The guests were now rapidly taking their departure, and the Warden and
Redclyffe were soon left alone in the antique hall, which now, in its
solitude, presented an aspect far different from the gay festivity of
an hour before; the duskiness up in the carved oaken beams seemed to
descend and fill the hall; and the remembrance of the feast was like
one of those that had taken place centuries ago, with which this was
now numbered, and growing ghostly, and faded, and sad, even as they had
long been.
"Well, my dear friend," said the Warden, stretching himself and
yawning, "it is over. Come into my study with me, and we will have a
devilled turkey-bone and a pint of sherry in peace and comfort."
"I fear I can make no figure at such a supper," said Redclyffe. "But I
admire your inexhaustibleness in being ready for midnight refreshment
after such a feast."
"Not a glass of good liquor has moistened my lips to-night," said the
Warden, "save and except such as was supplied by a decanter of water
made brown with toast; and such a sip as I took to the health of the
Queen, and another to that of the Ambassador to Hohen-Linden. It is the
only way, when a man has this vast labor of speechifying to do; and
indeed there is no possibility of keeping up a jolly countenance for
such a length of time except on toast-water."
They accordingly adjourned to the Warden's sanctum, where that worthy
dignitary seemed to enjoy himself over his sherry and cracked bones, in
a degree that he probably had not heretofore; while Redclyffe, whose
potations had been more liberal, and who was feverish and disturbed, tried the effect of a little brandy and soda-water. As often happens at such midnight symposiums, the two friends found themselves in a more kindly and confidential vein than had happened before, great as had been the kindness and confidence already grown up between them. Redclyffe told his friend of Lord Braithwaite's invitation, and of his own resolution to accept it.
"Why not? You will do well," said the Warden; "and you will find his
Lordship an accustomed host, and the old house most interesting. If he
knows the secrets of it himself, and will show them, they will be well
worth the seeing."
"I have had a scruple in accepting this invitation," said Redclyffe.
"I cannot see why," said the Warden. "I advise it by all means, since I
shall lose nothing by it myself, as it will not lop off any part of
your visit to me."
"My dear friend," said Redclyffe, irresistibly impelled to a confidence
which he had not meditated a moment before, "there is a foolish secret
which I must tell you, if you will listen to it; and which I have only
not revealed to you because it seemed to me foolish and dream-like; because, too, I am an American, and a democrat; because I am ashamed of myself and laugh at myself."
"Is it a long story?" asked the Warden.
"I can make it of any length, and almost any brevity," said Redclyffe.
"I will fill my pipe then," answered the Warden, "and listen at my
ease; and if, as you intimate, there prove to be any folly in it, I
will impute it all to the kindly freedom with which you have partaken
of our English hospitality, and forget it before to-morrow morning."
He settled himself in his easy-chair, in a most luxurious posture; and
Redclyffe, who felt a strange reluctance to reveal--for the first time
in his life--the shadowy hopes, if hopes they were, and purposes, if
such they could be called, with which he had amused himself so many
years, begun the story from almost the earliest period that he could
remember. He told even of his earliest recollection, with an old woman, in the almshouse, and how he had been found there by the Doctor, and educated by him, with all the hints and half-revelations that had been made to him. He described the singular character of the Doctor, his scientific pursuits, his evident accomplishments, his great abilities, his morbidness and melancholy, his moodiness, and finally his death, and the singular circumstances that accompanied it. The story took a considerable time to tell; and after its close, the Warden, who had only interrupted it by now and then a question to make it plainer, continued to smoke his pipe slowly and thoughtfully for a long while.