St. Ronan's Well Part 48

"The case is not fairly stated, Captain Jekyl," replied Tyrrel; "I commence a lawsuit, when I do commence it, for the sake of ascertaining my own just rights."

"It comes to the same thing eventually," said the mediator; "I am not called upon to decide upon the justice of your claims, but they are, you will allow, newly started. The late Countess of Etherington died in possession--open and undoubted possession--of her rank in society."

"If she had no real claim to it, sir," replied Tyrrel, "she had more than justice who enjoyed it so long; and the injured lady whose claims were postponed, had just so much less.--But this is no point for you and me to discuss between us--it must be tried elsewhere."

"Proofs, sir, of the strongest kind, will be necessary to overthrow a right so well established in public opinion as that of the present possessor of the t.i.tle of Etherington."

Tyrrel took a paper from his pocketbook, and, handing it to Captain Jekyl, only answered, "I have no thoughts of asking you to give up the cause of your friend; but methinks the doc.u.ments of which I give you a list, may shake your opinion of it."

Captain Jekyl read, muttering to himself, "'_Certificate of marriage, by the Rev. Zadock Kemp, chaplain to the British Emba.s.sy at Paris, between Marie de Bellroche, Comptesse de Martigny, and the Right Honourable John Lord Oakendale--Letters between John Earl of Etherington and his lady, under the t.i.tle of Madame de Martigny--Certificate of baptism--Declaration of the Earl of Etherington on his death-bed._'--All this is very well--but may I ask you, Mr. Tyrrel, if it is really your purpose to go to extremity with your brother?"

"He has forgot that he is one--he has lifted his hand against my life."

"You have shed his blood--twice shed it," said Jekyl; "the world will not ask which brother gave the offence, but which received, which inflicted, the severest wound."

"Your friend has inflicted one on me, sir," said Tyrrel, "that will bleed while I have the power of memory."

"I understand you, sir," said Captain Jekyl; "you mean the affair of Miss Mowbray?"

"Spare me on that subject, sir!" said Tyrrel. "Hitherto I have disputed my most important rights--rights which involved my rank in society, my fortune, the honour of my mother--with something like composure; but do not say more on the topic you have touched upon, unless you would have before you a madman!--Is it possible for you, sir, to have heard even the outline of this story, and to imagine that I can ever reflect on the cold-blooded and most inhuman stratagem, which this friend of yours prepared for two unfortunates, without"--He started up, and walked impetuously to and fro. "Since the Fiend himself interrupted the happiness of perfect innocence, there was never such an act of treachery--never such schemes of happiness destroyed--never such inevitable misery prepared for two wretches who had the idiocy to repose perfect confidence in him!--Had there been pa.s.sion in his conduct, it had been the act of a man--a wicked man, indeed, but still a human creature, acting under the influence of human feelings--but his was the deed of a calm, cold, calculating demon, actuated by the basest and most sordid motives of self-interest, joined, as I firmly believe, to an early and inveterate hatred of one whose claims he considered as at variance with his own."

"I am sorry to see you in such a temper," said Captain Jekyl, calmly; "Lord Etherington, I trust, acted on very different motives than those you impute to him; and if you will but listen to me, perhaps something may be struck out which may accommodate these unhappy disputes."

"Sir," said Tyrrel, sitting down again, "I will listen to you with calmness, as I would remain calm under the probe of a surgeon tenting a festered wound. But when you touch me to the quick, when you p.r.i.c.k the very nerve, you cannot expect me to endure without wincing."

"I will endeavour, then, to be as brief in the operation as I can,"

replied Captain Jekyl, who possessed the advantage of the most admirable composure during the whole conference. "I conclude, Mr. Tyrrel, that the peace, happiness, and honour of Miss Mowbray, are dear to you?"

"Who dare impeach her honour!" said Tyrrel, fiercely; then checking himself, added, in a more moderate tone, but one of deep feeling, "they are dear to me, sir, as my eyesight."

"My friend holds them in equal regard," said the Captain; "and has come to the resolution of doing her the most ample justice."

"He can do her justice no otherwise, than by ceasing to haunt this neighbourhood, to think, to speak, even to dream of her."

"Lord Etherington thinks otherwise," said Captain Jekyl; "he believes that if Miss Mowbray has sustained any wrong at his hands, which, of course, I am not called upon to admit, it will be best repaired by the offer to share with her his t.i.tle, his rank, and his fortune."

"His t.i.tle, rank, and fortune, sir, are as much a falsehood as he is himself," said Tyrrel, with violence--"Marry Clara Mowbray? never!"

"My friend's fortune, you will observe," replied Jekyl, "does not rest entirely upon the event of the lawsuit with which you, Mr. Tyrrel, now threaten him.--Deprive him, if you can, of the Oakendale estate, he has still a large patrimony by his mother; and besides, as to his marriage with Clara Mowbray, he conceives, that unless it should be the lady's wish to have the ceremony repeated to which he is most desirous to defer his own opinion, they have only to declare that it has already pa.s.sed between them."

