"Latin and French I can speak indifferently, and so as to be understood; and I read a little Italian."
"But no Portuguese or Spanish?" continued the stranger.
"No, sir."
"That is unlucky. But you may make her understand you by means of French. Take notice, you are to comply with her request in everything--if you want means to do so, you may apply to me."
"May I ask, sir, by what name the lady is to be"--
"It is totally indifferent," said the stranger, interrupting the question; "You shall know it at more leisure."
So saying, he threw his ample cloak about him, turning himself half round to a.s.sist the operation, with an air which the Doctor would have found it difficult to imitate, and walked down the street to the little inn. Here he paid and dismissed the postilions, and shut himself up in an apartment, ordering no one to be admitted till the Doctor should call.
The Doctor, when he returned to his patient"s apartment, found his wife in great surprise, which, as is usual with persons of her character, was not unmixed with fear and anxiety.
"She cannot speak a word like a Christian being," said Mrs. Gray.
"I know it," said the Doctor.
"But she threeps to keep on a black fause-face, and skirls if we offer to take it away."
"Well then, let her wear it--What harm will it do?"
"Harm, Doctor!" Was ever honest woman brought to bed with a fause-face on?"
"Seldom, perhaps. But, Jean, my dear, those who are not quite honest must be brought to bed all the same as those who are, and we are not to endanger the poor thing"s life by contradicting her whims at present."
Approaching the sick woman"s bed, he observed that she indeed wore a thin silk mask, of the kind which do such uncommon service in the elder comedy; such as women of rank still wore in travelling, but certainly never in the situation of this poor lady. It would seem she had sustained importunity on the subject, for when she saw the Doctor, she put her hand to her face, as if she was afraid he would insist on pulling off the vizard.
He hastened to say, in tolerable French, that her will should be a law to them in every respect, and that she was at perfect liberty to wear the mask till it was her pleasure to lay it aside. She understood him; for she replied, by a very imperfect attempt, in the same language, to express her grat.i.tude for the permission, as she seemed to regard it, of retaining her disguise.
The Doctor proceeded to other arrangements; and, for the satisfaction of those readers who may love minute information, we record, that Luckie Simson, the first in the race, carried as a prize the situation of sick-nurse beside the delicate patient; that Peg Thomson was permitted the privilege of recommending her good-daughter, Bet Jamieson, to be wet-nurse; and an _oe_, or grandchild, of Luckie Jaup was hired to a.s.sist in the increased drudgery of the family; the Doctor thus, like a practised minister, dividing among his trusty adherents such good things as fortune placed at his disposal.
About one in the morning the Doctor made his appearance at the Swan Inn, and acquainted the stranger gentleman, that he wished him joy of being the father of a healthy boy, and that the mother was, in the usual phrase, as well as could be expected.
The stranger heard the news with seeming satisfaction, and then exclaimed, "He must be christened, Doctor! he must be christened instantly!"
"There can be no hurry for that," said the Doctor.
"_We_ think otherwise," said the stranger, cutting his argument short.
"I am a Catholic, Doctor, and as I may be obliged to leave this place before the lady is able to travel, I desire to see my child received into the pale of the Church. There is, I understand, a Catholic priest in this wretched place?"
"There is a Catholic gentleman, sir, Mr. Goodriche, who is reported to be in orders."
"I commend your caution, Doctor," said the stranger; "it is dangerous to be too positive on any subject. I will bring that same Mr. Goodriche to your house to-morrow."
Gray hesitated for a moment. "I am a Presbyterian Protestant, sir," he said, "a friend to the const.i.tution as established in Church and State, as I have a good right, having drawn his Majesty"s pay, G.o.d bless him, for four years, as surgeon"s mate in the Cameronian regiment, as my regimental Bible and commission can testify. But although I be bound especially to abhor all trafficking or trinketing with Papists, yet I will not stand in the way of a tender conscience. Sir, you may call with Mr. Goodriche, when you please, at my house; and undoubtedly, you being, as I suppose, the father of the child, you will arrange matters as you please; only, I do not desire to be though an abettor or countenancer of any part of the Popish ritual."
"Enough, sir," said the stranger haughtily, "we understand each other."
The next day he appeared at the Doctor"s house with Mr. Goodriche, and two persons understood to belong to that reverend gentleman"s communion.
The party were shut up in an apartment with the infant, and it may be presumed that the solemnity of baptism was administered to the unconscious being, thus strangely launched upon the world. When the priest and witnesses had retired, the strange gentleman informed Mr.
