Joseph Wilmot, or, The Memoirs of a Man-Servant — page 385: what you’re looking at

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

-_—— ‘ 372 JOSEPH WILMOT; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A MAN-SERVANT. | | | giving unrestrained vent to my feelings that Ij} metropolis with the ladies, and that they would sought that half-hour’s solitude. The dream of years was now fulfilled: the hope for which I had subsisted through misfortunes, trials, and vicissi- tudes of every kind was now accomplished! I had received the assurance that Annabel was to be my own. The tears of joy coursed each other down my cheeks; and frequently, frequently did I ask myself whether it could all be possibly true, or whether it were a vision? And as if to convince myself that it was indeed all true, I sate down to pen letters to those whom I knew to be most anxi- ous to learn the issue of my journey into West- moreland,—although not for a single moment had they doubted what that issue would be. I wrote to my mother :—for need I here say, reader, that I had forgiven her—Oh! I had forgiven her for whatsoever cruelty there might have been in her former conduct towards me? I had forgiven her, because my heart had yearned towards the authoress of my being—because I looked upon her as the victim of circumstances which had ruled her with an almost irresistible empire—and because I never, never could forget the kisses which she had be- stowed and the tears which she had shed on that memorable night when she sought my chamber— the chamber of her son—at the hotel at Civita Vecchia. I wrote also to the Count of Livorno, who was then staying at Eccleston House in Lon- don; and I begged that he would communicate to the kind-hearted Mr. Saltcoats the tale of the happiness which had awaited me at Heseltine Hall. The grand banquet which Sir Matthew had or- dered to be prepared, took place at five o’clock. Several of the leading families in the neighbour- hood had been invited, that all possible honour might be done to me as the wanderer who was welcomed home! But little had Sir Matthew Heseltine foreseen, on issuing these invitations, that when the festive day should come, it was as the Earl of Eccleston that he would have to present me to his guests! Much more agreeable to me would it have been to dine’ only in the society of Sir Matthew, Annabel, and her mother: but, as I have already said, it was not for me to throwa damp upon the happiness of this memorable day, nor to contravene any of the well-meant arrange- ments made by Sir Matthew Heseltine. Two days afterwards a valet from Eccleston House arrived by the train,—my mother having sent him down that I might have attendance suit- able to my rank. I had promised Sir Matthew no, I should rather say I had promised my beloved Annabel to remain a fortnight at Hesel- tine Hall; and gladly would I have remained there longer, were it not that I had business of import- ance to attend to in London—and moreover I could not stay too long away from my mother, to whom recent events had given a shock which would have been fatal were it not that there was a counter- balancing influence in the fact that she was at length enabled to acknowledge me as her offspring, But inasmuch as there was every probability of my being kept in London for some time, in order to go through the necessary ceremonies in proving my right to the title and estates of Eccleston, Sir Matthew declared that it would be cruel to sepa- rate Annabel and myself for so long a period, and that therefore he would shortly follow me to the all pass the winter in London. I begged that Sir Matthew would make Eccleston House his home: but he said, “ No, my dear boy ——for so I think I shall ever henceforth call you! Her ladyship your mother is an invalid—death has lately been in that house; and it would therefore be unseemly for us to take up our quarters there. I will write to Mr. Tennant by this day’s post, to instruct him to hire a house for us with the least possible delay And perhaps,” added the Baronet, with a sig- nificant smile, “TI shall tell him that it must not be too far distant from Manchester Square.” The fortnight of my sojourn at Heseltine Hall elapsed—a fortnight of unalloyed happiness—a fortnight during which the unchanging beauty of the weather enabled me to enjoy frequent rambles with Annabel throughout the spacious grounds. At length the morning of departure came; and much of the sadness which would otherwise have been experienced, was toned down by the certainty of meeting in London in the course of a week or ten days. Sir Matthew’s carriage took me from. the Hall to the Railway Station; and I proceeded to Manchester. There I remained tor the rest of that day in order to call upon my esteemed friends the Rowlands: for now there was no longer any necessity to observe towards them the mystery which I had maintained on the previous occasion. I announced to them that title which altered circumstances had given me; and I received their sincerest congratulations that providence should have placed wealth in my hands—for they were pleased to declare their conviction that I should use it worthily. From Manchester if was my resolve to pass by Leicester, and to tarry for an hour or two there, that I might visit the scenes which were so fami- liar to my boyhood. On alighting at the Railway Station at Leicester, I ordered William my valet to repair to an hotel, which I named; and I bade him give directions to have refreshments provided for me by a particular hour. I then set out, and walked in the direction of that academical esta- blishment where all the earliest years of my life had been passed. Isaw at a distance that sinister looking building—the Workhouse !—and it seemed to me as if if were but yesterday that the stern- featured Jukes had led me up to that door and had told me the name of the place! Ah, my circum- stances were indeed changed now! What mar- vels had happened during the few years which had elapsed since that date! Andas I advanced to- wards the school which I soon beheld at a little distance, I recognised many and many an. object which had been familiar to me in my boyhood ; and my heart swelled with emotions—the same as when a few days back I was walking along the road from Kendal to Heseltine Hall. Ineffable are the feelings conjured up by thus revisiting in manhood the places that were familiar in boyhood: indescribable are the emotions with which the spots that were memorable in other days are thus gazed upon. There was the playfield—and there was the very bench on which I had often and often sate, wondering why I was never visited by kind friends as other boys were—wondering likewise who my parents might have been—aye, and weep- ing too, as my young heart thus pondered the neglect, the utter abandonment which I experienced —_—_— -— LOO et I A TL LO A LOL LE I EI COmmicooolks (C@)