"Sir, this is very highly amusing!" said Lord Dreddlington, trying to smile; but it was impossible. His hands trembled so much that he could not draw on his glove without great effort.

"To _me_, my Lord, it is very--very painful," replied Gammon, with an agitation which he could not conceal--"not painful on my own account, but your Lordship's"----

"Sir, I appreciate your presumptuous sympathy," interrupted Lord Dreddlington. "In the mean while, you may depend upon my taking steps forthwith of a somewhat decisive character. We shall see, sir, how long transactions of this sort can be concealed."

At this point, Gammon had finally determined upon making his long-dreaded disclosure to the Earl of Dreddlington--one which he knew would instantly topple him down headlong over the battlements of his lofty and unapproachable pride, as though he had been struck by lightning. Gammon felt himself getting colder every minute--his agitation driving the blood from his extremities back upon his heart.

"Your Lordship has spoken of _concealment_," he commenced with visible emotion.--"Your Lordship's offensive and most uncalled-for observations upon my motives and conduct, irritated me for the moment--but that is gone by. They have, however, worked my feelings up to a point which will enable me, now, perhaps, better than on any future occasion, to make a disclosure to your Lordship of a secret, which ever since it unhappily came to my knowledge, so help me Heaven! has made me the most miserable of men." There was something in Gammon's countenance and manner which compelled the earl to sit down again in the chair from which he had risen, and where he remained gazing in wondering silence at Gammon, who proceeded--"It is a communication which will require all your Lordship's strength of mind to prevent its overpowering you"----

"Gracious G.o.d, sir, what do you mean? What do you mean, Mr. Gammon? Go on, sir!" said the earl, turning very pale.

"I would even now, my Lord, shrink from the precipice which I have approached, and leave your Lordship in ignorance of that which--alas, alas!--no earthly power can remedy; but your Lordship's singular discovery of the rent-charge, which we have talked about so long and anxiously, and determination to become fully acquainted with the circ.u.mstances out of which it has arisen, leave me no option."

"Sir, I desire that, without so much circ.u.mlocution, you will come to the point. I cannot divine what you are talking about--what you meditate telling me; but I beg of you, sir, to communicate to me what you know, and leave me to bear it as best I can."

"Then your Lordship shall be obeyed.--I said, some little time ago, that the instrument granting me the rent-charge upon the Yatton property, recited, as a part of the consideration, my arduous, long-continued, and successful exertions to place Mr. t.i.tmouse in possession of that fine estate. It was I, my Lord, who searched for him till I found him--the rightful heir to the Yatton property--him, the possible successor to your Lordship in your ancient barony. Night and day I have toiled for him--have overcome all obstacles, and at length placed him in the splendid position which he now occupies. He is not, my Lord, naturally of a generous or grateful disposition, as perhaps your Lordship also may be aware; and had I not insisted on an adequate return for my services, he would have given me none. Therefore I required him, nay, I extorted from him the instrument in question." Mr. Gammon paused for a moment.

"Well, sir. Go on! I hear you," said the earl, somewhat sternly; on which Gammon resumed.

"How I first acquired a knowledge that Mr. Aubrey was wrongfully enjoying the Yatton estates, is of no moment to your Lordship; but one thing _does_ concern your Lordship to know, and me to be believed by your Lordship in telling you--that, so help me Heaven! at the time that I discovered Mr. t.i.tmouse behind the counter of Mr. Tag-rag, in Oxford Street, and up till within a couple of months ago, I had no more doubt about his being ent.i.tled, as really the heir-at-law"----The earl gave a sudden start. "My Lord, I would even now beg your Lordship to let me take some other opportunity, when we are both calmer, of explaining"----

"Go on, sir," said the earl, firmly, but in a much lower tone of voice than that in which he had before spoken, and sitting with his eyes riveted on those of Mr. Gammon; who, notwithstanding his Lordship's observation, was compelled by his own sickening agitation again to pause for a moment or two. Then he resumed. "I was saying, my Lord, that, till about two months ago, I had no more doubt than I have of your Lordship's now sitting before me, that Mr. t.i.tmouse was the legitimate descendant of the person ent.i.tled to enjoy the Yatton estates in preference to Mr.

