“MAY it please your Lordship: Gentlemen of the Jury--The plaintiff in
this case is Richard Bassett, Esquire, the direct and lineal
representative of that old and honorable family, whose monuments are to
be seen in several churches in this county, and whose estates are the
largest, I believe, in the county. He would have succeeded, as a matter
of course, to those estates, but for an arrangement made only a year
before he was born, by which, contrary to nature and justice, he was
denuded of those estates, and they passed to the defendant. The
defendant is nowise to blame for that piece of injustice; but he
profits by it, and it might be expected that his good fortune would
soften his heart toward his unfortunate relative. I say that if
uncommon tenderness might be expected to be shown by anybody to this
deserving and unfortunate gentleman, it would be by Sir Charles
Bassett, who enjoys his cousin's ancestral estates, and can so well
appreciate what that cousin has lost by no fault of his own.”
“Hear! hear!”
“Silence in the court!”
_The Judge._--I must request that there may be no manifestation of
feeling.
_Counsel._--I will endeavor to provoke none, my lord. It is a very
simple case, and I shall not occupy you long. Well, gentlemen, Mr.
Bassett is a poor man, by no fault of his; but if he is poor, he is
proud and honorable. He has met the frowns of fortune like a
gentleman--like a man. He has not solicited government for a place. He
has not whined nor lamented. He has dignified unmerited poverty by
prudence and self-denial; and, unable to forget that he is a Bassett,
he has put by a little money every year, and bought a small estate or
two, and had even applied to the Lord-Lieutenant to make him a justice
of the peace, when a most severe and unexpected blow fell upon him.
Among those large proprietors who respected him in spite of his humbler
circumstances was Mr. Hardwicke, one of the county members. Well,
gentlemen, on the 21st of last May Mr. Bassett received a letter from
Mr. Hardwicke inclosing one purporting to be from Sir Charles Bassett--
_The Judge._--Does Sir Charles Bassett admit the letter?
_Defendant's Counsel_ (after a word with Oldfield).--Yes, my lord.
_Plaintiff's Counsel._--A letter admitted to be written by Sir Charles
Bassett. That letter shall be read to you.
The letter was then read.
The counsel resumed: “Conceive, if you can, the effect of this blow,
just as my unhappy and most deserving client was rising a little in the
world. I shall prove that it excluded him from Mr. Hardwicke's house,
and other houses too. He is a man of too much importance to risk
affronts. He has never entered the door of any gentleman in this county
since his powerful relative published this cruel libel. He has drawn
his Spartan cloak around him, and he awaits your verdict to resume that
place among you which is due to him in every way--due to him as the
heir in direct line to the wealth, and, above all, to the honor of the
Bassetts; due to him as Sir Charles Bassett's heir at law; and due to
him on account of the decency and fortitude with which he has borne
adversity, and with which he now repels foul-mouthed slander.”
“Hear! hear!”
“Silence in the court!”
“I have done, gentlemen, for the present. Indeed, eloquence, even if I
possessed it, would be superfluous; the facts speak for
themselves.--Call James Hardwicke, Esq.”
Mr. Hardwicke proved the receipt of the letter from Sir Charles, and
that he had sent it to Mr. Bassett; and that Mr. Bassett had not
entered his house since then, nor had he invited him.
Mr. Bassett was then called, and, being duly trained by Wheeler,
abstained from all heat, and wore an air of dignified dejection. His
counsel examined him, and his replies bore out the opening statement.
Everybody thought him sure of a verdict.
He was then cross-examined. Defendant's counsel pressed him about his
unfair way of shooting. The judge interfered, and said that was
trifling. If there was no substantial defense, why not settle the
matter?
“There is a defense, my lord.”
“Then it is time you disclosed it.”
“Very well, my lord. Mr. Bassett, did you ever write an anonymous
letter?”
“Not that I remember.”
“Oh, that appears to you a trifle. It is not so considered.”
_The Judge._--Be more particular in your question.
“I will, my lord.--Did you ever write an anonymous letter, to make
mischief between Sir Charles and Lady Bassett?”
