"Well, sir. Go on! I hear you," said the earl, somewhat sternly; on which Gammon resumed.
"How I first acquired a knowledge that Mr. Aubrey was wrongfully enjoying the Yatton estates, is of no moment to your Lordship; but one thingdoesconcern your Lordship to know, and me to be believed by your Lordship in telling you—that, so help me Heaven! at the time that I discovered Mr. Titmouse behind the counter of Mr. Tag-rag, in Oxford Street, and up till within a couple of months ago, I had no more doubt about his being entitled, as really the heir-at-law"——The earl gave a sudden start. "My Lord, I would even now beg your Lordship to let me take some other opportunity, when we are both calmer, of explaining"——
"Go on, sir," said the earl, firmly, but in a much lower tone of voice than that in which he had before spoken, and sitting with his eyes riveted on those of Mr. Gammon; who, notwithstanding his Lordship's observation, was compelled by his own sickening agitation again to pause for a moment or two. Then he resumed. "I was saying, my Lord, that, till about two months ago, I had no more doubt than I have of your Lordship's now sitting before me, that Mr. Titmouse was the legitimate descendant of the person entitled to enjoy the Yatton estates in preference to Mr. Aubrey. His pedigree was subjected to the severest scrutiny which thelaw of England can devise, and was pronounced complete"——Gammon beheld Lord Dreddlington quivering all over; "but to my horror—onlyIknow it, except Mr. Titmouse, to whom I told it—I have recently discovered, by a most extraordinary accident, that we were, and are, all mistaken." Lord Dreddlington had grown deadly pale, and his lips, which had lost their color, seemed to open unconsciously, while he inclined towards Gammon; "and—I may as well tell your Lordship at once the worst—this young man, Titmouse, is only a natural son, and what is worst, of a woman who had a former husband living"——
Lord Dreddlington started up from his chair, and staggered away from it, his arms moving to and fro—his face the very picture of horror. It had gone of a ghastly whiteness. His lips moved, but he uttered no sound.
"Oh, my Lord! For God's sake be calm!" cried out Gammon, dreadfully shocked, rushing towards the earl, who kept staggering back, his hands stretched out as if to keep off some approaching object. "My Lord! Lord Dreddlington, hear me. For Heaven's sake, let me bring you back to your seat. It's only a little faintness!"—He put his arm round the earl, endeavoring to draw him back towards the easy-chair; but felt him slipping down on the floor, his legs yielding under him; then his head suddenly sank on one side, and the next moment he lay, as it were, collapsed, upon the floor, partly supported by Gammon, who, in a fearful state of agitation, shouted out for the laundress.
"Untie his neck-handkerchief, sir; loose his shirt-collar!" cried the woman; and stooping down, while Gammon supported his head, she removed the pressure from his neck. He was breathing heavily. "For God's sake, run off for a doctor—any one—the nearest you can find," gasped Gammon. "The carriage standing before the inn is his Lordship's; you'll see hisfootman—tell him his Lordship's in a fit, and send him off also for a doctor!"
The laundress, nearly as much agitated as her master, instantly started off as she had been directed. Gammon, finding no signs of returning consciousness, with a great effort managed to get his Lordship into the bedroom; and had just laid him down on the bed when the footman burst into the chamber in a terrible fright. He almost jumped off the floor on catching sight of the prostrate and inanimate figure of his master—and was for a few moments so stupefied that he could not hear Gammon ordering him to start off in quest of a doctor, which at length, however, he did,—leaving Gammon alone with his victim. For a few frightful moments, he felt as if he had murdered Lord Dreddlington, and must fly for it. He pressed his hands to his forehead, as if to recall his scattered faculties.
"What is to be done?" thought he. "Is this apoplexy? paralysis? epilepsy? or what? Will he recover? Will it affect his reason?—Will he recover?If so—how deal with the damning discovery he has made? Will he have sense enough to keep his own counsel? If he survive, and preserve his reason—all is right—everything succeeds. I am his master to the end of his days!—What a horrid while they are!—Curse those doctors! The wretches! never to be found when they are wanted. He's dying before my very eyes!—How shall I say this happened? A fit, brought on by agitation occasioned—(ay, that will do)—by the failure of the Company. Ah! there's the newspaper he brought with him, and put into my hands," he thought, as his eye glanced at the newspaper lying on the table in the adjoining room—"This will give color to my version of the affair!" With this, he hastily seized the paper in question, and thrust it into one of the coat-pockets of Lord Dreddlington; and themoment after, in came the laundress, followed by the medical man whom she had gone in quest of; the door hardly having been closed before a thundering knock announced the arrival of the footman with another doctor; to both of whom Gammon with haste and agitation gave the account of his Lordship's seizure which he had previously determined upon giving to all inquiries.—"A decided case of apoplexy," said the fat bald-headed old gentleman brought in by the laundress, and who had been forty years in practice; and he proceeded hastily to raise the earl into a nearly sitting posture, directing the windows to be thrown open as widely as possible. "Clearly paralysis," said the spectacled young gentleman who had been fetched by the footman, and who had been established in practice only a fortnight; was hot from the hospitals; and had opened a little surgery nearly opposite to that of the old gentleman.
"Itisn't, sir—it's apoplexy."
"Sir, it's nearer epilepsy"——
"Listen to hisbreathing, sir," said the old gentleman, scornfully.
