The Fortunate Mistress (Parts 1 and 2)

by Daniel Defoe

were going to dispose of."

  My lord looked somewhat staggered at what I had said, and pausing alittle while, answered, that he thought, and also looked upon it as agranted opinion, that after a man married a woman, all that she was inpossession of was his, excepting he had made a prior writing orsettlement to her of any part or all she was then possessed of."Besides, my lady," added he, "I have married both your children, andgiven them very noble fortunes, especially your son. I have also hadgreat losses in trade, both by sea and land, since you delivered yourfortune to me, and even at this time, notwithstanding the appearance wemake in the world, I am not worth a third of what I was when we came tosettle in Holland; and then, here is our own son shall be provided forin a handsome manner by me; for I am thoroughly convinced there will bebut little care taken of him if I leave anything in your power for thatpurpose: witness Thomas and Susanna."

  "My lord," said I, "I am not come into your chamber to know what careyou have taken of our child. I do not doubt but you have acted like afather by it. What I would be informed in is, what I am to depend uponin case of your decease; which I, however, hope may be a great manyyears off yet." "You need not concern yourself about that," said he;"your son will take care that you shall not want; but yet, I will tellyou, too," said he, "that it may prevent your wishing for my death. Ihave, in my will, left all I am possessed of in the world to my son,excepting L1500; out of that there is L500 for you, L500 among myexecutors, and the other L500 is to bury me, pay my funeral expenses,and what is overplus I have ordered to be equally divided among myservants."

  When I had heard him pronounce these words, I stared like one that wasfrightened out of his senses. "Five hundred pounds for me!" says I;"pray, what do you mean? What! am I, that brought you so handsome afortune, to be under the curb of my son, and ask him for every penny Iwant? No, sir," said I, "I will not accept it. I expect to be left infull possession of one-half of your fortune, that I may live theremainder of my life like your wife." "Madam," replied my lord, "you mayexpect what you please. If you can make it appear since I found you outto be a jilt that I have looked upon you as my wife, everything shall bealtered and settled just as you desire, which might then be called yourwill; but as the case now stands, the will is mine, and so it shallremain."

  I thought I should have sunk when I had heard him make this solemn andpremeditated declaration. I raved like a mad woman, and, at the end ofmy discourse, told him that I did not value what could happen to me,even if I was forced to beg my bread, for I would stand the test of myown character; and as I could get nothing by being an honest woman, soI should not scruple to declare that "the son you have left what youhave to is a bastard you had by me several years before we weremarried."

  "Oh," says he, "madam, do you think you can frighten me? no, not in theleast; for if you ever mention anything of it, the title, as well as allthe estate, will go to another branch of my family, and you will then beleft to starve in good earnest, without having the least glimpse of hopeto better your fortune; for," added he, "it is not very probable thatyou will be courted for a wife by any man of substance at these years;so if you have a mind to make yourself easy in your presentcircumstances, you must rest contented with what I have left you, andnot prove yourself a whore to ruin your child, in whose power it will beto provide for you in a handsome manner, provided you behave yourselfwith that respect to him and me as you ought to do; for if any wordsarise about what I have done, I shall make a fresh will, and, as thelaws of this nation will give me liberty, cut you off with a shilling."

  My own unhappiness, and his strong and lasting resentment, had kept meat high words, and flowing in tears, for some time; and as I wasunwilling anybody should see me in that unhappy condition, I stayedcoolly talking to him, till our son, who had been to several gentlemen'shouses about my lord's business, came home to tell his father thesuccess he had met with abroad. He brought in with him bank-notes tothe amount of L12,000, which he had received of some merchants he held acorrespondence with; at which my lord was well pleased, for he waspretty near out of money at this juncture. After our son had deliveredthe accounts and bills, and had withdrawn, I asked my lord, in a calmtone, to give me the satisfaction of knowing in what manner the losseshe had complained to have suffered consisted. "You must consider, mylord," said I, "that according to what you have been pleased to informme of, we are upwards of L2000 per annum, besides about L17,000 readymoney, poorer than we were when we first came to settle in Holland."

