Authors: George W. M. Reynolds,James Malcolm Rymer
your
pursuits."
"What would you have me do?" asked the guilty
wife, in a trembling voice.
"Go to Greenwood and settle this business for me,"
said the baronet, in an authoritative tone.
"I cannot - I dare not - I have no right to demand such
a favour of him - I should be certain to experience a refusal - I —"
"Lady Cecilia," interrupted the baronet, speaking
in a slow and emphatic manner, "Mr. Greenwood is too gallant a man to
refuse a mere trifle to a lady who has refused nothing to him."
"Sir Rupert - you cannot suppose - you —"
"I mean what I say, madam," added the baronet
sternly. "Mr. Greenwood is your paramour, and you can surely use your
influence with him to save your husband."
"My God! what do I hear?" ejaculated Cecilia.
"What proof have you, Sir Rupert - what testimony - what ground
—"
"Every proof - every testimony - every ground,"
interrupted the baronet impatiently. " But, again I say, I do not wish to
ruin your reputation, if you will save mine."
"Impossible!" cried Lady Cecilia. " I do not
deny that Mr. Greenwood has accommodated me with an occasional loan - upon
interest —"
"Interest indeed! " said the baronet, whose turn
to assume a tone of raillery had now arrived: "interest paid from the bank
of my honour!"
"Upon legal and commercial terms has he lent me
money," continued Lady Cecilia; "and this very evening has he refused
to advance me another shilling!"
"Is that true, Cecilia?" demanded Sir
Rupert.
"Nay - satisfy yourself," said the lady; and
drawing a note from her bosom, she handed it to her husband.
The correspondence that passed between Mr. Greenwood and
Lady Cecilia was always of a laconic and most guarded nature: there was
consequently nothing in the letter now communicated to Sir Rupert Harborough,
to confirm his belief in his wife's criminality. Indeed, the epistle was
neither more nor less than any gentleman might write upon a matter of business
to any lady.
"I see that Mr. Greenwood is tired of you,
Cecilia," said the baronet, throwing the note upon the table, "and
that he is anxious to break off the connexion. Now I will tell you how you must
be kind enough to act," he continued, in a tone of command. "You must
proceed at once to Mr. Greenwood ; you must tell him that I have discovered all
- that I have positive proofs - that since the day when Chichester discovered
him with his arm round your neck in my drawing-room —"
"Oh! that villain
Chichester!" murmured Lady Cecilia.
"That ever since that day," continued the baronet,
Chichester and myself have watched your proceedings - have seen you, Cecilia,
repair to the appointments agreed upon with your paramour —"
"But this is atrocious!" ejaculated the lady, now
dreadfully excited.
"Nay - do not interrupt me," said Sir Rupert in an
imperative manner. " You must tell Mr. Greenwood that I and my witness
have followed you both to an hotel at Greenwich - that we have been in the next
room and have overheard your conversation - that we have been aware of the
moments of your amorous dalliance —"
"Ah! Sir Rupert - do you want to kill me?" cried
Cecilia, bursting into an agony of tears.
"Nonsense!" ejaculated the baronet : " I only
want you to save me, and I will screen you. Go, then, to Greenwood - tell him
all this - assure him that I know all - that for months have I been watching
you - and that I should obtain from him damages far more important than the
amount of this acceptance, but that I am willing to compromise the business by
the destruction of that document."
"And why could you not have acquainted Mr. Greenwood
with all this when you last saw him?" demanded Lady Cecilia, drying her
tears, and endeavouring to compose herself, now that the worst was known.
"I did not intend to mention my knowledge of your
criminality at all," said Sir Rupert; "and had you consented in the
first instance to use your influence with Greenwood to obtain the money to
settle the bill, you would not have forced me to these revelations."
"Say rather, Sir Rupert Harborough," exclaimed the
lady, "that you would have me obtain for you the means to pay this forged
bill; and when once you were freed from the power of Greenwood, you would have
brought your action against him, and exposed your wife. But as you have failed
in making me - the wife whom you would thus expose - the instrument of
procuring that sum, - and as the danger now stares you in the face, you proclaim
your knowledge of our connexion, and use it as a means to compromise the
forgery.''
