The Disowned — Volume 03Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
General
The Disowned — Volume 03
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
English fiction -- 19th century
The park was crowded to excess; our loungers were joined by Lord St.
George. His lordship was a stanch Tory. He could not endure Wilkes,
liberty, or general education. He launched out against the
enlightenment of domestics. [The ancestors of our present footmen, if
we may believe Sir William Temple, seem to have been to the full as
intellectual as their descendants. "I have had," observes the
philosophic statesman, "several servants far gone in divinity, others
in poetry; have known, in the families of some friends; a keeper deep
in the Rosicrucian mysteries and a laundress firm in those of
Epicurus."]
"What has made you so bitter?" said Sir Christopher.
"My valet," cried Lord St. George,--"he has invented a new toasting-
fork, is going to take out a patent, make his fortune, and leave me;
that's what I call ingratitude, Sir Christopher; for I ordered his
wages to be raised five pounds but last year."
"It was very ungrateful," said the ironical Clarence.
"Very!" reiterated the good-hearted Sir Christopher.
"You cannot recommend me a valet, Findlater," renewed his lordship, "a
good, honest, sensible fellow, who can neither read nor write?"
"N-o-o,--that is to say, yes! I can; my old servant Collard is out of
place, and is as ignorant as--as--"
"I--or you are?" said Lord St. George, with a laugh.
"Precisely," replied the baronet.
"Well, then, I take your recommendation: send him to me to-morrow at
twelve."
"I will," said Sir Christopher.
"My dear Findlater," cried Clarence, when Lord St. George was gone,
"did you not tell me, some time ago, that Collard was a great rascal,
and very intimate with Jefferies? and now you recommend him to Lord
St. George!"
"Hush, hush, hush!" said the baronet; "he was a great rogue to be
sure: but, poor fellow, he came to me yesterday with tears in his
eyes, and said he should starve if I would not give him a character;
so what could I do?"
"At least, tell Lord St. George the truth," observed Clarence.
"But then Lord St. George would not take him!" rejoined the good-
hearted Sir Christopher, with forcible naivete. "No, no, Linden, we
must not be so hard-hearted; we must forgive and forget;" and so
saying, the baronet threw out his chest, with the conscious exultation
of a man who has uttered a noble sentiment. The moral of this little
history is that Lord St. George, having been pillaged "through thick
and thin," as the proverb has it, for two years, at last missed a gold
watch, and Monsieur Collard finished his career as his exemplary
tutor, Mr. John Jefferies, had done before him. Ah! what a fine thing
it is to have a good heart!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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