THE INTRODUCTION.—THE ATTORNEY’S FIRST FEELER.
When the attorney had left the house he proceeded upon some business of
his own, and then he proceeded to the India House for the purpose of
making inquiries after the colonel, for his friend Mrs. Meredith. In
the course of the day he did go to the India House, and, upon making
some inquiries, he was sent to a particular department of the house
where he saw two gentlemen.
“Pray, sir,” said one, “what do you want?”
“I wish to make some inquiries concerning a Colonel Deverill, who is
employed, or was serving, in the Honourable East India service.”
“In what part was he serving?”
“In India,” said the attorney.
“But, to what presidency did he belong?”
“That I do not even know. He has been many years away from England, I
understand, and some of his friends have not heard from him for many
years, and they are desirous of finding out whether he is dead or
alive; and if so, where he is.”
“There is a Colonel Deverill returned this year from India.”
“Indeed! Do you know anything of him?”
“Nothing more than he has retired from the service on his half pay,
some time before he came home, on account of his wounds.”
“Is he rich?”
“I can answer no such question.”
“I am a solicitor, and do not ask the question from an improper motive.”
“You may not, sir, but we cannot answer such a question. We have no
inquisitorial knowledge of the private circumstances of those gentlemen
who have served in the company’s army; but, you put it to your won
sagacity to consider how far it would be probable for a man so placed,
as regards rank and opportunity, in India, without making money.”
“I see; certainly—he must.”
“And yet, you know, there are means of getting rid of money.”
“To be sure. I see.”
“Not that I have any idea that such can be the case; indeed, I should
be disposed to believe the contrary, seeing the colonel must have been
wounded long since, for the last engagement must have been some few
years since.”
“Thank you. I will report what I have learned. You do not know where he
can be found at this time?”
“No, indeed; we have no information.”
This being all he could learn, he left the India House, and as it was
now about time to return to Mrs. Meredith, he at once went back, and
having seen all his business transacted, he had now leisure to go
there, and in a short time he arrived, and at once related to her all
that he had heard respecting the colonel, from the first to the last
word of it.
“Well,” said Mrs. Meredith, “that, at all events, is very satisfactory.”
“Yes, it is something,” said the attorney, “to know your man; but, as
the clerk said, he might have spent it, that is to say, dissipated it.”
“Oh, it’s impossible; he’s been an invalid a long while now.”
“Ah! there’s no knowing what might be done in these cases. Who knows
what he may have done—gambled and diced it away, and entered into
extravagant speculations, which may have turned out ruinous bubbles.”
“Well, well, Mr. Twissel, we won’t say much about what might be,” said
Mrs. Meredith; “we won’t care about them; but I am very much obliged to
you for this trouble. It is, however, a very satisfactory thing to know
he is what he represented himself to be.”
“Yes, that is a very great point gained.”
“His veracity having been found unimpeachable in one point, may be
presumed to be so in another,” said Margaret. “It appeared to me to be
extremely probable, if not quite certain, he is what he appears to be,
I am glad that all is so far good.”
“Be that as it may, it will be more satisfactory to know what his
property really consists of, and how much there is about it.”
“No doubt; but it would not be worth while to risk anything on that
account; he might imagine we were mercenary, and that would disgust him
altogether.”
“That’s what I am fearful of,” said the mother.
“We may not yet have occasion to ask him any question, or to make any
inquiries of him at all, for we may be able to worm it all out of him.”
“That is true,” said Mrs. Meredith. “Dear me, there is the bell. Go,
Margaret, and say we have an old friend come to tea; perhaps he will
excuse you—he may give the invitation we desire.”
Margaret at once departed, and proceeded to the colonel’s room, and
began to wait upon him as usual; but he saw there was but one cup
placed.
“Are you not going to take tea with me, Margaret?” he said. “Am I to be
a prisoner, and put in solitary confinement for the evening?”
“Why, colonel, Mr. Twissel has called to take tea with my mother, and
as he was a very old and particular acquaintance of my father’s, I do
not like to put a slight upon him.”
