THE MEETING OF EXILES.
"And they lifted up their voices and wept."
Thaddeus awoke in the morning with his heart full of the last night's
rencontre. One moment he regretted that he had not been seen by his
friend. In the next, when he surveyed his altered state, he was
almost reconciled to the disappointment. Then, reproaching himself
for a pride so unbecoming his principles and dishonorable to
friendship, he asked, if he were in Somerset's place, and Somerset in
his, whether he could ever pardon the morose delicacy which had
prevented the communication of his friend's misfortunes, and arrival
in the same kingdom with himself.
These reflections soon persuaded his judgment to what his heart was
so much inclined: determining him to inquire Pembroke's address of
every one likely to know a man of Sir Robert Somerset's consequence,
and then to venture a letter.
In the midst of these meditations the door opened, and Mrs. Robson
appeared, drowned in tears.
"My dear, dear sir!" cried she, "my William is going. I have just
taken a last look of his sweet face. Will you go down and say
farewell to the poor child you loved so dearly?"
"No, my good madam," returned Thaddeus, his straying thoughts at once
gathering round this mournful centre; "I will rather retain you here
until the melancholy task be entirely accomplished."
With gentle violence he forced her upon a seat, and in silence
supported her head on his breast, against which she unconsciously
leaned and wept. He listened with a depressed heart to the removal of
the coffin; and at the closing of the street door, which forever shut
the little William from that house in which he had been the source of
its greatest pleasure, a tear trickled down the cheek of Thaddeus;
and the sobbings of the poor grandmother were audible.
The count, incapable of speaking, pressed her hand in his.
"Oh, Mr. Constantine!" cried she, "see how my supports, one after the
other, are taken from me! first my son, and now his infant! To what
shall I be reduced?"
"You have still, my good Mrs. Robson, a friend in Heaven, who will
supply the place of all you have lost on earth."
"True, dear sir! I am a wicked creature to speak as I have done; but
it is hard to suffer: it is hard to lose all we loved in the world!"
"It is," returned the count, greatly affected by her grief. "But God,
who is perfect wisdom as well as perfect love, chooseth rather to
profit us than to please us in his dispensations. Our sweet William
has gained by our loss: he is blessed in heaven, while we weakly
lament him on earth. Besides, you are not yet deprived of all; you
have a grand-daughter."
"Ah, poor little thing! what will become of her when I die? I used to
think what a precious brother my darling boy would prove to his
sister when I should be no more!"
This additional image augmented the affliction of the good old woman;
and Thaddeus, looking on her with affectionate compassion, exclaimed--
"Mrs. Robson, the same Almighty Being that protected me, the last of
my family, will protect the orphan offspring of a woman so like the
revered Naomi!"
Mrs. Robson lifted up her head for a moment. She had never before
heard him utter a sentence of his own history; and what he now said,
added to the tender solemnity of his manner, for an instant arrested
her attention. He went on.
"In me you see a man who, within the short space of three months, has
lost a grandfather, who loved him as fondly as you did your William;
a mother, whom he saw expire before him, and whose sacred remains he
was forced to leave in the hands of her murderers! Yes, Mrs. Robson,
I have neither parents nor a home. I was a stranger, and you took me
in; and Heaven will reward your family, in kind. At least, I promise
that whilst I live, whatever be my fate, should you be called hence,
I will protect your grand-daughter with a brother's care."
"May Heaven in mercy bless you!" cried Mrs. Robson, dropping on her
knees. Thaddeus raised her with gushing eyes; having replaced her in
a seat, he left the room to recover himself.
According to the count's desire, Mrs. Watts called in the evening,
with an estimate of the expenses attending the child's interment.
Fees and every charge collected, the demand on his benevolence was
six pounds. The sum proved rather more than he expected, but he paid
it without a demur, leaving himself only a few shillings.
