Oh, if people would but take as much pains to do good as they take to
do evil--if even the well-disposed were as zealous in beneficence, as
the wicked are energetic in wrong--what a pleasant little clod this
earth of ours would be, for us human crickets to go chirping about
from morning till night!
The Right Honourable the Earl of Ashborough could think of but one
thing; and what between the active working of his own brain, and the
unceasing exertion of the pineal gland of Peter Tims, Esq., following
keenly the plans and purposes which we have seen them communicating to
each other, the scheme for ruining the family at Emberton was brought
to that degree of perfection which rendered its success almost
certain. Mr. Tims, indeed, did wonder that the noble earl had
forgotten to propose to him any plan for detaining Sir Sidney Delaware
in prison after his arrest, and for consummating the persecution so
happily begun. He concluded that it had slipped his lordship's memory;
but, as he foresaw that, of course, Mr. Beauchamp would immediately
come forward to liberate the baronet, and clear him of his
embarrassments, Mr. Tims revolved a thousand schemes for entangling
him still more deeply, in order to be found prepared as soon as his
noble patron should apply to him for assistance on this new occasion.
In truth, however, Lord Ashborough had calculated all; and from what
he had formerly known of Sir Sidney Delaware, as well as from what he
had lately heard of his impaired constitution, he felt assured that
even three or four days of imprisonment for debt would terminate
either life or reason, and thus leave his vengeance and his hatred
sated to the full.
It must not be always supposed that the motives and the feelings which
are here stated, in what is vulgarly called black and white, appeared
in their original nakedness before the minds of the various actors in
this my little drama. On the contrary, they came before their master's
eyes, like poor players on the stage, robed in gorgeous apparel that
little belonged to them. Revenge flaunted away before the eyes of Lord
Ashborough, clothed in princely purple, and calling itself noble
indignation. Mortified vanity, and mean delight in wealth, tricked out
in silks and satins, called themselves honest scorn for deceivers, and
careful consideration for his nephew's interest, "and so they played
their part;" while deadly enmity, which would have acted murder, had
it dared, now mocked the Deity, and impiously assumed the name of
retributive justice.
Nevertheless, there was in the bosom of Lord Ashborough at least so
much consciousness that all this was but a pageant, that he found it
necessary to redouble the careful guard he had put upon his feelings
towards Captain Delaware; and though he came back to dinner meditating
the destruction of his race and family, he showered on the young
sailors head civilities which might have raised doubts had he dealt
with one of the suspicious. Captain Delaware, however, was not one of
the suspicious. He had not acquired the quality of suspiciousness in
any of the three ways by which it reaches the human heart--neither by
the consciousness of evil designs in his own breast, by experience of
the world's baseness, or by the exhortations of others. He was
susceptible indeed, and easily perceived when a slight was intended,
or when the least approach to scorn was felt towards him or his; but
deeper and blacker feelings escaped his observation, if covered by
even a slight disguise. In the present instance he was completely
deceived. His drive out with his fair cousin in the morning had proved
so delightful, that he began to doubt the efficacy of the water of the
prior's fountain, and to feel that many such drives might make him
either very happy, or very much the contrary. But the kind attention
of Lord Ashborough, his changed demeanour, and the hopes to which it
gave rise, were all sources of unmixed pleasure. The evening passed
away in delight; and when, on visiting Mr. Tims next morning, he found
that he was prepared to concede every thing that he desired, on the
simple formality of his father giving a bill at a few days' date for
the money, his satisfaction was complete. Nor was it the less so, that
the necessity of awaiting an answer to his letter, communicating these
tidings, and of obtaining his father's signature to the bill, obliged
him, whether he would or not, to enjoy the society of Maria Beauchamp
for at least two days longer.