"A trick, sir!" said Tyrrel, "a vile infamous trick! of which the lowest wretch in Newgate would be ashamed--the imposition of one person for another."

"Of that, Mr. Tyrrel, I have seen no evidence whatever. The clergyman's certificate is clear--Francis Tyrrel is united to Clara Mowbray in the holy bands of wedlock--such is the tenor--there is a copy--nay, stop one instant, if you please, sir. You say there was an imposition in the case--I have no doubt but you speak what you believe, and what Miss Mowbray told you. She was surprised--forced in some measure from the husband she had just married--ashamed to meet her former lover, to whom, doubtless, she had made many a vow of love, and ne'er a true one--what wonder that, unsupported by her bridegroom, she should have changed her tone, and thrown all the blame of her own inconstancy on the absent swain?--A woman, at a pinch so critical, will make the most improbable excuse, rather than be found guilty on her own confession."

"There must be no jesting in this case," said Tyrrel, his cheek becoming pale, and his voice altered with pa.s.sion.

"I am quite serious, sir," replied Jekyl; "and there is no law court in Britain that would take the lady's word--all she has to offer, and that in her own cause--against a whole body of evidence direct and circ.u.mstantial, showing that she was by her own free consent married to the gentleman who now claims her hand.--Forgive me, sir--I see you are much agitated--I do not mean to dispute your right of believing what you think is most credible--I only use the freedom of pointing out to you the impression which the evidence is likely to make on the minds of indifferent persons."

"Your friend," answered Tyrrel, affecting a composure, which, however, he was far from possessing, "may think by such arguments to screen his villainy; but it cannot avail him--the truth is known to Heaven--it is known to me--and there is, besides, one indifferent witness upon earth, who can testify that the most abominable imposition was practised on Miss Mowbray."

"You mean her cousin,--Hannah Irwin, I think, is her name," answered Jekyl; "you see I am fully acquainted with all the circ.u.mstances of the case. But where is Hannah Irwin to be found?"

"She will appear, doubtless, in Heaven's good time, and to the confusion of him who now imagines the only witness of his treachery--the only one who could tell the truth of this complicated mystery--either no longer lives, or, at least, cannot be brought forward against him, to the ruin of his schemes. Yes, sir, that slight observation of yours has more than explained to me why your friend, or, to call him by his true name, Mr.

Valentine Bulmer, has not commenced his machinations sooner, and also why he has commenced them now. He thinks himself certain that Hannah Irwin is not now in Britain, or to be produced in a court of justice--he may find himself mistaken."

"My friend seems perfectly confident of the issue of his cause,"

answered Jekyl; "but for the lady's sake, he is most unwilling to prosecute a suit which must be attended with so many circ.u.mstances of painful exposure."

"Exposure, indeed!" answered Tyrrel; "thanks to the traitor who laid a mine so fearful, and who now affects to be reluctant to fire it.--Oh!

how I am bound to curse that affinity that restrains my hands! I would be content to be the meanest and vilest of society, for one hour of vengeance on this unexampled hypocrite!--One thing is certain, sir--your friend will have no living victim. His persecution will kill Clara Mowbray, and fill up the cup of his crimes, with the murder of one of the sweetest----I shall grow a woman, if I say more on the subject!"

"My friend," said Jekyl, "since you like best to have him so defined, is as desirous as you can be to spare the lady's feelings; and with that view, not reverting to former pa.s.sages, he has laid before her brother a proposal of alliance, with which Mr. Mowbray is highly pleased."

"Ha!" said Tyrrel, starting--"And the lady?"--

"And the lady so far proved favourable, as to consent that Lord Etherington shall visit Shaws-Castle."

"Her consent must have been extorted!" exclaimed Tyrrel.

"It was given voluntarily," said Jekyl, "as I am led to understand; unless, perhaps, in so far as the desire to veil these very unpleasing transactions may have operated, I think naturally enough, to induce her to sink them in eternal secrecy, by accepting Lord Etherington's hand.--I see, sir, I give you pain, and am sorry for it.--I have no t.i.tle to call upon you for any exertion of generosity; but, should such be Miss Mowbray's sentiments, is it too much to expect of you, that you will not compromise the lady's honour by insisting upon former claims, and opening up disreputable transactions so long past?"

"Captain Jekyl," said Tyrrel, solemnly, "I have no claims. Whatever I might have had, were cancelled by the act of treachery through which your friend endeavoured too successfully to supplant me. Were Clara Mowbray as free from her pretended marriage as law could p.r.o.nounce her, still with me--_me_, at least, of all men in the world--the obstacle must ever remain, that the nuptial benediction has been p.r.o.nounced over her, and the man whom I must for once call _brother_."--He stopped at that word, as if it had cost him agony to p.r.o.nounce it, and then resumed:--"No, sir, I have no views of personal advantage in this matter--they have been long annihilated--But I will not permit Clara Mowbray to become the wife of a villain--I will watch over her with thoughts as spotless as those of her guardian angel. I first persuaded her to quit the path of duty[II-B]--I, of all men who live, am bound to protect her from the misery--from the guilt--which must attach to her as this man's wife. I will never believe that she wishes it--I will never believe, that in calm mind and sober reason, she can be brought to listen to such a guilty proposal.--But her mind--alas!--is not of the firm texture it once could boast; and your friend knows well how to press on the spring of every pa.s.sion that can agitate and alarm her.