Aubrey. His pedigree was subjected to the severest scrutiny which the law of England can devise, and was p.r.o.nounced complete"----Gammon beheld Lord Dreddlington quivering all over; "but to my horror--only _I_ know it, except Mr. t.i.tmouse, to whom I told it--I have recently discovered, by a most extraordinary accident, that we were, and are, all mistaken."

Lord Dreddlington had grown deadly pale, and his lips, which had lost their color, seemed to open unconsciously, while he inclined towards Gammon; "and--I may as well tell your Lordship at once the worst--this young man, t.i.tmouse, is only a natural son, and what is worst, of a woman who had a former husband living"----

Lord Dreddlington started up from his chair, and staggered away from it, his arms moving to and fro--his face the very picture of horror. It had gone of a ghastly whiteness. His lips moved, but he uttered no sound.

"Oh, my Lord! For G.o.d's sake be calm!" cried out Gammon, dreadfully shocked, rushing towards the earl, who kept staggering back, his hands stretched out as if to keep off some approaching object. "My Lord! Lord Dreddlington, hear me. For Heaven's sake, let me bring you back to your seat. It's only a little faintness!"--He put his arm round the earl, endeavoring to draw him back towards the easy-chair; but felt him slipping down on the floor, his legs yielding under him; then his head suddenly sank on one side, and the next moment he lay, as it were, collapsed, upon the floor, partly supported by Gammon, who, in a fearful state of agitation, shouted out for the laundress.

"Untie his neck-handkerchief, sir; loose his shirt-collar!" cried the woman; and stooping down, while Gammon supported his head, she removed the pressure from his neck. He was breathing heavily. "For G.o.d's sake, run off for a doctor--any one--the nearest you can find," gasped Gammon.

"The carriage standing before the inn is his Lordship's; you'll see his footman--tell him his Lordship's in a fit, and send him off also for a doctor!"

The laundress, nearly as much agitated as her master, instantly started off as she had been directed. Gammon, finding no signs of returning consciousness, with a great effort managed to get his Lordship into the bedroom; and had just laid him down on the bed when the footman burst into the chamber in a terrible fright. He almost jumped off the floor on catching sight of the prostrate and inanimate figure of his master--and was for a few moments so stupefied that he could not hear Gammon ordering him to start off in quest of a doctor, which at length, however, he did,--leaving Gammon alone with his victim. For a few frightful moments, he felt as if he had murdered Lord Dreddlington, and must fly for it. He pressed his hands to his forehead, as if to recall his scattered faculties.

"What is to be done?" thought he. "Is this apoplexy? paralysis?

epilepsy? or what? Will he recover? Will it affect his reason?--_Will he recover?_ If so--how deal with the d.a.m.ning discovery he has made? Will he have sense enough to keep his own counsel? If he survive, and preserve his reason--all is right--everything succeeds. I am his master to the end of his days!--What a horrid while they are!--Curse those doctors! The wretches! never to be found when they are wanted. He's dying before my very eyes!--How shall I say this happened? A fit, brought on by agitation occasioned--(ay, that will do)--by the failure of the Company. Ah! there's the newspaper he brought with him, and put into my hands," he thought, as his eye glanced at the newspaper lying on the table in the adjoining room--"This will give color to my version of the affair!" With this, he hastily seized the paper in question, and thrust it into one of the coat-pockets of Lord Dreddlington; and the moment after, in came the laundress, followed by the medical man whom she had gone in quest of; the door hardly having been closed before a thundering knock announced the arrival of the footman with another doctor; to both of whom Gammon with haste and agitation gave the account of his Lordship's seizure which he had previously determined upon giving to all inquiries.--"A decided case of apoplexy," said the fat bald-headed old gentleman brought in by the laundress, and who had been forty years in practice; and he proceeded hastily to raise the earl into a nearly sitting posture, directing the windows to be thrown open as widely as possible. "Clearly paralysis," said the spectacled young gentleman who had been fetched by the footman, and who had been established in practice only a fortnight; was hot from the hospitals; and had opened a little surgery nearly opposite to that of the old gentleman.

