A ROBBERY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.
By these means Thaddeus slowly acquired sufficient strength to allow
him to quit his dressing-gown, and prepare for a walk.
A hard frost had succeeded to the chilling damps of November; and
looking out of the window, he longed, almost eagerly, to inhale again
the fresh air. After some tender altercations with Mrs. Robson, who
feared to trust him even down stairs, he at length conquered; and
taking the little William by his hand, folded his pelisse round him,
and promising to venture no further than the King's Mews, was
suffered to go out.
As he expected, he found the keen breeze act like a charm on his
debilitated frame; and with braced nerves and exhilarated spirits, he
walked twice up and down the place, whilst his companion played
before him, throwing stones, and running to pick them up. At this
moment one of the king's carriages, pursued by a concourse of people,
suddenly drove in at the Charing-Cross gate. The frightened child
screamed, and fell. Thaddeus darted forward, and seizing the heads of
the horses which were within a yard of the boy, stopped them;
meanwhile, the mob gathering about, one of them raised William, who
continued his cries. The count now let go the reins, and for a few
minutes tried to pacify his little charge; but finding that his alarm
and shrieks were not to be quelled, and that his own figure, from its
singularity of dress, (his high cap and plume adding to its height)
drew on him the whole attention of the people, he took the trembling
child in his arms, and walking through the Mews, was followed by some
of the bystanders to the very door of Mrs. Robson's shop.
Seeing the people, and her grandson sobbing on the breast of her
guest, she ran out, and hastily asked what had happened. Thaddeus
simply answered, that the child had been frightened. But when they
entered the house, and he had thrown himself exhausted on a seat,
William, as he stood by his knee, told his grandmother that if Mr.
Constantine had not stopped the horses, he must have been run over.
The count was now obliged to relate the whole story, which ended with
the blessings of the poor woman, for his goodness in risking his own
life for the preservation of her darling child.
Thaddeus in vain assured her the action deserved no thanks.
"Well," cried she, "it is like yourself, Mr. Constantine; you think
all your good deeds nothing; and yet any odd little thing I can do,
out of pure love to serve you, you cry up to the skies. However, we
won't fall out; I say, heaven bless you! and that is enough. Has your
walk refreshed you? But I need not ask; you have got a fine color."
"Yes," returned he, rising and taking off his cap and cloak, "it has
put me in aglow, and made me quite another creature." As he finished
speaking, he dropped the things from the hand that held them, and
staggered back a few paces against the wall.
"Good Lord! what is the matter?" cried Mrs. Robson, looking in his
face, which was now pale as death; "what is the matter?"
"Nothing, nothing," returned he, recovering himself, and gathering up
the cloak he had let fall; "don't mind me, Mrs. Robson; nothing:" and
he was leaving the kitchen, but she followed him, terrified at his
look and manner.
"Pray, Mr. Constantine!"
"Nay, my dear madam," said he, leading her back, "I am not well; I
believe my walk has overcome me. Let me be a few minutes alone, till
I have recovered myself. It will oblige me."
"Well, sir, as you please!" and then, laying her withered hand
fearfully upon his arm, "forgive me, dear sir," said she, "if my
attentions are troublesome. Indeed, I fear that sometimes great love
appears like great impertinence; I would always be serving you, and
therefore I often forget the wide difference between your honor's
station and mine."
The count could only press her hand gratefully, and with an emotion
which made him hurry up stairs to hide. When in his own room, he shut
the door, and cast a wild and inquisitive gaze around the apartment;
then, throwing himself into a chair, he struck his head with his
hand, and exclaimed, "It is gone! What will become of me?--of this
poor woman, whose substance I have consumed?"
It was true; the watch, by the sale of which he had calculated to
defray the charges of his illness, was indeed lost. A villain in the
crowd, having perceived the sparkling of the chain, had taken it
unobserved from his side; and he knew nothing of his loss until,
feeling for his watch to see the hour, he discovered his misfortune.
The shock went like a stroke of electricity through his frame; but it
was not until the last glimmering of hope was extinguished, on
examining his room where he thought he might have left it, that he
saw the full horror of his situation.
He sat for some minutes, absorbed, and almost afraid to think. It was
not his own, but the necessities of the poor woman, who had, perhaps,
incurred debts on herself to afford him comforts, which bore so hard
upon him. At last, rising from his seat, he exclaimed,
"I must determine on something. Since this is gone, I must seek what
else I have to part with, for I cannot long bear my present
feelings!"
He opened the drawer which contained his few valuables.
With a trembling hand he took them out one by one. There were several
trinkets which had been given to him by his mother; and a pair of
inlaid pistols, which his grandfather put into his belt on the
morning of the dreadful 10th of October; his miniature lay beneath
them: the mild eyes of the palatine seemed beaming with affection
upon his grandson. Thaddeus snatched it up, kissed it fervently, and
then laid it back into the drawer, whilst he hid his face with his
hands.
When he recovered himself, he replaced the pistols, believing that it
would be sacrilege to part with them. Without allowing himself time
to think, he put a gold pencil-case and a pair of brilliant sleeve-
buttons into his waistcoat pocket.
He descended the stairs with a soft step, and passing the kitchen-
door unperceived by his landlady, crossed through a little court; and
then anxiously looking from right to left, in quest of some shop
where he might probably dispose of the trinkets, he took his way up
Castle Street, and along Leicester Square.
