Joseph Wilmot, or, The Memoirs of a Man-Servant — page 343: what you’re looking at

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

— —_—_ — + S - - - _ - C - ————— —_— — ———_ —__-——_—_- ee eee —_—_— o30 JOSEPH WILMOT ; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A MAN-SERVANT. empowered, to recommend the delinquent Foley to the mercy of the tribunal. “ Now, Joseph,” whispered Mr. Henley, nudging me with his elbow, “you must return thanks. It is your business, you know: you are Mrs. Foley’s champion and advocate. There, up with you, my boy !” I accordingly rose and said a few words compli- mentary to the commercial gentlemen on the deci- sion to which they had come; and during my speech Mr. Honeysett kept nodding te me with a smile of bland and patronizing approval, which was aS much as to give me to understand that even he—the great orator of the bagmen—the luminary of eloquence in the commercial travelling line—thought that what I said was by no means amiss. When I sat down, the knuckles again played in chorus all round the table; while Mr. Tarbox, who had been asleep in his chair through- out the whole of my oration, woke up and voci- ferated, “ Hear, hear!” He then asked the chair- man what was going on; and being made to un- derstand that I had delivered myself of a speech, he swore I was a capital fellow, and invited me to dine with him on the following day. This honour I however declined ; and shaking hands with Mr. Henley, made my bow to the company, and took my departure. | The clocks of Reading were proclaiming the hour of midnight as I emerged from the hotel. I made up my mind to receive a good scolding, and very likely an abrupt dismissal from my situation, at Sir Matthew Heseltine’s hands, when I should encounter him on the following morning: but it could not be helped—and I philosophically aban- doned myself to whatsoever fate might be in store for me. perfectly sober, haying merely partaken of two or three glasses of wine, though I had paid for my share of a couple of bottles. When I reached the house, I saw that there was a light in the front parlour ; and I naturally supposed that the house- keeper Mrs. Hodgson had chosen to sit there to await my return, as I knew that she would not go to bed until she had seen the premises all safe after my entrance. The door was opened by Mrs. Hodgson ; and by the light which she carried in her hand, she surveyed me attentively for a few moments. “Well, Joseph,” she said in a low whisper, “ at all events you are not tipsy—and that is something in your fayour. Sir Matthew is sitting up in the parlour, and desires that you will go in to him directly.” I accordingly entered the parlour; and there sat Sir Matthew, looking as if he had for an hour past purposely and studiously settled himself in a manner that should be best calculated to over- whelm me with a sense of his displeasure. He sat bolt upright in his chair,—his mouth drawn in so that the lips were invisible, and his horrid-looking eyes fixed with a sinister gleaming. I remained standing near the door, which I had closed behind me; and for upwards of a minute the Baronet continued to stare at me in that ominous fashion. At first I met his gaze steadily: but not choosing to be guilty of the rudeness of persisting in a counter-stare, I bent down my eyes, and could scarcely suppress a smile at the ludicrous appear- ance which the old man wore at the time. ee eee I must inform the reader that I was: “ Are you drunk?” was the question which abruptly thrilled forth from his lips: and he con- tinued to survey me searchingly. “No, sr—I am not,” was my answer; “ and you can judge for yourself whether I am telling the truth’ | “ How do I know ?” he vociferated: and then he yelled forth in a yet shriller key, as if he were speaking with a forty punchinello power, high pressure,—“* I never was drunk in my life !” “ And I repeat that I am not now, sir,” I re- joined. “ Where have you been ?” demanded Sir Mat- thew. “TI am certainly very sorry to have remained out so late é “No evasions!” he exclaimed,—adding vehe- mently, “ Come, out with the truth! Where have you been ?” “To see Mr. Henley, the prosecutor in Foley’s case, sir—and to beseech him to recommend the prisoner to mercy when the trial comes on io- morrow.” “ Oh!” ejaculated Sir Matthew abruptly. “ You went out at eight o’clock, and it takes till past midnight—does it P—to put so simple a question as that ?” “T could not get Mr. Henley to come to a deci- sion, sir, until about half-an-hour ago.” “Why not?” demanded the Baronet. “Was he drunk? and had you to wait till he got sober ?” I briefly explained the circumstances under which I had been kept at the hotel; and while I was speaking, Sir Matthew kept his regards fixed upon with his wonted viperish stare, and with his lips sucked in,—all his features being completely rigid, and his forehead a mass of wrinkles by the way in which his brows were elevated. “A pretty party, according to your own ac- count!” he at length shrieked forth; “and IL dare say ten thousand times worse than you have ehosen to represent if. Were they al? drunk ?” “Oh, no, sir!—not all, by any means!” I ex- claimed. “Elevated—eh?” cried Sir Matthew, with a horribly sarcastic grin. * Something of that sort, sir.” “Oh! jolly fellows, I have no doubt !—and perhaps you would like to go back to their most delectable society to-morrow night—and the night after—and every night, in fact ?” “ T have no such inclination at all, sir,’ was my response. “I neither lke drinking nor late hours; and if it were not for extraordinary cir- cumstances, I should not have transgressed the regulations of your house this evening.” “ Evening do you call it ?” he literally screamed out: “it’s past midnight—it’s the morning of an- other day! But what makes you go and bother yourself so about this Foley’s affairs? Are you in love with his wife ?” My countenance flushed with indignation ; and I was about to quit the room abruptly, when Sir Matthew vociferated, “Stop! stop! I did not give you leave toretire. But you don’t think I am such a fool as to believe that it is through mere feelings of humanity that you have been taking all this trouble—spending your money in wine— and risking the loss of your situation ?” ElO@OO) <S (0) ee