Part 32 (1/2)
”And he was so kind to me,” Frank writ, ”that I thought I would put in a good word for Master Harry, but when I mentioned your name he looked as black as thunder, and said he had never heard of you.”
CHAPTER II.
I GO HOME, AND HARP ON THE OLD STRING.
After quitting Mons and the army, and as he was waiting for a packet at Ostend, Esmond had a letter from his young kinsman Castlewood at Bruxelles, conveying intelligence whereof Frank besought him to be the bearer to London, and which caused Colonel Esmond no small anxiety.
The young scapegrace, being one-and-twenty years old, and being anxious to sow his ”wild otes,” as he wrote, had married Mademoiselle de Wertheim, daughter of Count de Wertheim, Chamberlain to the Emperor, and having a post in the Household of the Governor of the Netherlands.
”P.S.,” the young gentleman wrote: ”Clotilda is OLDER THAN ME, which perhaps may be objected to her: but I am so OLD A RAIK that the age makes no difference, and I am DETERMINED to reform. We were married at St. Gudule, by Father Holt. She is heart and soul for the GOOD CAUSE.
And here the cry is Vif-le-Roy, which my mother will JOIN IN, and Trix TOO. Break this news to 'em gently: and tell Mr. Finch, my agent, to press the people for their rents, and send me the RYNO anyhow. Clotilda sings, and plays on the Spinet BEAUTIFULLY. She is a fair beauty. And if it's a son, you shall stand G.o.dFATHER. I'm going to leave the army, having had ENUF OF SOLDERING; and my Lord Duke RECOMMENDS me. I shall pa.s.s the winter here: and stop at least until Clo's lying in. I call her OLD CLO, but n.o.body else shall. She is the cleverest woman in all Bruxelles: understanding painting, music, poetry, and perfect at COOKERY AND PUDDENS. I borded with the Count, that's how I came to know her.
There are four Counts her brothers. One an Abbey--three with the Prince's army. They have a lawsuit for AN IMMENCE FORTUNE: but are now in a PORE WAY. Break this to mother, who'll take anything from YOU.
And write, and bid Finch write AMEDIATELY. Hostel de l'Aigle Noire, Bruxelles, Flanders.”
So Frank had married a Roman Catholic lady, and an heir was expected, and Mr. Esmond was to carry this intelligence to his mistress at London.
'Twas a difficult emba.s.sy; and the Colonel felt not a little tremor as he neared the capital.
He reached his inn late, and sent a messenger to Kensington to announce his arrival and visit the next morning. The messenger brought back news that the Court was at Windsor, and the fair Beatrix absent and engaged in her duties there. Only Esmond's mistress remained in her house at Kensington. She appeared in court but once in the year; Beatrix was quite the mistress and ruler of the little mansion, inviting the company thither, and engaging in every conceivable frolic of town pleasure.
Whilst her mother, acting as the young lady's protectress and elder sister, pursued her own path, which was quite modest and secluded.
As soon as ever Esmond was dressed (and he had been awake long before the town), he took a coach for Kensington, and reached it so early that he met his dear mistress coming home from morning prayers. She carried her prayer-book, never allowing a footman to bear it, as everybody else did: and it was by this simple sign Esmond knew what her occupation had been. He called to the coachman to stop, and jumped out as she looked towards him. She wore her hood as usual, and she turned quite pale when she saw him. To feel that kind little hand near to his heart seemed to give him strength. They were soon at the door of her ladys.h.i.+p's house--and within it.
With a sweet sad smile she took his hand and kissed it.
”How ill you have been: how weak you look, my dear Henry,” she said.
'Tis certain the Colonel did look like a ghost, except that ghosts do not look very happy, 'tis said. Esmond always felt so on returning to her after absence, indeed whenever he looked in her sweet kind face.
”I am come back to be nursed by my family,” says he. ”If Frank had not taken care of me after my wound, very likely I should have gone altogether.”
”Poor Frank, good Frank!” says his mother. ”You'll always be kind to him, my lord,” she went on. ”The poor child never knew he was doing you a wrong.”
”My lord!” cries out Colonel Esmond. ”What do you mean, dear lady?”
”I am no lady,” says she; ”I am Rachel Esmond, Francis Esmond's widow, my lord. I cannot bear that t.i.tle. Would we never had taken it from him who has it now. But we did all in our power, Henry: we did all in our power; and my lord and I--that is--”
”Who told you this tale, dearest lady?” asked the Colonel.
”Have you not had the letter I writ you? I writ to you at Mons directly I heard it,” says Lady Esmond.
”And from whom?” again asked Colonel Esmond--and his mistress then told him that on her death-bed the Dowager Countess, sending for her, had presented her with this dismal secret as a legacy. ”'Twas very malicious of the Dowager,” Lady Esmond said, ”to have had it so long, and to have kept the truth from me.” ”Cousin Rachel,” she said,--and Esmond's mistress could not forbear smiling as she told the story--”Cousin Rachel,” cries the Dowager, ”I have sent for you, as the doctors say I may go off any day in this dysentery; and to ease my conscience of a great load that has been on it. You always have been a poor creature and unfit for great honor, and what I have to say won't, therefore, affect you so much. You must know, Cousin Rachel, that I have left my house, plate, and furniture, three thousand pounds in money, and my diamonds that my late revered Saint and Sovereign, King James, presented me with, to my Lord Viscount Castlewood.”
”To my Frank?” says Lady Castlewood; ”I was in hopes--”
To Viscount Castlewood, my dear; Viscount Castlewood and Baron Esmond of Shandon in the Kingdom of Ireland, Earl and Marquis of Esmond under patent of his Majesty King James the Second, conferred upon my husband the late Marquis--for I am Marchioness of Esmond before G.o.d and man.”
”And have you left poor Harry nothing, dear Marchioness?” asks Lady Castlewood (she hath told me the story completely since with her quiet arch way; the most charming any woman ever had: and I set down the narrative here at length, so as to have done with it). ”And have you left poor Harry nothing?” asks my dear lady: ”for you know, Henry,” she says with her sweet smile, ”I used always to pity Esau--and I think I am on his side--though papa tried very hard to convince me the other way.”
”Poor Harry!” says the old lady. ”So you want something left to poor Harry: he,--he! (reach me the drops, cousin). Well, then, my dear, since you want poor Harry to have a fortune, you must understand that ever since the year 1691, a week after the battle of the Boyne, where the Prince of Orange defeated his royal sovereign and father, for which crime he is now suffering in flames (ugh! ugh!) Henry Esmond hath been Marquis of Esmond and Earl of Castlewood in the United Kingdom, and Baron and Viscount Castlewood of Shandon in Ireland, and a Baronet--and his eldest son will be, by courtesy, styled Earl of Castlewood--he! he!