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diff --git a/2158.txt b/2158.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..449352a --- /dev/null +++ b/2158.txt @@ -0,0 +1,30889 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Prime Minister, by Anthony Trollope + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Prime Minister + + +Author: Anthony Trollope + + + +Release Date: August 15, 1999 [eBook #2158] +Most recently updated: June 12, 2010 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRIME MINISTER*** + + +E-text prepared by Kenneth David Cooper +and revised by Joseph E. Loewenstein, M.D. + + + +THE PRIME MINISTER + +by + +ANTHONY TROLLOPE + +First published in monthly installments in 1875 and 1876 and in book +form in 1876 + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + VOLUME I + + I. Ferdinand Lopez + II. Everett Wharton + III. Mr. Abel Wharton, Q.C. + IV. Mrs. Roby + V. "No One Knows Anything About Him" + VI. An Old Friend Goes to Windsor + VII. Another Old Friend + VIII. The Beginning of a New Career + IX. Mrs. Dick's Dinner Party.--No. I + X. Mrs. Dick's Dinner Party.--No. II + XI. Carlton Terrace + XII. The Gathering of Clouds + XIII. Mr. Wharton Complains + XIV. A Lover's Perseverance + XV. Arthur Fletcher + XVI. Never Run Away! + XVII. Good-Bye + XVIII. The Duke of Omnium Thinks of Himself + XIX. Vulgarity + XX. Sir Orlando's Policy + XXI. The Duchess's New Swan + XXII. St. James's Park + XXIII. Surrender + XXIV. The Marriage + XXV. The Beginning of the Honeymoon + XXVI. The End of the Honeymoon + XXVII. The Duke's Misery + XXVIII. The Duchess Is Much Troubled + XXIX. The Two Candidates for Silverbridge + XXX. "Yes;--a Lie!" + XXXI. "Yes;--with a Horsewhip in My Hand" + XXXII. "What Business Is It of Yours?" + XXXIII. Showing That a Man Should Not Howl + XXXIV. The Silverbridge Election + XXXV. Lopez Back in London + XXXVI. The Jolly Blackbird + XXXVII. The Horns + XXXVIII. Sir Orlando Retires + XXXIX. "Get Round Him" + XL. "Come and Try It" + + VOLUME II + + XLI. The Value of a Thick Skin + XLII. Retribution + XLIII. Kauri Gum + XLIV. Mr. Wharton Intends to Make a New Will + XLV. Mrs. Sexty Parker + XLVI. "He Wants to Get Rich Too Quick" + XLVII. As for Love! + XLVIII. "Has He Ill-treated You?" + XLIX. "Where Is Guatemala?" + L. Mr. Slide's Revenge + LI. Coddling the Prime Minister + LII. "I Can Sleep Here To-night, I Suppose?" + LIII. Mr. Hartlepod + LIV. Lizzie + LV. Mrs. Parker's Sorrows + LVI. What the Duchess Thought of Her Husband + LVII. The Explanation + LVIII. "Quite Settled" + LIX. "The First and the Last" + LX. The Tenway Junction + LXI. The Widow and Her Friends + LXII. Phineas Finn Has a Book to Read + LXIII. The Duchess and Her Friend + LXIV. The New K.G. + LXV. "There Must Be Time" + LXVI. The End of the Session + LXVII. Mrs. Lopez Prepares to Move + LXVIII. The Prime Minister's Political Creed + LXIX. Mrs. Parker's Fate + LXX. At Wharton + LXXI. The Ladies at Longbarns Doubt + LXXII. "He Thinks That Our Days Are Numbered" + LXXIII. Only the Duke of Omnium + LXXIV. "I Am Disgraced and Shamed" + LXXV. The Great Wharton Alliance + LXXVI. Who Will It Be? + LXXVII. The Duchess in Manchester Square + LXXVIII. The New Ministry + LXXIX. The Wharton Wedding + LXXX. The Last Meeting at Matching + + + + +VOLUME I + +CHAPTER I + +Ferdinand Lopez + + +It is certainly of service to a man to know who were his grandfathers +and who were his grandmothers if he entertain an ambition to move in +the upper circles of society, and also of service to be able to speak +of them as of persons who were themselves somebodies in their time. +No doubt we all entertain great respect for those who by their own +energies have raised themselves in the world; and when we hear that +the son of a washerwoman has become Lord Chancellor or Archbishop +of Canterbury we do, theoretically and abstractedly, feel a higher +reverence for such self-made magnate than for one who has been as it +were born into forensic or ecclesiastical purple. But not the less +must the offspring of the washerwoman have had very much trouble on +the subject of his birth, unless he has been, when young as well as +when old, a very great man indeed. After the goal has been absolutely +reached, and the honour and the titles and the wealth actually +won, a man may talk with some humour, even with some affection, of +the maternal tub;--but while the struggle is going on, with the +conviction strong upon the struggler that he cannot be altogether +successful unless he be esteemed a gentleman, not to be ashamed, +not to conceal the old family circumstances, not at any rate to be +silent, is difficult. And the difficulty is certainly not less if +fortunate circumstances rather than hard work and intrinsic merit +have raised above his natural place an aspirant to high social +position. Can it be expected that such a one when dining with a +duchess shall speak of his father's small shop, or bring into the +light of day his grandfather's cobbler's awl? And yet it is difficult +to be altogether silent! It may not be necessary for any of us to be +always talking of our own parentage. We may be generally reticent as +to our uncles and aunts, and may drop even our brothers and sisters +in our ordinary conversation. But if a man never mentions his +belongings among those with whom he lives, he becomes mysterious, +and almost open to suspicion. It begins to be known that nobody +knows anything of such a man, and even friends become afraid. It is +certainly convenient to be able to allude, if it be but once in a +year, to some blood relation. + +Ferdinand Lopez, who in other respects had much in his circumstances +on which to congratulate himself, suffered trouble in his mind +respecting his ancestors such as I have endeavoured to describe. He +did not know very much himself, but what little he did know he kept +altogether to himself. He had no father or mother, no uncle, aunt, +brother or sister, no cousin even whom he could mention in a cursory +way to his dearest friend. He suffered, no doubt;--but with Spartan +consistency he so hid his trouble from the world that no one knew +that he suffered. Those with whom he lived, and who speculated often +and wondered much as to who he was, never dreamed that the silent +man's reticence was a burden to himself. At no special conjuncture of +his life, at no period which could be marked with the finger of the +observer, did he glaringly abstain from any statement which at the +moment might be natural. He never hesitated, blushed, or palpably +laboured at concealment; but the fact remained that though a great +many men and not a few women knew Ferdinand Lopez very well, none of +them knew whence he had come, or what was his family. + +He was a man, however, naturally reticent, who never alluded to his +own affairs unless in pursuit of some object the way to which was +clear before his eyes. Silence therefore on a matter which is common +in the mouths of most men was less difficult to him than to another, +and the result less embarrassing. Dear old Jones, who tells his +friends at the club of every pound that he loses or wins at the +races, who boasts of Mary's favours and mourns over Lucy's coldness +almost in public, who issues bulletins on the state of his purse, his +stomach, his stable, and his debts, could not with any amount of care +keep from us the fact that his father was an attorney's clerk, and +made his first money by discounting small bills. Everybody knows +it, and Jones, who likes popularity, grieves at the unfortunate +publicity. But Jones is relieved from a burden which would have +broken his poor shoulders, and which even Ferdinand Lopez, who is a +strong man, often finds it hard to bear without wincing. + +It was admitted on all sides that Ferdinand Lopez was a "gentleman." +Johnson says that any other derivation of this difficult word than +that which causes it to signify "a man of ancestry" is whimsical. +There are many, who in defining the term for their own use, still +adhere to Johnson's dictum;--but they adhere to it with certain +unexpressed allowances for possible exceptions. The chances are very +much in favour of the well-born man, but exceptions may exist. It +was not generally believed that Ferdinand Lopez was well born;--but +he was a gentleman. And this most precious rank was acceded to +him although he was employed,--or at least had been employed,--on +business which does not of itself give such a warrant of position as +is supposed to be afforded by the bar and the church, by the military +services and by physic. He had been on the Stock Exchange, and still +in some manner, not clearly understood by his friends, did business +in the City. + +At the time with which we are now concerned Ferdinand Lopez was +thirty-three years old, and as he had begun life early he had been +long before the world. It was known of him that he had been at a good +English private school, and it was reported, on the solitary evidence +of one who had there been his schoolfellow, that a rumour was current +in the school that his school bills were paid by an old gentleman +who was not related to him. Thence at the age of seventeen he had +been sent to a German University, and at the age of twenty-one +had appeared in London, in a stockbroker's office, where he was +soon known as an accomplished linguist, and as a very clever +fellow,--precocious, not given to many pleasures, apt for work, but +hardly trustworthy by employers, not as being dishonest, but as +having a taste for being a master rather than a servant. Indeed his +period of servitude was very short. It was not in his nature to be +active on behalf of others. He was soon active for himself, and at +one time it was supposed that he was making a fortune. Then it was +known that he had left his regular business, and it was supposed that +he had lost all that he had ever made or had ever possessed. But +nobody, not even his own bankers or his own lawyer,--not even the old +woman who looked after his linen,--ever really knew the state of his +affairs. + +He was certainly a handsome man,--his beauty being of a sort which +men are apt to deny and women to admit lavishly. He was nearly six +feet tall, very dark, and very thin, with regular, well-cut features +indicating little to the physiognomist unless it be the great gift of +self-possession. His hair was cut short, and he wore no beard beyond +an absolutely black moustache. His teeth were perfect in form and +whiteness,--a characteristic which, though it may be a valued item +in a general catalogue of personal attraction, does not generally +recommend a man to the unconscious judgment of his acquaintance. +But about the mouth and chin of this man there was a something of +softness, perhaps in the play of the lips, perhaps in the dimple, +which in some degree lessened the feeling of hardness which was +produced by the square brow and bold, unflinching, combative eyes. +They who knew him and liked him were reconciled by the lower face. +The greater number who knew him and did not like him felt and +resented,--even though in nine cases out of ten they might express no +resentment even to themselves,--the pugnacity of his steady glance. + +For he was essentially one of those men who are always, in the inner +workings of their minds, defending themselves and attacking others. +He could not give a penny to a woman at a crossing without a look +which argued at full length her injustice in making her demand, and +his freedom from all liability let him walk the crossing as often as +he might. He could not seat himself in a railway carriage without a +lesson to his opposite neighbour that in all the mutual affairs of +travelling, arrangement of feet, disposition of bags, and opening +of windows, it would be that neighbour's duty to submit and his to +exact. It was, however, for the spirit rather than for the thing +itself that he combatted. The woman with the broom got her penny. The +opposite gentleman when once by a glance he had expressed submission +was allowed his own way with his legs and with the window. I would +not say that Ferdinand Lopez was prone to do ill-natured things; but +he was imperious, and he had learned to carry his empire in his eye. + +The reader must submit to be told one or two further and still +smaller details respecting the man, and then the man shall be allowed +to make his own way. No one of those around him knew how much care he +took to dress himself well, or how careful he was that no one should +know it. His very tailor regarded him as being simply extravagant in +the number of his coats and trousers, and his friends looked upon him +as one of those fortunate beings to whose nature belongs a facility +of being well dressed, or almost an impossibility of being ill +dressed. We all know the man,--a little man generally who moves +seldom and softly,--who looks always as though he had just been sent +home in a bandbox. Ferdinand Lopez was not a little man, and moved +freely enough; but never, at any moment,--going into the city or +coming out of it, on horseback or on foot, at home over his book or +after the mazes of the dance,--was he dressed otherwise than with +perfect care. Money and time did it, but folk thought that it grew +with him, as did his hair and his nails. And he always rode a horse +which charmed good judges of what a park nag should be;--not a +prancing, restless, giggling, sideway-going, useless garran, but an +animal well made, well bitted, with perfect paces, on whom a rider if +it pleased him could be as quiet as a statue on a monument. It often +did please Ferdinand Lopez to be quiet on horseback; and yet he did +not look like a statue, for it was acknowledged through all London +that he was a good horseman. He lived luxuriously too,--though +whether at his ease or not nobody knew,--for he kept a brougham of +his own, and during the hunting season he had two horses down at +Leighton. There had once been a belief abroad that he was ruined, but +they who interest themselves in such matters had found out,--or at +any rate believed that they had found out,--that he paid his tailor +regularly: and now there prevailed an opinion that Ferdinand Lopez +was a monied man. + +It was known to some few that he occupied rooms in a flat at +Westminster,--but to very few exactly where the rooms were situate. +Among all his friends no one was known to have entered them. In a +moderate way he was given to hospitality,--that is to infrequent but, +when the occasion came, to graceful hospitality. Some club, however, +or tavern, or perhaps, in the summer, some river bank would be chosen +as the scene of these festivities. To a few,--if, as suggested, +amidst summer flowers on the water's edge to men and women mixed,--he +would be a courtly and efficient host; for he had the rare gift of +doing such things well. + +Hunting was over, and the east wind was still blowing, and a great +portion of the London world was out of town taking its Easter +holiday, when, on an unpleasant morning, Ferdinand Lopez travelled +into the city by the Metropolitan railway from Westminster Bridge. It +was his custom to go thither when he did go,--not daily like a man of +business, but as chance might require, like a capitalist or a man of +pleasure,--in his own brougham. But on this occasion he walked down +to the river side, and then walked from the Mansion House into a +dingy little court called Little Tankard Yard, near the Bank of +England, and going through a narrow dark long passage got into a +little office at the back of a building, in which there sat at a desk +a greasy gentleman with a new hat on one side of his head, who might +perhaps be about forty years old. The place was very dark, and the +man was turning over the leaves of a ledger. A stranger to city +ways might probably have said that he was idle, but he was no doubt +filling his mind with that erudition which would enable him to earn +his bread. On the other side of the desk there was a little boy +copying letters. These were Mr. Sextus Parker,--commonly called Sexty +Parker,--and his clerk. Mr. Parker was a gentleman very well known +and at the present moment favourably esteemed on the Stock Exchange. +"What, Lopez!" said he. "Uncommon glad to see you. What can I do for +you?" + +"Just come inside,--will you?" said Lopez. Now within Mr. Parker's +very small office there was a smaller office in which there were +a safe, a small rickety Pembroke table, two chairs, and an old +washing-stand with a tumbled towel. Lopez led the way into this +sanctum as though he knew the place well, and Sexty Parker followed +him. + +"Beastly day, isn't it?" said Sexty. + +"Yes,--a nasty east wind." + +"Cutting one in two, with a hot sun at the same time. One ought to +hybernate at this time of the year." + +"Then why don't you hybernate?" said Lopez. + +"Business is too good. That's about it. A man has to stick to it when +it does come. Everybody can't do like you;--give up regular work, +and make a better thing of an hour now and an hour then, just as it +pleases you. I shouldn't dare go in for that kind of thing." + +"I don't suppose you or any one else know what I go in for," said +Lopez, with a look that indicated offence. + +"Nor don't care," said Sexty;--"only hope it's something good for +your sake." Sexty Parker had known Mr. Lopez well, now for some +years, and being an overbearing man himself,--somewhat even of a +bully if the truth be spoken,--and by no means apt to give way unless +hard pressed, had often tried his "hand" on his friend, as he himself +would have said. But I doubt whether he could remember any instance +in which he could congratulate himself on success. He was trying his +hand again now, but did it with a faltering voice, having caught a +glance of his friend's eye. + +"I dare say not," said Lopez. Then he continued without changing his +voice or the nature of the glance of his eye, "I'll tell you what I +want you to do now. I want your name to this bill for three months." + +Sexty Parker opened his mouth and his eyes, and took the bit of paper +that was tendered to him. It was a promissory note for L750, which, +if signed by him, would at the end of the specified period make him +liable for that sum were it not otherwise paid. His friend Mr. Lopez +was indeed applying to him for the assistance of his name in raising +a loan to the amount of the sum named. This was a kind of favour +which a man should ask almost on his knees,--and which, if so asked, +Mr. Sextus Parker would certainly refuse. And here was Ferdinand +Lopez asking it,--whom Sextus Parker had latterly regarded as an +opulent man,--and asking it not at all on his knees, but, as one +might say, at the muzzle of a pistol. "Accommodation bill!" said +Sexty. "Why, you ain't hard up; are you?" + +"I'm not going just at present to tell you much about my affairs, and +yet I expect you to do what I ask you. I don't suppose you doubt my +ability to raise L750." + +"Oh, dear, no," said Sexty, who had been looked at and who had not +borne the inspection well. + +"And I don't suppose you would refuse me even if I were hard up, as +you call it." There had been affairs before between the two men in +which Lopez had probably been the stronger, and the memory of them, +added to the inspection which was still going on, was heavy upon poor +Sexty. + +"Oh, dear, no;--I wasn't thinking of refusing. I suppose a fellow may +be a little surprised at such a thing." + +"I don't know why you need be surprised, as such things are very +common. I happen to have taken a share in a loan a little beyond my +immediate means, and therefore want a few hundreds. There is no one I +can ask with a better grace than you. If you ain't--afraid about it, +just sign it." + +"Oh, I ain't afraid," said Sexty, taking his pen and writing his name +across the bill. But even before the signature was finished, when +his eye was taken away from the face of his companion and fixed upon +the disagreeable piece of paper beneath his hand, he repented of +what he was doing. He almost arrested his signature half-way. He did +hesitate, but had not pluck enough to stop his hand. "It does seem to +be a d----d odd transaction all the same," he said as he leaned back +in his chair. + +"It's the commonest thing in the world," said Lopez picking up +the bill in a leisurely way, folding it and putting it into his +pocket-book. "Have our names never been together on a bit of paper +before?" + +"When we both had something to make by it." + +"You've nothing to make and nothing to lose by this. Good day and +many thanks;--though I don't think so much of the affair as you seem +to do." Then Ferdinand Lopez took his departure and Sexty Parker was +left alone in his bewilderment. + +"By George,--that's queer," he said to himself. "Who'd have thought +of Lopez being hard up for a few hundred pounds? But it must be all +right. He wouldn't have come in that fashion, if it hadn't been all +right. I oughtn't to have done it though! A man ought never to do +that kind of thing;--never,--never!" And Mr. Sextus Parker was much +discontented with himself, so that when he got home that evening to +the wife of his bosom and his little family at Ponders End, he by +no means made himself agreeable to them. For that sum of L750 sat +upon his bosom as he ate his supper, and lay upon his chest as he +slept,--like a nightmare. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Everett Wharton + + +On that same day Lopez dined with his friend Everett Wharton at a +new club called the Progress, of which they were both members. The +Progress was certainly a new club, having as yet been open hardly +more than three years; but still it was old enough to have seen many +of the hopes of its early youth become dim with age and inaction. +For the Progress had intended to do great things for the Liberal +party,--or rather for political liberality in general,--and had in +truth done little or nothing. It had been got up with considerable +enthusiasm, and for a while certain fiery politicians had believed +that through the instrumentality of this institution men of genius, +and spirit, and natural power, but without wealth,--meaning always +themselves,--would be supplied with sure seats in Parliament and +a probable share in the Government. But no such results had been +achieved. There had been a want of something,--some deficiency felt +but not yet defined,--which had hitherto been fatal. The young men +said it was because no old stager who knew the way of pulling the +wires would come forward and put the club in the proper groove. The +old men said it was because the young men were pretentious puppies. +It was, however, not to be doubted that the party of Progress had +become slack, and that the Liberal politicians of the country, +although a special new club had been opened for the furtherance +of their views, were not at present making much way. "What we +want is organization," said one of the leading young men. But the +organization was not as yet forthcoming. + +The club, nevertheless, went on its way, like other clubs, and men +dined and smoked and played billiards and pretended to read. Some few +energetic members still hoped that a good day would come in which +their grand ideas might be realised,--but as regarded the members +generally, they were content to eat and drink and play billiards. It +was a fairly good club,--with a sprinkling of Liberal lordlings, a +couple of dozen of members of Parliament who had been made to believe +that they would neglect their party duties unless they paid their +money, and the usual assortment of barristers, attorneys, city +merchants and idle men. It was good enough at any rate for Ferdinand +Lopez, who was particular about his dinner, and had an opinion of his +own about wines. He had been heard to assert that, for real quiet +comfort, there was not a club in London equal to it; but his hearers +were not aware that in past days he had been blackballed at the +T---- and the G----. These were accidents which Lopez had a gift of +keeping in the background. His present companion, Everett Wharton, +had, as well as himself, been an original member;--and Wharton had +been one of those who had hoped to find in the club a stepping-stone +to high political life, and who now talked often with idle energy of +the need of organization. + +"For myself," said Lopez, "I can conceive no vainer object of +ambition than a seat in the British Parliament. What does any man +gain by it? The few who are successful work very hard for little +pay and no thanks,--or nearly equally hard for no pay and as little +thanks. The many who fail sit idly for hours, undergoing the weary +task of listening to platitudes, and enjoy in return the now +absolutely valueless privilege of having M.P. written on their +letters." + +"Somebody must make laws for the country." + +"I don't see the necessity. I think the country would do uncommonly +well if it were to know that no old law would be altered or new law +made for the next twenty years." + +"You wouldn't have repealed the corn laws?" + +"There are no corn laws to repeal now." + +"Nor modify the income tax?" + +"I would modify nothing. But at any rate, whether laws are to be +altered or to be left, it is a comfort to me that I need not put my +finger into that pie. There is one benefit indeed in being in the +House." + +"You can't be arrested." + +"Well;--that, as far as it goes; and one other. It assists a man in +getting a seat as the director of certain Companies. People are still +such asses that they trust a Board of Directors made up of members +of Parliament, and therefore of course members are made welcome. But +if you want to get into the House why don't you arrange it with your +father, instead of waiting for what the club may do for you?" + +"My father wouldn't pay a shilling for such a purpose. He was never +in the House himself." + +"And therefore despises it." + +"A little of that, perhaps. No man ever worked harder than he did, +or, in his way, more successfully; and having seen one after another +of his juniors become members of Parliament, while he stuck to the +attorneys, there is perhaps a little jealousy about it." + +"From what I see of the way you live at home, I should think your +father would do anything for you,--with proper management. There is +no doubt, I suppose, that he could afford it?" + +"My father never in his life said anything to me about his own money +affairs, though he says a great deal about mine. No man ever was +closer than my father. But I believe that he could afford almost +anything." + +"I wish I had such a father," said Ferdinand Lopez. "I think that I +should succeed in ascertaining the extent of his capabilities, and in +making some use of them too." + +Wharton nearly asked his friend,--almost summoned courage to ask +him,--whether his father had done much for him. They were very +intimate; and on one subject, in which Lopez was much interested, +their confidence had been very close. But the younger and the weaker +man of the two could not quite bring himself to the point of making +an inquiry which he thought would be disagreeable. Lopez had never +before, in all their intercourse, hinted at the possibility of his +having or having had filial aspirations. He had been as though he +had been created self-sufficient, independent of mother's milk +or father's money. Now the question might have been asked almost +naturally. But it was not asked. + +Everett Wharton was a trouble to his father,--but not an agonizing +trouble, as are some sons. His faults were not of a nature to rob his +father's cup of all its sweetness and to bring his grey hairs with +sorrow to the grave. Old Wharton had never had to ask himself whether +he should now, at length, let his son fall into the lowest abysses, +or whether he should yet again struggle to put him on his legs, +again forgive him, again pay his debts, again endeavour to forget +dishonour, and place it all to the score of thoughtless youth. Had it +been so, I think that, if not on the first or second fall, certainly +on the third, the young man would have gone into the abyss; for Mr. +Wharton was a stern man, and capable of coming to a clear conclusion +on things that were nearest and even dearest to himself. But Everett +Wharton had simply shown himself to be inefficient to earn his own +bread. He had never declined even to do this,--but had simply been +inefficient. He had not declared either by words or actions that +as his father was a rich man, and as he was an only son, he would +therefore do nothing. But he had tried his hand thrice, and in +each case, after but short trial, had assured his father and his +friends that the thing had not suited him. Leaving Oxford without a +degree,--for the reading of the schools did not suit him,--he had +gone into a banking-house, by no means as a mere clerk, but with +an expressed proposition from his father, backed by the assent of +a partner, that he should work his way up to wealth and a great +commercial position. But six months taught him that banking was "an +abomination," and he at once went into a course of reading with a +barrister. He remained at this till he was called,--for a man may be +called with very little continuous work. But