by his whole kith and kin; many
disagreeable circumstances in regimental life; Digby sells out; love
in a cottage; execution in ditto. Digby had been much applauded as an
amateur actor; thinks of the stage; genteel comedy,--a gentlemanlike
profession. Tries in a provincial town, under another name; unhappily
succeeds; life of an actor; hand-to-mouth life; illness; chest affected;
Digby's voice becomes hoarse and feeble; not aware of it; attributes
failing success to ignorant provincial public; appears in London; is
hissed; returns to the provinces; sinks into very small parts; prison;
despair; wife dies; appeal again to relations; a subscription made
to get rid of him; send him out of the country; place in
Canada,--superintendent to an estate, L150 a year; pursued by ill-luck;
never before fit for business, not fit now; honest as the day, but keeps
slovenly accounts; child cannot bear the winter of Canada; Digby wrapped
up in the child; return home; mysterious life for two years; child
patient, thoughtful, loving; has learned to work; manages for father;
often supports him; constitution rapidly breaking; thought of what will
become of his child,--worst disease of all. Poor Digby! never did a
base, cruel, unkind thing in his life; and here he is, walking down
the lane from Colonel Pompley's house! Now, if Digby had but learned a
little of the world's cunning, I think he would have succeeded even with
Colonel Pompley. Had he spent the L100 received from Lord L'Estrange
with a view to effect; had he bestowed a fitting wardrobe on himself and
his pretty Helen; had he stopped at the last stage, taken thence a smart
chaise and pair, and presented himself at Colonel Pompley's in a way
that would not have discredited the colonel's connection, and then,
instead of praying for home and shelter, asked the colonel to become
guardian to his child in case of his death, I have a strong notion that
the colonel, in spite of his avarice, would have stretched both ends so
as to take in Helen Digby. But our poor friend had no such arts. Indeed,
of the L100 he had already very little left, for before leaving town
he had committed what Sheridan considered the extreme of
extravagance,--frittered away his money in paying his debts; and as for
dressing up Helen and himself--if that thought had ever occurred to him,
he would have rejected it as foolish. He would have thought that the
more he showed his poverty, the more he would be pitied,--the wo