MATILDA STANLEY.
BY DESIRE OF HER UNFORTUNATE SON.
""Matilda Stanley!" exclaimed Captain Sherbourne in a tone of agitation, "was that the name of your mother?"
""It was, your honour," replied William, "and there were few such mothers."
""And your father!--your father!" repeated the Captain, with increased agitation; "what knew you of him?"
""Alas! nothing!" exclaimed the prisoner bitterly, and the tears gushed down his cheeks; "but, oh, recal not to my memory in a moment like this--recal not my mother"s--No! no! my sainted mother!"
""O conscience! conscience!" exclaimed the Captain, starting to his feet, and gasping in eagerness as he spoke. "One question more--and your mother"s father was a dissenting clergyman in the village of--name!--name the place! on that depends your life, and my happiness or misery."
""In the village of ---- in Westmoreland," replied William; "but he survived not his daughter"s broken heart. You knew them, then? Oh, did you know my father?"
""My son! my son! come to a father"s heart," exclaimed the Captain, springing forward and falling on his neck; "_I am your father!_ Shade of my wronged Matilda! look on this!"
""My father!" exclaimed William, "have I found him! and in such an hour!
But, if you loved my mother, wherefore"--
""Upbraid me not, my son," interrupted the Captain, "mingle not gall with my cup of joy. Your mother was my wife--my first, my only one.
Circ.u.mstances forced me to exact a promise from her, that our marriage should be concealed until I dared to acknowledge it, and long captivity severed me from her; until, on my return, I could obtain no trace of either of you. How I have mourned for her, all who now stand beside me have been the daily witnesses. My son! my son!"
""My father! O my father!" exclaimed William; "but at this moment you are also my _judge_."
""No! no!" cried the Captain. "Seamen, strike off the fetters from your commander"s son. Rigby, at another tribunal I will be surety for the appearance of my son."
"The fetters were struck off from William"s hands and feet, and officers and men burst simultaneously into three times three, loud, long, and hearty cheers.
"The boatswain, fearing that a worse thing might come upon him, fell on his knees before the Captain, and made a full confession of his shameful intrigue with Squire Wates, and begged forgiveness, as his kidnapping of William had been the means of finding the commander his son. The rascal was forgiven, but dismissed the frigate.
"But I must return to poor Mary. She was sitting beside her father in the prison, when he addressed her saying--"Come, come, child, thou saidst thou wouldst sing and read to me, and is this thy singing--nothing but sighing and tears. I"m saying, is this thy promised singing, daughter?--but it is perhaps the fittest singing for a jail."
""Ah, father!" said Mary, "you know I would not willingly add to your sorrows. But can you forbid me to weep for him, who, from childhood, has been to me as a brother--whom I have long regarded as a husband, and who, _for my sake_, must in a few hours die as the vilest criminal."
""Why, I"m saying, daughter," said old Danvers, "let"s have no more about it. I"m as sorry for Bill Stanley as thou canst be for thy life.
But I say, girl, they can expect no better who fly in the face of a father. I am sure we have distress enough of our own, if we would only think about it, without meddling with that of other people. Is it not bad enough that thy father is shut up here within these iron bars, and perhaps thou and thy mother will be driven to beg upon the streets, when thou mightest have been riding in thy carriage. I"m saying, is not this misery enough, without thy crying about what thou hast nothing to do with. Why, Mary, thou mayest be thankful thou an"t his wife."
""Father! father!" she said, wringing her hands together, "murmur not at our lot, nor upbraid me with sympathising in misery to which yours is mercy! What are the sufferings of want compared with what I now feel! To save him I could smile and be happy, though doomed to beg and kiss the foot that spurned me from them."
"The sheriff"s officer and Mrs. Danvers at this moment entered, and the latter rushed towards her husband, exclaiming--"O husband! husband! the worst is come at last! They have seized house and all!--and, Mary, thou and I are left without a house to cover us! Thou hast no home now, hinny! Your father is shut up in this filthy prison, and your mother never knew what misery was till now!"
""Wife! wife!" cried old Danvers, "what dost thou say?--seized the house, too!--and my wife and daughter driven to the street! O wife!--I say, I wish I had never been born! Mary! Mary, love! what wilt thou do now?"
""Do not, my dear parents," said Mary, "repine at the hand of providence. HE who clothes the lily, and feeds the fowls of the air, will not permit us to perish in the midst of Christians."
""Daughter! daughter!" cried her mother, "thou little knowest what a hard-hearted and wicked world we live in! Humanity and honesty, and everything that is good, have gone out of it. The world was not so when I knew it first."
