Authors: George W. M. Reynolds,James Malcolm Rymer
Poor deluded man! he believed that letters
confided to the General Post Office administration could "tell no
tales" during their progress from the sender to the receiver:- how
miserably was he mistaken!
And here we may observe, that if the system of opening
letters at the General Post Office were merely adopted for the purpose of
discovering criminals and preventing crime, we should still deprecate the
proceeding, although our objections would lose much of their point in
consideration of the motive; but when we find - and know it to be a fact - that
the secrets of correspondence are flagrantly violated for political and other
purposes, we raise our voice to denounce so atrocious a system, and to excite
the indignation of the country against the men who can countenance or avail
themselves of it!
Numerous other letters were read upon the occasion referred
to in this chapter; and their contents carefully noted down. The whole ceremony
was conducted with so much regularity and method, that it proceeded with
amazing despatch; and the re-fastening of the letters was managed with such
skill that in few, if' any instances, were the slighted traces left to excite
suspicion of the process to which those epistles had been subjected.
It was horrible to see that old man forgetting the
respectability of his years, and those four young ones laying aside the fine
feelings which ought to have animated their bosoms,- it was horrible to see
them earnestly, systematically, and skilfully devoting themselves to an
avocation the most disgraceful, soul-debasing, and morally execrable!
When the ceremony of opening, reading, and resealing the
letters was concluded, one of the clerks conveyed the basket containing them to
that department of the establishment where they were to undergo the process of
sorting and sub-sorting for despatch by the evening mails; and the Examiner
then proceeded to make his reports to the various offices of the government.
The notes of the despatch from Castelcicala were forwarded to the foreign
secretary: the contents of the banker's letter to his father were copied and
sent to the Chancellor of the Exchequer; the particulars at Miss Cecilia
Huntingfield's affecting epistle to her mother were entered in a private book
in case they should be required at a future day; - and an exact copy of Robert
Stephens' letter to his brother was forwarded to the Solicitor of the Bank of
England.
THE 26TH OF NOVEMBER
As soon as the first gleam of morning penetrated through the
curtains of the boudoir in the Villa near Upper Clapton, Walter leapt from her
couch.
Conflicting feelings of joy and sorrow filled her bosom. The
day - the happy day had at length arrived, when, according to the promise of
the man on whom she looked as her benefactor, and grand event was to be
accomplished, which would release her from the detestable disguise which she
had now maintained for a period of nearly five years. The era had come when she
was again to appear in the garb that suited alike her charms and her
inclinations. This circumstance inspired her with the most heartfelt happiness.
But, on the other hand, she loved - tenderly loved one who
had meditated against her an outrage of a most infamous description. Instead of
hailing her approaching return to her female attire as the signal for the
consummation of the fond hopes in which she had a few weeks before indulged, -
hopes which pictured her imagination delicious scenes of matrimonial bliss in
the society of George Montague,- she was compelled to separate the dream of felicity
from the feet of her emancipation from a thraldom repulsive to her delicacy and
her tastes.
It was, therefore, with mingled feelings of happiness and
melancholy, that she commenced her usual toilette - that masculine toilette
which she was that day to wear for the last time.
"You ought to be in good spirits this morning, my
dearest mistress," said Louisa, as she entered the room: "the period
so anxiously looked forward to by yon has at length arrived."
"And to-morrow - to-morrow," exclaimed Walter, her
hazel eyes lighting up with a brilliant expression of joy, "you, my
excellent Louisa, will assist me to adorn myself with that garb which I have
neglected so of late!"
"I shall be happy both for your sake and mine,"
returned Louisa, who was indeed deeply attached to her mistress "and when
I see you recovering all your usual spirits, in a foreign land-"
"In Switzerland," hastily interrupted Walter;
"in Switzerland - whither you will accompany me, my good and faithful
Louisa; and to which delightful country we will proceed without delay. There
indeed I shall be happy - and, I hope, contented !"
"Mr. Stephen is to be here at ten, is he not ?"
said Louisa, after a short pause.
"At ten precisely; and we then repair forthwith to the
West End of the town, where certain preliminaries are requisite, previously to
receiving an immense sum of money which will be paid over to us at the Bank of
England. This much Mr. Stephens told me yesterday. He had never communicated so
much before."
"And this very afternoon it is your determination to
leave London?" said Louisa.
