The Merchant Prince and his Heir; or, the triumphs of duty : a tale for the world

Front matter

THE MERCHANT PRINCE AND HIS HEIR. THE MERCHANT PRINCE AND HIS HEIR : OK, THE TRIUMPHS OF DUTY: A TALE POE THE WORLD. BV THE AUTHOR OF GEKALDINE, A TALE OF CONSCIENCE, ETC. DUBLIN: JAMES DUFFY, 7, WELLINGTON-QUAY, AND 22 PATERNOSTER-ROW, LONDON. 1863. [THE RIGHT OF TRANSLATION 18 RESERVED.] DUBLIN: grittirir bji $. gl. 0'SodU anft Son, fi -fe 7, Gt. Brunswick-st. CONTENTS. CHAP. PACE I. — The Grandsire and his heir 1 II.— The Family History 7 III.— The Manor Court House 12 IV. — Indecision ........ 19 V.— Mysteries and encounters 27 VI. — Consolations ........ 34 VII. — Announcements ....... 40 VIII. — Diving into secrets ...... 45 IX. — More mysterious secrets ..... 52 X. — The welcome home ...... 59 XI. — Past and future ... .... 64 XII.— The ball 71 XIII. — Partings and meetings ...... 79 XIV. — Diplomacy and war ...... 87 XV. — Tdte-a-tete conversations ..... 92 XVI. — A painful discovery 101 XVII.— Machinations . 107 XVIII.— A syren 115 XIX.— Fidelity in adversity 124 XX.— The arbitration 133 XXI.— The witnesses 139 XXII.— Some happy days 146 XXIII. — Equivocal proof s of friendship .... 154 XXIV. — Continued plots of ambition . . . . • 165 XXV.— Sympathy and fidelity 174 XXVI. — Discussions on practical morality .... 180 b CONTENTS.

CHAP. PARK XXVII.— A mortuary chamber 187 XXVIII. — Still the mortuary chamber 193 XXIX. — Family sorrows and sympathies .... 202 XXX. — A false and fatal system in love affairs . . . 207 XXXI.— Further illustrations 214 XXXIL— Regret and hope 221 XXXIII.— Responsibilities of servants 229 XXXIV.— The visitors at Marsden Park . . . .233 XXXV— A little light in the horizon 240 XXXVI. — Beneficial arrangements ..... 246 XXXVII. — Matrimonial arrangements, aud a death . . 250 XXXVIII. --A funeral, and the marriage of Arthur and Violet 256 XXXIX.— Long-deferred hopes fulfilled . . . .259 XL. — A happy household ...... 264 XLI.— The family jewels 272 XL1I. — Types and antitypes 276 XLIII. — The manuscript in the casket .... 280 XLI V. — Friendships for heaven and those for hell . .286 XLV— The Lord of the Manor 291 XLVI. — Diplomacy at Vienna — Life at the old Manor House 296 XL VII.— High Mass and a betrothal 300 XLVIII.— Partings alleviated 304 XL1X. — Promotion, reuuion, and other consolations . . THE MERCHANT PRINCE.

Chapter I. The Grandsire And His Heir

It was a fine evening in the cheerful busy city of Marseilles, on the 10th of June, 1850. The windows of a certain first floor were thrown open on a balcony commanding a view of the ever-varying scene of the port. The hum of a peaceful multitude, recreating after the toils of the day, gave additional value to the luxury of a solitude seldom enjoyed, while something more than these external aids to happiness — something of the sunshine of the breast, outshining the luminary of the skies — -was reflected on the countenance of a fine old gentleman of sixty-seven, as alone, yet expect ing a beloved guest, he sat in his arm-chair beside a small table, on which were lying several parchments and papers. The dining-table, at a little distance, was arranged for two persons, and in a short time the well-known step was heard, and affectionate greetings were exchanged between the grandfather and his only grandson and heir Arthur Bryce.

