CHAPTER IX. SOME CONFESSIONS OF JACK MASSINGBRED
Upon two several occasions have we committed to Jack Massingbred thetask of conducting this truthful history; for the third time do we nowpurpose to make his correspondence the link between the past and what isto follow. We are not quite sure that the course we thus adopt is freefrom its share of inconvenience, but we take it to avoid the evils ofreiteration inseparable from following out the same events from merelydifferent points of view. There is also another advantage to be gained.Jack is before our readers; we are not. Jack is an acquaintance; wecannot aspire to that honor. Jack's opinions, right or wrong as they maybe, are part and parcel of a character already awaiting their verdict.What he thought and felt, hoped, feared, or wished, are the materials bywhich he is to be judged; and so we leave his cause in his own hands.
His letter is addressed to the same correspondent to whom he wrotebefore. It is written, too, at different intervals, and in differentmoods of mind. Like the letters of many men who practise concealmentwith the world at large, it is remarkable for great frankness andsincerity. He throws away his mask with such evident signs of enjoymentthat we only wonder if he can ever resume it; but crafty men like torelax into candor, as royalty is said to indulge with pleasure in thechance moments of pretended equality. It is, at all events, a novelsensation; and even that much, in this routine life of ours, issomething!
He writes from Spa, and after some replies to matters with which we haveno concern, proceeds thus:--
"Of the Revolution, then, and the Three Glorious Days as they arecalled, I can tell you next to nothing, and for this simple reason,that I was there fighting, shouting, throwing up barricades, singing the'Marseillaise,' smashing furniture, and shooting my 'Swiss,' like therest. As to who beat the troops, forced the Tuileries, and drove Marmontback, you must consult the newspapers. Personal adventures I could giveyou to satiety, hairbreadth 'scapes and acts of heroism by the dozen;but these narratives are never new, and always tiresome. The seriousreflectiveness sounds like humbug, and, if one treats them lightly,the flippancy is an offence. Jocular heroism is ever an insult to thereader.
"You say, '_Que diable allait-il faire dans cette galere?_' and Ianswer, it was all _her_ doing. Yes, Harry, _she_ was there. I wasthinking of nothing less in the world than a great 'blow for freedom,'as the 'Globe' has it. I had troubled my head wonderfully little aboutthe whole affair. Any little interest I took was in the notion that ifour 'natural enemies,' the French, were to fall to and kill each other,there would be so much the fewer left to fight against us; but as to whowas to get the upper hand, or what they were to do when they had it,I gave myself no imaginable concern. I had a vague, shadowy kind ofimpression that the government was a bad one, but I had a muchstronger conviction that the people deserved no better. My leanings--myinstincts, if you prefer it--were with the Crown. The mob and itssentiments are always repulsive. Popular enthusiasm is a great ocean,but it is an ocean of dirty water, and you cannot come out clean fromthe contact; and so I should have wished well to royalty, but for anaccident,--a mere trifle in its way, but one quite sufficient, even onhistoric grounds, to account for a man's change of opinions. The troopsshot my cab-horse, sent a bullet through poor 'Beverley,' and seriouslydamaged a new hat which I wore at the time, accompanying these acts withexpressions the reverse of compliment or civility. I was pitched outinto the gutter, and, most appropriately you will say, I got up aRadical, a Democrat, a Fourierist,--anything, in short, that shouts'Down with Kings, and up with the Sovereign People!'
"My principles--don't smile at the word--led me into a stupidaltercation with a very pleasant acquaintance, and we parted to meet thenext morning in hostility,--at least, such was our understanding; but bythe time that our difference should have been settled, _I_ was carriedaway on a stretcher to the Hotel Dieu, wounded, and he was flung, acorpse, into the Seine. I intended to have been a most accurate narratorof events, journalizing for you, hour by hour, with all the stirringexcitement of the present tense, but I cannot; the crash and the hubbubare still in my brain, and the infernal chaos of the streets is yetover me. Not to speak of my wound,--a very ugly sabre-cut in theneck,--severing I don't know what amount of nerves, arteries, andsuch-like 'small deer,' every one of which, however, has its ownpeculiar perils in the shape of aneurisms, tetanus, and so forth, incase I am not a miracle of patience, calmness, and composure.
