Their life there you know. Dr. Merle, as he called himself, gave way entirely to his vice of laudanum drinking, and Meg was brought up by the vicar and Miss Linisfarne. Tim, hovering constantly about Farbis, was delighted at the success of his plot. The mother was fulfilling her maternal duties towards the child she had forsaken, and was quite ignorant of the relationship existing between them. Merle never saw her all the time he lived at Farbis, as Tim forbade him to seek her, fearful lest she should learn or guess the truth. Can you imagine a more dramatic situation, Jack? A husband, a wife, a lover, and a child. The husband forcing the lover to father his child, the mother bringing up her own daughter, and training her according to her duty, yet all the while remaining in ignorance of the relationship. Name any novel that can match that, my friend.
How Meg grew up beautiful and strong, how she was educated by her unsuspecting mother and the vicar, I have told you in my former letters. Tim watched over her all the time. What his plans were with regard to his wife I know not. She thought him dead; but he doubtless intended to undeceive her on that point. I suppose he would have confessed his plot some time, and let the mother have her daughter. But the treachery of Miss Linisfarne led to an untimely explanation, and Tim has not told me what he intended to have done had the catastrophe not taken place. It seems horrible that the mother should have plotted the death of her daughter; but, as I said before, she did not know the truth, and, as she is dead, it were kindness to say no more about her.
When Meg was nearly twenty years of age, Tim consulted with Merle as to getting her married. He was proud of his daughter, and wished her to make a good match. Merle could offer no suggestion, as there was no suitor worthy of the girl in the district. Then Chance intervened, and sent Tim the very husband he wanted for his daughter. At this point I come into the story, as you can guess.
It appears that a gipsy was getting a caravan built at the shop where mine was being constructed. He heard that I intended to take to the life of the roads for a time, and knowing that I owned Farbis, where Tim's tribe was encamped--for these vagrants learn things in the most wonderful way--told the Tinker of my proposed expedition. Tim at once selected me as a husband for Meg, thinking truly that if he could only inveigle me to Farbis the girl's beauty would do the rest. Hence his plot. It was he who instructed the gipsies to urge me to visit Farbis, and when I was on my way thither, stationed Mother Jericho in the pine wood to prophesy about Joy coming up through the Gates of Dawn. The visit you know! I met Meg at the Gates of Dawn--fell in love with her, and hope to marry her. Tim's plot has been completely successful. Now you can understand Mother Jericho's talk, and Tim's hints, and Merle's fears. The gipsies knew I was Lord Ardleigh all the time, and, though I did not know it, I was surrounded on all sides by people anxious for me to marry Meg. Mother Jericho's prophecy was but the wishes of Tim put into words.
Yet not all of it! I can understand the prediction as to my meeting Meg--as to the false father and the false mother--that was all designed. But how did the old hag know that Miss Linisfarne would fall in love with me, and what reason had she to foretell fire and flame? No one thought the wretched woman would set fire to the Court. That part of the prophecy I cannot understand, therefore I must admit I have a certain belief in palmistry.
Well, Jack, the end has come. I know all, and, knowing all, am quite content to marry Meg, half-gipsy though she be. Miss Linisfarne is dead, as I told you, so she will be no trouble. Tim prefers his life of tent and road, as his one experiment among the Gorgios ended so disastrously. Yet I hope to see a good deal of him in the future, for though he is but a gipsy, I tell you he is a father-in-law to be proud of.
By Jarner's advice, and with Tim's consent, this strange story is to be told to no one but yourself. There would be no use in publishing it abroad, and Meg will marry me as the daughter of Dr. Merle. That wretched creature will not live long, I fear, as he is in so shattered a condition. He has left all his money to Meg, which is only what she deserves. It will be settled on herself when the marriage takes place. Strange to say, he is nearly as wealthy as I am.
I am coming up to town to see my lawyers, and make settlements on my future wife. Then I will ask you to come here with me in the spring, and see me married to Meg by Parson Jarner. You shall be best man, and Tim shall give the bride away. That office he reserves to himself, and absolutely refuses to give it to Dr. Merle.
Miss Linisfarne is buried, and the Court is destroyed. I shall not rebuild it, but devote any surplus moneys I have to the use of the parish. I mean to raise the villagers out of their present wretched condition, to repair the church and augment the income of Parson Jarner. He, dear old man, refuses to leave Farbis, as he has grown to love the place and the people. So he shall be my almoner, and when my wife and I weary of being Lord and Lady Ardleigh, we shall come down to Farbis to be Dan and Meg. Tim and Parson Jarner and Mother Jericho will be there to welcome us, and we will revive the old Bohemian days which are now at an end.
The old lady is in high glee at the fulfilment of her prophecy, as she well may be. It has given me a pearl of womanhood for my wife. I loved Meg from the first moment I saw her coming up through the Gates of Dawn. All our troubles are, I hope, over, sorrow has departed, and joy has come. I do not think I can do better than end this letter with a verse of Meg's song. It can stand in lieu of a signature.