“Never,” said the witness; but he turned pale.
“Do you mean to say you did not write this letter to Miss Bruce? Look
at the letter, Mr. Bassett, before you reply.”
Bassett cast one swift glance of agony at Wheeler; then braced himself
like iron. He examined the letter attentively, turned it over, lived an
age, and said it was not his writing.
“Do you swear that?”
“Certainly.”
_Defendant's Counsel._--I shall ask your lordship to take down that
reply. If persisted in, my client will indict the witness for perjury.
_Plaintiff's Counsel._--Don't threaten the witness as well as insult
him, please.
_The Judge._--He is an educated man, and knows the duty he owes to God
and the defendant.--Take time, Mr. Bassett, and recollect. Did you
write that letter?”
“No, my lord.”
Counsel waited for the judge to note the reply, then proceeded.
“You have lately corresponded with Lady Bassett, I think?”
“Yes. Her ladyship opened a correspondence with me.”
“It is a lie!” roared Sir Charles Bassett from the door of the grand
jury room.
“Silence in the court!”
_The Judge._--Who made that unseemly remark?
_Sir Charles._--I did, my lord. My wife never corresponded with the
cur.
_The Plaintiff._--It is only one insult more, gentlemen, and as false
as the rest. Permit me, my lord. My own counsel would never have put
the question. I would not, for the world, give Lady Bassett pain; but
Sir Charles and his counsel have extorted the truth from me. Her
ladyship did open a correspondence with me, and a friendly one.
_The Plaintiff's Counsel._--Will your lordship ask whether that was
after the defendant had written the libel?
The question was put, and answered in the affirmative.
Lady Bassett hid her face in her hands. Sir Charles saw the movement,
and groaned aloud.
_The Judge._--I beg the case may not be encumbered with irrelevant
matter.
Counsel replied that the correspondence would be made evidence in the
case. _(To the witness.)_--“You wrote this letter to Lady Bassett?”
“Yes.”
“And every word in it?”
“And every word in it,” faltered Bassett, now ashy pale, for he began
to see the trap.
“Then you wrote this word 'character,' and this word 'injured,' and
this word--”
_The Judge_ (peevishly).--He tells you he wrote every word in those
letters to Lady Bassett.--What more would you have?
_Counsel._--If your lordship will be good enough to examine the
correspondence, and compare those words in it I have underlined with
the same words in the anonymous letter, you will perhaps find I know my
business better than you seem to think. (The counsel who ventured on
this remonstrance was a sergeant.)
“Brother Eitherside,” said the judge, with a charming manner, “you
satisfied me of that, to my cost, long ago, whenever I had you against
me in a case. Please hand me the letters.”
While the judge was making a keen comparison, counsel continued the
cross-examination.
“You are aware that this letter caused a separation between Sir Charles
Bassett and the lady he was engaged to?”
“I know nothing about it.”
“Indeed! Well, were you acquainted with the Miss Somerset mentioned in
this letter?”
“Slightly.”
“You have been at her house?”
“Once or twice.”
“Which? Twice is double as often as once, you know.”
“Twice.”
“No more?”
“Not that I recollect.”
“You wrote to her?”
“I may have.”
“Did you, or did you not?”
“I did.”
“What was the purport of that letter?”
“I can't recollect at this distance of time.”
“On your oath, sir, did you not write urging her to co-operate with you
to keep Sir Charles Bassett from marrying his affianced, Miss Bella
Bruce, to whom that anonymous letter was written with the same object?”
The perspiration now rolled in visible drops down the tortured liar's
face. Yet still, by a gigantic effort, he stood firm, and even planted
a blow.
“I did not write the anonymous letter. But I believe I told Miss
Somerset I loved Miss Bruce, and that _her_ lover was robbing me of
mine, as he had robbed me of everything else.”
“And that was all you said--on your oath?”
“All I can recollect.” With this the strong man, cowed, terrified,
expecting his letter to Somerset to be produced, and so the iron chain
of evidence completed, gasped out, “Man, you tear open all my wounds at
once!” and with this burst out sobbing, and lamenting aloud that he had
ever been born.
