Sir Jasper Carew Part 25

"Heureus.e.m.e.nt!" muttered the Frenchman, but employing a word which, happily, the other did not understand.

"Her state is one of great danger still," said Dan, alluding to my mother.

"They say so; but that is always the way with doctors. One may die of violent anger, rage, ungratified vengeance, jealousy, but not of mere grief. Sorrow is rather a soothing pa.s.sion,--don't you think so?"

Had MacNaghten been in the mood, he might have laughed at the remark, but now it only irritated and incensed him; and to such an extent did the heartless manner of the Frenchman grate upon his feelings that he was in momentary danger of including my poor mother in the depreciatory estimate he conceived of France and all that belonged to it. Nor was his temper improved by the inquiries of Gabriac concerning the property and estates of my father; in fact, unable any longer to continue a conversation, every portion of which, was an outrage, he arose abruptly, and, wis.h.i.+ng him a good night, left the room.

"Poor Walter," said he, as he slowly sauntered along towards his chamber, "is it to such as these your memory is to be intrusted, and your name and fortune bequeathed?" And with this gloomy reflection he threw himself upon his bed, to pa.s.s a sad and a sleepless night.

It was in a curious reverie--a kind of inquiring within himself, "How came it that qualities so calculated to make social intercourse delightful in days of happiness, should prove positively offensive in moments of trial and affliction?" for such he felt to be the case as regarded Gabriac--that MacNaghten lay, when a servant came to inform him that Mr. Crowther had just arrived at the Castle, and earnestly requested to see him.

"At once," replied he, "show him up to me here;" and in a few moments that most bland and imperturbable of solicitors entered, and, drawing a chair to the bedside, sat down.

"This is a sad occasion, Mr. MacNaghten. I little thought when I last saw you here that my next visit would have been on such an errand."

MacNaghten nodded sorrowfully, and Crowther went on:

"Sad in every sense, sir," sighed he, heavily. "The last of his name--one of our oldest gentry--the head of a princely fortune--with abilities, I am a.s.sured, of a very high order, and, certainly, most popular manners."

"You may spare me the eulogy," said MacNaghten, bluntly. "He was a better fellow than either you or I should be able to describe, if we spent an hour over it."

Crowther took the rebuke in good part, and a.s.sented to the remark with the best possible grace. Still, he seemed as if he would like to dwell a little longer on the theme before he proceeded to other matters. Perhaps he thought by this to secure a more favorable acceptance for what he had to say; perhaps he was not fully made up in mind how to approach the subject before him. MacNaghten, who always acted through life as he would ride in a steeplechase, straight onward, regardless of all in his way, stopped him short, by saying,--

"Carew has left a will in your hands, I believe?"

"You can scarcely call it a will, sir. The doc.u.ment is very irregular, very informal."

"It was his act, however; he wrote or dictated it himself?"

"Not even that, sir. He suggested parts of it, made trifling corrections with his own pen, approved some portions, and left others for after-consideration."

"It is, at all events, the only doc.u.ment of the kind in existence?"

"That would be too much to affirm, sir."

"I mean that you, at least, know of no other; in fact, I want to hear whether you conceive it to be sufficient for its object, as explaining Carew's wishes and intentions."

A dubious half-smile, and a still more dubious shake of the head, seemed to infer that this view of the subject was far too sweeping and comprehensive.

"Come, come," said Dan, good-humoredly, "I'm not the Chancellor, nor even Master of the Rolls. Even a little indiscretion will never injure your reputation in talking with me. Just tell me frankly what you know and think about my poor friend's affairs. His widow, if she ever recover, which is very doubtful, is but little suited to matters of business; and as it is not a case where any adverse litigation is to be apprehended--What do you mean by that shake of the head? You surely would not imply that the estate, or any part of it, could be contested at law?"

"Who could say as much for any property, sir?" said Crowther, sententiously.

"I know that; I am well aware that there are fellows in your tribe who are always on the lookout for a s.h.i.+pwrecked fortune, that they may earn the salvage for saving it; but here, if I mistake not very much, is an estate that stands in need of no such aids. Carew may have debts."

"Very large debts,--debts of great amount indeed!"

"Well, be it so; there ends the complication."

"You have a very concise and, I must say, a most straightforward mode of regarding a subject, sir," said Crowther, blandly. "There is an admirable clearness in your views, and a most business-like prompt.i.tude in your deductions; but we, poor moles of the law, are condemned to work in a very different fas.h.i.+on; and, to be brief, here is a case that requires the very nicest management. To enable Madame Carew to take out letters of administration to her late husband's property, we must prove her marriage. Now, so far as I can see, sir, this is a matter of considerable difficulty."

