“Thorpe Ambrose, June 15, 1851.
“DEAR MR. BROCK--Only an hour since we reached this house, just as the
servants were locking up for the night. Allan has gone to bed, worn out
by our long day’s journey, and has left me in the room they call the
library, to tell you the story of our journey to Norfolk. Being better
seasoned than he is to fatigues of all kinds, my eyes are quite wakeful
enough for writing a letter, though the clock on the chimney-piece
points to midnight, and we have been traveling since ten in the morning.
“The last news you had of us was news sent by Allan from the Isle of
Man. If I am not mistaken, he wrote to tell you of the night we passed
on board the wrecked ship. Forgive me, dear Mr. Brock, if I say nothing
on that subject until time has helped me to think of it with a quieter
mind. The hard fight against myself must all be fought over again; but I
will win it yet, please God; I will, indeed.
“There is no need to trouble you with any account of our journeyings
about the northern and western districts of the island, or of the short
cruises we took when the repairs of the yacht were at last complete.
It will be better if I get on at once to the morning of yesterday, the
fourteenth. We had come in with the night-tide to Douglas Harbor, and,
as soon as the post-office was open; Allan, by my advice, sent on shore
for letters. The messenger returned with one letter only, and the
writer of it proved to be the former mistress of Thorpe Ambrose--Mrs.
Blanchard.
“You ought to be informed, I think, of the contents of this letter, for
it has seriously influenced Allan’s plans. He loses everything, sooner
or later, as you know, and he has lost the letter already. So I must
give you the substance of what Mrs. Blanchard wrote to him, as plainly
as I can.
“The first page announced the departure of the ladies from Thorpe
Ambrose. They left on the day before yesterday, the thirteenth, having,
after much hesitation, finally decided on going abroad, to visit some
old friends settled in Italy, in the neighborhood of Florence. It
appears to be quite possible that Mrs. Blanchard and her niece may
settle there, too, if they can find a suitable house and grounds to let.
They both like the Italian country and the Italian people, and they are
well enough off to please themselves. The elder lady has her jointure,
and the younger is in possession of all her father’s fortune.
“The next page of the letter was, in Allan’s opinion, far from a
pleasant page to read.
“After referring, in the most grateful terms, to the kindness which had
left her niece and herself free to leave their old home at their own
time, Mrs. Blanchard added that Allan’s considerate conduct had produced
such a strongly favorable impression among the friends and dependents of
the family that they were desirous of giving him a public reception
on his arrival among them. A preliminary meeting of the tenants on the
estate and the principal persons in the neighboring town had already
been held to discuss the arrangements, and a letter might be expected
shortly from the clergyman inquiring when it would suit Mr. Armadale’s
convenience to take possession personally and publicly of his estates in
Norfolk.
“You will now be able to guess the cause of our sudden departure from
the Isle of Man. The first and foremost idea in your old pupil’s mind,
as soon as he had read Mrs. Blanchard’s account of the proceedings at
the meeting, was the idea of escaping the public reception, and the one
certain way he could see of avoiding it was to start for Thorpe Ambrose
before the clergyman’s letter could reach him.
“I tried hard to make him think a little before he acted on his first
impulse in this matter; but he only went on packing his portmanteau in
his own impenetrably good-humored way. In ten minutes his luggage was
ready, and in five minutes more he had given the crew their directions
for taking the yacht back to Somersetshire. The steamer to Liverpool was
alongside of us in the harbor, and I had really no choice but to go on
board with him or to let him go by himself. I spare you the account of
our stormy voyage, of our detention at Liverpool, and of the trains we
missed on our journey across the country. You know that we have got here
safely, and that is enough. What the servants think of the new squire’s
sudden appearance among them, without a word of warning, is of no great
consequence. What the committee for arranging the public reception may
think of it when the news flies abroad to-morrow is, I am afraid, a more
serious matter.