He considered what he had done as a fulfilment of a duty so
indispensible, that it must have been accomplished even by the
sacrifice of his uttermost farthing. Gratitude and distress held
claims upon him which he never allowed his own necessities to
transgress. All gifts of mere generosity were beyond his power, and,
consequently, in a short time beyond his wish; but to the cry of want
and wretchedness his hand and heart were ever open. Often has he
given away to a starving child in the street that pittance which was
to purchase his own scant meal; and he never felt such neglect of
himself a privation. To have turned his eyes and ears from the little
mendicant would have been the hardest struggle; and the remembrance
of such inhumanity would have haunted him on his pillow. This being
the disposition of Count Sobieski, he found it more difficult to bear
calamity, when viewing another's poverty he could not relieve, than
when assailed himself by penury, in all its other shapes of
desolation.
Towards night, the idea of Somerset again presented itself. When he
fell asleep, his dreams repeated the scene at the playhouse; again he
saw him, and again he eluded his grasp.
His waking thoughts were not less true to their object; and next
morning he went to a quiet coffee-house in the lane where he called
for breakfast, and inquired of the master, "did he know the residence
of Sir Robert Somerset?" The question was no sooner asked than it was
answered to his satisfaction. The Court Guide was examined, and he
found this address: _"Sir Robert Somerset, Bart., Grosvenor
Square,--Somerset Castle, L----shire,----Deerhurst, W----shire."_
Gladdened by the discovery, Thaddeus hastened home and unwilling to
affect his friend by a sudden appearance, with an overflowing heart
he wrote the following letter:--
"To PEMBROKE SOMERSET, ESQ., GROSVENOR SQUARE.
"Dear Somerset,
"Will the name at the bottom of this paper surprise you? Will it give
you pleasure? I cannot suffer myself to retain a doubt! although the
silence of two years might almost convince me I am forgotten. In
truth, Somerset, I had resolved never to obtrude myself and my
misfortunes on your knowledge, until last Wednesday night, when I saw
you going into Drury Lane Theatre; the sight of you quelled all my
resentment, and I called after you, but you did not hear. Pardon me,
my dear friend, that I speak of resentment. It is hard to learn
resignation to the forgetfulness of those we love.
"Notwithstanding that I lost the pocket-book in a battlefield which
contained your direction, I wrote to you frequently at a venture; and
yet, though you knew in what spot in Poland you had left Thaddeus and
his family, I have never heard of you since the day of our
separation. You must have some good reason for your silence; at least
I hope so.
"Doubtless public report has afforded you some information relative
to the destruction of my ever-beloved country! I bear its fate on
myself. You will find me in a poor lodging at the bottom of St.
Martin's Lane. You will find me changed in everything. But the first
horrors of grief have subsided; and my clearest consolation in the
midst of my affliction rises out of its bitterest cause: I thank
Heaven, my revered grandfather and mother were taken from a
consummation of ills which would have reduced them to a misery I am
content to endure alone.
"Come to me, dear Somerset. To look on you, to press you in my arms,
will be a happiness which, even in hope, makes my heart throb with
pleasure.
"I will remain at home all day to-morrow, in the expectation of
seeing you; meanwhile, adieu, my dear Somerset. You will find at No.
5 St. Martin's Lane your ever affectionate
"THADDEUS CONSTANTINE, COUNT SOBIESKI." _Friday noon._
"_P.S._ Inquire for me by the name of Mr. Constantine."
[Footnote: The humble, English home of Thaddeus Sobieski is now
totally vanished, along with the whole row of houses of which it was
one.] With the most delightful emotions, Thaddeus sealed this letter
and gave it to Nanny, with orders to inquire at the post-office "when
he might expect an answer?" The child returned with information that
it would reach Grosvenor Square in an hour, and he could have a reply
by three o'clock.
Three o'clock arrived, and no letter. Thaddeus counted the hours
until midnight, but they brought him nothing but disappointment. The
whole of the succeeding day wore away in the same uncomfortable
manner. His heart bounded at every step in the passage; and throwing
open his room-door, he listened to every person that spoke, but no
voice bore any resemblance to that of Somerset.
