CHAPTER XXXVII
Sir Louis Leaves Greshamsbury
Janet had been sedulous in her attentions to Sir Louis, and had nottroubled her mistress; but she had not had an easy time of it. Herorders had been, that either she or Thomas should remain in the roomthe whole day, and those orders had been obeyed.
Immediately after breakfast, the baronet had inquired after his ownservant. "His confounded nose must be right by this time, I suppose?"
"It was very bad, Sir Louis," said the old woman, who imagined thatit might be difficult to induce Jonah to come into the house again.
"A man in such a place as his has no business to be laid up," saidthe master, with a whine. "I'll see and get a man who won't break hisnose."
Thomas was sent to the inn three or four times, but in vain. The manwas sitting up, well enough, in the tap-room; but the middle of hisface was covered with streaks of plaster, and he could not bringhimself to expose his wounds before his conqueror.
Sir Louis began by ordering the woman to bring him _chasse-cafe_. Sheoffered him coffee, as much as he would; but no _chasse_. "A glass ofport wine," she said, "at twelve o'clock, and another at three hadbeen ordered for him."
"I don't care a ---- for the orders," said Sir Louis; "send me myown man." The man was again sent for; but would not come. "There'sa bottle of that stuff that I take, in that portmanteau, in theleft-hand corner--just hand it to me."
But Janet was not to be done. She would give him no stuff, exceptwhat the doctor had ordered, till the doctor came back. The doctorwould then, no doubt, give him anything that was proper.
Sir Louis swore a good deal, and stormed as much as he could. Hedrank, however, his two glasses of wine, and he got no more. Once ortwice he essayed to get out of bed and dress; but, at every effort,he found that he could not do it without Joe: and there he was, stillunder the clothes when the doctor returned.
"I'll tell you what it is," said he, as soon as his guardian enteredthe room, "I'm not going to be made a prisoner of here."
"A prisoner! no, surely not."
"It seems very much like it at present. Your servant here--thatold woman--takes it upon her to say she'll do nothing without yourorders."
"Well; she's right there."
"Right! I don't know what you call right; but I won't stand it. Youare not going to make a child of me, Dr Thorne; so you need not thinkit."
And then there was a long quarrel between them, and but anindifferent reconciliation. The baronet said that he would go toBoxall Hill, and was vehement in his intention to do so because thedoctor opposed it. He had not, however, as yet ferreted out thesquire, or given a bit of his mind to Mr Gazebee, and it behoved himto do this before he took himself off to his own country mansion. Heended, therefore, by deciding to go on the next day but one.
"Let it be so, if you are well enough," said the doctor.
"Well enough!" said the other, with a sneer. "There's nothing to makeme ill that I know of. It certainly won't be drinking too much here."
On the next day, Sir Louis was in a different mood, and in one moredistressing for the doctor to bear. His compelled abstinence fromintemperate drinking had, no doubt, been good for him; but his mindhad so much sunk under the pain of the privation, that his state waspiteous to behold. He had cried for his servant, as a child criesfor its nurse, till at last the doctor, moved to pity, had himselfgone out and brought the man in from the public-house. But when hedid come, Joe was of but little service to his master, as he wasaltogether prevented from bringing him either wine or spirits; andwhen he searched for the liqueur-case, he found that even that hadbeen carried away.
"I believe you want me to die," he said, as the doctor, sittingby his bedside, was trying, for the hundredth time, to make himunderstand that he had but one chance of living.
The doctor was not the least irritated. It would have been as wise tobe irritated by the want of reason in a dog.
"I am doing what I can to save your life," he said calmly; "but, asyou said just now, I have no power over you. As long as you are ableto move and remain in my house, you certainly shall not have themeans of destroying yourself. You will be very wise to stay herefor a week or ten days: a week or ten days of healthy living might,perhaps, bring you round."
Sir Louis again declared that the doctor wished him to die, and spokeof sending for his attorney, Finnie, to come to Greshamsbury to lookafter him.
"Send for him if you choose," said the doctor. "His coming will costyou three or four pounds, but can do no other harm."
"And I will send for Fillgrave," threatened the baronet. "I'm notgoing to die here like a dog."
