“He could not do it handsomer than thus.”
SHIRLEY.
An arrangement was made that Lord Trimmerstone should meet the
residuary-legatee at Brigland, at the house and in the presence of Mr.
Denver, whose testimony on the subject was of so much consequence in
settling the point in question. For on the face of the matter, Markham
was clearly and unequivocally entitled to the residue of the late Mr.
Martindale’s property, after payment of the various legacies named in
the will; but from what the devisor just before his decease had said
to Mr. Denver, it appeared that he was not conscious that the bequest
appropriated to Markham was any thing near so valuable as by the
acknowledgment of Mr. Price it turned out to be.
The perplexity occasioned by wills is not often of such a nature as that
now recorded. It is indeed refreshing to the moral eye to contemplate
such an instance of sound and healthy moral feeling. Markham was not so
inexperienced as to be ignorant of the value of money, or so romantic and
visionary as to despise opulence; but had sense enough to know, and had
been observant enough to see, that money does not command every thing,
and that it may be purchased at too high a price.
When Markham had received Lord Trimmerstone’s note, he immediately
called on Mr. Denver to inform him of the intention of the meeting,
and to request that he would have the goodness to let his lordship
know precisely, or as distinctly as he could recollect, all that Mr.
Martindale had said to him concerning his motive in altering the will.
The clergyman expressed much astonishment at this proposed meeting, and
said,
“What! does my Lord Trimmerstone intend to dispute the will? I am
very positive that it is really and truly the actual will of the late
Mr. Martindale; and I can very distinctly recollect all that the old
gentlemen said.”
“No, Mr. Denver,” replied Markham, “his lordship has not expressed any
such intention; but there appears to have been some misapprehension in
the mind of our late friend as to the actual amount of his property,
and what we wish to ascertain from you is, whether Mr. Martindale in
bequeathing twenty thousand pounds to Mr. Price, did not imagine that he
was giving him more than would have come to him as a residuary-legatee.”
“Certainly,” said Mr. Denver, “that was what Mr. Martindale said in my
hearing. He also said, that another reason for altering his will was that
he might put your name into it; and I am very glad to hear that your
legacy is so much more than you expected. I have heard that Mr. Price
feels himself very much disappointed.”
With a slight frown and a look of thoughtfulness, Markham replied, “I am
not so well pleased as you may imagine with the unexpected greatness of
this legacy, it puts me into a very awkward position. I can by no means
think of taking more than Mr. Martindale intended to give me, and it is
very unpleasant to appear in the light of conferring an obligation on
Lord Trimmerstone.”
Mr. Denver expanded his countenance into a broad look of astonishment,
and said, “Bless me, Mr. Markham, why how very scrupulous you are! I
cannot see how any body can blame you for taking the legacy. It was not
your doing that Mr. Martindale was ignorant of the full value of his
property. Though between ourselves, and I hope you will not let it go
any farther, I dare say that Mr. Price used no little pains to keep Mr.
Martindale in the dark with a view of coming into a handsome fortune as
residuary-legatee.”
“And would you have me, Mr. Denver, to take an advantage of another’s
wrong?”
“I cannot see,” replied the clergyman, “why you should not: you are not
injuring any one. Lord Trimmerstone has quite as much as he expected, and
I dare say that he will not desire to deprive you of any part of what
falls to your lot.”
Not even the authority of the divine could convince Markham that he
should be acting rightly in availing himself of the bequest to its
full extent; and there was also in his mind another objection--he was
ambitious, as we have before observed, of high reputation; and it would
have interfered greatly with his comfort and happiness, had he thought
that any persons who at all knew him, had the slightest suspicion
that there was any thing in his character that savored of meanness or
littleness; nor would he have been pleased to have owed his good fortune
merely to accident. These feelings may be fastidious, but they have their
use; and though they may not exist very widely, or influence the minds
of many individuals, yet they have a power in society, and are useful in
keeping up the standard of morals and integrity. If it were not for an
occasional example of individuals rising above the ordinary level, the
influence of the multitude beneath it would gradually but surely sink the
standard, and lead to serious deterioration.
According to appointment, Lord Trimmerstone, a few days after, came to
Brigland, for the purpose of discussing with Markham the perplexities
of the will. The meeting took place at the house and in the presence of
Mr. Denver. When his lordship entered the room he held out his hand with
great cordiality to Markham, and did not at all seem to feel his dignity
abated by familiarity of address to one of whose understanding and moral
worth he had the very highest opinion. So much good had fanaticism done
to his lordship, as to render him less haughty in his outward demeanour,
and to prompt to at least the semblance of courtesy.
“Mr. Markham,” said the Earl, “I have received a letter from you which
has very much surprised me. Do I understand it aright?”
“The letter, my lord, which I sent to you, was simply to inform you that
on looking into the affairs of your lordship’s late relative, Mr. John
Martindale, I find, to my great astonishment, that his property far
exceeds what by his will seemed his own apprehension of the extent of it;
and therefore that the legacy which devolves to me as residuary-legatee,
is much greater than the devisor apprehended or designed. Under these
circumstances, therefore, I wrote to your lordship, as one of the nearest
relatives of the deceased, to know what might be your will as to the
disposal of the property.”
