Joseph Wilmot, or, The Memoirs of a Man-Servant — page 299: what you’re looking at

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te ee 286 come forth—at an hour when I thought her fast asleep in her own chamber—communicated from the landing with some of the shut-up rooms; and thi was the first time I had ever seen that door opened. It therefore naturally struck me at the moment as being strange that Mrs. Shackleford should be still up, and that she should emerge from a portion of the building which I had been led to believe was altogether out of use. More- over, she had contemplated me with a peculiar air of scrutiny, as if she attached more importance to the fact of my being about the house than so com- paratively trivial an incident appeared to warrant. The circumstance, united with the other little matters which had already induced the belief that there was some mystery which I could not fathom, tended to strengthen that idea; and when I sought my couch, I lay for some time pondering on all these things, before sleep visited my eyes. On the following morning I observed, on enter- ing the breakfast-parlour, that Mr. Shackleford sur- veyed me for a few moments with a certain degree of that same sort of unaccountable significant scru- tiny with which his wife had regarded me upon the landing on the previous night: but his manner was unchanged towards me—it was gravely urbane, as was its wont. There was another circumstance too which I noticed during the day :—and this was, that of all the articles provided for the parlour-table, the poultry and the pastry I had seen in the course of preparation the previous night, were not forthcoming, and indeed had totally disappeared. But the housemaid inciden- tally observed, “how kind it was of her mistress to think of providing a few little dainties to send as a present to poor Mrs. Foley, who, heaven knew! was too much absorbed in her ministrations by her husband’s couch to have leisure to think of herself.” This explanation was intelligible enough: but the mystery which had been made by the cook of the object of her culinary preparations, was not so easily understood, unless it were that the Shackle- fords liked to perform a worthy action by stealth and to keep it secret as much as possible. But then, wherefore should the cook, who was rather in- clined to be leaky in respect to secrets than other- wise—prove so mysterious on this one point; while the housemaid, usually so guarded, cautious, and reserved, had just spoken out as if in allusion to a matter concerning which there need exist no silence? As for the shut-up apartments, and Mrs. Shackleford’s visit thereto, I endeavoured to per- suade myself that there was nothing strange con- nected therewith—and that the lady might easily be understood to have occasion to enter a store- room, or anything of that sort: but still there was a vague idea floating in my mind, though dim and indefinite, that there was something of a myste- rious character in respect to the matter last al- luded to. T went out into the back garden; and under the pretext of roaming there for my pleasure, surveyed with attention those three windows which had not the shutters closed. They were in a row, and be- longed to the second floor—that very floor on which I had encountered Mrs. Shackleford on the previous night. Heavy dingy curtains hung avainst the windows: there were no white blinds -—hbut some articles of furniture, which seemed to JOSEPH WILMOT; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A MAN-SERVANT. -~ . - ee ee eee be chests of drawers, stood against each casement, appearing about a couple of feet higher than the window-sills. The panes themselves seemed to have been so long uncleansed that the heavy drape- ries and those articles of furniture, could only be indistinetly discerned through them. I was still gazing up at those windows,—wondering why the shutters should be left unclosed, when they were secured in every other casement, back and front, in the same portion of the spacious building,— when Jacob came into the garden to trifle away with a rake and a hoe. eyes from that range of three windows; and after exchanging a few words with the old groom, re- entered the house. | Now that I had my liveries, I found my presage fulfilled, by Mrs. Shackleford desiring me to drive her out in the phaeton. I had no objection to this, inasmuch as it was a recreation, and varied the monotony of the life I was leading. She made calls at some of the principal houses within a circuit of four or five miles of Heather Place; and she frequently stopped and passed half-an- hour or so with Mrs. Foley. Thus about a month went by from the date of my arrival at Heather Place; and in the meantime Mr. Foley was gradually but surely recovering. Hven Mr. Games himself—whom I found to be a man of by no means a sanguine disposition—was at length I therefore averted my ~ obliged to admit that his patient was out of all danger. in order that the incidents I am about to relate may be thoroughly understood, I must linger for a few moments to describe the exact position of Heather Place in respect to-the grounds which were attached to it. Ihave already said that it was a large building, with a space in front chiefly oceupied by a grass plat, and enclosed with: ivy- covered walls. Behind the building was the kitchen-garden. That portion of the house which was shut up, extended to the wall thus bordering one side of the garden. Beyond this wall there was a large shrubbery—or rather plantation of fir-trees—fenced in with high palisades, and occu- pying perhaps half an acre of ground. From the side of the shut-up portion of the house, a door opened into this plantation: but inasmuch as the doors of all the passages communicating with the shut-up wing, were invariably kept fast locked, there were no means of obtaining admission into the grove, unless it were by going outside and climbing over the palisades. In other words, it was absolutely necessary to pass through the un- tenanted portion of the edifice to obtain access to that plantation; and as the doors were kept locked, the plantation was hermetically sealed against the inmates of the dwelling. From the back windows of the inhabited portion, the grove could be par- tially looked into over the garden-wall; and from the highest windows enough could be discerned to show that it formed an avenue, with a broad gravel-walk in the middle. Such a lounge, me- thought, would have been pleasant enough in the midst of a sultry day, or in the cool of the evening ; and therefore I marvelled that the Shacklefords should shut themselves out from such recreation in their own grounds by keeping locked the means of communication therewith. I never even saw old Jacob penetrate thither, to attempt the weeding of the walk or to look after the fences or the ElOOQO <S (©)