Night again shut in; and overcome by a train of doubts, in which
despondence held the greatest share he threw himself on his bed,
though unable to close his eyes.
Whatever be our afflictions, not one human creature who has endured
misfortune will hesitate to aver, that of all the tortures incident
to mortality, there are none like the rackings of suspense. It is the
hell which Milton describes with such horrible accuracy; in its hot
and cold regions, the anxious soul is alternately tossed from the
ardors of hope to the petrifying rigors of doubt and dread. Men who
have not been suspended between confidence and fear, in their
judgment of a beloved friend's faithfulness, are ignorant of "the
nerve whence agonies are born." It is when sunk in sorrow, when
adversity loads us with divers miseries, and our wretchedness is
completed by such desertion!--it is then we are compelled to
acknowledge that, though life is brief, there are few friendships
which have strength to follow it to the end. But how precious are
those few! The are pearls above price!
Such were the reflections of the Count Sobieski when he arose in the
morning from his sleepless pillow. The idea that the letter might
have been delayed afforded him a faint hope, which he cherished all
day, clinging to the expectation of seeing his friend before sunset.
But Somerset did not appear; and obliged to seek an excuse for his
absence, in the supposition of his application having miscarried,
Thaddeus determined to write once more, and to deliver the letter
himself at his friend's door. Accordingly, with emotions different
from those with which he had addressed him a few days before, he
wrote these lines--
"To PEMBROKE SOMERSET, ESQ.,
"If he who once called Thaddeus Sobieski his friend has received a
letter which that exile addressed to him on Friday last, this note
will meet the same neglect. But if this be the first intelligence
that tells Somerset his friend is in town, perhaps he may overlook
that friend's change of fortune; he may visit him in his distress!
who will receive him with open arms, at his humble abode in St.
Martin's Lane.
"SUNDAY EVENING, No. 5, St. Martin's Lane."
Thaddeus having sealed the letter, walked out in search of Sir Robert
Somerset's habitation. After some inquiries, he found Grosvenor
Square; and amidst the darkness of the night, was guided to the house
by the light of the lamps and the lustres which shone through the
open windows. He hesitated a few minutes on the pavement, and looked
up. An old gentleman was standing with a little boy at the nearest
window. Whilst the count's eyes were fixed on these two figures, he
saw Somerset himself come up to the child, and lead it away towards a
group of ladies.
Thaddeus immediately flew to the door, with a tremor over his frame
which communicated itself to the knocker; for he knocked with such
violence that the door was opened in an instant by half-a-dozen
footmen at once. He spoke to one.
"Is Mr. Pembroke Somerset at home?"
"Yes," replied the man, who saw by his plain dress that he could not
be an invited guest; "but he is engaged with company."
"I do not want to see him now," rejoined the count; "only give him
that letter, for it is of consequence."
"Certainly, sir," replied the servant; and Thaddeus instantly
withdrew.
He now turned homeward, with his mind more than commonly depressed.
There was a something in the whole affair which pierced him to the
soul. He had seen the house that contained the man he most warmly
loved, but he had not been admitted within it. He could not forbear
recollecting that when his gates opened wide as his heart to welcome
Pembroke Somerset, how he had been implored by his then grateful
friend to bring the palatine and the countess to England, "where his
father would be proud to entertain them, as the preservers of his
son." How different from these professions did he find the reality!
Instead of seeing the doors widely unclose to receive him, he was
allowed to stand like a beggar on the threshold; and he heard them
shut against him, whilst the form of Somerset glided above him, even
as the shadow of his buried joys.
These discomforting retrospections on the past, and painful
meditations on the present, continued to occupy his mind, until
crossing over from Piccadilly to Coventry Street, he perceived a
wretched-looking man, almost bent double, accosting a party of people
in broken French, and imploring their charity.
The voice and the accent being Sclavonian, arrested the ear of
Thaddeus. Drawing close to the man, as the party proceeded without
taking notice of the application, he hastily asked, "Are you a
Polander?"