The grandsire's welcome was in pure English, to which the youth responded with perfect facility, but with a slight French accent. "My sixty-seventh birth-day passed off well and merrily, did it not, Arthur?" "Indeed it did, sir; and I have to return you many thanks for having chosen your dinner guests to please me. not yourself. What nonsense we must all have talked, we young Marseillais, in our supposed wisdom, when the good wine had circulated a little !" " Yes, you did all talk nonsense, to my notions. Young France as well as young Italy is to me like children blowing bubbles." " And yet, sir, you sat leaning back in your chair, and smiling as benevolently as you are doing now; you did not even shrug your shoulders." " My dear boy, the torrent of nationalities must rush on at present. The result will sober you all.

It is in vain for old people to endeavour to convince you young ones by theory. One theory, until put to the test, may be as good as another. Neither will an appeal to history avail ; for great men, great actions, great sacrifices, have adorned each opposed side. The best state of mind to maintain," added the venerable merchant of Marseilles, " and which I think my own, is to have a confirmed preference, from having seen and proved what is best; to remain faithful to this conviction, yet to believe that an equally intelligent and honest mind may, by the same test of thought and experience, have arrived at a totally opposite conclusion. The true test of a conviction is to make willing sacrifices for it. I have done this. The last thirty years of my life have been a sacrifice to my convictions, social and political."

At this final and solemn assertion, the youno- Arthur gazed astonished at his grandfather. Respect prevented his openly laughing, but a smile curled his mouth, and twinkled in his dark eye as he replied: " Pardon me, sir, if I find it difficult to conceive how a much-respected and threefold millionaire, whose every speculation has been successful during these thirty years, can speak of the spirit of sacrifice ; nay, of the fact of sacrifice, through all that golden time." " You speak thus," said Mr. Bryce, " because that which is a sacrifice to one man is not so to another. But now come to dinner. Let us defer the long explanation I am prepared to give you until after the restoration we both require.'' The removal of a step or two brought the loving pair to the now well-furnished table, where for more than half an hour more good things were eaten than said ; and when the conversation recommenced, it fell more to young Arthur than to his grandfather to enliven it by sportive anecdotes and projects for the coming autumn.

At length, however, Mr. Bryce, starting from some deep musings, returned with a resolute step to his former corner, saying: " Come, Arthur, this is the hour long appointed for making a disclosure to you — an astounding disclosure. To defer it would be weakness. Sit down — sit down here." Arthur, recalled from an excursion he had been planning aloud, half playfully — half in earnest, to the bay of Naples, now looked with sudden alarm at his grandfather. The young man had not been displeased to be known throughout the city, as the sole heir to the immense sum realised by the prosperous industry of his grandfather. He now concluded that some heavy loss was to be revealed to him, aDd he said faintly: " To what extent, sir?" " Ha !" cried Mr. Bryce, " you think me a ruined man? No! my boy, not that; quite the reverse."

" Quite the reverse !" repeated Arthur. " Oh, well, sir," added he, smiling, " I have no objection to your being a fourfold millionaire." " You mercantile fellow," said his grandfather, " tho disclosure I am about to make to you, has nothing to do with money-. Look here," continued he, unrolling a parchment, on which were long lists of names, coats of arms, coronets, crests, and supporters; in fact, all the usual routine of a long and noble pedigree. Arthur looked, and felt both relieved and disappointed. *' Oh, sir*!" cried he,-" if you did but know how little I care for such things. I acknowledge no nobility, but nobility of soul. I am aware that you are originally of good family, and have some claim or other to an estate in England, but I hope you do not require me to study all this grand family history?"

" I require you merely to read it through," said Mr. Bryce. Arthur glanced at some historical names at the top of the page, then rapidly descended to the last of them — the Earl of Charleton — saying, " What have we to do with this last personage?" " He has the honor of addressing you," replied thegrand father, smiling, as he bowed to the astonished grandson. " You, the Earl of Charleton ?' " Exactly so." " Then who am I ?" " Since the death of your father, in 1832, you are Viscount Stanmore." " Well, sir, I mean my lord, I am, indeed, as much surprised, and my mind thrown into as great a state of chaos as you could possibly have anticipated. And is Bryce an imagined name?" " No ; it became one of the family names, though not the primary one, at the marriage of my father, your great grandfather, to Augusta Bryce, an heiress.

