The Mysterious Wanderer Volume Iii Part 2

"How different the conduct of Eliza! She, though united to a man she did not love, learned to esteem him for his virtues; cheerfully fulfilling the duties of her station, she enjoyed the sweets of friends.h.i.+p, and experienced content from internal rect.i.tude. What a contrast!

"The hours I pa.s.sed at the Parsonage, with friends so beloved, in a.s.sisting to form the mind of my Henry, I need not recount; but, comparatively happy as they were, they could not compensate for the behaviour of your mother, which at last has forced me to an early grave.

"At your intercession, I consented to visit France; but receiving intelligence Mallet had revisited Wales, I as hastily returned, and found your mother had, indeed, renewed her acquaintance with this her early lover! Unfeeling--insulting woman! couldst thou not stay a few short weeks, till death had left thee free to accept the lover of thy choice!--Yet even this I could have excused; nay, perhaps, have pardoned: but from the private room, I heard them exulting in the prospect of my death, and projecting plans to deprive you, my beloved boy, of your inheritance; but the measures I have pursued, I trust, will render Mallet's schemes abortive.

"By this means, I likewise learned that the infant Louise had been deserted by its equally unnatural father, who left it exposed at the Convent gate of St. Ursule. Even your mother, for a moment, reprobated the inhumanity of the action; till he informed her the Abbess had received, and consented to rear the child, as a foundling from Heaven; but whether it still existed, he knew not.

If it do, (and be it your care, my Harry, to inquire) I charge you to a.s.sist the unfortunate girl; yet likewise respect your mother, nor wilfully seek to raise a blush of shame on her cheek: let the consideration, that she is your mother, induce you to pardon what otherwise you might condemn!

"To you she has ever preserved the appearance of maternal affection, and, should you inherit her fortune, remember thirty thousand pounds of it was left by her aunt, for the deserted Louise; and to her let it be restored. But should Mallet, whose hatred to you, I believe, is as unbounded as his influence over her, induce her to bestow it on himself or others; forget not, my son, she is your sister, and provide for her according to the dictates of your own generous heart; to which, I must likewise leave the care of my Ellenor and her son.

"Large is the fortune you will inherit, and the years of your minority will considerably add to it. Sir Horace ever designed to give his Ellenor fifty thousand pounds, which sum, should she be re-united to the worthy but misguided Howard, you can present her with; but should her Edward still be denied the knowledge of a father, I would have you secure to him, in addition, the estate I purchased of Howels.

"And now, my Henry, let me mention the subject, which, though sinking to the grave, will still maintain the superiority of hope in my bosom,--that the child of her I once fondly thought to have called my own, may become your wife. With satisfaction, I have perceived your youthful partiality for each other, and cherished every spark of growing attachment. Yet if another should gain your maturer affection, Heaven forbid that I should thwart your inclination, or be the means, however indirectly, of uniting you to a woman you could not prefer to the rest of her s.e.x. Should you, therefore, behold another with the eye of prepossession, at least, regard Eliza as a sister, and give her a portion accordingly.

"And here, my Henry, let me rest. Though scarcely can I bring myself to resign my pen; but it must be.--Harry, dear beloved boy--dearer far to my heart than life itself, farewell! May every blessing this transitory state affords, fall to your lot, till we meet in those realms where eternal happiness rewards the virtuous and afflicted!

"H. CORBET."

"Surprise and concern," continued Sir Henry, as he folded up the packet, "for some time absorbed every faculty. Again I perused the papers, which opened a mother's character to my view, and which the occurrences of that day had marked as too just. Yet, for what purpose could she confine me?--had she not succeeded in obtaining the estates?

at what further then did she aim? I could not resolve the question, but insensibly reverted to the death of my father. The bed he expired on, was before me, my destined couch of rest. Nature revolted at the idea, and revived, with additional poignancy, the remembrance of his last moments.

"'And Blond too is gone!' I cried, rising, and wildly pacing the room: 'and she who should prove the friend and guardian of her son, too surely seeks his destruction!--But, perhaps, the will is not destroyed: no one but Blond knew where it was placed.'

"My mother had secured my father's keys; but some months prior to his decease, he had presented me with one of the private room; which had my mother known, she would, most probably, have chosen another apartment for my confinement.

"With a palpitating heart I unlocked the door, and hastily advanced to the closet, where Blond had said it was deposited; but in vain I searched; no will could I discover.

"'Too surely, it is destroyed,' I sighed; and at that moment my ear was saluted by the voice of my mother in the adjoining apartment, which, indeed, was her own; and, by the familiarity of her address, soon discovered Mallet to be her companion. I was, indeed, on the spot whence my father mentioned overhearing a former discourse. Listening attentively, I heard my mother say--'You are wrong, Charles. Confining him in the room where Corbet died, is the only way to effect my purpose.

