St. George and St. Michael, Volume 3MacDonald, George
History
St. George and St. Michael, Volume 3
MacDonald, George
Great Britain -- History -- Civil War, 1642-1649 -- Fiction
When they reached London, lord Worcester found himself, to his
surprise, in custody of the Black Rod, who, as now for some three
years Worcester House in the Strand had been used for a state-paper
office, conducted him to a house in Covent Garden, where he lodged
him in tolerable comfort and mild imprisonment. Parliament was still
jealous of Glamorgan and his Irish doings--as indeed well they might
be.
But his confinement was by no means so great a trial to him as his
indignant friends supposed; for, long willing to depart, he had at
length grown a little tired of life, feeling more and more the
oppression of growing years, of gout varied with asthma, and, worst
of all to the once active man, of his still increasing corpulence,
which last indeed, by his own confession, he found it hard to endure
with patience. The journey had been too much for him, and he began
to lead the life of an invalid.
There being no sufficient accommodation in the house for his family,
they were forced to content themselves with lodging as near him as
they could, and in these circumstances Dorothy, notwithstanding lady
Glamorgan's entreaties, would have returned home. But the marquis
was very unwilling she should leave him, and for his sake she
concluded to remain.
'I am not long for this world, Dorothy,' he said. 'Stay with me and
see the last of the old man. The wind of death has got inside my
tent, and will soon blow it out of sight.'
Lady Glamorgan's intention from the first had been to go to Ireland
to her husband as soon as she could get leave. This however she did
not obtain until the first of October--five weeks after her arrival
in London. She would gladly have carried Dorothy with her, but she
would not leave the marquis, who was now failing visibly. As her
ladyship's pass included thirty of her servants, Dorothy felt at
ease about her personal comforts, and her husband would soon supply
all else.
The ladies Elizabeth and Mary were in the same house with their
father; lady Anne and lord Charles were in the house of a relative
at no great distance, and visited him every day. Sir Toby Mathews
also, and Dr. Bayly, had found shelter in the neighbourhood, so that
his lordship never lacked company. But he was going to have other
company soon.
Gently he sank towards the grave, and as he sank his soul seemed to
retire farther within, vanishing on the way to the deeper life. They
thought he lost interest in life: it was but that the brightness
drew him from the glimmer. Every now and then, however, he would
come forth from his inner chamber, and standing in his open door
look out upon his friends, and tell them what he had seen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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