"It _isn't_, sir--it's apoplexy."

"Sir, it's nearer epilepsy"----

"Listen to his _breathing_, sir," said the old gentleman, scornfully.

"For G.o.d's sake, gentlemen, DO something!" interposed Gammon, furiously--"Good G.o.d! would you have his Lordship die before your eyes?"

"Put his feet into hot water instantly--get mustard plasters ready,"

commenced the old gentleman, in a mighty bustle, turning up his coat-sleeves, and getting out his lancets; while the young gentleman, with a very indignant air, still resolved to give the distinguished patient the advantage of the newest improvements in medical science, whipped out a stethoscope, and was s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g it together, when the old gentleman in a rage cried "Pish!" and knocked it out of his hand: whereupon the young gentleman seemed disposed to strike him!

"Oh my G.o.d!" cried Gammon--and added, addressing the footman--"set off for Dr. Bailey instantly--these fools will let him die before their eyes!" Off sprang the man, and was out of sight in a twinkling. 'T was very _natural_ (though, I must own, somewhat inconvenient and unseemly) for these worthy rivals to behave in this way, seeing it was the first time in his life that either had been called in to a n.o.bleman, and very probably it would be the last--at least it ought to have been; and each wished to cure or kill the distinguished patient in his own way. 'T was also the conflict between the old and the new systems of medical science; between old practice and young speculation--and between these two stools was his Lordship falling to the ground, with a witness. One felt the pulse, the other insisted on applying the stethoscope to his heart; one remarked on the coldness of the extremities--the other said the pupils were fixed and dilated. One was for bleeding at the arm, the other for opening the jugular vein: one for cupping at the nape of the neck--the other on the temple; one spoke of electricity--'t would stimulate the nervous system to throw off the blood from the brain;--the other said, "stimulate the whole surface---wrap him in a mustard blister from head to foot, and shave and blister the head." One verily believed his Lordship was dying; the other declared he was dead already, through _his_ mode of treatment not having been adopted. Each would have given twenty guineas to have been the only one called in. All this horrid foolery occupied far less time than is requisite to describe it--scarcely a minute indeed--and almost drove Gammon into frenzy.