  "You talk," replied my lord, "in a very odd manner. Do not you know thatI had children of my own by a former wife? and of these I have taken somuch care as to provide with very handsome fortunes, which are settledirrevocably upon them. I have, Providence be thanked, given each of themL5000, and that is laid in East India stock, sufficient to keep themgenteelly, above the frowns of fortune, and free from the fear of want.This, joined to the money I mentioned to you before, as losses at sea,deaths, and bankruptcies, your children's fortunes, which are largerthan my own children's, the buying the estate we live on, and severalother things, which my receipts and notes will account for, as you maysee after my decease. I have, to oblige you on this head, almostdescended to particulars, which I never thought to have done; but as Ihave, rest yourself contented, and be well assured that I have notwilfully thrown any of your substance away."

  I could not tell what he meant by saying he had not wilfully thrown anyof my substance away. These words puzzled me, for I found by hisdiscourse I was to have but L500 of all I had brought him, at hisdecease, which I looked upon to be near at hand. I had but one thingthat was any satisfaction to me, which was this: I was assured by himthat he had not bestowed above the L15,000 he mentioned to me, on hischildren by his former wife; and, on an exact calculation, he made itappear that he had bestowed on my son Thomas alone near L13,000 inbuying the plantation, shares in vessels, and merchandise, besidesseveral valuable presents sent to his wife, both by him and me; and asfor my daughter Susanna, she was very well married to a factor, with afortune of L2000 (which was a great sum of money for a woman to have whowas immediately to go to the East Indies), besides some handsomepresents given to her both by him and me. In fact, her fortune was, inproportion, as large as her brother's, for there is but very few womenin England or Holland with L2000 fortune that would venture to the coastof Malabar, even to have married an Indian king, much more to have goneover with a person that no one could tell what reception he might meetwith, or might be recalled at the pleasure of the Company upon the leastdistaste taken by the merchants against him. Neither would I, though herown mother, hinder her voyage, for she had been the author of all themisfortunes that happened to me; and if my speaking a word would havesaved her from the greatest torment, I believe I should have been quitesilent. And I had but one reason to allege for the girl's going sohazardous a voyage, which is, she knew that the match was proposed by mylord, and if he had not thought it would have been advantageous for her,he would never have given L2000 to her husband as a fortune; and again,as my lord was the only friend she had in our family, she was cunningenough to know that the bare disobliging of him would have been her ruinfor ever after; to which I may add, that it is possible, as she had madeso much mischief about me, she was glad to get what she could and go outof the way, for fear my lord and I should be friends; which, if that hadhappened, she would have been told never to come to our house any more.

  As my lord's death began to be daily the discourse of the family, Ithought that he might be more reconciled if I entered into the argumentsagain, pro and con, which we had together before. I did so, but all Icould say was no satisfaction, till I importuned him on my knees, with aflood of tears. "Madam," said he, "what would you have me do?" "Do, mylord," said I, "only be so tender to my years and circumstances as toalter your will, or, at least, add a codicil to it; I desire nothingmore, for I declare I had rather be a beggar, than live under mychild's jurisdiction." To this he agreed with some reluctance, and headded a codicil to his will.

  This ple
ased me greatly, and gave me comfort, for I dreaded nothing somuch, after all my high living, as being under any person, relation orstranger, and whether they exercised any power over me or not.

  I saw the lawyer come out of the chamber first, but was above asking himany questions; the next were the executors and chaplain. I asked thelast how they came to have words. He did not answer me directly, butbegged to know whose pleasure it was to have the codicil annexed. "Itwas mine, sir," replied I; "and it made me very uneasy before I couldhave the favour granted." He only replied by saying, "Ah! poor lady, thefavour, as you are pleased to term it, is not calculated for any benefitto you; think the worst you can of it."