"I am now resolved upon that step," replied the
lady. "You alone shall accompany me: Mr. Stephens has premised to provide
for the groom and the old cook. Therefore, while I am absent this morning about
the momentous business the real nature of which, by-the-bye, has yet to be
explained to me you will make all the preparations that may be necessary for
our journey."
This conversation took place while Louisa hastily lighted
the fire in the boudoir. In a few minutes the grate sent up a cheering and
grateful heat; and the flames roared up the chimney. The lady, with an elegant
dressing-gown folded loosely around her, and her delicate white feet thrust
into red morocco slippers, threw herself into her luxurious easy-chair. while
Louisa hastened to serve up breakfast upon a little rose-wood table, covered
with a napkin as white as snow. But the meal passed away almost untouched: the
lady's heart was to full of hope and tender melancholy to allow her to
experience the least appetite.
The mysterious toilette was completed: and Walter descended
to the parlour, attired in masculine garments for the last time!
At ten o'clock precisely Mr. Stephens arrived. He was
dressed with peculiar neatness and care; but his countenance was very pale, and
his eyes vibrated in a restless manner in their sockets. He, however assumed a
bold composure; and thus the profound anxiety to which he was at that moment a
prey, was unnoticed by Walter Sydney.
They seated themselves upon the sofa, and looked at each
other for an instant without speaking. Those glances on either side expressed,
in the ardent language of the eye, the words -" This is the day!"
"Walter," said Mr. Stephens, at length breaking
the silence which had prevailed, "your conduct to-day must crown my
designs with glorious success, or involve me in irretrievable ruin."
"You may rely with confidence upon my discretion and
prudence," answered Walter. "Command me in all respects -
consistently with honour."
"Honour!" exclaimed Stephens impatiently:
"why do you for ever mention that unmeaning word?
Honour
is a conventional term, and is
often used in a manner inconsistently with common sense and sound judgment.
Honour
is all very well when it is brought in contact with
honour
only; but when it has to oppose fraud and deceit, it must
succumb if it trust solely to its own force. The most honest lawyer sets
chichanery and quibble to work, to counteract the chichanery and quibble of his
pettifogging opponent: the politician calls the machinery of intrigue into
play, in order to fight his foeman with that foeman's own weapon:- if the
French employ the aid of riflemen concealed in the thicket while the fair fight
takes place upon the plain, the English must do the same."
"I certainly comprehend the necessity of frequently
fighting a man with his own weapons," said Walter; "but I do not see
to what point in our affairs your reasoning tends."
"Suppose, Walter," resumed Stephens, speaking very
earnestly, and emphatically accentuating every syllable, "Suppose that you
had a friend who was entitled to certain rights which were witheld from him by
means of some detestable quibble and low chicanery; suppose that by stating
that your friend's name was George instead of William, or instance, you could
put him in possession of what is justly and legitimately his due, but which,
remember, is shamefully and most dishonestly kept away from him;- in this case,
should you hesitate to declare that his name was George, and not William?"
"I think that I should be
inclined to make the statement, to serve the cause of justice and to render a
friend a signal service," answered Sydney, after a moment's hesitation.
"I could not have expected a different reply,"
exclaimed Stephens, a gleam of joy animating his pale countenance: "and
you would do so with less remorse when you found that you were transferring
property from one individual who could well spare what he was never justly
entitled to, to a person who would starve without the restoration of his
legitimate rights."
"Oh! certainly," said Walter; and this time the
reply was given without an instant's meditation.
"Then," continued Stephens, more and more
satisfied with the influence of his sophistry, "you would in such a case
eschew those maudlin and mawkish ideas of honour, which arbitrarily exact that
a falsehood must never be told for a good purpose, and that illegitimate means
must never - never be adopted to work out virtuous and profitable ends?"
"My conduct in assuming this disguise," returned
Sydney, with a smile and a blush, "has proved to you, I should imagine,
that I should not hesitate to make use of a deceit comparatively innocent, with
a view to oppose fraud and ensure permanent benefit to my friend and
myself."
"Oh! Walter, you should have been a man in person as
well as in mind!" cried Stephens, enthusiastically. "Now I have no
fears of the result of my plans; and before sun-set you shall be worth ten
thousand pounds!"
"Ten thousand pounds!" repeated Walter mechanically.
"How much can be done with such a sum as that!"
