University of Virginia Library

100. CHAPTER C.

MR. LEEK SPECULATES UPON THE BARON'S MATRIMONIAL INTENTIONS.

Mr. Leek pondered deeply over what the baron had said to him regarding his intention to take unto himself a wife, and viewed the resolution in all its bearing, with a view of discovering in what way such a thing could be turned to account, and whether that account might not be managed to his own advantage, which was a matter than Mr. Leek very often considered of paramount importance to himself, as being the pivot upon which things moved.

In Mr. Leek was certainly centered all those notions which usually arise from a desire to benefit onesself, and causing, as far as in him lay, all events to circle around him when they least appeared to do so.

"I must make this move of the baron's matrimonial alliance redound to my own advantage in some way or other, though I cannot precisely say in what way; but, if I have any hand in it, there must be a way, of that there can be no doubt; the only thing is to discover the way."

Mr. Leek set himself steadily to consider the subject in all its various bearings, determined he would not give up the chase until he had discovered what was to be done.

"I have it —I have it!" he muttered —"I have it; who can suggest anything better? I must have something to do in the suggestive style. I will persuade the baron to invite some one with whom I can have a few words in private. I will have some few words in the way of a bargain with them.

"Yes, yes; I will do my best to make somebody else's fortune; but at the same time they must do something for me in return. I must have a quid for my quo, as the parsons say. They cannot preach the gospel without they have a full stomach; for who can be pious and hungry at the same moment? I can't, my thoughts would be diverted; but the case holds good in every relation in life; even though whom I would benefit must benefit me, else I lose the natural desire I have to benefit them. This reciprocity is the motto I like to apply in cases of this kind, and very proper too."

Thus did Mr. Leek argue the matter within his own mind, and then, having thus made a resolution, his next step was to consider how he should put it in practice —how he should be able to realize his hopes, and give life and being to the suggestions of his inventive faculties, which were usually of a practical nature.

"Well, well," he muttered. "Let me see —it's difficult to say who's who now-a-days; but that must not cause me to lose a chance, and I think I can make pretty sure of my bargain. I think, if I undertake anything, I can go through it and not fail. I will have so much of security as will prove a bargain, and thus bring shame and disgrace upon them if they refuse to make good the conditions."

Thus Mr. Leek had an eye to the future, and the contingencies that might, under different circumstances, arise by any possibility.

Men like Mr. Leek do not often fail in their endeavours when they take a comprehensive view of any affair in which they might engage, and thus, by contemplating it in all its various phases, insure, as much as may be, success to all their schemes.

The next consideration that presented itself to Mr. Leek was the party. It was all very well to chalk out a plan of action —the mode in which a thing should be done; but it was another to adapt the tools to the occasion, and make them subservient to the purpose he had in view.

He did not choose his tools first, and then adapt his work; no, he saw his object and adapted the means to the end; and, in considering this part of the affair, he came to the following resolution.

"I think I know who to pitch upon," muttered Mr. Leek to himself, in a thoughtful tone. "Aye, she has several children, and is a widow, too. I know she is comparatively poor, and not too much troubled with compunction, or any absurd notions of delicacy upon this matter. I can tell her what I mean better than I could to a good many. Yes, I will go and visit her. I can come to an understanding at once."

This was satisfactory, and he arose to quit the house, and proceeded to the residence of Mrs. Williams, the lady whose accommodating disposition, and whose desire to see her daughters well provided for, would cause her to bargain about matters that many would think too serious and too much a matter of the affections to be permitted to be looked upon in the light of a mere affair of pounds, shillings, and pence.

Now, Mrs. Williams was a lady who possessed something very much like a genteel independence, which is a very mysterious matter, and one which puzzled many people to divine. No one can understand what a genteel independence means.

It is one of those things that enables people to flit about, apparently comfortable in circumstances, with genteel clothes, and fingers on which nor marks of toil are observable, but which are white and soft, through often lean attenuated, in consequence of privations.

However, to return to Mrs. Williams. She was a widow, had several marriageable daughters, and was most anxious that they should be settled out in life, so that she might be sure of their future welfare. She was a sharp-sighted, clever woman in some respects; and, in others, she was as women usually are, which is not saying much.

The house the widow occupied was on a pattern of neatness and gentility, and ornamented with woman's work from one end to the other; the ladies were accomplished and well educated, and possessed of some personal charms; and they were not altogether unacquainted with the fact.

"Yes, yes," he muttered; "I will go to Mrs. Williams, and there we can come to an immediate understanding. Helen Williams will, I think, stand a very good chance indeed. I must go and have some conversation with her, and learn her sentiments before I break ground with him; else she may try something without my aid on her own account."

This was a laudable object, and was but, as he said, merely putting another person in the way of making a fortune, and putting something into his own pocket at the same time; which was doing two good things at once, charitable acts of the first class, because charity begins at home, and then it gives to one's neighbours when we have a surplus.