"The Martins are nursing and comforting and chicken-brothing me to myheart's content, and La Henderson, herself an invalid, with a terriblebroken arm, comes and reads to me from time to time. What a girl it is!Wounded in a street encounter, she actually carried Lady Dorothea intoa porte-cochere, and when they had lost their heads in terror, couldneither issue an order to the servants nor know what way to turn, shetook the guidance of the whole party, obtained horses and carriages andan escort, escaped from Paris, and reached Versailles in the midst offlying courtiers and dismayed ministers, and actually was the very firstto bring the tidings that the game of monarchy was up,--that the kinghad nothing left for it but an inglorious flight. To the Duchesse deMire-court she made this communication, which it seems none of thecourt-followers had the courage or honesty to do before. The Duchess, inher terror, actually dragged her into the presence of the king, and madeher repeat what she had said. The scene, as told me, was quite dramatic;the king took her hand to lead her to a seat, but it was unfortunatelyof the wounded arm, and she fainted. The sight of the wounded limb soaffected the nerves of monarchy that he gave immediate orders to depart,and was off within an hour.
"How they found me out a patient in a ward of the Hotel Dieu, rescuedand carried me away with them, I have heard full half a dozen times, butI 'm far from being clear enough to repeat the story; and, indeed, whenI try to recall the period, the only images which rise up before meare long ranges of white coverlids, pale faces, and groans and cries ofsuffering, with the dark curly head of a great master of torturepeeping at me, and whom, I am told, is the Baron Dupuytren,the Surgeon-in-Chief. After these comes a vision of litters and_charrettes_,--sore joltings and stoppages to drink water--But I shallrave if I go on. Better I should tell you of my pleasant little bedroomhere, opening on a small garden, with a tiny fountain trying to sprinklethe wild myrtle and blush-roses around it, and sportively sending itslittle plash over me, as the wind wafts it into my chamber. My luxuriouschair and easy-cushioned sofa, and my table littered with everything,from flowers to French romances; not to speak of the small rustic seatbeside the window, where she has been sitting the last hour, and hasonly quitted to give me time to write this to you. I know it--I seeit--all you can say, all that you are saying at this moment, is fiftytimes more forcibly echoing within my own heart, and repeating in fitfulsentences: 'A ruined man--a broken fortune--a mad attachment--a life ofstruggle, difficulty, and failure!' But why should it be failure? Such agirl for a wife ought in itself to be an earnest of success. Are not herqualities exactly those that do battle with the difficulties of fortune?Self-denial--ambition--courage--an intense, an intuitive knowledge ofthe world--and then, a purpose-like devotion to whatever she undertakes,that throws an air of heroism over all her actions.
"Birth--blood--family connections--what have they done for me, except itbe to entail upon me the necessity of selecting a career amidst thetwo or three that are supposed to suit the well-born? I may be a LifeGuardsman, or an unpaid attache, but I must not be a physician or amerchant. Nor is it alone that certain careers are closed againstus, but certain opinions too. I must not think ill of the governingclass,--I must never think well of the governed.
"Well, Harry, the colonies are the remedy for all this. There, at least,a man can fashion existence as arbitrarily as he can the shape andsize of his house. None shall dictate his etiquette, no more than hisarchitecture; and I am well weary of the slavery of this old-world life,with our worship of old notions and old china, both because they arecracked, damaged, and useless. I 'll marry her. I have made up my mindon 't. Spare me all your remonstrances
, all your mock compassion. Noris it like a fellow who has not seen the world in its best gala suit,affecting to despise rank, splendor, and high station. _I have_ seenthe thing. I have cantered my thoroughbred along Rotten Row, eaten mytruffled dinners in Belgravia, whispered my nonsense over the whiteshoulders of the fairest and best-born of England's daughters. I knowto a decimal fraction the value of all these; and, what 's more, I knowwhat one pays for them,--the miserable vassalage, the poor slavery ofmind, soul, and body they cost!