It was certainly hard upon Dr Thorne that he should be obliged toentertain such a guest in the house;--to entertain him, and fosterhim, and care for him, almost as though he were a son. But he had noalternative; he had accepted the charge from Sir Roger, and he mustgo through with it. His conscience, moreover, allowed him no rest inthis matter: it harassed him day and night, driving him on sometimesto great wretchedness. He could not love this incubus that was on hisshoulders; he could not do other than be very far from loving him. Ofwhat use or value was he to any one? What could the world make of himthat would be good, or he of the world? Was not an early death hiscertain fate? The earlier it might be, would it not be the better?
Were he to linger on yet for two years longer--and such a space oflife was possible for him--how great would be the mischief that hemight do; nay, certainly would do! Farewell then to all hopes forGreshamsbury, as far as Mary was concerned. Farewell then to thatdear scheme which lay deep in the doctor's heart, that hope that hemight, in his niece's name, give back to the son the lost property ofthe father. And might not one year--six months be as fatal. Frank,they all said, must marry money; and even he--he the doctor himself,much as he despised the idea for money's sake--even he could not butconfess that Frank, as the heir to an old, but grievously embarrassedproperty, had no right to marry, at his early age, a girl withouta shilling. Mary, his niece, his own child, would probably be theheiress of this immense wealth; but he could not tell this to Frank;no, nor to Frank's father while Sir Louis was yet alive. What, if byso doing he should achieve this marriage for his niece, and that thenSir Louis should live to dispose of his own? How then would he facethe anger of Lady Arabella?
"I will never hanker after a dead man's shoes, neither for myself norfor another," he had said to himself a hundred times; and as oftendid he accuse himself of doing so. One path, however, was plainlyopen before him. He would keep his peace as to the will; and woulduse such efforts as he might use for a son of his own loins topreserve the life that was so valueless. His wishes, his hopes,his thoughts, he could not control; but his conduct was at his owndisposal.
"I say, doctor, you don't really think that I'm going to die?" SirLouis said, when Dr Thorne again visited him.
"I don't think at all; I am sure you will kill yourself if youcontinue to live as you have lately done."
"But suppose I go all right for a while, and live--live just as youtell me, you know?"
"All of us are in God's hands, Sir Louis. By so doing you will, atany rate, give yourself the best chance."
"Best chance? Why, d----n, doctor! there are fellows have done tentimes worse than I; and they are not going to kick. Come, now, I knowyou are trying to frighten me; ain't you, now?"
"I am trying to do the best I can for you."
"It's very hard on a fellow like me; I have nobody to say a kind wordto me; no, not one." And Sir Louis, in his wretchedness, began toweep. "Come, doctor; if you'll put me once more on my legs, I'll letyou draw on the estate for five hundred pounds; by G----, I will."
The doctor went away to his dinner, and the baronet also had his inbed. He could not eat much, but he was allowed two glasses of wine,and also a little brandy in his coffee. This somewhat invigoratedhim, and when Dr Thorne again went to him, in the evening, he did notfind him so utterly prostrated in spirit. He had, indeed, made up hismind to a great resolve; and
thus unfolded his final scheme for hisown reformation:--
"Doctor," he began again, "I believe you are an honest fellow; I doindeed."
Dr Thorne could not but thank him for his good opinion.
"You ain't annoyed at what I said this morning, are you?"
The doctor had forgotten the particular annoyance to which Sir Louisalluded; and informed him that his mind might be at rest on any suchmatter.
"I do believe you'd be glad to see me well; wouldn't you, now?"
The doctor assured him that such was in very truth the case.
"Well, now, I'll tell you what: I've been thinking about it a greatdeal to-day; indeed, I have, and I want to do what's right. Mightn'tI have a little drop more of that stuff, just in a cup of coffee?"
The doctor poured him out a cup of coffee, and put about ateaspoonful of brandy in it. Sir Louis took it with a disconsolateface, not having been accustomed to such measures in the use of hisfavourite beverage.
"I do wish to do what's right--I do, indeed; only, you see, I'm solonely. As to those fellows up in London, I don't think that one ofthem cares a straw about me."
Dr Thorne was of the same way of thinking, and he said so. He couldnot but feel some sympathy with the unfortunate man as he thus spokeof his own lot. It was true that he had been thrown on the worldwithout any one to take care of him.