Rushing to the window, he called to a porter in the inn to start off for "any other medical man who could be found!"--which brought the two to their senses, such as they were. Suffice it to say, that the jugular vein was opened in a trice; mustard plasters and hot water applied as quickly as they could be procured; and a cupping-case having been sent for, blood was taken pretty freely from the nape of the neck--and these two blood-lettings saved Lord Dreddlington's life--whether to Gammon's delight or disappointment I shall not take upon me to decide. By the time that the great man--the experienced and skilful king's physician, Dr. Bailey--had arrived, the earl was beginning to exhibit slight symptoms of returning consciousness, and was recovering from an attack of partial apoplexy. Dr. Bailey remained with his Lordship for nearly half an hour; and, on leaving, gave it as his opinion that, provided no fresh seizure occurred during the ensuing two hours, it would be practicable--as it was, of course, very desirable--to remove his Lordship to his own house. The period named having pa.s.sed without his Lordship's having experienced any relapse, it was determined on removing him. He was to be accompanied by one of the medical men--both would fain have gone, had the chariot admitted of it; but Gammon soon settled the matter by naming the elder pract.i.tioner, and dismissing the younger with a couple of guineas. Then Gammon himself set off in a hackney-coach, about an hour before the carriage started, in order to prepare the household of the earl, and secure a safe communication of the alarming event, to the Lady Cecilia. On reaching the earl's mansion, to Gammon's surprise a hackney-coach was driving off from before the door; and, on entering the house, guess his amazement at hearing, from the agitated porter, that Lady Cecilia had just gone up to the drawing-room in terrible trouble. Gammon darted up-stairs, unable to imagine by what means Lady Cecilia could have been apprised of the event. He found her in out-door costume, sitting sobbing on the sofa, attended anxiously by Miss Macspleuchan. The plain fact was, that she had just been driven out of her own house by a couple of executions, put in that morning by two creditors of t.i.tmouse, by whom they had been treated, the evening before, very insolently! Mr. Gammon's agitated appearance alarmed Miss Macspleuchan, but was not noticed by her more distressed companion; and, as soon as Mr. Gammon found the means of doing it un.o.bserved, he made a sign to Miss Macspleuchan that he had something of great importance to communicate to her. Leaving the Lady Cecilia, a short time afterwards, in the care of her maid, Miss Macspleuchan followed Mr. Gammon down-stairs into the library, and was in a few hurried words apprised of the illness of the earl--of the cause of it--(viz. the sudden failure of an important speculation in which the earl was interested)--and that his Lordship would be brought home in about an hour's time or so, in company with a medical man. Miss Macspleuchan was for a moment very nearly overcome, even to fainting; but, being a woman of superior strength of character, she soon rallied, and immediately addressed herself to the necessity of warding off any sudden and violent shock from Lady Cecilia, especially with reference to her delicate state of health. It was absolutely necessary, however, that her Ladyship should be promptly apprised of the painful occurrence, lest an infinitely greater shock should be inflicted on her by the earl's arrival. Gently and gradually as Miss Macspleuchan broke the intelligence to Lady Cecilia, it occasioned her falling into a swoon--for it will be borne in mind that her nerves had been before sufficiently shaken. On recovering, she requested Mr. Gammon to be sent for, and with considerable agitation inquired into the occasion and manner of the earl's illness. As soon as he had mentioned that it was a paragraph in the day's paper that first occasioned in the earl the agitation which had induced such serious consequences----

"What! in the papers already? Is it about that wretch t.i.tmouse?" she inquired with a languid air of disgust.

"No, indeed, Lady Cecilia, Mr. t.i.tmouse has nothing to do with it,"

replied Gammon, with a slight inward spasm; and, just as he had succeeded in giving her to understand the cause to which he chose to refer the earl's illness, carriage-wheels were heard, followed in a second or two by a tremendous thundering at the door, which made even Gammon almost start from his chair, and threw Lady Cecilia into a second swoon. It was providential, perhaps, that it had that effect; for had she gone to the windows, and seen her insensible father, with care and difficulty, lifted out of his carriage--his shirt-collar, and a white neck-handkerchief, thrown round his shoulders, partially crimsoned; and in that way, amid a little crowd which had suddenly gathered round, carried into the house, and borne up-stairs to his bed-chamber--it might have had a very serious effect, indeed, upon her Ladyship. Gammon stepped for an instant to the window--he saw the poor old peer in the state I have described, and the sight blanched his cheeks. Leaving her Ladyship in the hands of Miss Macspleuchan, and her attendants, he followed into the earl's bedroom; and was a little relieved, some quarter of an hour afterwards, at finding, that, though the earl was much exhausted with the fatigue of removal, he was in a much more satisfactory state than could have been antic.i.p.ated. As his Lordship's own physician (who had been summoned instantly on the earl's arrival home) intimated that a little repose was essential to his Lordship, and that no one should remain in the room whose services were not indispensable, Gammon took his departure, after an anxious inquiry as to Lady Cecilia--intending to return before night, personally to ascertain the state of the earl and her Ladyship.

A mighty sigh escaped from the oppressed bosom of Gammon, as soon as, having quitted the house, he found himself in the street alone. He walked for some minutes straight on, irresolute as to whether he should direct his steps--to his own chambers, to the office in Hatton Garden, or to Mr. t.i.tmouse's residence in Park Lane. At length he determined on returning, in the first instance, to his own chambers, and bent his steps accordingly; his mind so absorbed in thought, that he scarcely saw any one he met or pa.s.sed. _Here_ was a state of things, thought he, which he had brought about! And what must be his own course now? For a moment or two he was in a state of feeling which we may compare to that of a person who, with ignorant curiosity, has set into motion the machinery of some prodigious engine, which it required but a touch to effect--and then stands suddenly paralyzed--bewildered--confounded at the complicated movements going on all around him, and perhaps the alarming noises accompanying them--not daring to move a hair's-breadth in any direction for fear of destruction. He soon, however, recovered himself, and began very seriously to contemplate the perilous position in which he now found himself placed.