“Having already mentioned the servants, I may proceed to tell you that
the latter part of Mrs. Blanchard’s letter was entirely devoted to
instructing Allan on the subject of the domestic establishment which
she has left behind her. It seems that all the servants, indoors and out
(with three exceptions), are waiting here, on the chance that Allan
will continue them in their places. Two of these exceptions are readily
accounted for: Mrs. Blanchard’s maid and Miss Blanchard’s maid go abroad
with their mistresses. The third exceptional case is the case of the
upper housemaid; and here there is a little hitch. In plain words,
the housemaid has been sent away at a moment’s notice, for what Mrs.
Blanchard rather mysteriously describes as ‘levity of conduct with a
stranger.’
“I am afraid you will laugh at me, but I must confess the truth. I have
been made so distrustful (after what happened to us in the Isle of Man)
of even the most trifling misadventures which connect themselves in any
way with Allan’s introduction to his new life and prospects, that I have
already questioned one of the men-servants here about this apparently
unimportant matter of the housemaid’s going away in disgrace.
“All I can learn is that a strange man had been noticed hanging
suspiciously about the grounds; that the housemaid was so ugly a woman
as to render it next to a certainty that he had some underhand purpose
to serve in making himself agreeable to her; and that he has not as yet
been seen again in the neighborhood since the day of her dismissal. So
much for the one servant who has been turned out at Thorpe Ambrose. I
can only hope there is no trouble for Allan brewing in that quarter. As
for the other servants who remain, Mrs. Blanchard describes them, both
men and women, as perfectly trustworthy, and they will all, no doubt,
continue to occupy their present places.
“Having now done with Mrs. Blanchard’s letter, my next duty is to beg
you, in Allan’s name and with Allan’s love, to come here and stay with
him at the earliest moment when you can leave Somersetshire. Although
I cannot presume to think that my own wishes will have any special
influence in determining you to accept this invitation, I must
nevertheless acknowledge that I have a reason of my own for earnestly
desiring to see you here. Allan has innocently caused me a new anxiety
about my future relations with him, and I sorely need your advice to
show me the right way of setting that anxiety at rest.
“The difficulty which now perplexes me relates to the steward’s place
at Thorpe Ambrose. Before to-day I only knew that Allan had hit on
some plan of his own for dealing with this matter, rather strangely
involving, among other results, the letting of the cottage which was
the old steward’s place of abode, in consequence of the new steward’s
contemplated residence in the great house. A chance word in our
conversation on the journey here led Allan into speaking out more
plainly than he had spoken yet, and I heard to my unutterable
astonishment that the person who was at the bottom of the whole
arrangement about the steward was no other than myself!
“It is needless to tell you how I felt this new instance of Allan’s
kindness. The first pleasure of hearing from his own lips that I had
deserved the strongest proof he could give of his confidence in me was
soon dashed by the pain which mixes itself with all pleasure--at least,
with all that I have ever known. Never has my past life seemed so
dreary to look back on as it seems now, when I feel how entirely it has
unfitted me to take the place of all others that I should have liked to
occupy in my friend’s service. I mustered courage to tell him that I had
none of the business knowledge and business experience which his steward
ought to possess. He generously met the objection by telling me that I
could learn; and he has promised to send to London for the person who
has already been employed for the time being in the steward’s office,
and who will, therefore, be perfectly competent to teach me.
“Do you, too, think I can learn? If you do, I will work day and night to
instruct myself. But if (as I am afraid) the steward’s duties are of
far too serious a kind to be learned off-hand by a man so young and so
inexperienced as I am, then pray hasten your journey to Thorpe Ambrose,
and exert your influence over Allan personally. Nothing less will induce
him to pass me over, and to employ a steward who is really fit to take
the place. Pray, pray act in this matter as you think best for Allan’s
interests. Whatever disappointment I may feel, _he_ shall not see it.
“Believe me, dear Mr. Brock, gratefuly yours,
“OZIAS MIDWINTER.
“P.S.--I open the envelope again to add one word more. If you have heard
or seen anything since your return to Somersetshire of the woman in
the black dress and the red shawl, I hope you will not forget, when you
write, to let me know it.
“O. M.”