after he was called the +solitude of his chambers was too much for him, and at twenty-five +he found that the Stock Exchange was the mart in the world for such +talents and energies as he possessed. What was the nature of his +failure during the year that he went into the city, was known only to +himself and his father,--unless Ferdinand Lopez knew something of it +also. But at six-and-twenty the Stock Exchange was also abandoned; +and now, at eight-and-twenty, Everett Wharton had discovered that a +parliamentary career was that for which nature and his special genius +had intended him. He had probably suggested this to his father, and +had met with some cold rebuff. + +Everett Wharton was a good-looking, manly fellow, six feet high, with +broad shoulders, with light hair, wearing a large silky bushy beard, +which made him look older than his years, who neither by his speech +nor by his appearance would ever be taken for a fool, but who showed +by the very actions of his body as well as by the play of his face, +that he lacked firmness of purpose. He certainly was no fool. He had +read much, and, though he generally forgot what he read, there were +left with him from his readings certain nebulous lights, begotten by +other men's thinking, which enabled him to talk on most subjects. It +cannot be said of him that he did much thinking for himself;--but +he thought that he thought. He believed of himself that he had gone +rather deep into politics, and that he was entitled to call many +statesmen asses because they did not see the things which he saw. +He had the great question of labour, and all that refers to unions, +strikes, and lock-outs, quite at his fingers' ends. He knew how the +Church of England should be disestablished and recomposed. He was +quite clear on questions of finance, and saw to a "t" how progress +should be made towards communism, so that no violence should disturb +that progress, and that in the due course of centuries all desire +for personal property should be conquered and annihilated by a +philanthropy so general as hardly to be accounted a virtue. In the +meantime he could never contrive to pay his tailor's bill regularly +out of the allowance of L400 a year which his father made him, and +was always dreaming of the comforts of a handsome income. + +He was a popular man certainly,--very popular with women, to whom +he was always courteous, and generally liked by men, to whom he was +genial and good-natured. Though he was not himself aware of the fact, +he was very dear to his father, who in his own silent way almost +admired and certainly liked the openness and guileless freedom of +a character which was very opposite to his own. The father, though +he had never said a word to flatter the son, did in truth give his +offspring credit for greater talent than he possessed, and, even when +appearing to scorn them, would listen to the young man's diatribes +almost with satisfaction. And Everett was very dear also to a sister, +who was the only other living member of this branch of the Wharton +family. Much will be said of her in these pages, and it is hoped that +the reader may take an interest in her fate. But here, in speaking of +the brother, it may suffice to say, that the sister, who was endowed +with infinitely finer gifts than his, did give credit to the somewhat +pretentious claims of her less noble brother. + +Indeed it had been perhaps a misfortune with Everett Wharton that +some people had believed in him,--and a further misfortune that some +others had thought it worth their while to pretend to believe in him. +Among the latter might probably be reckoned the friend with whom he +was now dining at the Progress. A man may flatter another, as Lopez +occasionally did flatter Wharton, without preconcerted falsehood. It +suits one man to be well with another, and the one learns gradually +and perhaps unconsciously the way to take advantage of the foibles +of the other. Now it was most material to Lopez that he should stand +well with all the members of the Wharton family, as he aspired to +the hand of the daughter of the house. Of her regard he had already +thought himself nearly sure. Of the father's sanction to such a +marriage he had reason to be almost more than doubtful. But the +brother was his friend,--and in such circumstances a man is almost +justified in flattering a brother. + +"I'll tell you what it is, Lopez," said Wharton, as they strolled out +of the club together, a little after ten o'clock, "the men of the +present day won't give themselves the trouble to occupy their minds +with matters which have, or should have, real interest. Pope knew all +about it when he said that 'The proper study of mankind is man.' But +people don't read Pope now, or if they do they don't take the trouble +to understand him." + +"Men are too busy making money, my dear fellow." + +"That's just it. Money's a very nice thing." + +"Very nice," said Lopez. + +"But the search after it is debasing. If a man could make money for +four, or six, or even eight hours a day, and then wash his mind of +the pursuit, as a clerk in an office washes the copies and ledgers +out of his mind, then--" + +"He would never make money in that way,--and keep it." + +"And therefore the whole thing is debasing. A man ceases to care +for the great interests of the world, or even to be aware of their +existence, when his whole soul is in Spanish bonds. They wanted to +make a banker of me, but I found that it would kill me." + +"It would kill me, I think, if I had to confine myself to Spanish +bonds." + +"You know what I mean. You at any rate can understand me, though I +fear you are too far gone to abandon the idea of making a fortune." + +"I would abandon it to-morrow if I could come into a fortune ready +made. A man must at any rate eat." + +"Yes;--he must eat. But I am not quite sure," said Wharton +thoughtfully, "that he need think about what he eats." + +"Unless the beef is sent up without horse radish!" It had happened +that when the two men sat down to their dinner the insufficient +quantity of that vegetable supplied by the steward of the club had +been all consumed, and Wharton had complained of the grievance. + +"A man has a right to that for which he has paid," said Wharton, with +mock solemnity, "and if he passes over laches of that nature without +observation he does an injury to humanity at large. I'm not going to +be caught in a trap, you know, because I like horse radish with my +beef. Well, I can't go farther out of my way, as I have a deal of +reading to do before I court my Morpheus. If you'll take my advice +you'll go straight to the governor. Whatever Emily may feel I don't +think she'll say much to encourage you unless you go about it after +that fashion. She has prim notions of her own, which perhaps are not +after all so much amiss when a man wants to marry a girl." + +"God forbid that I should think that anything about your sister was +amiss!" + +"I don't think there is much myself. Women are generally +superficial,--but some are honestly superficial and some dishonestly. +Emily at any rate is honest." + +"Stop half a moment." Then they sauntered arm in arm down the broad +pavement leading from Pall Mall to the Duke of York's column. "I wish +I could make out your father more clearly. He is always civil to me, +but he has a cold way of looking at me which makes me think I am not +in his good books." + +"He is like that to everybody." + +"I never seem to get beyond the skin with him. You must have heard +him speak of me in my absence?" + +"He never says very much about anybody." + +"But a word would let me know how the land lies. You know me well +enough to be aware that I am the last man to be curious as to what +others think of me. Indeed I do not care about it as much as a man +should do. I am utterly indifferent to the opinion of the world at +large, and would never object to the company of a pleasant person +because the pleasant person abused me behind my back. What I value +is the pleasantness of the man and not his liking or disliking for +myself. But here the dearest aim of my life is concerned, and I might +be guided either this way or that, to my great advantage, by knowing +whether I stand well or ill with him." + +"You have dined three times within the last three months in +Manchester Square, and I don't know any other man,--certainly no +other young man,--who has had such strong proof of intimacy from my +father." + +"Yes, and I know my advantages. But I have been there as your friend, +not as his." + +"He doesn't care twopence about my friends. I wanted to give Charlie +Skate a dinner, but my father wouldn't have him at any price." + +"Charlie Skate is out at elbows, and bets at billiards. I am +respectable,--or at any rate your father thinks so. Your father is +more anxious about you than you are aware of, and wishes to make his +house pleasant to you as long as he can do so to your advantage. As +far as you are concerned he rather approves of me, fancying that +my turn for making money is stronger than my turn for spending it. +Nevertheless, he looks upon me as a friend of yours rather than his +own. Though he has given me three dinners in three months,--and I own +the greatness of his hospitality,--I don't suppose he ever said a +word in my favour. I wish I knew what he does say." + +"He says he knows nothing about you." + +"Oh;--that's it, is it? Then he can know no harm. When next he says +so ask him of how many of the men who dine at his house he can say as +much. Good night;--I won't keep you any longer. But I can tell you +this;--if between us we can manage to handle him rightly, you may get +your seat in Parliament and I may get my wife;--that is, of course, +if she will have me." + +Then they parted, but Lopez remained in the pathway, walking up +and down by the side of the old military club, thinking of things. +He certainly knew his friend, the younger Wharton, intimately, +appreciating the man's good qualities, and being fully aware of +the man's weakness. By his questions he had extracted quite enough +to assure himself that Emily's father would be adverse to his +proposition. He had not felt much doubt before, but now he was +certain. "He doesn't know much about me," he said, musing to himself. +"Well, no; he doesn't;--and there isn't very much that I can tell +him. Of course he's wise,--as wisdom goes. But then, wise men do do +foolish things at intervals. The discreetest of city bankers are +talked out of their money; the most scrupulous of matrons are talked +out of their virtue; the most experienced of statesmen are talked out +of their principles. And who can really calculate chances? Men who +lead forlorn hopes generally push through without being wounded;--and +the fifth or sixth heir comes to a title." So much he said, palpably, +though to himself, with his inner voice. Then,--impalpably, with no +even inner voice,--he asked himself what chance he might have of +prevailing with the girl herself; and he almost ventured to tell +himself that in that direction he need not despair. + +In very truth he loved the girl and reverenced her, believing her to +be better and higher and nobler than other human beings,--as a man +does when he is in love; and so believing, he had those doubts as to +his own success which such reverence produces. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Mr. Abel Wharton, Q.C. + + +Lopez was not a man to let grass grow under his feet when he had +anything to do. When he was tired of walking backwards and forwards +over the same bit of pavement, subject all the while to a cold east +wind, he went home and thought of the same matter while he lay in +bed. Even were he to get the girl's assurances of love, without the +father's consent he might find himself farther from his object than +ever. Mr. Wharton was a man of old fashions, who would think himself +ill-used and his daughter ill-used, and who would think also that +a general offence would have been committed against good social +manners, if his daughter were to be asked for her hand without his +previous consent. Should he absolutely refuse,--why then the battle, +though it would be a desperate battle, might perhaps be fought with +other strategy; but, giving to the matter his best consideration, +Lopez thought it expedient to go at once to the father. In doing this +he would have no silly tremors. Whatever he might feel in speaking +to the girl, he had sufficient self-confidence to be able to ask the +father, if not with assurance, at any rate without trepidation. It +was, he thought, probable that the father, at the first attack, would +neither altogether accede, or altogether refuse. The disposition of +the man was averse to the probability of an absolute reply at the +first moment. The lover imagined that it might be possible for him to +take advantage of the period of doubt which would thus be created. + +Mr. Wharton was and had for a great many years been a barrister +practising in the Equity Courts,--or rather in one Equity Court, for +throughout a life's work now extending to nearly fifty years, he had +hardly ever gone out of the single Vice-Chancellor's Court which was +much better known by Mr. Wharton's name than by that of the less +eminent judge who now sat there. His had been a very peculiar, a very +toilsome, but yet probably a very satisfactory life. He had begun his +practice early, and had worked in a stuff gown till he was nearly +sixty. At that time he had amassed a large fortune, mainly from his +profession, but partly also by the careful use of his own small +patrimony and by his wife's money. Men knew that he was rich, but +no one knew the extent of his wealth. When he submitted to take a +silk gown, he declared among his friends that he did so as a step +preparatory to his retirement. The altered method of work would not +suit him at his age, nor,--as he said,--would it be profitable. He +would take his silk as an honour for his declining years, so that he +might become a bencher at his Inn. But he had now been working for +the last twelve or fourteen years with his silk gown,--almost as hard +as in younger days, and with pecuniary results almost as serviceable; +and though from month to month he declared his intention of taking +no fresh briefs, and though he did now occasionally refuse work, +still he was there with his mind as clear as ever, and with his body +apparently as little affected by fatigue. + +Mr. Wharton had not married till he was forty, and his wife had now +been two years dead. He had had six children,--of whom but two were +now left to make a household for his old age. He had been nearly +fifty when his youngest daughter was born, and was therefore now an +old father of a young child. But he was one of those men who, as +in youth they are never very young, so in age are they never very +old. He could still ride his cob in the park jauntily; and did so +carefully every morning in his life, after an early cup of tea and +before his breakfast. And he could walk home from his chambers every +day, and on Sundays could do the round of the parks on foot. Twice a +week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, he dined at that old law club, the +Eldon, and played whist after dinner till twelve o'clock. This was +the great dissipation and, I think, the chief charm of his life. In +the middle of August he and his daughter usually went for a month +to Wharton Hall in Herefordshire, the seat of his cousin Sir Alured +Wharton;--and this was the one duty of his life which was a burthen +to him. But he had been made to believe that it was essential to his +health, and to his wife's, and then to his girl's health, that he +should every summer leave town for a time,--and where else was he to +go? Sir Alured was a relation and a gentleman. Emily liked Wharton +Hall. It was the proper thing. He hated Wharton Hall, but then he did +not know any place out of London that he would not hate worse. He +had once been induced to go up the Rhine, but had never repeated the +experiment of foreign travel. Emily sometimes went abroad with her +cousins, during which periods it was supposed that the old lawyer +spent a good deal of his time at the Eldon. He was a spare, thin, +strongly made man, with spare light brown hair, hardly yet grizzled, +with small grey whiskers, clear eyes, bushy eyebrows, with a long +ugly nose, on which young barristers had been heard to declare that +you might hang a small kettle, and with considerable vehemence of +talk when he was opposed in argument. For, with all his well-known +coolness of temper, Mr. Wharton could become very hot in an argument, +when the nature of the case in hand required heat. On one subject +all who knew him were agreed. He was a thorough lawyer. Many doubted +his eloquence, and some declared that he had known well the extent +of his own powers in abstaining from seeking the higher honours of +his profession; but no one doubted his law. He had once written a +book,--on the mortgage of stocks in trade; but that had been in early +life, and he had never since dabbled in literature. + +He was certainly a man of whom men were generally afraid. At the +whist-table no one would venture to scold him. In the court no one +ever contradicted him. In his own house, though he was very quiet, +the servants dreaded to offend him, and were attentive to his +slightest behests. When he condescended to ride with any acquaintance +in the park, it was always acknowledged that old Wharton was to +regulate the pace. His name was Abel, and all his life he had been +known as able Abe;--a silent, far-seeing, close-fisted, just old man, +who was not, however, by any means deficient in sympathy either with +the sufferings or with the joys of humanity. + +It was Easter time and the courts were not sitting, but Mr. Wharton +was in his chamber as a matter of course at ten o'clock. He knew no +real homely comforts elsewhere,--unless at the whist-table at the +Eldon. He ate and drank and slept in his own house in Manchester +Square, but he could hardly be said to live there. It was not +there that his mind was awake, and that the powers of the man were +exercised. When he came up from the dining-room to join his daughter +after dinner he would get her to sing him a song, and would then seat +himself with a book. But he never read in his own house, invariably +falling into a sweet and placid slumber, from which he was never +disturbed till his daughter kissed him as she went to bed. Then +he would walk about the room, and look at his watch, and shuffle +uneasily through half-an-hour till his conscience allowed him to take +himself to his chamber. He was a man of no pursuits in his own house. +But from ten in the morning till five, or often till six, in the +evening, his mind was active in some work. It was not now all law, +as it used to be. In the drawer of the old piece of furniture which +stood just at the right hand of his own arm-chair there were various +books hidden away, which he was sometimes ashamed to have seen by +his clients,--poetry and novels and even fairy tales. For there was +nothing Mr. Wharton could not read in his chambers, though there was +nothing that he could read in his own house. He had a large pleasant +room in which to sit, looking out from the ground floor of Stone +Buildings on to the gardens belonging to the Inn,--and here, in the +centre of the metropolis, but in perfect quiet as far as the outside +world was concerned, he had lived and still lived his life. + +At about noon on the day following that on which Lopez had made his +sudden swoop on Mr. Parker and had then dined with Everett Wharton, +he called at Stone Buildings and was shown into the lawyer's room. +His quick eye at once discovered the book which Mr. Wharton half +hid away, and saw upon it Mr. Mudie's suspicious ticket. Barristers +certainly never get their law books from Mudie, and Lopez at once +knew that his hoped-for father-in-law had been reading a novel. He +had not suspected such weakness, but argued well from it for the +business he had in hand. There must be a soft spot to be found about +the heart of an old lawyer who spent his mornings in such occupation. +"How do you do, sir?" said Mr. Wharton rising from his seat. "I hope +I see you well, sir." Though he had been reading a novel his tone +and manner were very cold. Lopez had never been in Stone Buildings +before, and was not quite sure that he might not have committed some +offence in coming there. "Take a seat, Mr. Lopez. Is there anything I +can do for you in my way?" + +There was a great deal that could be done "in his way" as +father;--but how was it to be introduced and the case made clear? +Lopez did not know whether the old man had as yet ever suspected +such a feeling as that which he now intended to declare. He had +been intimate at the house in Manchester Square, and had certainly +ingratiated himself very closely with a certain Mrs. Roby, who had +been Mrs. Wharton's sister and constant companion, who lived in +Berkeley Street, close round the corner from Manchester Square, and +spent very much of her time with Emily Wharton. They were together +daily, as though Mrs. Roby had assumed the part of a second mother, +and Lopez was well aware that Mrs. Roby knew of his love. If there +was real confidence between Mrs. Roby and the old lawyer, the old +lawyer must know it also;--but as to that Lopez felt that he was in +the dark. + +The task of speaking to an old father is not unpleasant when the +lover knows that he has been smiled upon, and, in fact, approved for +the last six months. He is going to be patted on the back, and made +much of, and received into the family. He is to be told that his +Mary or his Augusta has been the best daughter in the world and will +therefore certainly be the best wife, and he himself will probably on +that special occasion be spoken of with unqualified praise,--and all +will be pleasant. But the subject is one very difficult to broach +when no previous light has been thrown on it. Ferdinand Lopez, +however, was not the man to stand shivering on the brink when a +plunge was necessary,--and therefore he made his plunge. "Mr. +Wharton, I have taken the liberty to call upon you here, because I +want to speak to you about your daughter." + +"About my daughter!" The old man's surprise was quite genuine. Of +course when he had given himself a moment to think, he knew what must +be the nature of his visitor's communication. But up to that moment +he had never mixed his daughter and Ferdinand Lopez in his thoughts +together. And now, the idea having come upon him, he looked at the +aspirant with severe and unpleasant eyes. It was manifest to the +aspirant that the first flash of the thing was painful to the father. + +"Yes, sir. I know how great is my presumption. But, yet, having +ventured, I will hardly say to entertain a hope, but to have come to +such a state that I can only be happy by hoping, I have thought it +best to come to you at once." + +"Does she know anything of this?" + +"Of my visit to you? Nothing." + +"Of your intentions;--of your suit generally? Am I to understand that +this has any sanction from her?" + +"None at all." + +"Have you told her anything of it?" + +"Not a word. I come to ask you for your permission to address her." + +"You mean that she has no knowledge whatever of your--your preference +for her." + +"I cannot say that. It is hardly possible that I should have learned +to love her as I do without some consciousness on her part that it is +so." + +"What I mean is, without any beating about the bush,--have you been +making love to her?" + +"Who is to say in what making love consists, Mr. Wharton?" + +"D---- it, sir, a gentleman knows. A gentleman knows whether he has +been playing on a girl's feelings, and a gentleman, when he is asked +as I have asked you, will at any rate tell the truth. I don't want +any definitions. Have you been making love to her?" + +"I think, Mr. Wharton, that I have behaved like a gentleman; and that +you will acknowledge at least so much when you come to know exactly +what I have done and what I have not done. I have endeavoured to +commend myself to your daughter, but I have never spoken a word of +love to her." + +"Does Everett know of all this?" + +"Yes." + +"And has he encouraged it?" + +"He knows of it, because he is my most intimate friend. Whoever the +lady might have been, I should have told him. He is attached to me, +and would not, I think, on his own account, object to call me his +brother. I spoke to him yesterday on the matter very plainly, and he +told me that I ought certainly to see you first. I quite agreed with +him, and therefore I am here. There has certainly been nothing in his +conduct to make you angry, and I do not think that there has been +anything in mine." + +There was a dignity of demeanour and a quiet assured courage which +had its effect upon the old lawyer. He felt that he could not storm +and talk in ambiguous language of what a "gentleman" would or +would not do. He might disapprove of this man altogether as a +son-in-law,--and at the present moment he thought that he did,--but +still the man was entitled to a civil answer. How were lovers to +approach the ladies of their love in any manner more respectful than +this? "Mr. Lopez," he said, "you must forgive me if I say that you +are comparatively a stranger to us." + +"That is an accident which would be easily cured if your will in that +direction were as good as mine." + +"But, perhaps, it isn't. One has to be explicit in these matters. +A daughter's happiness is a very serious consideration,--and some +people, among whom I confess that I am one, consider that like should +marry like. I should wish to see my daughter marry,--not only in my +own sphere, neither higher nor lower,--but with some one of my own +class." + +"I hardly know, Mr. Wharton, whether that is intended to exclude me." + +"Well,--to tell you the truth I know nothing about you. I don't know +who your father was,--whether he was an Englishman, whether he was +a Christian, whether he was a Protestant,--not even whether he was +a gentleman. These are questions which I should not dream of asking +under any other circumstances;--would be matters with which I should +have no possible concern, if you were simply an acquaintance. But +when you talk to a man about his daughter--!" + +"I acknowledge freely your right of inquiry." + +"And I know nothing of your means;--nothing whatever. I understand +that you live as a man of fortune, but I presume that you earn your +bread. I know nothing of the way in which you earn it, nothing of the +certainty or amount of your means." + +"Those things are of course matters for inquiry; but may I presume +that you have no objection which satisfactory answers to such +questions may not remove?" + +"I shall never willingly give my daughter to any one who is not the +son of an English gentleman. It may be a prejudice, but that is my +feeling." + +"My father was certainly not an English gentleman. He was a +Portuguese." In admitting this, and in thus subjecting himself at +once to one clearly-stated ground of objection,--the objection being +one which, though admitted, carried with itself neither fault nor +disgrace,--Lopez felt that he had got a certain advantage. He could +not get over the fact that he was the son of a Portuguese parent, but +by admitting that openly he thought he might avoid present discussion +on matters which might, perhaps, be more disagreeable, but to which +he need not allude if the accident of his birth were to be taken by +the father as settling the question. "My mother was an English lady," +he added, "but my father certainly was not an Englishman. I never +had the common happiness of knowing either of them. I was an orphan +before I understood what it was to have a parent." + +This was said with a pathos which for the moment stopped the +expression of any further harsh criticism from the lawyer. Mr. +Wharton could not instantly repeat his objection to a parentage +which was matter for such melancholy reflections; but he felt at the +same time that as he had luckily landed himself on a positive and +undeniable ground of objection to a match which was distasteful to +him, it would be unwise for him to go to other matters in which he +might be less successful. By doing so, he would seem to abandon the +ground which he had already made good. He thought it probable that +the man might have an adequate income, and yet he did not wish +to welcome him as a son-in-law. He thought it possible that the +Portuguese father might be a Portuguese nobleman, and therefore +one whom he would be driven to admit to have been in some sort a +gentleman;--but yet this man who was now in his presence and whom +he continued to scan with the closest observation, was not what he +called a gentleman. The foreign blood was proved, and that would +suffice. As he looked at Lopez he thought that he detected Jewish +signs, but he was afraid to make any allusion to religion, lest Lopez +should declare that his ancestors had been noted as Christians since +St. James first preached in the Peninsula. + +"I was educated altogether in England," continued Lopez, "till I was +sent to a German university in the idea that the languages