On the part of that young lady herself, no dislike was felt to her
cousin's society--every one else was out of town--she had no one with
whom she could dance, or flirt, or talk, and still less any one to
whom she could communicate any of the deeper and better feelings which
formed the warp of her character, and across which the threads of a
sparkling sort of levity were intimately woven. With Captain Delaware
she did all but the first, and probably she would have danced too, had
minuets still been in vogue. She laughed, she talked, she jested; and
there was a sort of simple candour about his nature, together with
fine feelings and gentlemanly habits, preserved, fresh and
unadulterated, by a life spent either on the green waters or in the
green fields--which altogether wooed forth those points in her own
character, which as things most estimable, lay hid in the deeper
casket of her heart.
In short, the two days that followed were two very pleasant days
indeed; and it was almost with a sigh that Captain Delaware opened his
father's letter, which arrived at the end of them, and found the bills
duly signed. Mr. Tims had before told him, that he had made the money
payable at Emberton, in order to save him or his father the trouble of
coming or sending again to London. That excuse, therefore, for either
prolonging his stay or returning, was not to be had; and, even if it
had still been ready, the lawyer also informed him gratuitously, that
Lord Ashborough's motive for settling the matter in the manner
proposed, was in order to spare himself all correspondence in the
country, to which he was immediately about to retire for the remainder
of the year. The simple fact was, that Mr. Tims--with the same over
anxiety of which he had accused Lord Ashborough to remove all
suspicion of a latent motive--had assigned these causes for his noble
patron's conduct, simply to account reasonably for his having demanded
a bill for the money, payable at Emberton, instead of following the
usual legal routine in such cases, accepting the redemption money when
ready, and then cancelling the deed. But Captain Delaware, with
constitutional susceptibility, instantly concluded that the whole was
intended as a hint to him, that any farther intimacy was not desired.
He could not feel indignant, because he felt that he had no right to
demand a continuance of the communication which had been accidentally
created between himself and the family of his wealthy cousin; but he
determined at once to show that there was no necessity for such
warnings; and, after having pleaded other engagements, in order to
absent himself from his cousin's house during the rest of his stay in
London, he took his place in the identical stage which had whirled him
down to Emberton on the preceding occasion. He did not, however, in
that sort of burning at the heart which people feel on such occasions,
neglect to take all those steps which, to the best of his judgment,
were necessary to secure his father, and to conclude the business on
which he had come to London. On the contrary, he demanded and
received, by the hands of Mr. Tims, an acknowledgement, on the part of
Lord Ashborough, that a promissory-note had been given by Sir Sidney
Delaware for the sum of twenty-five thousand pounds, which, when duly
taken up, would be received as a full and due redemption of the
annuity chargeable upon the Emberton estate.
When all this was concluded, and he had eaten in melancholy wise of
the dinner which the people of the pseudo hotel at which he lodged,
set before him, in that den of congregated discomforts, a public
coffee-room--when he had done this, and taken an idle walk round the
black thing that spits water by table-spoonfuls nearly opposite to
Devonshire House, for the purpose of digesting his dinner and his
vexation, he could not refrain; but returning home--or rather to the
place of his dwelling for the time--he dressed and walked to Grosvenor
Square.
Lord Ashborough was in his library; Miss Beauchamp was
alone--somewhat in low spirits, too, and looking none the worse for
being so. She was in one of those moods in which a man may make a
great deal of a woman in a short time--if he knows how--but,
unhappily, Captain Delaware did not know how. He talked sentimentally,
and she talked sentimentally; and they made tea between them, and
poured it out and drank it--but it all came to nothing--otherwise
Maria Beauchamp might, perhaps, have been William Delaware's wife
before the end of the volume. Never did a man who was bred and born a
sailor miss stays so completely as Captain Delaware did; and just
when, towards the close of the evening, he was making up his mind to
say something sensible and pertinent, in came Lord Ashborough, and the
whole went to the--budget.
Within half an hour after, William Delaware was on his way to his
hotel, and in the yellow of the next morning, he was once more rolling
away, to join the coach for Emberton. His journey was as dull as it
well could be. Two quaker ladies occupied one seat, and a deaf man
shared the other. Therefore--as it is a very laudable object to wind
up all sorts of matters here, in such a manner as to enable the
courteous reader to have done with the book at the end of this volume,
and to imagine, if he like, that the story is finished, when in fact
it is not begun--we shall give one paragraph to Mr. Tims, while
Captain Delaware rolls on.