Gray, that, as the lady had been p.r.o.nounced unfit for travelling for several days, he was himself about to leave the neighbourhood, but would return thither in the s.p.a.ce of ten days, when he hoped to find his companion able to leave it.
"And by what name are we to call the child and mother?"
"The infant"s name is Richard."
"But it must have some sirname--so must the lady--She cannot reside in my house, yet be without a name."
"Call them by the name of your town here--Middlemas, I think it is?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, Mrs. Middlemas is the name of the mother, and Richard Middlemas of the child--and I am Matthew Middlemas, at your service. This," he continued, "will provide Mrs. Middlemas in every thing she may wish to possess--or a.s.sist her in case of accidents." With that he placed L100 in Mr. Gray"s hand, who rather scrupled receiving it, saying, "He supposed the lady was qualified to be her own purse-bearer."
"The worst in the world, I a.s.sure you, Doctor," replied the stranger.
"If she wished to change that piece of paper, she would scarce know how many guineas she should receive for it. No, Mr. Gray, I a.s.sure you you will find Mrs. Middleton--Middlemas--what did I call her--as ignorant of the affairs of this world as any one you have met with in your practice: So you will please to be her treasurer and administrator for the time, as for a patient that is incapable to look after her own affairs."
This was spoke, as it struck Dr. Gray, in rather a haughty and supercilious manner. The words intimated nothing in themselves, more than the same desire of preserving incognito, which might be gathered from all the rest of the stranger"s conduct; but the manner seemed to say, "I am not a person to be questioned by any one--what I say must be received without comment, how little soever you may believe or understand it." It strengthened Gray in his opinion, that he had before him a case either of seduction, or of private marriage, betwixt persons of the very highest rank; and the whole bearing, both of the lady and the gentleman, confirmed his suspicions. It was not in his nature to be troublesome or inquisitive, but he could not fail to see that the lady wore no marriage-ring; and her deep sorrow, and perpetual tremor, seemed to indicate an unhappy creature, who had lost the protection of parents, without acquiring a legitimate right to that of a husband. He was therefore somewhat anxious when Mr. Middlemas, after a private conference of some length with the lady, bade him farewell. It is true, he a.s.sured him of his return within ten days, being the very shortest s.p.a.ce which Gray could be prevailed upon to a.s.sign for any prospect of the lady being moved with safety.
"I trust in Heaven that he will return," said Gray to himself, "but there is too much mystery about all this, for the matter being a plain and well-meaning transaction. If he intends to treat this poor thing, as many a poor girl has been used before, I hope that my house will not be the scene in which he chooses to desert her. The leaving the money has somewhat a suspicious aspect, and looks as if my friend were in the act of making some compromise with his conscience. Well--I must hope the best.
Meantime, my path plainly is to do what I can for the poor lady"s benefit."
Mr. Gray visited his patient shortly after Mr. Middlemas"s departure--as soon, indeed, as he could be admitted. He found her in violent agitation. Gray"s experience dictated the best mode of relief and tranquillity. He caused her infant to be brought to her. She wept over it for a long time, and the violence of her agitation subsided under the influence of parental feelings, which, from her appearance of extreme youth, she must have experienced for the first time.
The observant physician could, after this paroxysm, remark that his patient"s mind was chiefly occupied in computing the pa.s.sage of the time, and antic.i.p.ating the period when the return of her husband--if husband he was--might be expected. She consulted almanacks, enquired concerning distances, though so cautiously as to make it evident she desired to give no indication of the direction of her companion"s journey, and repeatedly compared, her watch with those of others; exercising, it was evident, all that delusive species of mental arithmetic by which mortals attempt to accelerate the pa.s.sage of Time while they calculate his progress. At other times she wept anew over her child, which was by all judges p.r.o.nounced as goodly an infant as needed to be seen; and Gray sometimes observed that she murmured sentences to the unconscious infant, not only the words, but the very sound and accents of which were strange to him, and which, in particular, he knew not to be Portuguese.
Mr. Goodriche, the Catholic priest, demanded access to her upon one occasion. She at first declined his visit, but afterwards received it, under the idea, perhaps, that he might have news from Mr. Middlemas, as he called himself. The interview was a very short one, and the priest left the lady"s apartment in displeasure, which his prudence could scarce disguise from Mr. Gray. He never returned, although the lady"s condition would have made his attentions and consolations necessary, had she been a member of the Catholic Church.
