Thirty Years Since; or, The Ruined Family. A Tale

by Unknown

CHAPTER XXXVI.

The Earl of Ashborough was a good deal disturbed, as the reader who remembers all the transactions which had before occurred, may easily imagine. His nephew's return had certainly been a very joyful event; but it was not unaccompanied by many drawbacks. Thus there was the probable overthrow of all his schemes against the Delawares, a considerable loss of money, which was painful to the noble earl just in proportion as his fortune was immense; and last, not least, there was a chance--a strong chance--of certain unpleasant imputations lighting on his character, and of certain disclosures being made in regard to his plans, which he would rather have died to avoid than live to see.

The hatred which had rooted itself so deeply in his heart against Sir Sidney Delaware, had lost none of its freshness--the spirit of revenge kindled long ago, and fed with a thousand slight circumstances through a long lapse of years, had lost none of its intensity; but still, for the time, the fear of shame and dishonor was paramount, and the earl cursed the day in which he had been tempted to risk one rash step in pursuit of vengeance.

He determined, however, to lay the whole blame upon Mr. Tims, and if Beauchamp could prove the lawyer had reason to know that Captain Delaware was innocent, to affect vast indignation at his conduct; and to cast him off with all those signs of abhorrence and contempt which would exculpate himself in the eyes of the world from any participation in his evil designs. Of the pecuniary loss, too, which he was likely to suffer by the whole affair, he resolved to make the most, as a proof that he had been himself deceived and plundered; and by exclaiming loudly against the perfidy of his agent, to cast a dark shade of suspicion upon every assertion that Mr. Tims might make, as springing from the mere malice of a discharged agent. There was one subject of self-gratulation in Lord Ashborough's breast, which was doubly sweet, as it flattered his ideas of his own wisdom, and afforded the best point in his situation with regard to Mr. Tims. This was the fact of never having committed himself on paper, in regard to the family of Sir Sidney Delaware, or his purposes of revenge against them, and he resolved to make the most of that also.

After long consideration of all these particulars, he believed that he could luckily act toward his lawyer exactly as if he himself had been perfectly pure and spotless in the whole transaction. He accordingly sent off a note to Mr. Tims, requesting his presence at eleven o'clock on the following day, having determined that, in the first instance, he would give the attorney every sort of gentlemanly support in his encounter with Beauchamp; but that, if he found Beauchamp's charge could be made good against the lawyer, he would instantly throw him off, dismiss him from his employment, and treat him with proud and indignant contempt.

All these thoughts occupied him some time, and it was late before he entered the drawing-room, where his nephew and niece were already waiting; but the space thus employed had fully restored his equanimity, and the dinner passed over with a degree of cheerfulness and ease on his part, which Beauchamp had almost doubted that his uncle would be able to maintain. The evening was equally tranquil; his wandering nephew's adventures seemed to afford Lord Ashborough fully as much matter of interest and amusement as it did to Miss Beauchamp, and their party broke up late, after a pleasant and a tranquil night.

The next morning, the earl perhaps felt a little nervous; but he had that most blessed quality, which was very probably the subject of the Scotch pedlar's aspirations, when he added to his prayers, "God send us a good conceit of ourselves;" and being very far from ever thinking that he could, by any chance, have acted grossly amiss, he soon recovered from his more serious apprehensions of the world's censure, though he admitted that occasionally mankind did put a misconstruction on the most virtuous conduct; but he trusted that his own character was too well established to permit of such a result.

With this proud consciousness--we can not say of virtue--but at least of an established reputation, which often does quite as well, the earl proceeded after breakfast to his library, accompanied by his nephew, and, ringing the bell, desired to know whether Mr. Tims had arrived. The servant replied in the negative; and, after having ordered the lawyer to be admitted when he did appear, he turned to Beauchamp, observing that the fellow had grown somewhat negligent of late, since he had succeeded to his uncle's fortune.