Naturally of a pensive disposition, the recollection of his father, forced on his mind by every object, cannot fail still more to deject him. Could I but find this accursed will, and destroy it, I should not fear him; but as it is--there I will keep him, till I either turn his senses, or have a fair pretence for saying he is insane; which may answer as well. Let me once get the entire management of his estates, it is all I desire.'

"'I never doubted your abilities, Caroline,' said Mallet, 'but cannot clearly comprehend how you can accuse him of insanity, when the evidence of the servants must prove to the contrary; and as for really turning his senses--your hopes, I am afraid, are rather too sanguine: Sir Henry is soft in heart; not the head.--There is an easier way to settle your pretensions. Were Sir Henry at rest with his father, no one would have a just right to dispute the validity of the present will; which, if he live to come of age, is a thing not at all unlikely to happen.--If he were dead--'

"'The entailed estates,' interrupted my mother, 'would go to the heir at law, and I should lose eight thousand a year.--So, no more on that subject, Sir. He is the son of Corbet, of the man I hated; but I will not consent to embrue my hands in his blood, though I should glory in reducing him to the state in which you left Louise!'

"'Well, well, Caroline,' said Mallet, 'I yield: if you can accomplish your design, far be it from me to dissuade you from it.'

"They proceeded to settle their future plans, and I retired to the outward apartment, in a state nearly answering my mother's wishes.

"In the morning, Mallet brought my breakfast. I started from my seat at his entrance; his injuries to my father, his villanous intentions toward myself, rose on my tortured imagination, and hurried me nearly to madness! Impelled by the phrenzy of the moment, I hurled my chair at him with the utmost force, and levelled him with the floor! The folly of the action, the moment I had committed it, served to restore my recollection; for would it not aid my mother in her intentions to accuse me of insanity? Mallet, perhaps, believed me then deranged, for, springing on his feet, he with the greatest trepidation hurried out of the room. He, however, took care to secure the door, and I was left to reflect on my want of forbearance to one who, I was certain, would not pa.s.s by the opportunity of injuring me. My prognostic was right: in less than half an hour, my mother entered the room; her eye glanced with secret satisfaction on the fragments of china scattered on the floor; but, advancing to me, she haughtily asked the meaning of the outrage I had committed? My heart swelled to agony at the question, though certainly to have been expected. I could not avow the motive which had instigated me.--I could not utter a falsehood: and, at last, throwing myself on the bed, covered my face, and found a slight relief in groans.

"Still now do her contemptuous taunts vibrate on my ear, as she told me my new-acquired dignities would not sit graceful on me, if I knew not better how to sustain the character of a gentleman!

"'They sit not easy on me, indeed, Madam,' I replied with a sigh. 'Would to Heaven, that he who has borne them since my birth, still existed; then should I not want a friend--a parent!'

"'No more of this insolence, Sir,' she retorted;--'lest you make me forget I bear that t.i.tle: and remember, it is in my power to prove an enemy!'

"'It is indeed!' I repeated. 'I had at the moment, forgotten you gave me birth!'

"She darted a look of scorn and anger at me, and desiring me henceforward to behave with the duty which became me as a son and ward, left me again to the torments of reflection.

"At noon, Mallet brought my dinner; and an hour after took it away, untouched.

"For a week I was regularly served by him, and in that time, by means of the closet, learned that the clergyman who was present with Blond at the reading of the will, had been presented with the Corbet living; though, as he refused to resign the house where he had long resided, Mrs. Blond was permitted to remain at the Parsonage, at least till a proper opportunity should occur of turning her out: likewise, that my mother, wis.h.i.+ng to preserve the character she had ever maintained in the opinion of the world, immediately granted her request, that Blond, as he had entreated, might be interred in the same vault with my father.

"This act of complaisance, however, was soon followed by one I little expected.

"On the death of Sir Horace, my father, regarding the legacy bequeathed to Blond as far less than he had a right to expect, would have added a considerable donation to it; but this Blond refused, and was at last, with difficulty, prevailed on to accept a small but pleasant estate, which adjoined the Parsonage lands. This, however, from some neglect, for which I cannot account, but most probably from Blond's unwillingness to receive it, had never been properly a.s.signed to him; though the rent was constantly paid to him, and he regarded as the owner.

"This estate, my father, a few months before his decease, informed me he had, with one more considerable, left in the fullest manner to his brother. Nevertheless, my mother now reclaimed it and, as no writings could be produced to prove it Mrs. Blond's, basely wrested from her the princ.i.p.al means of her subsistence.

"Nor did she longer delay the execution of her devices to make me appear insane; but one morning came to the door, and gently tapping, called me by name, entreating to be admitted.

"'Your Ladys.h.i.+p,' I replied, 'has secured the means of entrance at all times: why then demand it of me?'

"'What does he mean?' I heard her say, in a voice of concern, to her maid who accompanied her: 'Henry, dear Henry, I conjure you, open the door!'