""Well! well!" cried old Danvers; "if the world be as bad as you say it is, it is one comfort that I shall not be long in it; for I cannot live to know that my wife and child are beggars, and that I am a prisoner, starving in a jail."
"At this moment, Wates entered the room, and addressing Mr. Danvers, said--"I have but this morning heard of your misfortunes, Mr. Danvers, and have not lost a moment in hastening to offer my a.s.sistance. To your daughter I now offer my _hand_, my fortune, and my heart; and let her but say she will accept them, and this day ends your imprisonment."
""There! old woman!" exclaimed Mr. Danvers, in ecstasy, "what dost thou and our daughter think of that? Did I not say that Mr. Wates meant marriage, and nothing else but marriage--and was not I right? Thou shalt have her, sir, with a father"s blessing, and I will pray for thee the longest day I have to live. Fall on thy knees, mother Danvers--fall on thy knees, and thank the kind, good, generous gentleman. Daughter, why dost thou stand there and say nothing? Did I not always say thou wast born to be a lady?"
""For the sake of human nature, Mr. Wates," said Mary, "I will suppose that your intentions are now honourable. I will believe that you mean kindly, that you are willing to a.s.sist my parents, and rescue them from their distress. But, could I even forget the past--could I forget that for many months you have sought my destruction, and have striven to make me become that which would have made me to be despised in my own eyes, and an outcast in those of others--if, sir, I could even forget these things, I could not give my hand to one whom my heart has been accustomed to detest. For your offered kindness I would thank you with tears, but I can only repay you with grat.i.tude. If, however, your a.s.sistance to my parents is only to be procured through my consenting to your wishes, they must remain as they now are, until it shall please providence to send them a more disinterested deliverer. Betwixt us there is a gulf fixed that shall ever divide us--it is death and aversion--therefore think not of me."
""Daughter!" cried the old man wrathfully, "hast thou taken leave of thy senses altogether?"
""Come, Mary, love," said her mother; "now that poor William must be no more, and that Mr. Wates means honourably, be not obstinate--do not suffer your father to die in a place like this, and your mother to beg upon the streets."
""Mother!" cried Mary, vehemently, "with the last of my blood will I toil for your support; but speak not of that man to me. Keep, sir, your wealth for one to whom it may have attractions, and to whom you have never offered dishonour. I despise it, and I despise you; and this shallow and cruel artifice will avail you nothing."
""Consent," said Wates, "and to-night our hands shall be united."
""Wife! wife!" cried the old man, "we will humble ourselves at her feet; belike she won"t see her father and mother weeping, on their knees before her, and say to them--die!" And they knelt before her.
""Rise! my parents!--rise!" she exclaimed; "if ye would not have your daughter"s blood upon your head. Monster!" she added, turning to Wates, "can ye talk of marriage to me, when he to whom my heart and vows are given, if he be not already dead, must in a few hours die a death of shame!"
""And will you not save him," said Wates, eagerly.
""Save him!--how? how?" she cried.
""Consent to be mine, and within an hour I shall procure his pardon,"
said he.
""Villain! villain! would you deceive me with the snare of the devil?"
she exclaimed.
""I swear it," he answered.
""Save him! save him!" she exclaimed wildly; but again cried suddenly--"No, no!--wretch, ye mock me!"
""Yes, he mocks you, Mary," said Jack Jenkins, who had just entered. "I could find in my heart to kick the old murderer through those iron gratings; for I know it is all through him that poor Bill must, before the sun go down, lose his life."
"While Jack was speaking, the locks of the prison doors were again heard creaking, and in rushed William, his father, and the officers of the frigate, and they dragged the rascal Rigby along with them.
"There was a cry of "Mary!" "William!" and a rush to meet each other.
But the best scene was the confusion of Wates, when his brother knave exposed his villany; and Captain Sherbourne ordering them to begone, Jack Jenkins rushed after them, for the pleasure of kicking them down the prison stairs; but Bill, catching him by the arm, said--"Messmate, let me introduce you to _my father_!
""_Your father!_" exclaimed Mary; and it would have been hard to say which of the two was nearest fainting. They left the prison together, old Danvers and all; and Mary and Bill were soon spliced. They were the happiest couple alive. He rose to be post captain; and I hope to see him an admiral. So, gentlemen, that"s an end to my yarn."
"But," inquired the company, "what became of Jack Jenkins?" "Why, I am Jack Jenkins," answered he; "sailing-master, with half-pay of five and sixpence a-day, besides two shillings as interest for prize-money--thanks to my old friend Bill."
THE SURGEON"S TALES.