  I was terribly uneasy at what the chaplain had said, but I imagined tomyself that I could not be worse off than I thought I should be beforethe codicil was annexed; and as he withdrew without saying any more, Iwas fain to rest satisfied with what I had heard, and that amounted tonothing.

  The next day after this the physicians that attended my lord told him itwas time for him to settle his worldly affairs, and prepare himself fora hereafter. I now found all was over, and I had no other hopes of hislife than the physicians' declaration of his being near his death. Forit often happens that the gentlemen of the faculty give out that a manis near his death, to make the cure appear to be the effect of theirgreat skill in distempers and medicine; as others, when they cannot findout the real disease, give out that a man's end is near, rather thandiscover their want of judgment; and this I thought might be the casewith our doctors of physic.

  Our son was still kept from the university, and lodged at the house ofone of his future guardians; but when he heard that his father was sonear his end, he was very little out of his presence, for he dearlyloved him. My lord sent the day before his death to lock and seal up allthe doors in his dwelling house at The Hague; and the steward hadorders, in case of my lord's decease, not to let anybody come in, noteven his lady (who had for some time lodged in the same house with herlord), without an order from the executors.

  The keys of the doors were carried to him, and as he saw his deathapproach, he prepared for it, and, in fact, resigned up the keys ofeverything to the executors, and having bid them all a farewell, theywere dismissed. The physicians waited; but as the verge of lifeapproached, and it was out of their power to do him any service, he gavethem a bill of L100 for the care they had taken of him, and dismissedthem.

  I now went into the chamber, and kneeling by his bedside, kissed himwith great earnestness, and begged of him, if ever I had disobliged himin any respect, to forgive me. He sighed, and said he most freelyforgave me everything that I had reason to think I had offended him in;but he added, "If you had been so open in your conversation to me beforeour marriage as to discover your family and way of life, I know not butthat I should have married you as I did. I might now have been in a goodstate of health, and you many years have lived with all the honours dueto the Countess de Wintselsheim." These words drew tears from my eyes,and they being the last of any consequence he said, they had the greaterimpression upon me. He faintly bid me a long farewell, and said, as hehad but a few moments to live, he hoped I would retire, and leave himwith our son and chaplain. I withdrew into my own chamber, almostdrowned in tears, and my son soon followed me out, leaving the chaplainwith his father, offering up his prayers to Heaven for the receiving ofhis soul into the blessed mansions of eternal bliss.

  A few minutes after our son went into the chamber with me again, andreceived his father's last blessing. The chaplain now saw him departing,and was reading the prayer ordered by the Church for that occasion; andwhile he was doing it, my lord laid his head gently on the pillow, andturning on his left side, departed this life with all the calmness of acomposed mind, without so much as a groan, in the fifty-seventh year ofhis age.

  As soon as he was dead an undertaker was sent for, by order of theexecutors, who met together immediately to open his will, and take careof all my son's effects. I was present when it was opened and read; buthow terribly I was frightened at hearing the codicil repeated any personmay imagine by the substance of it, which was to this effect; that if Ihad given me any more after his decease than the L500 he had left me,the L500 left to his executors, and the L1000 of my son's estate (whichwas now a year's interest), was to be given to such poor families at TheHague as were judged to be in the greatest want of it; not to be dividedinto equal sums, but every family to have according to their merit andnecessity. But this was not all. My son was tied down much harder; forif it was known that he gave me any relief, let my condition be ever sobad, either by himself, by his order, or in any manner of way, device,or contrivance that he could think of, one-half of his estate, which wasparticularly mentioned, was to devolve to the executors for ever; and ifthey granted me ever so small a favour, that sum was to be equallydivided among the several parishes where they lived, for the benefit ofthe poor.

  Any person would have been surprised to have seen how we all sat staringat each other; for though it was signed by all the executors, yet theydid not know the substance of it till it was publicly read, exceptingthe chaplain; and he, as I mentioned before, had told me the codicil hadbetter never have been added.

