Joseph Wilmot, or, The Memoirs of a Man-Servant — page 164: what you’re looking at

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

151 JOSEPH WILMOT; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A MAN-SERVANT. — a ee eae ate aE ee ee ee < — .,. e eee - s S ment. According to her own belief, the indivi- sently stopped im front of a handsome haberdashery dual fled with a cry of alarm: but this apparent shop, over the door of which shone the name of disappearance was, as the reader may suppose, pro- Dobbins in large gilt letters. Mr. Lanover bade duced by the fact that I fell down senseless. She Annabel wait outside for a few moments while he took no farther notice of the incident, and after | entered first. remaining in the church for some little while, sped| It was durmg the brief interval the young lady back to Wavenham Park. On the following day | was thus waiting for her father, that I suddenly she very candidly told Sir Malcolm how she had : encountered her, as described in an earlier chapter. gone forth to watch him; for she thought that he She was delighted to see me; and I, utterly might hear it whispered that she had been seen at ignorant of the distinction between Annabel and the midnight hour in the village—and she would Violet, addressed her in those terms which were not allow him to suppose that she had any other | duly recorded in their place, and which were to the purpose in view than the one which had really taken | effect that she was dear to me under any circum- her thither. Baronet had remained all night at his friend’s house: for he vowed and protested that so far from having any appointment to keep, he had en- joyed himself so thoroughly as to pass the bounds of moderation. The narrative must now return to Violet’s rela- tives in London. Many months had elapsed since they learnt the intelligence of her disappearance from the boarding-school at Southampton; and during this interval they had received not any tidings of her. It is scarcely necessary to observe that Mrs. Lanover and Annabel were both a prey to the utmost suspense on Violet’s account; and they did even sometimes think that she must be dead, inasmuch as she had never sent them a single line ; nor had Mr. Lanover succeeded in obtaining the slightest clue as to what had become of her. It was at the end of September of that same year— namely, 1837—that Mr. Lanover one day informed Annabel that she was to make preparations to accompany him in a journey upon which he should set out on the following morning. The announce- ment was made with so much abruptness that both Annabel and her mother were not merely sur- prised, but even alarmed: for Mr. Lanover, in- stead of volunteering the least explanation, had put on his hat and immediately quitted the house. Annabel’s mother was very ill at the time: imdeed she had been getting worse and worse ever since that period when two blows struck her, the one so closely following the other—I mean the knowledge that her husband had meditated the crime of mur- der, and the disappearance of Violet. She herself, being thus very ill, could not have undertaken a journey, even if she had been asked—but she was not : Annabel was to go alone with her father. The mother and daughtc> naturally bewildered themselves in conjectures as to what the object of the journey could be: but it was impossible to arrive at any conclusion—and equally impossible for Annabel to think of remonstrating with her father against being taken away from her mother while the latter stood in so much need of her ministrations and attentions. Accordingly she set off with Mr. Lanover on the following morning; and on reaching the coach-office, they took their places in a stage bound for Exeter. Throughout Then was it that she learnt how the | stances in which she might be placed. She was naturally at a loss to comprehend what I meant by so singular a mode of expression: but still more bewildered was she when I asked her “ whe- ther she had altogether ” the sentence stop- ping short there; for I had not dared to complete the question. I meant “whether she had alto- gether broken off with Sir Malcolm Wavenham ?” and methought that she must naturally compre- hend me. But she did not :—how could she? and it was no wonder that she eyed me strangely—no wonder she bent upon me a look which [ could not possibly pa at the time. The next instant I had to fly precipitately: for Annabel perceived her father issuing forth from the shop. That same evening, while proceeding to my new place at Myrtle Lodge, I saw Violet in the Baronet’s carriage, which had stopped at the public-house by the way-side; and naturally be- heving that it was Annabel who had fied from her father in order to return to her lover, I gave vent to an ejaculation of mingled grief and astonish- ment. Violot saw and recognised me: but she was as much at a loss to comprehend the meaning of my words as Annabel had been a few hours previously. It would farther appear that it was only a coincidence that the Baronet and Violet had been at Exeter at the same time as Mr. Lanover and Annabel—but the two sisters had not met—had not seen each other—and were ignorant at the time that they were so near. But this narrative of explanations must now go back to Annabel herself, whom I left at the door of Mr. Dobbins’ shop. Immediately after I fled in the precipitate manner which has been de- scribed, the young lady recovered her composure as well as she was able; and her father desired her to enter the shop. The spacious warehouse was threaded; and they passed into a parlour at the back,—where an elderly man, with a disagree- able countenance and a sinister expression of the eyes, was seated. He was introduced to Annabel as Mr. Dobbins, the proprietor of the establish- ment; and the young lady thought that he sur- veyed her in a somewhat peculiar manner—so that she felt both annoyed and confused. No business was discussed between Mr. Dobbins and Mr. Lanover: the conversation was on general sub- the journey Mr. Lanover gave not a syllable of jects; and as Annabel only spoke when actually explanation to Annabel as to his motive in under- | compelled to give answers to the haberdasher’s taking it: and she dared not question him. They | remarks, her father bent scowling looks upon her, arrived at Exeter, and took up their quarters at a | as if to give her to understand that she had better second-rate hotel. On the day after they reached | try to make herself a little more amiable. The that city, Mr. Lanover bade Annabel dress herself | interview lasted about half-an-hour; and Annabel in her best apparel, and accompany him to make a| was then conducted back to the hotel by her call upon a family to whom he was desirous of in- | father. On the following day they dined with troducing her. They set out together—and pre- | Mr. Dobbins, who, it appeared, was a widower and ELO@QO) <S (CO) im