the instant the door had closed upon tom and pass the sharp i have news for you my boy now they are gone indeed and what may the news be fill a for yourself and i ll give you a toast here s to the health and prosperity of the proprietor of the estate and may he live a thousand years and one over hip hip he swallowed his glass of wine and then in his intensity of glee laughed himself purple you needn t stare so he said as soon as he had partially recovered breath i am the proprietor of the property bought it for fifty six thousand pounds of that young scant grace and fifteen thousand pounds less than what it cost him with the he has made upon it signed sealed delivered paid for yesterday ha ha ho leave john alone for a bargain it s worth seventy thousand pounds if it s worth a shilling i say continued he man his own lawyer after a renewed of mirth not a word about it to anybody mind i promised who is quietly packing np to be off to italy or or or the devil all of them perhaps in succession
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not to mention a word about it till he was well off you understand ha ha ho ho again burst out mr i pity the poor though bless you i should nt have had it at anything like the price only for his knowing that i was not likely to be running about exposing the affair by asking lawyers whether an estate in a family s possession as this was in s for three hundred years had a good title or not so be not to drop a word even to tom for my honor s sake a delicious bargain and no mistake worth if a penny seventy thousand pounds ha ha ho ho then you have really parted with that enormous sum of money without had the title to the estate examined title i looked over the deeds myself besides haven t i told you the ancestors of from whose purchased the estate were in possession of it for centuries what better title than can there be that may be true enough but still i ought you think to have risked losing the bargain by delay and have time and money upon fellows in horse hair in order to ascertain what i sufficiently well knew already i am not in my second childhood yet it was useless to argue with him besides the mischief if mischief there had been done and the not long delayed entrance of the young couple a change of topic i innocently inquired what he thought of the negro every man his own lawyer bill which mr as the organ of the had introduced a few evenings previously and was rewarded by a perfect of indignation and during a pause in which of angry words i contrived to effect my escape exclaimed one morning mr flint looking up from the times newspaper he held in his hand what is it we know about the question was addressed to me and i like my partner not at the moment precisely recall why those names sounded upon our ears with a certain degree of interest as well as familiarity i echoed true what do we know about oh i have it they are the of a will under which young s pretty bride that is to be her fortune ah exclaimed mr flint as he put down the paper and looked me gravely in the face i remember now their names are in the list of a failure in the gambling too i hope they have not been with the young woman s money the words were scarcely out of his mouth when mr was announced and presently in walked that gentleman in a state of considerable excitement i told you he began some time ago about being the persons in whose names s money stood in the funds yes replied flint and i see by the they are and by your face that they have with your intended daughter in law s money and lost it positively so rejoined mr with great every man his own lawyer drew it out many months ago but they have exceedingly wealthy connections at least has who will i suppose arrange miss s claim rather than their relative should be for you are mistaken my good sir there is no no legal i mean in the matter miss can only prove against the estate like any other the devil she can t tom then must look out for another wife for i am informed there wont be a shilling in the pound and so it turned out the great corn firm had been for years and after desperately and to a extent with a view to recover themselves had failed to an enormous amount their comparatively speaking proving to be ml the ruin spread around chiefly on account of the vast quantity of accommodation paper they had afloat was terrible but upon no one did the blow fall with greater severity than on young and his promised wife his father ordered him to instantly break off all acquaintance with miss and on the son who was deeply attached to her refusing to do so senior threatened to turn him out of doors and ultimately him angry indignant and in love thomas did a very rash and foolish thing he persuaded to consent to a private marriage arguing that if the knot were once fairly tied his father would as a matter of course he being an only child become reconciled to what he could no longer hope to prevent or remedy the young man deceived both himself and her who trusted in his pleasing ten minutes after he had disclosed the marriage to his father he was turned almost every man his own lawyer out of doors and the exasperated and inexorable old man refused to listen to any representation in his favor by proffered and finally even to permit the mention of his name in his hearing it s of no use said mr flint on returning for the last time from a mission undertaken to if possible some provision against absolute starvation for the newly wedded couple he is as cold and hard as and i think if possible even more of a tiger than before he will be here presently to give instructions for his will his will surely he will draw that up himself after his own common sense business fashion he would unquestionably have done so a short time since but some events that have lately occurred have considerably shaken his estimate of his own and he is moreover determined he says that there shall be no mistake as to effectually his son he has made two or three heavy losses and his mind is altogether in a very state mr called as he had promised to do and gave us the written heads of a will which he desired to