The old family name is Woolton." " Then my second and supposed baptismal name is really that of my family, and I am now, as ever, Arthur Dieudonne Woolton Bryce or Arthur Dieu clonne Bryce Woolton?" " The latter will be, henceforth, the more correct," replied the grandfather. And now a long pause ensued. The fact just an nounced to Arthur was sufficient to occupy his mind without reference to past or future. In these first moments he did not perceive any weight of responsibility lowering in the distance, from the acquisition of high rank in addition to the immense fortune to which he was the heir — no sacrifice appeared to beckon to him, with conscience sternly urging him on — still a feeling of antagonism against the aristocracy made him nourish a sort of proud disdain of that which had just been announced to him.

" Well, Arthur," at length inquired Lord Charleton, " have you no inquiries to make ? Can you now form some idea of what I implied by the term ' sacrifice,' in speaking of the thirty years I have spent as a merchant in Marseilles ?" " Perhaps so, my dear grandfather ; but I cannot feel as you do all at once. I have been perfectly happy hitherto in the rank of a well-educated commoner, and it will remain to be proved whether I shall gain in true happiness by the change." " True happiness," said Lord Charleton, " is the reward of conscientious duty. It follows our having done our duty in that state of life to which it has pleased God to call us." " lt is now explained to me," said Arthur, " why, in spite of the railleries of the other merchants in Mar seilles, you have given me an education so much more varied and extensive than that of my associates here."

" And surely you do not consider your education to be finished," continued Lord Charleton. " You are not yet eighteen ; you must now give three years to whatever finishing studies you may require, including a classical tour of Greece and Italy, and you will, at one-and-twenty, be fully able to compete with your peers, although the shades of neither Eton nor Oxford have nourished your early lore." " I should like to study in Paris," said Arthur. " I can trust you ; you may go." " Thank you," cried Arthur, brightly. " I begin to like the good news well enough ; I shall be very happy. But I should now like to hear your history, my dear grandfather, and that of my parents, if you are pre pared to relate them to me ?" " Sorrow may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning," said Lord Charleton, musingly. " You are that ' morning' to me, my dear boy."

Chapter II. The Family History

"I was born in the year 1783, in the ancient family mansion of Woolton Court in Westmorland; a lovely spot on one of those smaller and sequestered lakes unknown to ordinary tourists. All around the shores of the lake had been hereditary property since the battle of Agincourt. I was born unexpectedly, to the great joy of my parents, when they were advanced in life ; other children followed me, but did not survive their birth. My father had two brothers, the elder of whom, having expected to succeed to everything, had no scruple in contracting debts, and even in bringing a mortgage on the estate which, at the death of my father, was discovered to the great disadvantage of the family. My unsuspecting father had left these two uncles my sole guardians, and when I came of age the fatal truth became known to me that the family had become bankrupt in funds, in land, in reputation, in honor — in all that nobility holds most dear."

"In all that an honest man of any rank holds most dear," interrupted the grandson. " These two scamps of uncles are not calculated to warm my feeling towards this grand hereditary line since the battle of Agincourt." "The hereditary lands of Woolton date from the battle of Agincourt," explained the grandfather ; " for they were then given and held of the crown under the great Charter, for valiant deeds on the battle field, by Philip de Voulton, first Lord Woolton, but the family can be traced in perfect descent to Gaston de Voulton Chatelain de Gours in Dauphins, before the conquest. However, as you do not yet care for these researches into antiquity, I will proceed to recount, as briefly as possible, the departure of both uncles for America ; a departure made so secretly that fresh dis honor fell on the family.

I had but one friend after the death of my excellent mother; but he was a true one, and from a class of men who have great power for good or ill. This friend was the family lawyer. My mother's jointure had been the half of her own fortune. This alone was rescued from the wreck of all else. I retired at the age of two-and-twenty to Caen in Normandy, retaining my title, and with sufficient to support it in a provincial city. I married the daughter of the Baron de Rambullier6, with whom I lived happily during the reign of the first Napoleon, and whose family I accompanied to Paris on the return of the royal Bourbons in 1814. My fortune, however, having been all placed in the French funds, was gone. I had three children, I was in the vigour of manhood, I saw around me those of the first nobility, who, during their emigration, had laboured with the pen, the pencil, or as teachers of French.