"For God's sake, gentlemen, DO something!" interposed Gammon, furiously—"Good God! would you have his Lordship die before your eyes?"
"Put his feet into hot water instantly—get mustard plasters ready," commenced the old gentleman, in a mighty bustle, turning up his coat-sleeves, and getting out his lancets; while the young gentleman, with a very indignant air, still resolved to give the distinguished patient the advantage of the newest improvements in medical science, whipped out a stethoscope, and was screwing it together, when the old gentleman in a rage cried "Pish!" and knocked it out of his hand: whereupon the young gentleman seemed disposed to strike him!
"Oh my God!" cried Gammon—and added, addressing the footman—"set off for Dr. Bailey instantly—these fools will let him die before their eyes!" Off sprang the man, and was out of sight in a twinkling. 'T was verynatural(though, I must own, somewhat inconvenient and unseemly) for these worthy rivals to behave in this way, seeing it was the first time in his life that either had been called in to a nobleman, and very probably it would be the last—at least it ought to have been; and each wished to cure or kill the distinguished patient in his own way. 'T was also the conflict between the old and the new systems of medical science; between old practice and young speculation—and between these two stools was his Lordship falling to the ground, with a witness. One felt the pulse, the other insisted on applying the stethoscope to his heart; one remarked on the coldness of the extremities—the other said the pupils were fixed and dilated. One was for bleeding at the arm, the other for opening the jugular vein: one for cupping at the nape of the neck—the other on the temple; one spoke of electricity—'t would stimulate the nervous system to throw off the blood from the brain;—the other said, "stimulate the whole surface—-wrap him in a mustard blister from head to foot, and shave and blister the head." One verily believed his Lordship was dying; the other declared he was dead already, throughhismode of treatment not having been adopted. Each would have given twenty guineas to have been the only one called in. All this horrid foolery occupied far less time than is requisite to describe it—scarcely a minute indeed—and almost drove Gammon into frenzy. Rushing to the window, he called to a porter in the inn to start off for "any other medical man who could be found!"—which brought the two to their senses, such as they were. Suffice it to say, that the jugular vein was opened in a trice; mustard plasters and hot water applied asquickly as they could be procured; and a cupping-case having been sent for, blood was taken pretty freely from the nape of the neck—and these two blood-lettings saved Lord Dreddlington's life—whether to Gammon's delight or disappointment I shall not take upon me to decide. By the time that the great man—the experienced and skilful king's physician, Dr. Bailey—had arrived, the earl was beginning to exhibit slight symptoms of returning consciousness, and was recovering from an attack of partial apoplexy. Dr. Bailey remained with his Lordship for nearly half an hour; and, on leaving, gave it as his opinion that, provided no fresh seizure occurred during the ensuing two hours, it would be practicable—as it was, of course, very desirable—to remove his Lordship to his own house. The period named having passed without his Lordship's having experienced any relapse, it was determined on removing him. He was to be accompanied by one of the medical men—both would fain have gone, had the chariot admitted of it; but Gammon soon settled the matter by naming the elder practitioner, and dismissing the younger with a couple of guineas. Then Gammon himself set off in a hackney-coach, about an hour before the carriage started, in order to prepare the household of the earl, and secure a safe communication of the alarming event, to the Lady Cecilia. On reaching the earl's mansion, to Gammon's surprise a hackney-coach was driving off from before the door; and, on entering the house, guess his amazement at hearing, from the agitated porter, that Lady Cecilia had just gone up to the drawing-room in terrible trouble. Gammon darted up-stairs, unable to imagine by what means Lady Cecilia could have been apprised of the event. He found her in out-door costume, sitting sobbing on the sofa, attended anxiously by Miss Macspleuchan. The plain fact was, that she had just been drivenout of her own house by a couple of executions, put in that morning by two creditors of Titmouse, by whom they had been treated, the evening before, very insolently! Mr. Gammon's agitated appearance alarmed Miss Macspleuchan, but was not noticed by her more distressed companion; and, as soon as Mr. Gammon found the means of doing it unobserved, he made a sign to Miss Macspleuchan that he had something of great importance to communicate to her. Leaving the Lady Cecilia, a short time afterwards, in the care of her maid, Miss Macspleuchan followed Mr. Gammon down-stairs into the library, and was in a few hurried words apprised of the illness of the earl—of the cause of it—(viz. the sudden failure of an important speculation in which the earl was interested)—and that his Lordship would be brought home in about an hour's time or so, in company with a medical man. Miss Macspleuchan was for a moment very nearly overcome, even to fainting; but, being a woman of superior strength of character, she soon rallied, and immediately addressed herself to the necessity of warding off any sudden and violent shock from Lady Cecilia, especially with reference to her delicate state of health. It was absolutely necessary, however, that her Ladyship should be promptly apprised of the painful occurrence, lest an infinitely greater shock should be inflicted on her by the earl's arrival. Gently and gradually as Miss Macspleuchan broke the intelligence to Lady Cecilia, it occasioned her falling into a swoon—for it will be borne in mind that her nerves had been before sufficiently shaken. On recovering, she requested Mr. Gammon to be sent for, and with considerable agitation inquired into the occasion and manner of the earl's illness. As soon as he had mentioned that it was a paragraph in the day's paper that first occasioned in the earl the agitation which had induced such serious consequences——
"What! in the papers already? Is it about that wretch Titmouse?" she inquired with a languid air of disgust.