"It is the terror of exclusion here, the dread of coldness there--thepossibility of offence to 'his Grace' on this side, or misconception by'her Ladyship' on that--sway and rule a man so that he may neither eat,drink, nor sleep without a 'Court Guide' in his pocket. I 've done withit! now and forever,--I tell you frankly,--I return no more to thisbondage.
"I have written a farewell address to my worthy constituents ofOughterard. I have told them that, 'feeling an instinct of independencewithin me, I can no longer remain their representative; that, as a manof honor, I shrink from the jobbery of the little borough politicians,and, as a gentleman, I beg to decline their intimacy.' They took me forwant of a better--I leave them for the same reason.
"To my father I have said: 'Let us make a compromise. As your son Ihave a claim on the House. Now, what will you give for my share? I 'llneither importune you for place, nor embarrass you with solicitationsfor employment. Help me to stock my knapsack, and I 'll find my roadmyself.' _She_ knows nothing of these steps on my part; nor shall she,till they have become irrevocable. She is too proud ever to consent towhat would cost me thus heavily; but the expense once incurred,--theoutlay made,--she cannot object to what has become the law of my futurelife.
"I send off these two documents to-night; this done, I shall write toher an offer of marriage. What a fever I 'm in! and all because I feelthe necessity of defending myself to _you_,--to you of all men the mostheadstrong, reckless, and self-indulgent,--a fellow who never curbed acaprice nor restrained a passing fancy; and yet you are just the manto light your cigar, and while you puff away your blue cloud, mutter onabout rashness, folly, insanity, and the rest of it, as if the state ofyour bank account should make that wisdom in _you_, which with _me_ isbut mere madness! But I tell you, Harry, it is your very thousands perannum that preclude you from doing what I can. It is your house in town,your stud at Tattersall's, your yacht at Cowes, your grouse-lodge in theHighlands, that tie and fetter you to live like some scores of others,with whom you have n't one solitary sympathy, save in income! You arebound up in all the recognizances of your wealth to dine stupidly, suplanguidly, and sink down at last into a marriage of convenience,--tomake a wife of her whom 'her Grace' has chosen for you without a singlespeculation in the contract save the thought of the earl you will beallied to, and the four noble families you 'll have the right to go inmourning for.
"And what worse than cant it is to talk of what they call an indiscreetmatch! What does--what can the world know as to the reasons that impelyou, or me, or anybody else, to form a certain attachment? Are theyacquainted with our secret and most hidden emotions? Do they understandthe project of life we have planned to ourselves? Have they read ourutter weariness and contempt for forms that _they_ venerate, and socialdistinctions that _they_ worship? I am aware that in some cases itrequires courage to do this; and in doing it a man virtually throws downthe glove to the whole world, and says, 'This woman's love is to me morethan all of you'--and so say I at this moment. I must cry halt, I see,Harry. I have set these nerves at work in my wound, and the pain isagony. Tomorrow--to-night, if I 'm able--I shall continue.