The worthy and beneficent lawyer, full of zeal in the service of his
patron, set boldly to work to accomplish the object in view, and added
so many thoughtful means and contrivances to support those which we
have already seen him propose, that, at the end of eight days, there
was hardly a human possibility of his prey escaping him. As, in some
instances, he thought fit to prepare engines which went a little
beyond the clear limit of the law, he took good care to add a safety
valve for himself, by cautiously mingling Lord Ashborough's name with
all those particular matters which were most delicate and dangerous,
and thus insuring the whole power and influence of that nobleman's
rank and fortune to shield him, even if the blame itself did not fall
solely on the earl. He wrote, too, to his uncle, Mr. Tims, at Ryebury,
directing him on no account to advance money to the gentleman calling
himself Mr. Burrel, who was, in fact, Lord Ashborough's nephew; and he
added many a hint and caution, calculated to make the miser of Ryebury
throw every impediment in the way of a liquidation of the debts on Sir
Sidney Delaware's estate. At the same time, a vague threat of Lord
Ashborough's displeasure, in case of recusancy, was held out; and by
the end of the week, Mr. Tims, as we have said, sat down perfectly
certain of having drawn those spider toils round the family of
Emberton, which it would be impossible for them to evade.
In the mean time, William Delaware arrived at Emberton Park, and
found every thing precisely as he had left it. Burrel's visits were
still continuing daily. Indeed--during his son's absence, which
occasioned a sort of gap in the things to which Sir Sidney Delaware
was accustomed--the baronet had more than ever sought the presence of
Mr. Burrel to supply the want.
The affection of Burrel for Blanche Delaware, seemed exactly the
same--if any thing, there was perhaps an additional shade of
tenderness in his manner, towards her, which for a moment caused
Captain Delaware to believe, that his sister had been made acquainted
with her lover's feelings. But it was not so. On the contrary, during
her brother's stay in London, Blanche had lost many of those pleasant
hours which she had before spent in Burrel's society. Her long rambles
with him through the park and the neighbouring country, were of course
at an end for the time; and, although Mrs. Darlington took a house in
the immediate vicinity, and pressed Miss Delaware to join her there
for a few days--though Blanche, perhaps, might feel that there she
could, with propriety, hold freer intercourse with one who had
obtained so strong a hold of her affection, yet filial duty overcame
even the wish, and she refused to leave her father during her
brother's absence.
Captain Delaware's return, therefore, was a matter of joy and delight
to every one; and immediately after having heard all those _viva voce_
particulars, which a letter could not convey, Sir Sidney Delaware
visited Mr. Tims, who assured him that the money would be ready full
twenty-four hours before the stipulated time, and instantly began to
prepare the mortgage which was to secure the sum to the lender. The
tidings were, of course, communicated to Blanche, whose young heart
beat high, to think of even a part of the dark cloud which had so long
overshadowed her dear father's fate, being blown away for ever. If,
too, a thought crossed her mind, in regard to her own situation, and
the improvement of her relative position towards him by whom she was
beloved, who shall say a word of blame? It was but nature; and perhaps
that thought might take away the only thorn that she saw encumbering
the fate before her. All eyes sparkled--all hearts beat high at
Emberton. The news insensibly was spread abroad--The prospects of the
Ruined Family seemed brightening--Those to whom they had been kind,
even in their adversity, blessed the day that saw their changing
fortune--and those who had despised their poverty, began to bow down
and worship, now that the storms no longer hung above them.
Sir Sidney Delaware walked with a firmer step. His son felt that
one-half of the load of life was gone, and Blanche raised her eyes
timidly to meet those of Burrel, as if there had been some secret
voice which told her, that--how, or why, she knew not--all the
happiness that was growing up around them, was of his planting.
Oh, deceitful Fortune! why wilt thou often smile so sweetly, while
opening thy store of evils to pour upon the devoted head!
END OF VOLUME FIRST.
EDINBURGH:
M. AITKEN, 1, ST. JAMES'S SQUARE.