of the +continent are not generally well learned in this country. I can never +be sufficiently thankful to my guardian for doing so." + +"I dare say;--I dare say. French and German are very useful. I have a +prejudice of my own in favour of Greek and Latin." + +"But I rather fancy I picked up more Greek and Latin at Bohn than I +should have got here, had I stuck to nothing else." + +"I dare say;--I dare say. You may be an Admirable Crichton for what I +know." + +"I have not intended to make any boast, sir, but simply to vindicate +those who had the care of my education. If you have no objection +except that founded on my birth, which is an accident--" + +"When one man is a peer and another a ploughman, that is an accident. +One doesn't find fault with the ploughman, but one doesn't ask him to +dinner." + +"But my accident," said Lopez smiling, "is one which you would hardly +discover unless you were told. Had I called myself Talbot you would +not know but that I was as good an Englishman as yourself." + +"A man of course may be taken in by falsehoods," said the lawyer. + +"If you have no other objection than that raised, I hope you will +allow me to visit in Manchester Square." + +"There may be ten thousand other objections, Mr. Lopez, but I +really think that the one is enough. Of course I know nothing of +my daughter's feelings. I should imagine that the matter is as +strange to her as it is to me. But I cannot give you anything like +encouragement. If I am ever to have a son-in-law I should wish to +have an English son-in-law. I do not even know what your profession +is." + +"I am engaged in foreign loans." + +"Very precarious I should think. A sort of gambling; isn't it?" + +"It is the business by which many of the greatest mercantile houses +in the city have been made." + +"I dare say;--I dare say;--and by which they come to ruin. I have the +greatest respect in the world for mercantile enterprise, and have +had as much to do as most men with mercantile questions. But I ain't +sure that I wish to marry my daughter in the City. Of course it's all +prejudice. I won't deny that on general subjects I can give as much +latitude as any man; but when one's own hearth is attacked--" + +"Surely such a proposition as mine, Mr. Wharton, is no attack!" + +"In my sense it is. When a man proposes to assault and invade the +very kernel of another man's heart, to share with him, and indeed to +take from him, the very dearest of his possessions, to become part +and parcel with him either for infinite good or infinite evil, then a +man has a right to guard even his prejudices as precious bulwarks." +Mr. Wharton as he said this was walking about the room with his hands +in his trowsers pockets. "I have always been for absolute toleration +in matters of religion,--have always advocated admission of Roman +Catholics and Jews into Parliament, and even to the Bench. In +ordinary life I never question a man's religion. It is nothing to me +whether he believes in Mahomet, or has no belief at all. But when a +man comes to me for my daughter--" + +"I have always belonged to the Church of England," said Ferdinand +Lopez. + +"Lopez is at any rate a bad name to go to a Protestant church with, +and I don't want my daughter to bear it. I am very frank with you, +as in such a matter men ought to understand each other. Personally +I have liked you well enough and have been glad to see you at my +house. Everett and you have seemed to be friends, and I have had no +objection to make. But marrying into a family is a very serious thing +indeed." + +"No man feels that more strongly than I do, Mr. Wharton." + +"There had better be an end of it." + +"Even though I should be happy enough to obtain her favour?" + +"I can't think that she cares about you. I don't think it for a +moment. You say you haven't spoken to her, and I am sure she's not +a girl to throw herself at a man's head. I don't approve it, and I +think it had better fall to the ground. It must fall to the ground." + +"I wish you would give me a reason." + +"Because you are not English." + +"But I am English. My father was a foreigner." + +"It doesn't suit my ideas. I suppose I may have my own ideas about my +own family, Mr. Lopez? I feel perfectly certain that my child will do +nothing to displease me, and this would displease me. If we were to +talk for an hour I could say nothing further." + +"I hope that I may be able to present things to you in an aspect so +altered," said Lopez as he prepared to take his leave, "as to make +you change your mind." + +"Possibly;--possibly," said Wharton, "but I do not think it probable. +Good morning to you, sir. If I have said anything that has seemed +to be unkind, put it down to my anxiety as a father and not to my +conduct as a man." Then the door was closed behind his visitor, and +Mr. Wharton was left walking up and down his room alone. He was by +no means satisfied with himself. He felt that he had been rude and +at the same time not decisive. He had not explained to the man as +he would wish to have done, that it was monstrous and out of the +question that a daughter of the Whartons, one of the oldest families +in England, should be given to a friendless Portuguese,--a probable +Jew,--about whom nobody knew anything. Then he remembered that sooner +or later his girl would have at least L60,000, a fact of which no +human being but himself was aware. Would it not be well that somebody +should be made aware of it, so that his girl might have the chance +of suitors preferable to this swarthy son of Judah? He began to be +afraid, as he thought of it, that he was not managing his matters +well. How would it be with him if he should find that the girl was +really in love with this swarthy son of Judah? He had never inquired +about his girl's heart, though there was one to whom he hoped that +his girl's heart might some day be given. He almost made up his mind +to go home at once, so anxious was he. But the prospect of having to +spend an entire afternoon in Manchester Square was too much for him, +and he remained in his chamber till the usual hour. + +Lopez, as he returned from Lincoln's Inn, westward to his club, +was, on the whole, contented with the interview. He had expected +opposition. He had not thought that the cherry would fall easily into +his mouth. But the conversation generally had not taken those turns +which he had thought would be most detrimental to him. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Mrs. Roby + + +Mr. Wharton, as he walked home, remembered that Mrs. Roby was to dine +at his house on that evening. During the remainder of the day, after +the departure of Lopez, he had been unable to take his mind from the +consideration of the proposition made to him. He had tried the novel, +and he had tried Huggins _v._ the Trustees of the Charity of St. +Ambox, a case of undeniable importance in which he was engaged on the +part of Huggins, but neither was sufficiently powerful to divert his +thoughts. Throughout the morning he was imagining what he would say +to Emily about this lover of hers,--in what way he would commence +the conversation, and how he would express his own opinion should +he find that she was in any degree favourable to the man. Should +she altogether ignore the man's pretensions, there would be no +difficulty. But if she hesitated,--if, as was certainly possible, she +should show any partiality for the man, then there would be a knot +which would require untying. Hitherto the intercourse between the +father and daughter had been simple and pleasant. He had given her +everything she asked for, and she had obeyed him in all the very +few matters as to which he had demanded obedience. Questions of +discipline, as far as there had been any discipline, had generally +been left to Mrs. Roby. Mrs. Roby was to dine in Manchester Square +to-day, and perhaps it would be well that he should have a few words +with Mrs. Roby before he spoke to his daughter. + +Mrs. Roby had a husband, but Mr. Roby had not been asked to dine +in the Square on this occasion. Mrs. Roby dined in the Square very +often, but Mr. Roby very seldom,--not probably above once a year, on +some special occasion. He and Mr. Wharton had married sisters, but +they were quite unlike in character and had never become friends. +Mrs. Wharton had been nearly twenty years younger than her husband; +Mrs. Roby had been six or seven years younger than her sister; +and Mr. Roby was a year or two younger than his wife. The two men +therefore belonged to different periods of life, Mr. Roby at the +present time being a florid youth of forty. He had a moderate +fortune, inherited from his mother, of which he was sufficiently +careful; but he loved races, and read sporting papers; he was +addicted to hunting and billiards; he shot pigeons, and,--so Mr. +Wharton had declared calumniously more than once to an intimate +friend,--had not an H in his vocabulary. The poor man did drop an +aspirate now and again; but he knew his defect and strove hard, and +with fair average success, to overcome it. But Mr. Wharton did not +love him, and they were not friends. Perhaps neither did Mrs. Roby +love him very ardently. She was at any rate almost always willing to +leave her own house to come to the Square, and on such occasions Mr. +Roby was always willing to dine at the Nimrod, the club which it +delighted him to frequent. + +Mr. Wharton, on entering his own house, met his son on the staircase. +"Do you dine at home to-day, Everett?" + +"Well, sir; no, sir. I don't think I do. I think I half promised to +dine with a fellow at the club." + +"Don't you think you'd make things meet more easily about the end of +the year if you dined oftener here, where you have nothing to pay, +and less frequently at the club, where you pay for everything?" + +"But what I should save you would lose, sir. That's the way I look at +it." + +"Then I advise you to look at it the other way, and leave me to +take care of myself. Come in here, I want to speak to you." Everett +followed his father into a dingy back parlour, which was fitted up +with book shelves and was generally called the study, but which was +gloomy and comfortless because it was seldom used. "I have had your +friend Lopez with me at my chambers to-day. I don't like your friend +Lopez." + +"I am sorry for that, sir." + +"He is a man as to whom I should wish to have a good deal of evidence +before I would trust him to be what he seems to be. I dare say he's +clever." + +"I think he's more than clever." + +"I dare say;--and well instructed in some respects." + +"I believe him to be a thorough linguist, sir." + +"I dare say. I remember a waiter at an hotel in Holborn who could +speak seven languages. It's an accomplishment very necessary for a +Courier or a Queen's Messenger." + +"You don't mean to say, sir, that you disregard foreign languages?" + +"I have said nothing of the kind. But in my estimation they don't +stand in the place of principles, or a profession, or birth, or +country. I fancy there has been some conversation between you about +your sister." + +"Certainly there has." + +"A young man should be very chary how he speaks to another man, to a +stranger, about his sister. A sister's name should be too sacred for +club talk." + +"Club talk! Good heavens, sir; you don't think that I have spoken of +Emily in that way? There isn't a man in London has a higher respect +for his sister than I have for mine. This man, by no means in a light +way but with all seriousness, has told me that he was attached to +Emily; and I, believing him to be a gentleman and well to do in the +world, have referred him to you. Can that have been wrong?" + +"I don't know how he's 'to do', as you call it. I haven't asked, and +I don't mean to ask. But I doubt his being a gentleman. He is not an +English gentleman. What was his father?" + +"I haven't the least idea." + +"Or his mother?" + +"He has never mentioned her to me." + +"Nor his family; nor anything of their antecedents? He is a man +fallen out of the moon. All that is nothing to us as passing +acquaintances. Between men such ignorance should I think bar absolute +intimacy;--but that may be a matter of taste. But it should be held +to be utterly antagonistic to any such alliance as that of marriage. +He seems to be a friend of yours. You had better make him understand +that it is quite out of the question. I have told him so, and you had +better repeat it." So saying, Mr. Wharton went upstairs to dress, and +Everett, having received his father's instructions, went away to the +club. + +When Mr. Wharton reached the drawing-room, he found Mrs. Roby alone, +and he at once resolved to discuss the matter with her before he +spoke to his daughter. "Harriet," he said abruptly, "do you know +anything of one Mr. Lopez?" + +"Mr. Lopez! Oh yes, I know him." + +"Do you mean that he is an intimate friend?" + +"As friends go in London, he is. He comes to our house, and I think +that he hunts with Dick." Dick was Mr. Roby. + +"That's a recommendation." + +"Well, Mr. Wharton, I hardly know what you mean by that," said Mrs. +Roby, smiling. "I don't think, my husband will do Mr. Lopez any harm; +and I am sure Mr. Lopez won't do my husband any." + +"I dare say not. But that's not the question. Roby can take care of +himself." + +"Quite so." + +"And so I dare say can Mr. Lopez." At this moment Emily entered the +room. "My dear," said her father, "I am speaking to your aunt. Would +you mind going downstairs and waiting for us? Tell them we shall be +ready for dinner in ten minutes." Then Emily passed out of the room, +and Mrs. Roby assumed a grave demeanour. "The man we are speaking +of has been to me and has made an offer for Emily." As he said this +he looked anxiously into his sister-in-law's face, in order that +he might tell from that how far she favoured the idea of such a +marriage,--and he thought that he perceived at once that she was +not averse to it. "You know it is quite out of the question," he +continued. + +"I don't know why it should be out of the question. But of course +your opinion would have great weight with Emily." + +"Great weight! Well;--I should hope so. If not, I do not know +whose opinion is to have weight. In the first place the man is a +foreigner." + +"Oh, no;--he is English. But if he were a foreigner: many English +girls marry foreigners." + +"My daughter shall not;--not with my permission. You have not +encouraged him, I hope." + +"I have not interfered at all," said Mrs. Roby. But this was a lie. +Mrs. Roby had interfered. Mrs. Roby, in discussing the merits and +character of the lover with the young lady, had always lent herself +to the lover's aid,--and had condescended to accept from the lover +various presents which she could hardly have taken had she been +hostile to him. + +"And now tell me about herself. Has she seen him often?" + +"Why, Mr. Wharton, he has dined here, in the house, over and over +again. I thought that you were encouraging him." + +"Heavens and earth!" + +"Of course she has seen him. When a man dines at a house he is bound +to call. Of course he has called,--I don't know how often. And she +has met him round the corner."--"Round the corner," in Manchester +Square, meant Mrs. Roby's house in Berkeley Street.--"Last Sunday +they were at the Zoo together. Dick got them tickets. I thought you +knew all about it." + +"Do you mean that my daughter went to the Zoological Gardens alone +with this man?" the father asked in dismay. + +"Dick was with them. I should have gone, only I had a headache. Did +you not know she went?" + +"Yes;--I heard about the Gardens. But I heard nothing of the man." + +"I thought, Mr. Wharton, you were all in his favour." + +"I am not at all in his favour. I dislike him particularly. For +anything I know he may have sold pencils about the streets like any +other Jew-boy." + +"He goes to church just as you do,--that is, if he goes anywhere; +which I dare say he does about as often as yourself, Mr. Wharton." +Now Mr. Wharton, though he was a thorough and perhaps a bigoted +member of the Church of England, was not fond of going to church. + +"Do you mean to tell me," he said, pressing his hands together, and +looking very seriously into his sister-in-law's face; "do you mean to +tell me that she--likes him?" + +"Yes;--I think she does like him." + +"You don't mean to say--she's in love with him?" + +"She has never told me that she is. Young ladies are shy of making +such assertions as to their own feelings before the due time for +doing so has come. I think she prefers him to anybody else; and that +were he to propose to herself, she would give him her consent to go +to you." + +"He shall never enter this house again," said Mr. Wharton +passionately. + +"You must arrange that with her. If you have so strong an objection +to him, I wonder that you should have had him here at all." + +"How was I to know? God bless my soul!--just because a man was +allowed to dine here once or twice! Upon my word, it's too bad!" + +"Papa, won't you and aunt come down to dinner?" said Emily, opening +the door gently. Then they went down to dinner, and during the meal +nothing was said about Mr. Lopez. But they were not very merry +together, and poor Emily felt sure that her own affairs had been +discussed in a troublesome manner. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +"No One Knows Anything About Him" + + +Neither at dinner, on that evening at Manchester Square, nor after +dinner, as long as Mrs. Roby remained in the house, was a word said +about Lopez by Mr. Wharton. He remained longer than usual with his +bottle of port wine in the dining-room; and when he went upstairs, +he sat himself down and fell asleep, almost without a sign. He did +not ask for a song, nor did Emily offer to sing. But as soon as Mrs. +Roby was gone,--and Mrs. Roby went home, round the corner, somewhat +earlier than usual,--then Mr. Wharton woke up instantly and made +inquiry of his daughter. + +There had, however, been a few words spoken on the subject between +Mrs. Roby and her niece which had served to prepare Emily for what +was coming. "Lopez has been to your father," said Mrs. Roby, in a +voice not specially encouraging for such an occasion. Then she paused +a moment; but her niece said nothing, and she continued, "Yes,--and +your father has been blaming me,--as if I had done anything! If he +did not mean you to choose for yourself, why didn't he keep a closer +look-out?" + +"I haven't chosen any one, Aunt Harriet." + +"Well;--to speak fairly, I thought you had; and I have nothing to say +against your choice. As young men go, I think Mr. Lopez is as good +as the best of them. I don't know why you shouldn't have him. Of +course you'll have money, but then I suppose he makes a large income +himself. As to Mr. Fletcher, you don't care a bit about him." + +"Not in that way, certainly." + +"No doubt your papa will have it out with you just now; so you had +better make up your mind what you will say to him. If you really like +the man, I don't see why you shouldn't say so, and stick to it. He +has made a regular offer, and girls in these days are not expected +to be their father's slaves." Emily said nothing further to her aunt +on that occasion, but finding that she must in truth "have it out" +with her father presently, gave herself up to reflection. It might +probably be the case that the whole condition of her future life +would depend on the way in which she might now "have it out" with her +father. + +I would not wish the reader to be prejudiced against Miss Wharton by +the not unnatural feeling which may perhaps be felt in regard to the +aunt. Mrs. Roby was pleased with little intrigues, was addicted to +the amusement of fostering love affairs, was fond of being thought +to be useful in such matters, and was not averse to having presents +given to her. She had married a vulgar man; and, though she had not +become like the man, she had become vulgar. She was not an eligible +companion for Mr. Wharton's daughter,--a matter as to which the +father had not given himself proper opportunities of learning the +facts. An aunt in his close neighbourhood was so great a comfort +to him,--so ready and so natural an assistance to him in his +difficulties! But Emily Wharton was not in the least like her aunt, +nor had Mrs. Wharton been at all like Mrs. Roby. No doubt the contact +was dangerous. Injury had perhaps already been done. It may be that +some slightest soil had already marred the pure white of the girl's +natural character. But if so, the stain was as yet too impalpable to +be visible to ordinary eyes. + +Emily Wharton was a tall, fair girl, with grey eyes, rather exceeding +the average proportions as well as height of women. Her features +were regular and handsome, and her form was perfect; but it was by +her manner and her voice that she conquered, rather than by her +beauty,--by those gifts and by a clearness of intellect joined with +that feminine sweetness which has its most frequent foundation in +self-denial. Those who knew her well, and had become attached to her, +were apt to endow her with all virtues, and to give her credit for +a loveliness which strangers did not find on her face. But as we do +not light up our houses with our brightest lamps for all comers, +so neither did she emit from her eyes their brightest sparks till +special occasion for such shining had arisen. To those who were +allowed to love her no woman was more lovable. There was innate in +her an appreciation of her own position as a woman, and with it a +principle of self-denial as a human being, which it was beyond the +power of any Mrs. Roby to destroy or even to defile by small stains. + +Like other girls she had been taught to presume that it was her +destiny to be married, and like other girls she had thought much +about her destiny. A young man generally regards it as his destiny +either to succeed or to fail in the world, and he thinks about that. +To him marriage, when it comes, is an accident to which he has hardly +as yet given a thought. But to the girl the matrimony which is or +is not to be her destiny contains within itself the only success +or failure which she anticipates. The young man may become Lord +Chancellor, or at any rate earn his bread comfortably as a county +court judge. But the girl can look forward to little else than the +chance of having a good man for her husband;--a good man, or if her +tastes lie in that direction, a rich man. Emily Wharton had doubtless +thought about these things, and she sincerely believed that she had +found the good man in Ferdinand Lopez. + +The man, certainly, was one strangely endowed with the power of +creating a belief. When going to Mr. Wharton at his chambers he had +not intended to cheat the lawyer into any erroneous idea about his +family, but he had resolved that he would so discuss the questions of +his own condition, which would probably be raised, as to leave upon +the old man's mind an unfounded conviction that in regard to money +and income he had no reason to fear question. Not a word had been +said about his money or his income. And Mr. Wharton had felt himself +bound to abstain from allusion to such matters from an assured +feeling that he could not in that direction plant an enduring +objection. In this way Lopez had carried his point with Mr. Wharton. +He had convinced Mrs. Roby that among all the girl's attractions the +greatest attraction for him was the fact that she was Mrs. Roby's +niece. He had made Emily herself believe that the one strong passion +of his life was his love for her, and this he had done without ever +having asked for her love. And he had even taken the trouble to +allure Dick, and had listened to and had talked whole pages out of +_Bell's Life_. On his own behalf it must be acknowledged that he +did love the girl, as well perhaps as he was capable of loving any +one;--but he had found out many particulars as to Mr. Wharton's money +before he had allowed himself to love her. + +As soon as Mrs. Roby had gathered up her knitting, and declared, as +she always did on such occasions, that she could go round the corner +without having any one to look after her, Mr. Wharton began. "Emily, +my dear, come here." Then she came and sat on a footstool at his +feet, and looked up into his face. "Do you know what I am going to +speak to you about, my darling?" + +"Yes, papa; I think I do. It is about--Mr. Lopez." + +"Your aunt has told you, I suppose. Yes; it is about Mr. Lopez. I +have been very much astonished to-day by Mr. Lopez,--a man of whom I +have seen very little and know less. He came to me to-day and asked +for my permission--to address you." She sat perfectly quiet, still +looking at him, but she did not say a word. "Of course I did not give +him permission." + +"Why of course, papa?" + +"Because he is a stranger and a foreigner. Would you have wished me +to tell him that he might come?" + +"Yes, papa." He was sitting on a sofa and shrank back a little from +her as she made this free avowal. "In that case I could have judged +for myself. I suppose every girl would like to do that." + +"But should you have accepted him?" + +"I think I should have consulted you before I did that. But I should +have wished to accept him. Papa, I do love him. I have never said so +before to any one. I would not say so to you now, if he had +not--spoken to you as he has done." + +"Emily, it must not be." + +"Why not, papa? If you say it shall not be so, it shall not. I +will do as you bid me." Then he put out his hand and caressed her, +stroking down her hair. "But I think you ought to tell me why it must +not be,--as I do love him." + +"He is a foreigner." + +"But is he? And why should not a foreigner be as good as an +Englishman? His name is foreign, but he talks English and lives as an +Englishman." + +"He has no relatives, no family, no belongings. He is what we call an +adventurer. Marriage, my dear, is a most serious thing." + +"Yes, papa, I know that." + +"One is bound to be very careful. How can I give you to a man I know +nothing about,--an adventurer? What would they say in Herefordshire?" + +"I don't know why they should say anything, but if they did I +shouldn't much care." + +"I should, my dear. I should care very much. One is bound to think +of one's family. Suppose it should turn out afterwards that he +was--disreputable!" + +"You may say that of any man, papa." + +"But when a man has connexions, a father and mother, or uncles +and aunts, people that everybody knows about, then there is some +guarantee of security. Did you ever hear this man speak of his +father?" + +"I don't know that I ever did." + +"Or his mother,--or his family? Don't you think that is suspicious?" + +"I will ask him, papa, if you wish." + +"No, I would have you ask him nothing. I would not wish that there +should be opportunity for such asking. If there has been intimacy +between you, such information should have come naturally,--as a thing +of course. You have made him no promise?" + +"Oh no, papa." + +"Nor spoken to him--of your regard for him?" + +"Never;--not a word. Nor he to me,--except in such words as one +understands even though they say nothing." + +"I wish he had never seen you." + +"Is he a bad man, papa?" + +"Who knows? I cannot tell. He may be ever so bad. How is one to know +whether a man be bad or good when one knows nothing about him?" At +this point the father got up and walked about the room. "The long and +the short of it is that you must not see him any more." + +"Did you tell him so?" + +"Yes;--well; I don't know whether I said exactly that, but I told him +that the whole thing must come to an end. And it must. Luckily it +seems that nothing has been said on either side." + +"But, papa--; is there to be no reason?" + +"Haven't I given reasons? I will not have my daughter encourage an +adventurer,--a man of whom nobody knows anything. That is reason +sufficient." + +"He has a business, and he lives with gentlemen. He is Everett's +friend. He is well educated;--oh, so much better than most men that +one meets. And he is clever. Papa, I wish you knew him better than +you do." + +"I do not want to know him better." + +"Is not that prejudice, papa?" + +"My dear Emily," said Mr. Wharton, striving to wax into anger that he +might be firm against her, "I don't think that it becomes you to ask +your father such a question as that. You ought to believe that it is +the chief object of my life to do the best I can for my children." + +"I am sure it is." + +"And you ought to feel that, as I have had a long experience in the +world, my judgment about a young man might be trusted." + +That was a statement which Miss Wharton was not prepared to admit. +She had already professed herself willing to submit to her father's +judgment, and did not now by any means contemplate rebellion against +parental authority. But she did feel that on a matter so vital to her +she had a right to plead her cause before judgment should be given, +and she was not slow to assure herself, even as this interview went +on, that her love for the man was strong enough to entitle her to +assure her father that her happiness depended on his reversal of the +sentence already pronounced. "You know, papa, that I trust you," she +said. "And I have promised you that I will not disobey you. If you +tell me that I am never to see Mr. Lopez again, I will not see him." + +"You are a good girl. You were always a good girl." + +"But I think that you ought to hear me." Then he stood still with his +hands in his trowsers pockets looking at her. He did not want to hear +a word, but he felt that he would be a tyrant if he refused. "If you +tell me that I am not to see him, I shall not see him. But I shall be +very unhappy. I do love him, and I shall never love any one else in +the same way." + +"That is nonsense, Emily. There is Arthur Fletcher." + +"I am sure you will never ask me to marry a man I do not love, and +I shall never love Arthur Fletcher. If this is to be as you say, it +will make me very, very wretched. It is right that you should know +the truth. If it is only because Mr. Lopez has a foreign name--" + +"It isn't only that; no one knows anything about him, or where to +inquire even." + +"I think you should inquire, papa, and be quite certain before you +pronounce such a sentence against me. It will be a crushing blow." +He looked at her, and saw that there was a fixed purpose in her +countenance of which he had never before seen similar signs. "You +claim a right to my obedience, and I acknowledge it. I am sure you +believe me when I promise not to see him without your permission." + +"I do believe you. Of course I believe you." + +"But if I do that for you, papa, I think that you ought to be very +sure, on my account, that I haven't to bear such unhappiness for +nothing. You'll think about it, papa,--will you not, before you quite +decide?" She leaned against him as she spoke, and he kissed her. +"Good night, now, papa. You will think about it?" + +"I will. I will. Of course I will." + +And he began the process of thinking about it immediately,--before +the door was closed behind her. But what was there to think about? +Nothing that she had said altered in the least his idea about the +man. He was as convinced as ever that unless there was much to +conceal there would not be so much concealment. But a feeling began +to grow upon him already that his daughter had a mode of pleading +with him which he would not ultimately be able to resist. He had the +power, he knew, of putting an end to the thing altogether. He had +only to say resolutely and unchangeably that the thing shouldn't +be, and it wouldn't be. If he could steel his heart against his +daughter's sorrow for, say, a twelvemonth, the victory would be won. +But he already began to fear that he lacked the power to steel his +heart against his daughter. