The Surgeon's Daughter

the world's

ith sword

IVES OF

man and horse all in a foam. He made no reply to any questions about supper or the like, but snatching a candle, ran up stairs into his apartment, and

apprehensions; and after knocking and calling more than on

d; although, from the appearance of the bed, it had not been slept in on the preceding night, and Richard's countenance, hag

, Adam. It is just the time to desert the poor heir, and to

itherington's," answered Hartley

a doctor had as good a title to give ghostly advice as a parson. Do you rem

style of language from o

men to keep up their spirits, after gaining and losing father, mother, and a g

understand you,

had waited but that moment to die, and my father to become distracted; and I conclude both were c

that the insanity of the father was hereditary in the family. "In Heaven's name, recoll

Moncada's wealth-and to whom should it descend, save to her

Richard-recol

Richard; "a

, "that unless there was a will in your favo

dvanced age and decayed health. I saw them, Adam-Winter showed the nursery to me while they were gathering courage to receive me in the drawing-room. There they lay, the children of predilection, the riches of the East expended that they might sleep soft and wake in magnificence. I, the eldest brother-the heir-I stood b

h an evil spirit," said Hartley; "or el

n England. Nay, more; if the child of love be acknowledged by the father at the time when he is baptized-if he present the mother to strangers of respectability as his wife, the laws of Scotland will not allow him to retract the justice which has, in these actions, been done to the female whom he has wronged, or the offspring of their mutual love. This General Tresham, or Witherington, treated my unh

the Middlesex? Think a little-You wil

to at least a third of Moncada's estate, which, by Winter's account, is considerable. But for you, and your mode of treating the small-pox, I should have had the whole. Little did I think, when old Gray

hen," said Hartley, "

rmined to make them available,

iddlemas, I am

eg to know why I am ho

ich can think of wealth after the scene you saw last night, and for the id

t roused me to a sense of my situation, and dispelled the dreams of my childhood. Do you think that I would ever have submitted to the drudgery which I shared with you, but that, by doing so, I kept in view the only traces of these unnatural paren

ottish law, at the time when we were first acquainte

iddlemas. "His good counsel on that head is a rea

ft Middlemas, debating the point with Mr. Lawford; and I recollect

ford in answer?" d

s of legitimacy might be admitted. But he said they were liable to be controlled by positive and pre

in my case," said Middlemas h

therington, in which she acknowledged you as her son, but a son born before marriage. This express declaration will, therefore, put an end to th

on, he desired Hartley to proceed with his communication. Hartley accordingly proceeded to inform him of the particulars preceding his birth, and those which followed after it; wh

in the service of Charles Edward during his short invasion, and though holding a commission in the Portuguese service, still an object of suspicion to the British government, on account of his well-known courage and Jacobitical principles. The high-bred elegance of this gentleman, to

and was determined on. The hurry of the journey, the fear and anxiety to which Zilia was subjected, brought on her confinement several weeks before the usual time, so that they were compelled to accept of the assistance and accommodation offered by Mr. Gray. They had not been there many hours ere Tresham heard, by the medium of some sharp-sighted or keen-eared friend, that there were warrants out against him for treasonable practices. His correspondence with Charles Edward had become known to Moncada during the period of their friendship; he betrayed it in vengeance to the British cabinet, and warrants were issued, in which, at Moncada's request, his daughter's nam

iches and eminence. When he returned to Britain, his first enquiries were after the family of Moncada. His fame, his wealth, and the late conviction that his daughter never would marry any but him who had her first love, induc

husband. The former, his religious prejudices much effaced by his long residence in England, had given consent that she should conform to the established religion of her husband and her country,-the latter, haughty as we have described him, made it his pride to introduce the beautiful convert among his high-born kindred. The discovery of her former frailty would have proved a blow to her respectability, which he dreaded like death; and it could not long remain a secret from his wi

e by the unexpected discovery of this son, redeemed from a lot of extreme mis

not be satisfied, until she had herself done something to alleviate the doom of banishment to which her eldest-born was thus condemned.

is hands a sum of L2000, which she had at her own unchallenged disposal, with a request, uttered in the fondest and most affectionate terms, that it might be applied to the service of Richard Middlemas in the way Hartley should think most useful t

affection. Do not-do not, my beloved!-think thyself a lonely exile, while thy mother's prayers arise for thee at sunrise and at sunset, to call down every blessing on thy head-to invoke every power in thy protection and defence. Seek not to see me-Oh, why must I say so!-But let me humble myself in the dust, since it is my own sin, my own folly, which I must blame!-but seek not to see or speak with me-it might be the death of both. Co

he should be permitted to see her son in that parting interview which terminated so fatally. Hartl

to leave the apartment, "surely the demons of Ambition and Avarice will un

ast tokens of his mother's affection. He leant his head upon a table, and his tears flowed plentifully. Hartley left h

n the deposit which your mother made in my hands-and I must also remind you that time flies fast, and that you have scarce an hour

d with tears. Yet he counted over the money with mercantile accuracy; and though he assumed the pen for the purpose of writing a di

mournful voice, "give m

addressed to yourself-the narrative is addressed to me. It is my warrant for disposing o

to have made me their undoubted heir; yet their purpose was disappointed by accident. And now my mother comes with well-intended fondness, and while she means to advance my fortune, furn

the idle and groundless hopes which you have indulged in, it has, at the same time, more than trebled your capital; and that if there are some hundreds or thousands in t

Middlemas. He stood silent for a moment, and then

st in ruining my hopes-you may find some in forwarding them. Moncada's fortune will ena

Middlemas," said Hartley

y the button at the same time, "I meant to say ten thousand-a

rtley, breaking from him, "a

ght yon better. Off he goes-Let him-the game has been played

onveyed him and several other military gentlemen to the Downs, where the Indi

t bred passenger who ever dared the long and weary space betwixt Old England and her Indian possessions. At Madras, where the sociable feelings of the resident inhabitants

m his situation, have been entitled to expect much civility and attention; but this disadvantage was made up by his possessing the most powerful introductions from General Witherington, and from other persons of weight in Leadenhall Street, the General

enial to the blunt and plain character of Hartley, who saw neither propriety nor comfort i

ntimates and fellow-students; yet it was now found that they hesitated at accepting invitations to the same parties. Rumour assigned many different and incompatible reasons for this de

a fair lady than his friend Hartley, who had made a quarrel of it, as they saw. He thought it very silly to keep up spleen, at such a distance of time and space. He

ragement and official promotion from the Madras government as opportunity should arise. Soon after, it was intimated to him that a medical app

s during the first months after his arrival in India, began now to show symptoms of a haughty and overbearing spirit. He had adopted, for reasons which the reader may conjecture, but which appeared to be mere whim, at Fort St. George, the name of Tresham, in addition to that by which he had hith

ave that which he bore in his commission," an

much provoked, as to intimate perempto

it is not every child that knows its own father,

stung deeply. In spite of all the interposition which could be attempted, Midd

aid, "thought the cap fitted

rom the British settlements; for, being universally blamed for having pushed the quarrel to extremity, there was little doubt that the whole severity of military discipline would be exercised upon the delinquent. Middlemas, therefore, vanished from Fort St.