Here was Lord Dreddlington, in the first place, involved to a most alarming extent of liability in respect of his connection with one of the bubble companies, into an alliance with which it was Gammon alone who had seduced him. But he quickly lost sight of that, as a very light matter compared with what had subsequently happened, and the prodigious consequences to which it might possibly lead--and that, too, immediately.

This crisis had been precipitated by an accident--an occurrence which he felt that no man could have foreseen or calculated upon. Certainly it might all be traced to his own oversight in leaving the conveyance of his rent-charge--so all-important a doc.u.ment--upon his table, though for only a minute or two's absence; for he had not quitted his chambers more than five minutes before he had re-entered them, finding the Earl of Dreddlington there--of all persons in the world the very last whom Gammon would have wished to be aware of the existence of such an instrument. Who could have imagined--calculated on such an occurrence?

Never before had the earl visited him at his own private residence; and to have come just precisely at the very moment--and yet, thought Gammon, almost starting back a step or two--when one came to think of it--what was more likely than that, on seeing the paragraph in the morning paper, his Lordship should have done the very thing he had, and driven down to Mr. Gammon for an explanation? Bah! thought Mr. Gammon, and stamped his foot on the pavement.

[Ay, Satan, it _was_ a very slippery trick indeed, which you had played this acute friend of yours.]

"But the thing is done; and what am I now to do? What can I do? First of all, there's t.i.tmouse--where is that little miscreant at this moment?

Will he follow his wife to Grosvenor Square? Will the earl have recovered, before I can see t.i.tmouse, sufficiently to recollect what has happened? Will they allow him to be admitted into the sick-chamber?

Suppose his presence should remind the earl of what he has this day heard? Suppose he should recover his senses--what course will he take?

Will he acquaint his daughter that she is married to a vulgar b.a.s.t.a.r.d--oh, frightful!--she and he the two proudest persons, perhaps, living! Will they spurn him from them with loathing and horror?--expose the little impostor to the world?--and take G.o.d knows what steps against _me_, for the share I have had in the matter?--Oh, impossible!--inconceivable! They can never blazon their own degradation to the world! Or will Lord Dreddlington have discretion and self-command sufficient to keep the blighting secret to himself? Will he rest satisfied with my statement, or insist on conclusive proof and corroboration? Will he call for vouchers--ah!" here he ground his teeth together, for he recollected the trick which t.i.tmouse had played him in destroying the precious doc.u.ments already spoken of. "If the little wretch do not hear of what has happened from any one else, shall I tell him that I have communicated his secret to Lord Dreddlington? Fancy him and his wife meeting after they know all!--or him and the earl! Suppose the earl should _die_--and without having disclosed this secret to any one? Oh, oh! what a G.o.dsend would that be! All straight then, to the end of the chapter!--How near it was this morning!--If I had but suffered those two b.o.o.bies to wrangle together till it was too late!"--A _little_ color came into Mr. Gammon's cheek at this point--as if he felt that perhaps he was then going a trifle too far in entertaining such very--decisive--wishes and regrets: still he could not dismiss the reflection; nay, what was more probable than that so desperate a shock, suffered by a man of his advanced years, might be only the precursor of a second and fatal fit of apoplexy?--Dr. Bailey had expressed some fears of that sort to-day, recollected Gammon!