Counsel waited calmly till he should be in a condition to receive
another dose.
“Oh, will nobody stop this cruel trial?” said Lady Bassett, with the
tears trickling down her face.
The judge heard this remark without seeming to do so.
He said to defendant's counsel, “Whatever the truth may be, you have
proved enough to show Sir Charles Bassett might well have an honest
conviction that Mr. Bassett had done a dastardly act. Whether a jury
would ever agree on a question of handwriting must always be doubtful.
Looking at the relationship of the parties, is it advisable to carry
this matter further? If I might advise the gentlemen, they would each
consent to withdraw a juror.”
Upon this suggestion the counsel for both parties put their heads
together in animated whispers; and during this the judge made a remark
to the jury, intended for the public: “Since Lady Bassett's name has
been drawn into this, I must say that I have read her letters to Mr.
Bassett, and they are such as she could write without in the least
compromising her husband. Indeed, now the defense is disclosed, they
appear to me to be wise and kindly letters, such as only a good wife, a
high-bred lady, and a true Christian could write in so delicate a
matter.”
_Plaintiff's Counsel._--My lord, we are agreed to withdraw a juror.
_Defendant's Counsel._--Out of respect for your lordship's advice, and
not from any doubt of the result on _our_ part.
_The Crier._--WACE _v._ HALIBURTON!
And so the car of justice rolled on till it came to Wheeler v. Bassett.
This case was soon disposed of.
Sir Charles Bassett was dignified and calm in the witness-box, and
treated the whole matter with high-bred nonchalance, as one unworthy of
the attention the Court was good enough to bestow on it. The judge
disapproved the assault, but said the plaintiff had drawn it on himself
by unprofessional conduct, and by threatening a gentleman in his own
house. Verdict for the plaintiff--40s. The judge refused to certify
for costs.
Lady Bassett, her throat parched with excitement, drove home, and
awaited her husband's return with no little anxiety. As soon as she
heard him in his dressing-room she glided in and went down on her knees
to him. “Pray, pray don't scold me; I couldn't bear you to be defeated,
Charles.”
Sir Charles raised her, but did not kiss her.
“You think only of me,” said he, rather sadly. “It is a sorry victory,
too dearly bought.”
Then she began to cry.
Sir Charles begged her not to cry; but still he did not kiss her, nor
conceal his mortification: he hardly spoke to her for several days.
She accepted her disgrace pensively and patiently. She thought it all
over, and felt her husband was right, and loved her like a man. But she
thought, also, that she was not very wrong to love him in her way.
Wrong or not, she felt she could not sit idle and see his enemy defeat
him.
The coolness died away by degrees, with so much humility on one side
and so much love on both: but the subject was interdicted forever.
A week after the trial Lady Bassett wrote to Mrs. Marsh, under cover to
Mr. Oldfield, and told her how the trial had gone, and, with many
expressions of gratitude, invited her and her husband to Huntercombe
Hall. She told Sir Charles what she had done, and he wore a very
strange look. “Might I suggest that we have them alone?” said he dryly.
“By all means,” said Lady Bassett. “I don't want to share my paragon
with anybody.”
In due course a reply came; Mr. and Mrs. Marsh would avail themselves
some day of Lady Bassett's kindness: at present they were going abroad.
The letter was written by a man's hand.
About this time Oldfield sent Sir Charles Miss Somerset's deed,
canceled, and told him she had married a man of fortune, who was
devoted to her, and preferred to take her without any dowry.
Bassett and Wheeler went home, crestfallen, and dined together. They
discussed the two trials, and each blamed the other. They quarreled and
parted: and Wheeler sent in an enormous bill, extending over five
years. Eighty-five items began thus: “Attending you at your house for
several hours, on which occasion you asked my advice as to whether--”
etc.
Now as a great many of these attendances had been really to shoot game
and dine on rabbits at Bassett's expense, he thought it hard the
conversation should be charged and the rabbits not.
