Old Lady Mary | Page 5

"She will go off in a moment when
nobody is looking for it, and that poor child will be left destitute."
It was all he could do not to go back and take her by her fragile old
shoulders and force her to sign and seal at once. But then he knew very
well that as soon as he found himself in her presence, he would of
necessity be obliged to subdue his impatience, and be once more civil,
very civil, and try to suggest and insinuate the duty which he dared not
force upon her. And it was very clear that till she pleased she would
take no hint. He supposed it must be that strange reluctance to part with
their power which is said to be common to old people, or else that
horror of death, and determination to keep it at arm's length, which is
also common. Thus he did as spectators are so apt to do, he forced a
meaning and motive into what had no motive at all, and imagined Lady
Mary, the kindest of women, to be of purpose and intention risking the
future of the girl whom she had brought up, and whom she loved,--not
with passion, indeed, or anxiety, but with tender benevolence; a theory
which was as false as anything could be.
That evening in her room, Lady Mary, in a very cheerful mood, sat by a
little bright unnecessary fire, with her writing-book before her, waiting
till she should be sleepy. It was the only point in which she was a little
hard upon her maid, who in every other respect was the best-treated of
servants. Lady Mary, as it happened, had often no inclination for bed

till the night was far advanced. She slept little, as is common enough at
her age. She was in her warm wadded dressing-gown, an article in
which she still showed certain traces (which were indeed visible in all
she wore) of her ancient beauty, with her white hair becomingly
arranged under a cap of cambric and lace. At the last moment, when
she had been ready to step into bed, she had changed her mind, and told
Jervis that she would write a letter or two first. And she had written her
letters, but still felt no inclination to sleep. Then there fluttered across
her memory somehow the conversation she had held with Mr. Furnival
in the morning. It would be amusing, she thought, to cheat him out of
some of those six-and-eightpences he pretended to think so much of. It
would be still more amusing, next time the subject of her will was
recurred to, to give his arm a little tap with her fan, and say, "Oh, that is
all settled, months ago." She laughed to herself at this, and took out a
fresh sheet of paper. It was a little jest that pleased her.
"Do you think there is any one up yet, Jervis, except you and me?" she
said to the maid. Jervis hesitated a little, and then said that she believed
Mr. Brown had not gone to bed yet; for he had been going over the
cellar, and was making up his accounts. Jervis was so explanatory that
her mistress divined what was meant. "I suppose I have been spoiling
sport, keeping you here," she said good-humoredly; for it was well
known that Miss Jervis and Mr. Brown were engaged, and that they
were only waiting (everybody knew but Lady Mary, who never
suspected it) the death of their mistress, to set up a lodging-house in
Jermyn Street, where they fully intended to make their fortune. "Then
go," Lady Mary said, "and call Brown. I have a little business paper to
write, and you must both witness my signature." She laughed to herself
a little as she said this, thinking how she would steel a march on Mr.
Furnival. "I give, and bequeath," she said to herself playfully, after
Jervis had hurried away. She fully intended to leave both of these good
servants something, but then she recollected that people who are
interested in a will cannot sign as witnesses. "What does it matter?" she
said to herself gayly; "If it ever should be wanted, Mary would see to
that." Accordingly she dashed off, in her pretty, old-fashioned
handwriting, which was very angular and pointed, as was the fashion in
her day, and still very clear, though slightly tremulous, a few lines, in

which, remembering playfully Mr. Furnival's recommendation of "few
words," she left to little Mary all she possessed, adding, by the
prompting of that recollection about the witnesses, "She will take care
of the servants." It filled one side only of the large sheet of notepaper,
which was what Lady Mary habitually used. Brown, introduced timidly
by Jervis,