"Cecilia, you do not think me capable —"
"I think you capable of any thing," interrupted
his wife indignantly; and it was singular to see that adulterous woman - that
criminal wife - that profligate female now putting her husband to the blush, by
exposing his base designs.
"Well - after all," exclaimed Sir Rupert,
"recriminations will do no good. Go to Greenwood - settle the affair - and
the past shall be buried in oblivion."
"And what guarantee do you offer to ensure eternal secrecy
on your part, provided Mr. Greenwood will give up this forged bill?"
"I will sign any paper he may require," replied
the baronet. " But time presses - it is now nearly ten o'clock - and
to-morrow morning —"
"I will go to Mr. Greenwood," said Lady Cecilia,
rising from her seat: " I will go to him - and endeavour to compromise
this affair to the best of my power."
Sir Rupert rang the bell and ordered wine to be brought up
while Lady Cecilia hastened to her boudoir to attire herself for going out; and
in the mean time a servant was despatched to procure a cab.
The vehicle arrived and Lady Cecilia was already upon the
threshold of the front door of the house, when a servant in a handsome livery
ascended the steps, presented a letter, and said "For Sir Rupert
Harborough."
Lady Cecilia received the letter; and the servant who
delivered it. immediately took his departure.
The lady was about to send in the letter by her own domestic
to her husband, when the superscription on the envelope caught her eyes by the
light of the hall-lamp. The writing was in the delicate hand of a female; and,
without a moment's hesitation, Cecilia consigned the epistle to her reticule.
She then stepped into the vehicle, and ordered the driver to
take her to Spring Gardens.
There were two bright lamps fixed in front of the cab; and
by these means was Lady Cecilia enabled to examine the contents of the letter
intended for her husband.
Without the least hesitation she opened the letter, and to
her ineffable surprise discovered that it contained a Bank of England note for
one thousand pounds.
This treasure was accompanied by a letter, the contents of
which were as follows:-
"An individual who once received some
kindness at the hands of Sir Rupert Harborough, has learnt by a strange
accident that Sir Rupert Harborough has a pressing need of a sum of money to
liquidate a debt due to Mr. George Montague Greenwood. The individual alluded
to takes leave to place the sum required at Sir Rupert Harborough's
disposal."
No name - no date - no address were appended to
this mysterious note. The writing was in a delicate female hand ;- and a
servant in a handsome livery had delivered the letter. These circumstances,
combined with the handsome manner in which the money was tendered, refuted the
suspicion that some female, with whom Sir Rupert was illicitly connected, had
thus befriended him.
Lady Cecilia was bewildered the pain of conjecture and doubt
was however absorbed in the pleasurable feelings excited by the possession of
so large a sum of money.
The cab now stopped at Mr. Greenwood's residence.
CHAPTER XCVI.
THE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT' S LEVEE.
"You have doubtless called, my dear
Cecilia," said Mr. Greenwood, as he handed the fair visitant to a seat in
his elegant drawing-room, - "you have doubtless called to remonstrate with
me respecting my note of this evening."
"No," answered Cecilia coldly: " I come on a
more momentous affair than that: Sir Rupert knows all!"
"Ah!" cried Greenwood; "is it possible that
the villain Chichester —"
"Has betrayed us," added the lady. "Moreover,
Sir Rupert and his inseparable friend have been watching and dogging all our movements
for months past."
"This is awkward - very awkward," observed
Greenwood. "However, Sir Rupert will not dare show his teeth against me,
nor venture to give publicity to the affair."
"Because you hold his bill, with a forged acceptance,
for one thousand pounds," said Lady Cecilia.
"Ah! he has told you that much - has he?"
exclaimed Greenwood. "Well - you perceive, my dearest Cecilia,
that he is completely in my power."
