Joseph Wilmot, or, The Memoirs of a Man-Servant — page 192: what you’re looking at

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

0 TE EEE JOSEPH WILMOT ; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A MAN-SERVANT. 179 much !—indeed you can do everything! Silence is all that is required of you. No, not all: there are other favours—for I will call them favours— which I ask at your hands. But in the first place, a solemn—a sacred—and an inviolable si- lence with regard to the past! I do not think you can be an empty boaster of “ Heaven forbid, my lord!” I ejaculated ; “and the best proof is, that not a soul at Oval Villa has ever heard me drop a single syllable calculated to betray aught prejudicial to Lady Calanthe.” “ Your words are stamped with truth,” said the Earl of Mandeville, his countenance still farther brightening up with this new relief afforded to his mind. “The secret, therefore, that in Miss Matilda Palmer a peer’s daughter was disguised, is totally unsuspected at Oval Villa. Let it remain so: and this is the first favour I solicit at your hands. My daughter will presently write a note to Mrs. Robinson oy “T should observe, my lord, that Mrs. Robinson sent me up into the town to make inquiries con- cerning Lady Calanthe’s absence ; and thus was I enabled so speedily to answer the summons brought me by the waiter.” “Then you must return, Joseph Wilmot,” con- tinued the Earl, “and give the assurance that your inquiries have been vain. My daughter will, as I ere now said, write a note couched in a cer- tain strain, to Mrs. Robinson, accounting for this sudden and abrupt withdrawal from her service. The contents of that note will doubtless reach your ears; and you will not utter a single word to disprove them. May I calculate on your good faith thus far P” “You may, my lord,” I answered confidently: for now I was indeed speaking the truth, and had no need to call up to my aid an effrontery and a dissimulation, which in my heart I abhorred. “The next fayour which I have to ask.at your hands,” continued the Earl, “is that you will never again make any attempt to see my daughter.” “T call God to witness the sincerity with which I give your lordship this most solemn and sacred. pledge! May evils ten thousand times worse than Egyptian plagues, fall upon me,” I exclaimed, “if I break this oath!” | “ Enough!’’ said the Earl, now addressing me with even an.air of kindness, “‘ you are making as much reparation as lies in your power:’—and [I felt convinced at the moment that his eyes were so far opened to the real truth of past transactions, that he began to suspect his daughter had run after me much more than I had after her. “ But now, Joseph,” he went on to say, “I have a last favour —the greatest of all perhaps—to solicit at your hands. It is that you will, as soon as convenient, quit the service of Mrs. Robinson and seek em- ployment elsewhere. I do not attempt to disguise my object. There is frankness on your side: there shall be equal candour on mine. In a word, I seek to guard against any future display of my daughter’s infatuation: I am desirous to break off all correspondence between you—that you shall become, as it wére, lost to her ; and in process of time the affection with which you have inspired her, may calm down. I know that I am asking much, when I request you to leave a situation in which perhaps you are happy, and where you pro- -bably have a kind mistress. But I have the means of providing you with another. It is far—very far away: but I can guarantee that you shall be comfortable there—and you must permit me not merely to bear all the expenses of your removal, but likewise to bestow upon you a proof of my gratitude.” Here Lord Hubert started, as if he thought his father was making use of terms far too humble and condescending for a menial in a page’s livery. “ Yes—I use the word gratitude,” continued the Earl emphatically: “and depend upon it, Joseph, that I shall feel grateful if you grant me all I have solicited at your hands.” “JT will do so, my lord,” was my response. “ But I beg most positively though respectfully to decline the acceptance of anything which might be accounted as a bribe:”—and as I thus spoke I flung a proud look upon Lord Hubert, to make him aware that though I wore a menial’s garb, yet that I was as susceptible of proper and elevated feelings as he himself. “Well, Joseph,” continued the Earl, “TI shall say nothing more on this point. The kind treat- ment you are certain to experience at the new place to which I shall recommend you, will prove that I am not unmindful of your interests. Ina few days you shall receive a letter from me con- taining farther particulars: but once more you faithfully pledge yourself to fulfil all I have asked ?” : “T faithfully pledge myself, my lord,” was my readily given reply. “We have now no more to say,” resumed the Karl of Mandeville. ‘“ Go back to Mrs. Robinson; and I must beg of you so far to descend to an untruth—which will be venial under the circum- stances—as to assure her that your inquiries for Miss Palmer have been vain. She will not be kept long in suspense: a messenger with the note to which I have already alluded, will be speedily on your track. And now farewell.” I bowed and quitted the room, well pleased at having passed through the dreaded ordeal in a man- ner so little disagreeable to my feelings, and having been compelled to outrage truth as little as might be under the circumstances. I issued forth from the hotel, and hastened homeward. I was even in good spirits: I had heard enough to convince me that Calanthe would be restored to the bosom of her family, and that precautions had been taken from the very outset to prevent her reputation from being seriously compromised by her disap- pearance from home. On my own account, I was rejoiced that the separation I had been longing to bring about was at length effected: and fervently —Oh! how fervently, did I vow that never again would I be seduced away from my allegiance to the charming and dearly beloved Annabel. On reaching Oval Villa, I at once informed Mrs. Robinson that I could learn no tidings of Miss Palmer; and my mistress was ~ery much concerned on that young lady’s accou-+. The domestics too were equally alarmed and surprised ; and all sorts of speculations naturally arose to ac- count for her absence—but not oneat all detrimental! to the high opinion they entertained of the gover- ness’s moral rectitude. The inmates of the villa were not kept very long in suspense: for a note pre- sently arrived, addressed to Mrs. Robinson. I at once recognised Calanthe’s writing, though it still ElO@QO cS (CO) AA