Joseph Wilmot, or, The Memoirs of a Man-Servant — page 392: what you’re looking at

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JOSEPH WILMOT; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A MAN-SERVANT. 379 guised in liquor that she scarcely knew John Robert at all! Nevertheless her ladyship was determined to make one effort to arouse the lacquey to a sense of his duty; and she therefore said in her sternest tone, “ Take off your hat, directly, John Robert! Do you know in whose presence you are slanting P This is the Earl of Eccleston.” But John Robert asic vowed that he -would see himself at the hottest place he could think of before he would take off his hat to any living being. He then proceeded to pour forth a volley of imprecations against the eyes and limbs of the two unfortunate poodles,--winding up his tirade by threatening to punch the head of his master, “‘ old Tiverton,” as he called him. For this purpose John Robert was beginning to take off his coat,—when I ordered my valet, who had just stepped up to the spot, to get the intoxi- cated man into a cab: but John Robert became furious,—vowing that nothing would satisfy him but that “he must pitch into old Tiverton.” <A crowd collected ; and Lady Georgiana declared that she was about to faint. It was very kind and con- siderate of her to give this timely warning of her intention, inasmuch as it afforded me the opportu- nity of hastily whispering to her that perhaps she had better not, for fear lest some mischief should happen to the poodles. She accordingly followed my advice; and turning to her husband (they both being still inside the carriage, and I having stepped out), she said very sharply, “ Come Mr. Tiverton— don’t remain dawdling here! Take these nasty tiresome brutes up in your arms. It was all your fault that I brought them !” One of the railway police-officers had now got hold of John Robert, who thereupon grew per- fectly frantic ; and throwing about his long lanky legs and lean arms like a windmill, he vociferated, “ Who starves their servants? who makes them sit down to bones with no meat on’em? Old Tiverton and his wife! Let me punch the old rascal’s head! I'll take the shine out of him! Tve nursed it in my buzzim for years!” “ Take him to the station-house,” shrieked out Lady Georgiana; and the miserable John Robert was borne off accordingly. I bade my valet render what assistance he could to Mr, and Lady Georgiana Tiverton; and overwhelmed with mortification, they packed them- selves in a cab, poodles and all. They drove off amidst a general titter on the part of the crowd assembled on the platform; and then I proceeded without further loss of time to Manchester Square. On my arrival at Eccleston House, I was affec- tionately embraced in the arms of my mother, and most warmly congratulated by the Count of Li- vorno on the happy result of my visit into West- moreland. oe mers CHAPTER CLVI. AT TOME. On the following day my friend Saltcoats called according to an appointment; and sincerely did I thank the worthy man for all the kind interest he had exhibited on my behalf. Dominie Clack- mannan and his wife, the late Widow Glenbucket, had for some months past been in Scotland, whither Salteoats was about to repair in order to rejoin them: but he had remained in London in order to welcome me on my return from West- moreland. I made him pass the entire day with us; and I exacted from him a promise that after spending afew months with his friends in —- land, he would come and pass a month with me, — charged him with letters for the Dominie as well as for Mr. Duncansby in Edinburgh; and we parted with renewed assurances of friendship. The Count of Livorno remained with us a few days: and then he likewise took his departyure— but with a thorough understanding that he was to bring his Countess over to England in the Spring to pass a few months with us, Need I say that before we separated I renewed the expressions of all that gratitude which I experienced towards this excellent nobleman for the many kindnesses which I had received at his hands ? The dreadful secret connected with the late Mr. Delmar’s murder remained locked up in the breast of my mother and myself: not a syllable on the subject did we breathe to Mr, and Mrs. Howard, whom we now contantly saw. How rejoiced was I to be enabled to claim as a near and dear rela- tive that Edith who had sympathized so gene- rously with me when as a poor friendless boy I was thrown by accident upon her father’s bounty ! From motiyes of delicacy both she and Mr. Howard forbore from asking for any further ex- planations of the past than those which my mother and myself thought fit to give them; and when once the subject had been disposed of, it was touched upon no more. I had other relatives with whom to make an acquaintance; and these were the daughters of my father’s elder brother—that elder brother whom he had succeeded in the title. I found them to be amiable and beautiful girls: with the most unaffected joy did they welcome me as their cousin and recognise me as the head of the family. According to promise, Sir Matthew Heseltine came with the ladies to London, and took pos- session of a commodious handsomely furnished house which Mr. Tennant, the solicitor, had hired for them in Portman Square. Never shall I for- get the day on which the beauteous Annabel was first presented to my mother! The meeting was both joyous and affecting. Annabel beheld for the first time the now widowed authoress of my being: and for the first time likewise did my mother con- template the loveliness of her who for years had been the object of my heart’s devotion. Indeed, it was with a gushing enthusiasm that my mother folded Annabel in her arms, and welcomed her as the one who was to be her daughter-in-law. Nor on Mr. Lanover’s account was there the slightest repugnance on my mother’s part towards Mrs, Lanover: indeed if there had been, the amiable disposition, the sweet manners, and the purity of character which combined to render Annabel’s mother so estimable a being, could not have failed to produce their effect upon my own parent. As for Sir Matthew,—the worthy old Baronet shed tears of happiness on the occasion of that first meeting with my mother. When Parliament met in the first week of February, in the year 1843, I was enabled without Pk et ao a at eighteen mel ECORNIC LOO ‘S (CO)