The Soldier's Wife — page 66: what you’re looking at

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

THE SOLDIER'S WIFE. Gs The outfit was complete at the end of a fort- night after their arrival in town; and the day was now at hand when Gerald was to proceed to Portsmouth to join his regiment. One of his father’s grooms from the Manor House had been attached to his service, and was sent off to take the horses by easy stages to Ports- mouth. When the morning of departure ar-|father has duly lodged the sum of money of rived, the baronet embraced his son—gave him|which I spoke to you, in the Portsciouth such good advice as he thought necessary, or|banker’s hands. I have written to that banker as he was competent to impart—and then saw |for a portion of the money to be sent to me, him enter a post-chaise which had been hired/That remittance I shall receive the day after to take the young gentleman to Portsmouth. |to-morrow ; but in case of any delay, suppose Having thus seen his son off, Sir Archibald |that we calculate four days ere it reaclies me. Redburn entered his own carriage and retraced|On the fourth day hence, therefore, I shall his way to his ancestral home in the midland|leave London for Coventry: that is to say on county where it was situated. the 24th. I had better have the 25th clear for But Gerald did not proceed in the post-|procuring the special license and making the chaise many miles from London. At the end/requisite arrangements. If, therefore, you will of the first stage he pretended to have forgot-|leave Oakleigh early in the morning of the ten some important business, and promptly |/26th, you will be at Coventry by midday, where returned to the metropolis. There he put up/we can meet at the George Hotel; and within at a different hotel from where ne and his|the hour then passing your dear Lucy may be father had been staying, and hastened to the;/come my own much-beloved wife. Horse Guards to solicit a fortnight’s additional} ‘A reply by return of post, addressed to Mr. leave of absence ere joining his regiment, on the |Smith, Hatchett’s Hotel, will duly fall into my Jea that his mother had been taken seriously |hands, as I shall give the waiters instructions ill, and he had been sent for to return home at/|to that effect. once. Permission was at once accorded him;| “Believe me to remain, My dear sir, ' and he was thus master of his time. He now “Your's most sincerely, and soon wrote off to Jacob Jones, the groom at Ports- to be your son-in-law, | mouth, to tell him that he should not be there “GERALD REDBURN.” for a fortnight, but that the man was by no means to mention the circumstance to anybody at Oakleigh if he should happen.to write to his friends or acquaintances there. Gerald knew that the groom could be trusted, and was there- me, as well as trom the evidence of feeling which she,testified on the last occasion I was at your house, I entertain no apprehension upon the subject. | “And now, my dear sir, I will proceed to explain the arrangements I propose, and to hich I hope and trust you will assent. My the letter for Luey; and the packet, together with the other letters he had written, was at once sent to the post. ~ * fore easy upon that score. By the same post * * # he wrote to the Portsmouth banker, desiring * * him to remit a hundred pounds without delay: * * * “« * for his father had not given him in ready cash very much more than would have sufficed to pay his travelling expenses. jsut these were not all the letters that Gerald wrote on that we He penned a long letter to Lucey, telling her how much he loved her, joffiee and authority. how necessary she was to his happiness, how| First of all, we should observe that a letter- deliberately he had reflected upon the step|box had been fixed in his window; and on the which he was now taking, and how sincerely |strength of his appointment he had painted up he would devote himself to ensure her felicity.|his shop. Business being slack in consequence He concluded by making her an offer of his|of the “conspiracy” against him, and the coin hand, and referred her to her father for parti-|in his pocket being limited to something like cwars of the arrangements which he informed |eighteen-pence, Mr. Bates undertook the paint- her had already been made for the celebration |ing ‘process himself, and a very beautiful daub of their marriage. Altogether the letter was|he made of it. Nevertheless, when completed written in an unexceptionable style, and re-|it delighted his eyes, and that was sufticient flected none of the bad qualities or weak points|His own name shone resplendent in yellow of the young man’s character. letters upon a green ground; and the facia like He then wrote the following letter to Mr.|wise had the sounding titles of “ Perfumer an Davis :— Hairdresser” completely renovated. On a “ Hatchett’s Hotel, Piccadilly. |wooden pane specially introduced into the “ August 20th, 1828. lowest row of glass ones in his window ap “My dear Sir, peared the important announcement of Post “ According to promise, I take the first op-|Orrice; and as if there were any difficulty in portunity of writing to Miss Davis and your-|comprehending what purpose the box was te self. The letter to your dear Lucy I enclose|serve, the words “For Letters” were duly unsealed, that you may peruse it ere placing|scrawled underneath the horizontal slit. wt in her hands. I fervently hope that my} We must now look into Mr. Bates’s shop on uit will prove acceptable to your daughter ;|the morning after Gerald Redburn Lad posted aud from all that has passed between you and'his letters, and there we shall find the barber We must now transport the reader back again to the village of Oakleigh, where we shall find Mr. Bates duly exercising the impor tant functions of | mer pa perhaps, too, somewhat exceeding the precise limits of his In this epistle to Mr. Davis, Gerald enclosed CORNICE OOOKS.C©