Joseph Wilmot, or, The Memoirs of a Man-Servant — page 359: what you’re looking at

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ee sss eee LL LLL LL A 346 justice, I will at once write to my friend the Em- peror of China and get him to send over an army of four millions of men !” Nothing could exceed the shock of disappoint- ment which I thus suddenly sustained. All my hopes were annihilated in an instant: I had been listening to the nonsense of a madman! My soul, elevated on the pinion of that wild hope to the high regions of heaven, sank suddenly down, drooping and crushed, upon the earth. 1 groaned in anguish; and with a feeling of pettilance for which I was afterwards sorry, I broke savagely away from the unfortunate old gentleman and hastened to the farther extremity of the grounds. There I beheld a young man, scarcely two years older than myself, and elegantly dressed, leaning against a tree—with. his arms folded across his chest, and with a smile upon his countenance. He had evidently been watching the elderly gentle- man’s proceedings with me; and he said, “Ah! f suppose, sir, old Cooper has been palming off some of his nonsense upon you? He is as mad asa March hare : but he is perfectly harmless and gives us no trouble. Indeed, my uncle likes the old man very much.” “T presume, therefore,” X said, “that I am ad- dressing Mr. Granby’s nephew ?” “ Yes—and to tell you the truth, I came out to put you on your guard against being deceived by Mr. Cooper’s absurdities: for the instant he gets hold of a new-comer, he proffers his assistance and vows to effect his immediate emancipation. My uncle spied you from the window, and sent me out to speak to you: but you were already deep in conversation with Mr. Cooper—and I could not therefore wound the poor old gentleman’s feelings by interfering. Thus I was compelled to leave you to your fate; and you will pardou meit I smniled “ “Oh, yes—LI can forgive you!” I exclaimed: “for were [ in the mood, I could laugh at my own folly in allowing myself even for an instant to be deluded by such a hope.” solid | Saag “The best advice I can five you, Mr. Wilmot, is to avoid putting faith in anything you may hear from these univrtunate men. You will be as- tonished at the extraordinary delusions under which some of them labour.” “ You, I presume,” Isaid, “ are now thoroughly accustomed to them ?” “ Yes,” was the answer: “I have been with my uncle for about two years: but lam getting rather sick of it However,” he interrupted himself, as if thinking that he was saying too much; “come with me, sir, and let me show you the grounds. I have been recommending my uucle,” he continued, as we walked along together, “to make a conservatory in this spot: but he is afraid that one or two of our patients who are rather mischieyously inclinec, would pull the place to pieces. Not that they ever interfere with the flowers Ah! here are cur melon-frames. I make these my especial care.” Thus conversing, my guide pointed out such objects in the garden as he thought would interest me—until at length a bell rang; and then he said, “We must now go in to breakfast.” « Are there many inmates ?” ‘L inquired. “ About fuur-aucd-twenty in all,’ was the re- = JOSEPH WIILMOT; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A MAN-SERVANT. Granby do not listen to the words of reason and }spouse. “ We think of taking additional premises | compelled to refase a considerable number. Ab! in the neighbourhood, as we have lately been it is a shocking thing, Mr. Wilmot ‘3 But here he stopped short; and methought that he flufig a compassionating look upon me. The idea for the moment struck me that I would en- deavour to enlist his sympathy: but a second thought made me ask myself, ‘“‘ What hope have I at the hands of the nephew of the proprietor of this place ?? “You shall sit next to me at the breakfast- table,” he said at the expiration of a few mo- ments: then suddenly fliiging an appealing loox upon me, he added, “ But I beg and entreat, my dear friend, that if you do see me turn into a muffin, you won’t hold me tvo close to the fire while you toast me, nor yet smother me too much in batter!” It was almost with a feeling of rage that I found myself thus duped a second time: for I had verily and seriously believed that this young gen- fleman was precisely what he had represented himself—namely, the nephew of Mr. Granby. Oh! what an ineffable loathing—what a sickening at the heart did I experience at the idea of being thus shut up in the companionship of such men! —beings who had enough of rationality to deceive me for a time, but who all in a moment were im- pelled to lay bear the hideous ruin of their own shattered intellect! Ludicrous though the last self-expostire was, yet EF could not laugh at it:—it filled me with pity and horror instead of provoking my mirth. I continued walking by the unfortu- nate young maw’s side till we reached the dwell- ing; and there, in the Kall, we met Mr. Granby, who with a sufficient degree of courtesy, if not kindness, bade us “ Good morning.” I was now conducted into the breakfast-parlour, where I found about twenty of the inmates as- sembled,—their ages ranging over various periods from twenty to sixty, and their minds doubtless affording as many varied phases of hallucination. At the head of the table—which was well spread with an excellent repast—sate a lady in the glo- rious embonpoint of about five-and-forty, and who, still a handsome woman, retained all the traces of a beauty which must have been of no common order. She wore a coquetish French morning cap with pink ribbons; and this gay head-dress, so far from coucealing, rather invited attention to the fact that her hair, once dark, was now streaked with grey. She had a matronly air of mingled authority and hospitality; and while she enacted the part of mistress of the establish- ment, she blended therewith the attention of a hostess towards numerous guests. This was Mrs. Granby ; and to her was I now presented by her husband. “Tam very glad to see you, Mr. Wilmot,” she said, giving me her hand: “ we feel honoured that you should have come to pay us this visit—and we will endeavour to make your sojourn as agreeable as possible.” “If I were really like the rest, madam,” I an- swered in an under-tone, “ you might treat me as you do them, and endeavour to make me believe that I am in reality only a guest here. But 3 “ This is your place, Mz. Wilmot,” said Mir. Granby, now interieging: and for a moment he sa URE SBS Str PE i a er ay CORNICE OOO (EO)