I was inspired to emulate these examples of cheerful courage. I became Eng lish clerk in a great mercantile house in Paris, con nected with this in Marseilles. I dropped, however, my title, and bore my mother's name, that by which I have been so long known. After some years I was offered a partnership in the house here, which I accepted, and by patient industry and an undeviating adherence to a prudent line of action I have become rich. The senior partners have been some years dead. I effected a separation of risks from the house in Paris, and asso ciated no partner to myself here. I remain the sole possessor of wealth securely funded in the Bank of England, and have already signed the papers which, in six months hence, transfer, for an immense sum, the vessels, the warehouses, and the credit of Mr. Bryce, general merchant, to Messrs. Luisond, brothers, our old acquaintances here in Marseilles.

This is a rapid sketch of my own life. Details can be given at leisure. You naturally wish to hear something of your immediate parents, and I turn from myself to them. " Your father was the only one of my three children who survived his infancy, and he, to my sorrow, was of an extremely delicate constitution. He had a private tutor, and studied only as his health permitted. At the age of three-and-twenty, a marriage took place between him and the daughter of the Count and Countess de Courtrai, a younger branch of the great Ducal House of Courtrai. It was all arranged for him in the French manner. He was married by his proper name and title, in the Church of St. Sulpice in Paris, and then remained with the parents of his bride at Versailles, during the first year of their marriage ; which, alas ! was the last of his life.

He had thus stayed in the centre of France, instead of returning to Marseilles, on account of a projected visit to England, should he happily expect to become a father. He knew my ever strengthening hopes of finally regaining the estate of my ancestors, and often filially lamented that his weak health prevented his sharing in the labours to which, for that end, I had devoted my life. It was in the autumn of 1832, that I received the joyful news of the intended journey to England ; but this was followed, a week after, by a letter from Calais, announcing the opinion of the medical friend who had travelled with the young couple, that, in the precarious state of my son's health, he ought not to risk the passage to Dover. I instantly started by the mail for Paris, and thence to Calais, where I arrived just in time to witness his edi fying death, and receive his desolate widow to my heart.

My son was buried in the country of his birth, but his unborn child must see the light in England, or be an alien. You are aware that such is the law for the second generation born abroad. I did not appeal in vain to the courage of your young mother. Although but seventeen she had given tokens of the heroic power of her principle of duty. I bore her from the grave of her husband to your birth-place, in the outskirts of Dover. Her mother, Madame de Courtrai, had joined her but two days when, in the midst of all our sorrow, you came, like a sunbeam, to cheer and console. Your mother rejoiced to give birth to an heir, but felt some natural regret that you bore but little resemblance, in those early days, to him she had lost ; while I, knowing the strength of constitution as well as firmness of mind of her who bore you, preferred to trace in your infant face the dark eye and determined little mouth of your mother, for by those tokens I felt more assurance of your being spared to reward my long labours.

From consideration for my daughter-in-law, I left her with her parents at Versailles and you with her, until your fourth year, when I fetched you both to my house here at Marseilles. During the week of convalescence at Dover I visited London, where I conferred with my ever-kind friend, Mr. Oldham, then a very aged man. He resigned some valuable documents to me, and intro- THB FAMILY HISTORY. duced his nephew, whom he had made acquainted with all the affairs of the Woolton property. It is with this nephew I have corresponded during the last seventeen years. He is considerably my junior, and therefore I trust will be sufficiently active to advise and befriend you, when you, Arthur, in your turn, shall visit Eng land." During Lord Charleton's narrative, his grandson had drawn from a hidden fold near his heart a double portrait suspended by a chain round his neck.

