“I cannot but say,” observed Timothy,
“but that this is very fortunate. Had the
Major not persuaded you to borrow money, he never would
have won so large a sum. Had he lived he would
have squandered it away; but just in the nick of time
he is killed, and makes you his heir.”
“There is truth in your observation, Timothy;
but now you must go to Mr Emmanuel, that I may pay
him off. I will repay the L1000 lent me by Lord
Windermear into his banker’s, and then I must
execute one part of the poor Major’s will.
He left his diamond solitaire as a memento to his
lordship. Bring it to me, and I will call and
present it.”
A chapter full of morality,
which ends in a Jew refusing upwards of
L1000, proving the Millenium
to be nearly at hand.
This conversation took place the day after the funeral,
and, attired in deep mourning, I called upon his lordship,
and was admitted. His lordship had sent his carriage
to attend the funeral, and was also in mourning when
he received me. I executed my commission, and
after a long conversation with his lordship, in which
I confided to him the contents of the will, and the
amount of property of the deceased, I rose to take
my leave.
“Excuse me, Mr Newland,” said he, “but
what do you now propose to do? I confess I feel
a strong interest about you, and had wished that you
had come to me oftener without an invitation.
I perceive that you never will. Have you no intention
of following up any pursuit?”
“Yes, my lord, I intend to search after my father;
and I trust that, by husbanding my unexpected resources,
I shall now be able.”
“You have the credit, in the fashionable world,
of possessing a large fortune.”
“That is not my fault, my lord: it is through
Major Carbonnell’s mistake that the world is
deceived. Still I must acknowledge myself so far
participator, that I have never contradicted the report.”
“Meaning, I presume, by some good match, to
reap the advantage of the supposition.”
“Not so, my lord, I assure you. People
may deceive themselves, but I will not deceive them.”
“Nor undeceive them, Mr Newland?”
“Undeceive them I will not; nay, if I did make
the attempt, I should not be believed. They never
would believe it possible that I could have lived
so long with your relative, without having had a large
supply of money. They might believe that I had
run through my money, but not that I never had any.”
“There is a knowledge of the world in that remark,”
replied his lordship; “but I interrupted you,
so proceed.”
“I mean to observe, my lord, and you, by your
knowledge of my previous history, can best judge how
far I am warranted in saying so; that I have as yet
steered the middle course between that which is dishonest
and honest. If the world deceives itself, you
would say that, in strict honesty, I ought to undeceive
it. So I would, my lord, if it were not for my
peculiar situation; but at the same time I never will,
if possible, be guilty of direct deceit; that is to
say, I would not take advantage of my supposed wealth,
to marry a young person of large fortune. I would
state myself a beggar, and gain her affections as a
beggar. A woman can have little confidence in
a man who deceives her before marriage.”
