from mr. horace holmcroft to miss grace roseberry.
“my dear miss roseberry— pray excuse my long silence. i have waited for mail after mail, in the hope of being able to send you some good news at last. it is useless to wait longer. my worst forebodings have been realized: my painful duty compels me to write a letter which will surprise and shock you.
“let me describe events in their order as they happened. in this way i may hope to gradually prepare your mind for what is to come.
“about three weeks after i wrote to you last, julian gray paid the penalty of his headlong rashness. i do not mean that he suffered any actual violence at the hands of the people among whom he had cast his lot. on the contrary, he succeeded, incredible as it may appear, in producing a favorable impression on the ruffians about him. as i understand it, they began by respecting his courage in venturing among them alone; and they ended in discovering that he was really interested in promoting their welfare. it is to the other peril, indicated in my last letter, that he has fallen a victim — the peril of disease. not long after he began his labors in the district fever broke out. we only heard that julian had been struck down by the epidemic when it was too late to remove him from the lodging that he occupied in the neighborhood. i made inquiries personally the moment the news reached us. the doctor in attendance refused to answer for his life.
“in this alarming state of things poor lady janet, impulsive and unreasonable as usual, insisted on leaving mablethorpe house and taking up her residence near her nephew.
“finding it impossible to persuade her of the folly of removing from home and its comforts at her age, i felt it my duty to accompany her. we found accommodation (such as it was) in a river-side inn, used by ship-captains and commercial travelers. i took it on myself to provide the best medical assistance, lady janet’s insane prejudices against doctors impelling her to leave this important part of the arrangements entirely in my hands.
“it is needless to weary you by entering into details on the subject of julian’s illness.
“the fever pursued the ordinary course, and was characterized by the usual intervals of delirium and exhaustion succeeding each other. subsequent events, which it is, unfortunately, necessary to relate to you, leave me no choice but to dwell (as briefly as possible) on the painful subject of the delirium. in other cases the wanderings of fever-stricken people present, i am told, a certain variety of range. in julian’s case they were limited to one topic. he talked incessantly of mercy merrick. his invariable petition to his medical attendants entreated them to send for her to nurse him. day and night that one idea was in his mind, and that one name on his lips.
“the doctors naturally made inquiries as to this absent person. i was obliged (in confidence) to state the circumstances to them plainly.
“the eminent physician whom i had called in to superintend the treatment behaved admirably. though he has risen from the lower order of the people, he has, strange to say, the instincts of a gentleman. he thoroughly understood our trying position, and felt all the importance of preventing such a person as mercy merrick from seizing the opportunity of intruding herself at the bedside. a soothing prescription (i have his own authority for saying it) was all that was required to meet the patient’s case. the local doctor, on the other hand, a young man (and evidently a red-hot radical), proved to be obstinate, and, considering his position, insolent as well. ‘i have nothing to do with the lady’s character, and with your opinion of it,’ he said to me. ‘i have only, to the best of my judgment, to point out to you the likeliest means of saving the patient’s life. our art is at the end of its resources. send for mercy merrick, no matter who she is or what she is. there is just a chance — especially if she proves to be a sensible person and a good nurse — that he may astonish you all by recognizing her. in that case only, his recovery is probable. if you persist in disregarding his entreaties, if you let the delirium go on for four-and-twenty hours more, he is a dead man.’
“lady janet was, most unluckily, present when this impudent opinion was delivered at the bedside.
“need i tell you the sequel? called upon to choose between the course indicated by a physician who is making his five thousand a year, and who is certain of the next medical baronetcy, and the advice volunteered by an obscure general practitioner at the east end of london, who is not making his five hundred a year — need i stop to inform you of her ladyship’s decision? you know her; and you will only too well understand that her next proceeding was to pay a third visit to the refuge.
“two hours later — i give you my word of honor i am not exaggerating — mercy merrick was established at julian’s bedside.
“the excuse, of course, was that it was her duty not to let any private scruples of her own stand in the way, when a medical authority had declared that she might save the patient’s life. you will not be surprised to hear that i withdrew from the scene. the physician followed my example — after having written his soothing prescription, and having been grossly insulted by the local practitioner’s refusing to make use of it. i went back in the doctor’s carriage. he spoke most feelingly and properly. without giving any positive opinion, i could see that he had abandoned all hope of julian’s recovery. ‘we are in the hands of providence, mr. holmcroft;’ those were his last words as he set me down at my mother’s door.
“i have hardly the heart to go on. if i studied my own wishes, i should feel inclined to stop here.
“let me, at least, hasten to the end. in two or three days’ time i received my first intelligence of the patient and his nurse. lady janet informed me that he had recognized her. when i heard this i felt prepared for what was to come. the next report announced that he was gaining strength, and the next that he was out of danger. upon this lady janet returned to mablethorpe house. i called there a week ago — and heard that he had been removed to the sea-side. i called yesterday — and received the latest information from her ladyship’s own lips. my pen almost refuses to write it. mercy merrick has consented to marry him!
“an outrage on society — that is how my mother and my sisters view it; that is how you will view it too. my mother has herself struck julian’s name off her invitation-list. the servants have their orders, if he presumes to call: ‘not at home.’
“i am unhappily only too certain that i am correct in writing to you of this disgraceful marriage as of a settled thing. lady janet went the length of showing me the letters — one from julian, the other from the woman herself. fancy mercy merrick in correspondence with lady janet roy! addressing her as ‘my dear lady janet,’ and signing, ‘yours affectionately!’
“i had not the patience to read either of the letters through. julian’s tone is the tone of a socialist; in my opinion his bishop ought to be informed of it. as for her she plays her part just as cleverly with her pen as she played it with her tongue. ‘i cannot disguise from myself that i am wrong in yielding. . . . sad forebodings fill my mind when i think of the future. . . . i feel as if the first contemptuous look that is cast at my husband will destroy my happiness, though it may not disturb him. . . . as long as i was parted from him i could control my own weakness, i could accept my hard lot. but how can i resist him after having watched for weeks at his bedside; after having seen his first smile, and heard his first grateful words t o me while i was slowly helping him back to life?’
“there is the tone which she takes through four closely written pages of nauseous humility and clap-trap sentiment! it is enough to make one despise women. thank god, there is the contrast at hand to remind me of what is due to the better few among the sex. i feel that my mother and my sisters are doubly precious to me now. may i add, on the side of consolation, that i prize with hardly inferior gratitude the privilege of corresponding with you?
“farewell for the present. i am too rudely shaken in my most cherished convictions, i am too depressed and disheartened, to write more. all good wishes go with you, dear miss roseberry, until we meet.
“most truly yours,
“horace holmcroft.”