"The most remarkable part of the entire business,"
observed the lady, " is that I am actually deputed
by Sir Rupert to negotiate the
amicable settlement of the affair with you."
"Indeed!" cried Greenwood. "He could not have
chosen a more charming plenipotentiary. "
"His proposal is this:- you are to give up the acceptance,
and he will sign any paper you choose to guarantee you against legal
proceedings on his part."
"I do not see, fair ambassadress," said Greenwood,
who did not treat the business with so much serious attention as Lady Cecilia
had anticipated - " I do not see that I should benefit myself by such an
arrangement. So long as the bill remains in my possession, it is impossible for
Sir Rupert Harborough to commence civil proceedings against me, because he
knows full well that were he to have process issued against me, I should that
moment hand him over to the officers of justice."
"Then, for my sake, Mr. Greenwood," said Lady
Cecilia, cruelly hurt by this cold calculation on the part of a man the slave
of whose passions she had so completely been,- "for my sake, compromise
this affair amicably."
"A thousand pounds is a large sum to fling into the
street, my dear Cecilia," observed Greenwood.
"And suppose that, by some accident my husband should
raise that amount and pay the bill —"
"It never was my intention to allow him to pay
all," interrupted Greenwood. "I imagined that by threatening him, I
should obtain five or six hundred on account, and I should still hold the bill
for the balance. That balance I would not receive, were he to offer it, because
by retaining the bill, I keep him in my power."
"Then, once again, for my sake -
for my sake,
" repeated Lady Cecilia, "consent to the proposal made
to you this evening - settle the affair in an amicable manner."
"To oblige you, my dear Cecilia, I will assent to Sir
Rupert Harborough's proposal. Let him draw up and sign a document in which he
acknowledges that he has discovered the - the —"
"Criminal conversation between his wife and Mr. George
Greenwood," said Cecilia: "we will not mince words in a negotiation
of this kind," she added, ironically.
"Precisely," exclaimed Greenwood, coolly;
"and that he has received full satisfaction for the same. In this manner
the business can be disposed of to the satisfaction of all parties."
"To-morrow morning at eleven o'clock I will call with
the paper," said Lady Cecilia.
"And I will give you up the forged bill," returned
the Member of Parliament. "And now, my dear Cecilia, allow me to make an
observation relative to the answer I sent you this evening to your little note.
The truth is, that representing as I do an enlightened and independent
constituency —"
"Pardon me," said Lady Cecilia, rising, " we
will not talk of any other business until this most painful affair be settled."
The fair patrician lady then took her leave, and returned to
her husband, who awaited Greenwood's decision in a state of the most painful
suspense.
Cecilia communicated to him the particulars of the
interview; and, ere he retired to rest, the baronet drew up the document which
was to save himself by the compromise of his honour.
"So far, so good," said Sir Rupert. as he handed
the paper to his wife. "I have now a proposal to make to you, Cecilia -
and I have little doubt that you will accept it."
"Proceed," said Cecilia.
"After the explanation which has taken place between us
this evening, it is impossible that we can ever entertain much respect for each
other again. You know me to be a forger - I know you to be unfaithful to my
bed. If it suits you, we will agree to live together beneath the same roof as
hitherto - to have our separate apartments - to maintain an appearance of
enjoying domestic tranquillity - and each to follow his own pursuits without
leave or remonstrance on the part of the other. You will never interfere with
me - I will never interfere with you. If you hear that I have a mistress, you
will take notice of it: if I know that you have a lover, I shall be equally
blind and dumb. Does this please you?"
"Perfectly," answered Lady Cecilia. "Shall we
commit this compact to writing?"
"Oh! with much pleasure," returned Sir Rupert.
"I will draw up two agreements, embodying the conditions of our compact,
immediately. You can retain one; and I will keep the other."
The baronet set to work, and, in a most business-like
manner, wrote out the compact. He then read it to Lady Cecilia, who signified
her approval of its terms. A counterpart was written; and the u husband and
wife signed the papers that released them from all the moral obligations of
their marriage-vows!