"No, indeed, Lady Cecilia, Mr. Titmouse has nothing to do with it," replied Gammon, with a slight inward spasm; and, just as he had succeeded in giving her to understand the cause to which he chose to refer the earl's illness, carriage-wheels were heard, followed in a second or two by a tremendous thundering at the door, which made even Gammon almost start from his chair, and threw Lady Cecilia into a second swoon. It was providential, perhaps, that it had that effect; for had she gone to the windows, and seen her insensible father, with care and difficulty, lifted out of his carriage—his shirt-collar, and a white neck-handkerchief, thrown round his shoulders, partially crimsoned; and in that way, amid a little crowd which had suddenly gathered round, carried into the house, and borne up-stairs to his bed-chamber—it might have had a very serious effect, indeed, upon her Ladyship. Gammon stepped for an instant to the window—he saw the poor old peer in the state I have described, and the sight blanched his cheeks. Leaving her Ladyship in the hands of Miss Macspleuchan, and her attendants, he followed into the earl's bedroom; and was a little relieved, some quarter of an hour afterwards, at finding, that, though the earl was much exhausted with the fatigue of removal, he was in a much more satisfactory state than could have been anticipated. As his Lordship's own physician (who had been summoned instantly on the earl's arrival home) intimated that a little repose was essential to his Lordship, and that no one should remain in the room whose services were not indispensable, Gammon took his departure, after an anxious inquiry as to Lady Cecilia—intending to return before night, personally to ascertain the state of the earl and her Ladyship.
A mighty sigh escaped from the oppressed bosom of Gammon, as soon as, having quitted the house, he found himself in the street alone. He walked for some minutes straight on, irresolute as to whether he should direct his steps—to his own chambers, to the office in Hatton Garden, or to Mr. Titmouse's residence in Park Lane. At length he determined on returning, in the first instance, to his own chambers, and bent his steps accordingly; his mind so absorbed in thought, that he scarcely saw any one he met or passed.Herewas a state of things, thought he, which he had brought about! And what must be his own course now? For a moment or two he was in a state of feeling which we may compare to that of a person who, with ignorant curiosity, has set into motion the machinery of some prodigious engine, which it required but a touch to effect—and then stands suddenly paralyzed—bewildered—confounded at the complicated movements going on all around him, and perhaps the alarming noises accompanying them—not daring to move a hair's-breadth in any direction for fear of destruction. He soon, however, recovered himself, and began very seriously to contemplate the perilous position in which he now found himself placed.
Here was Lord Dreddlington, in the first place, involved to a most alarming extent of liability in respect of his connection with one of the bubble companies, into an alliance with which it was Gammon alone who had seduced him. But he quickly lost sight of that, as a very light matter compared with what had subsequently happened, and the prodigious consequences to which it might possibly lead—and that, too, immediately.
This crisis had been precipitated by an accident—an occurrence which he felt that no man could have foreseen or calculated upon. Certainly it might all be traced to his own oversight in leaving the conveyance of his rent-charge—so all-important a document—upon his table, thoughfor only a minute or two's absence; for he had not quitted his chambers more than five minutes before he had re-entered them, finding the Earl of Dreddlington there—of all persons in the world the very last whom Gammon would have wished to be aware of the existence of such an instrument. Who could have imagined—calculated on such an occurrence? Never before had the earl visited him at his own private residence; and to have come just precisely at the very moment—and yet, thought Gammon, almost starting back a step or two—when one came to think of it—what was more likely than that, on seeing the paragraph in the morning paper, his Lordship should have done the very thing he had, and driven down to Mr. Gammon for an explanation? Bah! thought Mr. Gammon, and stamped his foot on the pavement.
[Ay, Satan, itwasa very slippery trick indeed, which you had played this acute friend of yours.]
"But the thing is done; and what am I now to do? What can I do? First of all, there's Titmouse—where is that little miscreant at this moment? Will he follow his wife to Grosvenor Square? Will the earl have recovered, before I can see Titmouse, sufficiently to recollect what has happened? Will they allow him to be admitted into the sick-chamber? Suppose his presence should remind the earl of what he has this day heard? Suppose he should recover his senses—what course will he take? Will he acquaint his daughter that she is married to a vulgar bastard—oh, frightful!—she and he the two proudest persons, perhaps, living! Will they spurn him from them with loathing and horror?—expose the little impostor to the world?—and take God knows what steps againstme, for the share I have had in the matter?—Oh, impossible!—inconceivable! They can never blazon their own degradationto the world! Or will Lord Dreddlington have discretion and self-command sufficient to keep the blighting secret to himself? Will he rest satisfied with my statement, or insist on conclusive proof and corroboration? Will he call for vouchers—ah!" here he ground his teeth together, for he recollected the trick which Titmouse had played him in destroying the precious documents already spoken of. "If the little wretch do not hear of what has happened from any one else, shall I tell him that I have communicated his secret to Lord Dreddlington? Fancy him and his wife meeting after they know all!—or him and the earl! Suppose the earl shoulddie—and without having disclosed this secret to any one? Oh, oh! what a godsend would that be! All straight then, to the end of the chapter!—How near it was this morning!—If I had but suffered those two boobies to wrangle together till it was too late!"—Alittlecolor came into Mr. Gammon's cheek at this point—as if he felt that perhaps he was then going a trifle too far in entertaining such very—decisive—wishes and regrets: still he could not dismiss the reflection; nay, what was more probable than that so desperate a shock, suffered by a man of his advanced years, might be only the precursor of a second and fatal fit of apoplexy?—Dr. Bailey had expressed some fears of that sort to-day, recollected Gammon!
