Page:Ainsworth's Magazine - Volume 1.djvu/29

Jacob having again placed the candle in the lantern, unbolted and unlocked the door, and issuing forth, they found Peter Pokerich standing beside the horse.

"You may thank me that your horse is not gone, sir," said the latter. "People in London are not quite so honest as the villagers in Cheshire. Well, you have seen Mr. Scarve, I suppose, sir. What do you think of him and of his daughter?"

"That I pity your taste for not admiring her," replied Randulph.

"Not admiring her!" cried Jacob, with a hoarse laugh. "Did he tell you he did not admire her? Why he's dying with love of her, and, I make no doubt, was jealous of your good looks—ho! ho!"

"You are insolent, Mr. Jacob," rejoined Peter, angrily.

"What, you want another taste of my crabstick, do you?" said Jacob. "It's close at hand."

"Don't quarrel, friends," laughed Randulph, springing into the saddle.

"Good night, Jacob. I shall hope ere long to see your old master and young mistress again." With this he struck spurs into his steed, and rode off in the direction of Westminster bridge.

"Well," said Peter, as he crossed over the way to his own dwelling, "I've managed to get a letter out of his saddle-bag, at all events. Perhaps it will tell me who and what he is, and whether he's a Jacobite and Papist. If so, let him look to himself; for, as sure as my name's Peter Pokerich, I'll hang him. And now for the letter."

The two brothers Beechcroft, Randulph's uncles, lived in a retired house in Lambeth, close to the river, and a little to the west of the palace. Both were middle-aged men, that is to say,—for it is difficult to determine what is the middle age, now-a-days, though it was not quite so difficult to fix the period in the last century,—one was fifty-six, and the other ten years younger, and both bachelors. That they lived together, and in this retired way, was not so much matter of choice as of necessity on the part of the younger brother, Trussell, for he would have preferred, if it had been in his power, a gayer kind of life. But fortune decreed it otherwise. The father of the brothers was a wealthy merchant, who was determined to make an elder son, and he accordingly left the bulk of his property, except some trifling bequests to his daughter Sophia (Randulph's mother) and Trussell, to his first-born Abel. Abel, however, behaved very handsomely upon the occasion. He instantly made over to his brother what he considered his rightful share of the property, and to his sister another division. In neither case did the gift prosper. Trussell soon squandered away all his modicum in gaming and every other sort of extravagance, while Sophia's portion was dissipated, though in a different way, by her thoughtless and improvident husband. There are, indeed, so many ways of getting rid of money, that it is difficult to say which is the most expeditious; nor would it be easy to tell whether Trussell or his sister soonest got rid of their brother's bounty. A small sum had been settled upon Mrs. Crew by her father, at the time of her marriage, and on this she now lived. Completely reduced in circumstances, Trussell was thrown upon his brother, who very kindly received him, but compelled him to live in his own quiet manner. This did not suit the more