It did not take Mr. Leek very long to reach the widow's house; and it was not without some degree of confidence that he rang the bell for admission; and, when a servant appeared, he said, —

"Is Mrs. Williams at home?"

"Yes, sir, she is," answered the drudge; "do you want her?"

"I wish to see her, else I should not have come here," replied Mr. Leek. "Tell her Mr. Leek desires to speak with her."

"Very well, sir," said the girl, who left the hall, and then walked to the parlour, in which Mrs. Williams was seated, and overheard all that was said in the passage.

"Mr. Leek, ma'am," said the girl.

"Tell Mr. Leek to walk in," said the lady; and, in due form, Mr. Leek did walk in, introduced by the servant, who soon departed, leaving the two worthies in each other's presence.

"Good morning, Mrs. Williams."

"And good morning, Mr. Leek; this visit is unexpected, but valued. I am happy to see you. Will you be seated?"

"Thank you," said Leek, "I will. Unexpected incidents give rise to other unexpected incidents; so, you see, one event gives rise to another, and they follow each other in rapid succession."

"So they do," said Mrs. Williams.

"Well," said Mr. Leek, as if greatly relieved in mind, giving sound to something very much like a sigh, "and how so you find yourself this variable weather —eh, Mrs. Williams?"

"As well as can be expected, you know, at my time of life."

"Your time of life! Upon my word, you are a young woman; and, if I might hazard an opinion, one with no small share of charms; indeed, you are decidedly a beautiful woman, Mrs. Williams."

"Ah! Mr. Leek, I though you were too much a man of business to be given to flattery; but I am afraid of you."

"There is no need, ma'am, I assure you. But how are your lovely daughters? —in the enjoyment of good health and spirits?"

"Yes, they are very well, I thank you, Mr. Leek —very well indeed; they usually are; they are considered to enjoy very good health."

"That is a good thing, I am sure —a very good thing, upon my word; they usually are well?"

"Yes; they have very little that ails them."

"It will be a blessing to you when they are comfortably provisioned off, under the protection of some one who will seek their future happiness as he own," said Mr. Leek.

"Why, as to that," said Mrs. Williams, "I am not so anxious as many might be. I love to see my children round about me; I love to be in their company, and to know that no one can illuse them."

"That is very true," said Mr. Leek.

"And yet, I have, I must say, at times, a wish that I might, before I die, see them comfortably settled in life, and their future happiness secured."

"Certainly; it is quite a mother's wish that it should be so; that her children might enter the world, and that they might be provided for and subject to none of the disagreeable contingencies of life."

"Those are my feelings."

"I thought as much, Mrs. Williams. Have you heard of the Kershaws lately?" inquired Mr. Leek.

"Yes; I did hear there was a marriage in the family: pray is it true?"

"It is."

"A good marriage?"

"Yes, I believe a very good marriage; one in which a great deal of money is floating about from one to the other; indeed, I hear the gentleman is very rich."

"How did they become acquainted with such a man? I did not think they had any friends who could have brought them into contact with such a person."

"A friend," said Leek.

"Indeed! Why, as I said, I did not know they possessed such friends; but still, I suppose, there was some drawback —either low-bred contracted friendships, or some circumstances or other, that caused him to settle there."

"I believe not," said Leek.

"And what is he then?" inquired Mrs. Williams.

"Why, he was a stronger in those parts; but he had an excellent fortune, and was, according to all accounts, a very excellent match."

"How came they to find him out? who introduced them to him? I should like to know such a person."

"Why, some friend."

"How very disinterested of that friend," said Mrs. Williams.

"Not quite. It was a mutual understanding, I believe."

"How?"

"Why, thus; the friend wanted money, and the lady wanted a husband for her daughter."

"Well, I dare say she did, and I should have thought she was like to have waited long enough."

"And so she would; but an active man of business may have the means of pushing a family's fortune, if they will but make it worth his while; it was in this manner the Kershaws have made their fortune."

"And what did they do?"

"Why, they pushed a daughter into certain company into which she was introduced by the man of business; not by himself, but he managed it so that she was introduced, in a manner that made it appear as if they had no connection, and then he could exert himself in another manner, and so contrived to serve them by spreading favourable reports."

"And that's how Mary Kershaw got her husband, is it?" inquired Mrs. Williams, with a serious air.

"Yes, it is, indeed."

"How very immoral!"

"Eh?"

"How very immoral of a mother speculating in matrimonial matters for her daughter. How could she expect that she could procure happiness for her, when she uses such means?"

"What better could she use? You mistake the motive of the affair altogether, Mrs. Williams; give me leave to say you do."

"Indeed."