"Midnight." They have just wished me good-night, after having spent theevening here reading out the newspapers for me, commenting upon them,and exerting themselves to amuse me in a hundred good-natured ways. Youwould like this same stately old Lady Dorothea. She is really 'GrandeDame' in every respect,--dress, air, carriage, gesture, even her slowand measured speech is imposing, and her prejudices, uttered as they arein such perfect sincerity of heart, have something touching about them,and her sorrowful pity for the mob sounded more gracefully than Kate'senthusiastic estimate of their high deservings. It does go terriblyagainst the grain to fancy an alliance between coarse natures and noblesentiments, and to believe in the native nobility of those who nevertouch soap! I have had a kind of skirmish with La Henderson upon thistheme to-night. She was cross and out of temper, and bore my banteringbadly. The fact is, she is utterly disgusted at the turn things havetaken in France; and not altogether without reason, since, after alltheir bluster and bloodshed and barricades, they have gone back to amonarchy again. They barred out the master to make 'the head usher' topof the school. Let us see if he won't be as fond of the birch as hispredecessor. Like all mutineers, they found they could n't steer theship when they had murdered the captain! How hopeless it makes one ofhumanity to see such a spectacle as this, Harry, and how low is one'sestimate of the species after such experience! You meet some half-dozensemi-bald, spectacled old gentlemen in society, somewhat more reservedthan the rest of the company, fond of talking to each other, and ratherdistrustful of strangers; you find them slow conversers at dinner, sorrywhist-players in the drawing-room; you are told, however, that one is aPresident of the Council, another the Secretary for Foreign Affairs,and a third something equally important. You venerate themaccordingly, while you mutter the old Swede's apothegm about the 'smallintelligences' that rule mankind. Wait awhile! There is a row in thestreets: a pickpocket has appealed to the public to rescue him from theignoble hands of the police; an escaped felon has fired at the judge whosentenced him, in the name of Liberty and Fraternity. No matter whatthe cause, there _is_ a row. The troops are called out; someare beaten, some join the insurgents. The government growsfrightened--temporizes--offers terms--and sends for more soldiers.The people--I never clearly knew what the word meant--the peoplemake extravagant demands, and will not even give time to have themgranted,--in a word, the whole state is subverted, the king, if therebe one, in flight, the royal family missing, the ministers nowhere! Nogreat loss you 'll say, if the four or five smooth-faced imbecilitieswe have spoken of are not to the fore! But there is your error,Harry,--your great error. These men, used to conduct and carry onthe government, cannot be replaced. The new capacities do nothing butblunder, and maybe issue contradictory orders and impede each other'sactions. To improvise a Secretary of State is about as wise a proceedingas to take at hazard a third-class passenger and set him to guide theengine of a train. The only difference is that the machinery of stateis ten thousand times more complex than that of a steam-engine, and thepowers for mischief and misfortune in due proportion.
"But why talk of these things? I have had enough and too much of themalready this evening; women, too, are unpleasant disputants in politics.They attach their faith to persons, not parties. Miss Henderson is,besides, a little spoiled by the notice of those maxim-mongers who writeleaders in the 'Debats, and articles for the 'Deux Mondes.' Theyhave, or affect to have, a kind of pitying estimate for our Englishconstitutional forms, which is rather offensive. At least, she provokedme, and I am relapsing into bad temper, just by thinking of it.
"You tell me that you once served with Captain Martin, and I see youunderstand him; not that it requires much study to do so. You say he wasreckoned a good officer; what a sneer is that on the art military!
"There are, however, many suitable qualities about him, and he certainlypossesses the true and distinctive element of a gentleman,--he knows howto be idle. Ay, Harry, that is a privilege that your retired bankeror enriched cotton-spinner never attains to. They must be up anddoing,--where there is nothing to do. They carry the spirit of thecounting-house and the loom into society with them, and having founda pleasure in business, they want to make a business of pleasure. Now,Martin understands idling to perfection. His tea and toast, his muttoncutlet, and his mustachios are abundant occupation for him. Withluncheon about two o'clock, he saunters through the stables, sucking alighted cigar, filing his
nails, and admiring his boots, till it 's timeto ride out. He comes to me about nine of an evening, and we play piquettill I get sleepy; after which he goes to 'the rooms,' and, I believe,plays high; at least, I suspect so; for he has, at times, the forcedcalm--that semi-jocular resignation--one sees in a heavy loser. He hasbeen occasionally, too, probing me about Merl,--you remember the fellowwho had the rooms near Knightsbridge,--so that I opine he has beendabbling in loans. What a sorry spectacle such a creature as this in thetoils of the Israelite, for he is the 'softest of the soft.' I see itfrom the effect La Henderson has produced upon him. He is in love withher,--actually in love. He even wanted to make me his confidant--and Inarrowly escaped the confession--only yesterday evening. Of course, hehas no suspicion of my attachment in the same quarter, so that it wouldbe downright treachery in me to listen to his avowal. Another feeling,too, sways me, Harry,--I don't think I could hear a man professadmiration for the woman that I mean to marry, without the self-samesense of resentment I should experience were I already her husband. I 'mcertain I 'd shoot him for it.