If Mr. Gammon had seen the watchful eyes at that moment settled upon him, by two persons who were approaching him, and who passed him unobserved; and could have dreamed of the errand which had brought those two persons into that part of the town—it might have set his busy brain upon quite a new track of harassing conjecture and apprehension. But he was far too intently occupied with his thoughts to notice any one, as he walked slowly down Holborn; and some five minutes afterwards, havinggot to within a hundred yards of Saffron Hill, he was startled out of his meditations by hearing a voice calling out his name—and looking towards the middle of the street, whence the sound came, beheld Mr. Titmouse, beckoning to him eagerly, out of a hackney-coach, which was slowly driving up Holborn, and at Titmouse's bidding drew up to the curb-stone.
"Oh—I say! Mr. Gammon!—'pon my life—here'sa precious mess!—Such a devil of a row!"—commenced Titmouse, alarmedly, speaking in a low voice through the coach window.
"What, sir?" inquired Gammon, sternly.
"Why, eh? heard of it? Lady Cicely"——
"Ihaveheard of it, sir," replied Gammon, gloomily—"and I have, in my turn, something of far greater consequence to tell you.—Let the coachman turn back and drive you to my chambers, where I will meet you in a quarter of an hour's time."
"Oh Lord! Won't you get in and tell menow?—Do, Mr. Gam"——
"No, sir!" replied Gammon, almost fiercely, and walked away, leaving Titmouse in a pretty fright.
"Now, shall I tell him, or not?" thought Gammon: and after some minutes' anxious consideration, determined upon doing so—and on threatening him, that if he did not change his courses, so far as money went, he—Gammon—would instantly blast him, by exposure of his real character and circumstances to the whole world. What might be the actual extent of his embarrassments, Gammon knew not, nor was he aware of the fact, that Titmouse was at that moment getting into the hands of swindling money-lenders. In point of dress and manners, he was the same that he had ever been, since fortune had given him the means of dressing according to his fancy, and the fashion; but any one looking at his face, could see in the slightly bloodshot eye, its jaded expression,and the puffy appearance of his face, the results of systematic excess and debauchery. When Gammon joined him at his chambers, and told him the events of the day, Titmouse exhibited affright, that to any other beholder than one so troubled as Gammon, would have appeared ludicrous; but as that gentleman's object was to subdue and terrify his companion into an implicit submission to his will, he dismissed him for the day, simply enjoining him to keep away from Grosvenor Square and Park Lane till an early hour in the ensuing morning—by which time events, which might have happened in the interval, might determine the course which Gammon should dictate to Titmouse. At that time Gammon was strongly inclined to insist on Titmouse's going to the Continent for a little while, to be out of harm's way; but, in fact, he felt dreadfully embarrassed to know how to dispose of Titmouse—regarding him with feelings somewhat, perhaps, akin to those with which Frankenstein beheld his monster.
But to return to Lord Dreddlington. The remedies resorted to so speedily after his seizure at Mr. Gammon's chambers, had most materially counteracted the effects of the terrible shock which he had sustained, and which, but for such interference, would in all probability have proved fatal in its consequences. Shortly after his removal to his own house, he sank into tranquil and safe sleep, which continued, with a few interruptions, for several hours—during which his brain recovered itself, in a considerable measure, from the sudden and temporary pressure which it had experienced. Towards seven o'clock in the evening, there were sitting, on one side of the bed Miss Macspleuchan, and on the other the Lady Cecilia—who also had rallied from the shock which she had sustained, and now, occasionally shedding tears, sat gazing in melancholy silence at the countenance of her father. She was certainly a miserable young woman,—was Lady Cecilia,—ignorant though she might be of the real extent of disaster consequent upon her alliance with Titmouse, whom she had long hated and despised, on all occasions avoiding his company. Their almost total estrangement was quite notorious in society!
His Lordship's physician had quitted the chamber for a few minutes, to make arrangements for continuing with him during the night; and neither Miss Macspleuchan nor Lady Cecilia had spoken for some time. At length the earl, who had become rather restless, faintly muttered at intervals to himself the words—
"Bubble—villain—Blackwall"——
"You see," whispered Miss Macspleuchan, "what he's thinking of. He dined with those people, you know." Lady Cecilia nodded in silence. Presently his Lordship resumed—
"Account closed!—Call on Mr. Gammon—Is Mr. Gammon at home?"——
The current of his recollections had now brought him to the point of danger; and after pausing for a moment, a troubled expression came over his face—he was evidently realizing the commencement of the terrible scene in Mr. Gammon's room—then he seemed to have lost the train of his thoughts for a while, as his features slowly resumed their previous placidity; but the troubled aspect presently returned: his lips were suddenly compressed, and his brow corrugated, as if with the emotion of anger or indignation.