"You expressed a wish to leave this country, and visit
the south of Europe," said Stephens: "you will have ample means to
gratify all your tastes, and administer to all your inclinations. Only conceive
a beautiful little cottage on the shore of the lake of Brienz - that pearl of
the Oberland; the fair boat-women - the daughters of Switzerland - passing in
their little shallops beneath your windows, and singing their national songs,
full of charming tenderness, while the soft music mingles with the
murmuring waves and the sounds of the oars!"
"Oh! what an enchanting picture!" cried Walter.
"And have you ever seen such as this?"
"I have; and I feel convinced that the existence I
recommend is the one which will best suit you. To-day," continued
Stephens, watching his compatriot's countenance with a little anxiety,
"shall you recover your rights ;- to-day shall you oppose the innocent
deceit to the enormous fraud ;- to-day shall you do for yoursef what you ere
now stated you would do for a
friend!"
"If you have drawn my own
case in putting those queries to me, - if immense advantages will be derived
from my behaviour in this affair, - if I am merely wresting from the hands of
base cupidity that which is justly mine own, - and if the enemy whom we oppose
can well afford to restore to me the means of subsistence, and thus render me
independent for the remainder of my days,-oh! how can I hesitate for a moment?
how can I refuse to entrust myself wholely and solely - blindly and confidently
- in your hands, - you who have done so much for me, and who have taught me to
respect, honour, and obey you?"
The lady uttered these words with a species of electric
enthusiasm, while her eyes brightened, and her cheeks were suffused with the
purple glow of animation. The specious arguments and the glowing description of
Swiss life, brought forward by Stephens with admirable dexterity, awakened all
the ardour of an impassioned soul; and the bosom of that beauteous creature
palpitated with hope, with joy, and with excitement, as she gazed upon the
future through the mirror presented by Stephens to her view.
She was now exactly in a frame of mind suited to his
purpose. Without allowing her ardour time to abate, and while she was animated
by the delicious aspirations which be had conjured up, as it were by an
enchanter's spell, in her breast, he took her by the hand, and led her up to
the mantelpiece; then, pointing to the portrait of her brother, he said in a
row, hurried, and yet solemn tone,- "The fortune which must be wrested
from the grasp of cupidity this day, would have belonged to your brother; and
no power on earth could have deprived him of it; for, had he lived, he would
yesterday have attained his twenty-first year! His death is unknown to him who
holds this money: but, by a miserable legal technicality, you -
you
, his sister, and
in justice
his heiress -
you
would be deprived of that fortune
by the man who now grasps it, and who would chuckle at any plan which made it
his own. Now do you comprehend me? You have but to say that you, name is
Walter
, instead of
Eliza
, - and
you will recover your just rights, defeat the wretched chicanery of the law,
and enter into possession of those resources which belong to you in the eyes of
God, by which, if you shrink, will be for ever alienated from you and yours!"
"In one word," said the lady, "I am to
personate my brother?"
"Precisely! Do you hesitate?" demanded Stephens:
"will you allow the property of your family to pass into the hands of a
stranger, who possesses not the remotest right to its enjoyment? or will you by
one bold effort - an effort that cannot fail - direct that fortune into its
just, its proper, and its legitimate channel?"
"The temptation is great," said the lady,
earnestly contemplating the portrait of her brother - "but the danger -
the danger?" she added hastily "what would be the result if we were
detected?"
"Nothing - nothing, save the total loss of the entire
fortune," answered Stephens: "and, therefore, you perceive, that want
of nerve - hesitation - awkwardness - blushes - confusion on your part, would
ruin all. Be firm - be collected - be calm and resolute - and our plans
must
be crowned with unequivocal
success!"
"Oh! if I proceed farther, I will pass through the
ordeal with ease and safety," exclaimed the lady: "I can nerve my
mind to encounter any danger. when it is well defined, and I know its extent;-
it is only when it is vague, uncertain, and indistinct, that I shrink from
meeting it. Yes," she continued, after a few moments' reflection, "I
will follow your counsel in all respects: you
do
know - you
must
know how much we risk, and how
far we compromise ourselves ;- and when I see you ready to urge on this matter
to the end, how can I fear to accompany you? Yes," she added, after
another pause, much longer than the preceding one,- "I will be Walter
Sydney throughout this day at least!"
"My dear friend," ejaculated Stephens, in a
transport of joy, "you act in a manner worthy of your noble-hearted
brother, I see - he smiles upon you even in his picture-frame."
"I will retrieve from the hands of strangers that