Leader (1850-1860), 10th August 1850, Edition Country of 1, Page 21

Page 21

21 of 24

Transcript
- Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
  
  Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
  
  The Unseen Witness. (Leaves From A Journ...
  
  " And , for Heaven ' s sake , petition Ann for a liberal allowance of bread and butter , will you ? " said Mr . Leslie . " I will , " replied my mistress ; and ringing for Sarah , she gave her both commissions .. "We are rather badly off , too , " she continued , " for Ann neglected to lay the cloth to-day , and Mr . Joddrell sent her away at a moment ' s notice . " " That ' s a very spirited proceeding on his part , " said Mr . Leslie . " He must have been very hard up for his dinner , surely . " "We had given her warning before , " rejoined my mistress , " her month was not up yet . "
  
  In the meantime Sarah brought the bread and butter , and whilst Mr . Leslie was making himself amends for his lost dinner , and my mistress was evidently listening for her husband ' s foot on the stairs , they heard the street door shut . I saw the colour come into her cheeks , for she suspected what it was ; but Mr . Leslie ate on with undisturbed complacence ; Mr . Joddrell ' s non-appearance not striking him as anything at all remarkable . My mistress , however , who interpreted the thing differently , was visibly uneasy , though she endeavoured to maintain the conversation on indifferent subjects ; and when Sarah came up to take away the things there was an expression in the girl ' s eyes , without any impertinence or familiarity , that seemed intended to hint that her master had gone out .
  
  " I ' ve brought you the song I mentioned , " said Mr . Leslie , " and I wish you would help me to find some music that would suit it . It is written by my poor friend that I told you of . " It was strange that Mr . Leslie did not observe the embarrassment of my mistress ' s manner ; but he was so preoccupied , first with his lost dinner and next with his song , that he perceived nothing of it ; so she followed him to the pianoforte , and they tried the words to various airs , till they found one to suit it ; and then Mr . Leslie sang it with great expression and tenderness ,
  
  she playing the accompaniment ; but her spirits were too weak for the ordeal . Her heart swelled under the restraint she had been imposing upon herself , till her feelings overcoming her pride , the tears began to fall upon the keys as she played ; and finding that the dikes were giving way , she stopped . " It ' s very foolish , " she said , " but I suppose it is the recollection of your friend ' s misfortune that renders the words so affecting to me . " But the flood-gates of her sorrow once opened the stream took its way . She placed her handkerchief to her eyes and sobbed outright .
  
  " I don't know whether to attribute this compliment to my singing or to my friend Elton ' s words , " said Mr . Leslie , who seemed confused by so unaccustomed an exhibition of feeling ; and was evidently beginning to think there must be some ulterior cause for it . " I think we had better not play any more , " she said , rising from the instrument , and making a strong effort to recover her composure . " I wonder what is become of Joddrell , " said Mr . Leslie . " Is he in his study ?" " lie was when I made the tea , " replied my mistress . " He said he was busy , and could not come up . "
  
  " I'll go down and see what lie ' s about , " answered Mr . Leslie , and with that lie left the room , and my mistress instantly retired to hers . " He ' s not there , " cried Mr . Leslie , returning ; " he must be gone out ; " but finding the room empty , he threw himself on the sofa , and took a book . For the first few minutes he turned over the leaves listlessly enough , clearly expecting Mrs . Joddrell's return ; but when a quarter of an hour had elapsed I observed that he was getting puzzled ; he looked and listened at every sound ; and , finally , throwing down the volume , lie rose and , after considering for a moment , took up his hat , and advanced towards the door . But , apparently thinking so unceremonious an exit might be misconstrued ,
  
  he stept back and rang the bell . " Will you tell your mistress that as I find Mr . Joddrell is out , I am going , " said he to Sarah , who presently returned with her " mistress ' s compliments , and as she did not feel very well she begged Mr . Leslie would excuse her . " Whereupon the young man went away , and I saw him walking up the street with his hands in his pockets and his head on his breast , at a very different pace to that he had arrived with . Immediately after he had passed Page ' s door I saw Mrs . Page ' s head protruding from the window , and in a few minutes more my master came out of their house , accompanied by Page himself . I confess I augured no good from this , for I had a notion that the Pages were no friends of my mistress . Mrs . P . did not like her because her husband admired her ; and Mr . P . did not like her because she did not admire him .
  
  Page and my master walked away through the street in close consultation , and I saw no more of them till my master came home , about half-past twelve . My mistress had been in bed since ten o ' clock , and I suppose she was asleep . At all events , no conversation passed between them . Neither was there any on the following day , nor for several succeeding days ; a few dry words about necessary matters was all the communication I observed between the husband and wife . " How long is this to last ? " said I to myself ; " and what has she done to merit his anger ? " for angry clearly enough he was .
  