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +An Old Friend Goes to Windsor + + +"And what are they going to make you now?" + +This question was asked of her husband by a lady with whom perhaps +the readers of this volume may have already formed some acquaintance. +Chronicles of her early life have been written, at any rate +copiously. The lady was the Duchess of Omnium, and her husband was of +course the Duke. In order that the nature of the question asked by +the duchess may be explained, it must be stated that just at this +time the political affairs of the nation had got themselves tied up +into one of those truly desperate knots from which even the wisdom +and experience of septuagenarian statesmen can see no unravelment. +The heads of parties were at a standstill. In the House of Commons +there was, so to say, no majority on either side. The minds of +members were so astray that, according to the best calculation that +could be made, there would be a majority of about ten against any +possible Cabinet. There would certainly be a majority against either +of those well-tried but, at this moment, little-trusted Prime +Ministers, Mr. Gresham and Mr. Daubeny. There were certain men, +nominally belonging to this or to the other party, who would +certainly within a week of the nomination of a Cabinet in the House, +oppose the Cabinet which they ought to support. Mr. Daubeny had +been in power,--nay, was in power, though he had twice resigned. Mr. +Gresham had been twice sent for to Windsor, and had on one occasion +undertaken and on another had refused to undertake to form a +Ministry. Mr. Daubeny had tried two or three combinations, and had +been at his wits' end. He was no doubt still in power,--could appoint +bishops, and make peers, and give away ribbons. But he couldn't pass +a law, and certainly continued to hold his present uncomfortable +position by no will of his own. But a Prime Minister cannot escape +till he has succeeded in finding a successor; and though the +successor be found and consents to make an attempt, the old +unfortunate cannot be allowed to go free when that attempt is shown +to be a failure. He has not absolutely given up the keys of his +boxes, and no one will take them from him. Even a sovereign can +abdicate; but the Prime Minister of a constitutional government +is in bonds. The reader may therefore understand that the Duchess +was asking her husband what place among the political rulers of +the country had been offered to him by the last aspirant to the +leadership of the Government. + +But the reader should understand more than this, and may perhaps do +so, if he has ever seen those former chronicles to which allusion +has been made. The Duke, before he became a duke, had held very +high office, having been Chancellor of the Exchequer. When he was +transferred, perforce, to the House of Lords, he had,--as is not +uncommon in such cases,--accepted a lower political station. This had +displeased the Duchess, who was ambitious both on her own behalf and +that of her lord,--and who thought that a Duke of Omnium should be +nothing in the Government if not at any rate near the top. But after +that, with the simple and single object of doing some special piece +of work for the nation,--something which he fancied that nobody else +would do if he didn't do it,--his Grace, of his own motion, at his +own solicitation, had encountered further official degradation, very +much to the disgust of the Duchess. And it was not the way with her +Grace to hide such sorrows in the depth of her bosom. When affronted +she would speak out, whether to her husband, or to another,--using +irony rather than argument to support her cause and to vindicate her +ways. The shafts of ridicule hurled by her against her husband in +regard to his voluntary abasement had been many and sharp. They stung +him, but never for a moment influenced him. And though they stung +him, they did not even anger him. It was her nature to say such +things,--and he knew that they came rather from her uncontrolled +spirit than from any malice. She was his wife too, and he had an +idea that of little injuries of that sort there should be no end of +bearing on the part of a husband. Sometimes he would endeavour to +explain to her the motives which actuated him; but he had come to +fear that they were and must ever be unintelligible to her. But he +credited her with less than her real intelligence. She did understand +the nature of his work and his reasons for doing it; and, after +her own fashion, did what she conceived to be her own work in +endeavouring to create within his bosom a desire for higher things. +"Surely," she said to herself, "if a man of his rank is to be a +minister he should be a great minister;--at any rate as great as his +circumstances will make him. A man never can save his country by +degrading himself." In this he would probably have agreed; but his +idea of degradation and hers hardly tallied. + +When therefore she asked him what they were going to make him, it +was as though some sarcastic housekeeper in a great establishment +should ask the butler,--some butler too prone to yield in such +matters,--whether the master had appointed him lately to the cleaning +of shoes or the carrying of coals. Since these knots had become so +very tight, and since the journeys to Windsor had become so very +frequent, her Grace had asked many such questions, and had received +but very indifferent replies. The Duke had sometimes declared that +the matter was not ripe enough to allow him to make any answer. "Of +course," said the Duchess, "you should keep the secret. The editors +of the evening papers haven't known it for above an hour." At +another time he told her that he had undertaken to give Mr. Gresham +his assistance in any way in which it might be asked. "Joint +Under-Secretary with Lord Fawn, I should say," answered the Duchess. +Then he told her that he believed an attempt would be made at a mixed +ministry, but that he did not in the least know to whom the work of +doing so would be confided. "You will be about the last man who will +be told," replied the Duchess. Now, at this moment, he had, as she +knew, come direct from the house of Mr. Gresham, and she asked her +question in her usual spirit. "And what are they going to make you +now?" + +But he did not answer the question in his usual manner. He would +customarily smile gently at her badinage, and perhaps say a word +intended to show that he was not in the least moved by her raillery. +But in this instance he was very grave, and stood before her a moment +making no answer at all, looking at her in a sad and almost solemn +manner. "They have told you that they can do without you," she said, +breaking out almost into a passion. "I knew how it would be. Men are +always valued by others as they value themselves." + +"I wish it were so," he replied. "I should sleep easier to-night." + +"What is it, Plantagenet?" she exclaimed, jumping up from her chair. + +"I never cared for your ridicule hitherto, Cora; but now I feel that +I want your sympathy." + +"If you are going to do anything,--to do really anything, you shall +have it. Oh, how you shall have it!" + +"I have received her Majesty's orders to go down to Windsor at once. +I must start within half-an-hour." + +"You are going to be Prime Minister!" she exclaimed. As she spoke +she threw her arms up, and then rushed into his embrace. Never since +their first union had she been so demonstrative either of love or +admiration. "Oh, Plantagenet," she said, "if I can only do anything +I will slave for you." As he put his arm round her waist he already +felt the pleasantness of her altered way to him. She had never +worshipped him yet, and therefore her worship when it did come had +all the delight to him which it ordinarily has to the newly married +hero. + +"Stop a moment, Cora. I do not know how it may be yet. But this I +know, that if without cowardice I could avoid this task, I would +certainly avoid it." + +"Oh no! And there would be cowardice; of course there would," said +the Duchess, not much caring what might be the bonds which bound him +to the task so long as he should certainly feel himself to be bound. + +"He has told me that he thinks it my duty to make the attempt." + +"Who is he?" + +"Mr. Gresham. I do not know that I should have felt myself bound by +him, but the Duke said so also." This duke was our duke's old friend, +the Duke of St. Bungay. + +"Was he there? And who else?" + +"No one else. It is no case for exultation, Cora, for the chances are +that I shall fail. The Duke has promised to help me, on condition +that one or two he has named are included, and that one or two whom +he has also named are not. In each case I should myself have done +exactly as he proposes." + +"And Mr. Gresham?" + +"He will retire. That is a matter of course. He will intend to +support us; but all that is veiled in the obscurity which is always, +I think, darker as to the future of politics than any other future. +Clouds arise, one knows not why or whence, and create darkness when +one expected light. But as yet, you must understand, nothing is +settled. I cannot even say what answer I may make to her Majesty, +till I know what commands her Majesty may lay upon me." + +"You must keep a hold of it now, Plantagenet," said the Duchess, +clenching her own fist. + +"I will not even close a finger on it with any personal ambition," +said the Duke. "If I could be relieved from the burden this moment +it would be an ease to my heart. I remember once," he said,--and as +he spoke he again put his arm around her waist, "when I was debarred +from taking office by a domestic circumstance." + +"I remember that too," she said, speaking very gently and looking up +at him. + +"It was a grief to me at the time, though it turned out so +well,--because the office then suggested to me was one which I +thought I could fill with credit to the country. I believed in myself +then as far as that work went. But for this attempt I have no belief +in myself. I doubt whether I have any gift for governing men." + +"It will come." + +"It may be that I must try;--and it may be that I must break my heart +because I fail. But I shall make the attempt if I am directed to do +so in any manner that shall seem feasible. I must be off now. The +Duke is to be here this evening. They had better have dinner ready +for me whenever I may be able to eat it." Then he took his departure +before she could say another word. + +When the Duchess was alone she took to thinking of the whole thing in +a manner which they who best knew her would have thought to be very +unusual with her. She already possessed all that rank and wealth +could give her, and together with those good things a peculiar +position of her own, of which she was proud, and which she had made +her own not by her wealth or rank, but by a certain fearless energy +and power of raillery which never deserted her. Many feared her +and she was afraid of none, and many also loved her,--whom she also +loved, for her nature was affectionate. She was happy with her +children, happy with her friends, in the enjoyment of perfect health, +and capable of taking an exaggerated interest in anything that might +come uppermost for the moment. One would have been inclined to say +that politics were altogether unnecessary to her, and that as Duchess +of Omnium, lately known as Lady Glencora Palliser, she had a wider +and a pleasanter influence than could belong to any woman as wife +of a Prime Minister. And she was essentially one of those women who +are not contented to be known simply as the wives of their husbands. +She had a celebrity of her own, quite independent of his position, +and which could not be enhanced by any glory or any power added to +him. Nevertheless, when he left her to go down to the Queen with +the prospect of being called upon to act as chief of the incoming +ministry, her heart throbbed with excitement. It had come at last, +and he would be, to her thinking, the leading man in the greatest +kingdom in the world. + +But she felt in regard to him somewhat as did Lady Macbeth towards +her lord. + + + "What thou would'st highly, + That would'st thou holily." + + +She knew him to be full of scruples, unable to bend when aught was to +be got by bending, unwilling to domineer when men might be brought to +subjection only by domination. The first duty never could be taught +to him. To win support by smiles when his heart was bitter within him +would never be within the power of her husband. He could never be +brought to buy an enemy by political gifts,--would never be prone to +silence his keenest opponent by making him his right hand supporter. +But the other lesson was easier and might she thought be learned. +Power is so pleasant that men quickly learn to be greedy in the +enjoyment of it, and to flatter themselves that patriotism requires +them to be imperious. She would be constant with him day and night to +make him understand that his duty to his country required him to be +in very truth its chief ruler. And then with some knowledge of things +as they are,--and also with much ignorance,--she reflected that he +had at his command a means of obtaining popularity and securing +power, which had not belonged to his immediate predecessors, and had +perhaps never to the same extent been at the command of any minister +in England. His wealth as Duke of Omnium had been great; but hers, +as available for immediate purposes, had been greater even than his. +After some fashion, of which she was profoundly ignorant, her own +property was separated from his and reserved to herself and her +children. Since her marriage she had never said a word to him about +her money,--unless it were to ask that something out of the common +course might be spent on some, generally absurd, object. But now had +come the time for squandering money. She was not only rich but she +had a popularity that was exclusively her own. The new Prime Minister +and the new Prime Minister's wife should entertain after a fashion +that had never yet been known even among the nobility of England. +Both in town and country those great mansions should be kept open +which were now rarely much used because she had found them dull, +cold, and comfortless. In London there should not be a Member +of Parliament whom she would not herself know and influence by +her flattery and grace,--or if there were men whom she could not +influence, they should live as men tabooed and unfortunate. Money +mattered nothing. Their income was enormous, and for a series of +years,--for half-a-dozen years if the game could be kept up so +long,--they could spend treble what they called their income without +real injury to their children. Visions passed through her brain of +wondrous things which might be done,--if only her husband would be +true to his own greatness. + +The Duke had left her about two. She did not stir out of the house +that day, but in the course of the afternoon she wrote a line to a +friend who lived not very far from her. The Duchess dwelt in Carlton +Terrace, and her friend in Park Lane. The note was as follows:-- + + + DEAR M., + + Come to me at once. I am too excited to go to you. + + Yours, + + G. + + +This was addressed to one Mrs. Finn, a lady as to whom chronicles +also have been written, and who has been known to the readers of such +chronicles as a friend dearly loved by the Duchess. As quickly as she +could put on her carriage garments and get herself taken to Carlton +Terrace, Mrs. Finn was there. "Well, my dear, how do you think it's +all settled at last?" said the Duchess. It will probably be felt that +the new Prime Minister's wife was indiscreet, and hardly worthy of +the confidence placed in her by her husband. But surely we all have +some one friend to whom we tell everything, and with the Duchess Mrs. +Finn was that one friend. + +"Is the Duke to be Prime Minister?" + +"How on earth should you have guessed that?" + +"What else could make you so excited? Besides, it is by no means +strange. I understand that they have gone on trying the two old +stagers till it is useless to try them any longer; and if there is to +be a fresh man, no one would be more likely than the Duke." + +"Do you think so?" + +"Certainly. Why not?" + +"He has frittered away his political position by such meaningless +concessions. And then he had never done anything to put himself +forward,--at any rate since he left the House of Commons. Perhaps +I haven't read things right,--but I was surprised, very much +surprised." + +"And gratified?" + +"Oh yes. I can tell you everything, because you will neither +misunderstand me nor tell tales of me. Yes,--I shall like him to be +Prime Minister, though I know that I shall have a bad time of it +myself." + +"Why a bad time?" + +"He is so hard to manage. Of course I don't mean about politics. Of +course it must be a mixed kind of thing at first, and I don't care +a straw whether it run to Radicalism or Toryism. The country goes +on its own way, either for better or for worse, whichever of them +are in. I don't think it makes any difference as to what sort of +laws are passed. But among ourselves, in our set, it makes a deal +of difference who gets the garters, and the counties, who are +made barons and then earls, and whose name stands at the head of +everything." + +"That is your way of looking at politics?" + +"I own it to you;--and I must teach it to him." + +"You never will do that, Lady Glen." + +"Never is a long word. I mean to try. For look back and tell me of +any Prime Minister who has become sick of his power. They become sick +of the want of power when it's falling away from them,--and then they +affect to disdain and put aside the thing they can no longer enjoy. +Love of power is a kind of feeling which comes to a man as he grows +older." + +"Politics with the Duke have been simple patriotism," said Mrs. Finn. + +"The patriotism may remain, my dear, but not the simplicity. I don't +want him to sell his country to Germany, or to turn it into an +American republic in order that he may be president. But when he gets +the reins in his hands, I want him to keep them there. If he's so +much honester than other people, of course he's the best man for +the place. We must make him believe that the very existence of the +country depends on his firmness." + +"To tell you the truth, Lady Glen, I don't think you'll ever make the +Duke believe anything. What he believes, he believes either from very +old habit, or from the working of his own mind." + +"You're always singing his praises, Marie." + +"I don't know that there is any special praise in what I say; but as +far as I can see, it is the man's character." + +"Mr. Finn will come in, of course," said the Duchess. + +"Mr. Finn will be like the Duke in one thing. He'll take his own way +as to being in or out quite independently of his wife." + +"You'd like him to be in office?" + +"No, indeed! Why should I? He would be more often at the House, +and keep later hours, and be always away all the morning into the +bargain. But I shall like him to do as he likes himself." + +"Fancy thinking of all that. I'd sit up all night every night of +my life.--I'd listen to every debate in the House myself,--to have +Plantagenet Prime Minister. I like to be busy. Well now, if it does +come off--" + +"It isn't settled, then?" + +"How can one hope that a single journey will settle it, when those +other men have been going backwards and forwards between Windsor and +London, like buckets in a well, for the last three weeks? But if it +is settled, I mean to have a cabinet of my own, and I mean that you +shall do the foreign affairs." + +"You'd better let me be at the exchequer. I'm very good at accounts." + +"I'll do that myself. The accounts that I intend to set a-going +would frighten any one less audacious. And I mean to be my own home +secretary, and to keep my own conscience,--and to be my own master of +the ceremonies certainly. I think a small cabinet gets on best. Do +you know,--I should like to put the Queen down." + +"What on earth do you mean?" + +"No treason; nothing of that kind. But I should like to make +Buckingham Palace second-rate; and I'm not quite sure but I can. I +dare say you don't quite understand me." + +"I don't think that I do, Lady Glen." + +"You will some of these days. Come in to-morrow before lunch. I +suppose I shall know all about it then, and shall have found that my +basket of crockery has been kicked over and every thing smashed." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Another Old Friend + + +At about nine the Duke had returned, and was eating his very simple +dinner in the breakfast-room,--a beefsteak and a potato, with a glass +of sherry and Apollinaris water. No man more easily satisfied as to +what he eat and drank lived in London in those days. As regarded the +eating and drinking he dined alone, but his wife sat with him and +waited on him, having sent the servant out of the room. "I have told +her Majesty that I would do the best I could," said the Duke. + +"Then you are Prime Minister." + +"Not at all. Mr. Daubeny is Prime Minister. I have undertaken to form +a ministry, if I find it practicable, with the assistance of such +friends as I possess. I never felt before that I had to lean so +entirely on others as I do now." + +"Lean on yourself only. Be enough for yourself." + +"Those are empty words, Cora;--words that are quite empty. In one +sense a man should always be enough for himself. He should have +enough of principle and enough of conscience to restrain him from +doing what he knows to be wrong. But can a ship-builder build +his ship single-handed, or the watchmaker make his watch without +assistance? On former occasions such as this, I could say, with +little or no help from without, whether I would or would not +undertake the work that was proposed to me, because I had only a +bit of the ship to build, or a wheel of the watch to make. My own +efficacy for my present task depends entirely on the co-operation of +others, and unfortunately upon that of some others with whom I have +no sympathy, nor have they with me." + +"Leave them out," said the Duchess boldly. + +"But they are men who will not be left out, and whose services the +country has a right to expect." + +"Then bring them in, and think no more about it. It is no good crying +for pain that cannot be cured." + +"Co-operation is difficult without community of feeling. I find +myself to be too stubborn-hearted for the place. It was nothing to me +to sit in the same Cabinet with a man I disliked when I had not put +him there myself. But now--. As I have travelled up I have almost +felt that I could not do it! I did not know before how much I might +dislike a man." + +"Who is the one man?" + +"Nay;--whoever he be, he will have to be a friend now, and therefore +I will not name him, even to you. But it is not one only. If it were +one, absolutely marked and recognised, I might avoid him. But my +friends, real friends, are so few! Who is there besides the Duke on +whom I can lean with both confidence and love?" + +"Lord Cantrip." + +"Hardly so, Cora. But Lord Cantrip goes out with Mr. Gresham. They +will always cling together." + +"You used to like Mr. Mildmay." + +"Mr. Mildmay,--yes! If there could be a Mr. Mildmay in the Cabinet, +this trouble would not come upon my shoulders." + +"Then I'm very glad that there can't be a Mr. Mildmay. Why shouldn't +there be as good fish in the sea as ever were caught out of it?" + +"When you've got a good fish you like to make as much of it as you +can." + +"I suppose Mr. Monk will join you." + +"I think we shall ask him. But I am not prepared to discuss men's +names as yet." + +"You must discuss them with the Duke immediately." + +"Probably;--but I had better discuss them with him before I fix my +own mind by naming them even to you." + +"You'll bring Mr. Finn in, Plantagenet?" + +"Mr. Finn!" + +"Yes;--Phineas Finn,--the man who was tried." + +"My dear Cora, we haven't come down to that yet. We need not at any +rate trouble ourselves about the small fishes till we are sure that +we can get big fishes to join us." + +"I don't know why he should be a small fish. No man has done better +than he has; and if you want a man to stick to you--" + +"I don't want a man to stick to me. I want a man to stick to his +country." + +"You were talking about sympathy." + +"Well, yes;--I was. But do not name any one else just at present. The +Duke will be here soon, and I would be alone till he comes." + +"There is one thing I want to say, Plantagenet." + +"What is it?" + +"One favour I want to ask." + +"Pray do not ask anything for any man just at present." + +"It is not anything for any man." + +"Nor for any woman." + +"It is for a woman,--but one whom I think you would wish to oblige." + +"Who is it?" Then she curtseyed, smiling at him drolly, and put her +hand upon her breast. "Something for you! What on earth can you want +that I can do for you?" + +"Will you do it,--if it be reasonable?" + +"If I think it reasonable, I certainly will do it." + +Then her manner changed altogether, and she became serious and almost +solemn. "If, as I suppose, all the great places about her Majesty be +changed, I should like to be Mistress of the Robes." + +"You!" said he, almost startled out of his usual quiet demeanour. + +"Why not I? Is not my rank high enough?" + +"You burden yourself with the intricacies and subserviences, with the +tedium and pomposities of Court life! Cora, you do not know what you +are talking about, or what you are proposing for yourself." + +"If I am willing to try to undertake a duty, why should I be debarred +from it any more than you?" + +"Because I have put myself into a groove, and ground myself into a +mould, and clipped and pared and pinched myself all round,--very +ineffectually, as I fear,--to fit myself for this thing. You have +lived as free as air. You have disdained,--and though I may have +grumbled I have still been proud to see you disdain,--to wrap +yourself in the swaddling bandages of Court life. You have ridiculed +all those who have been near her Majesty as Court ladies." + +"The individuals, Plantagenet, perhaps; but not the office. I am +getting older now, and I do not see why I should not begin a new +life." She had been somewhat quelled by his unexpected energy, and +was at the moment hardly able to answer him with her usual spirit. + +"Do not think of it, my dear. You asked whether your rank was high +enough. It must be so, as there is, as it happens, none higher. But +your position, should it come to pass that your husband is the head +of the Government, will be too high. I may say