“He is a gentleman, I presume?”
“Oh, yes, colonel, he is a member of the profession of the law.”
“Oh! Well, will you ask him to tea with me? As we shall be both united,
I hope your friends will soon be mine; there can be no great objection
to our acquaintance beginning earlier. I am not fond of being entirely
alone.”
“If we shall not be intruding upon you, sir,” said Margaret, “I dare
say my mother will. I will tell her of your kindness immediately.”
In a few moments Margaret returned to her mother and the attorney, to
whom she related the invitation she had received from the colonel, and
instantly clutched at the idea of going to the colonel to tea, the
thing, of all others, she most desired to do, and, at the same time,
she had calculated upon it; for the colonel appeared to be wholly
dependant upon them for society, which he appeared to be passionately
fond of there, especially Margaret.
“That is just fortunate. Now, Mr. Twissel,” said Mrs. Meredith, “you
will be cautious, and do not make any open attempt to discover what may
be the peculiar species of property he holds; it may do much mischief,
you know.”
“I am at your mercy,” said the lawyer; “if you say so, I will not make
any attempt, though I must tell you, Mrs. Meredith, that you will be to
blame if you allow your daughter to marry without some inquiry being
made; and if he mean well, he will take no offence.”
“You may do what you can without broaching the subject to him. Still I
think we have heard enough to set all doubts at rest;
“I’m a professional man, my dear madam, and know what the world is, and
have had much experience in these matters; however, as I think there
is much probability in all he says, why, you shall see I will not do
anything that will offend the nicest delicacy.”
“That will be all we want, Mr. Twissel; and now come up stairs.”
“Mr. Twissel, Colonel Deverill—Colonel Deverill, Mr. Twissel, an old
and dear friend of my late husband, sir, who has called to visit us.”
“I am very happy to see the gentleman,” said the colonel, but with the
air of a man who is conscious of his own superiority, and that he is
committing a condescending act. “Will you please to be seated. Excuse
my rising, sir; I am an invalid, and am lame; but you are welcome.”
“I am much obliged,” returned the attorney, bowing. “My good friend
Mrs. Meredith has made me intrude upon you, else I had not done so.”
“You are welcome, sir,” again repeated Colonel Deverill. “Pray be
seated; I have seen but little company, and am glad now and then to
converse with any one. Will you oblige me, Mrs. Meredith, with making
tea for us? Your services are really invaluable.”
“Ah, Colonel! you are really too good.”
“Not at all. I’m afraid I’m too much in the rear of the march of
courtesy since I left England, as our habits and manners in the East
are very different to what they are here.”
“Ah! I dare say they live in a style of regal magnificence and
splendour,” said the attorney.
“Yes; more so than you may at first imagine, and more so than in
appearance; so much so that it is difficult for the law at all times to
take its course. It becomes a mere dead letter, and the matter usually
ends in some indignity being offered to its servants.”
“Indeed, sir! that was dangerous.”
“Not at all. It was an attorney, who having deputed some one to serve a
process, and finding that he could not, imagined that it was the fault
of the process server, and he determined to make the attempt himself,
being well assured that he could succeed. However, he found himself
mistaken, for, after several disasters, that he was led into purposely,
he was well pumped upon by some slaves, and thought himself lucky in
escaping with life.”
“That would never have been permitted here,” said the attorney.
“No, possibly not; but there are not the distinctions between classes
here that there are there, and things are not on the same scale, either
living or attendance.”
“And yet, people who have passed their lives there, come to this
country at last, they do not like it well enough to remain there. They
come back to the land of their birth, where none of these things exist
to fascinate them.”
“Yes; they many live and die there—very many; but, at the same
time, those who do return, do so because it is the land of their
birth—because they love the country, and because they go there merely
to make fortunes to come here and spend them.”
“They don’t like the kind of investments, perhaps?”
“They usually do so, and it fetches a high price—a very high price, and
is considered equal to the stocks of the Bank of England.”