"La belle Kate and I parted coldly--dryly, I should call it--thisevening. I had fancied she was above coquetry, but she is not. Isany woman? She certainly gave the Captain what the world wouldcall encouragement all the night; listened attentively to tiresometiger-huntings and stories of the new country; questioned him about hisMahratta campaigns, and even hinted at how much she would like an Indianlife. Perhaps the torment she was inflicting on Lady Dorothea amusedher; perhaps it was the irritation she witnessed in me gave the zest tothis pastime. It is seldom that she condescends to be either amused oramusing; and I own it is a part does not suit her. She is a thousandtimes more attractive sitting over her embroidery-frame, raisingher head at times to say a few words,--ever apposite and wellchosen,--always simple, too, and to the purpose; or even by a slightgesture bearing agreement with what is said around her; till, with asudden impulse, she pours forth fast, rapidly, and fluently some glowingsentiment of praise or censure, some glorious eulogy of the good, orsome withering depreciation of the wrong. Then it is that you seehow dark those eyes can be, how deep-toned that voice, and with whatdelicacy of expression she can mould and fashion every mood of mind, andgive utterance to sentiments that till then none have ever known how toembody.
"It is such a descent to her to play coquette! Cleopatra cannot--shouldnot be an Abigail. I am low and depressed to-night; I scarcely knowwhy: indeed, I have less reason than usual for heavy-heartedness. Thesepeople are singularly kind and attentive to me, and seem to have totallyforgotten how ungratefully once before I repaid their civilities. Whata stupid mistake do we commit in not separating our public life from oursocial one, so as to show that our opinions upon measures of stateare disconnected with all the sentiments we maintain for our privatefriendships. I detect a hundred sympathies, inconceivable points ofcontact, between these people and myself. We pass hours praising thesame things, and abusing the same people; and how could it possiblysever our relations that I would endow Maynooth when they would pull itdown, or that I liked forty-shilling freeholders better than ten-poundhouseholders? You 'll say that a certain earnestness accompanies strongconvictions, and that when a man is deeply impressed with some supposedtruths, he 'll not measure his reprobation of those who assail them.But a lawyer does all this, and forfeits nothing of the esteem of 'hislearned brother on the opposite side.' Nay, they exchange very-uglyknocks at times, and inflict very unseemly marks even with the gloveson; still they go homeward, arm-in-arm, after, and laugh heartily atboth plaintiff and defendant. By Jove! Harry, it may sound ill, butsomehow it seems as though to secure even a moderate share of enjoymentin this life one must throne Expediency in the seat of Principle. I 'lladd the conclusion to-morrow, and now say good-night.
"Three days have passed over since I wrote the last time to you, andit would require as many weeks were I to chronicle all that has passedthrough my mind in the interval. Events there have been few; butsensations--emotions, enough for a lifetime. Nor dare I recall them!Faintly endeavoring to trace a few broken memories, my pains of mind andbody come back again, so that you must bear with me if I be incoherent,almost unintelligible.
"The day after I wrote to you, I never saw her. My Lady, who came asusual to visit me in the day, said something about Miss Henderson havinga headache. Unpleasant letters from her family--obliged to give upthe day to answering them; but all so confused and with such evidentconstraint as to show me that something disagreeable loomed in view.
"The Captain dropped in about four o'clock, and as the weather wasunfavorable, we sat down to our party of piquet. By a little address,I continued to lose nearly every game, and so gradually led him into aconversation while we played; but I soon saw that he only knew somethinghad occurred 'upstairs,' but knew not what.
"' I suspect, however,' added he, 'it is only the old question as toKate's going away.' "'Going away! Going where?' cried I.
"'Home to her father; she is resolutely bent upon it,--has been so eversince we left Paris. My mother, who evidently--but on what score I knownot--had some serious difference with her, is now most eager to makeconcessions, and would stoop to--what for her is no trifle--evensolicitation to induce her to stay, has utterly failed; so, too, hasmy father. Persuasion and entreaty not succeeding, I suspect--but it isonly suspicion--that they have had recourse to parental authority,and asked old Henderson to interfere. At least, a letter has come thismorning from the West of Ireland, for Kate, which I surmise to be in hishand. She gave it, immediately on reading it, to my mother, and I coulddetect in her Ladyship's face, while she perused it, unmistakablesigns of satisfaction. When she handed it back, too, she gave a certaincondescending smile, which, in my mother, implies victory, and seemsto say, "Let us be friends now,--I 'm going to signal--cease firing."'