that in no condition +should I wish my wife to be subject to other restraint than that +which is common to all married women. I should not choose that she +should have any duties unconnected with our joint family and home. +But as First Minister of the Crown I would altogether object to her +holding an office believed to be at my disposal." She looked at him +with her large eyes wide open, and then left him without a word. She +had no other way of showing her displeasure, for she knew that when +he spoke as he had spoken now all argument was unavailing. + +The Duke remained an hour alone before he was joined by the other +Duke, during which he did not for a moment apply his mind to +the subject which might be thought to be most prominent in his +thoughts,--the filling up, namely, of a list of his new government. +All that he could do in that direction without further assistance +had been already done very easily. There were four or five certain +names,--names that is of certain political friends, and three or four +almost equally certain of men who had been political enemies, but who +would now clearly be asked to join the ministry. Sir Gregory Grogram, +the late Attorney-General, would of course be asked to resume +his place; but Sir Timothy Beeswax, who was up to this moment +Solicitor-General for the Conservatives, would also be invited to +retain that which he held. Many details were known, not only to the +two dukes who were about to patch up the ministry between them, but +to the political world at large,--and were facts upon which the +newspapers were able to display their wonderful foresight and general +omniscience with their usual confidence. And as to the points which +were in doubt,--whether or not, for instance, that consistent +old Tory Sir Orlando Drought should be asked to put up with the +Post-office or should be allowed to remain at the Colonies,--the +younger Duke did not care to trouble himself till the elder +should have come to his assistance. But his own position and his +questionable capacity for filling it,--that occupied all his mind. If +nominally first he would be really first. Of so much it seemed to him +that his honour required him to assure himself. To be a _faineant_ +ruler was in direct antagonism both to his conscience and his +predilections. To call himself by a great name before the world, and +then to be something infinitely less than that name, would be to him +a degradation. But though he felt fixed as to that, he was by no +means assured as to that other point, which to most men firm in their +resolves as he was, and backed up as he had been by the confidence of +others, would be cause of small hesitation. He did doubt his ability +to fill that place which it would now be his duty to occupy. He more +than doubted. He told himself again and again that there was wanting +to him a certain noble capacity for commanding support and homage +from other men. With things and facts he could deal, but human beings +had not opened themselves to him. But now it was too late! and +yet,--as he said to his wife,--to fail would break his heart! No +ambition had prompted him. He was sure of himself there. One only +consideration had forced him into this great danger, and that had +been the assurance of others that it was his manifest duty to +encounter it. And now there was clearly no escape,--no escape +compatible with that clean-handed truth from which it was not +possible for him to swerve. He might create difficulties in order +that through them a way might still be opened to him of restoring to +the Queen the commission which had been entrusted to him. He might +insist on this or that impossible concession. But the memory of +escape such as that would break his heart as surely as the failure. + +When the Duke was announced he rose to greet his old friend almost +with fervour. "It is a shame," he said, "to bring you out so late. I +ought to have gone to you." + +"Not at all. It is always the rule in these cases that the man who +has most to do should fix himself as well as he can where others may +be able to find him." The Duke of St. Bungay was an old man, between +seventy and eighty, with hair nearly white, and who on entering +the room had to unfold himself out of various coats and comforters. +But he was in full possession not only of his intellects but of +his bodily power, showing, as many politicians do show, that the +cares of the nation may sit upon a man's shoulders for many years +without breaking or even bending them. For the Duke had belonged to +ministries for nearly the last half century. As the chronicles have +also dealt with him, no further records of his past life shall now be +given. + +He had said something about the Queen, expressing gracious wishes for +the comfort of her Majesty in all these matters, something of the +inconvenience of these political journeys to and fro, something also +of the delicacy and difficulty of the operations on hand which were +enhanced by the necessity of bringing men together as cordial allies +who had hitherto acted with bitter animosity one to another, before +the younger Duke said a word. "We may as well," said the elder, "make +out some small provisional list, and you can ask those you name to be +with you early to-morrow. But perhaps you have already made a list." + +"No indeed. I have not even had a pencil in my hand." + +"We may as well begin then," said the elder, facing the table when he +saw that his less-experienced companion made no attempt at beginning. + +"There is something horrible to me in the idea of writing down men's +names for such a work as this, just as boys at school used to draw +out the elevens for a cricket match." The old stager turned round and +stared at the younger politician. "The thing itself is so momentous +that one ought to have aid from heaven." + +Plantagenet Palliser was the last man from whom the Duke of St. +Bungay would have expected romance at any time, and, least of all, +at such a time as this. "Aid from heaven you may have," he said, "by +saying your prayers; and I don't doubt you ask it for this and all +other things generally. But an angel won't come to tell you who ought +to be Chancellor of the Exchequer." + +"No angel will, and therefore I wish that I could wash my hands of +it." His old friend still stared at him. "It is like sacrilege to me, +attempting this without feeling one's own fitness for the work. It +unmans me,--this necessity of doing that which I know I cannot do +with fitting judgment." + +"Your mind has been a little too hard at work to-day." + +"It hasn't been at work at all. I've had nothing to do, and have been +unable really to think of work. But I feel that chance circumstances +have put me into a position for which I am unfit, and which yet I +have been unable to avoid. How much better would it be that you +should do this alone,--you yourself." + +"Utterly out of the question. I do know and think that I always +have known my own powers. Neither has my aptitude in debate nor my +capacity for work justified me in looking to the premiership. But +that, forgive me, is now not worthy of consideration. It is because +you do work and can work, and because you have fitted yourself for +that continued course of lucid explanation which we now call debate, +that men on both sides have called upon you as the best man to come +forward in this difficulty. Excuse me, my friend, again, if I say +that I expect to find your manliness equal to your capacity." + +"If I could only escape from it!" + +"Psha;--nonsense!" said the old Duke, getting up. "There is such a +thing as a conscience with so fine an edge that it will allow a man +to do nothing. You've got to serve your country. On such assistance +as I can give you you know that you may depend with absolute +assurance. Now let us get to work. I suppose you would wish that I +should take the chair at the Council." + +"Certainly;--of course," said the Duke of Omnium, turning to the +table. The one practical suggestion had fixed him, and from that +moment he gave himself to the work in hand with all his energies. It +was not very difficult, nor did it take them a very long time. If the +future Prime Minister had not his names at his fingers' ends, the +future President of the Council had them. Eight men were soon named +whom it was thought well that the Duke of Omnium should consult early +in the morning as to their willingness to fill certain places. + +"Each one of them may have some other one or some two whom he may +insist on bringing with him," said the elder Duke; "and though of +course you cannot yield to the pressure in every such case, it will +be wise to allow yourself scope for some amount of concession. You'll +find they'll shake down after the usual amount of resistance and +compliance. No;--don't you leave your house to-morrow to see anybody +unless it be Mr. Daubeny or her Majesty. I'll come to you at two, and +if her Grace will give me luncheon, I'll lunch with her. Good night, +and don't think too much of the bigness of the thing. I remember dear +old Lord Brock telling me how much more difficult it was to find a +good coachman than a good Secretary of State." The Duke of Omnium, as +he sat thinking of things for the next hour in his chair, succeeded +only in proving to himself that Lord Brock never ought to have been +Prime Minister of England after having ventured to make so poor a +joke on so solemn a subject. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +The Beginning of a New Career + + +By the time that the Easter holidays were over,--holidays which had +been used so conveniently for the making of a new government,--the +work of getting a team together had been accomplished by the united +energy of the two dukes and other friends. The filling up of the +great places had been by no means so difficult or so tedious,--nor +indeed the cause of half so many heartburns,--as the completion of +the list of the subordinates. _Noblesse oblige._ The Secretaries of +State, and the Chancellors, and the First Lords, selected from this +or the other party, felt that the eyes of mankind were upon them, and +that it behoved them to assume a virtue if they had it not. They were +habitually indifferent to self-exaltation, and allowed themselves +to be thrust into this or that unfitting role, professing that the +Queen's Government and the good of the country were their only +considerations. Lord Thrift made way for Sir Orlando Drought at the +Admiralty, because it was felt on all sides that Sir Orlando could +not join the new composite party without high place. And the same +grace was shown in regard to Lord Drummond, who remained at the +Colonies, keeping the office to which he had been lately transferred +under Mr. Daubeny. And Sir Gregory Grogram said not a word, whatever +he may have thought, when he was told that Mr. Daubeny's Lord +Chancellor, Lord Ramsden, was to keep the seals. Sir Gregory did, +no doubt, think very much about it; for legal offices have a +signification differing much from that which attaches itself to +places simply political. A Lord Chancellor becomes a peer, and on +going out of office enjoys a large pension. When the woolsack has +been reached there comes an end of doubt, and a beginning of ease. +Sir Gregory was not a young man, and this was a terrible blow. But he +bore it manfully, saying not a word when the Duke spoke to him; but +he became convinced from that moment that no more inefficient lawyer +ever sat upon the English bench, or a more presumptuous politician in +the British Parliament, than Lord Ramsden. + +The real struggle, however, lay in the appropriate distribution of +the Rattlers and the Robys, the Fitzgibbons and the Macphersons among +the subordinate offices of State. Mr. Macpherson and Mr. Roby, with +a host of others who had belonged to Mr. Daubeny, were prepared, as +they declared from the first, to lend their assistance to the Duke. +They had consulted Mr. Daubeny on the subject, and Mr. Daubeny told +them that their duty lay in that direction. At the first blush of +the matter the arrangement took the form of a gracious tender from +themselves to a statesman called upon to act in very difficult +circumstances,--and they were thanked accordingly by the Duke, with +something of real cordial gratitude. But when the actual adjustment +of things was in hand, the Duke, having but little power of assuming +a soft countenance and using soft words while his heart was bitter, +felt on more than one occasion inclined to withdraw his thanks. He +was astounded not so much by the pretensions as by the unblushing +assertion of these pretensions in reference to places which he had +been innocent enough to think were always bestowed at any rate +without direct application. He had measured himself rightly when he +told the older duke in one of those anxious conversations which had +been held before the attempt was made, that long as he had been in +office himself he did not know what was the way of bestowing office. +"Two gentlemen have been here this morning," he said one day to the +Duke of St. Bungay, "one on the heels of the other, each assuring me +not only that the whole stability of the enterprise depends on my +giving a certain office to him,--but actually telling me to my face +that I had promised it to him!" The old statesman laughed. "To be +told within the same half-hour by two men that I had made promises to +each of them inconsistent with each other!" + +"Who were the two men?" + +"Mr. Rattler and Mr. Roby." + +"I am assured that they are inseparable since the work was begun. +They always had a leaning to each other, and now I hear they pass +their time between the steps of the Carlton and Reform Clubs." + +"But what am I to do? One must be Patronage Secretary, no doubt." + +"They're both good men in their way, you know." + +"But why do they come to me with their mouths open, like dogs craving +a bone? It used not to be so. Of course men were always anxious for +office as they are now." + +"Well; yes. We've heard of that before to-day, I think." + +"But I don't think any man ever ventured to ask Mr. Mildmay." + +"Time had done much for him in consolidating his authority, and +perhaps the present world is less reticent in its eagerness than +it was in his younger days. I doubt, however, whether it is more +dishonest, and whether struggles were not made quite as disgraceful +to the strugglers as anything that is done now. You can't alter the +men, and you must use them." The younger Duke sat down and sighed +over the degenerate patriotism of the age. + +But at last even the Rattlers and Robys were fixed, if not satisfied, +and a complete list of the ministry appeared in all the newspapers. +Though the thing had been long a-doing, still it had come +suddenly,--so that at the first proposition to form a coalition +ministry, the newspapers had hardly known whether to assist or to +oppose the scheme. There was no doubt, in the minds of all these +editors and contributors, the teaching of a tradition that coalitions +of this kind have been generally feeble, sometimes disastrous, and +on occasions even disgraceful. When a man, perhaps through a long +political life, has bound himself to a certain code of opinions, how +can he change that code at a moment? And when at the same moment, +together with the change, he secures power, patronage, and pay, how +shall the public voice absolve him? But then again men, who have +by the work of their lives grown into a certain position in the +country, and have unconsciously but not therefore less actually made +themselves indispensable either to this side in politics or to that, +cannot free themselves altogether from the responsibility of managing +them when a period comes such as that now reached. This also the +newspapers perceived; and having, since the commencement of the +Session, been very loud in exposing the disgraceful collapse of +government affairs, could hardly refuse their support to any attempt +at a feasible arrangement. When it was first known that the Duke of +Omnium had consented to make the attempt, they had both on one side +and the other been loud in his praise, going so far as to say that he +was the only man in England who could do the work. It was probably +this encouragement which had enabled the new Premier to go on with an +undertaking which was personally distasteful to him, and for which +from day to day he believed himself to be less and less fit. But when +the newspapers told him that he was the only man for the occasion, +how could he be justified in crediting himself in preference to them? + +The work in Parliament began under the new auspices with great +tranquillity. That there would soon come causes of hot blood,--the +English Church, the county suffrage, the income tax, and further +education questions,--all men knew who knew anything. But for the +moment, for the month even, perhaps for the Session, there was to +be peace, with full latitude for the performance of routine duties. +There was so to say no opposition, and at first it seemed that one +special bench in the House of Commons would remain unoccupied. But +after a day or two,--on one of which Mr. Daubeny had been seen +sitting just below the gangway,--that gentleman returned to the place +usually held by the Prime Minister's rival, saying with a smile that +it might be for the convenience of the House that the seat should be +utilised. Mr. Gresham at this time had, with declared purpose, asked +and obtained the Speaker's leave of absence and was abroad. Who +should lead the House? That had been a great question, caused by the +fact that the Prime Minister was in the House of Lords;--and what +office should the Leader hold? Mr. Monk had consented to take the +Exchequer, but the right to sit opposite to the Treasury Box and to +consider himself for the time the principal spirit in that chamber +was at last assigned to Sir Orlando Drought. "It will never do," +said Mr. Rattler to Mr. Roby. "I don't mean to say anything against +Drought, who has always been a very useful man to your party;--but he +lacks something of the position." + +"The fact is," said Roby, "that we've trusted to two men so long that +we don't know how to suppose any one else big enough to fill their +places. Monk wouldn't have done. The House doesn't care about Monk." + +"I always thought it should be Wilson, and so I told the Duke. He had +an idea that it should be one of your men." + +"I think he's right there," said Roby. "There ought to be something +like a fair division. Individuals might be content, but the party +would be dissatisfied. For myself, I'd have sooner stayed out as an +independent member, but Daubeny said that he thought I was bound to +make myself useful." + +"I told the Duke from the beginning," said Rattler, "that I didn't +think that I could be of any service to him. Of course, I would +support him, but I had been too thoroughly a party man for a new +movement of this kind. But he said just the same!--that he considered +I was bound to join him. I asked Gresham, and when Gresham said so +too, of course I had no help for it." + +Neither of these excellent public servants had told a lie in this. +Some such conversations as those reported had passed;--but a man +doesn't lie when he exaggerates an emphasis, or even when he gives +by a tone a meaning to a man's words exactly opposite to that which +another tone would convey. Or, if he does lie in doing so, he does +not know that he lies. Mr. Rattler had gone back to his old office at +the Treasury and Mr. Roby had been forced to content himself with the +Secretaryship at the Admiralty. But, as the old Duke had said, they +were close friends, and prepared to fight together any battle which +might keep them in their present position. + +Many of the cares of office the Prime Minister did succeed in +shuffling off altogether on to the shoulders of his elder friend. +He would not concern himself with the appointment of ladies, about +whom he said he knew nothing, and as to whose fitness and claims he +professed himself to be as ignorant as the office messenger. The +offers were of course made in the usual form, as though coming direct +from the Queen, through the Prime Minister;--but the selections were +in truth effected by the old Duke in council with--an illustrious +personage. The matter affected our Duke,--only in so far that he +could not get out of his mind that strange application from his own +wife. "That she should have even dreamed of it!" he would say to +himself, not yet having acquired sufficient experience of his fellow +creatures to be aware how wonderfully temptations will affect even +those who appear to be least subject to them. The town horse, used to +gaudy trappings, no doubt despises the work of his country brother; +but yet, now and again, there comes upon him a sudden desire to +plough. The desire for ploughing had come upon the Duchess, but the +Duke could not understand it. + +He perceived, however, in spite of the multiplicity of his official +work, that his refusal sat heavily on his wife's breast, and that, +though she spoke no further word, she brooded over her injury. And +his heart was sad within him when he thought that he had vexed +her,--loving her as he did with all his heart, but with a heart +that was never demonstrative. When she was unhappy he was miserable, +though he would hardly know the cause of his misery. Her ridicule and +raillery he could bear, though they stung him; but her sorrow, if +ever she were sorrowful, or her sullenness, if ever she were sullen, +upset him altogether. He was in truth so soft of heart that he could +not bear the discomfort of the one person in the world who seemed to +him to be near to him. He had expressly asked her for her sympathy +in the business he had on hand,--thereby going much beyond his usual +coldness of manner. She, with an eagerness which might have been +expected from her, had promised that she would slave for him, if +slavery were necessary. Then she had made her request, had been +refused, and was now moody. "The Duchess of ---- is to be Mistress +of the Robes," he said to her one day. He had gone to her, up to her +own room, before he dressed for dinner, having devoted much more time +than as Prime Minister he ought to have done to a resolution that he +would make things straight with her, and to the best way of doing it. + +"So I am told. She ought to know her way about the place, as I +remember she was at the same work when I was a girl of eleven." + +"That's not so very long ago, Cora." + +"Silverbridge is older now than I was then, and I think that makes it +a very long time ago." Lord Silverbridge was the Duke's eldest son. + +"But what does it matter? If she began her career in the time of +George the Fourth, what is it to you?" + +"Nothing on earth,--only that she did in truth begin her career +in the time of George the Third. I'm sure she's nearer sixty than +fifty." + +"I'm glad to see you remember your dates so well." + +"It's a pity she should not remember hers in the way she dresses," +said the Duchess. + +This was marvellous to him,--that his wife, who as Lady Glencora +Palliser had been so conspicuous for a wild disregard of social rules +as to be looked upon by many as an enemy of her own class, should be +so depressed by not being allowed to be the Queen's head servant as +to descend to personal invective! "I'm afraid," said he, attempting +to smile, "that it won't come within the compass of my office to +effect or even to propose any radical change in her Grace's apparel. +But don't you think that you and I can afford to ignore all that?" + +"I can certainly. She may be an antiquated Eve for me." + +"I hope, Cora, you are not still disappointed because I did not agree +with you when you spoke about the place for yourself." + +"Not because you did not agree with me,--but because you did not +think me fit to be trusted with any judgment of my own. I don't know +why I'm always to be looked upon as different from other women,--as +though I were half a savage." + +"You are what you have made yourself, and I have always rejoiced that +you are as you are, fresh, untrammelled, without many prejudices +which afflict other ladies, and free from bonds by which they are +cramped and confined. Of course such a turn of character is subject +to certain dangers of its own." + +"There is no doubt about the dangers. The chances are that when I see +her Grace I shall tell her what I think about her." + +"You will I am sure say nothing unkind to a lady who is supposed to +be in the place she now fills by my authority. But do not let us +quarrel about an old woman." + +"I won't quarrel with you even about a young one." + +"I cannot be at ease within myself while I think you are resenting my +refusal. You do not know how constantly I carry you about with me." + +"You carry a very unnecessary burden then," she said. But he could +tell at once from the altered tone of her voice, and from the light +of her eye as he glanced into her face, that her anger about "The +Robes" was appeased. + +"I have done as you asked about a friend of yours," he said. This +occurred just before the final and perfected list of the new men had +appeared in all the newspapers. + +"What friend?" + +"Mr. Finn is to go to Ireland." + +"Go to Ireland!--How do you mean?" + +"It is looked upon as being very great promotion. Indeed I am told +that he is considered to be the luckiest man in all the scramble." + +"You don't mean as Chief Secretary?" + +"Yes, I do. He certainly couldn't go as Lord Lieutenant." + +"But they said that Barrington Erle was going to Ireland." + +"Well; yes. I don't know that you'd be interested by all the ins and +outs of it. But Mr. Erle declined. It seems that Mr. Erle is after +all the one man in Parliament modest enough not to consider himself +to be fit for any place that can be offered to him." + +"Poor Barrington! He does not like the idea of crossing the Channel +so often. I quite sympathise with him. And so Phineas is to be +Secretary for Ireland! Not in the Cabinet?" + +"No;--not in the Cabinet. It is not by any means usual that he should +be." + +"That is promotion, and I am glad! Poor Phineas! I hope they won't +murder him, or anything of that kind. They do murder people, you +know, sometimes." + +"He's an Irishman himself." + +"That's just the reason why they should. He must put up with that of +course. I wonder whether she'll like going. They'll be able to spend +money, which they always like, over there. He comes backwards and +forwards every week,--doesn't he?" + +"Not quite that, I believe." + +"I shall miss her, if she has to stay away long. I know you don't +like her." + +"I do like her. She has always behaved well, both to me and to my +uncle." + +"She was an angel to him,--and to you too, if you only knew it. I +dare say you're sending him to Ireland so as to get her away from +me." This she said with a smile, as though not meaning it altogether, +but yet half meaning it. + +"I have asked him to undertake the office," said the Duke solemnly, +"because I am told that he is fit for it. But I did have some +pleasure in proposing it to him because I thought that it would +please you." + +"It does please me, and I won't be cross any more, and the Duchess +of ---- may wear her clothes just as she pleases, or go without them. +And as for Mrs. Finn, I don't see why she should be with him always +when he goes. You can quite understand how necessary she is to me. +But she is in truth the only woman in London to whom I can say what I +think. And it is a comfort, you know, to have some one." + +In this way the domestic peace of the Prime Minister was readjusted, +and that sympathy and co-operation for which he had first asked +was accorded to him. It may be a question whether on the whole the +Duchess did not work harder than he did. She did not at first dare to +expound to him those grand ideas which she had conceived in regard to +magnificence and hospitality. She said nothing of any extraordinary +expenditure of money. But she set herself to work after her own +fashion, making to him suggestions as to dinners and evening +receptions, to which he objected only on the score of time. "You must +eat your dinner somewhere," she said, "and you need only come in just +before we sit down, and go into your own room if you please without +coming upstairs at all. I can at any rate do that part of it for +you." And she did do that part of it with marvellous energy all +through the month of May,--so that by the end of the month, within +six weeks of the time at which she first heard of the Coalition +Ministry, all the world had begun to talk of the Prime Minister's +dinners, and of the receptions given by the Prime Minister's wife. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Mrs. Dick's Dinner Party.