Arthur Mervyn; Or, Memoirs of the Year 1793 Read online

  CHAPTER X.

  "Having ascertained my purpose, it was requisite to search out the meansby which I might effect it. These were not clearly or readily suggested.The more I contemplated my project, the more numerous and arduous itsdifficulties appeared. I had no associates in my undertaking. A dueregard to my safety, and the unextinguished sense of honour, deterred mefrom seeking auxiliaries and co-agents. The esteem of mankind was thespring of all my activity, the parent of all my virtue and all my vice.To preserve this, it was necessary that my guilty projects should haveneither witness nor partaker.

  "I quickly discovered that to execute this scheme demanded time,application, and money, none of which my present situation would permitme to devote to it. At first it appeared that an attainable degree ofskill and circumspection would enable me to arrive, by means ofcounterfeit bills, to the pinnacle of affluence and honour. My error wasdetected by a closer scrutiny, and I finally saw nothing in this pathbut enormous perils and insurmountable impediments.

  "Yet what alternative was offered me? To maintain myself by the labourof my hands, to perform any toilsome or prescribed task, wasincompatible with my nature. My habits debarred me from countryoccupations. My pride regarded as vile and ignominious drudgery anyemployment which the town could afford. Meanwhile, my wants were asurgent as ever, and my funds were exhausted.

  "There are few, perhaps, whose external situation resembled mine, whowould have found in it any thing but incitements to industry andinvention. A thousand methods of subsistence, honest but laborious,were at my command, but to these I entertained an irreconcilableaversion. Ease and the respect attendant upon opulence I was willing topurchase at the price of ever-wakeful suspicion and eternal remorse;but, even at this price, the purchase was impossible.

  "The desperateness of my condition became hourly more apparent. Thefurther I extended my view, the darker grew the clouds which hung overfuturity. Anguish and infamy appeared to be the inseparable conditionsof my existence. There was one mode of evading the evils that impended.To free myself from self-upbraiding and to shun the persecutions of myfortune was possible only by shaking off life itself.

  "One evening, as I traversed the bank of the creek, these dismalmeditations were uncommonly intense. They at length terminated in aresolution to throw myself into the stream. The first impulse was torush instantly to my death; but the remembrance of papers, lying at mylodgings, which might unfold more than I desired to the curiosity ofsurvivors, induced me to postpone this catastrophe till the nextmorning.

  "My purpose being formed, I found my heart lightened of its usualweight. By you it will be thought strange, but it is nevertheless true,that I derived from this new prospect not only tranquillity butcheerfulness. I hastened home. As soon as I entered, my landlordinformed me that a person had been searching for me in my absence. Thiswas an unexampled incident, and foreboded me no good. I was stronglypersuaded that my visitant had been led hither not by friendly buthostile purposes. This persuasion was confirmed by the description ofthe stranger's guise and demeanour given by my landlord. My fearsinstantly recognised the image of Watson, the man by whom I had been soeminently benefited, and whose kindness I had compensated by the ruin ofhis sister and the confusion of his family.

  "An interview with this man was less to be endured than to look upon theface of an avenging deity. I was determined to avoid this interview,and, for this end, to execute my fatal purpose within the hour. Mypapers were collected with a tremulous hand, and consigned to theflames. I then bade my landlord inform all visitants that I should notreturn till the next day, and once more hastened towards the river.

  "My way led past the inn where one of the stages from Baltimore wasaccustomed to stop. I was not unaware that Watson had possibly beenbrought in the coach which had recently arrived, and which now stoodbefore the door of the inn. The danger of my being descried orencountered by him as I passed did not fail to occur. This was to beeluded by deviating from the main street.

  "Scarcely had I turned a corner for this purpose when I was accosted bya young man whom I knew to be an inhabitant of the town, but with whom Ihad hitherto had no intercourse but what consisted in a transientsalutation. He apologized for the liberty of addressing me, and, at thesame time, inquired if I understood the French language.

  "Being answered in the affirmative, he proceeded to tell me that in thestage, just arrived, had come a passenger, a youth who appeared to beFrench, who was wholly unacquainted with our language, and who had beenseized with a violent disease.