"'And Kate, did she make any remark--say anything?' "'Not a syllable.She folded up the document, carefully and steadily, and placed it inher work-box, and then resumed her embroidery in silence. I watched hernarrowly, while I affected to read the paper, and saw that she had torip out half she had done. After a while my mother said,--"'"You 'll notanswer that letter to-day, probably?"
"'"I mean to do so, my Lady," said she; "and, with your permission, willbeg you to read my reply."
"'"Very well," said my mother, and left the room. I was standing outsideon the balcony at the time, so that Kate believed, after my mother'sdeparture, she was quite alone. It was then she opened the letter, andre-read it carefully. I never took my eyes off her; and yet what waspassing in her mind, whether joy, grief, disappointment, or pleasure,I defy any man to declare; nor when, having laid it down once more, shetook up her work, not a line or a lineament betrayed her. It was plainenough the letter was no pleasant one, and I expected to have heard hersigh perhaps, or at least show some sign of depression; but no, shewent on calmly, and at last began to sing, in a low, faint voice, barelyaudible where I stood, one of her little barcarole songs she is so fondof; and if there was no sorrow in her own heart, by Jove! she made minethrob heavily as I listened! I stood it as long as I was able, and thencoughed to show that I was there, and entered the room. She never liftedher head, or noticed me, not even when I drew a chair close to her, andsat down at her side.
"'I suppose, Massingbred,' said he, after a pause, 'you 'll laugh atme, if I tell you I was in love with the Governess! Well, I should havelaughed too, some six months ago, if any man had prophesied it; butthe way I put the matter to myself is this: If I do succeed to agood estate, I have a right to indulge my own fancy in a wife; if Idon't,--that is, if I be a ruined man,--where 's the harm in marryingbeneath me?'
"'Quite right, admirably argued,' said I, impatiently; 'go on.'
"'I 'm glad you agree with me,' said he, with the stupid satisfaction ofimbecility. 'I thought I had reduced the question to its very narrowestbounds.'
"'So you have; go on,' cried I.
"'"Miss Henderson," said I,--for I determined to show that I wasspeaking seriously, and so I di
d n't call her Kate,-- "Miss Henderson, Iwant to speak to you. I have been long seeking this opportunity; and ifyou will vouchsafe me a few minutes now, and hear me, on a subject uponwhich all my happiness in life depends--"
"'When I got that far, she put her work down on her knee, and stared atme with those large, full eyes of hers so steadily--ay, so haughtily,too--that I half wished myself fifty miles away.
"'"Captain Martin," said she, in a low, distinct voice, "has it everoccurred to you in life to have, by a mere moment of reflection, asudden flash of intelligence, saved yourself from some step, some act,which, if accomplished, had brought nothing but outrage to your feeling,and insult to your self-esteem? Let such now rescue you from resumingthis theme."
"'"But you# don't understand me," said I. "What I wish to say--" Just atthat instant my father came into the room in search of her, and I mademy escape to hide the confusion that I felt ready to overwhelm me.'
"'And have you not seen her since?'
"'No. Indeed, I think it quite as well, too. She 'll have time to thinkover what I said, and see what a deuced good offer it is; for though Iknow she was going to make objections about inequality of station andall that at the time, reflection will bring better thoughts.'
"'And she 'll consent, you think?'
"'I wish I had a bet on it,' said he.
"'So you shall, then,' said I, endeavoring to seem thoroughly at myease. 'It's a very unworthy occasion for a wager, Martin; but I'll layfive hundred to one she refuses you.'
"'Taken, and booked,' cried he, writing it down in his note-book. "Ionly regret it is not in thousands.'
"'So it should be, if I could honestly stake what I have n't got.'