--No. I + + +Our readers must not forget the troubles of poor Emily Wharton +amidst the gorgeous festivities of the new Prime Minister. Throughout +April and May she did not see Ferdinand Lopez. It may be remembered +that on the night when the matter was discussed between her and +her father, she promised him that she would not do so without his +permission,--saying, however, at the same time very openly that her +happiness depended on such permission being given to her. For two or +three weeks not a word further was said between her and her father on +the subject, and he had endeavoured to banish the subject from his +mind,--feeling no doubt that if nothing further were ever said it +would be so much the better. But then his daughter referred to the +matter,--very plainly, with a simple question, and without disguise +of her own feeling, but still in a manner which he could not bring +himself to rebuke. "Aunt Harriet has asked me once or twice to go +there of an evening, when you have been out. I have declined because +I thought Mr. Lopez would be there. Must I tell her that I am not to +meet Mr. Lopez, papa?" + +"If she has him there on purpose to throw him in your way, I shall +think very badly of her." + +"But he has been in the habit of being there, papa. Of course if you +are decided about this, it is better that I should not see him." + +"Did I not tell you that I was decided?" + +"You said you would make some further inquiry and speak to me again." +Now Mr. Wharton had made inquiry, but had learned nothing to reassure +himself;--neither had he been able to learn any fact, putting his +finger on which he could point out to his daughter clearly that +the marriage would be unsuitable for her. Of the man's ability and +position, as certainly also of his manners, the world at large seemed +to speak well. He had been blackballed at two clubs, but apparently +without any defined reason. He lived as though he possessed a +handsome income, and yet was in no degree fast or flashy. He was +supposed to be an intimate friend of Mr. Mills Happerton, one of +the partners in the world-famous commercial house of Hunky and Sons, +which dealt in millions. Indeed there had been at one time a rumour +that he was going to be taken into the house of Hunky and Sons as a +junior partner. It was evident that many people had been favourably +impressed by his outward demeanour, by his mode of talk, and by his +way of living. But no one knew anything about him. With regard to his +material position Mr. Wharton could of course ask direct questions if +he pleased, and require evidence as to alleged property. But he felt +that by doing so he would abandon his right to object to the man as +being a Portuguese stranger, and he did not wish to have Ferdinand +Lopez as a son-in-law, even though he should be a partner in Hunky +and Sons, and able to maintain a gorgeous palace at South Kensington. + +"I have made inquiry." + +"Well, papa?" + +"I don't know anything about him. Nobody knows anything about him." + +"Could you not ask himself anything you want to know? If I might see +him I would ask him." + +"That would not do at all." + +"It comes to this, papa, that I am to sever myself from a man to whom +I am attached, and whom you must admit that I have been allowed to +meet from day to day with no caution that his intimacy was unpleasant +to you, because he is called--Lopez." + +"It isn't that at all. There are English people of that name; but he +isn't an Englishman." + +"Of course, if you say so, papa, it must be so. I have told Aunt +Harriet that I consider myself to be prohibited from meeting +Mr. Lopez by what you have said; but I think, papa, you are a +little--cruel to me." + +"Cruel to you!" said Mr. Wharton, almost bursting into tears. + +"I am as ready to obey as a child;--but, not being a child, I think +I ought to have a reason." To this Mr. Wharton made no further +immediate answer, but pulled his hair, and shuffled his feet about, +and then escaped out of the room. + +A few days afterwards his sister-in-law attacked him. "Are we to +understand, Mr. Wharton, that Emily is not to meet Mr. Lopez again? +It makes it very unpleasant, because he has been intimate at our +house." + +"I never said a word about her not meeting him. Of course I do not +wish that any meeting should be contrived between them." + +"As it stands now it is prejudicial to her. Of course it cannot but +be observed, and it is so odd that a young lady should be forbidden +to meet a certain man. It looks so unpleasant for her,--as though she +had misbehaved herself." + +"I have never thought so for a moment." + +"Of course you have not. How could you have thought so, Mr. Wharton?" + +"I say that I never did." + +"What must he think when he knows,--as of course he does know,--that +she has been forbidden to meet him? It must make him fancy that he is +made very much of. All that is so very bad for a girl! Indeed it is, +Mr. Wharton." Of course there was absolute dishonesty in all this on +the part of Mrs. Roby. She was true enough to Emily's lover,--too +true to him; but she was false to Emily's father. If Emily would +have yielded to her she would have arranged meetings at her own +house between the lovers altogether in opposition to the father. +Nevertheless there was a show of reason about what she said which +Mr. Wharton was unable to overcome. And at the same time there was +a reality about his girl's sorrow which overcame him. He had never +hitherto consulted any one about anything in his family, having +always found his own information and intellect sufficient for his own +affairs. But now he felt grievously in want of some pillar,--some +female pillar,--on which he could lean. He did not know all Mrs. +Roby's iniquities; but still he felt that she was not the pillar +of which he was in need. There was no such pillar for his use, and +he was driven to acknowledge to himself that in this distressing +position he must be guided by his own strength, and his own lights. +He thought it all out as well as he could in his own chamber, +allowing his book or his brief to lie idle beside him for many a +half-hour. But he was much puzzled both as to the extent of his own +authority and the manner in which it should be used. He certainly had +not desired his daughter not to meet the man. He could understand +that unless some affront had been offered such an edict enforced as +to the conduct of a young lady would induce all her acquaintance to +suppose that she was either very much in love or else very prone to +misbehave herself. He feared, indeed, that she was very much in love, +but it would not be prudent to tell her secret to all the world. +Perhaps it would be better that she should meet him,--always with +the understanding that she was not to accept from him any peculiar +attention. If she would be obedient in one particular, she would +probably be so in the other;--and, indeed, he did not at all doubt +her obedience. She would obey, but would take care to show him that +she was made miserable by obeying. He began to foresee that he had a +bad time before him. + +And then as he still sat idle, thinking of it all, his mind wandered +off to another view of the subject. Could he be happy, or even +comfortable, if she were unhappy? Of course he endeavoured to +convince himself that if he were bold, determined, and dictatorial +with her, it would only be in order that her future happiness might +be secured. A parent is often bound to disregard the immediate +comfort of a child. But then was he sure that he was right? He of +course had his own way of looking at life, but was it reasonable that +he should force his girl to look at things with his eyes? The man was +distasteful to him as being unlike his idea of an English gentleman, +and as being without those far-reaching fibres and roots by which he +thought that the solidity and stability of a human tree should be +assured. But the world was changing around him every day. Royalty was +marrying out of its degree. Peers' sons were looking only for money. +And, more than that, peers' daughters were bestowing themselves on +Jews and shopkeepers. Had he not better make the usual inquiry about +the man's means, and, if satisfied on that head, let the girl do as +she would? Added to all this there was growing on him a feeling that +ultimately youth would as usual triumph over age, and that he would +be beaten. If that were so, why worry himself, or why worry her? + +On the day after Mrs. Roby's attack upon him he again saw that lady, +having on this occasion sent round to ask her to come to him. "I want +you to understand that I put no embargo on Emily as to meeting Mr. +Lopez. I can trust her fully. I do not wish her to encourage his +attentions, but I by no means wish her to avoid him." + +"Am I to tell Emily what you say?" + +"I will tell her myself. I think it better to say as much to you, as +you seemed to be embarrassed by the fear that they might happen to +see each other in your drawing-room." + +"It was rather awkward;--wasn't it?" + +"I have spoken now because you seemed to think so." His manner to her +was not very pleasant, but Mrs. Roby had known him for many years, +and did not care very much for his manner. She had an object to gain, +and could put up with a good deal for the sake of her object. + +"Very well. Then I shall know how to act. But, Mr. Wharton, I must +say this, you know Emily has a will of her own, and you must not hold +me responsible for anything that may occur." As soon as he heard this +he almost resolved to withdraw the concession he had made;--but he +did not do so. + +Very soon after this there came a special invitation from Mr. and +Mrs. Roby, asking the Whartons, father and daughter, to dine with +them round the corner. It was quite a special invitation, because +it came in the form of a card,--which was unusual between the +two families. But the dinner was too, in some degree, a special +dinner,--as Emily was enabled to explain to her father, the whole +speciality having been fully detailed to herself by her aunt. Mr. +Roby, whose belongings were not generally aristocratic, had one great +connexion with whom, after many years of quarrelling, he had lately +come into amity. This was his half-brother, considerably older than +himself, and was no other than that Mr. Roby who was now Secretary to +the Admiralty, and who in the last Conservative Government had been +one of the Secretaries to the Treasury. The oldest Mr. Roby of all, +now long since gathered to his fathers, had had two wives and two +sons. The elder son had not been left as well off as friends, or +perhaps as he himself, could have wished. But he had risen in the +world by his wits, had made his way into Parliament, and had become, +as all readers of these chronicles know, a staff of great strength to +his party. But he had always been a poor man. His periods of office +had been much shorter than those of his friend Rattler, and his other +sources of income had not been certain. His younger half-brother, +who, as far as the great world was concerned, had none of his elder +brother's advantages, had been endowed with some fortune from his +mother, and,--in an evil hour for both of them,--had lent the +politician money. As one consequence of this transaction, they had +not spoken to each other for years. On this quarrel Mrs. Roby was +always harping with her own husband,--not taking his part. Her Roby, +her Dick, had indeed the means of supporting her with a fair comfort, +but had, of his own, no power of introducing her to that sort of +society for which her soul craved. But Mr. Thomas Roby was a great +man,--though unfortunately poor,--and moved in high circles. Because +they had lent their money,--which no doubt was lost for ever,--why +should they also lose the advantages of such a connexion? Would it +not be wiser rather to take the debt as a basis whereon to found +a claim for special fraternal observation and kindred social +intercourse? Dick, who was fond of his money, would not for a long +time look at the matter in this light, but harassed his brother from +time to time by applications which were quite useless, and which by +the acerbity of their language altogether shut Mrs. Roby out from the +good things which might have accrued to her from so distinguished +a brother-in-law. But when it came to pass that Thomas Roby was +confirmed in office by the coalition which has been mentioned, Mrs. +Dick became very energetic. She went herself to the official hero +and told him how desirous she was of peace. Nothing more should be +said about the money,--at any rate for the present. Let brothers be +brothers. And so it came to pass that the Secretary to the Admiralty +with his wife were to dine in Berkeley Street, and that Mr. Wharton +was asked to meet them. + +"I don't particularly want to meet Mr. Thomas Roby," the old +barrister said. + +"They want you to come," said Emily, "because there has been some +family reconciliation. You usually do go once or twice a year." + +"I suppose it may as well be done," said Mr. Wharton. + +"I think, papa, that they mean to ask Mr. Lopez," said Emily +demurely. + +"I told you before that I don't want to have you banished from your +aunt's home by any man," said the father. So the matter was settled, +and the invitation was accepted. This was just at the end of May, +at which time people were beginning to say that the coalition was +a success, and some wise men to predict that at last fortuitous +parliamentary atoms had so come together by accidental connexion, +that a ministry had been formed which might endure for a dozen years. +Indeed there was no reason why there should be any end to a ministry +built on such a foundation. Of course this was very comfortable to +such men as Mr. Roby, so that the Admiralty Secretary when he entered +his sister-in-law's drawing-room was suffused with that rosy hue of +human bliss which a feeling of triumph bestows. "Yes," said he, in +answer to some would-be facetious remark from his brother, "I think +we have weathered that storm pretty well. It does seem rather odd, my +sitting cheek by jowl with Mr. Monk and gentlemen of that kidney; but +they don't bite. I've got one of our own set at the head of our own +office, and he leads the House. I think upon the whole we've got a +little the best of it." This was listened to by Mr. Wharton with +great disgust,--for Mr. Wharton was a Tory of the old school, who +hated compromises, and abhorred in his heart the class of politicians +to whom politics were a profession rather than a creed. + +Mr. Roby senior, having escaped from the House, was of course +the last, and had indeed kept all the other guests waiting +half-an-hour,--as becomes a parliamentary magnate in the heat of the +Session. Mr. Wharton, who had been early, saw all the other guests +arrive, and among them Mr. Ferdinand Lopez. There was also Mr. Mills +Happerton,--partner in Hunky and Sons,--with his wife, respecting +whom Mr. Wharton at once concluded that he was there as being the +friend of Ferdinand Lopez. If so, how much influence must Ferdinand +Lopez have in that house! Nevertheless, Mr. Mills Happerton was in +his way a great man, and a credit to Mrs. Roby. And there were Sir +Damask and Lady Monogram, who were people moving quite in the first +circles. Sir Damask shot pigeons, and so did also Dick Roby,--whence +had perhaps arisen an intimacy. But Lady Monogram was not at all a +person to dine with Mrs. Dick Roby without other cause than this. But +a great official among one's acquaintance can do so much for one! It +was probable that Lady Monogram's presence was among the first fruits +of the happy family reconciliation that had taken place. Then there +was Mrs. Leslie, a pretty widow, rather poor, who was glad to receive +civilities from Mrs. Roby, and was Emily Wharton's pet aversion. Mrs. +Leslie had said impertinent things to her about Ferdinand Lopez, and +she had snubbed Mrs. Leslie. But Mrs. Leslie was serviceable to Mrs. +Roby, and had now been asked to her great dinner party. + +But the two most illustrious guests have not yet been mentioned. Mrs. +Roby had secured a lord,--an absolute peer of Parliament! This was +no less a man than Lord Mongrober, whose father had been a great +judge in the early part of the century, and had been made a peer. +The Mongrober estates were not supposed to be large, nor was the +Mongrober influence at this time extensive. But this nobleman was +seen about a good deal in society when the dinners given were +supposed to be worth eating. He was a fat, silent, red-faced, elderly +gentleman, who said very little, and who when he did speak seemed +always to be in an ill-humour. He would now and then make ill-natured +remarks about his friends' wines, as suggesting '68 when a man would +boast of his '48 claret; and when costly dainties were supplied for +his use, would remark that such and such a dish was very well at some +other time of the year. So that ladies attentive to their tables and +hosts proud of their cellars would almost shake in their shoes before +Lord Mongrober. And it may also be said that Lord Mongrober never +gave any chance of retaliation by return dinners. There lived not the +man or woman who had dined with Lord Mongrober. But yet the Robys of +London were glad to entertain him; and the Mrs. Robys, when he was +coming, would urge their cooks to superhuman energies by the mention +of his name. + +And there was Lady Eustace! Of Lady Eustace it was impossible to say +whether her beauty, her wit, her wealth, or the remarkable history of +her past life, most recommended her to such hosts and hostesses as +Mr. and Mrs. Roby. As her history may be already known to some, no +details of it shall be repeated here. At this moment she was free +from all marital persecution, and was very much run after by a +certain set in society. There were others again who declared that no +decent man or woman ought to meet her. On the score of lovers there +was really little or nothing to be said against her; but she had +implicated herself in an unfortunate second marriage, and then there +was that old story about the jewels! But there was no doubt about her +money and her good looks, and some considered her to be clever. These +completed the list of Mrs. Roby's great dinner party. + +Mr. Wharton, who had arrived early, could not but take notice that +Lopez, who soon followed him into the room, had at once fallen +into conversation with Emily, as though there had never been any +difficulty in the matter. The father, standing on the rug and +pretending to answer the remarks made to him by Dick Roby, could see +that Emily said but little. The man, however, was so much at his ease +that there was no necessity for her to exert herself. Mr. Wharton +hated him for being at his ease. Had he appeared to have been +rebuffed by the circumstances of his position the prejudices of +the old man would have been lessened. By degrees the guests came. +Lord Mongrober stood also on the rug, dumb, with a look of intense +impatience for his food, hardly ever condescending to answer the +little attempts at conversation made by Mrs. Dick. Lady Eustace +gushed into the room, kissing Mrs. Dick and afterwards kissing her +great friend of the moment, Mrs. Leslie, who followed. She then +looked as though she meant to kiss Lord Mongrober, whom she playfully +and almost familiarly addressed. But Lord Mongrober only grunted. +Then came Sir Damask and Lady Monogram, and Dick at once began about +his pigeons. Sir Damask, who was the most good-natured man in the +world, interested himself at once and became energetic; but Lady +Monogram looked round the room carefully, and seeing Lady Eustace, +turned up her nose, nor did she care much for meeting Lord Mongrober. +If she had been taken in as to the Admiralty Robys, then would she +let the junior Robys know what she thought about it. Mills Happerton, +with his wife, caused the frown on Lady Monogram's brow to loosen +itself a little, for, so great was the wealth and power of the house +of Hunky and Sons, that Mr. Mills Happerton was no doubt a feature at +any dinner party. Then came the Admiralty Secretary with his wife, +and the order for dinner was given. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Mrs. Dick's Dinner Party.--No. II + + +Dick walked downstairs with Lady Monogram. There had been some doubt +whether of right he should not have taken Lady Eustace, but it was +held by Mrs. Dick that her ladyship had somewhat impaired her rights +by the eccentricities of her career, and also that she would amiably +pardon any little wrong against her of that kind,--whereas Lady +Monogram was a person to be much considered. Then followed Sir Damask +with Lady Eustace. They seemed to be paired so well together that +there could be no doubt about them. The ministerial Roby, who was +really the hero of the night, took Mrs. Happerton, and our friend Mr. +Wharton took the Secretary's wife. All that had been easy,--so easy +that fate had good-naturedly arranged things which are sometimes +difficult of management. But then there came an embarrassment. Of +course it would in a usual way be right that a married man as was Mr. +Happerton should be assigned to the widow Mrs. Leslie, and that the +only two "young" people,--in the usual sense of the word,--should +go down to dinner together. But Mrs. Roby was at first afraid of Mr. +Wharton, and planned it otherwise. When, however, the last moment +came she plucked up courage, gave Mrs. Leslie to the great commercial +man, and with a brave smile asked Lopez to give his arm to the lady +he loved. It is sometimes so hard to manage these "little things," +said she to Lord Mongrober as she put her hand upon his arm. His +lordship had been kept standing in that odious drawing-room for +more than half-an-hour waiting for a man whom he regarded as a poor +Treasury hack, and was by no means in a good humour. Dick Roby's wine +was no doubt good, but he was not prepared to purchase it at such a +price as this. "Things always get confused when you have waited an +hour for any one," he said. "What can one do, you know, when the +House is sitting?" said the lady apologetically. "Of course you +lords can get away, but then you have nothing to do." Lord Mongrober +grunted, meaning to imply by his grunt that any one would be very +much mistaken who supposed that he had any work to do because he was +a peer of Parliament. + +Lopez and Emily were seated next to each other, and immediately +opposite to them was Mr. Wharton. Certainly nothing fraudulent had +been intended on this occasion,--or it would have been arranged that +the father should sit on the same side of the table with the lover, +so that he should see nothing of what was going on. But it seemed +to Mr. Wharton as though he had been positively swindled by his +sister-in-law. There they sat opposite to him, talking to each other +apparently with thoroughly mutual confidence, the very two persons +whom he most especially desired to keep apart. He had not a word to +say to either of the ladies near him. He endeavoured to keep his eyes +away from his daughter as much as possible, and to divert his ears +from their conversation;--but he could not but look and he could +not but listen. Not that he really heard a sentence. Emily's voice +hardly reached him, and Lopez understood the game he was playing much +too well to allow his voice to travel. And he looked as though his +position were the most commonplace in the world, and as though he had +nothing of more than ordinary interest to say to his neighbour. Mr. +Wharton, as he sat there, almost made up his mind that he would leave +his practice, give up his chambers, abandon even his club, and take +his daughter at once to--to;--it did not matter where, so that the +place should be very distant from Manchester Square. There could be +no other remedy for this evil. + +Lopez, though he talked throughout the whole of dinner,--turning +sometimes indeed to Mrs. Leslie who sat at his left hand,--said very +little that all the world might not have heard. But he did say one +such word. "It has been so dreary to me, the last month!" Emily of +course had no answer to make to this. She could not tell him that +her desolation had been infinitely worse than his, and that she +had sometimes felt as though her very heart would break. "I wonder +whether it must always be like this with me," he said,--and then he +went back to the theatres, and other ordinary conversation. + +"I suppose you've got to the bottom of that champagne you used +to have," said Lord Mongrober, roaring across the table to his +host, holding his glass in his hand, and with strong marks of +disapprobation on his face. + +"The very same wine as we were drinking when your lordship last did +me the honour of dining here," said Dick. Lord Mongrober raised his +eyebrows, shook his head and put down the glass. + +"Shall we try another bottle?" asked Mrs. Dick with solicitude. + +"Oh, no;--it'd be all the same, I know. I'll just take a little dry +sherry if you have it." The man came with the decanter. "No, dry +sherry;--dry sherry," said his lordship. The man was confounded, +Mrs. Dick was at her wits' ends, and everything was in confusion. +Lord Mongrober was not the man to be kept waiting by a government +subordinate without exacting some penalty for such ill-treatment. + +"'Is lordship is a little out of sorts," whispered Dick to Lady +Monogram. + +"Very much out of sorts, it seems." + +"And the worst of it is, there isn't a better glass of wine in +London, and 'is lordship knows it." + +"I suppose that's what he comes for," said Lady Monogram, being quite +as uncivil in her way as the nobleman. + +"'E's like a good many others. He knows where he can get a good +dinner. After all, there's no attraction like that. Of course, a +'ansome woman won't admit that, Lady Monogram." + +"I will not admit it, at any rate, Mr. Roby." + +"But I don't doubt Monogram is as careful as any one else to get the +best cook he can, and takes a good deal of trouble about his wine +too. Mongrober is very unfair about that champagne. It came out +of Madame Cliquot's cellars before the war, and I gave Sprott and +Burlinghammer 110s. for it." + +"Indeed!" + +"I don't think there are a dozen men in London can give you such a +glass of wine as that. What do you say about that champagne, +Monogram?" + +"Very tidy wine," said Sir Damask. + +"I should think it is. I gave 110s. for it before the war. 