  "My informant had felt compassion for the forlorn condition of thestranger, and had just been seeking me at my lodgings, in hope that myknowledge of French would enable me to converse with the sick man, andobtain from him a knowledge of his situation and views.

  "The apprehensions I had precipitately formed were thus removed, and Ireadily consented to perform this service. The youth was, indeed, in adeplorable condition. Besides the pains of his disease, he wasoverpowered by dejection. The innkeeper was extremely anxious for theremoval of his guest. He was by no means willing to sustain the troubleand expense of a sick or a dying man, for which it was scarcely probablethat he should ever be reimbursed. The traveller had no baggage, and hisdress betokened the pressure of many wants.

  "My compassion for this stranger was powerfully awakened. I was inpossession of a suitable apartment, for which I had no power to pay therent that was accruing; but my inability in this respect was unknown,and I might enjoy my lodgings unmolested for some weeks. The fate ofthis youth would be speedily decided, and I should be left at liberty toexecute my first intentions before my embarrassments should be visiblyincreased.

  "After a moment's pause, I conducted the stranger to my home, placed himin my own bed, and became his nurse. His malady was such as is known inthe tropical islands by the name of the yellow or malignant fever, andthe physician who was called speedily pronounced his case desperate.

  "It was my duty to warn him of the death that was hastening, and topromise the fulfilment of any of his wishes not inconsistent with mypresent situation. He received my intelligence with fortitude, andappeared anxious to communicate some information respecting his ownstate. His pangs and his weakness scarcely allowed him to beintelligible. From his feeble efforts and broken narrative I collectedthus much concerning his family and fortune.

  "His father's name was Vincentio Lodi. From a merchant at Leghorn, hehad changed himself into a planter in the island of Guadaloupe. His sonhad been sent, at an early age, for the benefits of education, toEurope. The young Vincentio was, at length, informed by his father,that, being weary of his present mode of existence, he had determined tosell his property and transport himself to the United States. The sonwas directed to hasten home, that he might embark, with his father, onthis voyage.

  "The summons was cheerfully obeyed. The youth, on his arrival at theisland, found preparation making for the funeral of his father. Itappeared that the elder Lodi had flattered one of his slaves with theprospect of his freedom, but had, nevertheless, included this slave inthe sale that he had made of his estate. Actuated by revenge, the slaveassassinated Lodi in the open street, and resigned himself, without astruggle, to the punishment which the law had provided for such a deed.

  "The property had been recently transferred, and the price was nowpresented to young Vincentio by the purchaser. He was by no meansinclined to adopt his father's project, and was impatient to return withhis inheritance to France. Before this could be done, the conduct of hisfather had rendered a voyage to the Continent indispensable.

  "Lodi had a daughter, whom, a few weeks previous to his death, he hadintrusted to an American captain for whom he had contracted afriendship. The vessel was bound to Philadelphia; but the conduct shewas to pursue, and the abode she was to select, on her arrival, wereknown only to the father, whose untimely death involved the son inconsiderable uncertainty with regard to his sister's fate. His anxietyon this account induced him to seize the first conveyance that offered.In a short
time he landed at Baltimore.

  "As soon as he recovered from the fatigues of his voyage, he prepared togo to Philadelphia. Thither his baggage was immediately sent under theprotection of a passenger and countryman. His money consisted inPortuguese gold, which, in pursuance of advice, he had changed intobank-notes. He besought me, in pathetic terms, to search out his sister,whose youth and poverty, and ignorance of the language and manners ofthe country, might expose her to innumerable hardships. At the sametime, he put a pocket-book and small volume into my hand, indicating, byhis countenance and gestures, his desire that I would deliver them tohis sister.

  "His obsequies being decently performed, I had leisure to reflect uponthe change in my condition which this incident had produced. In thepocket-book were found bills to the amount of twenty thousand dollars.The volume proved to be a manuscript, written by the elder Lodi inItalian, and contained memoirs of the ducal house of Visconti, from whomthe writer believed himself to have lineally descended.

