Ludloe's remarks on the seductive and bewitching powers of women, on
the difficulty of keeping a secret which they wish to know, and to
gain which they employ the soft artillery of tears and prayers, and
blandishments and menaces, are familiar to all men, but they had little
weight with me, because they were unsupported by my own experience. I
had never had any intellectual or sentimental connection with the sex.
My meditations and pursuits had all led a different way, and a bias
had gradually been given to my feelings, very unfavourable to the
refinements of love. I acknowledge, with shame and regret, that I was
accustomed to regard the physical and sensual consequences of the sexual
relation as realities, and every thing intellectual, disinterested, and
heroic, which enthusiasts connect with it as idle dreams. Besides, said
I, I am yet a stranger to the secret, on the preservation of which so
much stress is laid, and it will be optional with me to receive it
or not. If, in the progress of my acquaintance with Mrs. Benington, I
should perceive any extraordinary danger in the gift, cannot I refuse,
or at least delay to comply with any new conditions from Ludloe? Will
not his candour and his affection for me rather commend than disapprove
my diffidence? In fine, I resolved to see this lady.
She was, it seems, the widow of Benington, whom I knew in Spain. This
man was an English merchant settled at Barcelona, to whom I had been
commended by Ludloe's letters, and through whom my pecuniary supplies
were furnished....... Much intercourse and some degree of intimacy had
taken place between us, and I had gained a pretty accurate knowledge of
his character. I had been informed, through different channels, that his
wife was much his superior in rank, that she possessed great wealth in
her own right, and that some disagreement of temper or views occasioned
their separation. She had married him for love, and still doated on him:
the occasions for separation having arisen, it seems, not on her
side but on his. As his habits of reflection were nowise friendly to
religion, and as hers, according to Ludloe, were of the opposite kind,
it is possible that some jarring had arisen between them from this
source. Indeed, from some casual and broken hints of Benington,
especially in the latter part of his life, I had long since gathered
this conjecture....... Something, thought I, may be derived from my
acquaintance with her husband favourable to my views.
I anxiously waited for an opportunity of acquainting Ludloe with my
resolution. On the day of our last conversation, he had made a short
excursion from town, intending to return the same evening, but had
continued absent for several days. As soon as he came back, I hastened
to acquaint him with my wishes.
Have you well considered this matter, said he. Be assured it is of no
trivial import. The moment at which you enter the presence of this woman
will decide your future destiny. Even putting out of view the subject of
our late conversations, the light in which you shall appear to her will
greatly influence your happiness, since, though you cannot fail to love
her, it is quite uncertain what return she may think proper to make.
Much, doubtless, will depend on your own perseverance and address,
but you will have many, perhaps insuperable obstacles to encounter on
several accounts, and especially in her attachment to the memory of her
late husband. As to her devout temper, this is nearly allied to a warm
imagination in some other respects, and will operate much more in favour
of an ardent and artful lover, than against him.
I still expressed my willingness to try my fortune with her.
Well, said he, I anticipated your consent to my proposal, and the visit
I have just made was to her. I thought it best to pave the way, by
informing her that I had met with one for whom she had desired me to
look out. You must know that her father was one of these singular men
who set a value upon things exactly in proportion to the difficulty of
obtaining or comprehending them. His passion was for antiques, and his
favourite pursuit during a long life was monuments in brass, marble, and
parchment, of the remotest antiquity. He was wholly indifferent to the
character or conduct of our present sovereign and his ministers, but was
extremely solicitous about the name and exploits of a king of Ireland
that lived two or three centuries before the flood. He felt no curiosity
to know who was the father of his wife's child, but would travel a
thousand miles, and consume months, in investigating which son of
Noah it was that first landed on the coast of Munster. He would give
a hundred guineas from the mint for a piece of old decayed copper no
bigger than his nail, provided it had aukward characters upon it, too
much defaced to be read. The whole stock of a great bookseller was, in
his eyes, a cheap exchange for a shred of parchment, containing half a
homily written by St. Patrick. He would have gratefully given all his
patrimonial domains to one who should inform him what pendragon or druid
it was who set up the first stone on Salisbury plain.
This spirit, as you may readily suppose, being seconded by great wealth
and long life, contributed to form a very large collection of venerable
lumber, which, though beyond all price to the collector himself, is of
no value to his heiress but so far as it is marketable. She designs
to bring the whole to auction, but for this purpose a catalogue and
description are necessary. Her father trusted to a faithful memory, and
to vague and scarcely legible memorandums, and has left a very arduous
task to any one who shall be named to the office. It occurred to me,
that the best means of promoting your views was to recommend you to this
office.
You are not entirely without the antiquarian frenzy yourself. The
employment, therefore, will be somewhat agreeable to you for its own
sake. It will entitle you to become an inmate of the same house, and
thus establish an incessant intercourse between you, and the nature of
the business is such, that you may perform it in what time, and with
what degree of diligence and accuracy you please.