The earl had scarcely concluded his sentence, when Mr. Tims himself appeared at the door, bowing low, with habitual reverence for Turkey carpets and ormolu, even before he was completely in the room. On seeing Beauchamp, which he did the very next moment--as that gentleman had placed himself at the bay window, and turned round on hearing the door open--Mr. Tims had nearly fallen prostrate on the floor; and pale, pale, pale, did he become, with the exception of the red climax to his nose, which remained of its own ruby hue, while all around grew, white. His impudence, however, which was a very phœnix, and was ever renewed from its own ashes, came instantly to his aid; and, advancing with a smile of simpering joy, he exclaimed, "Goodness, Mr. Beauchamp! I am surprised, sir, and delighted to see you. We all thought you drowned!"

"Of your surprise, Mr. Tims," replied Beauchamp, "I have no doubt; of your delight, I am not quite so sure; and as to my being drowned, I know every one believed it, and no one more thoroughly than yourself, Mr. Tims."

"I beg pardon, sir!--I beg pardon!--but you seem offended," said Mr. Tims, assuming the aspect of injured innocence. "I meant no offense, sir--my lord, have I said any thing offensive?"

"No, Mr. Tims! No!" replied Lord Ashborough. "Be so good as to take a seat, sir; I am inclined to believe that my nephew misconceives you; but he will explain himself, for it is on his business I sent for you."

"Oh, is that the case!" exclaimed the lawyer, who began to feel somewhat perplexed at his situation. "If your lordship had let me know that such was your purpose, I might have come prepared."

"I acted, Mr. Tims, as I thought best," answered the peer, coldly; "and I confess I do not see what need you could have for preparation."

"Why, I do think, sir, all things considered," replied the lawyer--"I do think your lordship might have given me intimation, as the business in which I am engaged on your lordship's account--"

"Has nothing on earth to do with my nephew, nor my nephew with it, Mr. Tims!" replied Lord Ashborough, sternly. "We will keep to the point, sir, if you please. Henry, you said you had some questions to ask this person; you had better ask them."

"Person!" muttered Mr. Tims, fidgeting on his chair. "Person!" but he had soon more serious matter to think of; for Beauchamp, approaching the table, sat down at the side next the window, and taking out his pocket-book, spoke in a calm, mild tone, which had grown infinitely more moderate than at first, as he saw the terrible agitation under which the unhappy man labored.

"Now, Mr. Tims," he said, "I neither want to puzzle you nor to annoy you, by what I am going to ask; but there are certain matters on which you must give a full explanation, both for my satisfaction and my uncle's--"

"No, no, Henry, pardon me!" interrupted the earl; "the business is yours alone--I am perfectly satisfied for my part--I have heard a charge, but no proof; and, consequently, I should be doing injustice to Mr. Tims were I to be dissatisfied."

"My lord, the business is certainly mine," replied Beauchamp; "but it is also yours to the extent of at least ten thousand pounds, if not more--but to the point. My first question is, Mr. Tims, how you came to detain, upon the pretense that it had been stolen from your uncle, the sum of twenty-five thousand pounds, paid by Sir Sidney Delaware to you, as Lord Ashborough's agent, when, at the time you detained it upon that pretext, you perfectly well knew that it had not been stolen, and that it had been put in Captain Delaware's room by me?"

"But I never knew any such thing, sir!" replied Mr. Tims. "I believed, as every body else believed, that Captain Delaware, when he murdered my poor unhappy uncle, had stolen those notes; and permit me to say, sir," he added, assuming a slight touch of bluster--"permit me to say, I had better cause to believe such to be the case, than you have to accuse me of actions I should despise, sir. What reason had I to suppose you placed the money there?"

"Nay, nay, Mr. Tims," said Beauchamp, calmly, "do not lose your temper; remember, sir, passion may throw you off your guard, and you will yet have occasion for all your wit in your exculpation. You ask what reason you had to suppose I placed the money in Captain Delaware's room; I will tell you, Mr. Tims. First, because, among your uncle's papers, you found an acquittance in my handwriting for the sum of fifteen thousand pounds, received by him on my account from Messrs. Steelyard and Wilkinson--"

"But, sir! But, sir!" cried Mr. Tims.

"Do not interrupt me, sir," said Beauchamp. "Next, I say, because you found a note of hand signed by me for the sum of ten thousand pounds, advanced to me by your uncle, and dated on the very day on which he was murdered, poor man!"

