Son and Heir
Sir Jasper was always the best of masters to me and to all of us;and he had that kind of way with him, masterful and gentle at thesame time, like as if he was kind to you for his own pleasure, andordering you about for your own good, that I believe any of us wouldhave cut our hand off at the wrist if he had told us to.Lady Breynton had been dead this many a year. She hadn't come to herhusband with her hands empty. They say that Sir Jasper had been verywild in his youth, and that my Lady's money had come in very handyto pull the old place together again. She worshipped the ground SirJasper walked on, as most women did that he ever said a kind wordto. But it never seemed to me that he took to her as much as youmight have expected a warm-hearted gentleman like him to do. But hetook to her baby wonderful. I was nurse to that baby from the first,and a fine handsome little chap he was, and when my Lady died he waswholly given over to my care. And I loved the child; indeed, I didlove him, and should have loved him to the end but for one thing,and that comes in its own place in my story. But even those wholoved young Jasper best couldn't help seeing he hadn't his father'swinning ways. And when he grew up to man's estate, he was as wild ashis father had been before him. But his wild ways were the ways thatmake young men enemies, not friends, and out of all that came to thehouse, for the hunting, or the shooting, or what not, I used tothink there wasn't one would have held out a hand to my young masterif he had been in want of it. And yet I loved him because I hadbrought him up, and I never had a child of my own. I never wished tobe married, but I used to wish that little Jasper had been my ownchild. I could have had an authority over him then that I hadn't ashis nurse, and perhaps it might have all turned out differently.There were many tales about Sir Jasper, but I didn't think it was myplace to listen to them.Only, when it's your own eyes, it's different, and I couldn't helpseeing how like young Robert, the under-gamekeeper, was to theFamily. He had their black, curly hair, and merry Irish eyes, andhe, if you please, had just Sir Jasper's winning ways.Why he was taken on as gamekeeper no one could make out, for when hefirst came up to the Hall to ask the master for a job, they tell mehe knew no more of gamekeeping than I do of Latin. Young Robert wasa steady chap, and used to read and write of an evening instead ofspending a jolly hour or two at the Dove and Branch, as most youngfellows do, and as, indeed, my young master did too often. And SirJasper, he gave him books without end and good advice, and wouldhave him so often about him he set everybody's tongue wagging to atune more merry than wise. And young Robert loved the master, ofcourse. Who didn't?Well, there came a day when the Lord above saw fit to put out thesunshine like as if it had been a bedroom candle; for Sir Jasper, hewas brought back from the hunting-field with his back broke.I always take a pleasure in remembering that I was with him to thelast, and did everything that could be done for him with my ownhands. He lingered two days, and then he died.It was the hour before the dawn, when there is always a wind, nomatter how still the night, a chilly wind that seems to find out themarrow of your bones, and if you are nursing sick folk, you bank upthe fire high and watch them extra careful till the sun gets up.Sir Jasper opened his eyes and looked at me--oh! so kindly. Itbrings tears into my eyes when I think of it. 'Nelly,' he says, 'Iknow I can trust you.'And I said, 'Yes, sir.' And so he could, whatever it might havebeen. What happened afterwards wasn't my fault, and couldn't havebeen guarded against.'Then go,' he said, 'to my old secretaire and open it.'And I did. There was rows of pigeon-holes inside, and little drawerswith brass knobs.'You take hold of the third knob from the right, Nelly,' said he.'Don't pull it; give it a twist round.' I did, and lo and behold! alittle drawer jumped out at me from quite another part of thesecretaire.'You see what's in it, Nelly?' says he.It was a green leather case tied round with a bit of faded ribbon.'Now, what I want you to do,' he says, 'is to lay that beside mewhen it's all over. I have always had my doubts about the deadsleeping so quiet as some folks say. But I think I shall sleep ifyou lay that beside me, for I am very tired, Nelly,' he said, 'verytired.'Then I went back to his bed, where he lay looking quite calm andcomfortable.'The end has come very suddenly,' says he; 'but it is best thisway.'Then we was both quiet a bit.'I may be wrong,' he went on presently, his face quite straight, buta laugh in his blue eye. 