Joseph Wilmot, or, The Memoirs of a Man-Servant — page 146: what you’re looking at

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

ct ee ee ee EE ee JOSEPH WILMOT; Dr. Pomfret’s tortuous pursuits and artifices a subject for a capital joke. So true it is that the example of masters and mistresses too often tends to destroy proper feelings, and indeed absolutely demoralize their servants, both male and female. The coachman would tell us how Dr. Pomfret en- couraged hypochondriaes in their delusions rela- tive to their ailments, and would write out lengthy prescriptions which were sent to Sawkins to be made up, and consisted of pills and potions that contained really no medicament at all. Jor not- withstanding the great’ caution adopted by the physician and the apothecary in all their proceed- ings, such little matters as these would occasion- ally ooze out, by a word incautiously dropped, or by the gossipping of Mr. Sawkins’ assistants; and thus if was intelligible enough how a domestic who had been so long in Dr. Pomfret’s service as the old coachman, should have gleaned several particulars of this kind. In short, I had not been many weeks in my new place before I obtained a sufficient insight into my master’s character to inspire me with very considerable disgust and contempt for him. He was however kind enough to us servants—and so was his wife: we nived well—our wages were not merely liberal, but were punctually paid: and therefore, whatsoever I might think of my master and mistress, I had no reason to complain on my own account. I now proceed to speak of another matter at which I have already lightly glanced: I mean the nature of one part of the doctor’s establishment. The first and second floors were so arranged that each formed a complete suite of apartments, shut out by a door from the landing: that is to say, any one occupying, for instance, the apartments on the first floor, might, pass from one room to an- other without being seen by persons going up and down the stairs. When first I was in my new place, I noticed that at about the same time the breakfast things were prepared for the parlour, another tray was got in readiness: and this was carried up-stairs by the female-servant who bore the denomination of the Private Parlour-maid. A separate dinner was likewise cocked, and borne up-stairs by her: a separate tea and supper in the same manner. There was a great deal of mystery observed in ail this; and whenever a particular bell rang from the up-stairs rooms, only the Private Parlour-maid answered it; and if she did not happen to be in the kitchen at the time, it was not attended to by any other of the female servants—but she was hastily summoned, with the intimation, “Jane, your bell has rung.” This Private Parlour-maid, I should add, was a some- what silent and reserved young woman; and by her appearance as well as her manner, seemed dis- cretion personified. Sometimes, if I entered the kitchen suddenly, I did happen to catch her talk- ing in a low tone to the cook or one of the other females: but the moment I made my appearance they would glance at me—then exchange signifi- cant looks—and hold their peace. All these cir- cumstances naturally struck me as being singular ; and I do not hesjtate to confess that they excited my curiosity: but I asked no questions—and for many weeks remained in ignorance of what I really desired to know. That there was however some person in the house whom I had not as yet seen, was evident enough: but whether an invalid I a eee ew EE Seine OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A MAN-SERVANT. re ee i rr ee ee 183 lodger, or whether a relation of the doctor or his wife, I could not possibly conjecture. The indi- vidual—whoever he or she might be—never came out of the rooms on the first floor, received no visitors, and appeared to be shrouded in complete mystery as well as buried in total seclusion. No— not total: for after a time I ascertained that Mrs. Pomfret was wont to pass several hours with that person each day. At length my fellow-servants, when they came to know me better, grew somewhat less reserved in respect to a matter which was evidently no secret to them. First they began to talk a trifle more openly in my presence: one word led on to an- other—so that in due course the mystery hecame revealed to me. The plain fact was this: Dr. and Mrs. Pomfret received ladies who had very good reasons for retirmg for a few weeks or months, as the case might be, from the society in which they habitually moved. Beneath that roof shame sought an asylum and frailty a hiding-place ; and those who, unwedded, were about to bear a mother’s name, received every accommodation in return for a commensurate reward. The utmost privecy was thus secured to them: the good faith and honour of the doctor and his wife could be relied upon—the bribes they received, being no doubt sufficiently high to ensure such inviolable secrecy. I moreover learnt that there was at that present time a lady occupying the first-floor apart- ments. None of the servants except the Private Parlour-maid had ever seen her. She had come one night, deeply veiled as an additional precau- tion; and ‘having once crossed the threshold of the outer door of that particular suite of apartments, she had never as yet re-crossed it. The Private Parlour-maid knew not her name: perhaps even the physician and his wife were equally ignorant of it. After a lapse of about two months she be- came a mother: a nurse, who was ready in attend- ance, departed at once with the new-born infant ; and about three weeks afterwards the lady herself went away in the same mysterious manner in which she had come. I farther learnt that the accommodation thus furnished at Dr. Pomfret’s house to ladies seeking temporary retirement, was a circumstance not generally known in the city of Salisbury. There were of course whispers to that effect in some quarters: but it was kept as quiet as possible, for fear lest, if universally known, it might injure the physician’s regular practice. But from all I un- derstood, these private arrangements were even more lucrative than his more open professional pursuits: and if he had been compelled to aban- don either, it would have been the latter which he would have given up. I now began to comprehend how it was that Mrs. Pomfret had acquired that cat-like stealthiness of locomotion—that mysterious look—that habit of speaking in a low half-hushed voice,—in short, that air with which she impressed one of being much accustomed to attend upon the sick-room. And here, too, was another explana- tion of the intimacy of that connexion which sub- sisted between the doctor and Mr. Sawkins, the professional attentions of the latter as an ac- coucheur being frequently put into requisition at my master’s house. Having now afforded the reader some greater insight than I was at first enabled to give, into 10) COMMIG c <S (C (0)