Disgusted with his defeat, and resolved to evade this bill, he
discharged his servant, and put a retired soldier into his house, armed
him with a blunderbuss, and ordered him to keep all doors closed, and
present the weapon aforesaid at all rate collectors, tax collectors,
debt collectors, and applicants for money to build churches or convert
the heathen; but not to _fire_ at anybody except his friend Wheeler,
nor at him unless he should try to shove a writ in at some chink of the
building.
This done, he went on his travels, third-class, with his eyes always
open, and his heart full of bitterness.
Nothing happened to Richard Bassett on his travels that I need relate
until one evening when he alighted at a small commercial inn in the
city of York, and there met a person whose influence on the events I am
about to relate seems at this moment incredible to me, though it is
simple fact.
He found the commercial room empty, and rang the bell. In came the
waiter, a strapping girl, with coal-black eyes and brows to match, and
a brown skin, but glowing cheeks.
They both started at sight of each other. It was Polly Somerset.
“Why, Polly! How d'ye do? How do you come here?”
“It's along of you I'm here, young man,” said Polly, and began to
whimper. She told him her sister had found out from the page she had
been colloguing with him, and had never treated her like a sister after
that. “And when she married a gentleman she wouldn't have me aside her
for all I could say, but she did pack me off into service, and here I
be.”
The girl was handsome, and had a liking for him. Bassett was idle, and
time hung heavy on his hands: he stayed at the inn a fortnight, more
for Polly's company than anything: and at last offered to put her into
a vacant cottage on his own little estate of Highmore. But the girl was
shrewd, and had seen a great deal of life this last three years; she
liked Richard in her way, but she saw he was all self, and she would
not trust him. “Nay,” said she, “I'll not break with Rhoda for any
young man in Britain. If I leave service she will never own me at all:
she is as hard as iron.”
“Well, but you might come and take service near me, and then we could
often get a word together.”
“Oh, I'm agreeable to that: you find me a good place. I like an inn
best; one sees fresh faces.”
Bassett promised to manage that for her. On reaching home he found a
conciliatory letter from Wheeler, coupled with his permission to tax
the bill according to his own notion of justice. This and other letters
were in an outhouse; the old soldier had not permitted them to
penetrate the fortress. He had entered into the spirit of his
instructions, and to him a letter was a probable hand-grenade.
Bassett sent for Wheeler; the bill was reduced, and a small payment
made; the rest postponed till better times. Wheeler was then consulted
about Polly, and he told his client the landlady of the “Lamb” wanted a
good active waitress; he thought he could arrange that little affair.
In due course, thanks to this artist, Mary Wells, hitherto known as
Polly Somerset, landed with her boxes at the “Lamb “; and with her
quick foot, her black eyes, and ready tongue soon added to the
popularity of the inn. Richard Bassett, Esq., for one, used to sup
there now and then with his friend Wheeler, and even sleep there after
supper.
By-and-by the vicar of Huntercombe wanted a servant, and offered to
engage Mary Wells.
She thought twice about that. She could neither write nor read, and
therefore was dreadfully dull without company; the bustle of an inn,
and people coming and going, amused her. However, it was a temptation
to be near Richard Bassett; so she accepted at last. Unable to write,
she could not consult him; and she made sure he would be delighted.
But when she got into the village the prudent Mr. Bassett drew in his
horns, and avoided her. She was mortified and very angry. She revenged
herself on her employer; broke double her wages. The vicar had never
been able to convert a smasher; so he parted with her very readily to
Lady Bassett, with a hint that she was rather unfortunate in glass and
china.
In that large house her spirits rose, and, having a hearty manner and a
clapper tongue, she became a general favorite.
One day she met Mr. Bassett in the village, and he seemed delighted at
the sight of her, and begged her to meet him that night at a certain
place where Sir Charles's garden was divided from his own by a ha-ha.
It was a very secluded spot, shut out from view, even in daylight, by
the trees and shrubs and the winding nature of the walk that led to it;
yet it was scarcely a hundred yards from Huntercombe Hall.
Mary Wells came to the tryst, but in no amorous mood. She came merely
to tell Mr. Bassett her mind, viz., that he was a shabby fellow, and
she had had her cry, and didn't care a straw for him now. And she did
tell him so, in a loud voice, and with a flushed cheek.
