Mr. Percy, released from prison, was welcomed with kindness and exultation at the house of Lady Jane Granville, where his family, assembled once more in happiness, were again surrounded by all the friends who had been present at Caroline's wedding, and again congratutions were heard in all parts of the hospitable mansion. In the midst of this tumult of joy Mr. Percy wrote two letters. One was to his faithful old steward, John Nelson, who deserved from his master this mark of regard; the other was to Commissioner Falconer, to make him some friendly offers of assistance in his own affairs, and to beg that through him his daughter, the unhappy and deserted lady of Sir Robert Percy, might be assured, that neither Mr. Percy, nor any of his family, wished to put her to inconvenience, and that far from being in haste to return to Percy-Hall, they wished to wait in town for the arrival of Godfrey and of Count Altenberg, therefore they requested that she would not hasten her removal from any false idea of their impatience. We said the deserted lady of Sir Robert Percy, for Sir Robert had fled from the country. On quitting the court after the trial, he took all the ready money he had previously collected from his tenants, and set out for the Continent, leaving only a note for his wife, apprising her, that "she should never see him more, and ordering her to return to her father and mother, as he had no means left to support her extravagance."
Of the words of this brutal farewel, and of the circumstances of Sir Robert's flight, Mr. Percy was informed by Lady Jane Granville, who had heard them from her maid Keppel, to whom Lydia Sharpe had paid a visit, on purpose to talk over "this total disruption of Lady Percy's affairs, and the ruin in one way or other of all the Falconers, which, now it had happened, there was, she hoped, no sin in saying she had long foreseen."
Commissioner Falconer was at this time at Falconer-Court, where he had been obliged to go to settle some business with his tenantry, previous to the sale of his land for the redemption of Cunningham. The Commissioner's answer to Mr. Percy's letter was as follows: "I cannot tell you, my dear Sir, how much I was touched by the kindness of your letter and conduct——So different from what I have met with from others. ——-I will not cloud your happiness, in which believe me I heartily rejoice——by the melancholy detail of all my own sorrows and disappointments——but only answer briefly to your friendly inquiries respecting my affairs.
"And first, for my unfortunate married daughter, who has been in this terrible manner returned upon our hands. She thanks you for your indulgence, on which she will not encroach. Before you receive this she will have left Percy-Hall. She is going to live with a Miss Clapham, a great heiress, who wants a fashionable companion and chaperon. Mrs. Falconer became acquainted with her at Tunbridge, and has devised this plan for Arabella. I fear Bell's disposition will not suit such a situation, but she has no other resource.
"Mrs. Falconer and Georgiana have so overmanaged matters with respect to Petcalf, that it has ended, as I long since feared it would, in his breaking off. If Mrs. Falconer had taken my advice, Georgiana might now be completely settled. Instead of which she is fitting out for India. She is going to be sure in good company; but in my opinion the expense, (which Heaven knows I can ill afford), will be thrown away like all the rest, for Georgiana has been much worn by late hours, and though still young, has, I fear, lost her bloom, and looks rather old for India.
"I am truly obliged to you, my dear Sir, for your friendly offer with respect to Falconer-Court, and have in consequence stopped the sale of the furniture. I shall rejoice to have such a good tenant as Mr. Temple. It is indeed much more agreeable to me to let, than to sell. The fining down the rent, as you propose, will put it in my power to release Cunningham, which is my most pressing difficulty.
"As you are the only person in the world now, who takes an interest in my affairs, or to whom I can safely unburden my mind, I must, though I know complaint to be useless, relieve my heart by it for a moment. I can safely say, that for the last ten years of my life I have never spent a day for myself. I have been continually planning and toiling to advance my family, not an opportunity has been neglected, and yet from this very family springs all my unhappiness. Even Mrs. Falconer blames me as the cause of that sad business, which has disgraced us for ever, and deprived us of all our friends——and has afforded an excuse for breaking all promises. There are many, whom I will not name, but they are persons now high in office, who have ... to you I may venture to say it, used me shamefully ill.
"Many an honest tradesman and manufacturer, to say nothing of men of talents in the liberal professions, I have seen in the course of the last forty years make their own fortunes, and large fortunes, while I have ended worse than I began——have literally been working all my life for others, not only without reward, but without thanks. If I were to begin life again, I certainly should follow your principles, my dear Sir, and depend more upon myself, and less upon others, than I have done——But now all is over.——-Let me assure you, that in the midst of my own misfortunes, I rejoice in your prosperity, (and in the esteem and respect with which I hear you and yours spoken of by all.
"Present my affectionate regards and congratulations to Mrs. Percy, and to all your amiable and happy circle. Propriety and feeling for my poor daughter, Lady Percy, must prevent my paying at present my personal congratulations to you at Percy-Hall——But I trust you will not the less believe in the sincerity of my attachment.
"I am, my dear Sir, Your obliged and faithful Friend and servant,
"P.S. I have just learnt, that the little place I mentioned to Mr. Alfred Percy, when we last met, is not disposed of.——Lord Oldborough's influence, as Mr. Temple well knows, is still all powerful, and your interest with his Lordship, you must be sensible, is greater than that of any other person living without exception.——A word from you would do the business for me. It is but a trifle, which I should once have been ashamed to ask: but it is now a matter of necessity."
The event of the trial, and the restoration of the Percy family to their property, were heard with transports of joy by the old tenantry. They had not needed the effect of contrast, to make them love and feel the value of their good landlord; but certainly Sir Robert Percy's tyranny, and all that he had made them suffer for their obstinate fidelity to the old branch, had heightened and fortified their attachment. It was now their turn to glory in that honest obstinacy, and with the strong English sense of justice they triumphed in having the rightful owners restored to their estate, and to the seat of their ancestors.