"But listen to me, Henry," said Lord Ashborough. "All this does not show that Mr. Tims knew that these several sums had been appropriated by you in the somewhat Quixotical manner that, as it proves, they were employed."

"It is, at least, a strong presumption that he might have known it if he had liked," replied Beauchamp; adding, with a smile, "especially when he knew me to be of a Quixotical disposition, and when William Delaware himself pointed me out as the only person likely to have placed them there--but you must remember, also, that the sum was precisely the same, and that, knowing I had received it--"

"I must once more interrupt you, Mr. Beauchamp," said the lawyer, with a dignified air; "but you are, and have been assuming as facts what are not facts. I _did not_ know that you had received that sum--I found no document--at least, I have as yet found no document among my late uncle's papers, which refers to the sum of fifteen thousand pounds received on your account, and handed over to you in due course; and therefore, sir, the basis of your argument is erroneous, although--as my noble patron declares, with his usual candor and perspicuity--even were it all true--had I discovered by the papers of which you speak, that my uncle had paid you the precise sum, still I had no proof that there was any connection between that fact and the payment made to me at Emberton Park."

"There was a strong presumption, at least, Mr. Tims," replied Beauchamp, who had listened with the utmost calmness; "and I certainly can not prove that you have found the document referring to the fifteen thousand pounds, _as yet_. Allow me to compliment you on the introduction of those two words--I certainly can not prove that you have found my acquittance to your uncle."

"Well, then, Henry," said the earl, with a benign smile to Mr. Tims, "I think your evidence halts."

"Your pardon, my lord," replied Beauchamp; "I am only disposing of one part of the subject first--you may not have found it, Mr. Tims, _as yet_; but let me tell you, sir, that you must find it, or account to my solicitors for fifteen thousand pounds received by your late uncle on my account."

Mr. Tims turned very red; for he saw that he was nearer to the horns of that ugly beast, a dilemma, than he had imagined. Still, however, he thought that he had triumphantly opposed Beauchamp's charge, and therefore he replied, with a very tolerable degree of coolness, "I will search for the papers, sir, and of course act according to the best of my judgment afterward."

"And in the mean time, Mr. Tims," continued Beauchamp, "we will speak of the ten thousand pounds which I received from your uncle. I think you acknowledge, or at least tacitly admit, that you found my note of hand for that amount among your uncle's papers--indeed, it was only extraordinary that you should overlook the acquittance, which was pinned to the note, and which you must have separated from it before you got it stamped, and presented it to my solicitors, in payment of the sum of ten thousand pounds due to me by Lord Ashborough, as the balance of our guardianship account."

Mr. Tims's face grew red, and white, and yellow, and blue, by turns. Never was there such a prismatic complexion as Beauchamp's last speech produced.

Lord Ashborough watched them all, and then demanded. "Did you presume, sir, to stop money which I commissioned you to pay, in the way to which Mr. Beauchamp alludes?"

Mr. Tims was _aux abois_, and consequently he turned upon the weakest of his pursuers. "I did, indeed, my lord," he said, in a significant tone--"I did it for the best, both in accordance with your lordship's views and interests, and my own poor judgment; and I am perfectly ready to explain my motives either to your lordship alone, or in the presence of your nephew."

Lord Ashborough changed color also; and bowing his head haughtily, he said, "that is unnecessary, Mr. Tims, we will speak of all that concerns myself hereafter."

"Oh, just as your lordship pleases!" said the lawyer--"I have nothing to conceal."