'I may be wrong, Nelly, but I think youwould like to kiss me before I die--I know well enough you'll do itafter.'And when he said that, I was glad I had never kissed another man.And soon after that, it being the coldest hour of all the night, hemoved his head on his pillow and said--'I'm off now, Nelly, but you needn't wake the doctors. It's verydark outside. Hand me out, my girl, hand me out.' So I gave him myhand, and he died holding it. Whether I grieved much or little overmy old master is no one's business but my own. I went about thehouse, and I did my duty--ever since Master Jasper had been grown upI had been housekeeper. I did my duty, I say, and before the coffinlid was screwed down I laid that green leather case under the shroudby my master's side; and just as I had done it I turned roundfeeling that some one was in the room, and there stood young MasterJasper at the door looking at me.'All's ready now,' I said to the undertaker's men, and called themin, and young Master Jasper, he followed me along the passage. 'Whatwere you doing?''I was putting something in the master's coffin he told me to putthere.''What was it?' he asked, very sharp and sudden.'How should I know?' says I. 'It's in a case. It may be some oldletter or a lock of hair as belonged to your mother.''Come into my room,' he said, and I followed him in. He looked verypale and anxious, and when he'd shut the door he spoke--'Look here, Nelly, I'm going to trust you. My father was very angrywith me about some little follies of mine, and he told me the othernight he had left a good slice of the estate away from me. Do youthink that packet you put in the coffin had anything to do with it?''Good Lord, bless your soul, sir, no,' I said. 'That was no will orlawyer's letters, it was but some little token of remembrance he setstore by.''Thanks, Nelly, that was all I wanted to know.'No one ever knows who tells these things, but it had leaked outsomehow that that slice of the estate was to belong to young Robertthe gamekeeper, and you may be sure the tongues went wagging above abit. But it seemed to me, if it was so, my master was right to makea proper provision for Robert as well as for Jasper. However, nobodycould be sure of anything until after the funeral.The doctor was staying in the house, and master's younger brother,besides the lawyer and young Master Jasper; so I had many things tosee to, and ought to have been tired enough to get to sleep easy thenight before he was buried. But somehow I couldn't sleep. I couldn'thelp thinking of my master as I had known him all these years. Himbeing always so gentle and so kind, and so light-hearted, it didn'tseem likely he could have had young Robert on his conscience all thetime; and yet what was I to think? And then my poor Jasper--I say'poor,' but I never loved and pitied him less than I did that night.He had lost such a father, and he could go troubling about whetherhe had got the whole estate or not. So I lay awake, and I thought ofthe coffin lying between its burning tapers in the great bedroom,and I wished they had not screwed him down, for then I could havegone, late as it was, and had another look at my master's face. Andas I lay it seemed to me that I heard a door opened, and then astep, and then a key turned. Now, the master never locked his door,so the key of that room turned rusty in the lock, and before I hadtime to think more than that I was out of bed and in mydressing-gown, creeping along the passage. Sure enough, my master'sdoor was open, as I saw by the streak of light across the corridor.I walked softly on my bare feet, and no one could have heard me goalong the thick carpet. When I got to the door, I saw that what Ihad been trying not to think of was really true. Master Jasper wasthere taking the screws out of his father's coffin to see what wasin that green leather case.I stood there and looked. I could not have moved, not for theQueen's crown, if it had been offered me then and there. One afteranother he took the screws out and laid them on the little bedsidetable, where the master used to keep his pistols of a night. Whenall the screws was out he lifted the lid in both his arms and set iton the bed, where it lay looking like another coffin. Then he beganto search for what I had put in beside his father.Now, I may be a heartless woman, and I suppose I am, or how accountfor it? But when I saw my young master go to his father's coffinlike that, and begin to serve his own interest and his owncuriosity, every spark of love I had ever had for the boy died out,and I cared no more for him than if he had been the first comer.If he had kissed his father, or so much as looked kindly at the deadface in the coffin, it would have been different. But he hadn't alook or a thought to spare for him as gave him life, and hadhumoured and spoiled and petted and made much of him all his twentyyears. Not a