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arrangements for continuing abroad out of harm s re ch it is every man his own lawyer as i tell you he added as we shook hands at parting but you will of course see the will and satisfy yourself good by here was a precious result of amateur common sense could only have examined the abstract of title furnished him by s attorney and not the right of s to sell or had not been aware that the niece could not during her an legal consent i found mr flint at the office and quickly imparted the news he was as much taken as myself the obstinate pig headed old ass he exclaimed it almost serves him right if only for his tom fool nonsense of every man his own lawyer what did you say was the niece s name well i don t remember that told me he was in such a hurry but suppose you go at once and look over the will true i will do so and away he went this is a very singular affair sharp said mr flint on his return from doctors at the same time himself his into the arm holes of his waistcoat crossing his legs and his chair back on its hind legs a very singular affair whom in the name of the god of thieves wasn t he called do you suppose the to be no other continued mr flint with a sudden burst than the devil and the niece then is tom s wife supposed to have been drowned in ihe that s check mate i rather fancy not only to mr but some one else we know of the old fellow np stairs wont to acknowledge daughter in law now i fancy this was indeed a happy change in the fortunes of the of and we discussed with much alacrity the best mode of turning so momentous and surprising to the best account as a first step a letter with an was to requiring the return of thomas and immediately and the next was to plead in form to the action this done we awaited s in london and mr senior s for his mental agitation had resulted in a sharp fit of illness to effect a satisfactory and just arrangement mr and mrs thomas and mrs arrived by the earliest steamer that left alter the receipt of our letter and much astonished were they by the intelligence that awaited them was for the of the sale of the estate by her now consent at once as a mere act of common justice and good but this looking at the total loss of fortune she had sustained by the of the and the obstinate temper of the father in law from whom she had already received such harsh treatment could not for a moment be permitted and it was finally resolved to take advantage of the legal position in which she stood to enforce a due present provision for herself and husband and their ultimate succession to the estate john gradually recovered and as soon as it was deemed prudent to do so we informed him that the niece was not dead as the in the action of had supposed and that of course if she could now be persuaded to the imperative consent she had formerly he every man his own lawyer might retain at first he received the intelligence aa a gleam of light and hope but he soon into doubt and gloom what chance was there he hopelessly argued that holding the legal power she would not exercise it it was not he said in human nature to do otherwise and he us to make liberal offers for a compromise half he would be content to lose half his purchase money even a greater sacrifice t han that he would agree to anything indeed that would not be utter ruin that did not involve utter and in old three days after this conversation i announced to him that the and her husband were below and desirous of seeing him what do they say he eagerly demanded will they accept of half two thirds what do they say i cannot precisely tell you they wish to see you lone and you can urge your own views and offers he trembled violently and shrank nervously back as i placed my hand on the door handle of the private office he presently recovered in some degree his self possession passed in and i withdrew from the humiliating but spectacle of compelled to humble itself before those whom it had previously scorned and trampled upon the legal arrangements which flint and i had suggested were effected and senior accompanied by his son daughter in law and mrs set off in restored for house abandoned his action and finding that matters were arranged retired to england we afterwards knew that he had discovered the defect of title on applying to a well known to raise a considerable sum by way of and that his first ff every man his own lawyer was to threaten legal proceedings against for tbe recovery of his money but a hint he obtained of the of proceedings against them determined him to offer the estate at a low figure to upon that gentleman s contempt of lawyers that the blot in the title subjected only to his own common sense spectacles would not be the chest of drawers i am about to relate a rather curious piece of domestic history some of the incidents of which revealed at the time of their occurrence in contemporary law reports may be in the remembrance of many readers it took place in one of the and at a place which i shall call the names of the chief actors who figured in it must also to spare their modesty or their as the
