Joseph Wilmot, or, The Memoirs of a Man-Servant — page 56: what you’re looking at

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

_— SC EE ee JOSEPH WILMOT; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A MAN-SERVANT. 43 the door of his own chamber: he had caught the sound of my footsteps, lightly though I trod;—_ and as he himself was full of nervous trepidation on his grandson’s account, he came forth to learn what I had to say. I gave him the satisfactory intelligence that the object of our solicitude was now sleeping; and the Marshal, with a beam of joy upon his countenance, remarked, “ It is a good | sign that he should thus be enabled to slumber. Let us hope that he will awake in a frame of mind that will cease to fill us with alarm.” I fervently echoed this aspiration, and once more retired to my own chamber. Still I did not immediately seek my couch: I sat up and listened till considerably past midnight: but there was no sound of the young Duke moving about. I thought that I might now venture to lie down; and as my lamp was on the verge of extinction, I hastened to put off my apparel. It was some time before slumber began to steal upon my eyes: for my mind was filled with many painful thoughts. At length however my ideas grew more and more confused—a dreamy repose came over me—and then [I slept profoundly. Without knowing how long I had thus slumbered, I found myself slowly awakening: and it was still night—for the room was pitch dark. I did not recollect having dreamt anything thus to arouse me: I had no consciousness of any sound overhead ; and as I lay and listened, all was profoundly si- lent, But I gradually became aware that the bosom-front of my night-shirt lay damp and heavy upon my chest, to which it seemed to cling with a sticky unpleasant feeling. I felt it with my hand —and it was indeed quite wet. Just at the mo- ment too that my hand thus lay upon it, some- thing fell on the back of that hand, as if it were a drop of water. I cannot describe the vague and horrible sensation that crept over me: but I lay for nearly a minute completely petrified. Again did something fall upon my hand, which lay as if palsied upon the damp bosom of my shirt. This thing occurring in the midst of the utter darkness, terrified me to an extent that I could now have shrieked out. With my other hand I felt the back of the one that lay upon my breast; and it was wet—but not with water’s light fluid—it was wet with something thicker and more consistent. I sprang from the couch in a state of almost wild distraction: I groped about for lucifer-matches— and at length found. them. The instant that one flashed as I struck it against the wall, I glanced at my shirt—and it was covered with blood. Quick as lightning I looked up to the ceiling immediately above the bed; and a dark dripping stain there confirmed with an almost frenzying effect the hor- rible idea which in vagueness and dimness had been agitating in my mind for the last few mo- ments. Madly I rushed from the room, and pre- cipitating myself into the Marshal’s chamber, ejaculated something—I know not what—I can- not remember what words they were which thus in mingled anguish, horror, and frenzy, burst from my lips: but they were sufficient to convey a _ frightful revelation ! A light was burning in the Marshal’s room: we rushed up the stairs—the Duke’s door was fastened inside—but I threw myself with desperate violence against it,and burst it open. Then, good heavens! what a spectacle met our view |—what a wild, rending, mournful cry went forth from the Mar- shal’s lips!—and how penetratingly was it echoed from my own! The wretched young nobleman had destroyed himself: he had cut his throat literally from ear to ear—he lay stretched upon the floor—and, O horror! his blood oozing through the joints of the oaken wood-work which formed that floor, had dripped upon myself as I lay in the room below. The entire household was speedily alarmed: but their unfortunate master was beyond the reach of human succour. Let me dwell no longer upon this crowning in- cident of the stupendous Paulin tragedy: but let the reader suppose a fortnight to have elapsed from the date of this shocking occurrence. The young Duke’s remains had been consigned to the tomb— the Marshal, stricken down to the very dust by this fresh calamity, had gone to his country-seat— and I was now without a situation. The veteran had offered to take me into his own service: but I had declined, though respectfully and thankfully— for I could not endure the thought of being con- tinually in the presence of any one whose merest look would vividly bring back to my mind all the horrors of which I had been a witness. I had taken leave of my fellow-servants, who had all likewise quitted the Paulin mansion,—which was now to be shut up; for the title—a title which seemed to have a fatalism fearfully clinging to it— had devolved upon a child. I had taken a lodging—and did not immediately purpose to seek for another situation, as my mind had received such a shock that it was absolutely necessary to adopt means to restore it to its proper equilibrium. Indeed, I was compelled to consult @ physician; and he recommended me to leaye Paris for a time—if not altogether. I had, speak- ing in English money, about sixty pounds in my possession,—being the accumulation of my wages, and the amount of a present which the sorrow- stricken Marshal had made me when [I left the mansion. At first I thought of returning to Eng- land: but on reflection I considered it incumbent upon me to remain abroad during the period of probation specified by Sir Matthew Heseltine. Following however the physician’s advice, I left Paris—and proceeded into Belgium. I remained six weeks at Brussels,—living with great economy so as not to exhaust my resources before I felt myself to be in a condition to do something to earn my bread for the future. I took a great deal of exercise, and endeayoured to divert my mind as much as I possibly could: but it was by no means easy to shake off the effects which that rapid suc- cession of frightful occurrences had produced upon it. For often and often when I was alone, the ghastly forms of the murdered Duchess—of the murderer Duke—and of the self-destroyed Theobald would rise up before me: dreadful dreams haunted me by night—and I would start up with a cry upon my lips and the perspiration cold upon my brow. But at length my mind grew calmer; and I came to the resolve to seek change of scene and & new position at one and the same time. My object now was to get into the service of a single gentleman or family about to travel,—as L wished to see as much of the Continent as pos- sible, so as to fulfil as far as circumstances would permit, the instructions I had received from Annabel’s eccentric grandfather—and likewise to ae — a SN _____ in _ ee a tt | OC CL us a ee E|N@QO) <S (c@) Al