Page:The Lady's Book Vol. IV.pdf/2

Rh worthlessness, with that much-enduring love that heaven has wisely planted in the paréntal bosom, Yescued him from the consequences of his ex- travaganee and debauchery, and by every means - that anxious affection could suggest, endeavoured to shield him from public disgrace. Upon one oc- casion, the patience even of a father was overtask- ed, and the paternal door was finally closed on an incorrigible vagabond. A friend of Mr. Ferrars found on comparison of his check book with his account in bank, that a check to a large amount had been forged,and afew inquiries secretly and noiselessly conducted, traced the crime clearly tothe unprincipled Augustus Ferrars. The un- happy father, with the warmest expressions of gratitude to his considerate friend, replaced the amount of the forged check, and from that mo- ment struggled to forget that he hada son. These particulars I did not learn from my visitor at that interview, but in the course of my subsequent acquaintance with her. Mr. Ferrars, a few months before the visit I am detailing, had died very suddenly from some species of apo- plectic atiack, which left him speechless except so far as a few unconnected words immediately preceding his dissolution, might make the term inaccurate. Something was murmured inarti- culately, of “will,” “‘ bulk of estate,” “son,” “unfortunate,” and his arm was frequently ex- tended, with the fore finger as if pointing. Soon after the funeral, Mr. R. the confidential legal adviser of the deceased, called to offer his ser- vices a’-executor of the will of Mr. Ferrars, which he had drawn and saw duly attested, but to his unbounded surprise found that it could not, by the most assiduous search, he discovered. Tables, desks, escrutoires, and every other pro- bable receptacle of such a document, were care- fully opened and strictly examined, but in vain. That the deceased should have destroyed the will seemed unlikely, as he had spoken of it, and some codicil that he wished to add, within a few days of his death. Mr. R. was astounded and vexed, to find that the splendid fortune of his friend was to pass into the hands of a worn out debauchee, and incorrigible sot, such as Augus- tus had rendered himself, and that the delicate and elegant Lucy was to be left to the resources of her own talents and accomplishments, or the precarious patronage of her former associates. A few days sadly demonstrated the accuracy of his forebodings; within a week. a tawdry vehicle drawn by four panting steeds covered with sweat and dust, rattled up to the door of the elegant mansion of the late Mr. Ferrars, and a sickly, bloated, and prematurely old man, attended by a vulgar, over-dressed, and highly rouged female, got out, opened without ceremony the hall door and pushed on into the parlour, where the melan- choly Lucy sat in deep mourning, not of the outward garments only, but in the waveless calm of a forlorn and desolate heart. ‘ Hoity toity! who have we here!” sneered the female whose arrival we have mentioned, “‘ keep your tears till they are wanted, young woman.” Shocked and terrified at this brutal address, the sensitive girl scarce breathed from excess of agitation. “Well, Miss Lucy,” said the degraded Augustur, “the old man’s gone, hey? Times are changed now, and the saddle is on the right horse at last, eh July,” addressing his companion. “No will, eh, cousin Lucy!—had your will during the old fel- low’s life time, have none now, ha! ha! ha!” and the unfeeling Wretch laughed aloud. His mirth was however checked by the accidental entrance of Mr. Percival, that friend of the. deceased whose name he had thought proper to imitate. A glance from his eye, severe in the conscious- ness of unblemished rectitude, withered the laugh on the lips of the mocker.—“Leave the house on the instant,” said he, “the friends of virtue are not yet discouraged; when the search for the mislaid will is hopeless you shall be in- formed, till then do not presume to enter these walls.” The rebuked villain attempted a reply in the bullying style usual among his profligate companions, but at the first sentence, a “‘ remem- ber’ from the compressed lips of Mr. Percival, cut short the intended impertinence, and the well matched pair left the house more precipitately than they had entered. The search for the will was however in vain, and the degraded youth and his female companion at last took possession. The orphan girl, though earnestly entreated by Mr. Percival to make his house her home, could not tame her proud spirit to accept a favour from those with whom she had associated on terms of equality. With an affectionate and devoted ser- vant, who had nursed her in infancy, she left the home of her youth, and occupied the upper rooms of a hired dwelling. Here the exquisite taste with which she embroidered, and the various fancy articles which she constructed, formed the source of a little revenue, sufficient for the sub- sistence of herself and her nurse, till the sickness of the latter, and the thousand expenses attendant on it, exhausted her scanty means. Then came the landlord’s importunity and the final threat of a distress; under the fears of this last evil she had accidentally applied to me for legal advice, as to the power of the landlord to enforce his claim. It will not be supposed that the above narrative emanated from her own lips during this first visit; little but the circumstances of her present embarrassment formed the subject of her sad tale. I need not say that 1, young and chivalrous in my feelings to the sex as I then was, needed no spur to excite me to exertion in the cause of so fair a client. I promised to see her creditor; re-assured her by my exposition of the law of landlord and tenant, and finally sent her home somewhat less overwhelmed than when she sought my advice. Through the intervertion of my sisters and their fashionable and affluent friends, the talents of Lucy were thenceforth. steadily put in requisition and liberally rewarded, the landlord was induced by my representations to desist from any compulsory measures, and reaped the reward of his humanity in the subse- quent full satisfaction of his whole demand.

Some days afterward a rough Patlander open- ed my office door, and with one of those ducking