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felt the tenderest esteem he took the eldest of her orphan children to his home intending to regard and provide for her as ms own adopted child and the other sister refuge in the house of a still more distant relative than the chest of drawers the had gone to live in a remote part of england i believe and it thus fell out that till his cousin arrived at her new home he had not seen her for more than ten years the pale and somewhat plain child as he had esteemed her he was startled to find had become a charming woman and her naturally gay and joyous temperament quick talents and fresh young beauty rapidly acquired an overwhelming influence over him but vainly he struggled against the growing argued reasoned with himself passed in review the objections to such a union the difference of age he leading towards thirty seven she barely twenty one he crooked of reserved temper she of young life and grace and beauty it was useless and nearly a year had passed in the struggle when who had vainly to blind herself to the nature of the emotions by which her cousin and guardian was animated towards her intimated a wish to accept her sister s invitation to pass two or three months with her this brought the affair to a crisis himself up with the illusions which people in such an unreasonable frame of mind create for themselves he suddenly entered the set apart for her private use with the desperate purpose of making his beautiful cousin a formal offer of his hand she was not in the apartment but her opened writing desk and a partly finished letter lying on it showed that she had been recently there and would probably soon return mr took two or three agitated turns about the room one of which brought him close to the writing desk and his glance involuntarily fell upon the unfinished letter had a deadly serpent leaped suddenly at his throat the shock could not have been greater at the head of the sheet of paper was a clever pen ths chest of drawers l and ink sketch of and himself he kneeling to her in a attitude and she laughing at his and pitiful aspect and speech the letter was addressed to her sister and the enraged lover saw not only that his supposed secret was fully known but that he himself was laughed at for his folly at was his interpretation of the words which swam before his eyes at the instant returned and a torrent of burst from the furious man in which wounded pride and long pent up passion found utterance in wild and bitter words half an hour afterwards had left the merchant s house for ever as it proved she indeed on arriving at her sister s sent a letter forgiveness for the thoughtless and as he deemed it insulting sketch intended only for s eye but he replied merely by a note written by one of his clerks informing miss that mr declined any further correspondence with her the ire of the and man had however begun sensibly to and old thoughts memories duties suggested partly by the blank which s absence made in his house partly by remembrance of the solemn promise he had made her mother were strongly in his mind when he read the announcement of marriage in a provincial journal directed to him as he believed in the bride s hand writing but this was an error her sister having sent the newspaper mr also this into a deliberate mockery and insult and firom that hour strove to banish all images and thoughts with his from his heart and memory he unfortunately adopted the very worst course possible for this object had he remained amid the and tu the chest of drawers of active life a mere sentimental disappointment such as thousands of us have sustained and afterwards forgotten would there can be little doubt have soon ceased to him he chose to retire from business visited and habits of growing rapidly upon his mind never afterwards removed from the lodgings he had hired on arriving there thus madly to himself sharp pointed memories which a sensible man would have speedily cast off and forgotten the sour passed a useless cheerless weary existence to which death must have been a welcome relief matters were in this state with the and aged man aged mentally and although his years were but fifty eight when mr flint made mr s acquaintance another month or so had passed away when s attention was one day about noon claimed by a young man dressed in accompanied by a female attired and from their resemblance to each other he were brother and sister the stranger wished to know if that was the house in which mr resided said it was and with civil alacrity left his stall and rang the front door bell the summons was answered by the landlady s servant who since may s death had waited on the first floor and the visitors were invited to go up stairs much wondering who they might be returned to his stall and from thence passed into his eating and sleeping room just below mr s apartments he was in the act of taking a pipe from the mantel shelf in order to the more deliberate and satisfactory on such an unusual event when he was startled by a loud shout or scream rather from above the quivering and excited voice was that of mr and the was immediately followed by an explosion of unintelligible the chest of exclamations from several persons was up stairs in an instant and found himself in the midst of a strangely and distracted scene mr pale as his shirt shaking in every limb and his eyes