thought for his father; all his thoughts was to findout what his father hadn't wished him to know.Now I was feeling set that Master Jasper should never know what wasin that green leather case, and I cared no more for what he thoughtor what he felt than I should have done if he had been a commonthief as, God forgive me, he was in my eyes at that hour. So I creptbehind him softly, softly, an inch at a time, till I got to where Icould see the coffin; and if you'll believe a foolish old woman, Ikept looking at that dead face till I nigh forgot what I was therefor. And while I was standing mazed like and stupid, young MasterJasper had got out the green case, and was turning over what was init in his hands.I got him by the two elbows behind, and he started like a horse thathas never felt even the whip will do at the spur's touch. Almost atthe same time my heart came leaping into my mouth, and if ever awoman nearly died of fright, I was that woman, for some one behindme put a hand on my shoulder and said, 'What's all this?'Young Sir Jasper and I both turned sharp. It was the doctor. Hisears were as quick as mine, and he had heard the key too, I suppose.Anyhow, there he was, and he picked up the papers young Sir Jasperhad let fall, and says he, 'I will deal with these, young gentleman.Go you to your room.' And Sir Jasper, like a kicked hound, went.Then I began to tell my share in that night's work. But the doctorstopped me, for he had seen me and watched me all along. Then hestood by the coffin, and went through what was in the little leathercase.'I must keep these now,' he said, 'but you shall keep your promiseand put them beside him before he is buried.'And the next day, before the funeral, I went alone and saw my masteragain, and gave him his little case back, and I thought I shouldhave liked him to know that I had done my best for him, but he couldnot have known that without knowing of what young Sir Jasper haddone, and that would have broken his heart; so when all's said anddone, perhaps it's as well the dead know nothing.And after the funeral we was all in the library to hear the willread, and the lawyer he read out that the personal property went toRobert the gamekeeper, and the entailed property would of course beyoung Sir Jasper's.And young Sir Jasper, oh that ever I should have called him myboy!--he rose up in his place and said that his father was a dotingold fool and out of his mind, and he would have the law of them,anyhow, and my late dear master not yet turned of fifty! And thenthe doctor got up and he said--'Stop a bit, young man; I have a word or two to say here.'And he up and told before all the folks there straight out what hadpassed last night, and how young Sir Jasper had willed to rob hisfather's coffin.'Now, you'll want to know what was in the little green leathercase,' he says at the end. 'And it was this,--a lock of hair and awedding ring, and a marriage certificate, and a baptism certificate;and you, Jasper, are but the son by a second marriage; and SirRobert, I congratulate you, for you are come to your own.''Do I get nothing, then?' shrieked young Sir Jasper, trembling likea woman, and with the devil looking out of his eyes.'Your father intended you to have the entailed estates, right orwrong; that was his choice. But you chose to know what he wished tohide from you, and now you know that the entailed estates belong toyour brother.''But the personalty?''You forget,' said the doctor, rubbing his hands, with a sour smile,'that your father provided for that in the will to which you so muchobjected.''Then, curse his memory and curse you,' cried Jasper, and flung outof the house; nor have I ever seen him again, though he did setlawyer folk to work in London to drive Sir Robert out of his ownplace. But to no purpose.And Sir Robert, he lives in the old house, and is loved as hisfather was before him by all he says a kind word to, and his kindwords are many.And to me he is all that I used to wish the boy Jasper might be, andhe has a reason for loving me which Jasper never had.For he said to me when he first spoke to me after his father'sfuneral--'My mother was a farmer's girl,' he said, 'and your father was afarmer, so I feel we come, as it were, of one blood; and besidesthat, I know who my father's friends were. I never forget thosethings.'I still live on as a housekeeper at the Hall. My master left me nomoney, but he bade his heir keep me on in my old place. I am glad tothink that he did not choose to leave me money, but instead thegreat picture of himself that hung in the Hall. It hangs in my roomnow, and looks down on me as I write.
zpostcode
Recruit
weather
mreligion
Yellowpages
sport
constellation
shopping
name
game
directory
literature
Word
tour
furnish
Lottery
tftnews
lyrics
News
digital
car
dir
Edu
Finance