"'If you, Madam,' I again answered, 'had intrusted me with the key, I might have complied with your request: but at present would wish to know for what offence I am treated as a prisoner.'

"'Heavens! how wildly he talks!' she continued to her companion; and with greater energy begged and entreated to be admitted: whilst every answer I could return, was by her artifice regarded as a proof of my insanity by her servant; who did not fail to exaggerate what she had heard to her companions; and in a few days it was believed, that I was actually deranged.

"I learned the success of my mother's plan, by my usual channel of intelligence; and for the future resolved to persevere in silence; but it was of no avail; and some months pa.s.sed, during which it was affirmed that my confinement was from my own choice.

"In the course of this time, I had frequently renewed my search for the will, though without effect; but one day, in examining the contents of a secret drawer, I discovered bank-notes to the value of seven hundred pounds, which I made no scruple of securing; and determined, should an opportunity offer, to leave the Hall, and put myself under the protection of St. Ledger.

"Providence, in this respect proved favourable; for, a few weeks after, I was awakened in the night, by a person moaning at my door: thinking it some new device of my mother, I disregarded it, till I heard the voice of Thomas lamenting the supposed loss of my reason. I then hesitated not a moment, but, springing out of bed, soon convinced him the account he had received of me was false. This worthy servant's joy was unbounded, and he promised to effect my liberation in the course of a week; hinting at the same time, that he suspected his lady partic.i.p.ated in the disposition of Sir Horace.

"Thomas kept his word. He soon discovered Mallet was intrusted with the key; he therefore ventured into his room one night, and perceiving him in a sound sleep, took the key from his pocket, lightly stepped to my apartment, and, with an expression of joy in his countenance not to be described, proclaimed me at liberty.

"Little preparation was necessary; and, bidding my faithful old servant farewell, I directed my steps to the Parsonage.

"My aunt and Mrs. Blond immediately rose on hearing who it was; and after a short conference, I prevailed on them to receive part of the money I had obtained, as their income was then reduced to little more than one hundred pounds; for Blond possessed too benevolent a disposition ever to think of ama.s.sing money. He had truly regarded his paris.h.i.+oners as his children; as such their wants ever found the readiest relief; and to the stranger his heart, his hand, and his door had ever been open!

"After an affectionate adieu, I hastened to the church, where, for some time, I indulged in an unrestrained sorrow over the ashes of my father and Blond.

"The appearance of day at length warned me to retire; and tearing myself from their sacred remains, I ran to the village, where I procured a horse, and thence directed my course toward London.

"St. Ledger was from home; but I was received with the greatest cordiality by his amiable wife, your beloved sister Francoise, Louise--."

"Sister Francoise, my brother!" cried Louise with vivacity. "Ah, pardon my interruption: but tell me--satisfy my curiosity respecting her."

"In a few words, Louise. St. Ledger, the man she was privately united to, was in his youth the bosom-friend of my father: on his travels, he saw and became enamoured of the amiable Francoise; and on her father's refusing him her hand, prevailed on her to consent to a private marriage. Their intercourse had continued some time, when he was discovered by Monsieur de Colline, and the consequences which followed were as you recited them, from the words of Sister Brigide. Francoise was delivered of a son, who was doomed by the grandfather to an early grave; but was preserved and secretly conveyed to St. Ledger, by the old confident. This soon reached the knowledge of Monsieur de Colline, who in the first paroxysm of pa.s.sion, would have sacrificed her life, for the innocent one she had preserved. He spared her, but on condition of her taking an oath, never to divulge the retreat of Francoise to St.

Ledger, or to undeceive his daughter respecting the death of her infant; for he well knew that whilst she supposed her child living, she would not consent to retire from the world. Poor Francoise was deceived, and imagining herself bereaved of both husband and offspring, gladly took shelter from the anger and reproaches of her father and sisters, in the Convent of St. Ursule. St. Ledger, in the mean time, after vainly demanding his wife of her father, searched the country for some miles round; till, imposed on by a fabulous tale of her death, he, in a state of mind truly disconsolate, returned with his infant son to England.

"My father went to France at the time of Monsieur de Colline's death.

The circ.u.mstances attending the liberation of Francoise were too publicly discoursed of to escape his knowledge, and he immediately proceeded to Rennes, where, introducing himself as the intimate friend of her husband, she joyfully accepted his offer of escorting her to England.

"Francoise had written to St. Ledger, who, with an impatience equal to his regard for this amiable woman, was hastening with his son to France, to meet her, when my father unexpectedly presented her to his embrace at Portsmouth, where St. Ledger was waiting for a favourable wind, to convey him to the opposite coast.

"Since that time their happiness has never had the least interruption; except from the hymeneal expedition of my friend Henry. They are, however, perfectly satisfied with his choice of a bride, who, on her part, appears sincerely attached to the parents of her husband.