Julian Hawthorne

“ A heavy footstep sounded between the first door and the second. Mrs. Swatman or her assistant imbecile had evidently neglected to safeguard the approaches, and here was some intruder forcing himself in.
"Mary," I cried, "for Heaven's sake—into my bedroom—quick!"
She appreciated the urgency of the occasion and vanished. Just as the door was closing upon her, in walked her father.
"Come, I'm glad to see you looking so much better," said he in a hearty voice. "Why, you've quite a color!" ”

“ An impecunious lover and a stern and wealthy parent are the adversaries in the old game of a love affair. The opportune discovery, by the hero, of the right of the mollified father to a dormant peerage, and the timely intercession of a providential aunt, bring the struggle to a happy and satisfactory issue. ”

“ But love, unfortunately, is like measles; it comes and it goes, and there is no help for it. Accordingly I fell madly in love with Mary Bruce; we met at parties; I dined occasionally at Inverness Terrace; and at last, one day, at a water party, I came to grief; all my stern resolutions vanished—and I proposed.
We had gone by the G. W. R. to Henley, a party of eight. There were Miss Bruce and her aunt, a married sister of Mr. Bruce, two daughters, the two Bolds and myself. ”

“ Good gracious Charles, do you suppose I brought you that potato to eat?" cried my aunt in undisguised astonishment. "It is a kidney potato, I tell you—a sovereign remedy against rheumatism! You are to keep it in your pocket night and day." (I infer from this that my maidenly relative was under the impression that men slept in their trousers, and possibly that they were born in them.) "If you had only applied to me in time, you see, you would have been spared all this dreadful illness. But put it in your pocket. It will at all events secure you against the future." ”

“ She had been "terribly frightened," poor darling; she had not fully realized the impropriety of coming to my chambers until her father had come upon the scene, and she had felt the dread of discovery. I must "never again ask her to be so foolish and wicked," she said. In my answer I promised not to be selfish any more, acquainted her with her father's plans, and pointed out that if I were successful we might perhaps hope to approach Mr. Bruce.
In about a fortnight I received my instructions and proceeded to hunt up the Berkshire registers; and a more wearisome task I never undertook. ”

“ Women know things, you know, that men don't know. Well, I know, I don't know how I know, but I do know that you will discover this Dalrymple Bruce's marriage. I'm as certain of it as I am that we—well, as of anything. So good-night, and be a good boy and don't contradict. No! not one, I declare!"
The first news that greeted me on my return to my city chambers was that Mrs. Swatman's mummified assistant, Mrs. Crump, was seriously ill. Of course I lost no time in seeing that she had proper attendance and any little comfort that the doctor might think good for her. ”

“ We landed at Bisham to look at the church and inspect the fine old monuments of the Holy Family and others, for which Bisham is celebrated. Then I proposed that the Bolds should scull Mrs. Macfarlane, who was tired, down to Marlow while I took the girls through the quarry woods to the point, and back over the meadows to Marlow. L'homme propose. He does indeed! I, for example, proposed to ask Miss Bruce to be my wife, and that was the only proposition that came off. Whether Mary had given the Macfarlane girls a hint, or whether those young ladies (how I hated them!) ”

“ I had visions of smoking-caps and slippers and other ornamental and useless rubbish that girls usually think appropriate gifts for men. It turned out to be something much more to my liking. I had, and have, a weakness for old books, and my chambers were almost lined with them. Mrs. Crump, it appeared, desirous of testifying her gratitude for my little attentions, had commissioned Mary to present to me in her own name one of the mouldy volumes I had noticed on the chest of drawers. This bibliomania of mine was shared by Mr. Bruce, who had a magnificent collection ”

“ Bruce returned with clean hands and unruffled demeanor. Manifestly he had seen nothing and suspected nothing. He resumed the conversation where he had left it off, and after some further talk it was agreed that I should start for Berkshire as soon as the doctor would authorize me to leave the house; first, however, calling on Mr. Bruce to receive his written instructions and a check on account for whatever I thought I should need. Then, at last, my benefactor took his leave, and I hailed his departure as I should that of the gout. I hastened to the bedroom.
"Mary!" I called. "Mary!" ”

“ Speaking of Edward Bold she once said to me, "We've been together seven years now!" I am afraid that Mrs. Swatman regarded me with mild contempt. She had "done for" barristers all her life, and was possessed with the notion that other men were for the most part suspicious characters. ”

“ Laudanum was administered in large and increasing doses, and brought me some temporary relief, but I overheard my dear friend George Vivian, my doctor, say one day: "If he is not better in forty-eight hours, it is all over with him."
My aunt Johanna was not the sole possessor of the parrot constitution. ”

“ Bruce had made during twenty years past to make good his claim to the title. One link, however, and only one, was still wanting to the completion of the chain of evidence forged with so much perseverance. It was necessary to prove the marriage of Dalrymple Bruce and Tryphena Maddams, a runaway couple who were supposed to have been united in matrimonial bonds somewhere about the year 1794. Their marriage certificate had been advertised for, and a large reward offered for it in every newspaper in the three kingdoms. Hundreds of registers had been personally inspected ”

“ The doctor gave a poor account of her. Few men in chambers ever know anything of the inner life of their "laundresses," and from what I learned of Mrs. Crump's surroundings I should say their ignorance is bliss.
In a wretched room, in a disreputable-looking building, in a court off Drury Lane, the poor old creature had her home.
In this delectable apartment Mrs. Crump lay, and there my doctor attended her. She wanted for nothing that we could provide her; and one evening at Mr. Bruce's I managed to interest him and Mary in the old woman, insomuch that Mr. ”