CHAPTER LXXI.
Let us go in,
And charge us there upon inter'gatories.--SHAKSPEARE.
"But did not any one recognize you in your change of name?" said the
old foster-mother, looking fondly upon Clarence, as he sat the next
morning by her side. "How could any one forget so winsome a face who
had once seen it?"
"You don't remember," said Clarence (as we will yet continue to call
our hero), smiling, "that your husband had forgotten it."
"Ay, sir," cried the piqued steward, "but that was because you wore
your hat slouched over your eyes: if you had taken off that, I should
have known you directly."
"However that may be," said Clarence, unwilling to dwell longer on an
occurrence which he saw hurt the feelings of the kind Mr. Wardour, "it
is very easy to explain how I preserved my incognito. You recollect
that my father never suffered me to mix with my mother's guests: so
that I had no chance of their remembering me, especially as during the
last three years and a half no stranger had ever entered our walls.
Add to this that I was in the very time of life in which a few years
work the greatest change, and on going to London I was thrown entirely
among people who could never have seen me before. Fortunately for me,
I became acquainted with my mother's uncle; circumstances subsequently
led me to disclose my birth to him, upon a promise that he would never
call me by any other name than that which I had assumed. He, who was
the best, the kindest, the most generous of human beings, took a
liking to me. He insisted not only upon his relationship to me, as my
grand-uncle, but upon the justice of repairing to me the wrongs his
unhappy niece had caused me. The delicacy of his kindness, the ties
of blood, and an accident which had enabled me to be of some service
to him, all prevented my resisting the weight of obligation with which
he afterwards oppressed me. He procured me an appointment abroad: I
remained there four years. When I returned, I entered, it is true,
into very general society: but four years had, as you may perceive,
altered me greatly; and even had there previously existed any chance
of my being recognized, that alteration would probably have been
sufficient to insure my secret."
"But your brother,--my present lord,--did you never meet him, sir?"
"Often, my good mother; but you remember that I was little more than
six years old when he left England, and when he next saw me I was
about two and twenty: it would have been next to a miracle, or, at
least, would have required the eyes of love like yours, to have
recalled me to memory after such an absence."
"Well--to turn to my story--I succeeded, partly as his nearest
relation, but principally from an affection dearer than blood, to the
fortune of my grand-uncle, Mr. Talbot. Fate prospered with me: I rose
in the world's esteem and honour, and soon became prouder of my
borrowed appellation than of all the titles of my lordly line.
Circumstances occurring within the last week which it will be needless
to relate, but which may have the greatest influence over my future
life, made it necessary to do what I had once resolved I would never
do,--prove my identity and origin. Accordingly I came here to seek
you."
"But why did not my honoured young master disclose himself last
night?" asked the steward.
"I might say," answered Clarence, "because I anticipated great
pleasure in a surprise; but I had another reason; it was this: I had
heard of my poor father's death, and I was painfully anxious to learn
if at the last he had testified any relenting towards me, and yet more
so to ascertain the manner of my unfortunate mother's fate. Both
abroad and in England, I had sought tidings of her everywhere, but in
vain; in mentioning my mother's retiring into a convent, you have
explained the reason why my efforts were so fruitless. With these two
objects in view, I thought myself more likely to learn the whole truth
as a stranger than in my proper person; for in the latter case, I
deemed it probable that your delicacy and kindness might tempt you to
conceal whatever was calculated to wound my feelings, and to
exaggerate anything that might tend to flatter or to soothe them.
Thank Heaven, I now learn that I have a right to the name my boyhood
bore, and that my birth is not branded with the foulest of private
crimes, and that in death my father's heart yearned to his too hasty
but repentant son. Enough of this: I have now only to request you, my
friend, to accompany me, before daybreak on Wednesday morning, to a
place several miles hence. Your presence there will be necessary to
substantiate the proof for which I came hither."
"With all my heart, sir," cried the honest steward; "and after
Wednesday you will, I trust, assume your rightful name."
"Certainly," replied Clarence; "since I am no longer 'the Disowned.'"
Leaving Clarence now for a brief while to renew his acquaintance with
the scenes of his childhood, and to offer the tribute of his filial
tears to the ashes of a father whose injustice had been but "the
stinging of a heart the world had stung," we return to some old
acquaintances in the various conduct of our drama.
