 5 Now I was once more on public ground. By so many anxious efforts had I disengaged myself from the perilous precincts of private property. As many stratagems as are usually made to enter a house had been employed by me to get out of it. I was urged to the use of them by my fears, yet so far from carrying off spoil I had escaped with the loss of an essential part of my dress. I had now leisure to reflect. I seated myself on the ground and reviewed the scenes through which I had just passed. I began to think that my industry had been misemployed. Suppose I had met the person on his first entrance into his chamber. Was the truth so utterly wild as to not have found credit? Since the door was locked and there was no other avenue, what other statement but the true one would account for my being found there? This deportment had been worthy of an honest purpose. My betrayer probably expected that this would be the issue of his jest. My rustic simplicity, he might think, would suggest no more ambiguous or elaborate expedient. He might likewise have predetermined to interfere if my safety had been really endangered. On the morrow the two doors of the chamber and the window below would be found unclosed. They will suspect a design to pillage, but their searches will terminate in nothing but in the discovery of a pair of clumsy and dusty shoes in the closet. Now that I was safe I could not help smiling at the picture which my fancy drew of their anxiety and wonder. These thoughts, however, gave place to more momentous considerations. I could not imagine to myself a more perfect example of indigence than I now exhibited. There was no being in the city on whose kindness I had any claim. Money I had none, and what I then wore comprised my whole stock of moveables. I had just lost my shoes, and this loss rendered my stockings of no use. My dignity remonstrated against a barefoot pilgrimage, but to this necessity now reconciled me. I threw my stockings between the bars of a stable window, belonging as I thought to the mansion I had just left. These, together with my shoes, I left to pay the cost of my entertainment. I saw that the city was no place for me. The end that I had had in view of procuring some mechanical employment could only be obtained by the use of means, but what means to pursue I knew not. This night's perils and deceptions gave me a distaste to a city life, and my ancient occupations rose to my view, enhanced by a thousand imaginary charms. I resolved forthwith to strike into the country. The day began now to dawn. It was Sunday, and I was desirous of eluding observation. I was somewhat recruited by rest, though the langurs of sleeplessness oppressed me. I meant to throw myself on the first lap of verger I should meet, an indulge in sleep that I so much wanted. I knew not the direction of the streets, but followed that which I first entered from the court, trusting that by adhering steadily to one course I should sometime reach the fields. This street, as I afterwards found, tended to school-kill, and soon extricated me from houses. I could not cross this river without payment of toll. It was requisite to cross it in order to reach that part of the country whether I was desirous of going, but how should I affect my passage? I knew of no ford, and the smallest expense exceeded my capacity. Ten thousand guineas and a farthing were equally remote from nothing, and nothing was the portion allotted to me. While my mind was thus occupied, I turned up one of the streets which tend northward. It was, for some length, uninhabited and unpaved. Presently I reached a pavement and a painted fence along which a row of poplars was planted. It bounded a garden into which a knot-hole permitted me to pry. The enclosure was a charming green which I saw appended to a house of the loftiest and most stately order. It seemed like a recent erection, and had all the gloss of novelty and exhibited to my unpracticed eyes the magnificence of palaces. My father's dwelling did not equal the height of one's story, and might be easily comprised in one fourth of those buildings which were here designed to accommodate the menials. My heart dictated the comparison between my own condition and that of the proprietors of this domain. How wide and how impassable was the gulf by which we were separated? This fair inheritance had fallen to one who, perhaps, would only abuse it to the purposes of luxury while I, with intentions worthy of the friend of mankind, was doomed to wield the flail and the mattock. I had been entirely unaccustomed to this strain of reflection. My books had taught me the dignity and safety of the middle path and my darling writer abounded with encomiums on rural life. At a distance from luxury and pomp I viewed them, perhaps, in a just light. A nearer scrutiny confirmed my early prepossessions, but at the distance at which I now stood, the lofty edifices, the splendid furniture, and the copious accommodations of the rich excited my admiration and my envy. I relinquished my station and proceeded in a heartless mood along the fence. I now came to the mansion itself. The principal door was entered by a staircase of marble. I had never seen the stone of Carara, and wildly supposed this to have been dug from Italian quarries. The beauty of the poplars, the coolness exhaled from the dubious Brent bricks, the commodiousness of the seat which these steps afforded, and the uncertainty into which I was plunged, respecting my future conduct, all combined to make me pause. I sat down on the lower step and began to meditate. By some transition it occurred to me that the supply of my most urgent wants might be found in some inhabitant of this house. I needed at present a few cents, and what were a few cents to the tenet of a mansion like this? I had an invincible aversion to the calling of a beggar, but I regarded with still more antipathy the vocation of a thief. To this alternative, however, I was now reduced. I must either steal or beg, unless indeed assistance could be procured under the notion of a loan. Would a stranger refuse to lend the pittance that I wanted? Surely not, when the urgency of my wants was explained. I recollected other obstacles. To summon the master of the house from his bed, perhaps, for the sake of such an application, would be preposterous. I should be in more danger of provoking his anger than exciting his benevolence. This request might surely, with more propriety, be preferred to a passenger. I should probably meet several before I should arrive at school-kill. A servant just then appeared at the door with a bucket and brush. This obliged me much sooner than I intended to decamp. With some reluctance I rose and proceeded. This house occupied the corner of the street, and I now turned this corner towards the country. A person at some distance before me was approaching in an opposite direction. Why, said I, may I not make my demand of the first man I meet? This person exhibits tokens of ability to lend. There is nothing chilling or austere in his demeanor. The resolution to address this passenger was almost formed, but the nearer he advanced my resolves grew less firm. He noticed me not till he came within a few paces. He seemed busy in reflection, and had not my figure caught his eye, or had he merely bestowed a passing glance upon me, I should not have been sufficiently courageous to have detained him. The event, however, was widely different. He looked at me and started. For an instant, as it were, until he had time to dart at me a second glance, he checked his pace. This behavior decided mine, and he stopped on perceiving tokens of a desire to address him. I spoke, but my accents and air sufficiently denoted my embarrassments. I am going to solicit a favour which my situation makes of the highest importance to me, and which I hope it will be easy for you, sir, to grant. It is not an alms, but a loan that I seek, a loan that I will repay the moment I am able to do it. I am going into the country, but have not wherewith to pay my passage over school-kill, or to buy a morsel of bread. May I venture to request of you, sir, the loan of six pence? As I told you, it is my intention to repay it. I delivered this address not without some faltering, but with great earnestness. I laid particular stress upon my intention to refund the money. He listened with a most inquisitive air. His eyes perused me from head to foot. After some pause he said in a very emphatic manner, Why into the country? Have you family, kindred, friends? No, answered I. I have neither. I go in search of the means of subsistence. I have passed my life upon a farm and proposed to die in the same condition. I came yesterday from the country with a view to earn my bread in some way, but have changed my plan and proposed now to return. Why have you changed it? And what way are you capable of earning your bread? I hardly know, said I. I can, as yet, manage no tool that can be managed in the city but the pen. My habits have, in some small degree, qualified me for a writer. I would only accept employment of that kind. He fixed his eyes upon the earth and was silent for some minutes. At length recovering himself he said, Follow me to my house. Perhaps something may be done for you. If not, I will lend you six pence. It may be supposed that I eagerly complied with the invitation. My companion said no more, his air bespeaking him to be absorbed by his own thoughts, till he reached his house, which proved to be that at the door of which I had been seated. We entered a parlor together. Unless you can assume my ignorance and my simplicity, you will be unable to conceive the impression that were made by the size and ornaments of this apartment. I shall omit these impressions, which, indeed, no description could adequately convey, and dwell on incidents of greater moment. He asked me to give him a specimen of my penmanship. I told you that I had bestowed very great attention upon this art. Implements were brought, and I sat down to the task. By some inexplicable connection a line in Shakespeare occurred to me, and I wrote, My poverty but not my will consents. The sentiment conveyed in this line powerfully affected him, but in a way which I could not then comprehend. I collected from subsequent events that the inference was not unfavorable to my understanding or my morals. He questioned