As the Percy family crossed the well-known bridge at the end of the village, those bells, which had sounded so mournfully, which had been muffled when they quitted their home, now rang out a merry triumphant peal——And it was rung by the hands of the very same persons who had formerly given that proof of attachment to him in his adversity, and which had so touched Mr. Percy.——Emotion as strong now seized his heart. ——At the same spot he jumped out of the carriage, and by the same path along which he had hastened to stop the bellringers, lest they should ruin themselves with Sir Robert, he now hastened to see and thank these honest, courageous people.——-In passing through the village, which had been freshly swept and garnished, all the people whom he remembered to have seen in tears following the carriage at their departure were now crowding to their doors with faces bright with smiles——Hats that had never stirred, and backs that had never bent for the usurper, were now eager with low bows to mark their proud respect to the true man. There was no noisy acclamations, for all were touched. The voices of the young children, however, were heard, who, as their mothers held them up in their arms, to see the landlord, of whom they had heard so much, offered their little nosegays as the open carriage passed, and repeated blessings on those on whom from their cradless they had heard blessings bestowed by their parents.
The old steward stood ready at the park-gate to open it for his master. His master and the ladies put their hands out of the carriage to shake hands with him, but he could not stand it.——He just touched his master's hand. Tears streamed down his face, and turning away without being able to say one word, he hid himself in the porter's lodge.
As they drove up to the house they saw standing on the steps, waiting——and long had he been waiting there, for the first sound of the carriage, Johnson, the butler, who had followed the family to the hills, and had served them in their fallen fortunes——Johnson was now himself. Before the hall-door, wide open to receive them, he stood, with the livery servants in due order.
Mrs. Harte, the good old housekeeper, had been sent down to prepare for the reception of the family, and a world of trouble she had had; but all was now right and proper, and she was as active and alert as the youngest of her maidens could have been, in conducting the ladies to their well-known apartments, in showing all the old places, and doing what she called the honors of the reinstallation. ——She could have wished to have vented a little of her indignation, and to have told how some things had been left; but her better taste and judgment, and her sense of what would be pleasing to her master and mistress, repressed all recrimination.——By the help of frequent recurrence to her snuff-box in difficulties great, together with much rubbing of her hands, and some bridling of her head, she got through it, without naming those, who should not be thought of, as she observed, on this joyful day.
The happiness of the Percy family was completed by the return of Count Altenberg, and of Godfrey. Godfrey arrived just as his family were settled at Percy-Hall. After his long absence from his home and his country, he doubly enjoyed this scene of domestic prosperity. ——He had scarcely told and heard all that had passed while he had been away, had scarcely seen Mr. Temple, or expressed his ardent desire to meet Count Altenberg, when his wish was gratified——and more than gratified.
Count Altenberg, having settled his affairs abroad, came to England, determined to reside on his English estate. He brought a considerable sum of money, the produce of the sale of part of his German possessions, which he had destined for the assistance of Mr. Percy, if the trial had been decided against him. The Count was most agreeably surprised on his arrival in England, by hearing that his father-in-law was reinstated in his property.——His prayer at parting with Caroline was granted, and the whole family, whom he had left in grief, met him in perfect happiness.——Caroline, his bride, his wife, radiant with joy and love, he, at last, pressed to his heart, now, and for ever, his own Caroline.
Mrs. Hungerford had the delight of seeing and sympathising in their felicity. With all the enthusiastic warmth of affection, supposed to be peculiar to youth, this excellent lady enjoyed, in the decline of life, the happiness of her friends. On purpose to be with the Percys on their return home, and to honor, by her presence, the marriage of Rosamond, she had made, with much expedition, a long journey from Pembroke to Percy-Hall.——She was recompensed, as she said, beyond her utmost hopes, by arriving just in time to see the reunion of Caroline and her husband.
Beloved as Rosamond was by rich and poor in the neighborhood, and the general favorite of her family, her approaching marriage spread new and universal joy.——It is impossible to give a just idea of the congratulations, and of the bustle of the various preparations, which were going on at this time at Percy-Hall, especially in the lower regions. Even Mrs. Harte's all regulating genius was insufficient for the exigencies of the times. Indeed, her head and her heart were now at perpetual variance, continually counteracting and contradicting each other.——One moment delighted with the joy and affection of the world below, she would come up to boast of it to her mistress and her young ladies; the next moment she would scold all the people for being out of their wits, and for not minding or knowing a single thing they were doing, or ordered to do, "no more than the babes in the wood;" then proving the next minute, and acknowledging, that she was "really quite as bad as themselves.——And no wonder, for the thoughts of Miss Rosamond's marriage had turned her head entirely upside down——for she had been at Miss Rosamond's christening, held her by proxy, and considered her always as her particular own child, and well she might, for a better, except, perhaps, Miss Caroline, never breathed."
The making a desert island for Miss Rosamond's wedding dinner was the object, which had taken such forcible possession of Mrs. Harte's imagination, that, till it was accomplished, it was in vain to hope, that any other could, in her eyes, appear in any kind of proportion. In the midst of all the sentimental joy above stairs, and in the midst of all the important business of settlements and lawyers, Mrs. Harte was pursuing the settled purpose of her soul, constructing with infinite care, as directed by her "Complete English Housekeeper," a desert island for a wedding, in a deep china dish, with a mount in the middle, two figures upon the mount, with crowns on their heads, a knot of rock candy at their feet, and gravel walks of shot comfits judiciously intersecting in every direction their dominions.