They then retired to their separate apartments, better
pleased with each other, perhaps than they had been for a long-long time.
The reader need scarcely be informed that Lady Cecilia said
nothing to her husband relative to the mysterious letter containing the Bank
note for a thousand pounds.
On the following morning Lady Cecilia repaired to the abode
of Mr. Greenwood. When she arrived in Spring Gardens, she found the street
completely blocked up with a train of charity children-boys and girls,
marshalled by the parish beadle, and accompanied by the schoolmaster and
school-mistress. The girls were attired in their light blue dresses, plain
straw bonnets, white collars, and pepper-and-salt coloured cloaks; and their
arms, red with the cold, were only half covered with their coarse mittens. The
boys wore their muffin caps, short coats, and knee-breeches; and each was
embellished with a large tin plate, or species of medal, affixed like a badge
of honour, to the breast. Their meagre countenances, their thin arms, and
lanky legs, did not speak much in favour of the quantity of food which
constituted their diurnal meals.
Lady Cecilia was conducted to the drawing-room by the
Italian valet, who informed her that Mr. Greenwood would wait upon her the
moment he had dismissed the charity children.
Lafleur, in the mean time threw open the door of the
mansion, and admitted the procession into the spacious hall, after having kept
the poor creatures shivering in the cold for nearly a quarter of an hour. The
beadle took his station upon the steps, with awful dignity, and watched the
boys and girls as they defiled past him in military order into the hall. It was
very evident from the timid glances which the little scholars cast towards the
countenance of this functionary, that they believed him to be one of the
most important personages on the face of the earth; and perhaps they were even
perplexed to decide, in their own minds, whether the parish beadle whom they
saw before them, or Mr. Greenwood, M. P., whom they were about to see, was the
greater man of the two.
At length the procession had entirely cleared the threshold
of the mansion, and then only did the
beadle enter. He doffed his
enormous cocked hat out of respect to the owner of the dwelling in which he now
found himself, and made his long staff ring upon the marble pavement of the
hall with a din that electrified the children and called looks of solemn
importance to the countenances of the schoolmaster and mistress.
In a few moments a side door opened, and Mr. Greenwood
appeared.
The beadle struck his stick upon the hall floor once more;
and the children, duly tutored to obey the signal, saluted the great man, the
girls with low curtseys, and the boys by doffing their muffin caps, bobbing
their heads forward, and kicking back their left legs.
"Well, Mr. Muffles," said the Member of Parliament
to the beadle, with one of his usual affable smiles; "brought your little
family - eh?"
"These children, sir," responded Muffles in a
self-sufficient and important tone, glancing at the same time in a patronising
manner upon the groups of juveniles around - "these children,-sir, has
come, as in dooty bounden, to hoffer up the hincense of their most gratefullest
thanks to you, sir, as their kind paytron which supplied 'em with pea-soup,
blankets, and religious tracts, to keep their bodies and souls both warm and
comfortable, as one may say."
"I am delighted, Mr. Muffles," replied the Member
of Parliament, in a most condescending manner, " to receive this little
mark of gratitude on the part of those for whom I entertain a deep interest,
and I am the more pleased because this visit on their part was quite
spontaneous, and on mine totally unlooked for."
Mr. Greenwood did not think it necessary to state his
knowledge that the whole affair had been got up by Lafleur, in obedience to his
own commands.
"Representing as I do," continued Mr. Greenwood,
" an enlightened, independent, and important constituency, I cannot do
otherwise than feel interested in the welfare of the rising generation; and
when I glance upon the happy countenances of these dear children, I thank God
for having given me the means to contribute my mite towards the maintenance of
the schools of the parish wherein I have the honour to reside."
Mr. Muffles' stick was here rapped upon the floor with
tremendous violence ; and the boys and girls immediately burst forth into
shrill cries of "Hear! hear!"
When silence was once more restored, the beadle in due form
presented the schoolmaster and school-mistress to Mr. Greenwood.