  I was now in a fine dilemma; had the title of a countess, with L500, andnothing else to subsist on but a very good wardrobe of clothes, whichwere not looked upon by my son and the executors to be my late lord'sproperty, and which were worth, indeed, more than treble the sum I hadleft me.

  I immediately removed from the lodgings, and left them to bury the bodywhen they thought proper, and retired to a lodging at a privategentleman's house, about a mile from The Hague. I was now resolved tofind out Amy, being, as it were, at liberty; and accordingly went to thehouse where she had lived, and finding that empty, inquired for heramong the neighbours, who gave various accounts of what had become ofher; but one of them had a direction left at his house where she mightbe found. I went to the place and found the house shut up, and all thewindows broken, the sign taken down, and the rails and benches pulledfrom before the door. I was quite ashamed to ask for her there, for itwas a very scandalous neighbourhood, and I concluded that Amy had beenbrought to low circumstances, and had kept a house of ill-fame, and waseither run away herself, or was forced to it by the officers of justice.However, as nobody knew me here, I went into a shop to buy some trifles,and asked who had lived in the opposite house (meaning Amy's). "Really,madam," says the woman, "I do not well know; but it was a woman who keptgirls for gentlemen; she went on in that wickedness for some time, tilla gentleman was robbed there of his watch and a diamond ring, on whichthe women were all taken up, and committed to the house of correction;but the young ones are now at liberty, and keep about the town." "Pray,"said I, "what may have become of the old beast that could be the ruin ofthose young creatures?" "Why, I do not well know," says she; "but I haveheard that, as all her goods were seized upon, she was sent to thepoorhouse; but it soon after appearing that she had the French diseaseto a violent degree, was removed to a hospital to be taken care of, butI believe she will never live to come out; and if she should be sofortunate, the gentleman that was robbed, finding that she was theguilty person, intends to prosecute her to the utmost rigour of thelaw."

  I was sadly surprised to hear this character of Amy; for I thoughtwhatever house she might keep, that the heyday of her blood had beenover. But I found that she had not been willing to be taken for an oldwoman, though near sixty years of age; and my not seeing or hearing fromher for some time past was a confirmation of what had been told me.

  I went home sadly dejected, considering how I might hear of her. I hadknown her for a faithful servant to me, in all my bad and good fortune,and was sorry that at the last such a miserable end should overtake her,though she, as well as I, deserved it several years before.

  A few days after I went pretty near the place I had heard she was, andhired a poor woman to go and inquire how Amy ---- did, and whether shewas likely to do well. The woman returned, and told me that the mat
ron,or mistress, said, the person I inquired after died in a salivation twodays before, and was buried the last night in the cemetery belonging tothe hospital.

  I was very sorry to hear of Amy's unhappy and miserable death; for whenshe came first into my service she was really a sober girl, very wittyand brisk, but never impudent, and her notions in general were good,till my forcing her, as it were, to have an intrigue with the jeweller.She had also lived with me between thirty and forty years, in theseveral stages of life as I had passed through; and as I had donenothing but what she was privy to, so she was the best person in theuniversal world to consult with and take advice from, as mycircumstances now were.

  I returned to my lodgings much chagrined, and very disconsolate; for asI had for several years lived at the pinnacle of splendour andsatisfaction, it was a prodigious heart-break to me now to fall fromupwards of L3000 per annum to a poor L500 principal.

  A few days after this I went to see my son, the Earl of Wintselsheim. Hereceived me in a very courteous (though far from a dutiful) manner. Wetalked together near an hour upon general things, but had no particulardiscourse about my late lord's effects, as I wanted to have. Amongother things he told me that his guardians had advised him to go to theuniversity for four years longer, when he would come of age, and hisestate would be somewhat repaired; to which he said he had agreed; andfor that purpose all the household goods and equipages were to bedisposed of the next week, and the servants dismissed. I immediatelyasked if it would be looked upon as an encroachment upon his