The Honourable Miss Sophia Roselaer de Werve's Letter to her
Grand-nephew.
My very worthy Nephew,--Though I am unknown to you, you are not
unknown to me. I don't know you personally; but I am pretty well
informed as to what you are, and what you are not. Thanks to all sorts
of quarrels in our family, and the inconsistent conduct of my eldest
sister, I have been forced to live estranged (and shall die so) from
all my relations. My nearest relations, it is true, died years ago;
the others are scattered over the world, and scarcely remember their
relationship to me. Their ancestors, who have done their utmost to
embitter my life, seem to have left it as a legacy to their children to
forget me, and to trouble themselves as little about old Aunt Roselaer
as if she had never existed. But man must think of his end. I am in
my seventy-fifth year, and a recent attack of apoplexy has warned
me to put my affairs in order, if I would prevent all disputes about
the possession of my property, and, above all, save it from falling
into the hands of those who have done so much to embitter my life. I
will not suffer it to fall into the hands of a host of nephews and
nieces, who would attack it like sharks, and divide and crumble into
pieces what I and my forefathers have accumulated with so much care
and economy. It is for this reason I have decided to appoint one
of my relatives my sole heir, and you are the one I have chosen:
first, because your mother's mother is the one of my sisters who has
caused me the least grief. She married a man of her own rank, in a
good position, with the full consent of her parents; and she could
not help his falling a victim to the horrible Belgian revolution, in
which he lost his life and fortune, leaving her with seven daughters,
one of whom was your mother, who, I must say, troubled herself as
little as any of the other nieces about Aunt Sophia. I can pardon
her, however, because when she returned from Belgium to Holland an
occurrence in our unfortunate family affairs had decided me to break
off all intercourse with my relations. The second reason, and the
chief one, why I have distinguished you above all the rest is this:
I have a good opinion of your disposition and self-command. I have,
several times and in divers ways, made inquiries about you, both of
friends and strangers, and the information I have received has always
been such as to lead me to believe you the most fitting person to carry
out one wish which I urgently request you to fulfil, if it be at all
possible; namely, to marry the only grandchild of my eldest sister,
and in this way put her in possession of that part of my fortune which
the unpleasant divisions in our family cause me to withhold. I wished
to adopt the girl in her early youth, give her a good education,
and save her from the miserable garrison life she has led: but my
request was bluntly refused; and General von Zwenken, her grandfather,
has recklessly sacrificed the fortune of his granddaughter for the
pleasure of being revenged on me. Consequently my will is made with
the fixed purpose of preventing his ever enjoying a penny that has
belonged to me. On reflection, however, I have come to the conclusion
that it would be wrong to punish the granddaughter for the sins of her
grandparents. After my death, on the contrary, I should like her to
confess that old Aunt Roselaer, whose name she will only have heard
mentioned with anger and disdain, was not so very wicked after all,
seeing that she has ever had the welfare of her niece at heart. If I
were to leave her my fortune, I should only be playing into the hands
of her grandfather, who would doubtless spend every penny of it in
the same way he spent that of my sister. And so it has occurred to
me, Leopold, to single you out and make you the sole possessor of
all my wealth, with the request that you will make good the wrong
which I have been forced to do. The question now is, whether you
will be able to accomplish my desire. Difficulties may be placed in
your way by the very person most interested in adopting the means I
have thought out: in this case, I beseech you to persevere as long
as there remains a hope of success. If, on the other hand, you raise
obstacles, if you find it insupportable to have a wife imposed on
you by a troublesome old aunt, a wife you cannot love, then I release
you from this condition, for I wish at least one member of the family
to think of me without abhorrence. Should the worst happen, you must
consult lawyer Van Beek, who knows my intentions, if you do not wish
to lose my fortune altogether. I expect better things of you, not
to mention that I count upon your good heart being moved towards a
young lady who has been deprived of her rights and the advantages of
her birth from infancy through the ill-will of her relations. These
rights and advantages a loving old aunt wishes you both to enjoy.
Sophia Roselaer de Werve.
P.S.--That I must sign myself simply Roselaer de Werve, and not
Baroness de Werve, is the fault of the General; but his obstinacy
and folly shall cost him dear.