"My dear friend, I will do the best I can in every way; I will,indeed. I do believe that your companions in town have been too readyto lead you astray. Drop them, and you may yet do well."
"May I though, doctor? Well, I will drop them. There's Jenkins; he'sthe best of them; but even he is always wanting to make money of me.Not but what I'm up to the best of them in that way."
"You had better leave London, Sir Louis, and change your old mode oflife. Go to Boxall Hill for a while; for two or three years or so;live with your mother there and take to farming."
"What! farming?"
"Yes; that's what all country gentlemen do: take the land there intoyour own hand, and occupy your mind upon it."
"Well, doctor, I will--upon one condition."
Dr Thorne sat still and listened. He had no idea what the conditionmight be, but he was not prepared to promise acquiescence till heheard it.
"You know what I told you once before," said the baronet.
"I don't remember at this moment."
"About my getting married, you know."
The doctor's brow grew black, and promised no help to the poorwretch. Bad in every way, wretched, selfish, sensual, unfeeling,purse-proud, ignorant as Sir Louis Scatcherd was, still, there wasleft to him the power of feeling something like sincere love. It maybe presumed that he did love Mary Thorne, and that he was at the timeearnest in declaring, that if she could be given to him, he wouldendeavour to live according to her uncle's counsel. It was only atrifle he asked; but, alas! that trifle could not be vouchsafed.
"I should much approve of your getting married, but I do not know howI can help you."
"Of course, I mean to Miss Mary: I do love her; I really do, DrThorne."
"It is quite impossible, Sir Louis; quite. You do my niece muchhonour; but I am able to answer for her, positively, that such aproposition is quite out of the question."
"Look here now, Dr Thorne; anything in the way of settlements--"
"I will not hear a word on the subject: you are very welcome to theuse of my house as long as it may suit you to remain here; but I mustinsist that my niece shall not be troubled on this matter."
"Do you mean to say she's in love with that young Gresham?"
This was too much for the doctor's patience. "Sir Louis," said he,"I can forgive you much for your father's sake. I can also forgivesomething on the score of your own ill health. But you ought to know,you ought by this time to have learnt, that there are some thingswhich a man cannot forgive. I will not talk to you about my niece;and remember this, also, I will not have her troubled by you:" and,so saying, the doctor left him.
On the next day the baronet was sufficiently recovered to be able toresume his braggadocio airs. He swore at Janet; insisted on beingserved by his own man; demanded in a loud voice, but in vain,that his liqueur-case should be restored to him; and desired thatpost-horses might be ready for him on the morrow. On that day hegot up and ate his dinner in his bedroom. On the next morning hecountermanded the horses, informing the doctor that he did so becausehe had a little bit of business to transact with Squire Greshambefore he left the place! With some difficulty, the doctor made himunderstand that the squire would not see him on business; and it wasat last decided, that Mr Gazebee should be invited to call on him atthe doctor's house; and this Mr Gazebee agreed to do, in order toprevent the annoyance of having the baronet up at Greshamsbury.
On this day, the evening before Mr Gazebee's visit, Sir Louiscondescended to come down to dinner. He dined, however, _tete-a-tete_with the doctor. Mary was not there, nor was anything said as to herabsence. Sir Louis Scatcherd never set eyes upon her again.
He bore himself very arrogantly on that evening, having resumed theairs and would-be dignity which he thought belonged to him as a manof rank and property. In his periods of low spirits, he was abjectand humble enough; abject, and fearful of the lamentable destinywhich at these moments he believed to be in store for him. But itwas one of the peculiar symptoms of his state, that as he partiallyrecovered his bodily health, the tone of his mind recovered itselfalso, and his fears for the time were relieved.
There was very little said between him and the doctor that evening.The doctor sat guarding the wine, and thinking when he should havehis house to himself again. Sir Louis sat moody, every now and thenuttering some impertinence as to the Greshams and the Greshamsburyproperty, and, at an early hour, allowed Joe to put him to bed.
The horses were ordered on the next day for three, and, at two, MrGazebee came to the house. He had never been there before, nor had heever met Dr Thorne except at the squire's dinner. On this occasion heasked only for the baronet.
