This conversation was interrupted by a messenger from my wife, who
desired my return immediately. I had some hopes of meeting with Mervyn,
some days having now elapsed since his parting from us, and not being
conscious of any extraordinary motives for delay. It was Wortley,
however, and not Mervyn, to whom I was called.
My friend came to share with me his suspicions and inquietudes
respecting Welbeck and Mervyn. An accident had newly happened which had
awakened these suspicions afresh. He desired a patient audience while he
explained them to me. These were his words:--
"To-day a person presented me a letter from a mercantile friend at
Baltimore. I easily discerned the bearer to be a sea-captain. He was a
man of sensible and pleasing aspect, and was recommended to my
friendship and counsel in the letter which he brought. The letter
stated, that a man, by name Amos Watson, by profession a mariner, and a
resident at Baltimore, had disappeared in the summer of last year, in a
mysterious and incomprehensible manner. He was known to have arrived in
this city from Jamaica, and to have intended an immediate journey to his
family, who lived at Baltimore; but he never arrived there, and no trace
of his existence has since been discovered. The bearer had come to
investigate, if possible, the secret of his fate, and I was earnestly
entreated to afford him all the assistance and advice in my power, in
the prosecution of his search. I expressed my willingness to serve the
stranger, whose name was Williams; and, after offering him entertainment
at my house, which was thankfully accepted, he proceeded to unfold to
me the particulars of this affair. His story was this.
"'On the 20th of last June, I arrived,' said he, 'from the West Indies,
in company with Captain Watson. I commanded the ship in which he came as
a passenger, his own ship being taken and confiscated by the English. We
had long lived in habits of strict friendship, and I loved him for his
own sake, as well as because he had married my sister. We landed in the
morning, and went to dine with Mr. Keysler, since dead, but who then
lived in Water Street. He was extremely anxious to visit his family,
and, having a few commissions to perform in the city, which would not
demand more than a couple of hours, he determined to set out next
morning in the stage. Meanwhile, I had engagements which required me to
repair with the utmost expedition to New York. I was scarcely less
anxious than my brother to reach Baltimore, where my friends also
reside; but there was an absolute necessity of going eastward. I
expected, however, to return hither in three days, and then to follow
Watson home. Shortly after dinner we parted; he to execute his
commissions, and I to embark in the mail-stage.
"'In the time prefixed I returned. I arrived early in the morning, and
prepared to depart again at noon. Meanwhile, I called at Keysler's. This
is an old acquaintance of Watson's and mine; and, in the course of talk,
he expressed some surprise that Watson had so precipitately deserted his
house. I stated the necessity there was for Watson's immediate departure
_southward_, and added, that no doubt my brother had explained this
necessity.
"'Why, (said Keysler,) it is true, Captain Watson mentioned his
intention of leaving town early next day; but then he gave me reason to
expect that he would sup and lodge with me that night, whereas he has
not made his appearance since. Besides, his trunk was brought to my
house. This, no doubt, he intended to carry home with him, but here it
remains still. It is not likely that in the hurry of departure his
baggage was forgotten. Hence, I inferred that he was still in town, and
have been puzzling myself these three days with conjectures as to what
is become of him. What surprises me more is, that, on inquiring among
the few friends which he has in this city, I find them as ignorant of
his motions as myself. I have not, indeed, been wholly without
apprehensions that some accident or other has befallen him.'
"'I was not a little alarmed by this intimation. I went myself,
agreeably to Keysler's directions, to Watson's friends, and made anxious
inquiries, but none of them had seen my brother since his arrival. I
endeavoured to recollect the commissions which he designed to execute,
and, if possible, to trace him to the spot where he last appeared. He
had several packets to deliver, one of which was addressed to Walter
Thetford. Him, after some inquiry, I found out, but unluckily he chanced
to be in the country. I found, by questioning a clerk, who transacted
his business in his absence, that a person, who answered the minute
description which I gave of Watson, had been there on the day on which I
parted with him, and had left papers relative to the capture of one of
Thetford's vessels by the English. This was the sum of the information
he was able to afford me.
"'I then applied to three merchants for whom my brother had letters.
They all acknowledged the receipt of these letters, but they were
delivered through the medium of the post-office.
"'I was extremely anxious to reach home. Urgent engagements compelled me
to go on without delay. I had already exhausted all the means of inquiry
within my reach, and was obliged to acquiesce in the belief that Watson
had proceeded homeward at the time appointed, and left, by forgetfulness
or accident, his trunk behind him. On examining the books kept at the
stage-offices, his name nowhere appeared, and no conveyance by water had
occurred during the last week. Still, the only conjecture I could form
was that he had gone homeward.