me as to my history. I related my origin and my inducements to desert my father's house. With respect to last night's adventures I was silent. I saw no useful purpose that could be answered by disclosure, and I have suspected that my companion would refuse to credit my tale. There were frequent intervals of abstraction and reflection between his questions. My examination lasted not much less than an hour. At length he said, I want an immanuensis or copious. On what terms will you live with me? I answered that I knew not how to estimate the value of my services. I knew not whether these services were agreeable or helpful. My life had hitherto been active. My constitution was predisposed to diseases of the lungs, and the change might be hurtful. I was willing, however, to try and to content myself for a month or a year with so much as would furnish me with food, clothing, and lodging. Tiswell said he, You remain with me as long and no longer than both of us, please. You shall lodge and eat in this house. I will supply you with clothing, and your task will be to write what I dictate. Your person, I see, has not shared much of your attention. It is in my power to equip you instantly in the manner which becomes a resident in this house. Come with me. He led the way into the court behind and then sent to a neat building which contained large wooden vessels and a pump. There, said he, You may wash yourself, and when that is done I will conduct you to your chamber in your wardrobe. This was speedily performed, and he accordingly led the way to the chamber. It was an apartment in the third story, finished and furnished in the same costly and superb style with the rest of the house. He opened closets and drawers which overflowed with clothes and linen of all of the best kinds. These are yours, said he, as long as you stay with me. Dress yourself as likes you best. Here is everything your nakedness requires. When dressed you may descend to breakfast. With these words he left me. The clothes were all in the French style as I afterwards, by comparing my garb with that of others, discovered. They were fitted to my shape with the nicest precision. I bedecked myself with all my care. I remembered the style of dress used by my beloved clavoring. My locks were of shining auburn flowing and smooth like his. Having wrung the wet from them and combed, I tied them carelessly in a black ribbon. Thus equipped I surveyed myself in a mirror. You may imagine if you can the sensations which this instantaneous transformation produced. Appearances are wonderfully influenced by dress. Check shirt buttoned at the neck, an awkward fustion coat, check trousers and bare feet, were now supplanted by linen and muslin, nankine coat striped with green, a white silk waistcoat elegantly needle-wrought, cashmere pantaloons, stockings of variegated silk and shoes that in their softness, pliancy and polished surface, vied with satin. I could scarcely forebear looking back to see whether the image in the glass so well proportioned, so gallant, and so graceful did not belong to another. I could scarcely recognize any lineaments of my own. I walked to the window. Twenty minutes ago, said I, I was traversing that path a barefoot beggar. Now I am thus. Again I surveyed myself. Surely some insanity is fastened on my understanding. My senses are the sport of dreams. Some magic that disdains the cumbersome of nature's progress has wrought this change. I was roused from these doubts by a summons to breakfast, obsequiously delivered by a black servant. I found Wellbeck, for I shall henceforth call him by his true name, at the breakfast table. A superb equipage of silver and china was before him. He was startled at my entrance. The change in my dress seemed for a moment to have deceived him. His eye was frequently fixed upon me with unusual steadfastness. At these times there was an inquiitude and wonder in his features. I had now an opportunity of examining my host. There was nicety but no improvement in his dress. His form was of the middle height, spare but vigorous and graceful. His face was cast, I thought, in a foreign mold. His forehead receded beyond the usual degree in visages which I had seen. His eyes large and prominent but imparting no marks of benignity and habitual joy. The rest of his face forcibly suggested the idea of a convex edge. His whole figure impressed me with emotions of veneration and awe. A gravity that almost amounted to sadness invariably attended him when we were alone together. He whispered the servant that waited, who immediately retired. He then said, turning to me, A lady will enter presently, whom you are to treat with respect due to my daughter. You must not notice any emotion she may betray at the side of you, nor expect her to converse with you, for she does not understand your language. He had scarcely spoken when she entered. I was seized with certain misgivings and flutterings which a clownish education may account for. I so far conquered my timidity, however, to snatch a look at her. I was not born to execute her portrait. Perhaps the turban that wreathed her head, the brilliant texture and inimitable folds of her drapery and nymph-like port, more than the essential attributes of her person, gave splendor to the celestial vision. Perhaps it was her snowy hues and the cast rather than the position of her features that were so prolific of enchantment, or perhaps the wonder originated only in my own ignorance. She did not immediately notice me. When she did, she almost shrieked with surprise. She held up her hands and, gazing upon me, uttered various exclamations which I could not understand. I could only remark that her accents were thrillingly musical. Her perturbations refused to be stilled. It was with difficulty that she withdrew her regards from me. Much conversation passed between her and Wellbeck, but I could comprehend no part of it. I was at liberty to animadvert on the visible part of their intercourse. I diverted some part of my attention from my own embarrassments and fixed it on their looks. In this art, as in most others, I was an unpracticed simpleton. In the countenance of Wellbeck there was somewhat else than sympathy with the astonishment and distress of the lady, but I could not interpret these additional tokens. When her attention was engrossed by Wellbeck, her eyes were frequently vagrant or downcast, her cheeks contracted a deeper hue, and her breathing was almost prolonged into a sigh. These were marks on which I made no comments at the time. My own situation was calculated to breed confusion in my thoughts and awkwardness in my gestures. Breakfast being finished, the lady, apparently at the request of Wellbeck, sat down to a pianoforte. Here again I must be silent. I was not wholly destitute of musical practice and musical taste. I had that degree of knowledge which enabled me to estimate the transcendent skill of this performer. As if the pathos of her touch were insufficient, I found after some time that the lawless jarrings of the keys were chastened by her own more liquid notes. She played without a book, and though her bass might be preconcerted, it was plain that her right hand notes were momentary and spontaneous inspirations. Meanwhile, Wellbeck stood, leaning his arms on the back of the chair near her, with his eyes fixed on her face. His features were fraught with a meaning which I was eager to interpret, but unable. I have read of transitions affected by magic. I have read of palaces and deserts which were subject to the dominion of spells. Poets may sport with their power, but I am certain that no transition was ever conceived more marvelous and more beyond the reach of foresight than that which I had just experienced. Heaths vexed by a midnight storm may be changed into a hall of coral nymphs and regal banquetting. Forest glades may give sudden place to colonnades and carnivals, but he who senses are deluded finds himself still on his natal earth. These miracles are contemptible when compared with that which placed me under this roof and gave me to partake in this audience. I know that my emotions are in danger of being regarded as ludicrous by those who cannot figure to themselves the consequences of a limited and rustic education. In a short time the lady retired. I naturally expected that some comments would be made on her behavior and that the cause of her surprise and distress on seeing me would be explained, but Welbeck said nothing on that subject. When she had gone he went to the window and stood for some time occupied as it seemed with his own thoughts. Then he turned to me and calling me by my name desired me to accompany him upstairs. There was neither cheerfulness nor mildness in his address, but neither was there anything domineering or arrogant. We entered an apartment on the same floor with my chamber, but separated from it by a spacious entry. It was supplied with bureaus, cabinets, and bookcases. This, said he, is your room and mine, but we must enter it and leave it together. I mean to act not as your master but your friend. My maimed hand, so saying he showed me his right hand, the forefinger of which was wanting, will not allow me to write accurately or copiously. For this reason I have required your aid in a work of some moment. Much haste will not be requisite, and as to the hours and duration of employment these will be seasonable and short. Your present situation is new to you, and we will therefore defer entering on our business. Meanwhile you may amuse yourself in what manner you please. Consider this house as your home and make yourself familiar with it. Stay within or go out, be busy or be idle as your fancy shall prompt. Only you will conform to our domestic system as to eating and sleep. The servants will inform you of this. Next week we will enter on the task for which I designed you. You may now withdraw. I obeyed this mandate with some awkwardness and hesitation. I went into my own chamber not displeased with an opportunity of loneliness. I threw myself on a chair and resigned myself to those thoughts which would naturally arise in this situation. I speculated on the character and views of Wellbeck. I saw that he was embosomed in tranquility and grandeur. Riches therefore were his. But in what did his opulence consist and whence did it arise? What were the limits by which it was