CHAPTER VIII.
The next afternoon the Campbells again joined Mrs. Meridith's fire-side,and after tea she began what she called the second part of heradventures.
"After running the round of polite life which I told you of last night,for three years, I was married at eighteen to Mr. Meridith, the nephewof my uncle, and the ostensible heir to his title and estate; butthe fortune belonging to it was known to be so reduced by my uncle'sexpenses, that the addition of mine was considered as a desirable thing,both by my uncle and aunt, and Mr. Meridith's mother. As for himself,I have reason to think he would have preferred me to any other woman,had I not been the heiress of Rosewood and Coombdale; but as he expectedthe Baronetcy, it was very convenient he should have a better fortuneto enable him to support it, than would be left him with the title. Wewere married but a twelvemonth before his mother died; and my aunt, ladyMeridith, soon after; and my uncle, Sir Robert, married again; and as itwas not unlikely he would now have a son, all thoughts of the title weregiven up, I may say without regret, by either of us. My uncle had takenno notice of us for some time; and though he was appointed joint trusteefor me, with a friend of my father's, he left every thing in his hands.By my father's will I was not to be put into possession of the estatestill I was twenty-five; nor was I allowed sufficient for us to live onin the style we had been accustomed to; particularly as my husband'sfortune was small, and from the hope of his possessing the estate ofhis uncle, his mother had not proposed his following any profession.His father had property both in the East and West-Indies, but since hisdeath the remittances had been entirely suspended; and Mrs. Meridithnot caring to encumber herself with any litigation respecting it, hadnot pursued her inquiries into the cause. My husband now proposed goingover to Jamaica, where the West-India estate lay, and to claim it forhimself, as he had sufficient documents to ascertain it as his property.I had one child at that time, and was large with another, but Idetermined to accompany him, and having settled every thing necessary inEngland, we embarked; intending to be absent not more than three years;and to return previous to my coming of age, I had one maid who attendedme, and an old servant, who had lived with the late Mrs. Meridith,determined to follow the fortunes of his master.
"From this time my sorrows began; my first child, then about fifteenmonths old, died on the voyage, and I was so ill myself, fromsea-sickness, that I feared I should not live to see the island we werebound to; and earnestly did I wish my husband had never thought of it.However we arrived there with the remains of my dear little boy, whomI had no sooner seen laid in the ground, than I was taken ill, and apremature birth was the consequence; but the child, which was anotherboy, lived, and I loved it with ten times more affection, from havinglost its brother, and its being born in a strange country. I was tooweak to nurse it myself, and a black woman was provided to suckle it.
"During this time my husband, who behaved to me with the fondestattention, found out the estate he was in search of, and was put inpossession of it without much trouble. We lived in a house which wassituated on it; my little boy grew, and I began to recover my healthand spirits, and to think that, strange as the people were around me, Icould live here happily enough till the time arrived for our return toEngland.
"Mr. Meridith every day brought me accounts of the flourishing stateof the plantation, and the number of his slaves; but though this wasthe case, we did not appear to receive much emolument from it. Theoverseer he employed told him there were great drawbacks, and that itwas necessary to use a stricter discipline towards the negroes on theirhaving changed their master. I must say I did not like his reasoning,or his manner, and could not be persuaded but that he was imposing onmy husband, to whom I mentioned my suspicions; but he thought themgroundless, and declared his intention of leaving him in charge of theestate, while he went to look after that in the East-Indies, and whichhe had been taught to believe was still more considerable. I gave upmy opinion to his, and offered to accompany him thither. At first herefused, but I could not bear to be left with my child in the care ofJackson, the man I thought so ill of; and therefore taking with us theblack woman, who was nearly as much attached to my child as myself, withthe English servants we brought over with us, we once more embarked on astormy sea. Having doubled the Cape of Good Hope, we arrived at Madrasafter a voyage of nearly four months, during which time we were in twoviolent gales of wind.
"My husband having introduced himself and me to some of our countrymen,settled me there, and I remained with my two female attendants, and theman-servant I mentioned before, while he proceeded to Bengal to identifyhis property; which he understood, by some writings in his possession,was in that province, and bordering on the river Ganges. Those of myown sex and country, with whom I became acquainted, endeavoured to makemy time pass as agreeably as they could in his absence; but I declinedgoing into any company; my little boy, and the prospect of anotherchild, engrossed all my attention, and many anxious hours I passed forthe fate of their father, who was absent four months, during which timeI heard from him as frequently as I could expect, but he did not recoverhis property here so easily as in Jamaica. While he was away, the blackwoman who nursed my little boy died, and her place was supplied byBella; she was recommended to me by a lady who had lately purchased her,and offered to give her up to me on the same terms. Bella had seen manyhardships, but her attention to poor Susee (the woman I lost) while shewas ill made me like her, and she soon gained my good opinion and alsomy affection.