His lordship smiled and said, “My will, Mr. Markham, is, that you should
take possession of whatever my cousin has bequeathed to you. For if your
legacy had turned out to be less than you expected, I dare say that you
would not have applied to me to increase it; and now that it happens to
be more, why should I consent to diminish it?”
“Had it been a little more or a little less, my lord, it would have
been superfluous to take notice of it; but when I know that it was Mr.
Martindale’s intention to leave me only ten or fifteen thousand pounds,
I cannot with any propriety avail myself of an absolute error which puts
me in possession of a very large fortune. By this error, I am placed in a
very unpleasant situation.”
“But how are you sure, Mr. Markham, that this is an error? I see pretty
well how the case stands. You have not sent for Mr. Price to meet us
on this occasion: you had compassion on his feelings. I have long
suspected that this man has not been acting quite honestly towards my
late relative. I know that he expected to be residuary-legatee; and he
has concealed, or at least endeavoured to conceal, from Mr. Martindale
the real extent of his property: but you must have known that my cousin
was a shrewd observant man; and is it not possible that having detected
the trickery of this confidential gentleman, he may have resolved thus to
disappoint him?”
“I can hardly admit that, my lord,” replied Markham; “for Mr. Denver
has told me that when this last will was made, Mr. Martindale expressed
himself desirous of leaving to Mr. Price something more than would
devolve to him as residuary-legatee; and I can hardly suppose that Mr.
Martindale would have left him any thing at all had he detected him in
such a transaction. I thank you, my lord, for the construction which you
are liberally disposed to put on the will; but I cannot indeed, and I
will not avail myself of what I consider as an absolute error.”
Lord Trimmerstone listened seriously, looked thoughtfully, and at last,
after a considerable pause, said, “Well, Mr. Markham, if it must be so it
must; but I sincerely tell you, I am sorry that you are so scrupulous.
You really put me into an unpleasant situation; for if it be not
honorable for you to accept the property, I cannot think that I should be
acting honorably in availing myself of your generosity.”
“My lord,” continued Markham, “you must not call it generosity. I am
acting upon what I conceive to be a principle of simple justice. I might
of course take advantage lawfully of the error; but law and justice so
far differ, inasmuch as justice must depend upon circumstances; and the
letter of a written law cannot change according to varying events and
unforeseen accidents.”
This was all very true and very proper. Lord Trimmerstone could not but
admire and commend Markham’s spirit. On the other hand, Markham was
astonished at the apparent change in Lord Trimmerstone’s manners, which
were not as they had been, those of a proud and vulgar man of high rank,
but civil, gentle, and courteous. The fanatic principle had really done
his lordship some good. Nothing short of that could have checked him in
his gambling course, or brought him from the society of his reckless
and heedless companions. It is true that there was not a very complete,
nor, in all respects, an entirely advantageous change in his manners. He
had become somewhat morose and cynical; and from being delighted with
excesses, he had become snarlingly disgusted at temperate pleasures; and
he looked with a kind of moral contempt upon those characters which had
stood, in a moral point of view, much higher than his own. But at all
events, to get rid of ruinous and profligate habits is desirable, and
worth some sacrifices.
The interview between Markham and the Earl of Trimmerstone terminated
in the conclusion, that the former should take as his legacy a sum
equal to that which was devised to Mr. Price; and that the Earl of
Trimmerstone should appropriate, according to his own will and pleasure
as heir-at-law, that part of the property which Markham contended had not
been, morally speaking, devised to any one.
It is not designed that our readers should imagine that the Earl
of Trimmerstone readily and easily consented to the above-named
arrangements; but it is thought unnecessary to narrate at greater length
the dialogue which took place between the parties on the subject. Every
well-constituted and healthy mind will naturally and easily suppose what
arguments Markham used, and by what objections they were met on the part
of his lordship; and those who cannot imagine what was said would not
understand, enjoy, or believe it, were it written out for them fully and
literally.
Markham triumphed, or gained his point by virtue of possessing the
strongest and best exercised mind of the two; but it was not without
great reluctance that Lord Trimmerstone consented to regard that large
residue of his late relative’s property as being undisposed of by the
will: for his lordship had never been a mean or selfish man in the days
of his profligacy and libertinism; and now that he had altogether changed
his manner of life, and had seriously and soberly set about a reformation
of his manners, and was amply supplied by his late relative’s bequest
with all the means which he could desire, he really did feel anxious to
perform an act of generosity, and would willingly, for the sake of the
reputation of the action, have surrendered the property in question to
Markham, even had there been any doubt as to the legal accuracy of the
bequest.
It was therefore a matter of concern to him that he had not been able
to prevail on the barrister to take quietly the bequest which was his by
law. The feeling of generosity was also strongly excited in his mind by
means of sympathy with Markham. There was something so accurately and
purely honorable in Markham’s conduct on this occasion, that the force
of it was irresistible; and a much less liberal mind than that of Lord
Trimmerstone could not deliberately, coolly, and selfishly, have taken
advantage of it. Nor was it till Markham had represented how much his
mind was oppressed by the reflections which he anticipated would be cast
on him by the world, that Lord Trimmerstone would consent to have any
thing whatever to do with it. When, however, Markham made his lordship
understand that the favor was conferred by him who received, and not by
him who surrendered the doubtful bequest, then did he accept the disposal
of the property in question.