confined and what its degree of permanence? I was unhabituated to ideas of floating or transferable wealth. The rent of houses and lands was the only species of property which was as yet perfectly intelligible. My previous ideas led me to regard Wellbeck as the proprietor of this dwelling and of numerous houses and farms. By the same cause I was feigned to suppose him enriched by inheritance and that his life had been uniform. I next adverted to his social condition. This mansion appeared to have but two inhabitants besides servants. Who was the nymph who had hovered for a moment in my sight? Had he not called her his daughter? The apparent difference in their ages would justify this relation, but her guise, her features, and her accents were foreign. Her language I suspected strongly to be that of Italy. How should he be the father of an Italian? But were there not some foreign lineaments in his countenance? This idea seemed to open a new world to my view. I had gained from my books confused ideas of European governments and manners. I knew that the present was a period of revolution and hostility. Might not these be illustrious fugitives from Provence or the Milanese? Their portable wealth which may reasonably be supposed to be great, they have transported hither. Thus may be explained the sorrow that veils their countenance. The loss of estates and honors, the untimely death of kindred and perhaps of his wife, may furnish eternal food for regrets. Wellbeck's utterance, though rapid and distinct, partook as I conceived in some very slight degree of a foreign idiom. Such was the dream that haunted my undisciplined and unenlightened imagination. The more I revolved it, the more plausible it seemed. On due supposition every appearance that I had witnessed was easily solved, unless it were their treatment of me. This at first was a source of hopeless perplexity. Gradually, however, a clue seemed to be afforded. Wellbeck had betrayed astonishment on my first appearance. The ladies wonder was mingled with distress. Perhaps they had discovered a remarkable resemblance between me and one who stood in the relation of son to Wellbeck and of brother to the lady. This youth might have perished on the scaffold or in war. These, no doubt, were his clothes. This chamber might have been reserved for him, but his death left it to be added to another. I had hitherto been unable to guess at the reason why all this kindness had been lavished on me. Will not this conjecture sufficiently account for it? No wonder that this resemblance was enhanced by assuming his dress. Taking all circumstances into view, these ideas were not, perhaps, destitute of probability. Appearances naturally suggested them to me. They were also powerfully enforced by inclination. They threw me into transports of wonder and hope. When I dwelt upon the incidents of my past life and traced the chain of events from the death of my mother to the present moment, I almost acquiesced in the notion that some beneficent and ruling genius had prepared my path for me. Events which, when foreseen, would most ardently have been deprecated and when they happened were accounted in the highest degree luckless were now seen to be propitious. Hence I inferred the infatuation of despair and the folly of precipitate conclusions. But what was the fate reserved for me? Perhaps Welbeck would adopt me for his own son. Wealth has ever been capriciously distributed. The mere physical relation of birth is all that entitles us to manners and thrones. Identity itself frequently depends upon a casual likeness or an old nurse's imposture. Nations have risen in arms, as in the case of the stewards, in the cause of one the genuineness of whose birth has been denied and can never be proved. But if the cause be trivial and fallacious, the effects are momentous and solid. It ascertains our portion of felicity and usefulness and fixes our lot among peasants or princes. Something may depend upon my own deportment. Will it not behoove me to cultivate all my virtues and eradicate all my defects? I see that the abilities of this man are venerable. Perhaps he will not lightly or hastily decide in my favour. He will be governed by the proofs that I shall give of discernment and integrity. I had always been exempt from temptation and was therefore undepraved, but this view of things had a wonderful tendency to invigorate my virtuous resolutions. All within me was exhilaration and joy. There was but one thing wanting to exalt me to a dizzy height and give me place among the stars of heaven. My resemblance to her brother had forcibly affected this lady, but I was not her brother. I was raised to a level with her and made a tenant of the same mansion. Some intercourse would take place between us. Time would lay level impediments and establish familiarity, and this intercourse might foster love and terminate in marriage. These images were of a nature too glowing and expansive to allow me to be longer inactive. I sallied forth into the open air. This tumult of delicious thoughts in some time subsided and gave way to images relative to my present situation. My curiosity was awake. As yet I had seen little of the city, and this opportunity for observation was not to be neglected. I therefore coursed through several streets, attentively examining the objects that successively presented themselves, at length that occurred to me to search out the house in which I had lately been a-mured. I was not without hopes that at some future period I should be able to comprehend the illusions and brighten the obscurities that hung about the dialogue of last night. The house was easily discovered. I reconnoitred the court and gate through which I had passed. The mansion was of the first order and magnitude and decoration. This was not the bound of my present discovery, for I was gifted with that confidence which would make me set on foot inquiries in the neighborhood. I looked around for a suitable medium of intelligence. The opposite and adjoining houses were small and apparently occupied by persons of an indigent class. At one of these was a sign denoting it to be the residence of a tailor. Seated on a bench at the door was a young man with coarse, uncombed locks, britches knee unbuttoned, stockings unguarded, shoes slip-shot and unbuckled, and a face unwashed gazing stupidly from hollow eyes. His aspect was embellished with good nature, though indicative of ignorance. This was the only person in sight. He might be able to say something concerning his opulent neighbor. To him, therefore, I resolved to apply. I went up to him and, pointing to the house in question, asked him who lived there. He answered, Mr. Matthews, what is his profession, his way of life? A gentleman. He does nothing but walk about. How long has he been married? Married? He's not married, as I know on. He never has been married. He's a bachelor. This intelligence was unexpected. It made me pause to reflect whether I had not mistaken the house. This however seemed impossible. I renewed my questions. A bachelor say you, are you not mistaken? No, it would be an odd thing if he was married, an old fellow with one foot in the grave, comical enough for him to get a wife. An old man? Does he live alone? What is his family? No, he does not live alone. He has a niece that lives with him. She's married and her husband lives there, too. What is his name? I don't know. I never heard of his. I know one. What is his trade? He's a merchant. He keeps his store somewhere or other, but I don't know where. How long has he been married? About two years. They lost a child lately. The young woman was in a huge taken about it. They say she was quite crazy some days for the death of the child, and she's not quite out of the dumps yet. To be sure the child was a sweet little thing, but they need not make such a route about it. I'll warn they'll have enough of them before they die. What is the character of the young man? Where was he born and educated? Has he parents or brothers? My companion was incapable of answering these questions, and I left him with little essential addition to the knowledge I already possessed. After viewing various parts of the city intruding into churches and diving into alleys, I returned. The rest of the day I spent chiefly in my chamber reflecting on my new condition, surveying my apartment its presses and closets, and conjecturing on the causes of appearances. At dinner and supper I was alone. Venturing to inquire of the servant where his master and mistress were, I was answered that they were engaged. I did not question him as to the nature of their engagement, though it was a fertile source of curiosity. Next morning at breakfast I again met Wellbeck and the lady. The incidents were nearly those of the preceding morning, if it were not that the lady exhibited tokens of somewhat greater uneasiness. When she left us Wellbeck sank into apparent vacation. I was at a loss whether to retire or remain where I was. At last, however, I was on the point of leaving the room when he broke silence and began a conversation with me. He put questions to me, the obvious scope of which was to know my sentiments on moral topics. I had no motives to conceal my opinions, and therefore delivered them with frankness. At length he introduced illusions to my own history, and made more particular inquiries on that head. Here I was not equally frank, yet I did not feign anything, but merely dealt in generals. I had acquired notions of propriety on this head, perhaps somewhat fastidious. My newt details, respecting our own concerns, are apt to weary all but the narrator himself. I said thus much, and the truth of my remark was eagerly assented to. With some marks of hesitation and after various preliminaries, my companion hinted that my own interest, as well as his, enjoined upon me silence to all but himself on the subject of my birth and early adventures. It was not likely that while in his service my circle of acquaintance would be large or my intercourse with the world frequent, but in my communication with others he requested me to speak rather of others than of myself. This request, he said, might appear singular to me, but he had his reasons for making it, which it was not necessary at present to disclose, though when I should know them I should readily acknowledge their validity. I scarcely