  "Thus had I arrived, by an avenue so much beyond my foresight, at thepossession of wealth. The evil which impelled me to the brink ofsuicide, and which was the source, though not of all, yet of the largerportion, of my anguish, was now removed. What claims to honour or toease were consequent on riches were, by an extraordinary fortune, nowconferred upon me.

  "Such, for a time, were my new-born but transitory raptures. I forgotthat this money was not mine. That it had been received, under everysanction of fidelity, for another's use. To retain it was equivalent torobbery. The sister of the deceased was the rightful claimant; it was myduty to search her out, and perform my tacit but sacred obligations, byputting the whole into her possession.

  "This conclusion was too adverse to my wishes not to be strenuouslycombated. I asked what it was that gave man the power of ascertainingthe successor to his property. During his life, he might transfer theactual possession; but, if vacant at his death, he into whose handsaccident should cast it was the genuine proprietor. It is true, that thelaw had sometimes otherwise decreed, but in law there was no validityfurther than it was able, by investigation and punishment, to enforceits decrees: but would the law extort this money from me?

  "It was rather by gesture than by words that the will of Lodi wasimparted. It was the topic of remote inferences and vague conjecturerather than of explicit and unerring declarations. Besides, if the ladywere found, would not prudence dictate the reservation of her fortune tobe administered by me, for her benefit? Of this her age and educationhad disqualified herself. It was sufficient for the maintenance of both.She would regard me as her benefactor and protector. By supplying allher wants and watching over her safety without apprizing her of themeans by which I shall be enabled to do this, I shall lay irresistibleclaims to her love and her gratitude.

  "Such were the sophistries by which reason was seduced and my integrityannihilated. I hastened away from my present abode. I easily traced thebaggage of the deceased to an inn, and gained possession of it. Itcontained nothing but clothes and books. I then instituted the mostdiligent search after the young lady. For a time, my exertions werefruitless.

  "Meanwhile, the possessor of this house thought proper to embark withhis family for Europe. The sum which he demanded for his furniture,though enormous, was precipitately paid by me. His servants werecontinued in their former stations, and in the day at which herelinquished the mansion, I entered on possession.

  "There was no difficulty in persuading the world that Welbeck was apersonage of opulence and rank. My birth and previous adventures it wasproper to conceal. The facility with which mankind are misled in theirestimate of characters, their proneness to multiply inferences andconjectures, will not be readily conceived by one destitute of myexperience. My sudden appearance on the stage, my stately reserve, mysplendid habitation, and my circumspect deportment, were sufficient toentitle me to homage. The artifices that were used to unveil the truth,and the guesses that were current respecting me, were adapted to gratifymy ruling passion.

  "I did not remit my diligence to discover the retreat of MademoiselleLodi. I found her, at length, in the family of a kinsman of the captainunder whose care she had come to America. Her situation was irksome andperilous. She had already experienced the evils of being protectorlessand indigent, and my seasonable interference snatched her from impendingand less supportable ills.

  "I could safely unfold all that I knew of her brother's history, exceptthe legacy which he had left. I ascribed the diligence with which I hadsought her to his death-bed injunctions, and prevailed upon her toaccept from me the treatment which she would have received from herbrother if he had continued to live, and if his power to benefit hadbeen equal to my own.

  "Though less can be said in praise of the understanding than of thesensibilities of this woman, she is one whom no one could refrain fromloving, though placed in situations far less favourable to thegeneration of that sentiment than mine. In habits of domestic andincessant intercourse, in the perpetual contemplation of featuresanimated by boundless gratitude and ineffable sympathies, it could notbe expected that either she or I should escape enchantment.

  "The poison was too sweet not to be swallowed with avidity by me. Toolate I remembered that I was already enslaved by inextricableobligations. It was easy to have hidden this impediment from the eyes ofmy companion, but here my integrity refused to yield. I can, indeed, layclaim to little merit on account of this forbearance. If there had beenno alternative between deceit and the frustration of my hopes, I shoulddoubtless have dissembled the truth with as little scruple on this as ona different occasion; but I could not be blind to the weakness of herwith whom I had to contend.