I felt as if the state of my mind could not but be evident
to him; and experienced in myself all the confusion which this discovery
was calculated to produce in him. I would have willingly excused myself
from meeting him; but that was impossible. At breakfast, after the usual salutations, nothing was said. For a time
I scarcely lifted my eyes from the table. Stealing a glance at Welbeck,
I discovered in his features nothing but his wonted gravity. He appeared
occupied with thoughts that had no relation to last night's adventure. This encouraged me; and I gradually recovered my composure. Their
inattention to me allowed me occasionally to throw scrutinizing and
comparing glances at the face of each. The relationship of parent and child is commonly discovered in the
visage; but the child may resemble either of its parents, yet have no
feature in common with both. Here outlines, surfaces, and hues were in
absolute contrariety. That kindred subsisted between them was possible,
notwithstanding this dissimilitude; but this circumstance contributed to
envenom my suspicions. Breakfast being finished, Welbeck cast an eye of invitation to the
piano-forte. The lady rose to comply with his request. My eye chanced
to be, at that moment, fixed on her. In stepping to the instrument, some
motion or appearance awakened a thought in my mind which affected my
feelings like the shock of an earthquake. I have too slight acquaintance with the history of the passions to truly
explain the emotion which now throbbed in my veins. I had been a
stranger to what is called love. From subsequent reflection, I have
contracted a suspicion that the sentiment with which I regarded this
lady was not untinctured from this source, and that hence arose the
turbulence of my feelings on observing what I construed into marks of
pregnancy. The evidence afforded me was slight; yet it exercised an
absolute sway over my belief. It was well that this suspicion had not been sooner excited. Now
civility did not require my stay in the apartment, and nothing but
flight could conceal the state of my mind. I hastened, therefore, to a
distance, and shrouded myself in the friendly secrecy of my own chamber. The constitution of my mind is doubtless singular and perverse; yet that
opinion, perhaps, is the fruit of my ignorance. It may by no means be
uncommon for men to _fashion_ their conclusions in opposition to
evidence and _probability_, and so as to feed their malice and subvert
their happiness. Thus it was, in an eminent degree, in my case. The
simple fact was connected, in my mind, with a train of the most hateful
consequences. The depravity of Welbeck was inferred from it. The charms
of this angelic woman were tarnished and withered. I had formerly
surveyed her as a precious and perfect monument, but now it was a scene
of ruin and blast. This had been a source of sufficient anguish; but this was not all. I
recollected that the claims of a parent had been urged. Will you believe
that these claims were now admitted, and that they heightened the
iniquity of Welbeck into the blackest and most stupendous of all crimes? These ideas were necessarily transient. Conclusions more conformable to
appearances succeeded. This lady might have been lately reduced to
widowhood. The recent loss of a beloved companion would sufficiently
account for her dejection, and make her present situation compatible
with duty. By this new train of ideas I was somewhat comforted. I saw the folly of
precipitate inferences and the injustice of my atrocious imputations,
and acquired some degree of patience in my present state of uncertainty. My heart was lightened of its wonted burden, and I laboured to invent
some harmless explication of the scene that I had witnessed the
preceding night. At dinner Welbeck appeared as usual, but not the lady. I ascribed her
absence to some casual indisposition, and ventured to inquire into the
state of her health. My companion said she was well, but that she had
left the city for a month or two, finding the heat of summer
inconvenient where she was. This was no unplausible reason for
retirement. A candid mind would have acquiesced in this representation,
and found in it nothing inconsistent with a supposition respecting the
cause of appearances favourable to her character; but otherwise was I
affected. The uneasiness which had flown for a moment returned, and I
sunk into gloomy silence. From this I was roused by my patron, who requested me to deliver a
billet, which he put into my hand, at the counting-house of Mr.
Thetford, and to bring him an answer. This message was speedily
performed. I entered a large building by the river-side. A spacious
apartment presented itself, well furnished with pipes and hogsheads. In
one corner was a smaller room, in which a gentleman was busy at writing. I advanced to the door of the room, but was there met by a young person,
who received my paper and delivered it to him within. I stood still at
the door; but was near enough to overhear what would pass between them. The letter was laid upon the desk, and presently he that sat at it
lifted his eyes and glanced at the superscription. He scarcely spoke
above a whisper; but his words, nevertheless, were clearly
distinguishable. I did not call to mind the sound of his voice, but his
words called up a train of recollections. "Lo!" said he, carelessly, "this from the _Nabob_!" An incident so slight as this was sufficient to open a spacious scene
of meditation. This little word, half whispered in a thoughtless mood,
was a key to unlock an extensive cabinet of secrets. Thetford was
probably indifferent whether his exclamation were overheard. Little did
he think on the inferences which would be built upon it. "The Nabob!" By this appellation had some one been denoted in the
chamber dialogue of which I had been an unsuspected auditor. The man who
pretended poverty, and yet gave proofs of inordinate wealth; whom it was
pardonable to defraud of thirty thousand dollars; first, because the
loss of that sum would be trivial to one opulent as he; and, secondly,
because he was imagined to have acquired this opulence by other than
honest methods. Instead of forthwith returning home, I wandered into the
fields, to indulge myself in the new thoughts which were produced by
this occurrence. I entertained no doubt that the person alluded to was my patron. No new
light was thrown upon his character; unless something were deducible
from the charge vaguely made, that his wealth was the fruit of illicit
practices. He was opulent, and the sources of his wealth were unknown,
if not to the rest of the community, at least to Thetford. But here had
a plot been laid. The fortune of Thetford's brother was to rise from the
success of artifices of which the credulity of Welbeck was to be the
victim. To detect and to counterwork this plot was obviously my duty. My
interference might now indeed be too late to be useful; but this was at
least to be ascertained by experiment.