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on fire with passion was forth a torrent of and reproach at the young woman whom he evidently for some one else whilst she extremely terrified and unable to stand but for the assistance of her companion was a letter in her outstretched hand and uttering broken sentences which her own agitation and the fury of mr s rendered totally incomprehensible at last the fierce old man struck the letter from her hand and with frantic rage ordered both the strangers to leave the room urged them to and them down stairs when they reached the street he observed a woman on the other side of the way dressed in mourning and much older apparently though he could not well see her face through the thick veil she wore than she who had thrown mr into such an agony of rage apparently waiting for them to her the young people immediately hastened and after a brief conference the three turned away up the street and mr saw no more of them a quarter of an hour afterwards the house servant informed that mr had retired to bed and although still in great and as she feared seriously would not permit dr to be sent for so sudden and violent a in the usually dull and drowsy atmosphere in which lived excited and disturbed him greatly the hours however flew past without bringing any relief to his curiosity and evening was falling when a peculiar knocking on the floor over head announced that mr desired his presence that gentleman was sitting up in bed and in the growing darkness chest of drawers his could not be very distinctly seen but instantly observed a vivid and unusual light in the old man s eyes the letter so strangely delivered was lying open before him and unless the shoe was greatly mistaken there were of recent tears upon mr s and hollow cheeks the voice too it struck though eager was gentle and wavering it was a mistake he said i was mad for the moment are they gone he added in a yet more subdued and gentle tone informed him of what he had seen and as he did so the strange light in the old man s eyes seemed to quiver and sparkle with a yet emotion than before presently he shaded them with his hand and remained several minutes silent he then said with a firmer voice i shall be glad if you will step to mr and tell him i am too to see him this evening but be sure to say nothing else he eagerly added as turned away in compliance with his request and when you come back let mo see you again when returned he found to his great surprise mr up and nearly dressed and his astonishment increased a hundred fold upon hearing that gentleman say in a quick but perfectly collected and decided manner that he should set off for london by the mail train for london and by night exclaimed scarcely sure that he heard aright yes yes i shall not be observed in the dark sharply rejoined mr and you must keep my secret firom every body especially from i shall be here in time to see him to morrow night and he will be none the wiser this was said with a slight chuckle and as soon as his simple preparations were complete mr well il the chest of drawers wrapped up and his face almost hidden by locked his door and assisted by stole down stairs and reached the railway station just in time for the train it was quite dark the next evening when mr returned and so well had he managed that mr who paid his usual visit about half an hour afterwards had evidently heard nothing of the suspicious absence of his esteemed from the old man over the success of his deception to the next morning but dropped no hint as to the object of his sudden journey three days passed without the occurrence of any incident tending to the of mr upon these mysterious events which however he plainly saw had shaken the long since failing man on the afternoon of the fourth day mr walked or rather into s stall and seated himself on the only vacant stool it contained his manner was confused and frequently and there was an anxious expression in his face which did not at all like he remained silent for some time with the exception of partially of comment or apparently addressed to himself at last he said i shall take a longer journey to morrow much longer let me see where did i say ah yes to to be sure to to and to morrow exclaimed the astounded no not they have removed feebly rejoined mr but has written it down for me true true and to morrow i shall set out the strange expression of mr s face became moment h ie the chest of drawers more strongly marked and greatly alarmed said you are ill mr let me run for dr no no he murmured at the same time striving to rise from his seat which he could only accomplish by s assistance and so supported he staggered indoors i shall be better to morrow he said faintly and then slowly added to morrow and to morrow and to morrow ah yes as i said to morrow i he paused abruptly and they gained his apartment he seated himself and then at his mute assisted him to bed he lay some time with his eyes closed and could feel for mr held him firmly by the hand as if to prevent his going away a shudder pass over his frame at last he slowly opened his eyes and saw that he was indeed about to depart upon the long journey from which there is no return
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