"I am glad to hear it," said Beauchamp, willing to spare his uncle any unpleasant discussion, "I am glad to hear it, sir; for now we come to the most inexplicable part of the whole transaction. I say inexplicable, because it is quite so to me, how a man of your sagacity could commit such an oversight as, at the very time he was accusing an innocent person of murder--at the very time he was retaining in his hands twenty-five thousand pounds unjustly, on the plea that they had been stolen--at the very time he was carrying on two ruinous suits at law against an honorable man for money which had been already paid--I say, that it is inexplicable to me, how, at the very time he was doing all this, he should commit such an oversight as to present to my solicitors this note of hand, on the back of which is written, in my own writing, the numbers and dates of all the notes I received from his uncle, and which are the numbers and dates of the very notes that he was at that time attempting to show were stolen. Look at it, my lord, and read:--'Numbers and dates of notes received from Mr. Tims of Ryebury'--and conceive how avarice must have taken hold of a man, ere he could commit such an egregious blunder. Why, Mr. Tims, could you not wait a few days--a week, a fortnight, even a month--to make sure that the fishes had me safe, before you presented this note? By Heaven, I should have thought such a thing impossible, had I not often, or rather always seen, that, by what would seem a law of Providence, the most egregious rogues are always sure to leave some door open to detection."

Mr. Tims had remained as one struck dumb--not that he had overlooked the fact which Beauchamp now brought forward; for he had remarked it from the first, and knew that it might speak strongly against him; but the desire of retaining the ten thousand pounds had blinded his eyes to one-half the consequences, and diminished his estimation of the other--had made him confidently believe that Beauchamp was really drowned, and that if he were not, he would never remember the memorandum he had made on the night which gave birth to so many events. The folly of his conduct, however, now appeared to him in the most forcible manner, and for the moment completely overpowered him. Quirks, quibbles, evasions, impudence itself, all deserted him, till, by the most fortunate chance in the world, Beauchamp pronounced the word rogue, which instantly called anger to his aid.

"Rogue, sir! Rogue!" he exclaimed, starting up, while the whiteness of consternation was succeeded in his countenance by the rubicundity of wrath, "Rogue, sir! The word is actionable! Did you call me a rogue!"

It was too much for human patience. "Yes, sir!" replied Beauchamp, "I did! and I do! I call you a rogue, because I have proved you one! I look upon you as a contemptible blackguard, as I have long done; and if you stare in my face with that air one moment more, I will kick you from that door into Grosvenor-square--and the passage is a long one!"

Mr. Tims instantly dropped his eyes to the ground, and Lord Ashborough interfered. "You are too warm, Henry!" he said, seeing evidently that Mr. Tims must be given up, said therefore that he might as well assume the character of the dignified, unimpassioned judge. "You are too warm! but you have made out your charge most completely. Mr. Tims, you are no longer my solicitor. You must have known, sir, that this Captain Delaware, whatever faults he may have, and whatever crimes he may have committed, had not obtained the notes in question by robbing your uncle--you must have known it, sir--you could not help knowing it; and I conceive that your having deceived me into taking a great many steps which might bring my character into disrepute, if it were not, thank God pretty well established--I say, I conceive your having done so, to be more base and criminal than even the sort of frauds you have committed in regard to the different sums of money--which, depend upon it, shall be strictly investigated."

Loud insolence not having proved at all successful, Mr. Tims now resorted to dogged impudence. "Your lordship may find cause, upon a little reflection," he said, moving gradually toward the door, "to make your measures toward me somewhat more lenient than you propose. I should be sorry to injure your lordship's well _established character_; but, of course, if I am attacked, I must defend myself; and I will take care that my defense shall be public enough. There are two or three little transactions, which your lordship will think over, and determine upon having laid open or not, as you please."

"Do you hear the fellow's insolence?" demanded the earl, turning with a half-smile toward his nephew. "Mr. Tims," he added, "you are scarcely worthy of contempt. I fear no true statement of any thing I have done; and I shall take care, if you make any false one, that you shall be severely punished. You have deceived me, sir, grossly; you have represented people to me as criminal, who were really innocent; and you have labored to stir up my indignation against them for your own base purposes. Do not answer me, sir, but quit the room and the house; and I shall take care that your accounts be called for, and examined by one who will look into them thoroughly."

Thus saying, the earl, with a proud and dignified wave of the hand, pointed to the door. Mr. Tims would fain have added a few words more; but Lord Ashborough waved him forth again; and there was also a cloud lowering upon Henry Beauchamp's brow, which boded no very pleasant results from farther insolence; so that, upon second thoughts, Mr. Tims judged it best to make his exit tranquilly. This he was suffered to do; and the door closed upon him forever.