But he set to work, humbly and patiently, to pacify her; he represented
that, in a small house like the vicarage, every thing is known; he
should have ruined her character if he had not held aloof. “But it is
different now,” said he. “You can run out of Huntercombe House, and
meet me here, and nobody be the wiser.”
“Not I,” said Mary Wells, with a toss. “The worse thing a girl can do
is to keep company with a gentleman. She must meet him in holes and
corners, and be flung off, like an old glove, when she has served his
turn.”
“That will never happen to you, Polly dear. We must be prudent for the
present; but I shall be more my own master some day, and then you will
see how I love you.”
“Seeing is believing,” said the girl, sullenly. “You be too fond of
yourself to love the likes o' me.”
Such was the warning her natural shrewdness gave her. But perseverance
undermined it. Bassett so often threw out hints of what he would do
some day, mixed with warm protestations of love, that she began almost
to hope he would marry her. She really liked him; his fine figure and
his color pleased her eye, and he had a plausible tongue to boot.
As for him, her rustic beauty and health pleased his senses; but, for
his heart, she had little place in that. What he courted her for just
now was to keep him informed of all that passed in Huntercombe Hall.
His morbid soul hung about that place, and he listened greedily to Mary
Wells's gossip. He had counted on her volubility; it did not disappoint
him. She never met him without a budget, one-half of it lies or
exaggerations. She was a born liar. One night she came in high spirits,
and greeted him thus: “What d'ye think? I'm riz! Mrs. Eden, that
dresses my lady's hair, she took ill yesterday, and I told the
housekeeper I was used to dress hair, and she told my lady. If you
didn't please our Rhoda at that, 'twas as much as your life was worth.
You mustn't be thinking of your young man with her hair in your hand,
or she'd rouse you with a good crack on the crown with a hair-brush. So
I dressed my lady's hair, and handled it like old chaney; by the same
token, she is so pleased with me you can't think. She is a real lady;
not like our Rhoda. Speaks as civil to me as if I was one of her own
sort; and, says she, 'I should like to have you about me, if I might.'
I had it on my tongue to tell her she was mistress; but I was a little
skeared at her at first, you know. But she will have me about her; I
see it in her eye.”
Bassett was delighted at this news, but he did not speak his mind all
at once; the time was not come. He let the gypsy rattle on, and bided
his time. He flattered her, and said he envied Lady Bassett to have
such a beautiful girl about her. “I'll let my hair grow,” said he.
“Ay, do,” said she, “and then I'll pull it for you.”
This challenge ended in a little struggle for a kiss, the sincerity of
which was doubtful. Polly resisted vigorously, to be sure, but briefly,
and, having given in, returned it.
One day she told him Sir Charles had met her plump, and had given a
great start.
This made Bassett very uneasy. “Confound it, he will turn you away. He
will say, 'This girl knows too much.'”
“How simple you be!” said the girl. “D'ye think I let him know? Says
he, 'I think I have seen you before.' 'Yes, sir,' says I, 'I was
housemaid here before my lady had me to dress her.' 'No,' says he, 'I
mean in London--in Mayfair, you know.' I declare you might ha' knocked
me down wi' a feather. So I looks in his face, as cool as marble, and I
said, 'No, sir; I never had the luck to see London, sir,' says I. 'All
the better for you,' says he; and he swallowed it like spring water, as
sister Rhoda used to say when she told one and they believed it.”
“You are a clever girl,” said Bassett. “He would have turned you out of
the house if he had known who you were.”
She disappointed him in one thing; she was bad at answering questions.
Morally she was not quite so great an egotist as himself, but
intellectually a greater. Her volubility was all egotism. She could
scarcely say ten words, except about herself. So, when Bassett
questioned her about Sir Charles and Lady Bassett, she said “Yes,” or
“No,” or “I don't know,” and was off at a tangent to her own sayings
and doings.
Bassett, however, by great patience and tact, extracted from her at
last that Sir Charles and Lady Bassett were both sore at not having
children, and that Lady Bassett bore the blame.