Threats of exposure may extort her consent to this most unfitting match, if they do not indeed drive her to suicide, which I think the most likely termination. I will, therefore, be strong where she is weak.--Your friend, sir, must at least strip his proposals of their fine gilding. I will satisfy Mr. Mowbray of St. Ronan's of his false pretences, both to rank and fortune; and I rather think he will protect his sister against the claim of a needy profligate, though he might be dazzled with the alliance of a wealthy peer."

"Your cause, sir, is not yet won," answered Jekyl; "and when it is, your brother will retain property enough to ent.i.tle him to marry a greater match than Miss Mowbray, besides the large estate of Nettlewood, to which that alliance must give him right. But I would wish to make some accommodation between you if it were possible. You profess, Mr. Tyrrel, to lay aside all selfish wishes and views in this matter, and to look entirely to Miss Mowbray's safety and happiness?"

"Such, upon my honour, is the exclusive purpose of my interference--I would give all I am worth to procure her an hour of quiet--for happiness she will never know again."

"Your antic.i.p.ations of Miss Mowbray's distress," said Jekyl, "are, I understand, founded upon the character of my friend. You think him a man of light principle, and because he overreached you in a juvenile intrigue, you conclude that now, in his more steady and advanced years, the happiness of the lady in whom you are so much interested ought not to be trusted to him?"

"There may be other grounds," said Tyrrel, hastily; "but you may argue upon those you have named, as sufficient to warrant my interference."

"How, then, if I should propose some accommodation of this nature? Lord Etherington does not pretend to the ardour of a pa.s.sionate lover. He lives much in the world, and has no desire to quit it. Miss Mowbray's health is delicate--her spirits variable--and retirement would most probably be her choice.--Suppose--I am barely putting a supposition--suppose that a marriage between two persons so circ.u.mstanced were rendered necessary or advantageous to both--suppose that such a marriage were to secure to one party a large estate--were to insure the other against all the consequences of an unpleasant exposure--still, both ends might be obtained by the mere ceremony of marriage pa.s.sing between them. There might be a previous contract of separation, with suitable provisions for the lady, and stipulations, by which the husband should renounce all claim to her society. Such things happen every season, if not on the very marriage day, yet before the honeymoon is over.--Wealth and freedom would be the lady's, and as much rank as you, sir, supposing your claims just, may think proper to leave them."

There was a long pause, during which Tyrrel underwent many changes of countenance, which Jekyl watched carefully, without pressing him for an answer. At length he replied, "There is much in your proposal, Captain Jekyl, which I might be tempted to accede to, as one manner of unloosing this Gordian knot, and a compromise by which Miss Mowbray's future tranquillity would be in some degree provided for. But I would rather trust a fanged adder than your friend, unless I saw him fettered by the strongest ties of interest. Besides, I am certain the unhappy lady could never survive the being connected with him in this manner, though but for the single moment when they should appear together at the altar.

There are other objections"----

He checked himself, paused, and then proceeded in a calm and self-possessed tone. "You think, perhaps, even yet, that I have some selfish and interested views in this business; and probably you may feel yourself ent.i.tled to entertain the same suspicion towards me, which I avowedly harbour respecting every proposition which originates with your friend.--I cannot help it--I can but meet these disadvantageous impressions with plain dealing and honesty; and it is in the spirit of both that _I_ make a proposition to _you_.--Your friend is attached to rank, fortune, and worldly advantages, in the usual proportion, at least, in which they are pursued by men of the world--this you must admit, and I will not offend you by supposing more."

"I know few people who do not desire such advantages," answered Captain Jekyl; "and I frankly own, that he affects no particular degree of philosophic indifference respecting them."

"Be it so," answered Tyrrel. "Indeed, the proposal you have just made indicates that his pretended claim on this young lady's hand is entirely, or almost entirely, dictated by motives of interest, since you are of opinion that he would be contented to separate from her society on the very marriage day, provided that, in doing so, he was a.s.sured of the Nettlewood property."

"My proposition was unauthorized by my princ.i.p.al," answered Jekyl; "but it is needless to deny, that its very tenor implies an idea, on my part, that Lord Etherington is no pa.s.sionate lover."

"Well then," answered Tyrrel. "Consider, sir, and let him consider well, that the estate and rank he now a.s.sumes, depend upon my will and pleasure--that, if I prosecute the claims of which that scroll makes you aware, he must descend from the rank of an earl into that of a commoner, stripped of by much the better half of his fortune--a diminution which would be far from compensated by the estate of Nettlewood, even if he could obtain it, which could only be by means of a lawsuit, precarious in the issue, and most dishonourable in its very essence."

"Well, sir," replied Jekyl, "I perceive your argument--What is your proposal?"