England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; Nobility -- Fiction
'He is safe and well taken care of there, no doubt,' said Frank. 'I have
no fears now. There are much worse places than the nurseries of those
great unions.' Then, as he read on, 'There, Emma, your boy has acted
nobly. He has fully retrieved what his sister has done. Be happy over
that, dear sister, and be thankful with me. My Mary, my Mary, will the
joy be too much? Oh, my boy! How soon can I reach Liverpool? There,
you will like to read it. I must go and thank that good girl who found
him the means.'
He was gone, and found Rose in the act of reading her letter aloud (all
but certain bits, that made her falter as if the writing was bad) to her
parents and Mr. Deyncourt. And there, in full assembly, he found himself
at a loss for words. No one was so much master of the situation as Mr.
Rollstone.
'My Lord, I have the honour to congratulate your Lordship,' he said, with
a magnificence only marred by his difficulty in rising.
'I--I,' stammered his Lordship, with an unexpected choke in his throat,
'have to congratulate you, Mr. Rollstone, on having such a daughter.'
Then, grasping Rose's hand as in a vice, 'Miss Rollstone, what we owe to
you--is past expression.'
'I am sure she is very happy, my Lord, to have been of service,' said her
mother, with a simper.
Mr. Deyncourt, to relieve the tension of feeling, said, 'Miss Rollstone
was reading the letter about Mr. Morton's adventures. Would you not like
her to begin again?'
And while Rose obeyed, Lord Northmoor was able to extract his cheque-book
from his pocket-book, and as Rose paused, to say--
'I have a debt of which my nephew reminds me. Miss Rollstone furnished
the means for his journey. Will you let me fill this up? This can be
repaid,' he added, with a smile, 'the rest, never.'
Mr. Rollstone might have been distressed at the venture on which his
daughter's savings had gone; but he was perfectly happy and triumphant
now, except that, even more than Mrs. Morton, he suffered from the idea
of the Honourable Michael being exposed to the contamination of a
workhouse, and was shocked at his Lordship's thinking it would have been
worse for him to be with the Rattler. Then, hastily looking at his
watch, Lord Northmoor asked when the post went out, and hearing there was
but half an hour to spare, begged Mr. Deyncourt to let him lose no time
by giving him the wherewithal to write to his wife.
'She would miss a note and be uneasy,' he said. 'Yet I hardly know what
I dare tell her. Only not mourning paper!' he added, with an exultant
smile.
In the curate's room he wrote--
'DEAREST WIFE,--
'I have been out all day, and have only a moment to say that I am
quite well, and trust to have some most thankworthy news for you.
Don't be uneasy if you do not hear to-morrow.--Your own
'FRANK.'
There was still time to scribble--
'DEAR LADY ADELA,--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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