knew what answer to make. I was willing to oblige him. I was far from expecting that any exigence would occur making disclosure my duty. The employment was productive of pain more than of pleasure, and the curiosity that would uselessly seek a knowledge of my past life was no less impertinent than the locosity that would uselessly communicate that knowledge. I readily promised, therefore, to adhere to his advice. This assurance afforded him evident satisfaction, yet it did not seem to amount to quite as much as he wished. He repeated in stronger terms the necessity there was for caution. He was far from suspecting me to possess an impertinent and talkative disposition, or that in my eagerness to expatiate on my own concerns I should overstep the limits of politeness, but this was not enough. I was to govern myself by a persuasion that the interests of my friend and myself would be materially affected by my conduct. Perhaps I ought to have allowed these insinuations to breed suspicion in my mind, but conscious as I was of the benefits which I had received from this man, prone from my inexperience to rely upon professions and confide in appearances, and unaware that I could be placed in any condition in which mere silence respecting myself could be injurious or criminal, I made no scruple to promise compliance with his wishes. Nay, I went further than this. I desired to be accurately informed as to what it was proper to conceal. He answered that my silence might extend to everything anterior to my arrival in the city and my being incorporated with his family. Here our conversation ended, and I retired to ruminate on what had happened. I derived little satisfaction from my reflections. I began now to perceive inconveniences that might arise from this precipitate promise. Whatever should happen in consequence of my being emured in the chamber and of the loss of my clothes and of the portrait of my friend, I had bound myself to silence. These inquietudes, however, were transient. I trusted that these events would operate auspiciously, but my curiosity was now awakened as to the motives which Welbeck could have for exacting from me this concealment. To act under the guidance of another and to wander in the dark ignorant whether my path tended and what effects might flow from my agency was a new and irksome situation. From these thoughts I was recalled by a message from Welbeck. He gave me a folded paper which he requested me to carry to, number, blank, South Fourth Street. In choir, said he, for Mrs. Wentworth, in order merely to ascertain the house, for you need not ask to see her, merely give the letter to the servant and retire. Excuse me for imposing this service upon you. It is of too great moment to be trusted to a common messenger. I usually perform it myself, but I am at present otherwise engaged. I took the letter and set out to deliver it. This was a trifling circumstance, yet my mind was full of reflections on the consequences that might flow from it. I remembered the directions that were given, but construed them in a manner different perhaps from Welbeck's expectations or wishes. He had charged me to leave the billet with the servant, who happened to answer my summons, but had he not said that the message was important in so much that it could not be entrusted to common hands? He had permitted rather than enjoined me to dispense with seeing the lady, and this permission I conceived to be dictated merely by regard to my convenience. It was incumbent on me, therefore, to take some pains to deliver the script into her own hands. I arrived at the house and knocked. A female servant appeared. Her mistress was upstairs. She would tell her if I wished to see her, and meanwhile invited me to enter the parlor. I did so, and the girl retired to inform her mistress that one waited for her. I ought to mention that my departure from the directions which I had received was, in some degree, owing to an inquisitive temper. I was eager after knowledge, and was disposed to profit by every opportunity to survey the interior of dwellings and converse with their inhabitants. I scanned the walls, the furniture, the pictures. Over the fireplace was a portrait in oil of a female. She was elderly and matron-like. Perhaps she was the mistress of this habitation, and the person to whom I should immediately be introduced. Was it a casual suggestion, or was there an actual resemblance between the strokes of the pencil which executed this portrait and that of clavoring? However that be, the sight of this picture revived the memory of my friend and called up a fugitive suspicion that this was the production of his skill. I was busily revolving this idea when the lady herself entered. It was the same whose portrait I had been examining. She fixed scrutinizing and powerful eyes upon me. She looked at the superscription of the letter which I presented, and immediately resumed her examination of me. I was somewhat abashed by the closeness of her observation, and gave tokens of this state of mind which did not pass unobserved. They seemed instantly to remind her that she behaved with too little regard to civility. She recovered herself and began to peruse the letter. Having done this her attention was once more fixed upon me. She was evidently desirous of entering into some conversation, but seemed at a loss in what manner to begin. This situation was new to me, and was productive of no small embarrassment. I was preparing to take my leave when she spoke, though not without considerable hesitation. This letter is from Mr. Welbeck. You are his friend. I presume perhaps a relation? I was conscious that I had no claim to either of these titles, and that I was no more than his servant. My pride would not allow me to acknowledge this, and I merely said, I live with him at present, madam. I imagined that this answer did not perfectly satisfy her, yet she received it with a certain air of acquiescence. She was silent for a few minutes, and then rising said, Excuse me, sir, for a few minutes, I will write a few words to Mr. Welbeck. So saying she withdrew. I returned to the contemplation of the picture. From this, however, my attention was quickly diverted by a paper that lay on the mantel. A single glance was sufficient to put my blood into motion. I started and laid my hand upon the well-known packet. It was that which enclosed the portrait of Clevering. I unfolded and examined it with eagerness. By what miracle came it hither? It was found, together with my bundle, two nights before. I had despaired of ever seeing it again, and yet here was the same portrait enclosed in the self-same paper. I have foreborn to dwell upon the regret amounting to grief with which I was affected in consequence of the loss of this precious relic. My joy on thus speedily and unexpectedly regaining it is not easily described. For a time I did not reflect that to hold it thus in my hand was not sufficient to entitle me to repossession. I must acquaint this lady with the history of this picture and convince her of my ownership. But how was this to be done? Was she connected in any way by friendship or by consanguinity with that unfortunate youth? If she were, some information as to his destiny would be anxiously sought. I did not just then perceive any impropriety in imparting it. If it came into her hands by accident, still it will be necessary to relate the mode in which it was lost in order to prove my title to it. I now heard her descending footsteps and hastily replaced the picture on the mantle. She entered and, presenting me a letter, desired me to deliver it to Mr. Wellbeck. I had no pretext for deferring my departure, but was unwilling to go without obtaining possession of a portrait. An interval of silence and irresolution succeeded. I cast significant glances at the spot where it lay, and at length mustered up my strength of mind, and pointing to the paper, Madam, said I, there is something which I recognize to be mine. I know not how it came into your possession, but so lately as the day before yesterday it was in mine. I lost it by a strange accident, and as I deem it of inestimable value I hope you will have no objection to restore it. During this speech the ladies countenance exhibited marks of the utmost perturbation. Your picture, she exclaimed, you lost it? How? Where? Did you know that person? What has become of him? I knew him well, said I. That picture was executed by himself. He gave it to me with his own hands, and till the moment I unfortunately lost it it was my dear and perpetual companion. Good Heaven, she exclaimed with increasing vehemence. Where did you meet with him? What has become of him? Is he dead or alive? These appearances sufficiently showed me that Clevering and this lady were connected by some ties of tenderness. I answered that he was dead, that my mother and myself were his attendants and nurses, and that this portrait was his legacy to me. This intelligence melted her into tears, and it was some time before she recovered strength enough to resume the conversation. She then inquired, When and where was it that he died? How did you lose this portrait? It was found wrapped in some coarse clothes lying in a stall in the market house on Saturday evening. Two Negro women, servants of one of my friends, strolling through the market, found it and brought it to their mistress, who, recognizing the portrait, sent it to me. To whom did that bundle belong? Was it yours? These questions reminded me of the painful predicament in which I now stood. I had promised Wellbeck to conceal from everyone my former condition, but to explain in what manner this bundle was lost, and how my intercourse with Clevering had taken place, was to violate this promise. It was possible, perhaps, to escape the confession of the truth by equivocation. Falsehoods were easily invented and might lead her far away from my true condition, but I was wholly unused to equivocation. Never yet had a lie polluted my lips. I was not weak enough to be ashamed of my origin. This lady had an interest in the fate of Clevering, and might justly claim all the information which I was able to impart, yet to forget the compact which I had secretly made, and an adherence to which might possibly be in the highest degree beneficial to me and to Wellbeck. I was willing to adhere to it, provided falsehood could be