"Monstrous!Two thousand pounds?" He spoke these words in a much stronger voice than those preceding.
"Oh, dear!—I should have thought his Lordship had lost much more thanthat," whispered Miss Macspleuchan, in a low tone.
"Insist!—Titmouse—Titmouse"—his lips slightly quivered, and he paused for a while. "Shocking! Whatwillshe"——an expression of agony came over his face.
"Poor papa! He's evidently heard it all!" whispered Lady Cecilia, faintly.
"Hush!" exclaimed Miss Macspleuchan, raising her finger to her lips—adding presently, "if he goes on in this way, I shall go and bring in Dr. Whittington."
"Cecilia!—Cecilia!"—continued the earl; and suddenly opening his eyes, gazed forward, and then on each side, with a dull confused stare. Then he closed them, muttering—"I certainly thought Mr. Gammon was here!"Shortly afterwards he opened them again; and his head being inclined towards the side where Lady Cecilia was sitting, they fell upon, and seemed to be arrested by her countenance. After gazing at her for some moments very, very sorrowfully, he again closed his eyes, murmuring—"Poor Cecilia!"
"I really think, my dear, you 'd better leave the room," faltered Miss Macspleuchan; imagining, from the state of her own feelings, that those of Lady Cecilia would be overpowering her—for nothing could be more soul-touching than the tone in which the earl had last spoken.
"No; he's asleep again," replied Lady Cecilia, calmly,—and for a quarter of an hour all was again silent. Then the earl sighed; and opening his eyes, looked full at Lady Cecilia, and with a more natural expression.
"Kiss me, Cecilia," said he, gently; and raising both his arms a little, while she leaned forward and kissed his forehead, he very feebly placed them round her, but they almost immediately sank on the bed again, as if he had not strength to keep them extended.
"We will live together, Cecilia, again," murmured the earl.
"Dear papa, don't distress yourself; if you do, I really must go away from you."
"No, no; you must not, Cecilia," murmured the earl, sadly and faintly, and shaking his head.
"Have you seen him to-day?" he presently asked with a little more energy, as if he were becoming more and more thoroughly awake, and aware of his position; and there was a marked difference in the expression of his eye—partly perplexed, partly alarmed.
"No, papa—I left the moment it happened, and came here; and have been here ever since. Do, dear papa, be calm!" added Lady Cecilia, with perfect composure.
"There!—I am gone blindagain," exclaimed the earl, suddenly, and raised his trembling hands to his eyes.
"So you knew it all?" said he, presently, tremulously removing his hands, and looking up, as if the momentary obscuration of his sight had ceased.
"Oh yes, papa, of course! How could I help it? Try to go to sleep again, dear papa." There was a faint dash of petulance in her manner.
They were at terrible cross purposes.
His eye remained fixed steadily on that of his daughter. "Is it not horrible, Cecilia?" said he, with a shudder.
"Dear papa, I don't know what you mean," replied Cecilia, quite startled by the tone of his voice, and the look of his eye. There was nothing wild or unnatural about it. The eye seemed that of a man in his full senses, but horrified by some frightful recollection or other.
"I thought it would have killed her," he muttered, closing his eyes, while a faint flush came over his face, but that of Lady Cecilia turned deadly pale.
"Don't speak again, dear," whispered Miss Macspleuchan, herself a little startled by the earl's manner—"he's wandering—he'll go to sleep presently."
"Yes, in my grave, madam," replied the earl, solemnly, in a hollow tone—at the same time turning towards Miss Macspleuchan an eye which suddenly blanched her face—"but even there I shall notforget!" She gazed at him in silence, and apprehensively, trembling from head to foot.
There ensued a pause of a minute or two.
"Oh, Cecilia!" said the earl, presently, shaking his head, and looking at her with the same terrible expression which had so startled her before—"that I had first followed you to your grave!"
"My dear papa, you are only dreaming!"
"No, I am not. Oh! how canyou, Cecilia, be so calm here, when you know that you have married a"——
Lady Cecilia glanced hurriedly at Miss Macspleuchan, who, having risen a little from her chair, was leaning forward in an agitated manner, and straining her ear to catch every word—
"What are you talking about, papa?" gasped Lady Cecilia, while her face became of a deadly whiteness.
"Why, I thought you knew it all," said the earl, sustained and stimulated by the intensity of his feelings—"that this Titmouse—is—Mr. Gammon has acknowledged all—an infamous impostor—an illegitimate"——
Miss Macspleuchan, with a faint shriek, rang the bell at the bed-head violently; but before she or any one else could reach her, Lady Cecilia had fallen heavily on the floor, where she lay unconsciously, her maid falling down over her as she rushed into the room, alarmed by the sudden and violent ringing of the bell. All was confusion and horror. Lady Cecilia was instantly carried out insensible; the earl was found to have been seized with a second fit of apoplexy. Dr. Bailey was quickly in attendance, followed soon after by an eminent accoucheur, whom it had been found necessary to send for, Lady Cecilia's illness having assumed the most alarming character conceivable. When Miss Macspleuchan had in some measure recovered from her distraction, she despatched a servant to implore the instant attendance of the Duke and Duchess of Tantallan, unable to bear the overwhelming horror occasioned to her by the statement of the Earl of Dreddlington; and which, whether so astounding and frightful a statement was founded in fact or not, and only a delusion of the earl's, was likely to have given the unfortunate Lady Cecilia her death-blow.
