Indeed, he had not fled our house a week ere the courier brought a letter which had arrived from home; a letter sealed with a great seal as big as that of the Governor of Virginia, and addressed with much formal courtesy to "Nicholas Bampfyld, Esquire, Gentleman and Planter, of Pomfret Manor, on the James River, partly in King and Queen, and partly in King County, Virginia, etc." And when it was perused we found it did indeed contain strange matter, though, strange as it was, not difficult of understanding.
The Marquis, who wrote in his own hand, began by stating that, since all who bore the name of St. Amande were immediate kin of his, he thanked Mr. Bampfyld for in any way having shown kindness, which he was not called upon to show, to the youth, Roderick St. Amande. Yet, he proceeded to state, Mr. Bampfyld had in part been imposed upon by that young man, since, while he was in truth an heir of the title, he was by no means an immediate one, nor was his father really the Viscount St. Amande. The actual possessor of that title, his lordship said, was Gerald St. Amande, son of the late lord, his heir being (while Gerald was unmarried and without a son) his uncle Robert, falsely, at present, terming himself Lord St. Amande, and then, in succession to him, Roderick St. Amande.
"But," continued the Marquis, "it was indeed most remarkable that Mr. Bampfyld's letter should have arrived at the moment it did, for, while he stated that he had purchased Roderick St. Amande from the captain of a slave-trading vessel, they at home were under very grave fears that some similar disaster had befallen Gerald, the real lord, since he too was missing and no tidings could be gleaned of him. He had, however, disappeared from London and not from Dublin while left alone but a little while by a most faithful friend and companion of his (who was now as one distracted by his loss), and they could only conjecture that the young lord had either been stolen by kidnappers and sent to the West Indian or the American plantations, or else impressed for service in one of His Majesty's vessels, the press having been very hot of late."
The Marquis added that he felt little alarm at the young lord's future, since he knew it could only be a matter Of time as to his release, no matter where he had been taken to, while as to Mr. Roderick St. Amande he trusted Mr. Bampfyld would continue his kindness to him, put him in the way of returning to his family, and let him have what was necessary of money, for all of which he begged Mr. Bampfyld to draw upon him as he saw fit, and the drafts should be instantly honoured.
So, with profuse and reiterated thanks, this nobleman concluded his letter, and at the same time stated that Mr. Roderick St. Amande might not intentionally have intended to deceive Mr. Bampfyld as to his proper position, since, doubtless, his own father--who was a most unworthy and wicked person--had really fed the youth's mind with the idea that he was the heir-apparent to the peerage.
My father never did draw on the Marquis of Amesbury for the money he had expended, nor, indeed, would he have any mention ever made of Roderick St. Amande, though be commissioned Gregory to sit down and write to his lordship a full account of all the doings of that young libertine from the time he came to us until he left, and also bade my cousin not to omit how he had struck off his ear when he would, had he been able, have slain him. This letter of Gregory's was not answered until after my father had passed away, when we received another from the Marquis full of expressions of regret for the misbehaviour of his relative, and stating that, henceforth, he neither intended to acknowledge Roderick nor his father as kinsmen of his. Also, he remarked, that had Mr. Bampfyld killed the profligate he would have only accorded him his deserts, and could have merited no blame from honest men for doing so. Likewise, he told us that news had been heard of the real lord, Gerald, Viscount St. Amande, who had indeed been impressed for a seaman on board His Majesty's ship Namur, in which Admiral Sir Chaloner Ogle had hoisted his flag, and that, on the vessel having sailed the same night and he making known his condition to the Admiral, that illustrious officer had taken him under his charge and promised to treat him as a petty officer and promote him to better things should his command be a long one.
This was the last letter we had from home touching this strange matter--excepting a letter from the Marquis's secretary stating that his lordship had not as yet been called on to honour any draft of Mr. Bampfyld's, which he would very willingly do. Yet of the matter itself there was now to be more trouble, ay! more dreadful, horrid trouble than had happened up to now. This you shall see later. Meanwhile, our life went on very peacefully at the Manor, and, when I had reconciled myself to my dear father's loss, was not an unhappy one. Mary remained with me ever as my friend and companion, helping me to direct the household duties, singing and playing with me upon the spinet and the harpsichord, riding with me sometimes to Richmond, or Norfolk, or Williamsburg, sometimes called Middle Plantation, and assisting me in my garden, for which she constantly obtained from her friends in Bristol many of the dear old English plants and seeds. Yet I feared that the day must come ere long when she would cease to be an inmate of my house, tho' still a neighbour. For it was very evident that she had formed an affection, which was warmly returned, for the young Irish clergyman whom our neighbour, Mr. Cliborne, had brought out from England on his return from his last visit there, to replace the dissolute old man who had been Mr. St. Amande's friend and brother carouser. This young divine was a very different kind of man from that other, being most attentive in his duties and expounding the Word--according to the forms of the Established Church--most beautifully, and was, withal, a cheerful companion. He could also write sweet verses--whereby he partly gained, I think, Mary's heart--and he could take part in a catch or a glee admirably, so that, when in the evening we all sang together in the saloon, the blacks would gather round outside to hear and, sometimes, to hum in concert with us. To add to which his learning was profound.
But what interested me more than all was that Mr. Jonathan Kinchella--such being his name--was able to throw a thoroughly clear light upon the whole of the transactions connected with the St. Amande family; he could explain all that you, yourselves, know as to how the scapegrace, Roderick, came out to Virginia, and he told us of all the sufferings of that poor young man whom he always spoke of as Gerald, so that we could not but weep at their recountal. For what woman's heart, nay, what human heart, would not be touched by the description of that poor child torn from his mother's arms, living the life of a beggar in rags, and witnessing the funeral of his father conducted by charity? Oh! it was pitiful, we said to one another, pitiful; and when we knelt down to pray at night we besought a blessing on Mr. Kinchella and on that other good Christian, Quin, the butcher, for all that they had done for that unhappy young outcast.
But, previous to the arrival of this gentleman, I received a visit, of which I must speak, from another person, who also seemed much interested in those two cousins, and who, at the time when he came, I regarded as a most kind, benevolent gentleman.
Mary and I were seated one morning in our dining-saloon, it being then some months after my father's death, when Mungo entered the room and said that there was, without, a gentleman on his road to the proposed new settlement of Georgia. One who, the black added, would be very glad if I could accord him a moment's reception, since he was a friend of the St. Amande family, and that his name was Captain O'Rourke.