"'Arriving at Baltimore, I found that Watson had not yet made his
appearance. His wife produced a letter, which, by the postmark, appeared
to have been put into the office at Philadelphia, on the morning after
our arrival, and on which he had designed to commence his journey. This
letter had been written by my brother, in my presence, but I had
dissuaded him from sending it, since the same coach that should bear the
letter was likewise to carry himself. I had seen him put it unwafered in
his pocket-book, but this letter, unaltered in any part, and containing
money which he had at first intended to enclose in it, was now conveyed
to his wife's hand. In this letter he mentioned his design of setting
out for Baltimore on the _twenty-first_, yet on that day the letter
itself had been put into the office.
"'We hoped that a short time would clear up this mystery, and bring the
fugitive home; but, from that day till the present, no atom of
intelligence has been received concerning him. The yellow fever, which
quickly followed, in this city, and my own engagements, have hindered
me, till now, from coming hither and resuming the search.
"'My brother was one of the most excellent of men. His wife loved him to
distraction, and, together with his children, depended for subsistence
upon his efforts. You will not, therefore, be surprised that his
disappearance excited, in us, the deepest consternation and distress;
but I have other and peculiar reasons for wishing to know his fate. I
gave him several bills of exchange on merchants of Baltimore, which I
had received in payment of my cargo, in order that they might, as soon
as possible, be presented and accepted. These have disappeared with the
bearer. There is likewise another circumstance that makes his existence
of no small value.
"'There is an English family, who formerly resided in Jamaica, and
possessed an estate of great value, but who, for some years, have lived
in the neighbourhood of Baltimore. The head of this family died a year
ago, and left a widow and three daughters. The lady thought it eligible
to sell her husband's property in Jamaica, the island becoming hourly
more exposed to the chances of war and revolution, and transfer it to
the United States, where she purposes henceforth to reside. Watson had
been her husband's friend, and, his probity and disinterestedness being
well known, she intrusted him with legal powers to sell this estate.
This commission was punctually performed, and the purchase-money was
received. In order to confer on it the utmost possible security, he
rolled up four bills of exchange, drawn upon opulent, merchants of
London, in a thin sheet of lead, and, depositing this roll in a leathern
girdle, fastened it round his waist, and under his clothes; a second set
he gave to me, and a third he despatched to Mr. Keysler, by a vessel
which sailed a few days before him. On our arrival in this city, we
found that Keysler had received those transmitted to him, and which he
had been charged to keep till our arrival. They were now produced, and,
together with those which I had carried, were delivered to Watson. By
him they were joined to those in the girdle, which he still wore,
conceiving this method of conveyance to be safer than any other, and, at
the same time, imagining it needless, in so short a journey as remained
to be performed, to resort to other expedients.
"'The sum which he thus bore about him was no less than ten thousand
pounds sterling. It constituted the whole patrimony of a worthy and
excellent family, and the loss of it reduces them to beggary. It is gone
with Watson, and whither Watson has gone it is impossible even to guess.
"'You may now easily conceive, sir, the dreadful disasters which may be
connected with this man's fate, and with what immeasurable anxiety his
family and friends have regarded his disappearance. That he is alive can
scarcely be believed; for in what situation could he be placed in which
he would not be able and willing to communicate some tidings of his fate
to his family?
"'Our grief has been unspeakably aggravated by the suspicions which Mrs.
Maurice and her friends have allowed themselves to admit. They do not
scruple to insinuate that Watson, tempted by so great a prize, has
secretly embarked for England, in order to obtain payment for these
bills and retain the money for his own use.
"'No man was more impatient of poverty than Watson, but no man's honesty
was more inflexible. He murmured at the destiny that compelled him to
sacrifice his ease, and risk his life upon the ocean in order to
procure the means of subsistence; and all the property which he had
spent the best part of his life in collecting had just been ravished
away from him by the English; but, if he had yielded to this temptation
at any time, it would have been on receiving these bills at Jamaica.
Instead of coming hither, it would have been infinitely more easy and
convenient to have embarked directly for London; but none who thoroughly
knew him can, for a moment, harbour a suspicion of his truth.
"'If he be dead, and if the bills are not to be recovered, yet to
ascertain this will, at least, serve to vindicate his character. As long
as his fate is unknown, his fame will be loaded with the most flagrant
imputations, and, if these bills be ever paid in London, these
imputations will appear to be justified. If he has been robbed, the
robber will make haste to secure the payment, and the Maurices may not
unreasonably conclude that the robber was Watson himself.' Many other
particulars were added by the stranger, to show the extent of the evils
flowing from the death of his brother, and the loss of the papers which
he carried with him.
"I was greatly at a loss," continued Wortley, "what directions or advice
to afford this man. Keysler, as you know, died early of the pestilence;
but Keysler was the only resident in this city with whom Williams had
any acquaintance. On mentioning the propriety of preventing the sale of
these bills in America, by some public notice, he told me that this
caution had been early taken; and I now remembered seeing the
advertisement, in which the bills had been represented as having been
lost or stolen in this city, and a reward of a thousand dollars was
offered to any one who should restore them. This caution had been
published in September, in all the trading-towns from Portsmouth to
Savannah, but had produced no satisfaction.