I ventured to insinuate that, to a woman of rank and family, the
character of a hireling was by no means a favourable recommendation.
He answered, that he proposed, by the account he should give of me, to
obviate every scruple of that nature. Though my father was no better
than a farmer, it is not absolutely certain but that my remoter
ancestors had princely blood in their veins: but as long as proofs of my
low extraction did not impertinently intrude themselves, my silence,
or, at most, equivocal surmises, seasonably made use of, might secure me
from all inconveniences on the score of birth. He should represent me,
and I was such, as his friend, favourite, and equal, and my passion for
antiquities should be my principal inducement to undertake this office,
though my poverty would make no objection to a reasonable pecuniary
recompense.
Having expressed my acquiescence in his measures, he thus proceeded: My
visit was made to my kinswoman, for the purpose, as I just now told you,
of paving your way into her family; but, on my arrival at her house,
I found nothing but disorder and alarm. Mrs. Benington, it seems, on
returning from a longer ride than customary, last Thursday evening,
was attacked by robbers. Her attendants related an imperfect tale of
somebody advancing at the critical moment to her rescue. It seems,
however, they did more harm than good; for the horses took to flight
and overturned the carriage, in consequence of which Mrs. Benington
was severely bruised. She has kept her bed ever since, and a fever was
likely to ensue, which has only left her out of danger to-day.
As the adventure before related, in which I had so much concern,
occurred at the time mentioned by Ludloe, and as all other circumstances
were alike, I could not doubt that the person whom the exertion of
my mysterious powers had relieved was Mrs. Benington: but what an
ill-omened interference was mine! The robbers would probably have been
satisfied with the few guineas in her purse, and, on receiving these,
would have left her to prosecute her journey in peace and security, but,
by absurdly offering a succour, which could only operate upon the
fears of her assailants, I endangered her life, first by the desperate
discharge of a pistol, and next by the fright of the horses........ My
anxiety, which would have been less if I had not been, in some degree,
myself the author of the evil, was nearly removed by Ludloe's proceeding
to assure me that all danger was at an end, and that he left the lady
in the road to perfect health. He had seized the earliest opportunity of
acquainting her with the purpose of his visit, and had brought back with
him her cheerful acceptance of my services. The next week was appointed
for my introduction.
With such an object in view, I had little leisure to attend to any
indifferent object. My thoughts were continually bent upon the expected
introduction, and my impatience and curiosity drew strength, not merely
from the character of Mrs. Benington, but from the nature of my new
employment. Ludloe had truly observed, that I was infected with somewhat
of this antiquarian mania myself, and I now remembered that Benington
had frequently alluded to this collection in possession of his wife. My
curiosity had then been more than once excited by his representations,
and I had formed a vague resolution of making myself acquainted with
this lady and her learned treasure, should I ever return to Ireland.....
Other incidents had driven this matter from my mind.
Meanwhile, affairs between Ludloe and myself remained stationary. Our
conferences, which were regular and daily, related to general topics,
and though his instructions were adapted to promote my improvement in
the most useful branches of knowledge, they never afforded a glimpse
towards that quarter where my curiosity was most active.
The next week now arrived, but Ludloe informed me that the state of Mrs.
Benington's health required a short excursion into the country, and that
he himself proposed to bear her company. The journey was to last about
a fortnight, after which I might prepare myself for an introduction to
her.
This was a very unexpected and disagreeable trial to my patience. The
interval of solitude that now succeeded would have passed rapidly and
pleasantly enough, if an event of so much moment were not in suspense.
Books, of which I was passionately fond, would have afforded me
delightful and incessant occupation, and Ludloe, by way of reconciling
me to unavoidable delays, had given me access to a little closet, in
which his rarer and more valuable books were kept.
All my amusements, both by inclination and necessity, were centered in
myself and at home. Ludloe appeared to have no visitants, and though
frequently abroad, or at least secluded from me, had never proposed
my introduction to any of his friends, except Mrs. Benington. My
obligations to him were already too great to allow me to lay claim to
new favours and indulgences, nor, indeed, was my disposition such as
to make society needful to my happiness. My character had been, in some
degree, modelled by the faculty which I possessed. This deriving all
its supposed value from impenetrable secrecy, and Ludloe's admonitions
tending powerfully to impress me with the necessity of wariness and
circumspection in my general intercourse with mankind, I had gradually
fallen into sedate, reserved, mysterious, and unsociable habits. My
heart wanted not a friend.
In this temper of mind, I set myself to examine the novelties which
Ludloe's private book-cases contained. 'Twill be strange, thought I, if
his favourite volume do not show some marks of my friend's character. To
know a man's favourite or most constant studies cannot fail of letting
in some little light upon his secret thoughts, and though he would not
have given me the reading of these books, if he had thought them capable
of unveiling more of his concerns than he wished, yet possibly my
ingenuity may go one step farther than he dreams of. You shall judge
whether I was right in my conjectures.