avoided. These thoughts rendered me silent. The pain of my embarrassment amounted almost to agony. I felt the keenest regret at my own precipitation in claiming the picture. Its value to me was altogether imaginary. The affection which this lady had borne the original, whatever was the source of that affection, would prompt her to cherish the copy, and however precious it was in my eyes I should cheerfully resign it to her. In the confusion of my thoughts an expedient suggested itself sufficiently inartificial and bold. It is true, madam, what I have said. I saw him breathe his last. This is his only legacy. If you wish it I willingly resign it, but this is all that I can now disclose. I am placed in circumstances which render it improper to say more. These words were not uttered very distinctly, and the ladies vehemence hindered her from noticing them. She again repeated her interrogations to which I returned the same answer. At first she expressed the utmost surprise at my conduct. From this she descended to some degree of asperity. She made rapid allusions to the history of clavoring. He was the son of the gentleman who owned the house in which Welbeck resided. He was the object of immeasurable fondness and indulgence. He had sought permission to travel, and this being refused by the absurd timidity of his parents, he had twice been frustrated in attempting to embark for Europe clandestinely. They ascribed his disappearance to a third and successful attempt of this kind, and had exercised anxious and unweary diligence in endeavoring to trace his footsteps. All their efforts had failed. One motive for their returning to Europe was the hope of discovering some traces of him as they entertained no doubt of his having crossed the ocean. The vehemence of Mrs. Wentworth's curiosity as to those particulars of his life and death may be easily conceived. My refusal only heightened this passion. Finding me refractory to all her efforts, she at length dismissed me in anger. CHAPTER 8 This extraordinary interview was now past. Pleasure as well as pain attended my reflections on it. I adhered to the promise I had improvidently given to Welbeck, but had excited displeasure and perhaps suspicion in the lady. She would find it hard to account for my silence. She would probably impute it to reverseness, or imagine it to flow from some incident connected with the death of Clevering, calculated to give a new edge to her curiosity. It was plain that some connection subsisted between her and Welbeck. Would she drop the subject at the point which it had now attained? Would she cease to exert herself to extract from me the desired information? Or would she not rather make Welbeck a party in the cause and prejudice my new friend against me? This was an evil proper by all lawful means to avoid. I knew of no other expedient than to confess to him the truth with regard to Clevering and explain to him the dilemma in which my adherence to my promise had involved me. I found him on my return home and delivered him the letter with which I was charged. At the side of it, my eyes, mingled with some uneasiness, appeared in his looks. What! said he, in a tone of disappointment. You then saw the lady? I now remembered his directions to leave my message at the door and apologized for neglecting them by telling my reasons. His chagrin vanished, but not without an apparent effort, and he said that all was well the affair was of no moment. After a pause of preparation I entreated his attention to something which I had to relate. I then detailed the history of Clevering and of my late embarrassments. As I went on his countenance betokened increasing solicitude. His emotion was particularly strong when I came to the interrogatories of Mrs. Wentworth in relation to Clevering. But this emotion gave way to profound surprise when I related the manner in which I had eluded her inquiries. I concluded with observing that when I promised forbearance on the subject of my own adventures I had not foreseen any exigence which would make an adherence to my promise difficult or inconvenient that if his interest was promoted by my silence I was still willing to maintain it and requested his directions how to conduct myself on this occasion. He appeared to ponder deeply and with much perplexity on what I had said. When he spoke there was a hesitation in his manner and circuity in his expressions that proved him to have something in his thoughts which he knew not how to communicate. He frequently paused, but my answers and remarks occasionally given appeared to deter him from the revelation of his purpose. Our discourse ended for the present by his desiring me to persist in my present plan. I should suffer no inconveniences from it since it would be my own fault if an interview again took place between the lady and me. Meanwhile he should see her and effectually silence her inquiries. I ruminated not superficially or briefly on this dialogue. By what means would he silence her inquiries? He surely meant not to mislead her by fallacious representations. Some in quietude now crept into my thoughts. I began to form conjectures as to the nature of the scheme to which my suppression of the truth was to be thus made subservient. It seemed as if I were walking in the dark and might rush into snares or drop into pits before I was aware of my danger. Each moment accumulated my doubts, and I cherished a secret foreboding that the event would prove my new situation to be far less fortunate than I had at first fondly believed. The question now occurred with painful repetition, who and what was Wellbeck? What was his relation to this foreign lady? What was the service for which I was to be employed? I could not be contented without a solution of these mysteries. Why should I not lay my soul open before my new friend? Considering my situation, would he regard my fears and my surmises as criminal? I felt that they originated in laudable habits and views, my peace of mind depended on the favorable verdict which conscience should pass on my proceedings. I saw the emptiness of fame and luxury when put in the balance against the recompense of virtue. Never would I purchase the blandishments of adulation and the glare of opulence at the price of my honesty. Amidst these reflections the dinner hour arrived. The lady and Wellbeck were present. A new train of sentiments now occupied my mind. I regarded them both with inquisitive eyes. I cannot well account for the revolution which had taken place in my mind. Perhaps it was proof of the capriciousness of my temper, or it was merely the fruit of my profound ignorance of life and manners. Whence so ever it arose, certain it is that I contemplated the scene before me with altered eyes. Its order and pomp was no longer the parent of tranquility and awe. My wild reveries of inheriting this splendor and appropriating the affections of this nymph I now regarded as lunatic hope and childish folly. Education and nature had qualified me for a different scene. This might be the mask of misery and the structure of vice. My companions as well as myself were silent during the meal. The lady retired as soon as it was finished. My inexplicable melancholy increased. It did not pass unnoticed by Wellbeck who inquired with an air of kindness into the cause of my visible dejection. I am almost ashamed to relate to what extremes my folly transported me. Instead of answering him I was weak enough to shed tears. This excited afresh his surprise and his sympathy. He renewed his inquiries. My heart was full but how to disburden it I knew not. At length with some difficulty I expressed my wishes to leave his house and return to the country. What he asked had occurred to suggest this new plan. What motive could incite me to bury myself in rustic obscurity? How did I purpose to dispose of myself? Had some new friend sprung up more able or more willing to benefit me than he had been? No, I answered, I have no relation who would own me or friend who would protect. If I went into the country it would be to the toil some occupations of a day-labourer, but even that was better than my present situation. This opinion he observed must be newly formed. What was there irksome or offensive in my present mode of life? That this man condescended to expostulate with me, to dissuade me from my new plan, and to enumerate the benefits which he was willing to confer penetrated my heart with gratitude. I could not but acknowledge that leisure and literature copious and elegant accommodation were valuable for their own sake, that all the delights of sensation and refinements of intelligence were comprised within my present sphere and would be nearly wanting in that to which I was going. I felt temporary compunction for my folly and determined to adopt a different deportment. I could not prevail upon myself to unfold the true cause of my dejection and permitted him therefore to ascribe it to a kind of homesickness, to inexperience, and to that ignorance which on being ushered into a new scene is oppressed with a sensation of forlornness. He remarked that these chimeras would vanish before the influence of time and company and occupation. On the next week he would furnish me with employment, meanwhile he would introduce me into company where intelligence and vivacity would combine to dispel my glooms. As soon as we separated my disquietudes returned. I contended with them in vain and finally resolved to abandon my present situation. When and how this purpose was to be affected I knew not. That was to be the theme of future deliberation. Evening having arrived, Wellbeck proposed to me to accompany me on a visit to one of his friends. I cheerfully accepted the invitation and went with him to your friend, Mr. Wortley's. A numerous party was assembled chiefly of the female sex. I was introduced by Wellbeck by the title of a young friend of his. Not withstanding my embarrassment I did not fail to attend to what I asked on this occasion. I remarked that the utmost deference was paid to my companion on whom his entrance into this company appeared to operate like magic. His eyes sparkled, his features expanded into a benign serenity, and his wanted reserve gave place to a torrent-like and overflowing elocution. I marked this change in his deportment with the utmost astonishment. So great was it that I could hardly persuade