"I accompanied Williams to the mayor's office, in hopes of finding in
the records of his proceedings, during the last six months, some traces
of Watson; but neither these records nor the memory of the magistrate
afforded us any satisfaction. Watson's friends had drawn up, likewise,
a description of the person and dress of the fugitive, an account of the
incidents attending his disappearance, and of the papers which he had in
his possession, with the manner in which these papers had been secured.
These had been already published in the Southern newspapers, and have
been just reprinted in our own. As the former notice had availed
nothing, this second expedient was thought necessary to be employed.
"After some reflection, it occurred to me that it might be proper to
renew the attempt which Williams had made to trace the footsteps of his
friend to the moment of his final disappearance. He had pursued Watson
to Thetford's; but Thetford himself had not been seen, and he had been
contented with the vague information of his clerk. Thetford and his
family, including his clerk, had perished, and it seemed as if this
source of information was dried up. It was possible, however, that old
Thetford might have some knowledge of his nephew's transactions, by
which some light might chance to be thrown upon this obscurity. I
therefore called on him, but found him utterly unable to afford me the
light that I wished. My mention of the packet which Watson had brought
to Thetford, containing documents respecting the capture of a certain
ship, reminded him of the injuries which he had received from Welbeck,
and excited him to renew his menaces and imputations on that wretch.
Having somewhat exhausted this rhetoric, he proceeded to tell me what
connection there was between the remembrance of his injuries and the
capture of this vessel.
"This vessel and its cargo were, in fact, the property of Welbeck. They
had been sent to a good market, and had been secured by an adequate
insurance. The value of this ship and cargo, and the validity of the
policy, he had taken care to ascertain by means of his two nephews, one
of whom had gone out supercargo. This had formed his inducement to lend
his three notes to Welbeck, in exchange for three other notes, the whole
amount of which included the _equitable interest_ of _five per cent. per
month_ on his own loan. For the payment of these notes he by no means
relied, as the world foolishly imagined, on the seeming opulence and
secret funds of Welbeck. These were illusions too gross to have any
influence on him. He was too old a bird to be decoyed into the net by
_such_ chaff. No; his nephew, the supercargo, would of course receive
the produce of the voyage, and so much of this produce as would pay his
debt he had procured the owner's authority to intercept its passage from
the pocket of his nephew to that of Welbeck. In case of loss, he had
obtained a similar security upon the policy. Jamieson's proceedings had
been the same with his own, and no affair in which he had ever engaged
had appeared to be more free from hazard than this. Their calculations,
however, though plausible, were defeated. The ship was taken and
condemned, for a cause which rendered the insurance ineffectual.
"I bestowed no time in reflecting on this tissue of extortions and
frauds, and on that course of events which so often disconcerts the
stratagems of cunning. The names of Welbeck and Watson were thus
associated together, and filled my thoughts with restlessness and
suspicion. Welbeck was capable of any weakness. It was possible an
interview had happened between these men, and that the fugitive had been
someway instrumental in Watson's fate. These thoughts were mentioned to
Williams, whom the name of Welbeck threw into the utmost perturbation.
On finding that one of this name had dwelt in this city, and that he had
proved a villain, he instantly admitted the most dreary forebodings.
"'I have heard,' said Williams, 'the history of this Welbeck a score of
times from my brother. There formerly subsisted a very intimate
connection between them. My brother had conferred, upon one whom he
thought honest, innumerable benefits; but all his benefits had been
repaid by the blackest treachery. Welbeck's character and guilt had
often been made the subject of talk between us, but, on these occasions,
my brother's placid and patient temper forsook him. His grief for the
calamities which had sprung from this man, and his desire of revenge,
burst all bounds, and transported him to a pitch of temporary frenzy. I
often inquired in what manner he intended to act if a meeting should
take place between them. He answered, that doubtless he should act like
a maniac, in defiance of his sober principles, and of the duty which he
owed his family.
"'What! (said I,) would you stab or pistol him?
"'No. I was not born for an assassin. I would upbraid him in such terms
as the furious moment might suggest, and then challenge him to a
meeting, from which either he or I should not part with life. I would
allow time for him to make his peace with Heaven, and for me to blast
his reputation upon earth, and to make such provision for my possible
death as duty and discretion would prescribe.
"'Now, nothing is more probable than that Welbeck and my brother have
met. Thetford would of course mention his name and interest in the
captured ship, and hence the residence of this detested being in this
city would be made known. Their meeting could not take place without
some dreadful consequence. I am fearful that to that meeting we must
impute the disappearance of my brother.'