Both the duke and duchess—the nearest relatives of the earl then in London (the duke being his brother-in-law)—were, within half an hour,at Lord Dreddlington's and made acquainted with the fearful occasion of what had happened. The duke and duchess were quite as proud and haughty people as Lord Dreddlington; but the duke was alittle—and only a little—the earl's superior in point of understanding. When first told of the earl's disclosure, he was told as if it were an ascertained fact; and his horror knew no bounds. But when he came to inquire into the matter, and found that it rested on no other foundation than the distempered wanderings of a man whose brain was at the time laboring under the effects of an apoplectic seizure, he began to feel a great relief; especially when Miss Macspleuchan could mention no single circumstance corroboratory of so amazing and frightful a representation. At her suggestion, the duke, unable to render any personal service to the earl, who was in the hands of the physicians, hurried home again, and sent off a special messenger to Mr. Gammon, whose address Miss Macspleuchan had given him, with the following note:—
"The Duke of Tantallan presents his compliments to Mr. Gammon, and most earnestly begs that he will, without a moment's delay, favor the duke with a call in Portman Square, on business of the last importance."Portman Square,Wednesday Evening, 9 o'clock."
"The Duke of Tantallan presents his compliments to Mr. Gammon, and most earnestly begs that he will, without a moment's delay, favor the duke with a call in Portman Square, on business of the last importance.
"Portman Square,
Wednesday Evening, 9 o'clock."
A huge servant of the duke's—with powdered hair, silver epaulettes, dark crimson coat, and white breeches, having altogether a most splendid appearance—created something like a sensation in the immediate neighborhood of Thavies' Inn, by inquiring, with a very impatient and excited air, for "Thavies' Inn," and a "gentleman of the name ofGammon" who was very naturally supposed to be honored by some special and direct communication from the king, or at least some member of the royal family. Gammon himself, who was in the act of opening his door togo out and make his promised call of inquiry in Grosvenor Square—was flustered for a moment, on finding himself stepping into the arms of such an imposing personage; who said, as he gave him the letter, on finding him to be Mr. Gammon—"From the Duke of Tantallan, sir. His Grace, I believe, expects you immediately, sir."
Mr. Gammon hastily opened the letter, and having glanced at the contents—"Give my compliments to his Grace, and say I will attend him immediately," said he. The man withdrew, and Gammon returned into his chamber, and sat for a few moments in the darkness—he having just before put out his lamp. He burst into a cold sweat—"What's in the wind now!" said he to himself. "Ah, why did I not ask the fellow?"—and starting from his seat, he rushed down-stairs, and succeeded in calling back the duke's servant just as he was turning out of the inn—"Do you happen to have been into Grosvenor Square to-day?—And do you know how the Earl of Dreddlington is?" inquired Gammon, anxiously.
"Yes, sir; his Lordship, and the Lady Cecilia Titmouse, are both dangerously ill. I believe his Lordship, sir, has had a stroke—they say it's the second he's had to-day—and her Ladyship is taken in labor, and is in a shocking bad way, sir. The duke and duchess were sent for in a dreadful hurry about an hour ago."
"Dear! I'm sorry to hear it! Thank you," replied Gammon, hastily turning away a face which he felt must have gone of a ghastly paleness.
"It may be only to inquire about the Artificial Rain Company"—said Gammon to himself, as, having procured a light, he poured himself out a large glassful of brandy, and drank it off, to overcome a little sense of faintness which he felt coming rapidly over him. "The duke is ashareholder, I think. Not at all unlikely!—And as for Lady Cecilia's illness—nothing so extraordinary about it—when one considers her situation—and the shock occasioned by the earl's sudden and alarming illness. But I must take a decided course, one way or another, with the duke!—Suppose the earl has disclosed the affair to Lady Cecilia—and it has got to the duke's ears?—Good heavens! how is one to deal with it? Suppose I were to affect total ignorance about the matter—and swear that it is altogether a delusion on the part of the earl?—That would be rather a bold stroke, too!—Suppose the earl todieof this bout—ah! then there 's an end of the thing, and all's well, provided I can manage Titmouse!—A second fit of apoplexy within twelve hours—that looks well—humph!—If the earlhavementioned the affair—and distinctly and intelligibly—how far has he gone?—Did he name the rent-charge?—Ah!—well, and suppose he did? What's easier than also to denythataltogether? But suppose Titmouse should be tampered with, and pressed about the business? Perdition!—all is lost!—Yet they would hardly like to defy me, and trumpet the thing abroad!—Then there's the other course—to own that I am in possession of the fatal secret—that I became so only recently; avow the reason of my taking the rent-charge; and insist upon retaining it, as the condition of my secrecy? That also is a bold stroke: both are bold!—Yet one of them I must choose!—Then, suppose the earl to recover: he will never be the same man he was—that I find is always the case—his mind, such as it is, will go nearly altogether!—But if he recover only a glimmering even of sense—egad! 't will require a little nerve, too, to deny the thing to his face, and swear that the whole thing is the delusion of a brain disordered by previous fright!—And suppose Lady Cecilia dies?—and leaves no issue?—andthen Lord Dreddlington follows her—by Heaven, this hideous little devilbecomes Lord Drelincourt at once!!"