“That is a good joke,” said he. “The smoke-dried rake! Polly, you might
do me a good turn. You have got her ear; open her eyes for me. What
might not happen?” His eyes shone fiendishly.
The young woman shook her head. “Me meddle between man and wife! I'm
too fond of my place.”
“Ah, you don't love me as I love you. You think only of yourself.”
“And what do you think of? Do you love me well enough to find me a
better place, if you get me turned out of Huntercombe Hall?”
“Yes, I will; a much better.”
“That is a bargain.”
Mary Wells was silly in some things, but she was very cunning, too; and
she knew Richard Bassett's hobby. She told him to mind himself, as well
as Sir Charles, or perhaps he would die a bachelor, and so his flesh
and blood would never inherit Huntercombe. This remark entered his
mind. The trial, though apparently a drawn battle, had been fatal to
him--he was cut; he dared not pay his addresses to any lady in the
county, and he often felt very lonely now. So everything combined to
draw him toward Mary Wells--her swarthy beauty, which shone out at
church like a black diamond among the other women; his own loneliness;
and the pleasure these stolen meetings gave him. Custom itself is
pleasant, and the company of this handsome chatterbox became a habit,
and an agreeable one. The young woman herself employed a woman's arts;
she was cold and loving by turns till at last he gave her what she was
working for, a downright promise of marriage. She pretended not to
believe him, and so led him further; he swore he would marry her.
He made one stipulation, however. She really must learn to read and
write first.
When he had sworn this Mary became more uniformly affectionate; and as
women who have been in service learn great self-government, and can
generally please so long as it serves their turn, she made herself so
agreeable to him that he began really to have a downright liking for
her--a liking bounded, of course, by his incurable selfishness; but as
for his hobby, that was on her side.
Now learning to read and write was wormwood to Mary Wells; but the
prize was so great; she knew all about the Huntercombe estates, partly
from her sister, partly from Bassett himself. (He must tell his wrongs
even to this girl.) So she resolved to pursue matrimony, even on the
severe condition of becoming a scholar. She set about it as follows:
One day that she was doing Lady Bassett's hair she sighed several
times. This was to attract the lady's attention, and it succeeded.
“Is there anything the matter, Mary?”
“No, my lady.”
“I think there is.”
“Well, my lady, I am in a little trouble; but it is my own people's
fault for not sending of me to school. I might be married to-morrow if
I could only read and write.”
“And can you not?”
“No, my lady.”
“Dear me! I thought everybody could read and write nowadays.”
“La, no, my lady! not half of them in our village.”
“Your parents are much to blame, my poor girl. Well, but it is not too
late. Now I think of it, there is an adult school in the village. Shall
I arrange for you to go to it?”
“Thank you, my lady. But then--”
“Well?”
“All my fellow-servants would have a laugh against me.”
“The person you are engaged to, will he not instruct you?”
“Oh, he have no time to teach me. Besides, I don't want him to know,
either. But I won't be his wife to shame him.” (Another sigh.)
“Mary,” said Lady Bassett, in the innocence of her heart, “you shall
not be mortified, and you shall not lose a good marriage. I will try
and teach you myself.”
Mary was profuse in thanks. Lady Bassett received them rather coldly.
She gave her a few minutes' instruction in her dressing-room every day;
and Mary, who could not have done anything intellectual for half an
hour at a stretch, gave her whole mind for those few minutes. She was
quick, and learned very fast. In two months she could read a great deal
more than she could understand, and could write slowly but very
clearly.
Now by this time Lady Bassett had become so interested in her pupil
that she made her read letters and newspapers to her at those parts of
the toilet when her services were not required.
Mary Wells, though a great chatterbox, was the closest girl in England.
Limpet never stuck to a rock as she could stick to a lie. She never
said one word to Bassett about Lady Bassett's lessons. She kept strict
silence till she could write a letter, and then she sent him a line to
say she had learned to write for love of him, and she hoped he would
keep his promise.
