Joseph Wilmot, or, The Memoirs of a Man-Servant — page 83: what you’re looking at

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

70 JOSEPH WILMOT; lordship be deceived in the matter: for I am re- solved. It has been nothing but promises, and shufflings, and puttings-off, and subterfuges for a long time past.” The irate wine-merchant ascended into his gig: but again, ere he drove away, he bade the steward bear in mind what he had said, and fail not to communicate his intentions to Lord Ravenshill. A few days afterwards I heard the servants talk- ing about something fresh which had come to their knowledge respecting Mr. Boustead’s pro- ceedings. It appeared that his lordship had a ereat many bills of exchange floating about in the -town and likewise at Exeter: and all those which were not yet due, the jilted Euphemia’s father was getting inte his own hands,—evidently for the purpose of rendering himself a creditor of Lord Ravenshill, so that he might have the satisfaction of accelerating the ruin which he predicted as close at hand. Three weeks had elapsed since the departure of my lord and her ladyship, when one morning—as I entered the servants’-hall, shortly after the letter-bag had been brought from the town—I was struck by the mysteriously foreboding looks of my fellow-domestics, and the ominous whispers which were passing amongst them. Presently one of the footmen said, addressing himself to me, “ Well, Joseph, I am afraid it is all up with that affair in London: the match is broken off—and young master has been wounded in a duel.” “ Mr. Walter wounded in a duel!” I exclaimed in perfect astonishment, and likewise much alarmed: for with all his faults, there was some- thing in him that I liked, especially as I was aware how cruelly he had been deceived and duped in money-affairs by his father. “ Yes—such is the report which by means of a few hurried lines written by her ladyship’s maid to Emily,”—alluding to another of the tire-women, —“has just reached us. But we know nothing more of the details—not even with whom Mr. Walter has fought. My lord and her ladyship will be back at the Hall to-night.” CHAPTER XVI MR. RIDLEY. BETWEEN seven and eight in the evening, the trayelling-carriage was descried entering the park ; and as it approached the mansion, those domestics who were assembled in the hall to receive my lord and her ladyship, expressed by their countenances the anxiety they felt as to whether the looks of those who were coming would confirm the inaus- picious tidings receiyed in the morning. It was indeed a very serious thing for the servants gene- rally, on account of the large arrears of wages due to us all; and there was likewise a feeling of regret at the prospect of the downfall of the family and the triumph of the vindictive Bousteads. The trayelling-carriage rolled up to the entrance: Charles Linton sat upon the box—the valet and the maid in the rumble behind; and the expression of their features was indeed at the first glance but little reassuring. The door of the equipage was hastily opened: his lordship descended first—and OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A MAN-SERVANT. presented his arm to assist her ladyship in alight- ing. His countenance was more than usually pale: it looked haggard and careworn. He trem- bled too with an evident nervousness, as if he had received a shock. Her ladyship was ill and suf- fering ; and she leant with visible heaviness upon her husband’s arm as she ascended the flight of steps to the entrance-hall. But Mr. Walter had not accompanied his father and mother home! My first impression therefore was—and equally that of the other domestics—that he must have been very seriously wounded indeed. How cruel in sucha case for his parents to have abandoned him, and to have come away without him! Such was the thought that flashed to my mind; but as I pre- sently learnt, I did them an injustice: for in the servants’ hall if was soon known that his wound was slight—that he might have travelled if he had . chosen—but that under existing circumstances he had refused to come back to Devonshire. But I must return to Lord Rayenshill and her ladyship, as they first appeared when alighting from the carriage. They had about them that undefinable but yet intelligible air which too painfully denotes the consciousness of blighted expectations, ruined hopes, and approaching down- fall. Whatsoever attempt they might both have made to veil or subdue the betrayal of all they felt, was now but too ineffectual: their cold aristocratic pride—their severe patrician reserve—afforded not a mantle wherein to enwrap their emotions. They passed on into the dining-room; and there it was immediately requisite to supply wine-and-water for her ladyship, as she was overcome to such a degree as almost to sink off in a swoon. That night—before the hour for retiring arrived —Charles Linton beckoned me to accompany him for a walk in the back-garden; and when we were alone together, he said, “Now, Joseph, all my worst fears, which I expressed to you many months ago, are about to be confirmed. So surely as you behold those black clouds gathering over the sky and threatening a storm, are the dark clouds of ruin already assembling quickly above this man- sion, full soon to burst!” “Are his lordship’s prospects indeed so hope- less ?” I asked, with a feeling of deep sorrow. “ A miracle alone can save this devoted family, Joseph,” responded Linton, in gloomy accents ; “and it will not be wrought, because the age for miracles is gone by. No man has ever played his cards worse than his lordship did on that day when he broke off with the Bousteads. Contemptible as such an alliance would have been, it nevertheless might haye proved his salvation. Now all is over; and in a few days the officials of the law will doubtless be in possession here.” “Ts the contemplated match between Mr. Walter and Miss Jenkinson completely broken off?” “ Most completely,” was the response. “ That duel, and other circumstances i «Ah, the duel!” I said: “but with whom did Mr. Walter fight ?” ‘‘You remember,” rejoined Charles, “that I one day gave you some little explanations about a certain Miss Alicia Cuthbert, and the gentleman who was supposed to be enamoured of her— namely, Captain Berkeley. It was with this Cap- tain Berkeley that Mr. Walter exchanged shots, and by whom he was wounded in the right arm. 0 ee —————————— lee - - ~ oe A A ET TT LT | LL —- GOmichboo Ss (E) in