The Professor | Page 5

do something towards the
support of their sister's orphan children, he would expose their
relentless and malignant conduct towards that sister, and do his best to
turn the circumstances against Mr. Seacombe's election. That
gentleman and Lord T. knew well enough that the Crimsworths were an
unscrupulous and determined race; they knew also that they had
influence in the borough of X----; and, making a virtue of necessity,
they consented to defray the expenses of my education. I was sent to
Eton, where I remained ten years, during which space of time Edward

and I never met. He, when he grew up, entered into trade, and pursued
his calling with such diligence, ability, and success, that now, in his
thirtieth year, he was fast making a fortune. Of this I was apprised by
the occasional short letters I received from him, some three or four
times a year; which said letters never concluded without some
expression of determined enmity against the house of Seacombe, and
some reproach to me for living, as he said, on the bounty of that house.
At first, while still in boyhood, I could not understand why, as I had no
parents, I should not be indebted to my uncles Tynedale and Seacombe
for my education; but as I grew up, and heard by degrees of the
persevering hostility, the hatred till death evinced by them against my
father--of the sufferings of my mother--of all the wrongs, in short, of
our house--then did I conceive shame of the dependence in which I
lived, and form a resolution no more to take bread from hands which
had refused to minister to the necessities of my dying mother. It was by
these feelings I was influenced when I refused the Rectory of
Seacombe, and the union with one of my patrician cousins.
"An irreparable breach thus being effected between my uncles and
myself, I wrote to Edward; told him what had occurred, and informed
him of my intention to follow his steps and be a tradesman. I asked,
moreover, if he could give me employment. His answer expressed no
approbation of my conduct, but he said I might come down to ----shire,
if I liked, and he would 'see what could be done in the way of
furnishing me with work.' I repressed all--even mental comment on his
note--packed my trunk and carpet-bag, and started for the North
directly.
"After two days' travelling (railroads were not then in existence) I
arrived, one wet October afternoon, in the town of X----. I had always
understood that Edward lived in this town, but on inquiry I found that it
was only Mr. Crimsworth's mill and warehouse which were situated in
the smoky atmosphere of Bigben Close; his RESIDENCE lay four
miles out, in the country.
"It was late in the evening when I alighted at the gates of the habitation
designated to me as my brother's. As I advanced up the avenue, I could

see through the shades of twilight, and the dark gloomy mists which
deepened those shades, that the house was large, and the grounds
surrounding it sufficiently spacious. I paused a moment on the lawn in
front, and leaning my back against a tall tree which rose in the centre, I
gazed with interest on the exterior of Crimsworth Hall.
"Edward is rich," thought I to myself. 'I believed him to be doing
well--but I did not know he was master of a mansion like this.' Cutting
short all marvelling; speculation, conjecture, &c., I advanced to the
front door and rang. A man-servant opened it--I announced myself--he
relieved me of my wet cloak and carpet-bag, and ushered me into a
room furnished as a library, where there was a bright fire and candles
burning on the table; he informed me that his master was not yet
returned from X---- market, but that he would certainly be at home in
the course of half an hour.
"Being left to myself, I took the stuffed easy chair, covered with red
morocco, which stood by the fireside, and while my eyes watched the
flames dart from the glowing coals, and the cinders fall at intervals on
the hearth, my mind busied itself in conjectures concerning the meeting
about to take place. Amidst much that was doubtful in the subject of
these conjectures, there was one thing tolerably certain--I was in no
danger of encountering severe disappointment; from this, the
moderation of my expectations guaranteed me. I anticipated no
overflowings of fraternal tenderness; Edward's letters had always been
such as to prevent the engendering or harbouring of delusions of this
sort. Still, as I sat awaiting his arrival, I felt eager--very eager--I cannot
tell you why; my hand, so utterly a stranger to the grasp of a kindred
hand, clenched itself to repress