"Yes, decidedly. Thus, you don't attempt to buy a daughter's happiness; you only pay an agent; that is all. But it can be no crime that that agent is engaged upon matters connected with the happiness of your daughter, which is the great object of a mother's care."

"Certainly —certainly; how plain all that is," said Mrs. Williams; "but I can't think it is exactly what I should do myself."

"Perhaps not. But I have exactly such a chance, at this very moment."

"You, Mr. Leek?"

"Yes, I. I have the means, I believe, of obtaining a good fortune for the daughter of a very respectable person, of the first respectability, and with natural advantages in her favour. Such a one, if it were worth my while to lose time in carrying such an affair —"

"Why, then, the matter looks a little different to what it did, and certainly who could object to do what was just and right?"

"Exactly. Now, if you were desirous of seeing your daughter Helen, for instance, comfortably provided for, what would you give —making it a suppositious case —what would you give to see your daughter happy and comfortable for life, with a good home over her head?"

"A good deal."

"What?"

"I cannot say; but, of course, that would depend much upon the value of such a prize; but I would not hesitate at a trifle in such a matter as that, come what may."

"Well —well, that is really the best way to consider the affair in all its various branches; you become more satisfied in the end. Now, do you really think you would be able to tolerate such an attempt to benefit yourself and daughter?"

"I do."

"Will you enter into particulars?"

"Yes, Mr. Leek; whenever you please. I am willing to attend to your proposal, and will be bound to anything I may say; for, in matters of this kind, I must consider anything one may say or undertake, as a debt of honour."

"Exactly. But what we agree to now we must put in black and white, because, by-and-bye, we may not think of it so well as we should when we see it drawn up before one."

"Agreed. But what of this person?"

"Why, I think, if we were to agree, you would find this gentleman very rich and munificent, and living in a princely style; he is, in fact, a man of rank —of title, in fact."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, it is, I assure you, because I know him, and have had business matters to do with him; and, though a correct man, he is not at all nice about matters in which money is the chief ingredient. He pays eight hundred a year for rent, so you may guess he is not at all unlikely to give your daughter a handsome settlement."

"If he will have her."

"Exactly; if he have her; there is the contingency, of course, which, however, cannot affect you."

"Yes, it must, since my daughter does not obtain her husband."

"And you pay no money. If the benefit is contingent to you, it is to me also. I do not wish to bind you to anything that will cause you to be a loser under any circumstances."

"Very well," said Mrs. Williams. "Say what you please; there is pen, ink, and paper; make it out, and I will sign any memorandum you may please, provided it be of the complexion you have mentioned."

"I wish for no other."

Mr. Leek, accordingly, sat down near a table, and produced an agreement, which was, to give him a certain sum of money, provided Helen Williams was married to the baron.

"And who is he, my dear Mr. Leek?" said the lady.

"There," said Leek, "read that, and you will see his name."

And, as he spoke, he pushed the memorandum towards her, and she took it up and read it carefully over, and when she had so done, she signed it, and returned it, saying, —

"So he is a baron."

"Yes; I told you he was a man of rank and title."

"You did; and where will he live?"

"At Anderbury House."

"A fine place; I know it. A splendid and princely place it is, too. He must have a large fortune there. It will be a splendid match for Helen. I wonder if there be any prospect of success; it appears almost too great a catch."

"I should say there was every prospect of success."

"But we must not let Helen know anything of our compact. I know her feelings so well, that I am fully persuaded that she would not acquiesce in the arrangement at all."

"Certainly; it may for ever remain our own secret, with which no human being need be acquainted."

"That is precisely what I wish; but now how are we to manage the introduction?"

"That will be easy enough."

"I am glad of it; but how is it to be managed at all?"

"Thus: the baron will give grand entertainments, and as he knows I am very well acquainted with the generality of the gentry about, he has asked me to point out those whom he might safely invite to his splendid banquets."

"Then you will have the kindness to invite us," said Mrs. Williams. "I see through it now. Ay, a very good plan. Then you can say everything that is necessary."

"To be sure I can, and will," said Leek.

"Well, I am glad you have called about this to-day, for we have had some little scheme in view, but unknown to the principal party concerned; however, as this one is in view, I shall prosecute no other."

"It would be dangerous to attempt two such speculations at once, else he would be unlikely to fulfil a promise even after he had gone some way towards doing so."

"I would run no risk in landing such a prize," said Mrs. Williams, who began to have a keen relish for the chance they had in view, such as they had not yet heard of from any quarter.

"Then I may fully rely upon your putting Helen forward upon every occasion that may present itself?"

"You may."

"And in the meantime keep as much to yourself as you can. You must profess to be unbounded in your admiration for all he says or does, and then you will obtain a preference for companionship, and every little is an aid in such matters."

"I shall be careful."

"And in the meantime I will bid you good day," said Mr. Leek.

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