  Mr . Leslie did not call either , and the only person that did was Mrs . Page ; and it was evident that she came out of curiosity . I saw that my mistress exerted herself to receive her as usual , but there was a peculiar sort of grave , reproving stiffness about the lady that made it no easy matter to get on with her , especially in Mrs . Joddrell ' s depressed state . She pursed up her mouth
  
  and distended her eyes , assuming altogether the air of a dragon of virtue , whilst my poor mistress , who was in reality as pure as she could be—and perhaps much more so—shrank blushing from her scrutiny , and could not disguise her uncomfortable feelings . I have observed that the consciousness of being suspected will often give sensitive people the appearance of guilt , whilst I have seen the really guilty brazen out an accusation or an imputation with a degree of insolent self-possession that , if it has not always convinced , has frequently succeeded in baffling their accusers . As soon as Mrs . Page was gone my mistress shut herself up in her own bedroom and had a hearty cry , after bidding Sarah not admit her again .
  
  At length , one day I saw Mr . Leslie coming through the street , and I was really rejoiced , thinking he was about to call ; but , to my disappointment , he only knocked and left a note , which he begged Sarah would deliver to my mistress . The good girl ran up with it directly , hoping , I am sure , that it might bring my mistress some comfort in her solitude ; for my master now never sat with her or walked with her ; so that her situation was most unpleasant . They only met at table ; and then nothing was said that could be avoided . The note was to the following effect : —
  
  " Dear Mrs . Joddrell , —The last time I was at your house , I fancied you met me with a welcome less cordial than usual . I imagined some little domestic embarras of the moment might have occasioned this coolness , but I begin to fear there was some deeper cause for it than I suspected . After an alienation so evident , that I was contemplating demanding an explanation of it , Mr . Joddrell has ended by cutting me altogether , and thus put it out of my power to make the enquiry I wished .
  
  " As , however closely I tax my memory , I cannot discover what offence I have given , I venture to address myself to you , hoping you will be kind enough to enlighten me with respect to the cause of this sudden termination of an intimacy that commenced with our boyhood , and which I trusted would have continued without interruption to the end of our lives . " In the meantime , believe me , dear Mrs . Joddrell , " With the most sincere respect and esteem , yours , " Mortimer Leslie . "
  
  I think this letter afforded my mistress some pleasure , for she read it over several times . She had , probably , been anxious to know in what relation her husband and Mr . Leslie were at present standing towards each other ; a circumstance that the silence of the one and the absence of the other had left her wholly ignorant of . When she had apparently fully possessed herself of the tone and bearing of the letter , she sat down to her desk and prepared to answer it . Her words were as follows : —
  
  "Dear Mr . Leslie , —You ask me a question I am unable to answer : Mr . Joddrell ' s conduct is as inexplicable to me as it is to you . All I know is , that his displeasure appears to date from the day he gave Ann her dismissal ; and it seems to have taken its rise in a conversation he had with her , in the course of which , I fear , she was extremely insolent and abusive . More than this I do not know , as he has never said a word to me
  
  on that subject , or , indeed , any other since . " I need not say that I am extremely sorry for this interruption to our intimacy ; but we must hope that the matter will be cleared up , and a better understanding prevail ere long . " In the meantime , believe me to remain , " Very truly yours , " Eliza Joddrell . "
  
  Having written and perused this letter , my mistress hastily tore it up , and wrote another , beginning , " Dear Sir , " and simply saying that she was wholly ignorant of any cause of coolness existing between her husband and Mr . L . But the second apparently pleasing her less than the first , she wrote a third in much the same terms as the original one , only omitting the words , " or indeed , any other , " a step I much approved .
  
  Aug. 10, 1850.] ©F>U $Lt&*Tt. 477
  
  Aug . 10 , 1850 . ] © f > U $ Lt &* tt . 477
  
  Ex Pede Herculem. Youn True Libro D'Oro ...
  
  EX PEDE HERCULEM . Youn true Libro d'Oro in our day is the list of testimonialists td a professor of ctmi cutting . Mr . Eisenberg and Mr . Levy vie with each other in the fulness and magnificence of their display . Princes , Dukes , Embassadors , Bishops , and Barons , emulate each other in the emphasis of their eulogium . But perhaps the most signal addition made to the list of Mr . Eisenberg—a cut above your mere Duke—is the name of Herbert Edwardes . Herbert is very emphatic . " Next to Sir Robert Peel , " snys the gallant mnjor , " Mr . Eisenberg claims the gratitude of England for repealing our oppressive cornlaws . " So the conqueror of the Indian tribes was conquered , by his own corns , and rescued only by Eisenberg .
  
  It is curious that a man of Edwardes ' s acumen docs not pcrcoivc how much more effectual a repeal than that of Eisenberg's would be the repeal of tight boots . Either the conqueror of the barbarian could not conquer his own love of a " neat boot , " or he quailed before the routine of his bootmaker . Allow your toes to spread freelyfor the stubbornest toe contracts , like a sensitive plant , from pressure at its tip—and the knuckles thereof will not revolt against the leather , and . grow hardened in their rising . But tho Peerage daily paraded in the proclamations of Eisenberg and his compeers attests the quasi Chinese style of self-nxutilatitm sought by our aristocracy .
Citation
- Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 10, 1850, page 21, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10081850/page/21/

On this page