Mr.
Constantine is of a nature not to be hidden by obscurity; his
character will defend itself; and all that I have to add is this, I
do not release you from your promise. Could a woman transact the
affair with propriety, I would not keep yon to so disagreeable an
office; but I have passed my word to myself that I will neither
slumber nor sleep till he is out of prison." She put a pocket-book
into Pembroke's hand, and added, "Take that, my clear cousin; and
without suffering a syllable to transpire by which he may suspect who
served him, accomplish what I have desired, acting by the memorandum
you will find within."
"I will obey you, Mary," returned he; "but I am sorry that such rare
enthusiasm was not awakened by a worthier object. When you see me
again, I hope I shall be enabled to say that your ill-placed
generosity is satisfied."
"Fie, nephew, fie!" cried Miss Dorothy; "I could not have supposed
you capable of conferring a favor so ungraciously."
Pained at what he called the obstinate infatuation of Miss Beaufort,
and if possible more chagrined by what he considered the blind and
absurd encouragement of his aunt, Mr. Somerset lost the whole of her
last reprimand in his hurry to quit the room.
Disturbed, displeased, and anxious, he stepped into a hackney-coach;
and ordering it to drive to Newgate, called on the way at Lincoln's
Inn, to take up a confidential clerk of his father's law-agent there,
determining by his assistance to go through the business without
exposing himself to any interview with a man whom he believed to be
an artful and unprincipled villain.
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