'Is +lordship's got a fit of the gout coming, I suppose." + +But Sir Damask was engaged with his neighbour, Lady Eustace. "Of all +things I should so like to see a pigeon match," said Lady Eustace. +"I have heard about them all my life. Only I suppose it isn't quite +proper for a lady." + +"Oh, dear, yes." + +"The darling little pigeons! They do sometimes escape, don't they? +I hope they escape sometimes. I'll go any day you'll make up a +party,--if Lady Monogram will join us." Sir Damask said that he would +arrange it, making up his mind, however, at the same time, that this +last stipulation, if insisted on, would make the thing impracticable. + +Roby the ministerialist, sitting at the end of the table between his +sister-in-law and Mrs. Happerton, was very confidential respecting +the Government and parliamentary affairs in general. "Yes, +indeed;--of course it's a coalition, but I don't see why we shouldn't +go on very well. As to the Duke, I've always had the greatest +possible respect for him. The truth is, there's nothing special to be +done at the present moment, and there's no reason why we shouldn't +agree and divide the good things between us. The Duke has got some +craze of his own about decimal coinage. He'll amuse himself with +that; but it won't come to anything, and it won't hurt us." + +"Isn't the Duchess giving a great many parties?" asked Mrs. +Happerton. + +"Well;--yes. That kind of thing used to be done in old Lady Brock's +time, and the Duchess is repeating it. There's no end to their money, +you know. But it's rather a bore for the persons who have to go." +The ministerial Roby knew well how he would make his sister-in-law's +mouth water by such an allusion as this to the great privilege of +entering the Prime Minister's mansion in Carlton Terrace. + +"I suppose you in the Government are always asked." + +"We are expected to go too, and are watched pretty close. Lady Glen, +as we used to call her, has the eyes of Argus. And of course we +who used to be on the other side are especially bound to pay her +observance." + +"Don't you like the Duchess?" asked Mrs. Happerton. + +"Oh, yes;--I like her very well. She's mad, you know,--mad as a +hatter,--and no one can ever guess what freak may come next. One +always feels that she'll do something sooner or later that will +startle all the world." + +"There was a queer story once,--wasn't there?" asked Mrs. Dick. + +"I never quite believed that," said Roby. "It was something +about some lover she had before she was married. She went off to +Switzerland. But the Duke,--he was Mr. Palliser then,--followed her +very soon and it all came right." + +"When ladies are going to be duchesses, things do come right; don't +they?" said Mrs. Happerton. + +On the other side of Mrs. Happerton was Mr. Wharton, quite unable to +talk to his right-hand neighbour, the Secretary's wife. The elder +Mrs. Roby had not, indeed, much to say for herself, and he during +the whole dinner was in misery. He had resolved that there should +be no intimacy of any kind between his daughter and Ferdinand +Lopez,--nothing more than the merest acquaintance; and there they +were, talking together before his very eyes, with more evident signs +of understanding each other than were exhibited by any other two +persons at the table. And yet he had no just ground of complaint +against either of them. If people dine together at the same house, +it may of course happen that they shall sit next to each other. And +if people sit next to each other at dinner, it is expected that they +shall talk. Nobody could accuse Emily of flirting; but then she was +a girl who under no circumstances would condescend to flirt. But she +had declared boldly to her father that she loved this man, and there +she was in close conversation with him! Would it not be better for +him to give up any further trouble, and let her marry the man? She +would certainly do so sooner or later. + +When the ladies went upstairs that misery was over for a time, but +Mr. Wharton was still not happy. Dick came round and took his wife's +chair, so that he sat between the lord and his brother. Lopez and +Happerton fell into city conversation, and Sir Damask tried to amuse +himself with Mr. Wharton. But the task was hopeless,--as it always +is when the elements of a party have been ill-mixed. Mr. Wharton had +not even heard of the new Aldershot coach which Sir Damask had just +started with Colonel Buskin and Sir Alfonso Blackbird. And when Sir +Damask declared that he drove the coach up and down twice a week +himself, Mr. Wharton at any rate affected to believe that such a +thing was impossible. Then when Sir Damask gave his opinion as to the +cause of the failure of a certain horse at Northampton, Mr. Wharton +gave him no encouragement whatever. "I never was at a racecourse in +my life," said the barrister. After that Sir Damask drank his wine in +silence. + +"You remember that claret, my lord?" said Dick, thinking that some +little compensation was due to him for what had been said about the +champagne. + +But Lord Mongrober's dinner had not yet had the effect of mollifying +the man sufficiently for Dick's purposes. "Oh, yes, I remember the +wine. You call it '57, don't you?" + +"And it is '57;--'57, Leoville." + +"Very likely,--very likely. If it hadn't been heated before the +fire--" + +"It hasn't been near the fire," said Dick. + +"Or put into a hot decanter--" + +"Nothing of the kind." + +"Or treated after some other damnable fashion, it would be very good +wine, I dare say." + +"You are hard to please, my lord, to-day," said Dick, who was put +beyond his bearing. + +"What is a man to say? If you will talk about your wine, I can only +tell you what I think. Any man may get good wine,--that is if he can +afford to pay the price,--but it isn't one out of ten who knows how +to put it on the table." Dick felt this to be very hard. When a man +pays 110s. a dozen for his champagne, and then gives it to guests +like Lord Mongrober who are not even expected to return the favour, +then that man ought to be allowed to talk about his wine without +fear of rebuke. One doesn't have an agreement to that effect written +down on parchment and sealed; but it is as well understood and ought +to be as faithfully kept as any legal contract. Dick, who could on +occasions be awakened to a touch of manliness, gave the bottle a +shove and threw himself back in his chair. "If you ask me, I can only +tell you," repeated Lord Mongrober. + +"I don't believe you ever had a bottle of wine put before you in +better order in all your life," said Dick. His lordship's face became +very square and very red as he looked round at his host. "And as +for talking about my wine, of course I talk to a man about what he +understands. I talk to Monogram about pigeons, to Tom there about +politics, to Apperton and Lopez about the price of consols, and to +you about wine. If I asked you what you thought of the last new book, +your lordship would be a little surprised." Lord Mongrober grunted +and looked redder and squarer than ever; but he made no attempt at +reply, and the victory was evidently left with Dick,--very much to +the general exaltation of his character. And he was proud of himself. +"We had a little tiff, me and Mongrober," he said to his wife that +night. "'E's a very good fellow, and of course he's a lord and all +that. But he has to be put down occasionally, and, by George, I did +it to-night. You ask Lopez." + +There were two drawing-rooms up-stairs, opening into each other, but +still distinct. Emily had escaped into the back room, avoiding the +gushing sentiments and equivocal morals of Lady Eustace and Mrs. +Leslie,--and here she was followed by Ferdinand Lopez. Mr. Wharton +was in the front room, and though on entering it he did look round +furtively for his daughter, he was ashamed to wander about in +order that he might watch her. And there were others in the back +room,--Dick and Monogram standing on the rug, and the elder Mrs. +Roby seated in a corner;--so that there was nothing peculiar in the +position of the two lovers. + +"Must I understand," said he, "that I am banished from Manchester +Square?" + +"Has papa banished you?" + +"That's what I want you to tell me." + +"I know you had an interview with him, Mr. Lopez." + +"Yes. I had." + +"And you must know best what he told you." + +"He would explain himself better to you than he did to me." + +"I doubt that very much. Papa, when he has anything to say, generally +says it plainly. However, I do think that he did intend to banish +you. I do not know why I should not tell you the truth." + +"I do not know either." + +"I think he did--intend to banish you." + +"And you?" + +"I shall be guided by him in all things,--as far as I can." + +"Then I am banished by you also?" + +"I did not say so. But if papa says that you are not to come there, +of course I cannot ask you to do so." + +"But I may see you here?" + +"Mr. Lopez, I will not be asked some questions. I will not indeed." + +"You know why I ask them. You know that to me you are more than all +the world." She stood still for a moment after hearing this, and then +without any reply walked away into the other room. She felt half +ashamed of herself in that she had not rebuked him for speaking to +her in that fashion after his interview with her father, and yet his +words had filled her heart with delight. He had never before plainly +declared his love to her,--though she had been driven by her father's +questions to declare her own love to herself. She was quite sure of +herself,--that the man was and would always be to her the one being +whom she would prefer to all others. Her fate was in her father's +hands. If he chose to make her wretched he must do so. But on one +point she had quite made up her mind. She would make no concealment. +To the world at large she had nothing to say on the matter. But with +her father there should be no attempt on her part to keep back the +truth. Were he to question her on the subject she would tell him, as +far as her memory would serve her, the very words which Lopez had +spoken to her this evening. She would ask nothing from him. He had +already told her that the man was to be rejected, and had refused to +give any other reason than his dislike to the absence of any English +connexion. She would not again ask even for a reason. But she would +make her father understand that though she obeyed him she regarded +the exercise of his authority as tyrannical and irrational. + +They left the house before any of the other guests and walked round +the corner together into the Square. "What a very vulgar set of +people!" said Mr. Wharton as soon as they were down the steps. + +"Some of them were," said Emily, making a mental reservation of her +own. + +"Upon my word I don't know where to make the exception. Why on earth +any one should want to know such a person as Lord Mongrober I can't +understand. What does he bring into society?" + +"A title." + +"But what does that do of itself? He is an insolent, bloated brute." + +"Papa, you are using strong language to-night." + +"And that Lady Eustace! Heaven and earth! Am I to be told that that +creature is a lady?" + +They had now come to their own door, and while that was being opened +and as they went up into their own drawing-room, nothing was said, +but then Emily began again. "I wonder why you go to Aunt Harriet's at +all. You don't like the people?" + +"I didn't like any of them to-day." + +"Why do you go there? You don't like Aunt Harriet herself. You don't +like Uncle Dick. You don't like Mr. Lopez." + +"Certainly I do not." + +"I don't know who it is you do like." + +"I like Mr. Fletcher." + +"It's no use saying that to me, papa." + +"You ask me a question, and I choose to answer it. I like Arthur +Fletcher, because he is a gentleman,--because he is a gentleman of +the class to which I belong myself; because he works; because I know +all about him, so that I can be sure of him; because he had a decent +father and mother; because I am safe with him, being quite sure that +he will say to me neither awkward things nor impertinent things. He +will not talk to me about driving a mail coach like that foolish +baronet, nor tell me the price of all his wines like your uncle." Nor +would Ferdinand Lopez do so, thought Emily to herself. "But in all +such matters, my dear, the great thing is like to like. I have spoken +of a young person, merely because I wish you to understand that I +can sympathise with others besides those of my own age. But to-night +there was no one there at all like myself,--or, as I hope, like you. +That man Roby is a chattering ass. How such a man can be useful to +any government I can't conceive. Happerton was the best, but what had +he to say for himself? I've always thought that there was very little +wit wanted to make a fortune in the City." In this frame of mind +Mr. Wharton went off to bed, but not a word more was spoken about +Ferdinand Lopez. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Carlton Terrace + + +Certainly the thing was done very well by Lady Glen,--as many in the +political world persisted in calling her even in these days. She had +not as yet quite carried out her plan,--the doing of which would have +required her to reconcile her husband to some excessive abnormal +expenditure, and to have obtained from him a deliberate sanction for +appropriation and probable sale of property. She never could find the +proper moment for doing this, having, with all her courage,--low down +in some corner of her heart,--a wholesome fear of a certain quiet +power which her husband possessed. She could not bring herself to +make her proposition;--but she almost acted as though it had been +made and approved. Her house was always gorgeous with flowers. Of +course there would be the bill;--and he, when he saw the exotics, and +the whole place turned into a bower of ever fresh blooming floral +glories, must know that there would be the bill. And when he found +that there was an archducal dinner-party every week, and an almost +imperial reception twice a week; that at these receptions a banquet +was always provided; when he was asked whether she might buy a +magnificent pair of bay carriage-horses, as to which she assured him +that nothing so lovely had ever as yet been seen stepping in the +streets of London,--of course he must know that the bills would come. +It was better, perhaps, to do it in this way, than to make any direct +proposition. And then, early in June, she spoke to him as to the +guests to be invited to Gatherum Castle in August. "Do you want to +go to Gatherum in August?" he asked in surprise. For she hated the +place, and had hardly been content to spend ten days there every year +at Christmas. + +"I think it should be done," she said solemnly. "One cannot quite +consider just now what one likes oneself." + +"Why not?" + +"You would hardly go to a small place like Matching in your present +position. There are so many people whom you should entertain! You +would probably have two or three of the foreign ministers down for a +time." + +"We always used to find plenty of room at Matching." + +"But you did not always use to be Prime Minister. It is only for such +a time as this that such a house as Gatherum is serviceable." + +He was silent for a moment, thinking about it, and then gave way +without another word. She was probably right. There was the huge pile +of magnificent buildings; and somebody, at any rate, had thought that +it behoved a Duke of Omnium to live in such a palace. If it ought to +be done at any time, it ought to be done now. In that his wife had +been right. "Very well. Then let us go there." + +"I'll manage it all," said the Duchess,--"I and Locock." Locock was +the house-steward. + +"I remember once," said the Duke, and he smiled as he spoke with a +peculiarly sweet expression, which would at times come across his +generally inexpressive face,--"I remember once that some First +Minister of the Crown gave evidence as to the amount of his salary, +saying that his place entailed upon him expenses higher than his +stipend would defray. I begin to think that my experience will be the +same." + +"Does that fret you?" + +"No, Cora;--it certainly does not fret me, or I should not allow it. +But I think there should be a limit. No man is ever rich enough to +squander." + +Though they were to squander her fortune,--the money which she +had brought,--for the next ten years at a much greater rate than +she contemplated, they might do so without touching the Palliser +property. Of that she was quite sure. And the squandering was to be +all for his glory,--so that he might retain his position as a popular +Prime Minister. For an instant it occurred to her that she would tell +him all this. But she checked herself, and the idea of what she had +been about to say brought the blood into her face. Never yet had +she in talking to him alluded to her own wealth. "Of course we are +spending money," she said. "If you give me a hint to hold my hand, I +will hold it." + +He had looked at her, and read it all in her face. "God knows," he +said, "you've a right to do it if it pleases you." + +"For your sake!" Then he stooped down and kissed her twice, and +left her to arrange her parties as she pleased. After that she +congratulated herself that she had not made the direct proposition, +knowing that she might now do pretty much what she pleased. + +Then there were solemn cabinets held, at which she presided, and +Mrs. Finn and Locock assisted. At other cabinets it is supposed that, +let a leader be ever so autocratic by disposition and superior by +intelligence, still he must not unfrequently yield to the opinion of +his colleagues. But in this cabinet the Duchess always had her own +way, though she was very persistent in asking for counsel. Locock was +frightened about the money. Hitherto money had come without a word, +out of the common, spoken to the Duke. The Duke had always signed +certain cheques, but they had been normal cheques; and the money in +its natural course had flown in to meet them;--but now he must be +asked to sign abnormal cheques. That, indeed, had already been done; +but still the money had been there. A large balance, such as had +always stood to his credit, would stand a bigger racket than had yet +been made. But Locock was quite sure that the balance ought not to +be much further reduced,--and that steps must be taken. Something +must be sold! The idea of selling anything was dreadful to the +mind of Locock! Or else money must be borrowed! Now the management +of the Palliser property had always been conducted on principles +antagonistic to borrowing. "But his Grace has never spent his +income," said the Duchess. That was true. But the money, as it showed +a tendency to heap itself up, had been used for the purchase of other +bits of property, or for the amelioration of the estates generally. +"You don't mean to say that we can't get money if we want it!" Locock +was profuse in his assurances that any amount of money could be +obtained,--only that something must be done. "Then let something +be done," said the Duchess, going on with her general plans. "Many +people are rich," said the Duchess afterwards to her friend, "and +some people are very rich indeed; but nobody seems to be rich enough +to have ready money to do just what he wishes. It all goes into a +grand sum total, which is never to be touched without a feeling of +sacrifice. I suppose you have always enough for everything." It was +well known that the present Mrs. Finn, as Madame Goesler, had been a +wealthy woman. + +"Indeed, no;--very far from that. I haven't a shilling." + +"What has happened?" asked the Duchess, pretending to be frightened. + +"You forget that I've got a husband of my own, and that he has to be +consulted." + +"That must be nonsense. But don't you think women are fools to marry +when they've got anything of their own, and could be their own +mistresses? I couldn't have been. I was made to marry before I was +old enough to assert myself." + +"And how well they did for you!" + +"Pas si mal.--He's Prime Minister, which is a great thing, and I +begin to find myself filled to the full with political ambition. +I feel myself to be a Lady Macbeth, prepared for the murder of +any Duncan or any Daubeny who may stand in my lord's way. In +the meantime, like Lady Macbeth herself, we must attend to the +banqueting. Her lord appeared and misbehaved himself; my lord won't +show himself at all,--which I think is worse." + +Our old friend Phineas Finn, who had now reached a higher place in +politics than even his political dreams had assigned to him, though +he was a Member of Parliament, was much away from London in these +days. New brooms sweep clean; and official new brooms, I think, sweep +cleaner than any other. Who has not watched at the commencement of +a Ministry some Secretary, some Lord, or some Commissioner, who +intends by fresh Herculean labours to cleanse the Augean stables just +committed to his care? Who does not know the gentleman at the Home +Office, who means to reform the police and put an end to malefactors; +or the new Minister at the Board of Works, who is to make London +beautiful as by a magician's stroke,--or, above all, the new First +Lord, who is resolved that he will really build us a fleet, purge +the dock-yards, and save us half a million a year at the same +time? Phineas Finn was bent on unriddling the Irish sphinx. Surely +something might be done to prove to his susceptible countrymen that +at the present moment no curse could be laid upon them so heavy as +that of having to rule themselves apart from England; and he thought +that this might be the easier, as he became from day to day more +thoroughly convinced that those Home Rulers who were all around +him in the House were altogether of the same opinion. Had some +inscrutable decree of fate ordained and made it certain,--with a +certainty not to be disturbed,--that no candidate could be returned +to Parliament who would not assert the earth to be triangular, there +would rise immediately a clamorous assertion of triangularity among +political aspirants. The test would be innocent. Candidates have +swallowed, and daily do swallow, many a worse one. As might be this +doctrine of a great triangle, so is the doctrine of Home Rule. Why is +a gentleman of property to be kept out in the cold by some O'Mullins +because he will not mutter an unmeaning shibboleth? "Triangular? +Yes,--or lozenge-shaped, if you please; but, gentlemen, I am the man +for Tipperary." Phineas Finn, having seen, or thought that he had +seen, all this, began, from the very first moment of his appointment, +to consider painfully within himself whether the genuine services of +an honest and patriotic man might not compass some remedy for the +present ill-boding ferment of the country. What was it that the Irish +really did want;--what that they wanted, and had not got, and which +might with propriety be conceded to them? What was it that the +English really would refuse to sanction, even though it might not be +wanted? He found himself beating about among rocks as to Catholic +education and Papal interference, the passage among which might be +made clearer to him in Irish atmosphere than in that of Westminster. +Therefore he was away a good deal in these days, travelling backwards +and forwards as he might be wanted for any debate. But as his wife +did not accompany him on these fitful journeys, she was able to give +her time very much to the Duchess. + +The Duchess was on the whole very successful with her parties. There +were people who complained that she had everybody; that there was no +selection whatever as to politics, principles, rank, morals,--or even +manners. But in such a work as the Duchess had now taken in hand, it +was impossible that she should escape censure. They who really knew +what was being done were aware that nobody was asked to that house +without an idea that his or her presence might be desirable,--in +however remote a degree. Paragraphs in newspapers go for much, +and therefore the writers and editors of such paragraphs were +there,--sometimes with their wives. Mr. Broune, of the "Breakfast +Table," was to be seen there constantly, with his wife Lady Carbury, +and poor old Booker of the "Literary Chronicle." City men can make a +budget popular or the reverse, and therefore the Mills Happertons of +the day were welcome. Rising barristers might be wanted to become +Solicitors-General. The pet Orpheus of the hour, the young tragic +actor who was thought to have a real Hamlet within him, the old +painter who was growing rich on his reputation, and the young painter +who was still strong with hope, even the little trilling poet, though +he trilled never so faintly, and the somewhat wooden novelist, all +had tongues of their own, and certain modes of expression, which +might assist or injure the Palliser Coalition,--as the Duke's +Ministry was now called. + +"Who is that man? I've seen him here before. The Duchess was talking +to him ever so long just now." The question was asked by Mr. Rattler +of Mr. Roby. About half-an-hour before this time Mr. Rattler had +essayed to get a few words with the Duchess, beginning with the +communication of some small political secret. But the Duchess did not +care much for the Rattlers attached to her husband's Government. They +were men whose services could be had for a certain payment,--and when +paid for were, the Duchess thought, at the Premier's command without +further trouble. Of course they came to the receptions, and were +entitled to a smile apiece as they entered. But they were entitled +to nothing more, and on this occasion Rattler had felt himself to be +snubbed. It did not occur to him to abuse the Duchess. The Duchess +was too necessary for abuse,--just at present. But any friend of the +Duchess,--any favourite for the moment,--was, of course, open to +remark. + +"He is a man named Lopez," said Roby, "a friend of Happerton;--a very +clever fellow, they say." + +"Did you ever see him anywhere else?" + +"Well, yes;--I have met him at dinner." + +"He was never in the House. What does he do?" Rattler was distressed +to think that any drone should have made its way into the hive of +working bees. + +"Oh;--money, I fancy." + +"He's not a partner in Hunky's, is he?" + +"I fancy not. I think I should have known if he was." + +"She ought to remember that people make a use of coming here," said +Rattler. She was, of course, the Duchess. "It's not like a private +house. And whatever influence outsiders get by coming, so much she +loses. Somebody ought to explain that to her." + +"I don't think you or I could do that," replied Mr. Roby. + +"I'll tell the Duke in a minute," said Rattler. Perhaps he thought +he could tell the Duke, but we may be allowed to doubt whether his +prowess would not have fallen below the necessary pitch when he met +the Duke's eye. + +Lopez was there for the third time, about the middle of June, and had +certainly contrived to make himself personally known to the Duchess. +There had been a deputation from the City to the Prime Minister +asking for a subsidised mail, via San Francisco, to Japan, and Lopez, +though he had no interest in Japan, had contrived to be one of the +number. He had contrived also, as the deputation was departing, to +say a word on his own account to the Minister, and had ingratiated +himself. The Duke had remembered him, and had suggested that he +should have a card. And now he was among the flowers and the +greatness, the beauty, the politics, and the fashion of the Duchess's +gatherings for the third time. "It is very well done,--very well, +indeed," said Mr. Boffin to him. Lopez had been dining with Mr. and +Mrs. Boffin, and had now again encountered his late host and hostess. +Mr. Boffin was a gentleman who had belonged to the late Ministry, but +had somewhat out-Heroded Herod in his Conservatism, so as to have +been considered to be unfit for the Coalition. Of course, he was +proud of his own staunchness, and a little inclined to criticise the +lax principles of men who, for the sake of carrying on her Majesty's +Government, could be Conservatives one day and Liberals the next. He +was a laborious, honest man,--but hardly of calibre sufficient not +to regret his own honesty in such an emergency as the present. It is +easy for most of us to keep our hands from picking and stealing when +picking and stealing plainly lead to prison diet and prison garments. +But when silks and satins come of it, and with the silks and satins +general respect, the net result of honesty does not seem to be +so secure. Whence will come the reward, and when? On whom the +punishment, and where? A man will not, surely, be damned for +belonging to a Coalition Ministry! Boffin was a little puzzled as he +thought on all this, but in the meantime was very proud of his own +consistency. + +"I think it is so lovely!" said Mrs. Boffin. "You look down through +an Elysium of rhododendrons into a Paradise of mirrors. I don't think +there was ever anything like it in London before." + +"I don't know that we ever had anybody at the same time rich enough +to do this kind of thing as it is done now," said Boffin, "and +powerful enough to get such people together. If the country can be +ruled by flowers and looking-glasses, of course it is very well." + +"Flowers and looking-glasses won't prevent the country being ruled +well," said Lopez. + +"I'm not so sure of that," continued Boffin. "We all know what bread +and the games came to in Rome." + +"What did they come to?" asked Mrs. Boffin. + +"To a man burning Rome, my dear, for his amusement, dressed in a +satin petticoat and a wreath of roses." + +"I don't think the Duke will dress himself like that," said Mrs. +Boffin. + +"And I don't think," said Lopez, "that the graceful expenditure of +wealth in a rich man's house has any tendency to demoralise the +people." + +"The attempt here," said Boffin severely, "is to demoralise the +rulers of the people. I am glad to have come once to see how the +thing is done; but as an independent member of the House of Commons I +should not wish to be known to frequent the saloon of the Duchess." +Then Mr. Boffin took away Mrs. Boffin, much to that lady's regret. + +"This is fairy land," said Lopez to the Duchess, as he left the room. + +"Come and be a fairy then," she answered, very graciously. "We are +always on the wing about this hour on Wednesday night." The words +contained a general invitation for the season, and were esteemed by +Lopez as an indication of great favour. It must be acknowledged of +the Duchess that she was prone to make favourites, perhaps without +adequate cause; though it must be conceded to her that she rarely +altogether threw off from her any one whom she had once taken to her +good graces. It must also be confessed that when she had allowed +herself to hate either a man or a woman, she generally hated on +to the end. No Paradise could be too charming for her friends; no +Pandemonium too frightful for her enemies. In reference to Mr. Lopez +she would have said, if interrogated, that she had taken the man up +in obedience to her husband. But in truth she had liked the look and +the voice of the man. Her husband before now had recommended men to +her notice and kindness, whom at the first trial she had rejected +from her good-will, and whom she had continued to reject ever +afterwards, let her husband's urgency be what it might. + +Another old friend, of whom former chronicles were not silent, was at +the Duchess's that night, and there came across Mrs. Finn. This was +Barrington Erle, a politician of long standing, who was still looked +upon by many as a young man, because he had always been known as a +young man, and because he had never done anything to compromise his +position in that respect. He had not married, or settled himself down +in a house of his own, or become subject to gout, or given up being +careful about the fitting of his clothes. No doubt the grey hairs +were getting the better of the black hairs, both on his head and +face, and marks of coming crows' feet were to be seen if you looked +close at him, and he had become careful about his great-coat and +umbrella. He was in truth much nearer fifty than forty;--nevertheless +he was felt in the House and among Cabinet Ministers, and among the +wives of members and Cabinet Ministers, to be a young man still. And +when he was invited