"Mr. Meridith returned a few weeks before I presented him with adaughter, whom I was enabled to nurse myself, and I had now twochildren, one born in the West, and the other in the East-Indies; Ipressed them both to my bosom, and longed for the time when I shouldreturn to England, and live with them and their father, either atRosewood or Coombdale."
Mrs. Meridith sighed when she came to this part of her tale, and aresponsive sigh was uttered by all her auditors; who were too impatientto hear the rest of her eventful story, to interrupt the silence whichfor a moment or two prevailed; and she continued.
"After I was sufficiently recovered for him to leave me, Mr. Meridithagain went up the country, in hopes of bringing with him, on his return,a true estimate of his property, or an equivalent for it in specie.Myself and children waited his arrival for another four months, andwhen he came back, it was without any hope of recovering the estatefor which he had had so much fruitless trouble. A very small part of itcould be ascertained to be his; and for this he was content to receivea trifling sum compared to what he expected. But the negroes who wereemployed on the land concluded that he must have received much more, andwhen he had quitted the place to return home, they followed him, andafter murdering our old English servant, who had this time gone withhis master, they robbed him of all he had in his possession. Syphax wasone of these negroes, whom he had purchased but a few weeks before, andbrought away with him, having been pleased with his appearance; andthough he was evidently connected with these who followed them, andknew their intention, it was to _his_ interference that his master owedhis life: for, though he had been his property but a little while, hiskindness insensibly gained his affection; and, when the attack wasmade, Syphax joined those on his master's side. The negroes prevailedin gaining his property, but the eloquence of Syphax saved his life;and his contrition, and faithful attachment ever afterwards, made Mr.Meridith and me highly value him. I was saved the agony of hearing ofthis rencounter before my husband came back, or I should have sufferedgreatly. As it was, I was sufficiently happy in having him restored tome, though he came destitute of every thing but the clothes he wore, andbitterly lamenting the loss of our servant Wilson, whose death was notat first made known to me.
"'Our late voyage,' said he, 'has been entirely in vain; for I havegiven up the small part which I could obtain of the property, I believeto be mine, for a sum of money which I have been robbed of since; mypoor servant was killed in my defence; and I am returned to hear all myacquaintance blame me, for having attempted to recover what wa
s at sucha distance.'
"Syphax was in the room when he said this, and falling on his knees, heexclaimed, with the most affecting earnestness, 'Wilson _be_ dead, Sir;I will supply his place if you will let me; I have been very bad man,but the negroes did persuade me; I ashamed that ever I agree to them:but I did not know you a good master till I lived with you: I thoughtall white men bad men. They treat us ill, and we treat them ill, but_you_ never treat me ill. Wilson die for you, so will I: I keep yourlife as my own! and your's too, dear lady,' turning to me, 'and thechildren's for my master's sake. I will be your faithful servant.'
"I thanked him, and Mr. Meridith promised to consider him as such.
"'But will you return to the West-Indies with me?' said he; 'you say youhave no friends there.'
"'Nor none any where, Massa,' said he, very affectingly, 'for bad mendo not deserve to be called so. I have been very badly used in theWest-Indies, but I go any where with you, to the end of the world.'
"He was then dismissed, and I would have persuaded my husband toreturn immediately to England: 'within a twelvemonth,' said I, 'and Ishall be of age, and Rosewood and Coombdale will be your's. Surely onthese estates we can live comfortably. O let us go, and think no moreof property in the Indies, when we have so much at home.' He seemedaffected by my earnestness, but made it appear so very necessary that weshould once more visit Jamaica, and leave our property there in properhands, to send us the remittances, that I agreed to accompany himthither again, secretly hoping that a few months more would land us inEngland."
Mrs. Meridith now found herself fatigued, and begged to postpone theremainder of her story till the next evening.
"The worst is still to come," said she, "and I do not find myself equalto the recital;" and her friends were too attentive to her feelings tourge her to continue it. Anna related what had passed between Syphax andherself in the garden.
"And his distress lest you should reveal his story, Mamma," said she,"is now accounted for; but he need not have been afraid, for I think itdoes him credit rather than dishonour."
"Undoubtedly," said Mr. Campbell, "for though he had consented to theplan the negroes had proposed, his attachment to his master got thebetter of his submission to them."
The rest of the evening soon passed away, and Mrs. Meridith was morethan usually silent; she appeared melancholy, and as if the distressesshe had still to relate lay heavy at her heart.