CHAPTER IX.
THE LEGACY.--A NEW DEFORMITY IN SAVILLE.--THE NATURE OF WORLDLY
LIAISONS.--GODOLPHIN LEAVES ENGLAND.
But then, it is not always a sustainer of the stage delusion to be
enamoured of an actress: it takes us too much behind the scenes.
Godolphin felt this so strongly that he liked those plays least in which
Fanny performed. Off the stage her character had so little romance, that
he could not deceive himself into the romance of her character before the
lamps. Luckily, however, Fanny did not attempt Shakspeare. She was
inimitable in vaudeville, in farce, and in the lighter comedy; but she had
prudently abandoned tragedy in deserting the barn. She was a girl of much
talent and quickness, and discovered exactly the paths in which her vanity
could walk without being wounded. And there was a simplicity, a
frankness, about her manner, that made her a most agreeable companion.
The attachment between her and Godolphin was not very violent; it was a
silken tie, which opportunity could knit and snap a hundred times over
without doing much wrong to the hearts it so lightly united. Over
Godolphin the attachment itself had no influence, while the effects of the
attachment had an influence so great.
One night, after an absence from town of two or three days Godolphin
returned home from the theatre, and found among the letters waiting his
arrival one from his father. It was edged with black; the seal, too, was
black. Godolphin's heart misgave him: tremblingly he opened it, and read
as follows:
"DEAR PERCY,
"I have news for you, which I do not know whether I should call good or
bad. On the one hand, your cousin, that old oddity, Harry Johnstone, is
dead, and has left you, out of his immense fortune, the poor sum of twenty
thousand pounds. But mark! on condition that you leave the Guards, and
either reside with me, or at least leave London, till your majority is
attained. If you refuse these conditions you lose the legacy. It is
rather strange that this curious character should take such pains with
your morals, and yet not leave _me_ a single shilling. But justice is out
of fashion nowadays; your showy virtues only are the rage. I beg, if you
choose to come down here, that you will get me twelve yards of
house-flannel; I inclose a pattern of the quality. Snugg, in Oxford
Street, near Tottenham Court Road, is my man. It is certainly a handsome
thing in old Johnstone: but so odd to omit me. How did you get acquainted
witk him? The twenty thousand pounds will, however, do much for the poor
property. Pray take care of it, Percy,--pray do.
"I have had a touch of the gout, for the first time. I have been too
luxurious: by proper abstinence, I trust to bring it down. Compliments
to that smooth rogue, Saville.
"Your affectionate, A. G.
"P. S.--Discharged Old Sally for flirting with the butcher's boy:
flirtations of that sort make meat weigh much heavier. Bess is my only
she-helpmate now, besides the old creature who shows the ruins: so much
the better. What an eccentric creature that Johnstone was! I hate
eccentric people."
The letter fell from Percy's hands. And this, then, was the issue of his
single interview with the poor old man! It was events like these, wayward
and strange (events which chequered his whole life), that, secretly to
himself, tinged Godolphin's character with superstition. He afterwards
dealt con amore with fatalities and influences.
You may be sure that he did not sleep much that night. Early the next
morning he sought Saville, and imparted to him the intelligence he had
received.
"Droll enough!" said Saville, languidly, and more than a little
displeased at this generosity to Godolphin from another; for, like all
small-hearted persons, he was jealous; "droll enough! Hem! and you never
knew him but once, and then he abused me! I wonder at that; I was very
obliging to his vulgar son."
"What! he had a son, then?"
"Some two-legged creature of that sort, raw and bony, dropped into London,
like a ptarmigan, wild, and scared out of his wits. Old Johnstone was in
the country, taking care of his wife, who had lost the use of her limbs
ever since she had been married;--caught a violent--husband--the first day
of wedlock! The boy, sole son and heir, came up to town at the age of
discretion; got introduced to me; I patronised him; brought him into a
decent degree of fashion; played a few games at cards with him; won some
money; would not win any more; advised him to leave off; too young to
play; neglected my advice; went on, and, d--n the fellow! if he did not
cut his throat one morning; and the father, to my astonishment, laid the
blame upon me!"
Godolphin stood appalled in speechless disgust. He never loved Saville
from that hour.
"In fact," resumed Saville, carelessly, "he had lost very considerably.
His father was a stern, hard man, and the poor boy was frightened at the
thought of his displeasure. I suppose Monsieur Papa imagined me a sort of
moral ogre, eating up all the little youths that fall in my way! since he
leaves you twenty thousand pounds on condition that you take care of
yourself and shun the castle I live in. Well, well! 'tis all very
flattering! And where will you go? To Spain?"
This story affected Percy sensibly. He regretted deeply that he had not
sought out the bereaved father, and been of some comfort to his later
hours. He appreciated all that warmth of sympathy, that delicacy of
heart, which had made the old man compassionate his young relation's
unfriended lot, and couple his gift with a condition, likely perhaps, to
limit Percy's desires to the independence thus bestowed, and certain to
remove his more tender years from a scene of constant contagion. Thus
melancholy and thoughtful, Godolphin repaired to the house of the now
famous, the now admired Miss Millinger.
Fanny received the good news of his fortune with a smile, and the bad news
of his departure from England with a tear. There are some attachments, of
which we so easily sound the depth, that the one never thinks of exacting
from the other the sacrifices that seemed inevitable to more earnest
affections. Fanny never dreamed of leaving her theatrical career, and
accompanying Godolphin; Godolphin never dreamed of demanding it. These
are the connections of the great world: my good reader, learn the great
world as you look at them!
All was soon settled. Godolphin was easily disembarrassed of his
commission. Six hundred a year from his fortune was allowed him during
his minority. He insisted on sharing this allowance with his father; the
moiety left to himself was quite sufficient for all that a man so young
could require. At the age of little more than seventeen, but with a
character which premature independence had half formed, and also half
enervated, the young Godolphin saw the shores of England recede before
him, and felt himself alone in the universe--the lord of his own fate.