"Why, you would not dare to a.s.sert--to insinuate even--"

"Nothing of the kind, sir. Pray be calm, Mr. Mac-Naghten. I am as incapable of such a thought as yourself. Of the fact, I entertain no more doubt than you do. The proof of it,--the legal proof,--however, I am most anxious to obtain."

"But, with search amongst his papers--"

"Very true, sir; it may be discovered. I have no doubt it will be discovered. I only mean to say that such a doc.u.ment is not to be met with amongst those in my hands, and I have very carefully gone over a large packet, labelled 'Papers and letters relating to France during my last residence there in '80-81,' which, you may remember, was the period of his marriage."

"But he alludes to that event?"

"Not once, sir; there is not a single pa.s.sage that even bears upon it.

There are adventures of various kinds, curious incidents, many of them in love, play, and gallantry; but of marriage, or even of any speculation on the subject, not the remotest mention."

"This is most singular!"

"Is it not so, sir? But I have thought, perhaps, that you, who were always his most attached friend,--you, at least, possessed some letters which should throw light upon this matter, even to indicate the exact date of it, where it occurred, who the witnesses."

"Not a line, not a syllable," said MacNaghten, with a sigh.

"This is more unfortunate than I expected," said Crowther. "I always said to myself, 'Well, in his private correspondence, in the close relations of friends.h.i.+p, we shall come upon some clew to the mystery.' I always understood that with you he was frankness itself, sir?"

"So he was," rejoined MacNaghten.

"This reserve is therefore the more remarkable still. Can you account for it in any way, sir?"

"Why should I account for it?" cried Dan, pa.s.sionately. "My friend had his own reasons for whatever he did,--good and sufficient ones, I 'll be sworn."

"I feel a.s.sured of that, sir; don't mistake me for a moment, or suppose I am impugning them. I merely desired to learn if you could, from your intimate knowledge of your friend's character, trace this reserve on his part to any distinct cause."

"My knowledge of him goes this far," said MacNaghten, haughtily, "that he had an honorable motive for every aet of his life."

It required some address on Crowther's part to bring back MacNaghten to that calm and deliberate tone of mind which the subject demanded. After a while, however, he perfectly succeeded; and Dan arose, and accompanied him to the library, where they both proceeded to search among my father's papers, with which several boxes were filled.

CHAPTER XVIII. DISAPPOINTMENTS

The search for any doc.u.ment that could authenticate my father's marriage proved totally unsuccessful, and although poor MacNaghten's zeal was untiring and unwearied, all his efforts were fruitless.

Guided by the clew afforded in some of my father's letters, Dan proceeded to Wales, ascertained the cottage where they had pa.s.sed their first month of married life, and found out many who had known them by sight; but could chance upon nothing which should lead him to the important fact where, and by whom, the marriage ceremony was solemnized.

The state of my mother's health was so precarious for a long time as to render all inquiry from her impracticable; while there was also a very natural fear of the consequences that might ensue, were she to suspect the object of any investigation, and learn the perilous position in which she stood. Her condition was, indeed, a pitiable one,--a young and widowed mother; a stranger in a foreign land, of whose language she knew scarcely anything; without one friend of her own s.e.x, separated by what, in those days, seemed an immense distance from all belonging to her. It was a weary load of misfortune to be borne by one who till that moment had never known a sorrow.

Nor was MacNaghten's lot more enviable as, day by day, he received packets of letters detailing the slow but steady march of those legal proceedings which were to end in the ruin of those whom he felt to have been bequeathed to his friends.h.i.+p. Already two claimants for the estate had appeared in the field,--one, a distant relation of my father, a very rich southern baronet, a certain Carew O'Moore; the other, an unknown, obscure person, whose pretensions, it was said, were favored by f.a.gan, and at whose cost the suit was said to be maintained. With the former, MacNaghten at once proceeded to open relations personally, by a letter describing in simple but touching terms the sad state in which my poor mother yet lay, and appealing to his feelings as a gentleman and a man of humanity to stay the course of proceedings for a while, at least, and give time to enable her to meet them by such information as she might possess.

A very polite reply was at once returned to this, a.s.suring MacNaghten that whatever delays could be accorded to the law proceedings--short of defeating the object altogether--should certainly be accorded; that nothing was further from Sir Carew's desire than to increase, in the slightest, the sorrows of one so heavily visited; and expressing, in conclusion, a regret that his precarious health should preclude him paying his personal visit of condolence at the Castle, where, he trusted, the lady would continue to reside so long as her health or convenience made it desirable. If the expressions of the letter were not as hearty and generous as honest Dan might have wished them, they were more gratifying than the note he received from f.a.gan, written with all the caution and reserve of the Grinder's manner; for, while not going so far as to admit that he was personally interested and concerned for the new claimant, he guardedly avoided giving any denial to the fact.