"'You are so sanguine of winning? '
"' So certain, you ought to say.'
"' Of course you use no influence against me,--you take no step of anykind to affect her decision.'
"'Certainly not.'
"'Nor are you--But,' added he, laughing, 'I need n't make that proviso.I was going to say, you are not to ask her yourself.'
"'I 'll even promise you that, if you like,' said I.
"'Then what can you mean?' said he, with a puzzled look. 'But whateverit be, I can stand the loss. I 've won very close to double as much fromyou this evening.'
"'And as to the disappointment?'
"'Oh, _you_ 'll not mention it, I 'm certain, neither will she, so nonewill be the wiser; and, after all, the real bore in all these cases isthe gossip.' And with this consolatory reflection he left me to dressfor dinner. How well bred a fellow seems who has no feeling, but justtact enough to detect the tone of the world and follow it! That'sMartin's case, and his manners are perfect! After he was gone, Iwas miserable for not having quarrelled with him,--said somethingoutrageous, insolent, and unbearable. That he should have dared toinsult the young girl by such presumption as the offer of _his_ handis really too much. What difference of station--wide as the polesasunder--could compare with their real inequality? The fop, the idler,the incompetent, to aspire to _her!_ Even his very narrative proclaimedhis mean nature, wandering on, as it did, from a lounge on the balconyto an offer of marriage!
"Now, to conclude this wearisome story--and I fancy, Harry, that alreadyyou half deem me a fitting rival for the tiresome Captain,--but tofinish, Martin came early into my room, and laying a bank-note for L100on the bed, merely added, 'You were right; there's your money.' I'd havegiven double the sum to hear the details of this affair,--in what termsthe refusal was conveyed,--on what grounds she based it; but he wouldnot afford me the slightest satisfaction on any of these points. Indeed,he displayed more vigor of character than I suspected in him, in the wayhe arrested my inquiries. He left this for Paris immediately after, sothat the mystery of that interview will doubtless remain impenetrable tome.
"We are all at sixes and sevens to-day. Old Martin, shocked by sometidings of Ireland that he chanced upon in the public papers, I believe,has had a stroke of paralysis, or a seizure resembling that malady.Lady Dorothea is quite helpless from terror, and but for Kate, the wholehousehold would be in utter chaos and disorganization; but she goesabout, with her arm in a sling, calm and tranquil, but with the energyand activity of one who feels that all depends upon her guidance anddirection. The servants obey her with a promptitude that proclaimsinstinct; and even the doctor lays aside the mysterious jargon ofhis craft, and condescends to talk sense to her. I have not seen her;passing rumors only reach me in my solitude, and I sit here writing andbrooding alternately.
"P. S. Martin is a little better; no immediate danger to life, butslight hopes of ultimate recovery. I was wrong as to the cause. It was aproclamation of outlawry against his son, the Captain, which he read inthe 'Times.' Some implacable creditor or other had pushed his claim sofar, as I believe is easy enough to do nowadays; and poor Martin, whoconnected this stigma with all the disgrace that once accompanied such asentence, fell senseless to the ground, and was taken up palsied. He isperfectly collected and even tranquil now, and they wheeled me in to sitwith him for an hour or so. Lady Dorothea behaves admirably; the firstshock overwhelmed her, but that passed off, and she is now all thatcould be imagined of tenderness and zeal.
"Kate I saw but for a second. She asked me to write to Captain Martin,and request him to hasten home. It was no time to trifle with her; so Isimply promised to do so, adding,--"'_You,_ I trust, will not leave thisat such a moment?'
"'Assuredly not,' said she, slightly coloring at what implied myknowledge of her plans.
"'Then all will go on well in that case,' said I.
"'I never knew that I was reckoned what people call lucky,' said she,smiling. 'Indeed, most of those with whom I have been associated in lifemight say the opposite.' And then, without waiting to hear me, she leftthe room.
"My brain is throbbing and my cheeks burning; some feverish access isupon me. So I send off this ere I grow worse.
"Your faithful friend,
"Jack Massingbred."
The Martins Of Cro' Martin, Vol. II (of II) Page 9
