Agnes, or, Beauty and Pleasure — page 339: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AGNES; OR, BEAUTY AND PLEASURE. you know, Cicely —though the world generally - does sof know—that Mr. Waldron never for a moment believed Morton Evelyn to be the veri- table heir to the Ormsby peerage and proper ty But should you not be surprised, Cicely, if you were to learn that this Morton Evelyn whom ' Waldron, as you know, put forward as a pre- tender “Surely,” ejaculated Mrs. Hardress, with in- creasing interest and astonishment, “ you are not going to tell me that Morton Evelyn was after all ——”’ “ The rightful heir, Cicely !—as sure as you are sitting there!” responded Mr. Timperley. “ Yes —he was the real and true Lord Ormsby after all!” “Good heavens! this is marvellous!” cried the lady. “Then Agnes is the heiress to the wealth, at least, if not to the title ? “Stop, stop, my dear Cicely! be not so fast!” said the lawyer. “There are numberless conside- ratioss in this business: and I was plunged in the midst of them at the moment when you entered my office. First, however, in respect to Morton Evelyn, it is actually and positively the case that he was the veritable heir to the Ormsby peerage and property. After all, it is scarcely any. wonder if the late Joshua Waldron when casting his line into a lake swarmiog with Evelyns, should at last have hooked up a particular fish + “ But it is nevertheless wonderful,’ observed Cicely, “that the particular Evelyn whom he put forward as a pretender, should turn out to be the rightful claimant to the title and wealth of Ormsby !” “Yes—that is singular enough,” said Mr. Tim- perley. “ Morton Evelyn could never trace back his pedigree ferther than Andrew Evelyn, his grand- sire; and thus it became impossible to connect that Andrew Evelyn with the Evelyns of the “Ormsby race. Indeed, Waldron was never serious in entertaining the belief that any such connexion could possibly be established. But now the fact is brought to light—it is elucidated “And everything which upwards of eighteen years back Mr. Waldron sought to establish by means of forged deeds and documents,—every- thing, I say,’ continued Cicely, “ was actually ‘and positively correct?—and there was no fraud after all except in the means by which it was en- deayoured to substantiate the truth?” “Tt is all just as you say, Cicely,” rejoined Mr. Timperley; “and therefore you comprehend what I meant when | just now said that if the evidence which I have this day received should have only turned up some eighteen years ago, it would have given a far different impulse to many important events. Morton Evelyn would not have run away, never to be heard of any more—Joshua Waldron would not have committed suicide—his daughter Honoria would not have died of a broken heart— and Agnes would not have been an orphan in her infancy.” “All would indeed have been very different!” said Cicely, musing. ‘ But if I mistake not,” she resumed, at the expiration of a few moments, “the property is immense,—consisting of ready money and estates z ‘“*Yes,” said Mr. Timperley; “ there are estates in Wiltshire, producing upwards of six thousand ee 331 a-year: they have long ago reverted to the Crown —but they could easily be recovered from the Go. vernment if an heir were to make his appear. ance.” “His appearance ?” said Cicely. ‘Ah! then, I understand !—the estates were all vested in the heirs male; and therefore poor Agnes cannot assert her claim. Ah! but the ready money that was in the Bank of Englana, or the Sinking Fund, or whatever you call it,—does not that amount to two hundred thousand pounds 2” “Yes,” replied Mr. Timperley. “ But Ja ** But?” ejaculated Cicely: “is there indeed a but in this case P—cannot Agnes claim ‘the ready money ?” “She might—yes, she might,’ answered the lawyer, slowly and deliberately. “It is upon all this that I have been thinking. But she must not claim it, Cicely!—and therefore it is unnecessary to excite any hope in her mind 2 “And why must she noé claim it?” inquired Mrs. Hardress. “For several reasons,’ responded the lawyer. “In the first place she would have to prove that her father, Mr. Morton Evelyna—or Lord Ormsby, as he actually was after all—has ceased to exist, And this she cannot prove; and therefore she would have to bring forward all possible evidence to show that he is not likely to be in existence —or in other words that he disappeared suddenly upwards of eighteen yearsago, and kas never since been heard of.” “And this,” said Cicely, “ would surely be held as the best presumptive evidence that Morton Evelyn, as we will call him, is indeed no more ?” “Yes—but it would be necessary to show under what circumstances he disappeared, upwards of eighteen years back,” continued Mr. Timperley. “Remember that this is a question of recovering money from the Government; and the Govern- ment in such cases never parts with a shilling un- less the claim be made good upon positive evi- dence, or at least the very best presumptive testimony. Let us suppose that Agnes Evelyn were to assert her claim to this two hundred thou- sand pounds: she would allege her father’s disap- pearance, and the fact that he has never since been heard of, as the proofs of his death. But the Government would ask what reason there was for supposing that he might never reappear upon the theatre of the world P—it would ask to know what circumstances had led to his disappearance? It would then be necessary to revive past events—to repeat a tale which has long since been forgotten in a word, Cicely,” added the lawyer, bending @ significant look upon his niece, “it would by no means suit me to recall to men’s minds the fact that I was Mr. Waldron’s clerk at the period when all those events took place.” Cicely reflected for a few moments; and then she said, “True! you were Mr. Waldron’s clerk —but could you not so tell the tale of past events as to separate yourself from all the iniquity thereof?” “ Scarcely so—scarcely so,” answered Mr. Tim- perley, shaking his head. ‘Look you, Cicely. Eighteen years have elapsed since those events; and during this period I kave toiled—I have won riches for myself—and what is more, I have made my name respectable; and people when speaking Comiclooolks DLL LLL LLL Lt CL TC ee ttt tse tl a TL LL LLL LE LLL LT CE ett titi. Cc om