" "This is very
mysterious," thought John, as he closed to the drawing-room door; and
he related what he thought to my lady's maid, when he returned to the
servants' hall. "You are, no conjurer, John," said Mrs. Margaret, with
an oblique inclination of the head, half amorous and half conceited--"the
old lady's will has been signed and sealed these three years; I was
present when it was made--ay, and I signed it too, and what's more, I
knows all its contents; there are some people in the world (viewing
herself in an opposite looking-glass) who may be very differently
circumstanced some day or other." John's heart had long felt a sort of
fluttering inclination to unburthen itself, by linking destinies with
the merry Mrs. Margaret; the prospect of a handsome legacy, or perhaps
an annuity, gave an additional spur to John's affectionate feelings, and
that night he resolved to put the question. All this Mrs. Margaret
had anticipated, and as she was now on the verge of forty, she very
prudently thought there was no time to lose. "They are a pair of
oddities," continued the waiting-maid; "I have sometimes surprised them
both crying, as if their hearts would break, over a new book: I suppose
they have got something very interesting, as my lady calls it and Mr.
Horatio is sermonizing as usual.
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