This was the way in which Mr. Gammon turned the thing over in his disturbed mind, as he walked rapidly towards Portman Square; and by the time that he had reached the duke's house, he had finally determined on the course he should pursue. Though his face was rather pale, he was perfectly self-possessed and firm, at the moment of his being shown into the library, where the duke was walking about, impatient for his arrival.
"Gracious God, sir!"—commenced the duke, in a low tone, with much agitation of manner, the moment that the servant had closed the door behind him—"what is all this horrible news we hear about Mr. Titmouse?"
"Horriblenews—about Mr. Titmouse?" echoed Gammon, amazedly—"pardon me—I don't understand your Grace! If you allude to the twoexecutions, which I'm sorry to hear"——
"Pho, sir! you are trifling! Believe me, this is a very awful moment to all persons involved in what has taken place!" replied the duke, his voice quivering with emotion.
"Your Grace will excuse me, but Ireallycannot comprehend you!"——
"You soon shall, sir! I tell you, it may be a matter of infinite moment to yourself personally, Mr. Gammon!"
"Whatdoesyour Grace mean?" inquired Gammon, respectfully, but firmly—and throwing an expression of still greater amazement into his face.
"Mean, sir? By——! that you have killed my Lord Dreddlington and the Lady Cecilia," cried the duke, in a very violent manner.
"I wait to hear, as soon as your Grace may condescend to explain," said Gammon, calmly.
"Explain, sir? Why, I havealreadytold and explained everything!" replied the choleric duke, who imagined that he reallyhaddone so.
"Your Grace has told—has explained nothing whatever," said Gammon.
"Why, sir—I mean, what 's this horrible story you've been telling my Lord Dreddlington about Mr. Titmouse being—in plain English, sir—A BASTARD?"
If the duke had struck at Gammon, the latter could not have started back more suddenly and violently than he did on hearing his Grace utter the last words; and he remained gazing at the duke with a face full of horror and bewilderment. The spectacle which he presented arrested the duke's increasing excitement. He stared open-mouthed at Gammon, presently adding—"Why sir, are we both—are we all—mad? or dreaming? or what has come to us?"
"I think," replied Gammon, a little recovering from the sort of stupor into which the duke's words had apparently thrown him, "it is I who have a better title than your Grace to ask the question!—I tell Lord Dreddlington that Mr. Titmouse is a bastard! Why, I can hardly credit my ears! Does my Lord Dreddlington say that I have told him so?"
"He does, sir!" replied the duke, fiercely.
"And what else may his Lordship have said concerning me?" inquired Gammon, with a sort of hopeless smile.
"By Heaven, sir, you mustn't treat this matter lightly!" said the duke, impetuously, approaching him suddenly.
"May I ask your Grace whether this is the matter mentioned in your Grace's note, as of the"——
"Itis, sir! it is!—and it's killed my Lord Dreddlington—and also the Lady Cecilia!"
"What!" cried Gammon, starting and exhibiting increasingamazement—"doesher Ladyship, too, say that I have told her so?"
"Yes, sir; she does!"
"What, Lady Cecilia?" echoed Gammon, really confounded.
"Well, sir—I think she did"——
"Think, your Grace!" interrupted Gammon, bitterly and reproachfully.
"Well, sir—certainly the fact is, I may be mistaken as tothatmatter. I was not present; but, at all events, my Lord Dreddlington certainly says you toldhim—and he's told Lady Cecilia—and it's killing her—it is, sir!—By heavens, sir, I expect hourly to hear of both of their deaths!—and I beg to ask you, sir, once for all, have you ever made any such statement to my Lord Dreddlington?"
"Not a syllable—never a breath of the sort in all my life!" replied Gammon, boldly, and rather sharply, as if indignant at being pressed about anything so absurd.
"What!—nothing of the sort? or to that effect?" exclaimed the duke, with mingled amazement and incredulity.
"Certainly—certainly not!—But let me ask, in my turn, is thefactso? Does your Grace mean to say that"——
"No, sir," interrupted the duke, but not speaking in his former confident tone—"but my Lord Dreddlington does!"
"Oh, impossible! impossible!" cried Gammon, with an incredulous air—"Only consider for one moment—how could the fact possibly be so and I not know it! Why, I am familiar with every step of his pedigree!" The duke drummed vehemently with his finger on the table, and stared at Gammon with the air of a man suddenly and completely nonplussed.
"Why, Mr. Gammon, then my Lord Dreddlington must have completely losthis senses! He declares that you told him that such was the fact!—When and where, may I ask, did you first see him to-day?"
"About half-past eleven or twelve o'clock, when he called at my chambers in a state of the greatest agitation and excitement, occasioned by the announcement in this morning's paper of the sudden blow-up of the Artificial"——
"Good Heaven! why, isthatgone?" interrupted his Grace, eagerly and alarmedly, starting up from his seat—"When? why? how?—By Heaven, it's enough to turn any one's head!"
"Indeed it is, your Grace. My Lord Dreddlington was the first from whom I heard anything on the subject."
"It's very odd I didn't see the paragraph! Where was it? In theMorning Growl?" continued the duke, with much agitation.