myself that it was the same person. A mind thus susceptible of new impressions must be, I conceived, of a wonderful texture. Nothing was further from my expectations than that this vivacity was mere dissimulation and would take its leave of him when he left the company. Yet I found this to be the case. The door was no sooner closed after him than his accustomed solemnity returned. He spake little, and that little was delivered with emphatical and monosyllabic brevity. We returned home at a late hour, and I immediately retired to my chamber, not so much from the desire of repose, as in order to enjoy and pursue my own reflections without interruption. The condition of my mind was considerably remote from happiness. I was placed in a scene that furnished fuel to my curiosity. This passion is a source of pleasure, provided its gratification be practicable. I had no reason in my present circumstances to despair of knowledge, yet suspicion and anxiety beset me. I thought upon the delay and toil which the removal of my ignorance would cost, and reaped only pain and fear from the reflection. The air was remarkably sultry. Lifted sashes and lofty ceilings were insufficient to attemper it. The perturbation of my thoughts affected my body, and the heat which oppressed me was aggravated by my restlessness almost into fever. Some hours were thus painfully passed when I recollected that the bath erected in the court below contained a sufficient antidote to the scorching influence of the atmosphere. I rose and descended the stairs softly, that I might not alarm Wellbeck and the lady who occupied the two rooms on the second floor. I proceeded to the bath and, filling the reservoir with water, speedily dissipated the heat that incommoded me. Of all species of sensual gratification that was the most delicious, and I continued for a long time laving my limbs and moistening my hair. In the midst of this amusement I noticed the approach of day and immediately saw the propriety of returning to my chamber. I returned with the same caution which I had used in descending. My feet were bare so that it was easy to proceed unattended by the smallest signal of my progress. I had reached the carpeted staircase and was slowly ascending when I heard within the chamber that was occupied by the lady a noise as of someone moving. Though not conscious of having acted improperly, yet I felt reluctance to be seen. There was no reason to suppose that this sound was connected with the detection of me in this situation, yet I acted as if this reason existed and made haste to pass the door and gain the second flight of steps. I was unable to accomplish my design when the chamber door slowly opened and well back with a light in his hand came out. I was abashed and disconcerted at this interview. He started at seeing me, but discovering in an instant who it was his face assumed an expression in which shame and anger were powerfully blended. He seemed on the point of opening his mouth to rebuke me, but suddenly checking himself, he said, in a tone of mildness, how is this? Whence come you? His emotion seemed to communicate itself with an electrical rapidity to my heart. My tongue faltered while I made some answer. I said, I had been seeking relief from the heat of the weather in the bath. He heard my explanation in silence and after a moment's pause passed into his own room and shut himself in. I hastened to my chamber. A different observer might have found in these circumstances no food for his suspicion or his wonder. To me, however, they suggested vague and tumultuous ideas. As I strode across the room I repeated, this woman is his daughter. What proof have I of that? He once asserted it in his frequently uttered illusions and hints from which no other inference could be drawn. The chamber from which he came, in an hour devoted to sleep, was hers. For what end could a visit like this be paid? A parent may visit his child at all seasons without a crime. On seeing me, me thought his features indicated more than surprise. A keen interpreter would be apt to suspect a consciousness of wrong. What if this woman be not his child? How shall their relationship be ascertained? I was summoned at the customary hour to breakfast. My mind was full of ideas connected with this incident. I was not endowed with sufficient firmness to propose the cool and systematic observation of this man's deportment. I felt as if the state of my mind could not be but evident to him, and experienced in myself all the confusion which this discovery was calculated to produce in him. I would have willingly excused myself from meeting him, but that was impossible. At breakfast, after the usual salutations, nothing was said. For a time I scarcely lifted my eyes from the table. Stealing a glance at Wellbeck, I discovered in his features nothing but his wanted gravity. He appeared occupied with thoughts that had no relation to last night's adventure. This encouraged me, and I gradually recovered my composure. Their inattention to me allowed me occasionally to throw scrutinizing and comparing glances at the face of each. The relationship of parent and child is commonly discovered in the visage, but the child may resemble either of its parents, yet have no feature in common with both. Here outlines, surfaces, and hues were an absolute contrariety. That kindred subsisted between them was possible, not withstanding this disemilitude, but this circumstance contributed to inventing my suspicions. Breakfast being finished, Wellbeck cast an eye of invitation to the pianoforte. The lady rose to comply with his request. My eye chanced to be at that moment fixed on her. In stepping to the instrument some motion or appearance awakened a thought in my mind which affected my feelings like the shock of an earthquake. I have two slight acquaintance with the history of the passions to truly explain the emotion which now throbbed in my veins. I had been a stranger to what is called love. From subsequent reflection I have contracted a suspicion that the sentiment with which I regarded this lady was not untink sheered from this source, and that hence arose the turbulence of my feelings on observing what I construed into marks of pregnancy. The evidence afforded me with slight, yet it exercised an absolute sway over my belief. It was well that this suspicion had not been sooner excited. Now civility did not require my stay in the apartment, and nothing but flight could conceal the state of my mind. I hastened, therefore, to a distance and shrouded myself in the friendly secrecy of my own chamber. The constitution of my mind is doubtless, singular, and perverse. Yet that opinion perhaps is the fruit of my ignorance. It may be no means uncommon for men to fashion their conclusions in opposition to evidence and probability, and so as to feed their malice and subvert their happiness. Thus it was, in an eminent degree in my case, the simple fact was connected in my mind with the train of the most hateful consequences. The depravity of Welbeck was inferred from it. The charms of this angelic woman were tarnished and withered. I had formerly surveyed her as a precious and perfect monument, but now it was a scene of ruin and blast. This had been a source of sufficient anguish, but this was not all. I recollected that the claims of a parent had been urged. Will you believe that these claims were now admitted and that they heightened the iniquity of Welbeck into the blackest and most stupendous of all crimes? These ideas were necessarily transient. Conclusions more conformable to appearances succeeded. This lady might have been greatly reduced to widowhood. The recent loss of a beloved companion would sufficiently account for her dejection and make her present situation compatible with duty. By this new train of ideas I was somewhat comforted. I saw the folly of precipitant inferences and the injustice of my atrocious imputations and acquired some degree of patience in my present state of uncertainty. My heart was lightened of its wanted burden and I labored to invent some harmless explication of the scene that I had witnessed the preceding night. At dinner Welbeck appeared as usual but not the lady. I ascribed her absence to some casual indisposition and ventured to inquire into the state of her health. My companion said she was well but that she had left the city for a month or two, finding the heat of summer inconvenient where she was. This was no unplausible reason for retirement. A candid mind would have acquiesced in this representation and found in it nothing inconsistent with a supposition respecting the cause of appearances favorable to her character, but otherwise was I affected. The uneasiness which had flown for a moment returned and I sunk into gloomy silence. From this I was roused by my patron who requested me to deliver a billet which he put into my hand at the counting-house of Mr. Setford and to bring him an answer. This message was speedily performed. I entered a large building by the riverside. A spacious apartment presented itself well furnished with pipes and hogsheads. In one corner was a smaller room in which a gentleman was busy at writing. I advanced to the door of the room but was there met by a young person who received my paper and delivered it to him within. I stood still at the door but was near enough to overhear what would pass between them. The letter was laid upon the desk and presently he that sat at it lifted his eyes and glanced at the superscription. He scarcely spoke above a whisper but his words nevertheless were clearly distinguishable. I did not call to mind the sound of his voice but his words called up a train of recollections. Lo said he carelessly, this from the Nabob. An incident so slight as this was sufficient to open a spacious scene of meditation. This little word, half whispered in a thoughtless mood, was a key to unlock an extensive cabinet of secrets. Thetford was probably indifferent whether his exclamation were overheard. Little did he think on the inferences which would be built upon it. The Nabob. By this appellation had someone been denoted in the chamber dialogue of which I had been an unsuspected auditor. The man who pretended poverty and yet gave proofs of inordinate wealth whom it was pardonable to defraud of thirty thousand dollars first because the loss of that sum would be trivial