Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1852-12-06
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ss b. VI A ia III - " . IL.
BY CHARLES DICKENS.
PART NINE.
CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XVIII.
TIE IRoNMAsrER.

THE IRoNMAsTER.
| Sir Leicester Dedlock has got the better, for
the time being, of the family govt; ard is once
more, in literal no less than in 6ouratiye nont
OF view, upon his legs. lie is at his place in Lin
colnshlre but the waters are on gain on the low
lying grounds, and The cold damp steals into Ches-
ney Void, though well defended, and exc into
Sir Leicester bones. The blazing fires of faggot
and coal-Dedlock timber and antediIuvan forest
that baze upon the broad wide hearths, and
wink in the twilight on the frovning woods, sui
len to see how trees are sacrificed do not exclude
the enemy The bot-water pipes that trail Them
selves all over the house, the cushioned doors and
windows. and the screens and curtain, fail 20
supply the fires deficiencies, ard to satisfy Sir
Lelcesters need Hence the fashionable ntelIi.
gence proclaims one morning to the listening
earth, that Lady DedoclS is expected shortly 10
return to town for few weeks.
1t is melancholy truth that even great men
have their poor relations. Indeed great men have
often more than their fair share of poor reIations
sinasmnch as very red blood of the superior ouaIi
ty, like inferior blood unlawlully shed. qciX cry
aloud, and iciH be heard. Sir Leicester's cons
ms, IN the remotest degree, are so many Murders.
In the respect that they will out Among whom
there are cousins who are so POOR, that one might
almost dare to think it would hnve been The han
pier Tor them never to have been plated 6nks up-
on the DedIock chain of gold, bnt TO have been
made oil common iron at first, and done base ser
vice.
Service, however with few limited reeerva-
tons: genteel but not pro6table), they NAV NOT
do, being of the Dedock dignity. So thew vi.it
their richer cousins, and get into debt when thew
can, and live but shabbHy when they can't, and
hnd-the women no husbands, and the men mo
wlves-and ride In borrowed carriges, and sit at
ieasts that are never Of their own making. and so
go through high life. The rich family SUN has
been divided by so many figures, and thew are
the something over that nobody knows what to do
with
Everybody on Sir Leicester Dedlock's side of
the question, and Of bis way of thinking would
appear to be his cousin more or less From NV
Lord Doodle through the Duke of Poodle. down to
Noodle, SIR Leicester, like glorious spider.
stretches his threads of relationships. But while
ne IS stately IN The couslnship of the Everybodys,
he Is a kind and generous man. according to his
dIgnied way, in the cousinshp of the Nobodys:
and at the present time. in despite of the damn,
ne stays out the visit Of several such cousins AZ
Chesney Void, with the cOnstancy ola MARTYR.
OF these, foremost in the fist rank stands Vol
umna Dedlock, young lady (of sixty). who ia
doubly highly related; having the honor to be a
poor relation, by the mothers side, to another
great family. Miss Voumnia dsplaA edo
nndrnms n eSaaHy houses, passed the twenty
wears of her existence between twenty ana iof'y
ina sufficiently agreeable manner Lapslng men
ont IF date and being considered to bore mankind
hv hor vocal nerforrnsnces in the Spanish lam
guage, retired to Bath; where she lives slen"
derly on an annual present from Sif Lelcesler'
anu Wt'e'+'~ makes occasional RESTRICTIONS IN
the country houses or rrer -vvet7rrss H7tsoa !..a
extensive acquaintance at Bath among appalling
old gentlemen with thin legs und nankeen trow
i r ~ M, ottx
But she is little dreaded elsewhere, in consequence
Of an indiscreet profusion in the article of rouge,
and persstency in an obsolete pearl necklace like
a rosary of little brd's-eggs.
In any country in wholesome state, Volumnia
would be a clear case for the pension list. Efforts
have been made to get her on IT; and when Will
liam Rutfy came in, it was fully expected that
her name would be put down for couple of hun
bred year. But William Buffy somehow dis
covered, contrary to all expectation, that these
were not times when 1t could be done; and this
was the first clear indication Sir Leicester Ded-
lock had conveyed to HIM, that the country
going to pieces.
There is likewise the Honorable Bob Stables,
who can make warm nashes with the skill of a
veterinary surgeon, and is better shot than most
camekeepers He has been for some time par
teularly DESTROYS to his country in post of
good emoIuments, unaccompanied by any trouble
or responsibility. In well regulated body poll
tic, this natural desire on the part of spirited
Young gentleman so highly connected, would be
speedily recognized; but somehow William Buffy
found when he came in, that these were not times
in which he could manage that little matter,
either: and this was the second indication Sir Lei
cester Dedioclx had conveyed to hlm, that the
country was going to pieces.
The rest Of the cousins are ladies aad gentle
men of various ages and capacities; the major
part, amiahe and sensible, and likely to have
done well enough in life if they could have over
come their cousinship; as ii is, they are almost
all little worsed by it, and lounge in purposeless
and listless paths, and seem to be quite as much
at loss how to dispose of themselves, as any body
else can be how 10 dispose of them.
In this society, and where not, my Lady Ded-
lock regns supreme Beautiful, elegant, accom-
plished and powerful in her little world (for the
world of fashion does not stretch all the way from
pole to pole), her influence in Sir Leicester's
house, however naughty and indifferent her man
ner. is greatly to improve it and refine il. The
cousins, even those older cousins who were par
alyzed when Sir Leicester married her, do her
feudal homage; and the Honorable Bob Stables
daily repeats to some chosen person, between
breakfast and lunch. his favorite original remark
that she is the best groomed woman in the whole
stud
Such the guests in the long drawing~room at
Chesney Void this dismal night. when the step
on the Ghosts Walk (inaudible here. however)
might be the step of deceased cousin shut out
| in the cold 1t is near bedtime. Bedroom fires
blaze brightly all over the house, raising ghosts
| of grim furniture on wall and ceiling. Bedroom
| candlesticks bristle on the distant table by the
door, aud cousins yawn ottomans. Cousins
| at The piano, cousins ut the soda-waier tray,
| cousins rlsag from the card table, cousins gather
| ed round the fire. Standing on one side Of his
own peculiar FIRE flor there are two, Sir Leicester.
| On the opposite side of the broad hearth, my
| Lady at her table. Volumnia, as one of the more
privileged cousins, in luxurious chair betw cen
them. Sir Leicester glancing, with magnificent
displeasure, at the rouge and the pearl necklace.
Il occasionally meet on my staircase here.
drawls Volumnia, whose thoughts perhaps are
already hopping up it to bed, after a long even-
ing Of very desultory talk, 'one Of the prelties
girls, think, tina, ever saw in my iie.'
"A protege Of my lady's, observes Sir Leices-