Part 22 (1/2)

”I never heard the saying. If ever used, it must be some silly play on sounds, and mean a numskull--or, perhaps, a fling at a fellow's position, by saying he is a 'n.o.body.' Who the deuce has been calling another a _nullus_, in the presence of the commander-in-chief of the southern squadron?”

”Sir Wycherly Wychecombe--our unfortunate host, here: the poor man who is on his death-bed, on this very floor.”

Again Bluewater raised his head, and once more his eye sought the face of his friend. Sir Gervaise had now stopped short, with his hands crossed behind his back, looking intently at the other, in expectation of the answer.

”I thought it might be some difficulty from the fleet--some silly fellow complaining of another still more silly for using such a word. Sir Wycherly!--the poor man's mind must have failed him.”

”I rather think not; if it has, there is 'method in his madness,' for he persevered most surprisingly, in the use of the term. His nephew, Tom Wychecombe, the presumptive heir, he insists on it, is a _nullus_; while this Sir Reginald, who is expected to arrive every instant, he says is only _half_--or half-_blood_, as it has since been explained to us.”

”I am afraid this nephew will prove to be any thing but _nullus_, when he succeeds to the estate and t.i.tle,” answered Bluewater, gravely. ”A more sinister-looking scoundrel, I never laid eyes on.”

”That is just my way of thinking; and not in the least like the family.”

”This matter of likenesses is not easily explained, Oakes. We see parents and children without any visible resemblance to each other; and then we find startling likenesses between utter strangers.”

”_Bachelor's children_ may be in that predicament, certainly; but I should think few others. I never yet studied a child, that I did not find some resemblance to both parents; covert and only transitory, perhaps; but a likeness so distinct as to establish the relations.h.i.+p.

What an accursed chance it is, that our n.o.ble young lieutenant should have no claim on this old baronet; while this d----d _nullus_ is both heir at law, and heir of entail! I never took half as much interest in any other man's estate, as I take in the succession to this of our poor host!”

”There you are mistaken, Oakes; you took more in _mine_; for, when I made a will in your own favour, and gave it to you to read, you tore it in two, and threw it overboard, with your own hand.”

”Ay, that was an act of lawful authority. As your superior, I countermanded that will! I hope you've made another, and given your money, as I told you, to your cousin, the Viscount.”

”I did, but _that_ will has shared the fate of the first. It appearing to me, that we are touching on serious times, and Bluewater being rich already, I destroyed the devise in his favour, and made a new one, this very morning. As you are my executor, as usual, it may be well to let you know it.”

”d.i.c.k, you have not been mad enough to cut off the head of your own family--your own flesh and blood, as it might be--to leave the few thousands you own, to this mad adventurer in Scotland!”

Bluewater smiled at this evidence of the familiarity of his friend with his own way of thinking and feeling; and, for a single instant, he regretted that he had not put his first intention in force, in order that the conformity of views might have been still more perfect; but, putting a hand in his pocket he drew out the doc.u.ment itself, and leaning forward, gave it carelessly to Sir Gervaise.

”There is the will; and by looking it over, you will know what I've done,” he said. ”I wish you would keep it; for, if 'misery makes us acquainted with strange bed-fellows,' revolutions reduce us, often, to strange plights, and the paper will be safer with you than with me. Of course, you will keep my secret, until the proper time to reveal it shall arrive.”

The vice-admiral, who knew that he had no direct interest in his friend's disposition of his property, took the will, with a good deal of curiosity to ascertain its provisions. So short a testament was soon read; and his eye rested intently on the paper until it had taken in the last word. Then his hand dropped, and he regarded Bluewater with a surprise he neither affected, nor wished to conceal. He did not doubt his friend's sanity, but he greatly questioned his discretion.

”This is a very simple, but a very ingenious arrangement, to disturb the order of society,” he said; ”and to convert a very modest and unpretending, though lovely girl, into a forward and airs-taking old woman! What is this Mildred Dutton to you, that you should bequeath to her 30,000?”

”She is one of the meekest, most ingenuous, purest, and loveliest, of her meek, ingenuous, pure, and lovely s.e.x, crushed to the earth by the curse of a brutal, drunken father; and, I am resolute to see that this world, for once, afford some compensation for its own miseries.”

”Never doubt that, Richard Bluewater; never doubt _that_. So certain is vice, or crime, to bring its own punishment in this life, that one may well question if any other h.e.l.l is needed. And, depend on it, your meek, modest ingenuousness, in its turn, will not go unrewarded.”

”Quite true, so far as the spirit is concerned; but, I mean to provide a little for the comfort of the body. You remember Agnes Hedworth, I take it for granted?”

”Remember her!--out of all question. Had the war left me leisure for making love, she was the only woman I ever knew, who could have brought me to her feet--I mean as a dog, d.i.c.k.”

”Do you see any resemblance between her and this Mildred Dutton? It is in the expression rather than in the features--but, it is the expression which alone denotes the character.”

”By George, you're right, Bluewater; and this relieves me from some embarra.s.sment I've felt about that very expression of which you speak.

She _is_ like poor Agnes, who became a saint earlier than any of us could have wished. Living or dead, Agnes Hedworth must be an angel! You were fonder of her, than of any other woman, I believe. At one time, I thought you might propose for her hand.”

”It was not that sort of affection, and you could not have known her private history, or you would not have fancied this. I was so situated in the way of relatives, that Agnes, though only the child of a cousin-german, was the nearest youthful female relative I had on earth; and I regarded her more as a sister, than as a creature who could ever become my wife. She was sixteen years my junior; and by the time she had become old enough to marry, I was accustomed to think of her only as one destined for another station. The same feeling existed as to her sister, the d.u.c.h.ess, though in a greatly lessened degree.”