When he turned up the first street to his right, he was impeded by
two persons who stood in his path, the one selling, the other buying
a hat. The thought immediately struck Thaddeus to ask one of these
men (who appeared to be a Jew, and a vender of clothes) to purchase
his pelisse. By parting with a thing to which he annexed no more
value than the warmth it afforded him, he should possibly spare
himself the pain, for this time at least, of sacrificing those gifts
of his mother, which had been bestowed upon him in happier days, and
hallowed by her caresses.
He did not permit himself to hesitate, but desired the Jew to follow
him into a neighboring court. The man obeyed; and having no ideas
independent of his trade, asked the count what he wanted to buy.
"Nothing: I want to sell this pelisse," returned he, opening it.
The Jew, without any ceremony, inspected its covering and its lining
of fur.
"Ay, I see: black cloth and sable; but who would buy it of me? An
embroidered collar! nobody wears such things here."
"Then I am answered," replied Thaddeus.
"Stop, sir," cried the Jew, pursuing him, "what will you take for
it?"
"What would you give me?"
"Let me see. It is very long and wide. At the utmost I cannot offer
you more than five guineas."
A few months ago, it had cost the count a hundred; but glad to get
any money, however small, he readily closed with the man's price; and
taking off the cloak, gave it to him, and put the guineas into his
pocket.
He had not walked much further before the piercing cold of the
evening, and a shower of snow, which began to fall, made him feel the
effects of his loss; however, that did not annoy him; he had been too
heavily assailed by the pitiless rigors of misfortune to regard the
pelting of the elements. Whilst the wind blew in his face, and the
sleet falling on his dress, lodged in its lappels, he went forward,
calculating whether it were likely that this money, with the few
shillings he yet possessed, would be sufficient to discharge what he
owed. Unused as he had been to all kinds of expenditure which
required attention, he supposed, from what he had already seen of a
commerce with the world, that the sum he had received from the Jew
was not above half what he needed; and with a beating heart he walked
towards one of those shops which Mrs. Robson had described, when
speaking of the irregularities of her son, who had nearly reduced her
to beggary.
The candles were lit. And as he hovered about the door, he distinctly
saw the master through the glass, assorting some parcels on the
counter. He was a gentleman-like man, and the count's feelings took
quite a different turn from those with which he had accosted the Jew,
who, being a low, sordid wretch, looked upon the people with whom he
trafficked as mere purveyors to his profit. Thaddeus felt little
repugnance at bargaining with him: but the sight of a respectable
person, before whom he was to present himself as a man in poverty, as
one who, in a manner, appealed to charity, all at once overcame the
resolution of a son of Sobieski, and he debated whether or not he
should return. Mrs. Robson, and her probable distresses, rose before
him; and fearful of trusting his pride any further, he pulled his cap
over his face, and entered the shop.
The man bowed very civilly on his entrance, and requested to be
honored with his commands. Thaddeus felt his face glow; but indignant
at his own weakness, he laid the gold case on the counter, and said,
in a voice which, notwithstanding his emotion, he constrained to be
without appearance of confusion, "I want to part with this."
Astonished at the dignity of the applicant's air, and the nobility of
his dress, (for the star did not escape the shop-keeper's eye), he
looked at him for a moment, holding the case in his hand. Hurt by the
steadiness of his gaze, the count, rather haughtily, repeated what he
had said. The man hesitated no longer. He had been accustomed to
similar requests from the emigrant French _noblesse_; but there
was a loftiness and aspect of authority in the countenance and mien
of this person which surprised and awed him; and with a respect which
even the application could not counteract, he opened the case, and
inquired of Thaddeus what was the price he affixed to it.
"I leave that to you," replied he.
"The gold is pure," returned the man, "but it is very thin; I cannot
give more than three guineas. Though the workmanship is fine, it is
not in the fashion of England, and will be of no benefit to me till
melted."
"You may have it," said Thaddeus, hardly able to articulate, while
the gift of his mother was passing into a stranger's hand.
The man directly paid him down the money, and the count, with a
bursting heart, darted out of the shop.
Mrs. Robson was shutting up the windows of her little parlor, when he
hastily passed her and glided up the stairs. Hardly believing her
senses, she hastened after him, and just got into the room as he
drank off a glass of water.
"Good lack! sir, where has your honor been? I thought you were all
the while in the house, and I would not come near, though I was very
uneasy; and there has been poor William crying himself blind, because
you desired to be left alone."
Thaddeus was unprepared to make an answer. He was in hopes to have
gotten in as he had stolen out, undiscovered; for he determined not
to agitate her too kind mind by the history of his loss. He would not
allow her to know anything of his embarrassments, from a sentiment of
justice, as well as from that sensitive pride which all his
sufferings and philosophy could not wholly subdue.
"I have been taking a walk, Mrs. Robson."
"Dear heart! I thought when you staggered back, and looked so ill,
after you brought in William, you had over-walked yourself."
"No; I fancy my fears had a little discomposed me; and I hoped that
more air might do me good; I tried it, and it has: but I am grieved
for having alarmed you."
This ambiguous speech satisfied his worthy landlady; and, fatigued by
a bodily exertion, which, in the present feeble state of his frame,
nothing less than the resolution of his mind could have carried him
through, Thaddeus went directly to bed, where tired nature soon found
temporary repose in a profound sleep.