Conclusion.
Our eventful history is nearly ended, and yet we would fain linger by
Ada and her fortunes. We would fain follow still through the various
scenes of life, the child which was brought from the blazing smithy—the
enthusiastic girl, who, in the majesty and might of innocence, defied
Jacob Gray,—the pure beautiful being, who in maturer years denounced
him as a murderer—she who still clung to her first, her only love, and
when the dearest friend that fate had given her, Sir Francis Hartleton
even doubted, still asserted her confidence in his devotion, his
integrity, and his love. We would like to follow her into domestic
life, to see how the budding graces of the girl reached the glorious
meridian of their charms, and how then they mellowed into a graceful
autumn, but already we have been seduced beyond our limits, by our
beautiful Ada and her strangely varied fortunes, and we must leave to
those readers who have gone with us heart and hand thus far, to imagine
for themselves much that we would fain record. Something, however we
cannot refrain from stating, and first and foremost we may say, that
Ada became Mrs. Seyton just one week after the eventful ball at
Learmont’s house, and that the Secretary of State came to the marriage,
and wanted to give the bride away; but Sir Francis Hartleton claimed
the privilege, and reconciled the minister to his disappointment by
assuring him that Ada meant to let him have all the parliamentary
interest connected with her property.
The ladies at the period of Ada’s marriage wore immense state dresses,
which “would stand up of themselves,” and Ada’s, still well preserved,
is considered a kind of heir-loom in the author’s family, who,
by-the-by, may as well state at first as at last, that he is a lineal
descendant of the persecuted girl, and more proud of his ancestress
than if she had been a throned queen.
For the satisfaction of his lady-readers, the author begs to state that
Ada’s wedding-dress was, and is of silver grey satin, on which are
wrought roses in white silk, with here and there so delicate a roseate
tinge, as to give quite an air of reality to the mimic floral
adornment. She wore no ornaments in her hair, but a rare and costly
lace robe, presented to her by Lady Hartleton, was confined to her
forehead by a single diamond, from whence it hung down to the very
ground.
Then Albert Seyton looked extremely well in the uniform of a captain in
the guards, to which rank he had been immediately presented by the
minister; of course not on account of his votes—oh, no. Lady Hartleton,
we find by an old letter before us, was foolish enough to cry at the
marriage, but Ada was quite obdurate, and would not shed a tear, saying
in her quiet way,—
“Why should I weep when I’m happy,” and as nobody knew why, she left
the church with a smile.
We dislike interfering in family affairs, but we must say, that we
would have proposed Ada’s first little one to be called Albert, as it
was a boy, but she would have it named Francis, after the worthy
magistrate, who stood godfather to it. The next was a girl, and that
Albert would have named Ada, and after that came—but our readers may
imagine all that, when we tell them that that Ada was the happy mother
of as happy a family as ever lived.
* * * * *
Sir Francis Hartleton went himself down to the Old Smithy, and upon
digging carefully among the ruins, a skeleton form was found, which
from the remnants of clothing still adhering to it, was proved to be
Ada’s unhappy father. In the nearest churchyard, the remains were, with
all proper solemnity, consigned to the tomb, but Ada was not informed
of the circumstance for some years after she had been in full enjoyment
of the Learmont estates.
It would appear that Britton had never run the risk of having a written
confession in London with him, but upon a careful search in the smithy,
a bag was found, in which was a knife with the initials of “J.G.” on
the handle, and several letters, likewise odd papers, one of which was
a certificate of the marriage of Ada’s mother at Rome; another proved
clearly that Learmont, who had lived so badly, and died so terribly,
was really illegitimate, so that his claim to the estate was not good
under any circumstances.
Those documents and papers Sir Francis handed to Albert Seyton, and by
him they were, as time and occasion served, shown to Ada.
Dame Totten was diligently sought for by Ada, and finally found in a
wood shed. She said that soon after the fire at the smithy, Learmont
and Britton called at her cottage, and with bitter threats, insisted
upon her bringing the child to Learmont House in the morning, and that
she fearing for its life, fled from her cottage with it, and reached
London, where she subsisted for some time on charity, till a man robbed
her of the child, leaving her insensible from the effects of the blow
he gave her. The aged woman, for she was nearly ninety, shed tears of
joy upon Ada making herself known to her, and need we say, that the
remainder of her life was assisted with every comfort by Ada.
Bond, the butcher was hanged at Tyburn for a highway robbery, attended
with brutal violence, within one year after the death of Britton. As
for the landlord of the Chequers, he lost his licence, and the last
that was heard of him was his selling a liquor called snap, then in
vogue, at Bond’s execution.
Thus, despite all her grievous trials and all her dangers, was Ada the
Betrayed happy, and, in course of time, she thought with chastened
sorrow upon the fate of her father, and learned to regard with patient
resignation as one of the decrees of Heaven, the Murder at the Old
Smithy.
THE AUTHOR TO HIS READERS.
The author of “Ada” and “Jane Brightwall” cannot conclude these
romances without returning his most grateful acknowledgments to his
numerous readers for the signal and most unprecedented favour with
which they have been pleased to regard those productions. “Lloyd’s
Weekly Miscellany” having attained a circulation quite unparalleled in
periodical literature, might have well assured the author of the above
tales, that his best friends, the public, were willing to afford him
the highest, the noblest, and the best stimulus to future
exertion—namely, their applause; but he is in a situation, however
inadequately, to return his personal thanks to some two hundred and
more ladies and gentlemen who have favoured him with private
communications expressive of their approbation.
If anything would move the heart and head to future exertion, it would
be such generous appreciation of what has been already attempted to be
done, and the author can only say that in the tales which he msy have
the honour of laying before his kind patrons, as well as those already
in progress, his constant aim shall be originality, true sentiment, and
poetic justice.
THE HOPE OF ALBERT SEYTON TO ADA THE BETRAYED.
Tis my hope that I may live
To love alone but thee;
’Tis my hope that thou mayest live
My only hope to be.
’Tis my hope, and ever shall it
Thus be hoped by me,
That we may never part again
Till time shall cease to be.
’Tis my hope, as Gray is gone,
Thy miseries are o’er,
And the fear of ever losing thee
Will never happen more.
’Tis my hope, and feel assured,
My hopes are not in vain.
That thou wilt ever be support
To this my hopeful strain.
J.R.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES.
Edits were made to the original Lloyd's Penny Weekly Miscellany text
during the process of digitization as follows:
This transcription aggregates the story serialized in Lloyd's Penny
Weekly Miscellany Vol. I. The title page and preface from that volume
are included for reference; however, other serialized stories from that
volume have not been transcribed herein.
Chapter numbers 25-34 repeat themselves. These errata were preserved.
The spelling of the character Maud changed to Maude in the later
chapters. Maude was re-spelled Maud throughout for consistency.
Direct speech by the same speaker appearing in adjacent paragraphs were
combined into a single paragraph if no change in punctuation was
required, and the speaker was specified in only the first of the two
paragraphs.
Representations of written text such as letters, notes, verse and
lyrics were set-off by left and right margin indentations.
Uncapitalized words starting full sentences that immediately follow
periods, question marks and exclamation points in direct speech were
capitalized.
Obvious misspellings, grammar errors, missing or duplicated words and
typographical errors were corrected, noting that British and period
spellings were preserved throughout.
The transcription was formatted to conform to contemporary electronic
reading features for the convenience of the reader.
Allan Hackney
May 3, 2015