“That is first-rate stock, and on dividend days the place is usually
surrounded with strangers, who come to town for the purpose of
receiving their incomes; indeed, it is quite an interesting sight to
strangers. Have you ever witnessed it? It is well worth the while to go
and see it.”
“I never trouble myself anything about it,” said the colonel; “but I
must be going there, by the way, to-morrow. I must have a coach.”
“Do you know the routine of the banking business? It is confusing to
one not used to it.”
“I know enough for my own purpose.”
“Didn’t you find London much altered,” inquired Margaret, anxious
to give a turn to the conversation, as she thought this attorney’s
conversation would appear as if it were much too pointed—“when you
first returned to England, and came to live here again?”
“I cannot say much about that,” said the colonel; “because I was not in
a condition to twist about like many men; I am lame.”
“Exactly; that must have deprived you of much of the pleasure one feels
in surveying old places and well remembered spots.”
“It was,” replied the colonel; “but in a place like London, alterations
and additions are not so extensive as to cause any alteration in
general features, so as to make it perceivable at once. It is only
when you come to examine localities that you notice it. You improve
and alter parts, but the town is the same, and there is no doubt this
appears the work of steady growth, and not any one of sudden effort;
indeed, the very additions to it have a character which stamp it as
being London.”
“There is much truth about that,” said the attorney.
“It is the same all over the world, and only in those places where the
extent is but small, than any great alteration makes a conspicuous and
general change, and gives a new character to the place.”
As this conversation passed between them, the attorney making one or
two delicate allusions to property, and asking his advice respecting
some purchases he wished to make. To all which the colonel made but
short and direct answers, and of such character, that it was difficult
to carry on the conversation upon that topic, at least, and both mother
and daughter looked beseechingly at him, so that he was compelled to
resist, and found himself completely baffled by what appeared the
colonel’s pride.
• • • • •
“Well, Mrs. Meredith,” said Mr. Twissel; “I have done my utmost with
this Colonel Deverill, and I can make nothing of him—nothing at all, I
assure you.”
“You cannot form a bad opinion of him?”
“No—no. He is at one moment one of the most agreeable men to converse
with, and the next moment he is frigid and severe; perhaps pain, or
perhaps contempt for any one else, may induce the alteration in his
manner, and no allusion to himself does he make.”
“Don’t you think he is quite the gentleman, and a man used to good
society?”
“Yes, I cannot doubt—he has the air of all that he says; but he
is going to the bank to-morrow; now, I wonder if it is to receive
dividends.”
“I dare say it is,” said Mrs. Meredith; “I have very little doubt of
that, and yet I should very much like to know; it would settle one’s
mind—not that I would run any risk about the matter. I would not have
him offended for the world; it would be wilfully destroying a chance
that is so good, that we never can expect it to again occur, therefore
we must not lose it.”
“Certainly not; I will undertake the matter myself,” said the attorney,
“so that there shall not be any risk in a miscarriage, whatever. I will
take care that nothing shall be done that will be at all likely to
reach his ears, or that will be displeasing to him.”
“We will trust to your prudence, Mr. Twissel.”
“You may do so safely, and depend upon my caution in this matter. Now
I will be at hand in the morning. If I am not here before he goes out,
send for me, and let me know the hour; if there is not time to reach
here send me the number of the coach; I will post off to the bank and
there await until I see him come there.”
“I will send to you, then,” said Mrs. Meredith; “I think that a very
good plan.”
“But what will it do for you if you do see him enter the bank, that
will tell you nothing, and I cannot see the utility of it,” said
Margaret; “many people go into the Bank of England, who do not go there
to receive any money for themselves; so that would be inconclusive.”
“It would,” said the attorney; “but you must remember, I can enter
too, and ascertain to what portion of the building he goes, and I can
learn how much he received, if any—but I must bid you good-by; for the
present; do not forget to send to me at the first blush of the affair,
and then much subsequent trouble may be saved.”