Bassett's vanity was flattered by this. But, on reflection, he
suspected it was a falsehood. He asked her suddenly, at their next
meeting, who had written that note for her.
“You shall see me write the fellow to it when you like,” was the reply.
Bassett resolved to submit the matter to that test some day. At
present, however, he took her word for it, and asked her who had taught
her.
“I had to teach myself. Nobody cares enough for me to teach me. Well,
I'll forgive you if you will write me a nice letter for mine.”
“What! when we can meet here and say everything?”
“No matter; I have written to you, and you might write to me. They all
get letters, except me; and the jades hold 'em up to me: they see I
never get one. When you are out, post me a letter now and then. It will
only cost you a penny. I'm sure I don't ask you for much.”
Bassett humored her in this, and in one of his letters called her his
wife that was to be.
This pleased her so much that the next time they met she hung round his
neck with a good deal of feminine grace.
Richard Bassett was a man who now lived in the future. Everybody in the
county believed he had written that anonymous letter, and he had no
hope of shining by his own light. It was bitter to resign his personal
hopes; but he did, and sullenly resolved to be obscure himself, but the
father of the future heirs of Huntercombe. He would marry Mary Wells,
and lay the blame of the match upon Sir Charles, who had blackened him
in the county, and put it out of his power to win a lady's hand.
He told Wheeler he was determined to marry; but he had not the courage
to tell him all at once what a wife he had selected.
The consequence of this half confession was that Wheeler went to work
to find him a girl with money, and not under county influence.
One of Wheeler's clients was a retired citizen, living in a pretty
villa near the market town. Mr. Wright employed him in little matters,
and found him active and attentive. There was a Miss Wright, a meek
little girl, palish, on whom her father doted. Wheeler talked to this
girl of his friend Bassett, his virtues and his wrongs, and interested
the young lady in him. This done, he brought him to the house, and the
girl, being slight and delicate, gazed with gentle but undisguised
admiration on Bassett's _torso._ Wheeler had told Richard Miss Wright
was to have seven thousand pounds on her wedding-day, and that excited
a corresponding admiration in the athletic gentleman.
After that Bassett often called by himself, and the father encouraged
the intimacy. He was old, and wished to see his daughter married before
he left her and this seemed an eligible match, though not a brilliant
one; a bit of land and a good name on one side, a smart bit of money on
the other. The thing went on wheels. Richard Bassett was engaged to
Jane Wright almost before he was aware.
Now he felt uneasy about Mary Wells, very uneasy; but it was only the
uneasiness of selfishness.
He began to try and prepare; he affected business visits to distant
places, etc., in order to break off by degrees. By this means their
meetings were comparatively few. When they did meet (which was now
generally by written appointment), he tried to prepare by telling her
he had encountered losses, and feared that to marry her would be a bad
job for her as well as for him, especially if she should have children.
Mary replied she had been used to work, and would rather work for a
husband than any other master.
On another occasion she asked him quietly whether a gentleman ever
broke his oath.
“Never,” said Richard.
In short, she gave him no opening. She would not quarrel. She adhered
to him as she had never adhered to anything but a lie before.
Then he gave up all hope of smoothing the matter. He coolly cut her;
never came to the trysting-place; did not answer her letters; and,
being a reckless egotist, married Jane Wright all in a hurry, by
special license.
He sent forward to the clerk of Huntercombe church, and engaged the
ringers to ring the church-bells from six o'clock till sundown. This
was for Sir Charles's ears.
It was a balmy evening in May. Lady Bassett was commencing her toilet
in an indolent way, with Mary Wells in attendance, when the
church-bells of Huntercombe struck up a merry peal.
“Ah!” said Lady Bassett; “what is that for? Do you know, Mary?”
“No, my lady. Shall I ask?”
“No; I dare say it is a village wedding.”
“No, my lady, there's nobody been married here this six weeks. Our
kitchen-maid and the baker was the last, you know. I'll send, and know
what it is for.” Mary went out and dispatched the first house-maid she
caught for intelligence. The girl ran into the stable to her
sweetheart, and he told her directly.
Meantime Lady Bassett moralized upon church-bells.