These miniatures on ivory, worn since childhood, were now gazed on with fresh and tearful interest. They had been bridal presents exchanged between the young bride groom of three-and-twenty and his little bride of sixteen. Arthur perceived, as if for the first time, in his father's countenance high intellectual capacity, without physical power to render it available ; something also of patient suffering and of a hope beyond this earth, gave a sacred character to the fair Anglo-Saxon head. Arthur pressed it reverentially to his lips, then turned his eyes on the bright, keen, impetuous mother, whom he could remember to have hugged and played with, and whom he had wept over with clamorous unappeas able sorrow. " How well she retained her youthful expression," said he, smiling. Then with a sudden gush of tears, " Oh ! how impossible it seems that some persons should ever die !"

Chapter III. The Old Manor Court-house

Three years after the disclosures made in our first chapters, our young hero, having finished with great success his studies in Paris, and his classical tour with a tutor, then visited England, in the spring of 1853. Some weeks were devoted to pleasant sight-seeing round the coast, some more to investigation of all the prin cipal dock-yards, harbours, and arsenals, then more weeks to manufactures and mining districts, and still Arthur was not wearied. England continued a land of poetry and romance in contrast to France, which being the country of all the prose reality of his life, he loved in a deep, earnest, and a practical manner, as the Arthur Bryce of Mar seilles. This name he was obliged still to retain in its simplicity, for reasons which will declare themselves in due time. London had been seen merely in passing from one railway station to another, but now he was to visit and reside for some months in our immense metropolis, where, after seeing with deliberate attention, the many objects of the great capital, he was to finish his educa tion by the study of as much law, as Mr. Oldham, the family lawyer, might judge proper.

This substantial elderly gentleman continued to be the only person to whom Arthur was permitted to give his confidence ; for Lord Charleton, anticipating the time when his grandson could select his young friends from h'is true position in life, bade him content himself for the present with guides, directors, inspectors, and all official persons; and, with the above exception, to outpour his feelings in letters to himself alone. Arthur had been residing in London about four months, when Mr. Oldham imparted to him that, after the most apparently capricious conduct, the present owner of Woolton Court seemed determined to dispose at once of the pro perty, and had requested Mr. Oldham, by letter, to go immediately to confer with him on the spot. " Now, sir," added Mr. Oldham, " I have written, in reply, that I will have the honor of w-aiting on Mr. Sanderson on the evening of the twenty-fifth of this month of August, and of remaining one whole day at Woolton Court.

That as his invitation was to remain ten days or a fortnight, to clear up some complicated affairs, with which request it was impossible for me to comply in my own person, I proposed bringing with me a gentleman who would remain to act for me, in all that Mr. Sanderson wished to intrust to my skill and zeal." " And that profound lawyer is Mr. Arthur Bryce?" said our hero, smiling. " It is," replied Mr. Oldham. " Your grandfather wishes you to see the place, and I think this appears a good opportunity. As for depth of law required in arranging Mr. Sanderson's papers, you have acquired knowledge more profound than those will require; besides, you can write and consult me about any difficulty that may prolong your stay. This is the 19th of the month. In six days, then, I shall have the honor of conducting you to Woolton."

Mr. Oldham departed, and Arthur soliloquised : " Yes, this is England ! romantic, dreary England ! What an unreal life mine is? Do I wish this to continue, or to end? -I know not? I may say with Hamlet, ' To be, or not to be, that is the question !' " A letter from Mr. Oldham to Mr. Bryce, senior, at Marseilles, imparted the approaching visit to Woolton Court. He thus concluded : " It is still quite as necessary as ever, to keep the secret of the name and history of him who wishes to possess the place. Mr. Sander son is one of those gentlemen, who have a jealous antipathy to those in a still higher class of society. He has also a nervous dread of being advised and persuaded into any measure; so that, however favor ably inclined he may be to a project, he will relinquish it if advised — still more if urged to remain constant to it.

I have fully apprized Mr. Arthur Bryce of this bias of character in the present owner of Woolton Court, &c." The next letter received by the venerable merchant of Marseilles was from Arthur, as follows: " My dear grandfather, to know that you will read with emotion the fact, that I am at Woolton Court, gives me a sympathetic feeling, from the reverence and affection I bear you. From your description, I have identified many parts of the house and grounds. It all strikes me as solidly grand, and noble, and worthy of you. As for myself, as connected with this place, I cannot believe it. The future is too uncertain — the present too unreal. But I must relate the facts of our arrival. Mr. Oldham and ' Mr. Arthur Bryce, an intelligent lawyer,' recommended by him, travelled together from London by railway, as far as Congledon.