to one opulent as he and secondly because he was imagined to have acquired this opulence by other than honest methods. Instead of forthwith returning home I wandered into fields to indulge myself in the new thoughts which were produced by this occurrence. I entertained no doubt that the person alluded to was my patron. No new light was thrown upon his character unless something were deducible from the charge vaguely made that his wealth was the fruit of illicit practices. He was opulent and the sources of his wealth were unknown if not to the rest of the community at least to Thetford, but here had a plot been laid. The fortune of Thetford's brother was to rise from the success of artifices of which the credulity of Wellbeck was to be the victim. To detect and to counterwork this plot was obviously my duty. My interference might now indeed be too late to be useful, but this was at least to be ascertained by experiment. How should my intention be affected? I had hitherto concealed from Wellbeck my adventures at Thetford's house. These it was now necessary to disclose and to mention the recent occurrence. My deductions in consequence of my ignorance might be erroneous, but of their truth his knowledge of his own affairs would enable him to judge. It was possible that Thetford and he whose chamber conversation I had overheard were different persons. I endeavored in vain to ascertain their identity by a comparison of their voices. The words lately heard, my remembrance did not enable me certainly to pronounce to be uttered by the same organs. This uncertainty was of little moment. It sufficed that Wellbeck was designated by this appellation and that therefore he was proved to be the subject of some fraudulent proceeding. The information that I possessed it was my duty to communicate as expeditiously as possible. I was resolved to employ the first opportunity that offered for this end. My meditations had been ardently pursued and when I recalled my attention I found myself bewildered among fields and fences. It was late before I extricated myself from unknown paths and reached home. I entered the parlor but Wellbeck was not there. A table with tea-equipage for one person was set from which I inferred that Wellbeck was engaged abroad. This belief was confirmed by the report of the servant. He could not inform me where his master was, but merely that he should not take tea at home. This incident was a source of vexation and impatience. I knew not, but that delay would be of the utmost moment to the safety of my friend. Holy unacquainted as I was with the nature of his contracts with Thetford I could not decide whether a single hour would not avail to obviate the evils that threatened him. Had I known wither to trace his footsteps I should certainly have sought an immediate interview, but as it was I was obliged to wait with what patience I could collect for his return to his own house. I waited hour after hour in vain. The sun declined and the shades of evening descended, but Wellbeck was still at a distance. CHAPTER IX Wellbeck did not return, though hour succeeded hour till the clock struck ten. I inquired of the servants who informed me that their master was not accustomed to stay out so late. I seated myself at a table in a parlor on which there stood a light and listened for the signal of his coming either by the sound of steps on the pavement without or by appeal from the bell. The silence was uninterrupted and profound and each minute added to my sum of impatience and anxiety. To relieve myself from the heat of the weather which was aggravated by the condition of my thoughts as well as to beguile this tormenting interval it occurred to me to butake myself to the bath. I left the candle where it stood and imagined that even in the bath I should hear the sound of the bell which would be rung upon his arrival at the door. No such signal occurred and after taking this refreshment I prepared to return to my post. The parlor was still unoccupied, but this was not all. The candle I had left upon the table was gone. This was an inexplicable circumstance. On my promise to wait for their master the servants had retired to bed. No signal of anyone's entrance had been given. The street door was locked and the key hung at its customary place upon the wall. What was I to think? It was obvious to suppose that the candle had been removed by a domestic but their footsteps could not be traced and I was not sufficiently acquainted with the house to find the way, especially immersed in darkness, to their chamber. One measure, however, it was evidently proper to take which was to supply myself anew with a light. This was instantly performed, but what was next to be done? I was weary of the perplexities in which I was embroiled. I saw no avenue to escape from them but that which led me to the bosom of nature and to my ancient occupations. For a moment I was tempted to resume my rustic garb and on that very hour to desert this habitation. One thing only detained me, the desire to apprise my patron of the treachery of Setford. For this end I was anxious to obtain an interview, but now I reflected that this information could by other means be imparted. Was it not sufficient to write him briefly these particulars and leave him to profit by the knowledge? Thus I might likewise acquaint him with my motives for thus abruptly and unseasonably deserting his service. To the execution of this scheme pen and paper were necessary. The business of writing was performed in the chamber on the third floor. I had been hitherto denied access to this room. In it was a show of papers and books. Here it was that the task for which I had been retained was to be performed, but I was to enter it and leave it only in company with Wellbeck. For what reasons, I asked, was this procedure to be adopted? The influence of prohibitions and an appearance of disguise and awakening curiosity is well known. My mind fastened upon the idea of this room with an unusual degree of intenseness. I had seen it but for a moment. Many of Wellbeck's hours were spent in it. It was not to be inferred that they were consumed in idleness. What, then, was the nature of his employment over which a veil of such impenetrable secrecy was cast? Will you wonder that the design of entering this recess was insensibly formed? Possibly it was locked, but its accessibility was likewise possible. I meant not the commission of any crime. My principal purpose was to procure the implements of writing which were elsewhere not to be found. I should neither unseal papers nor open drawers. I would merely take a survey of the volumes and attend to the objects that spontaneously presented themselves to my view. In this there surely was nothing criminal or blame worthy. Meanwhile I was not unmindful of the sudden disappearance of the candle. This incident filled my bosom with the inquietudes of fear and the perturbations of wonder. Once more I paused to catch any sound that might arise from without. All was still. I seized the candle and prepared to mount the stairs. I had not reached the first ending when I called to mind my midnight meeting with Welbeck at the door of his daughter's chamber. The chamber was now desolate. Perhaps it was accessible if so no injury was done by entering it. My curiosity was strong but it pictured to itself no precise object. Three steps would bear me to the door. The trial, whether it was fastened, might be made in a moment and I readily imagined that something might be found within to reward the trouble of examination. The door yielded to my hand and I entered. No remarkable object was discoverable. The apartment was supplied with the usual furniture. I bent my steps towards a table over which a mirror was suspended. My glances which roved with swiftness from one object to another shortly lighted on a miniature portrait that hung near. I scrutinized it with eagerness. It was impossible to overlook its resemblance to my own visage. This was so great that for a moment I imagined myself to have been the original from which it had been drawn. This flattering conception yielded place to a belief merely of similitude between me and the genuine original. The thoughts which this opinion was fitted to produce were suspended by a new object, a small volume that had apparently been much used lay upon the toilet. I opened it and found it to contain some of the dramas of Apostolo Zeno. I turned over the leaves, a written paper saluted my sight. A single glance informed me that it was English. For the present I was insensible to all motives that would command me to forbear. I seized the paper with an intention to peruse it. At that moment a stunning report was heard. It was loud enough to shake the walls of the apartment and abrupt enough to throw me into tremors. I dropped the book and yielded for a moment to confusion and surprise. From what quarter it came I was unable accurately to determine, but there could be no doubt from this loudness that it was near and even in the house. It was no less manifest that the sound arose from the discharge of a pistol. Some hand must have drawn the trigger. I recollected the disappearance of the candle from the room below. Instantly a supposition darted into my mind which made my hair rise and my teeth chatter. This, I said, is the deed of Welbeck. He entered while I was absent from the room. He hid to his chamber and prompted by some unknown instigation has inflicted on himself death. This idea had a tendency to palsy my limbs and my thoughts. Sometime passed in painful and tumultuous fluctuation. My aversion to this catastrophe rather than a belief of being, by that means able to prevent or repair the evil, induced me to attempt to enter his chamber. It was possible that my conjectures were erroneous. The door of his room was locked. I knocked. I demanded entrance in a low voice. I put my eye and ear to the keyhole and the crevices. Nothing could be heard or seen. It was unavoidable to conclude that no one was within, yet the effluvia of gunpowder was perceptible. Perhaps the room above had been the scene of this catastrophe. I ascended the second flight of stairs. I approached the door. No sound could be caught by my most vigilant attention. I put out the light that I carried and was then able to perceive that there was a light within the room. I scarcely knew how to