Joseph Wilmot, or, The Memoirs of a Man-Servant — page 372: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

JOSEPH WILMOT; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A MAN-SERVANT. 309 in my mind like a dream. Oh, think not that [| But I charge you, Joseph I charge you, my rebel against whatsoever conditions you may im- | young friend, most solemnly and earnestly, not ‘to pose! My heart’s fervid gratitude is your’s, Sir bind her by any vows nor to pledge yourself Matthew Heseltine, for, your conduct towards the | towards her. If your mutual love be really as poor, the humbie, the obscure individual who has | sincere as you have described it, and as I am dared to love your granddaughter! ‘Tell me, sir, | willing to believe that it is, it will require no such what I am to do—and without a murmur shall I | obligations to render it permanent: whereas, on obey you!” * You are twenty and a half—and this is the fifteenth of November, 1840,” said Sir Matthew, speaking slowly and solemnly, and at the same time making notes of the dates in his memorandum- book. “For two years shall the separation be- the other hand, if 1¢ should prove the transient dream of a mere boy and girl who erroneously read the true condition of their own hearts, it may be fatal to the happiness of both to shackle yourselves with pledges which you would both alike consider yourselves in honeur bound to fulfil, tween yourself and Annabel last :—for two years , though the feeling which engendered them should shall you have the opportunity of gaining a larger | have passed away. Go to her, Joseph—and tell experience in the ways of the world:—for two her all that has taken place. For the remainder years shall you both have leisure to read and /of this day you will be together. o-morrow study the secret recesses of your own hearts. | morning my carriage shall be in readiness to con- Therefore, Joseph, you will to-morrow leave Hesel- | vey you a day’s journey—say for instance to Man- tine Hall; and on the fifteenth of November, | chester; and thence will you direct your steps 1842,—precisely at the hour of noon—will you whithersoever the inclination may prompt you. present yourself here again, to claim the hand of A letter will be placed in your hands at the mo- Annabel. I might, if I were in one of my old / ment you take your departure; and therein you moods,” continued Sir Matthew, with a significant stare and smile, “tell you that if at the expiration of this probationary interval of two years, you find yourself, by any misdeeds committed in the mean- time, to be unworthy of an alliance with my granddaughter, you will be at least honourable, | wise, and prudent enough to refrain from keeping | the appointment. But if, on the other hand, this day two years you feel that you cam return to the if you can then present yourself before me the will find funds sufficient to last you for two years.” “And during this interval, sir,” I hesitatingly asked, “may I not from time to time ? “Correspond with Annabel?” ejaculated Sir Matthew—and he reflected for a few moments: then he said slowly but firmly, “ No—it will be better not. I wish you both to remain perfectly free for that interval of two years: I wish you both to stand the full test of separation and absence. If the feeling which inspires either of Hall in the consciousness of rectitude and virtue— | same excellent-hearted and worthy young man | you be im reality an unstable one, I do not choose that you are now, but with enlarged experiences it to be morbidly and falsely fed by the inter- and a matured intelligence then, come, Joseph | change of love-letters: for, on the other hand, if —be sure to come—and rest assured that you it be areal and permanent sentiment, it will sus- shall be received with open arms! Yes—there tain itself. Moreover, it is my purpose that you shall be festivities and rejoicings; and God grant | shall be left entirely your own master for this - that I may be alive to welcome the wanderer | space of two years. I want no account of your home !” proceedings; and-if you were to write, you must Sir Matthew Heseltine became deeply affected | give such account. No—for the interval pre- as he addressed mein these last words; and avert- | scribed, go your ways, and be as a stranger unto ing his countenance, he proffered his hand. Again those whom you will leave behind.” I sank upon my knees as I pressed it to my lips; Having thus spoken, Sir Matthew WHeseltine and he—the next moment ashamed of that be- | waved his hand for me to leave him alone: but as trayal of his feelings—hastily dashed away a tear, | I reached the door, he beckoned me back towards exclaiming, “ Rise, Joseph—and let this interview | him, and said, “Do not for a moment fancy, of our’s have a speedy end.” Joseph, that my mind will change in any one My own heart was so full of indescribable emo- | single detail of all that I have promised. Not for tions that I eould not give utterance to a word: | worlds,” he emphatically exclaimed, “would £ but my brain was intoxicated with happiness:— | suffer myself to be dazzled by the brillianey of my fancy, rushing forward through the vista of | rank or the magnitude of fortune possessed by any two years, depicted to itself the term of that pro- | suitor who may present himself for the hand of bationary interval; and I already felt as if I had | my granddaughter. No!—if I have been harsh, come back from my travels and wanderings, to be | stern, and implacable in my time, my honour as a welcomed home amidst festivities and rejoicings, man and as a gentleman has remained unsullied : and to receive the hand of the adored and wor- | —I am incapable of perfidy! Leave me, Joseph— shipped Annabel. Oh! not for an instant did the and rest assured that Annabel shall be your’s, if recollection of Calanthe—no, nor the image of my circumstances concur, as I have explained my child—overshadow this bright and rapturous views, to render the alliance a desirable one.” dream in which for a few minutes I was so’ Again I pressed the old Baronet’s hand; and ecstaticly absorbed. issuibg forth from the apartment, flew to the “You may now seek Annabel,” said Sir Mat- drawing-room, where Annabel was seated with her thew, thus after a pause breaking in upon my mother. That they both had a suspicion of some- reverie —dispelling all that was perspectively thing serious and important taking place between visionary, and bringing me back again to the the Baronet and me, was evident from the joyous realities of the present moment;—“ you may go animation of their countenances when they saw to her—you may tell her all that I have said. me thus burst in upon them, my own features ~ _- * CORNIELOO@ <S C (0)