Thence in a vehicle, misnamed a ' Fly,' to the entrance lodge of Woolton Court. We had ascended gradually for the last mile or more, and now we descended still more slowly the inner side of the mountain, or hill, into the little valley of Woolton — a scene of great beauty. Alternate rock and verdure; higher mountains in the distance; the peaceful little lake, nestling in the depths; a great variety of fine timber; and, abruptly rising from the valley, on a platform rock of its own, the mansion of Woolton Court. The natural causeway from this rock to the side of the mountain, which we were descending, brought us on level ground, and our poor little fly then flew with some speed, till we found ourselves before the huge portals of the outer arch way of the court. We were expected, and imme diately admitted, through inner courts, and halls, and ante-rooms, to the comfortable little parlour, wherein sate the domestic trio of Mr. Sanderson and his two sisters.

Rather pleasant and kind people, especially the elder sister. But there is in the house a most charming person ; a daughter or sister of the Marquis of Seaham, who lives near, and comes from time to time to Woolton, to copy some of the pictures in this gallery, for her own family seat in Cheshire. The cottage they have on Windermere, is, I hear, very well worth seeing. You have, I think, mentioned that family when talking of old times. The family name is Chamberlayne. I leave Mr. Oldham to report pro gress, should there be any, towards the re-possession of this place. The conversation last night seemed favorable; but this morning Mr. Oldham's looks did not betoken much advance; indeed, he was so inwardly fretted that he was compelled to vent it on his dry toast at breakfast, by scraping and stabbing it, as though it had been the effigy of Mr. Sanderson's irre solute self-will.

In a few days I will write again, &c.' On the third morning of Arthur's visit to Woolton, he rose early, and with some vague feeling of expected pleasure in viewing the living as well as departed beauties in the great picture gallery, bent his steps that way. He perceived Lady Clara Chamberlayne already seated at her easel, and he gradually made his way towards her, preserving, however, after the first compli ments of respectful greeting, a profound silence. Lady Clara had passed that first bloom which is supposed to hover between fifteen and five-and-twenty, but a consequent increase of intelligence and dignity, had given to her beauty a still greater charm. Amongst her many talents the art of portrait painting in oils had been one of the most cultivated ; and Arthur beheld with admiration the fidelity with which she conveyed to her own canvass the lovely original, a Lady Sybilla Woolton, in the costume and style of Sir Peter Lely.

At length the naturally polite inquiry of whether his admiring gaze on her work were intrusive occurred to Arthur, and received the courteous reply, that it would be very acceptable to an amateur to hear the observations of one who, from his visits to the foreign galleries, and the instructions he had received from the first masters, must be a good judge of pictures, especially heads. Then followed an animated conversation on the comparative merits of the galleries of Dresden and Florence, in the first of which Lady Clara had studied, in the latter, Arthur. At length he ventured to observe that, beautiful as was the picture her ladyship was copying of the fair Sybilla, there were others in the gallery that he would have preferred to possess. "I do not copy the Lady Sybilla because she is beautiful, but because she belongs to our family as well as to the Wooltons, and ought to hang in our gallery at Marsden.

She is labelled here the Lady Sybilla Wool ton, for Sir Peter Lely must have painted her when very young, She afterwards married my great grandfather, the fifth Marquis of Seaham, and there is a melancholy pleasure in securing that all shall not be forgotten of the Earls of Charleton." " That is very kind, very generous in you, Lady Clara," exclaimed the young man, energetically. " You are not one to trample on the fallen. The line of Woolton can boast of dauntless courage, of heroic en durance. I have heard of the last of that race — the last known in England. My grandfather was intimate with him abroad. Oh! how I wish you knew him." Lady Clara looked at the speaker with a smile of intelligence, then laying aside her brush, she gave a small book open into his hand, saying, as she pointed to the various names of the owner on the blank leaf.