"Ah! ah! I'm glad you're come, Mr Gazebee; very glad," said SirLouis; acting the part of the rich, great man with all the power hehad. "I want to ask you a few questions so as to make it all clearsailing between us."
"As you have asked to see me, I have come, Sir Louis," said theother, putting on much dignity as he spoke. "But would it not bebetter that any business there may be should be done among thelawyers?"
"The lawyers are very well, I dare say; but when a man has so large astake at interest as I have in this Greshamsbury property, why, yousee, Mr Gazebee, he feels a little inclined to look after it himself.Now, do you know, Mr Gazebee, how much it is that Mr Gresham owesme?"
Mr Gazebee, of course, did know very well; but he was not going todiscuss the subject with Sir Louis, if he could help it.
"Whatever claim your father's estate may have on that of Mr Greshamis, as far as I understand, vested in Dr Thorne's hands as trustee.I am inclined to believe that you have not yourself at present anyclaim on Greshamsbury. The interest, as it becomes due, is paid toDr Thorne; and if I may be allowed to make a suggestion, I would saythat it will not be expedient to make any change in that arrangementtill the property shall come into your own hands."
"I differ from you entirely, Mr Gazebee; _in toto_, as we used to sayat Eton. What you mean to say is--I can't go to law with Mr Gresham;I'm not so sure of that; but perhaps not. But I can compel Dr Thorneto look after my interests. I can force him to foreclose. And to tellyou the truth, Gazebee, unless some arrangement is proposed to mewhich I shall think advantageous, I shall do so at once. There isnear a hundred thousand pounds owing to me; yes to me. Thorne is onlya name in the matter. The money is my money; and, by ----, I mean tolook after it."
"Have you any doubt, Sir Louis, as to the money being secure?"
"Yes, I have. It isn't so easy to have a hundred thousand poundssecured. The squire is a poor man, and I don't choose to allow a poorman to owe me such a sum as that. Besides, I mean to invest it inland. I tel
l you fairly, therefore, I shall foreclose."
Mr Gazebee, using all the perspicuity which his professionaleducation had left to him, tried to make Sir Louis understand that hehad no power to do anything of the kind.
"No power! Mr Gresham shall see whether I have no power. When a manhas a hundred thousand pounds owing to him he ought to have somepower; and, as I take it, he has. But we will see. Perhaps you knowFinnie, do you?"
Mr Gazebee, with a good deal of scorn in his face, said that he hadnot that pleasure. Mr Finnie was not in his line.
"Well, you will know him then, and you'll find he's sharp enough;that is, unless I have some offer made to me that I may choose toaccept." Mr Gazebee declared that he was not instructed to make anyoffer, and so he took his leave.
On that afternoon, Sir Louis went off to Boxall Hill, transferringthe miserable task of superintending his self-destruction from theshoulders of the doctor to those of his mother. Of Lady Scatcherd,the baronet took no account in his proposed sojourn in the country,nor did he take much of the doctor in leaving Greshamsbury. He againwrapped himself in his furs, and, with tottering steps, climbed upinto the barouche which was to carry him away.
"Is my man up behind?" he said to Janet, while the doctor wasstanding at the little front garden-gate, making his adieux.
"No, sir, he's not up yet," said Janet, respectfully.
"Then send him out, will you? I can't lose my time waiting here allday."
"I shall come over to Boxall Hill and see you," said the doctor,whose heart softened towards the man, in spite of his brutality, asthe hour of his departure came.
"I shall be happy to see you if you like to come, of course; that is,in the way of visiting, and that sort of thing. As for doctoring, ifI want any I shall send for Fillgrave." Such were his last words asthe carriage, with a rush, went off from the door.
The doctor, as he re-entered the house, could not avoid smiling, forhe thought of Dr Fillgrave's last patient at Boxall Hill. "It's aquestion to me," said he to himself, "whether Dr Fillgrave will everbe induced to make another visit to that house, even with the objectof rescuing a baronet out of my hands."
"He's gone; isn't he, uncle?" said Mary, coming out of her room.
"Yes, my dear; he's gone, poor fellow."
"He may be a poor fellow, uncle; but he's a very disagreeable inmatein a house. I have not had any dinner these two days."
"And I haven't had what can be called a cup of tea since he's been inthe house. But I'll make up for that to-night."