The International Monthly, Volume 2, No. 1, December, 1850Various
History
The International Monthly, Volume 2, No. 1, December, 1850
Various
Art, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- History -- Periodicals
"None to-day, Mrs. Walkingham; better luck next time!" answered the
functionary, as he trotted past. Mary, disappointed was turning in,
resolving that night to write and upbraid her husband for causing her so
much uneasiness, when she heard the horn that announced the approach of
the London coach, and she stopped to see it pass; for there were
pleasant memories connected with that coach: it was the occasion of her
first acquaintance with Tracy--so had the driver sounded his horn, which
she, absorbed in her troubles, had not heard; so had he cracked his
whip; so had the wheels rattled over the stones; and so had the idle
children in the street run hooting and hallooing after it; but not so
had it dashed up to her door and stopped. It cannot be!--yes, it
is--Tracy himself, in a drab great-coat and crape round his hat, jumping
down from behind! The guard throws him a large portmanteau, and a paper
parcel containing a new gown for Mary and a frock for the boy; and in a
moment more they are in the little back parlor in each other's arms.
Major D'Arcy was dead, and Tracy had returned to his wife to part no
more--so we will shut the door, and leave them to their happiness, while
we take a peep at Mr. Jonas Aldridge.
We left him writhing under the painful discovery that the rightful heir
of the property he was enjoying, at least so far as his uncle's
intentions were concerned, was not only in existence, but was actually
the husband of Lane's daughter; and although he sometimes hoped the
fatal paper had been destroyed, since he could in no other way account
for its non-production, still the galling apprehension that it might
some day find its way to light was ever a thorn in his pillow; and the
natural consequence of this irritating annoyance was, that while he
hated both Tracy and his wife, he kept a vigilant eye on their
proceedings, and had a restless curiosity about all that concerned them.
He would have been not only glad to eject them from the house they
occupied, and even to drive them out of the town altogether, but he had
a vague fear of openly meddling with them; so that the departure of the
regiment, and its being subsequently ordered abroad, afforded him the
highest satisfaction; in proportion to which was his vexation at Tracy's
release, and ultimate return as a free man, all which particulars he
extracted from Mr. Reynolds as regularly as the payment of the quarter's
rent.
"And what does he mean to do now?" inquired Jonas.
"To settle here, I fancy," returned Mr. Reynolds. "They seem to be doing
very well in the little shop; and I believe they have some thoughts of
extending their business."
This was extremely unpleasant intelligence, and the more so, that it was
not easy to discover any means of defeating these arrangements; for as
Mr. Jonas justly observed, as he soliloquized on the subject, "In this
cursed country there is no getting rid of such a fellow!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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