If Mr. Gammon had seen the watchful eyes at that moment settled upon him, by two persons who were approaching him, and who pa.s.sed him un.o.bserved; and could have dreamed of the errand which had brought those two persons into that part of the town--it might have set his busy brain upon quite a new track of hara.s.sing conjecture and apprehension. But he was far too intently occupied with his thoughts to notice any one, as he walked slowly down Holborn; and some five minutes afterwards, having got to within a hundred yards of Saffron Hill, he was startled out of his meditations by hearing a voice calling out his name--and looking towards the middle of the street, whence the sound came, beheld Mr.

t.i.tmouse, beckoning to him eagerly, out of a hackney-coach, which was slowly driving up Holborn, and at t.i.tmouse's bidding drew up to the curb-stone.

"Oh--I say! Mr. Gammon!--'pon my life--_here's_ a precious mess!--Such a devil of a row!"--commenced t.i.tmouse, alarmedly, speaking in a low voice through the coach window.

"What, sir?" inquired Gammon, sternly.

"Why, eh? heard of it? Lady Cicely"----

"I _have_ heard of it, sir," replied Gammon, gloomily--"and I have, in my turn, something of far greater consequence to tell you.--Let the coachman turn back and drive you to my chambers, where I will meet you in a quarter of an hour's time."

"Oh Lord! Won't you get in and tell me _now_?--Do, Mr. Gam"----

"No, sir!" replied Gammon, almost fiercely, and walked away, leaving t.i.tmouse in a pretty fright.

"Now, shall I tell him, or not?" thought Gammon: and after some minutes'

anxious consideration, determined upon doing so--and on threatening him, that if he did not change his courses, so far as money went, he--Gammon--would instantly blast him, by exposure of his real character and circ.u.mstances to the whole world. What might be the actual extent of his embarra.s.sments, Gammon knew not, nor was he aware of the fact, that t.i.tmouse was at that moment getting into the hands of swindling money-lenders. In point of dress and manners, he was the same that he had ever been, since fortune had given him the means of dressing according to his fancy, and the fashion; but any one looking at his face, could see in the slightly bloodshot eye, its jaded expression, and the puffy appearance of his face, the results of systematic excess and debauchery. When Gammon joined him at his chambers, and told him the events of the day, t.i.tmouse exhibited affright, that to any other beholder than one so troubled as Gammon, would have appeared ludicrous; but as that gentleman's object was to subdue and terrify his companion into an implicit submission to his will, he dismissed him for the day, simply enjoining him to keep away from Grosvenor Square and Park Lane till an early hour in the ensuing morning--by which time events, which might have happened in the interval, might determine the course which Gammon should dictate to t.i.tmouse. At that time Gammon was strongly inclined to insist on t.i.tmouse's going to the Continent for a little while, to be out of harm's way; but, in fact, he felt dreadfully embarra.s.sed to know how to dispose of t.i.tmouse--regarding him with feelings somewhat, perhaps, akin to those with which Frankenstein beheld his monster.

CHAPTER VIII.

But to return to Lord Dreddlington. The remedies resorted to so speedily after his seizure at Mr. Gammon's chambers, had most materially counteracted the effects of the terrible shock which he had sustained, and which, but for such interference, would in all probability have proved fatal in its consequences. Shortly after his removal to his own house, he sank into tranquil and safe sleep, which continued, with a few interruptions, for several hours--during which his brain recovered itself, in a considerable measure, from the sudden and temporary pressure which it had experienced. Towards seven o'clock in the evening, there were sitting, on one side of the bed Miss Macspleuchan, and on the other the Lady Cecilia--who also had rallied from the shock which she had sustained, and now, occasionally shedding tears, sat gazing in melancholy silence at the countenance of her father. She was certainly a miserable young woman,--was Lady Cecilia,--ignorant though she might be of the real extent of disaster consequent upon her alliance with t.i.tmouse, whom she had long hated and despised, on all occasions avoiding his company. Their almost total estrangement was quite notorious in society!

His Lordship's physician had quitted the chamber for a few minutes, to make arrangements for continuing with him during the night; and neither Miss Macspleuchan nor Lady Cecilia had spoken for some time. At length the earl, who had become rather restless, faintly muttered at intervals to himself the words--

"Bubble--villain--Blackwall"----