"It was, your Grace—it stated that Sir Sharper Bubble had suddenly absconded, with all the funds of"——
"Oh, the villain! oh, the villain!—But why do you make such scoundrels chairmen, and treasurers, and so forth? How must the loss be made good? You really don't look sharp enough after people whom you put into such situations! Who the deuce is this fellow—this Sir Bubble Sharper, or whatever he is called—eh?"
"He was greatly respected in the City, or would not have been in the position he was. Who could have suspected it?"
"And is the thing quite blown up?Allgone?"
"Yes. I fear it is, indeed!" replied Gammon, shrugging his shoulders and sighing.
"Of course no one can be made liable—come the worst to the worst, eh?"inquired the duke, very anxiously, "beyond the amount of his shares? How's that, Mr. Gammon?"
"I devoutly trust not! Your Grace will observe that it depends a good deal on the prominence which any one takes in the affair."
"Egad! is that the principle? Then, I assure you, Mr. Gammon, upon my word of honor, that I have not taken the least public part in the proceedings"——
"I am very happy to hear it, your Grace. Nor have I—but I very much fear that my Lord Dreddlington may have gone farther a good deal"——
"I've several times warned him on the subject, I assure you. By the way, there's that other affair, Mr. Gammon, I hope—eh?—that the Gunpowder and Fresh Water"——
"Good heavens, your Grace! I hope all is rightthere—or I, for one, am a ruined man!" replied Gammon, quickly.
"I—I—hope so too, sir.—So Lord Dreddlington was a good deal shocked, eh, this morning?"
"Yes, indeed he was—nay, I may say, terribly excited! I was greatly alarmed on his account, directly I saw him."
"And is this Mr. Titmouse—eh?—involved in the thing?"
"I really can't tell, your Grace—his movements are somewhat eccentric—it's extremely difficult to discover or account for them! By the way, I recollect, now, that Ididmention his name to Lord Dreddlington."
"Ah, indeed! What about?" interrupted his Grace, briskly.
"Why, I just heard that early this morning there would be one or two executions put into his house—he's been going on lately in a very wild way."
"Oh, he's a monstrous little—but was that all that passed between you and my Lord Dreddlington about him?"
"I will undertake to say," replied Gammon, pausing, putting his finger to his lips, and appearing to try to recollect—"that that was the only mention made of his name, for soon after his Lordship was seized with a fit," and Mr. Gammon proceeded to give the duke a very vivid and feeling description of it.
"What a singular hallucination his Lordship must be laboring under, to make such an assertion concerning me as he appears to have made!" presently observed Gammon.
"Very!" replied the duke, gravely, still feeling serious misgivings on the subject; but what could he either say, or do, further, after the solemn, the explicit, and repeated denials of Mr. Gammon? His Grace then gave him an account of what he had heard as to the mode of Lord Dreddlington's seizure, and that of Lady Cecilia; and as he went on, Gammon quivered from head to foot—and it required all his extraordinary powers of self-command to conceal his excessive agitation from the duke.
"By the way, where is Mr. Titmouse?" inquired the duke, as he rose, after saying that he was going on immediately to Grosvenor Square. "I have sent to Park Lane, and find that he has not been there since the morning."
"I really don't know, I assure your Grace. I have not seen him for several days. If his affairs are as seriously involved as your Grace would intimate, he may probably be keeping out of the way!"
"Do let me beg of you to take the trouble of inquiring after him to-morrow morning, Mr. Gammon. He must be very much shocked to hear of the lamentable condition of Lady Cecilia!"
"Indeed I will, I assure your Grace: I only hope he may not have gone over to the Continent."
"God bless my soul, but I hope not!" interrupted the duke, earnestly: and added, after one or two other observations, "then I understand you as stating, Mr. Gammon, that there is not the least pretence or foundation, in point of fact, for the representation which my Lord Dreddlington has made concerning you, with reference to Mr. Titmouse—excuse me—is it so, upon your word of honor?"
"Upon my sacred word of honor!" replied Gammon, steadfastly; and, shortly afterwards, bowing to the duke, took his leave, promising to call on his Grace early on the morrow, and to make every exertion to see Mr. Titmouse—whom Mr. Gammon was now, indeed, devouringly anxious to see, and would have made almost any sacrifice to be enabled to fall in with him that very night. Good heavens! how much now depended on Titmouse!—on the manner in which he would deal with such questions as would infallibly be asked of him by the duke, and by any one else who might have heard of the rumor! In short, Gammon was quite distracted by doubts and fears, as he bent his way back to his chambers, not venturing, after what he had heard, to call in Grosvenor Square that evening, lest he should hear fatal news of either the earl or Lady Cecilia—that is, of either or both of hisvictims! The next morning, the following announcement of the earl's illness appeared in most of the morning papers, and created quite a sensation in "society:"—
"Sudden and alarming illness of the Earl of Dreddlington and Lady Cecilia Titmouse.—Yesterday, while sitting in the office of his solicitor, the Earl of Dreddlington experienced an apoplectic seizure of a most serious nature, and which, but for prompt and decisive medical treatment, must have proved immediately fatal.
"Sudden and alarming illness of the Earl of Dreddlington and Lady Cecilia Titmouse.—Yesterday, while sitting in the office of his solicitor, the Earl of Dreddlington experienced an apoplectic seizure of a most serious nature, and which, but for prompt and decisive medical treatment, must have proved immediately fatal.