act. For some minutes I paused at the door. I spoke and requested permission to enter. My words were succeeded by a death-like stillness. At length I ventured softly to withdraw the bolt, to open and to advance within the room. Nothing could exceed the horror of my expectation, yet I was startled by the scene that I beheld. In a chair whose back was placed against the front wall sat Welbeck. My entrance alarmed him not, nor roused him from the stupor into which he was plunged. He rested his hands upon his knees, and his eyes were riveted to something that lay at the distance of a few feet before him on the floor. A second glance was sufficient to inform me of what nature this object was. It was the body of a man, bleeding, ghastly, and still exhibiting the marks of convulsion and agony. I shall omit to describe the shock which a spectacle like this communicated to my unpractised senses. I was nearly as panic-struck and powerless as Welbeck himself. I gazed without power of speech at one time at Welbeck. Then I fixed terrified eyes on the distorted features of the dead. At length Welbeck, recovering from his reverie, looked up as if to see who it was that had entered. No surprise, no alarm was betrayed by him on seeing me. He manifested no desire or intention to interrupt the fearful silence. My thoughts wandered in confusion and terror. The first impulse was to fly from the scene, but I could not be long insensible to the exigences of the moment. I saw that affairs must not be suffered to remain in their present situation. The insensibility or despair of Welbeck required consolation and sucker. How to communicate my thoughts or offer my assistance I knew not. What led to this murderous catastrophe, who it was whose breathless corpse was before me, what concern Welbeck had in producing his death, were as yet unknown. At length he rose from his seat and strode at first with faltering and then with more steadfast steps across the floor. This motion seemed to put him in possession of himself. He seemed now for the first time to recognize my presence. He turned to me and said in a tone of severity, How now? What brings you here? This rebuke was unexpected. I stammered out in reply that the report of the pistol had alarmed me and that I came to discover the cause of it. He noticed not my answer but resumed his perturbed steps and his anxious but abstracted looks. Suddenly he checked himself and glancing a furious eye at the corpse he muttered, Yes, the die is cast. This worthless and miserable scene shall last no longer. I will at once get rid of life and all its humiliations. Here succeeded a new pause. The course of his thoughts seemed now to become once more tranquil. Sadness rather than fury overspread his features and his accent when he spoke to me was not faltering but solemn. Mervyn said he, You comprehend not this scene. Your youth and inexperience make you a stranger to a deceitful and flogitious world. You know me not. It is time that this ignorance should vanish. The knowledge of me and of my actions may be of use to you. It may teach you to avoid the shoals on which my virtue and my peace have been wrecked. But to the rest of mankind it can be of no use. The ruin of my fame is perhaps irretrievable, but the height of my iniquity need not be known. I perceive in you a rectitude and firmness worthy to be trusted. Promise me, therefore, that not a syllable of what I tell you shall ever pass your lips. I had lately experienced the inconvenience of a promise, but I was now confused, embarrassed, ardently inquisitive as to the nature of this scene, and unapprised of the motives that might afterwards occur persuading or compelling me to disclosure. The promise which he exacted was given. He resumed, I have detained you in my service partly for your own benefit but chiefly for mine. I intended to inflict upon you injury and to do you good. Neither of these ends can I now accomplish, unless the lessons which my example may inculcate shall inspire you with fortitude and arm you with caution. What it was that made me thus I know not. I am not destitute of understanding. My thirst of knowledge, though irregular, is ardent. I can talk and can feel as virtue and justice prescribe, yet the tenor of my actions has been uniform. One tissue of iniquity and folly has been my life, while my thoughts have been familiar with enlightened and disinterested principles. Scorn and detestation I have heaped upon myself. Yesterday is remembered with remorse. Tomorrow is contemplated with anguish and fear, yet every day is productive of the same crimes and of the same follies. I was left by the insolvency of my father, a trader of Liverpool, without any means of support but such as labour should afford me. Whatever could generate pride and the love of independence was my portion. Whatever can incite to diligence was the growth of my condition, yet my indolence was a cureless disease, and there were no arts too sordid for me to practice. I was content to live on the bounty of a kinsman. His family was numerous and his revenue small. He forbore to up-brade me or even to insinuate the propriety of providing for myself, but he empowered me to pursue any liberal or mechanical profession which might suit my taste. I was insensible to every generous motive. I labored to forget my dependent and disgraceful condition because the remembrance was a source of anguish without being able to inspire me with a steady resolution to change it. I contracted an acquaintance with a woman who was unchaste, perverse, and malignant. Me, however, she found it no difficult task to deceive. My uncle remonstrated against the union. He took infinite pains to unveil my error and to convince me that wedlock was improper for one destitute, as I was, of the means of support, even if the object of my choice were personably unexceptionable. His representations were listened to with anger, that he thwarted my will in this respect even by affectionate expostulation, canceled all that debt of gratitude which I owed to him. I rewarded him for all his kindness by invective and disdain, and hastened to complete my ill-omend marriage. I had deceived the woman's father by assertions of possessing secret resources. To gratify my passion I descended to dissimulation and falsehood. He admitted me into his family as the husband of his child, but the character of my wife and the fallacy of my assertions were quickly discovered. He denied me accommodation under his roof, and I was turned forth to the world to endure the penalty of my rashness and my indolence. Temptation would have molded me into any villainous shape. My virtuous theories and comprehensive erudition would not have saved me from the basis of crimes. Luckily for me I was for the present exempted from temptation. I had formed an acquaintance with a young American captain. On being partially informed of my situation he invited me to embark with him for his own country. My passage was gratuitous. I arrived in a short time at Charleston, which was the place of his abode. He introduced me to his family, every member of which was, like himself, imbued with affection and benevolence. I was treated like their son and brother. I was hospitably entertained until I should be able to select some path of lucrative industry. Such was my incurable depravity that I made no haste to select my pursuit. An interval of inoccupation succeeded which I applied to the worst cases. My friend had a sister who was married, but during the absence of her husband resided with her family. Hence originated our acquaintance. The purest of human hearts and the most vigorous understanding were hers. She idolized her husband, who well deserved to be the object of her adoration. Her affection for him and her general principles appeared to be confirmed beyond the power to be shaken. I sought her intercourse without illicit views. I delighted in the effusions of her candor and the flashes of her intelligence. I conformed by a kind of instinctive hypocrisy to her views. I spoke and felt from the influence of immediate and momentary conviction. She imagined she had found in me a friend worthy to partake in all her sympathies and forward all her wishes. We were mutually deceived. She was the victim of self-delusion, but I must charge myself with practicing deceit both upon myself and her. I reflect with astonishment and horror on the steps which led to her degradation and to my calamity. In the high career of passion all consequences were overlooked. She was the dupe of the most audacious sophistry and the grossest delusion. I was the slave of sensual impulses and voluntary blindness. The effect may be easily conceived, not till symptoms of pregnancy began to appear where our eyes opened to the ruin which impended over us. Then I began to revolve the consequences which the mist of passion had hitherto concealed. I was tormented by the pangs of remorse and pursued by the phantom of ingratitude. To complete my despair this unfortunate lady was apprised of my marriage with another woman, a circumstance which I had anxiously concealed from her. She fled from her father's house at a time when her husband and brother were hourly expected. What became of her I knew not. She left behind her a letter to her father in which the melancholy truth was told. Shame and remorse had no power over my life. To elude the storm of invective and upraiding to quiet the uproar of my mind I did not but take myself to voluntary death. My pusillanimity still clung to this wretched existence. I abruptly retired from the scene and repairing to the port embarked in the first vessel which appeared. The ship chanced to belong to Wilmington in Delaware and here I sought out an obscure and cheap abode. I possessed no means of subsistence. I was unknown to my neighbors and desired to remain unknown. I was unqualified for manual labor by all habits of my life. But there was no choice between penury and diligence, between honest labor and criminal inactivity. I am used incessantly on the forlornness of my condition. Hour after hour past and the horrors of want began to encompass me. I sought with eagerness for an avenue by which I might escape from it. The perverseness of my nature led me on from one guilty thought to another. I took refuge in my customary sophistries and reconciled myself at length to a scheme of forgery.