Joseph Wilmot, or, The Memoirs of a Man-Servant — page 353: what you’re looking at

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340 will show you the way—and mind and have every- JOSEPH WILMOT; thing you want. Mrs. Barclay, I am going to retire at once. I—I—am very much fatigued.” But I knew full well that it was not altogether fatigue which was now overpowering Sir Matthew Heseltine: no, nor did it even enter largely into the various influences that he felt at the time. His emotions —those emotions which were so stirred up by a return to his ancestral home after an absence of twelve long years—were the pre- dominating cause of that overwhelming sense which was upon him. I accompanied the girl to the servants’ hall; and a comfortable repast was soon spread before me. There was another female domestic in the apartment; and I soon learnt that these two, to- gether with Mrs. Barclay and the steward—who was absent at Kendal on some little business— constituted the household. The land-bailiff occu- pied a cottage on the estate, midway between the mansion and the town. In about a quarter of an hour Mrs. Barclay came into the servants’ hall ; and hastily prepared a tray of sandwiches and wine, which she herself took up to the room whither she had conducted Sir Matthew. But before she thus disappeared again, she placed some wine on the table for my own use,—express- ing a hope, in a civil and kind tone, that I should find everything as comfortable as it could be under the circumstances which had taken her so un- awares,—and assuring me that matters would be upon a better footing on the morrow. When she again returned, having administered to all Sir Matthew’s immediate wants, she began to con- verse gaily and affably with me upon a variety of indifferent topics: but she asked me no questions of any kind, though her demeanour and her atten- tion showed that she had received Sir Matthew’s instructions to treat me in a suitable manner. The following day was one of considerable bustle and excitement at Heseltine Hall. The tenants on the Baronet’s domain flocked thither to pay their respects to their master, whom many of them had never seen before, while others were in their childhood when last they saw him :—and the neighbouring gentry and their families called to leave their cards in token of welcoming the old man back to the home of his ancestors. Addi- tional servants were likewise engaged; uphol- sterers from Kendal came to refurnish some of the principal rooms; and all requisite preparations were made to restore the establishment to its former condition. I wandered through the almost countless rooms, and was surprised to find in what an excellent state the building and the furniture had been kept during Sir Matthew’s absence of twelve long years. That he himself all along knew everything had gone on thus well in the care of trustworthy domestics, I had not the slightest doubt ; and I comprehended that the misgivings which he had expressed upon the sub- ject while we were on our way thither, were partly the result of his cynical humour, and partly a pre- text for concealing who he was, so that it might be broken gradually, and thus spare his own feel- ings from’ the chance of being too abruptly and powerfully worked upon. In short, he had come back to his home that evening, inobtrusively, un- ostentatiously, and on foot,—first suffering it to be believed that he was a stranger-visitor instead OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A MAN-SERVANT. of at once proclaiming who he was,—so that he might thus gradiently accustom himself to such emotions as circumstances were irresistibly calcu- lated to conjure up. Some few days passed: there were no letters to write—nor did Sir Matthew once require me to read to him. We were alone together for a few minutes only, morning and evening, when I assisted him with his toilet; and then his coun- tenance was perfectly inscrutable, as if he studiously meant to defy me to penetrate what his ulterior views and intentions were in thus return. ing to his home. Nevertheless, his conduct be- came more and more kind, after his own peculiar fashion ; and there were certain things which he would suffer no one to do for him except myself. In a word, I saw plainly enough that he had con- ceived not merely a very good opinion of my chas racter, but likewise a certain degree of friendship for me—though he would have considered it a humiliation to his pride to have unbent all ina moment. He had for so many years shut himself up in an eccentric cynicism, that he could not bring himself suddenly to depart from it; and in- deed it had grown too habitual to permit him to do so. In the evening of the sixth day after our arrival at Heseltine Hall, a post-chaise drove up to the door ; and Mrs. Leslie alighted. She came alone : her husband was not with her. I hastened forth, together with Mrs. Barclay and one of the foot- men who had been engaged, to receive her; and it was a kind smile of recognition, blended with a rapidly-darted look of fervent gratitude for the past, which she bestowed upon me. It was evident that she experienced deep and varied emotions on thus returning to a mansion from which she had been absent so long : it was with tears in her eyes that she grasped the good old housekeeper’s hands—that housekeeper who in a few broken words welcomed her to Heseltine Hall again! She was conducted up to the drawing: room, where Sir Matthew awaited her presence ; and I saw no more of her during the evening. I need hardly observe that the domestics of the household remained in perfect ignorance of all that had happened in respect to her husband; and though Sir Matthew Heseltine had not breathed a single syllable to the effect that I was to keep the seal of silence upon my lips, I of course did so most religiously; and I felt gratified that he should thus have trusted to my honour and good feeling on the point, instead of formally en- joining secrecy. Mrs. Leslie stayed a week at Heseltine Hall, during which time she kept herself perfectly se- cluded from the visitors who called: she was almost constantly with her uncle—and once or twice when I had occasion to enter the room where they were seated together, I found them in deep and earnest conversation. At the expiration of that week it was whispered amongst the house- hold that Mrs. Leslie was about to take her depar- ture; and I soon learnt that such was indeed the fact. But the manner in which the report was thus fully confirmed, belongs to the incidents which must be related in another chapter. Gboo S (C(O) OO