Our Doctor began at length to suspect his fair guest was a Jewess, who had yielded up her person and affections to one of a different religion; and the peculiar style of her beautiful countenance went to enforce this opinion. The circ.u.mstance made no difference to Gray, who saw only her distress and desolation, and endeavoured to remedy both to the utmost of his power. He was, however, desirous to conceal it from his wife, and the others around the sick person, whose prudence and liberality of thinking might be more justly doubted. He therefore so regulated her diet, that she could not be either offended, or brought under suspicion, by any of the articles forbidden by the Mosaic law being presented to her. In other respects than what concerned her health or convenience, he had but little intercourse with her.
The s.p.a.ce pa.s.sed within which the stranger"s return to the borough had been so anxiously expected by his female companion. The disappointment occasioned by his non-arrival was manifested in the convalescent by inquietude, which was at first mingled with peevishness, and afterwards with doubt and fear. When two or three days had pa.s.sed without message or letter of any kind, Gray himself became anxious, both on his own account and the poor lady"s, lest the stranger should have actually entertained the idea of deserting this defenceless and probably injured woman. He longed to have some communication with her, which might enable him to judge what enquiries could be made, or what else was most fitting to be done. But so imperfect was the poor young woman"s knowledge of the French language, and perhaps so unwilling she herself to throw any light on her situation, that every attempt of this kind proved abortive. When Gray asked questions concerning any subject which appeared to approach to explanation, he observed she usually answered him by shaking her head, in token of not understanding what he said; at other times by silence and with tears, and sometimes referring him to _Monsieur_.
For _Monsieur"s_ arrival, then, Gray began to become very impatient, as that which alone could put an end to a disagreeable species of mystery, which the good company of the borough began now to make the princ.i.p.al subject of their gossip; some blaming Gray for taking foreign _landloupers_ [Footnote: Strollers.] into his house, on the subject of whose morals the most serious doubts might be entertained; others envying the "bonny hand" the doctor was like to make of it, by having disposal of the wealthy stranger"s travelling funds; a circ.u.mstance which could not be well concealed from the public, when the honest man"s expenditure for trifling articles of luxury came far to exceed its ordinary bounds.
The conscious probity of the honest Doctor enabled him to despise this sort of t.i.ttle-tattle, though the secret knowledge of its existence could not be agreeable to him. He went his usual rounds with his usual perseverance, and waited with patience until time should throw light on the subject and history of his lodger. It was now the fourth week after her confinement, and the recovery of the stranger might be considered as perfect, when Gray, returning from one of his ten-mile visits, saw a post-chaise and four horses at the door. "This man has returned," he said, "and my suspicions have done him less than justice." With that he spurred his horse, a signal which the trusty steed obeyed the more readily, as its progress was in the direction of the stable door. But when, dismounting, the Doctor hurried into his own house, it seemed to him, that the departure as well as the arrival of this distressed lady was destined to bring confusion to his peaceful dwelling. Several idlers had a.s.sembled about his door, and two or three had impudently thrust themselves forward almost into the pa.s.sage, to listen to a confused altercation which was heard from within.
The Doctor hastened forward, the foremost of the intruders retreating in confusion on his approach, while he caught the tones of his wife"s voice, raised to a pitch which he knew, by experience, boded no good; for Mrs. Gray, good-humoured and tractable in general, could sometimes perform the high part in a matrimonial duet. Having much more confidence in his wife"s good intentions than her prudence, he lost no time in pushing into the parlour, to take the matter into his own hands. Here he found his helpmate at the head of the whole militia of the sick lady"s apartment, that is, wet nurse, and sick nurse, and girl of all work, engaged in violent dispute with two strangers. The one was a dark-featured elderly man, with an eye of much sharpness and severity of expression, which now seemed partly quenched by a mixture of grief and mortification. The other, who appeared actively sustaining the dispute with Mrs. Gray, was a stout, bold-looking, hard-faced person, armed with pistols, of which he made rather an unnecessary and ostentatious display.
"Here is my husband, sir," said Mrs. Gray, in a tone of triumph, for she had the grace to believe the Doctor one of the greatest men living,--"Here is the Doctor--let us see what you will say now."
"Why just what I said before, ma"am," answered the man, "which is, that my warrant must be obeyed. It is regular, ma"am, regular."
So saying, he struck the forefinger of his right hand against a paper which he held towards Mrs. Gray with his left.
"Address yourself to me, if you please, sir," said the Doctor, seeing that he ought to lose no time in removing the cause into the proper court. "I am the master of this house, sir, and I wish to know the cause of this visit."