"Father of mercies!" cried the beggar, catching hold of his hand, "am
I so blessed! have I at last met him?" and, bursting into tears, he
leaned upon the arm of the count, who, hardly able to articulate with
surprise, exclaimed--
"Dear, worthy Butzou! What a time is this for you and I to meet! But,
come, you must go home with me."
"Willingly, my dear lord," returned he; "for I have no home. I begged
my way from Harwich to this town, and have already spent two dismal
nights in the streets."
"O, my country!" cried the full heart of Thaddeus.
"Yes," continued the poor old soldier; "it received its death wounds
when Kosciusko and my honored master fell."
Thaddeus could not reply; but supporting the exhausted frame of his
friend, who was hardly able to walk, after many pauses, gladly
descried his own door.
The widow opened it the moment he knocked; and seeing some one with
him, was retreating, when Thaddeus, who found from the silence of
Butzou that he was faint, begged her to allow him to take his
companion into her parlor. She instantly made way, and the count
placed the now insensible old man in the arm-chair by the fire.
"He is my friend, my father's friend!" cried Thaddeus, looking at his
pale and haggard face, with a strange wildness in his own features;
"for heaven's sake give me something to restore him."
Mrs. Robson, in dismay, and literally having nothing better in the
house, gave him a glass of water.
"That will not do," exclaimed he, still upholding the motionless body
on his arm; "have you no wine? No anything? He is dying for want."
"None, sir; I have none," answered she, frightened at the violence of
his manner. "Run, Nanny, and borrow something warming of Mrs. Watts."
"Or," cried Thaddeus, "bring me a bottle of wine from the nearest
inn." As he spoke, he threw her the only half-guinea he possessed,
and added, "Fly, for he may die in a moment."
The child flew like lightning to the Golden Cross, and brought the
wine just as Butzou had opened his eyes, and was gazing at Thaddeus
with a languid agony that penetrated his soul. Mrs. Robson held the
water to his lips. He swallowed a little, then feebly articulated, "I
am perishing for want of food."
Thaddeus had caught the bottle from Nanny, and pouring some of its
contents into a glass, made him drink it. This draught revived him a
little. He raised himself in his seat; but still panting and
speechless, leaned his swimming head upon the bosom of his friend,
who knelt by his side, whilst Mrs. Robson was preparing some toasted
bread, with a little more heated wine, which was fortunately good
sherry.
After much kind exertion between the good landlady and the count,
they sufficiently recovered the poor invalid to enable them to
support him up stairs to lie down on the bed. The drowsiness usually
attendant on debility, aided by the fumes of the wine, threw him into
an immediate and deep sleep.
Thaddeus seeing him at rest, thought it proper to rejoin Mrs. Robson,
and by a partial history of his friend, acquaint her with the
occasion of the foregoing scene. He found the good woman surprised
and concerned, but no way displeased; and, in a few words, he gave
her a summary explanation of the precipitancy with which, without her
permission, he had introduced a stranger under her roof.
The substance of what he said related that the person up stairs had
served with him in the army; that on the ruin of his country (which
he could no longer conceal was Poland), the venerable man had come in
quest of him to England, and in his journey had sustained misfortunes
which had reduced him to the state she saw.
"I met him," continued he, "forlorn and alone in the street; and
whilst he lives, I shall hold it my duty to protect him. I love him
for his own sake, and I honor him for my grandfather's. Besides, Mrs.
Robson," cried he, with additional energy, "before I left my country,
I made a vow to my sovereign that wherever I should meet this brave
old man, I would serve him to the last hour of his life. Therefore we
must part no more. Will you give him shelter?" added he, in a subdued
voice. "Will you allow me to retain him in my apartments?"
"Willingly, sir; but how can I accommodate him? he is already in your
bed, and I have not one to spare."
"Leave that to me, best, kindest of women!" exclaimed the count;
"your permission has rendered me happy."
He then wished her a good night, and returning up stairs, wrapped
himself in his dressing-gown, and passed the night by the little fire
of the sitting-room.
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