“They are always sad--saddest when they seem to be merriest. Poor
things! they are trying hard to be merry now; but they sound very sad
to me--sadder than usual, somehow.”
The girl knocked at the door. Mary half opened it, and the news shot
in--“'Tis for Squire Bassett; he is bringing of his bride home to
Highmore to-day.”
“Mr. Bassett--married--that is sudden. Who could he find to marry him?”
There was no reply. The house-maid had flown off to circulate the news,
and Mary Wells was supporting herself by clutching the door, sick with
the sudden blow.
Close as she was, her distress could not have escaped another woman's
eye, but Lady Bassett never looked at her. After the first surprise she
had gone into a reverie, and was conjuring up the future to the sound
of those church-bells. She requested Mary to go and tell Sir Charles;
but she did not lift her head, even to give this order.
Mary crept away, and knocked at Sir Charles's dressing-room.
“Come in,” said Sir Charles, thinking, of course, it was his valet.
Mary Wells just opened the door and held it ajar. “My lady bids me tell
you, sir, the bells are ringing for Mr. Bassett; he's married, and
brings her home tonight.”
A dead silence marked the effect of this announcement on Sir Charles.
Mary Wells waited.
“May Heaven's curse light on that marriage, and no child of theirs ever
take my place in this house!”
“A-a-men!” said Mary Wells.
“Thank you, sir!” said Sir Charles. He took her voice for a man's, so
deep and guttural was her “A--a--men” with concentrated passion.
She closed the door and crept back to her mistress.
Lady Bassett was seated at her glass, with her hair down and her
shoulders bare. Mary clinched her teeth, and set about her usual work;
but very soon Lady Bassett gave a start, and stared into the glass.
“Mary!” said she, “what _is_ the matter? You look ghastly, and your
hands are as cold as ice. Are you faint?”
“No.”
“Then you are ill; very ill.”
“I have taken a chill,” said Mary, doggedly.
“Go instantly to the still-room maid, and get a large glass of spirits
and hot water--quite hot.”
Mary, who wanted to be out of the room, fastened her mistress's back
hair with dogged patience, and then moved toward the door.
“Mary,” said Lady Bassett, in a half-apologetic tone.
“My lady.”
“I should like to hear what the bride is like.”
“I'll know that to-night,” said Mary, grinding her teeth.
“I shall not require you again till bedtime.”
Mary left the room, and went, not to the still-room, but to her own
garret, and there she gave way. She flung herself, with a wild cry,
upon her little bed, and clutched her own hair and the bedclothes, and
writhed all about the bed like a wild-cat wounded.
In this anguish she passed an hour she never forgot nor forgave. She
got up at last, and started at her own image in the glass. Hair like a
savage's, cheek pale, eyes blood-shot.
She smoothed her hair, washed her face, and prepared to go downstairs;
but now she was seized with a faintness, and had to sit down and moan.
She got the better of that, and went to the still-room, and got some
spirits; but she drank them neat, gulped them down like water. They
sent the devil into her black eye, but no color into her pale cheek.
She had a little scarlet shawl; she put it over her head, and went into
the village. She found it astir with expectation.
Mr. Bassett's house stood near the highway, but the entrance to the
premises was private, and through a long white gate.
By this gate was a heap of stones, and Mary Wells got on that heap and
waited.
When she had been there about half an hour, Richard Bassett drove up in
a hired carriage, with his pale little wife beside him. At his own gate
his eye encountered Mary Wells, and he started. She stood above him,
with her arms folded grandly; her cheek, so swarthy and ruddy, was now
pale, and her black eyes glittered like basilisks at him and his bride.
The whole woman seemed lifted out of her low condition, and dignified
by wrong.
He had to sustain her look for a few seconds, while the gate was being
opened, and it seemed an age. He felt his first pang of remorse when he
saw that swarthy, ruddy cheek so pale. Then came admiration of her
beauty, and disgust at the woman for whom he had jilted her; and that
gave way to fear: the hater looked into those glittering eyes, and saw
he had roused a hate as unrelenting as his own.