"This gen'leman, sir," said the parish
functionary, "is Mr. Twiggs, the parochial perceptor - as worthy a man,
sir, as ever broke bread. He's bin in his present sitivation thirteen year come
Janivary —"
"Febivary, Mr. Muffles," said the schoolmaster,
mildly correcting the beadle.
"Oh! Febivary, be it, Mr. Twiggs?" exclaimed the
parish authority. "And this, sir, is Mrs. Twiggs, a lady well known for
her excellent qualities in teaching them blessed young gals, and taking care o'
their linen."
"Delighted to see your scholars looking so well, Mr.
Twiggs," said Greenwood, bowing to the master: "quite charmed, Mrs.
Twiggs, to behold the healthy and neat appearance of your girls," he
added, bowing to the mistress.
"Would you be kind enough, sir," said Mr. Twiggs.
in a meek and fawning tone, "to question any of them lads on any pint of
edication?'"
"Perhaps I might as well, Mr. Twiggs," returned
Greenwood; "in case I should ever have to allude to the subject in the
House of Commons."
The mere idea of any mention of the parochial school being
made in Parliament, produced such an impression upon the beadle that he banged
his staff most earnestly on the hall floor; and the children, taking it for a
signal which they had been previously tutored to observe, again yelled forth
"Hear! Hear!"
"Silence!" thundered Mr. Muffles; and the
vociferations instantly ceased.
"Now, my boy," said Mr. Greenwood, addressing the
one who stood nearest to him, "I will ask you a question or two. What is
your name?"
"Jem Blister, sir," was the prompt reply.
"James Blister-eh? Well - who gave you that name?"
"Father and mother, please, sir."
"Blister, for shame!" ejaculated Mr. Twiggs with a
terrific frown: then, by way of prompting the lad, he said,
"My Godfathers and
—"
"
My Godfathers and Godmother in my baptism
,"
hastily cried the boy, catching at the hint; and after a pause, he added,
"
I mean an outward and wisible sign of an inward
—"
"Blister, I am raly ashamed of you!" again
exclaimed Mr. Twiggs. "Stand back, sir; and let the boy behind you stand
for'ard."
Another urchin stepped forth from the rank, and stood,
blushing up to his very hair, and fumbling about with his cap, in the presence
of Mr. Greenwood.
"My good boy," said the Member of Parliament,
condescendingly patting him upon the head, "what is your name?"
"M. or N. as the case may be, please, sir,"
replied the boy.
"I should observe, sir," said the schoolmaster,
"that this lad only began his Catechism yesterday."
"Oh very well, Mr. Twiggs," exclaimed Greenwood:
"that accounts for his answer! I will ask him something else, then. My
good lad, who was Adam?"
"The fust man, sir."
"Very good, my boy. And who was Eve?"
"The fust 'ooman, sir."
"Very good indeed," repeated Mr. Greenwood.
"Now tell me what is the capital of England?"
"This boy is not in geography, sir," said Mr.
Twiggs. " He a jest begun cyphering."
"Oh very good. Can you say your multiplication table,
my boy?"
"Twice one's two; twice two's three; twice three's
eight; twice four's ten; twice five's fourteen —"
The boy was rattling on at a furious pace, when the ominous
voice of Mr. Twiggs ejaculated, "Garlick, I am ashamed of you!"
And Master Garlick began to cry most piteously.
"Come, it is not so bad, though," said Mr.
Greenwood, by way of soothing the discomfited schoolmaster and restoring the
abashed beadle to confidence; "he evidently knows his Bible very well -
and that is the essential."
The Member of Parliament then delivered himself of a long
harangue in favour of a sound religious education and in praise of virtue; and
thus ended the solemn farce.
The great man bowed and withdrew: the beadle rapped his
staff upon the floor; Lafleur opened the door; and the procession filed slowly
out of the mansion.
Mr. Greenwood, having thus gone through a ceremony an
account of which was to appear in the papers