to become Secretary for Ireland it was generally +felt that he was too young for the place. He declined it, however; +and when he went to the Post-office, the gentlemen there all felt +that they had had a boy put over them. Phineas Finn, who had become +Secretary for Ireland, was in truth ten years his junior. But Phineas +Finn had been twice married, and had gone through other phases of +life, such as make a man old. "How does Phineas like it?" Erle asked. +Phineas Finn and Barrington Erle had gone through some political +struggles together, and had been very intimate. + +"I hope not very much," said the lady. + +"Why so? Because he's away so much?" + +"No;--not that. I should not grudge his absence if the work satisfied +him. But I know him so well. The more he takes to it now,--the more +sanguine he is as to some special thing to be done,--the more bitter +will be the disappointment when he is disappointed. For there never +really is anything special to be done;--is there, Mr. Erle?" + +"I think there is always a little too much zeal about Finn." + +"Of course there is. And then with zeal there always goes a thin +skin,--and unjustifiable expectations, and biting despair, and +contempt of others, and all the elements of unhappiness." + +"That is a sad programme for your husband." + +"He has recuperative faculties which bring him round at last:--but I +really doubt whether he was made for a politician in this country. +You remember Lord Brock?" + +"Dear old Brock;--of course I do. How should I not, if you remember +him?" + +"Young men are boys at college, rowing in boats, when women have been +ever so long out in the world. He was the very model of an English +statesman. He loved his country dearly, and wished her to be, as he +believed her to be, first among nations. But he had no belief in +perpetuating her greatness by any grand improvements. Let things take +their way naturally,--with a slight direction hither or thither as +things might require. That was his method of ruling. He believed in +men rather than measures. As long as he had loyalty around him, he +could be personally happy, and quite confident as to the country. He +never broke his heart because he could not carry this or that reform. +What would have hurt him would have been to be worsted in personal +conflict. But he could always hold his own, and he was always +happy. Your man with a thin skin, a vehement ambition, a scrupulous +conscience, and a sanguine desire for rapid improvement, is never a +happy, and seldom a fortunate politician." + +"Mrs. Finn, you understand it all better than any one else that I +ever knew." + +"I have been watching it a long time, and of course very closely +since I have been married." + +"But you have an eye trained to see it all. What a useful member you +would have been in a government!" + +"But I should never have had patience to sit all night upon that +bench in the House of Commons. How men can do it! They mustn't read. +They can't think because of the speaking. It doesn't do for them to +talk. I don't believe they ever listen. It isn't in human nature to +listen hour after hour to such platitudes. I believe they fall into a +habit of half-wakeful sleeping, which carries them through the hours; +but even that can't be pleasant. I look upon the Treasury Bench in +July as a sort of casual-ward which we know to be necessary, but is +almost too horrid to be contemplated." + +"Men do get bread and skilly there certainly; but, Mrs. Finn, we can +go into the library and smoking-room." + +"Oh, yes;--and a clerk in an office can read the newspapers instead +of doing his duty. But there is a certain surveillance exercised, and +a certain quantity of work exacted. I have met Lords of the Treasury +out at dinner on Mondays and Thursdays, but we all regard them as +boys who have shirked out of school. I think upon the whole, Mr. +Erle, we women have the best of it." + +"I don't suppose you will go in for your 'rights'." + +"Not by Act of Parliament, or by platform meeting. I have a great +idea of a woman's rights; but that is the way, I think, to throw them +away. What do you think of the Duchess's evenings?" + +"Lady Glen is in her way as great a woman as you are;--perhaps +greater, because nothing ever stops her." + +"Whereas I have scruples." + +"Her Grace has none. She has feelings and convictions which keep her +straight, but no scruples. Look at her now talking to Sir Orlando +Drought, a man whom she both hates and despises. I am sure she is +looking forward to some happy time in which the Duke may pitch +Sir Orlando overboard, and rule supreme, with me or some other +subordinate leading the House of Commons simply as lieutenant. Such a +time will never come, but that is her idea. But she is talking to Sir +Orlando now as if she were pouring her full confidence into his ear, +and Sir Orlando is believing her. Sir Orlando is in a seventh heaven, +and she is measuring his credulity inch by inch." + +"She makes the place very bright." + +"And is spending an enormous deal of money," said Barrington Erle. + +"What does it matter?" + +"Well, no;--if the Duke likes it. I had an idea that the Duke would +not like the display of the thing. There he is. Do you see him in the +corner with his brother duke? He doesn't look as if he were happy; +does he? No one would think he was the master of everything here. He +has got himself hidden almost behind the screen. I'm sure he doesn't +like it." + +"He tries to like whatever she likes," said Mrs. Finn. + +As her husband was away in Ireland, Mrs. Finn was staying in the +house in Carlton Gardens. The Duchess at present required so much of +her time that this was found to be convenient. When, therefore, the +guests on the present occasion had all gone, the Duchess and Mrs. +Finn were left together. "Did you ever see anything so hopeless as he +is?" said the Duchess. + +"Who is hopeless?" + +"Heavens and earth! Plantagenet;--who else? Is there another man in +the world would come into his own house, among his own guests, and +speak only to one person? And, then, think of it! Popularity is +the staff on which alone Ministers can lean in this country with +security." + +"Political but not social popularity." + +"You know as well as I do that the two go together. We've seen enough +of that even in our day. What broke up Mr. Gresham's Ministry? If +he had stayed away people might have thought that he was reading +blue-books, or calculating coinage, or preparing a speech. That would +have been much better. But he comes in and sits for half-an-hour +whispering to another duke! I hate dukes!" + +"He talks to the Duke of St. Bungay because there is no one he trusts +so much. A few years ago it would have been Mr. Mildmay." + +"My dear," said the Duchess angrily, "you treat me as though I were +a child. Of course I know why he chooses that old man out of all the +crowd. I don't suppose he does it from any stupid pride of rank. +I know very well what set of ideas govern him. But that isn't the +point. He has to reflect what others think of it, and to endeavour +to do what will please them. There was I telling tarradiddles by the +yard to that old oaf, Sir Orlando Drought, when a confidential word +from Plantagenet would have had ten times more effect. And why can't +he speak a word to the people's wives? They wouldn't bite him. He has +got to say a few words to you sometimes,--to whom it doesn't signify, +my dear--" + +"I don't know about that." + +"But he never speaks to another woman. He was here this evening +for exactly forty minutes, and he didn't open his lips to a female +creature. I watched him. How on earth am I to pull him through if he +goes on in that way? Yes, Locock, I'll go to bed, and I don't think +I'll get up for a week." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +The Gathering of Clouds + + +Throughout June and the first week of July the affairs of the +Ministry went on successfully, in spite of the social sins of the +Duke and the occasional despair of the Duchess. There had been many +politicians who had thought, or had, at any rate, predicted, that +the Coalition Ministry would not live a month. There had been +men, such as Lord Fawn on one side and Mr. Boffin on the other, +who had found themselves stranded disagreeably,--with no certain +position,--unwilling to sit immediately behind a Treasury bench from +which they were excluded, and too shy to place themselves immediately +opposite. Seats beneath the gangway were, of course, open to such of +them as were members of the Lower House, and those seats had to be +used; but they were not accustomed to sit beneath the gangway. These +gentlemen had expected that the seeds of weakness, of which they had +perceived the scattering, would grow at once into an enormous crop of +blunders, difficulties, and complications; but, for a while, the +Ministry were saved from these dangers either by the energy of the +Prime Minister, or the popularity of his wife, or perhaps by the +sagacity of the elder Duke;--so that there grew up an idea that the +Coalition was really the proper thing. In one respect it certainly +was successful. The Home Rulers, or Irish party generally, were left +without an inch of standing ground. Their support was not needed, and +therefore they were not courted. For the moment there was not even +a necessity to pretend that Home Rule was anything but an absurdity +from beginning to end;--so much so that one or two leading Home +Rulers, men who had taken up the cause not only that they might +become Members of Parliament, but with some further ideas of +speech-making and popularity, declared that the Coalition had been +formed merely with a view of putting down Ireland. This capability of +dispensing with a generally untractable element of support was felt +to be a great comfort. Then, too, there was a set in the House,--at +the moment not a very numerous set,--who had been troublesome friends +to the old Liberal party, and which the Coalition was able, if not to +ignore, at any rate to disregard. These were the staunch economists, +and argumentative philosophical Radicals,--men of standing and +repute, who are always in doubtful times individually flattered by +Ministers, who have great privileges accorded to them of speaking and +dividing, and who are not unfrequently even thanked for their rods by +the very owners of the backs which bear the scourges. These men could +not be quite set aside by the Coalition as were the Home Rulers. It +was not even yet, perhaps, wise to count them out, or to leave them +to talk to benches absolutely empty;--but the tone of flattery with +which they had been addressed became gradually less warm; and when +the scourges were wielded, ministerial backs took themselves out of +the way. There grew up unconsciously a feeling of security against +attack which was distasteful to these gentlemen, and was in +itself perhaps a little dangerous. Gentlemen bound to support the +Government, when they perceived that there was comparatively but +little to do, and that that little might be easily done, became +careless, and, perhaps, a little contemptuous. So that the great +popular orator, Mr. Turnbull, found himself compelled to rise in his +seat, and ask whether the noble Duke at the head of the Government +thought himself strong enough to rule without attention to +Parliamentary details. The question was asked with an air of +inexorable severity, and was intended to have deep signification. Mr. +Turnbull had disliked the Coalition from the beginning; but then Mr. +Turnbull always disliked everything. He had so accustomed himself to +wield the constitutional cat-of-nine-tails, that heaven will hardly +be happy to him unless he be allowed to flog the cherubim. Though the +party with which he was presumed to act had generally been in power +since he had been in the House, he had never allowed himself to agree +with a Minister on any point. And as he had never been satisfied +with a Liberal Government, it was not probable that he should endure +a Coalition in silence. At the end of a rather lengthy speech, he +repeated his question, and then sat down, taking his place with all +that constitutional indignation which becomes the parliamentary +flagellator of the day. The little jokes with which Sir Orlando +answered him were very well in their way. Mr. Turnbull did not care +much whether he were answered or not. Perhaps the jauntiness of Sir +Orlando, which implied that the Coalition was too strong to regard +attack, somewhat irritated outsiders. But there certainly grew up +from that moment a feeling among such men as Erle and Rattler that +care was necessary, that the House, taken as a whole, was not in a +condition to be manipulated with easy freedom, and that Sir Orlando +must be made to understand that he was not strong enough to depend +upon jauntiness. The jaunty statesman must be very sure of his +personal following. There was a general opinion that Sir Orlando had +not brought the Coalition well out of the first real attack which had +been made upon it. + +"Well, Phineas; how do you like the Phoenix?" Phineas Finn had +flown back to London at the instigation probably of Mr. Rattler, and +was now standing at the window of Brooks's club with Barrington Erle. +It was near nine one Thursday evening, and they were both about to +return to the House. + +"I don't like the Castle, if you mean that." + +"Tyrone isn't troublesome, surely?" The Marquis of Tyrone was the +Lord Lieutenant of the day, and had in his time been a very strong +Conservative. + +"He finds me troublesome, I fear." + +"I don't wonder at that, Phineas." + +"How should it be otherwise? What can he and I have in sympathy with +one another? He has been brought up with all an Orangeman's hatred +for a Papist. Now that he is in high office, he can abandon the +display of the feeling,--perhaps the feeling itself as regards the +country at large. He knows that it doesn't become a Lord Lieutenant +to be Orange. But how can he put himself into a boat with me?" + +"All that kind of thing vanishes when a man is in office." + +"Yes, as a rule; because men go together into office with the same +general predilections. Is it too hot to walk down?" + +"I'll walk a little way,--till you make me hot by arguing." + +"I haven't an argument left in me," said Phineas. "Of course +everything over there seems easy enough now,--so easy that Lord +Tyrone evidently imagines that the good times are coming back in +which governors may govern and not be governed." + +"You are pretty quiet in Ireland now, I suppose;--no martial law, +suspension of the habeas corpus, or anything of that kind, just at +present?" + +"No; thank goodness!" said Phineas. + +"I'm not quite sure whether a general suspension of the habeas corpus +would not upon the whole be the most comfortable state of things for +Irishmen themselves. But whether good or bad, you've nothing of that +kind of thing now. You've no great measure that you wish to pass?" + +"But they've a great measure that they wish to pass." + +"They know better than that. They don't want to kill their golden +goose." + +"The people, who are infinitely ignorant of all political work, +do want it. There are counties in which, if you were to poll the +people, Home Rule would carry nearly every voter,--except the members +themselves." + +"You wouldn't give it them?" + +"Certainly not;--any more than I would allow a son to ruin himself +because he asked me. But I would endeavour to teach them that they +can get nothing by Home Rule,--that their taxes would be heavier, +their property less secure, their lives less safe, their general +position more debased, and their chances of national success more +remote than ever." + +"You can never teach them, except by the slow lesson of habit. The +Heptarchy didn't mould itself into a nation in a day." + +"Men were governed then, and could be and were moulded. I feel sure +that even in Ireland there is a stratum of men, above the working +peasants, who would understand, and make those below them understand, +the position of the country, if they could only be got to give up +fighting about religion. Even now Home Rule is regarded by the +multitude as a weapon to be used against Protestantism on behalf of +the Pope." + +"I suppose the Pope is the great sinner?" + +"They got over the Pope in France,--even in early days, before +religion had become a farce in the country. They have done so in +Italy." + +"Yes;--they've got over the Pope in Italy, certainly." + +"And yet," said Phineas, "the bulk of the people are staunch +Catholics. Of course the same attempt to maintain a temporal +influence, with the hope of recovering temporal power, is made in +other countries. But while we see the attempt failing elsewhere,--so +that we know that the power of the Church is going to the wall,--yet +in Ireland it is infinitely stronger now than it was fifty, or even +twenty years ago." + +"Because we have been removing restraints on Papal aggression, while +other nations have been imposing restraints. There are those at +Rome who believe all England to be Romish at heart, because here in +England a Roman Catholic can say what he will, and print what he +will." + +"And yet," said Phineas, "all England does not return one Catholic to +the House, while we have Jews in plenty. You have a Jew among your +English judges, but at present not a single Roman Catholic. What do +you suppose are the comparative numbers of the population here in +England?" + +"And you are going to cure all this;--while Tyrone thinks it ought to +be left as it is? I rather agree with Tyrone." + +"No," said Phineas, wearily; "I doubt whether I shall ever cure +anything, or even make any real attempt. My patriotism just goes far +enough to make me unhappy, and Lord Tyrone thinks that while Dublin +ladies dance at the Castle, and the list of agrarian murders is kept +low, the country is admirably managed. I don't quite agree with +him;--that's all." + +Then there arose a legal difficulty, which caused much trouble to the +Coalition Ministry. There fell vacant a certain seat on the bench of +judges,--a seat of considerable dignity and importance, but not quite +of the highest rank. Sir Gregory Grogram, who was a rich, energetic +man, determined to have a peerage, and convinced that, should +the Coalition fall to pieces, the Liberal element would be in +the ascendant,--so that the woolsack would then be opened to +him,--declined to occupy the place. Sir Timothy Beeswax, the +Solicitor-General, saw that it was exactly suited for him, and had no +hesitation in expressing his opinion to that effect. But the place +was not given to Sir Timothy. It was explained to Sir Timothy that +the old rule,--or rather custom,--of offering certain high positions +to the law officers of the Crown had been abrogated. Some Prime +Minister, or, more probably, some collection of Cabinet Ministers, +had asserted the custom to be a bad one,--and, as far as right went, +Sir Timothy was declared not to have a leg to stand upon. He was +informed that his services in the House were too valuable to be so +lost. Some people said that his temper was against him. Others were +of opinion that he had risen from the ranks too quickly, and that +Lord Ramsden, who had come from the same party, thought that Sir +Timothy had not yet won his spurs. The Solicitor-General resigned +in a huff, and then withdrew his resignation. Sir Gregory thought +the withdrawal should not be accepted, having found Sir Timothy to +be an unsympathetic colleague. Our Duke consulted the old Duke, +among whose theories of official life forbearance to all colleagues +and subordinates was conspicuous. The withdrawal was, therefore, +allowed,--but the Coalition could not after that be said to be strong +in regard to its Law Officers. + +But the first concerted attack against the Ministry was made in +reference to the budget. Mr. Monk, who had consented to undertake the +duties of Chancellor of the Exchequer under the urgent entreaties +of the two dukes, was of course late with his budget. It was April +before the Coalition had been formed. The budget when produced had +been very popular. Budgets, like babies, are always little loves +when first born. But as their infancy passes away, they also become +subject to many stripes. The details are less pleasing than was the +whole in the hands of the nurse. There was a certain "interest," +very influential both by general wealth and by the presence of many +members in the House, which thought that Mr. Monk had disregarded its +just claims. Mr. Monk had refused to relieve the Brewers from their +licences. Now the Brewers had for some years been agitating about +their licences,--and it is acknowledged in politics that any measure +is to be carried, or to be left out in the cold uncarried and +neglected, according to the number of deputations which may be got to +press a Minister on the subject. Now the Brewers had had deputation +after deputation to many Chancellors of the Exchequer; and these +deputations had been most respectable,--we may almost say imperative. +It was quite usual for a deputation to have four or five County +members among its body, all Brewers; and the average wealth of a +deputation of Brewers would buy up half London. All the Brewers in +the House had been among the supporters of the Coalition, the number +of Liberal and Conservative Brewers having been about equal. But +now there was a fear that the "interest" might put itself into +opposition. Mr. Monk had been firm. More than one of the Ministry had +wished to yield;--but he had discussed the matter with his Chief, and +they were both very firm. The Duke had never doubted. Mr. Monk had +never doubted. From day to day certain organs of the Press expressed +an opinion, gradually increasing in strength, that however strong +might be the Coalition as a body, it was weak as to finance. This was +hard, because not very many years ago the Duke himself had been known +as a particularly strong Minister of Finance. An amendment was moved +in Committee as to the Brewers' Licences, and there was almost a +general opinion that the Coalition would be broken up. Mr. Monk would +certainly not remain in office if the Brewers were to be relieved +from their licences. + +Then it was that Phineas Finn was recalled from Ireland in red-hot +haste. The measure was debated for a couple of nights, and Mr. Monk +carried his point. The Brewers' Licences were allowed to remain, as +one great gentleman from Burton declared, a "disgrace to the fiscal +sagacity of the country." The Coalition was so far victorious;--but +there arose a general feeling that its strength had been impaired. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +Mr. Wharton Complains + + +"I think you have betrayed me." This accusation was brought by Mr. +Wharton against Mrs. Roby in that lady's drawing-room, and was +occasioned by a report that had been made to the old lawyer by his +daughter. He was very angry and almost violent;--so much so that by +his manner he gave a considerable advantage to the lady whom he was +accusing. + +Mrs. Roby undoubtedly had betrayed her brother-in-law. She had been +false to the trust reposed in her. He had explained his wishes to +her in regard to his daughter, to whom she had in some sort assumed +to stand in place of a mother, and she, while pretending to act in +accordance with his wishes, had directly opposed them. But it was not +likely that he would be able to prove her treachery though he might +be sure of it. He had desired that his girl should see as little as +possible of Ferdinand Lopez, but had hesitated to give a positive +order that she should not meet him. He had indeed himself taken her +to a dinner party at which he knew that she would meet him. But +Mrs. Roby had betrayed him. Since the dinner party she had arranged +a meeting at her own house on behalf of the lover,--as to which +arrangement Emily Wharton had herself been altogether innocent. Emily +had met the man in her aunt's house, not expecting to meet him, and +the lover had had an opportunity of speaking his mind freely. She +also had spoken hers freely. She would not engage herself to him +without her father's consent. With that consent she would do so,--oh, +so willingly! She did not coy her love. He might be certain that she +would give herself to no one else. Her heart was entirely his. But +she had pledged herself to her father, and on no consideration would +she break that pledge. She went on to say that after what had passed +she thought that they had better not meet. In such meetings there +could be no satisfaction, and must be much pain. But he had her +full permission to use any arguments that he could use with her +father. On the evening of that day she told her father all that had +passed,--omitting no detail either of what she had said or of what +had been said to her,--adding a positive assurance of obedience, +but doing so with a severe solemnity and apparent consciousness of +ill-usage which almost broke her father's heart. "Your aunt must have +had him there on purpose," Mr. Wharton had said. But Emily would +neither accuse nor defend her aunt. "I at least knew nothing of it," +she said. "I know that," Mr. Wharton had ejaculated. "I know that. +I don't accuse you of anything, my dear,--except of thinking that +you understand the world better than I do." Then Emily had retired +and Mr. Wharton had been left to pass half the night in a perplexed +reverie, feeling that he would be forced ultimately to give way, and +yet certain that by doing so he would endanger his child's happiness. + +He was very angry with his sister-in-law, and on the next day, early +in the morning, he attacked her. "I think you have betrayed me," he +said. + +"What do you mean by that, Mr. Wharton?" + +"You have had this man here on purpose that he might make love to +Emily." + +"I have done no such thing. You told me yourself that they were not +to be kept apart. He comes here, and it would be very odd indeed if I +were to tell the servants that he is not to be admitted. If you want +to quarrel with me, of course you can. I have always endeavoured to +be a good friend to Emily." + +"It is not being a good friend to her, bringing her and this +adventurer together." + +"I don't know why you call him an adventurer. But you are so very +odd in your ideas! He is received everywhere, and is always at the +Duchess of Omnium's." + +"I don't care a fig about the Duchess." + +"I dare say not. Only the Duke happens to be Prime Minister, and his +house is considered to have the very best society that England, or +indeed Europe, can give. And I think it is something in a young man's +favour when it is known that he associates with such persons as the +Duke of Omnium. I believe that most fathers would have a regard to +the company which a man keeps when they think of their daughter's +marrying." + +"I ain't thinking of her marrying. I don't want her to marry;--not +this man at least. And I fancy the Duchess of Omnium is just as +likely to have scamps in her drawing-room as any other lady in +London." + +"And do such men as Mr. Happerton associate with scamps?" + +"I don't know anything about Mr. Happerton,--and I don't care +anything about him." + +"He has L20,000 a year out of his business. And does Everett +associate with scamps?" + +"Very likely." + +"I never knew any one so much prejudiced as you are, Mr. Wharton. +When you have a point to carry there's nothing you won't say. I +suppose it comes from being in the courts." + +"The long and the short of it is this," said the lawyer; "if I find +that Emily is brought here to meet Mr. Lopez, I must forbid her to +come at all." + +"You must do as you please about that. But to tell you the truth, Mr. +Wharton, I think the mischief is done. Such a girl as Emily, when she +has taken it into her head to love a man, is not likely to give him +up." + +"She has promised to have nothing to say to him without my sanction." + +"We all know what that means. You'll have to give way. You'll find +that it will be so. The stern parent who dooms his daughter to +perpetual seclusion because she won't marry the man he likes, doesn't +belong to this age." + +"Who talks about seclusion?" + +"Do you suppose that she'll give up the man she loves because you +don't like him? Is that the way girls live now-a-days? She won't run +away with him, because she's not one of that sort; but unless you're +harder-hearted than I take you to be, she'll make your life a burden +to you. And as for betraying you, that's nonsense. You've no right to +say it. I'm not going to quarrel with you whatever you may say, but +you've no right to say it." + +Mr. Wharton, as he went away to Lincoln's Inn, bewailed himself +because he knew that he was not hard-hearted. What his sister-in-law +had said to him in that respect was true enough. If he could only rid +himself of a certain internal ague which made him feel that his life +was, indeed, a burden to him while his daughter was unhappy, he need +only remain passive and simply not give the permission without which +his daughter would not ever engage herself to this man. But the ague +troubled every hour of his present life. That sister-in-law of his +was a silly, vulgar, worldly, and most untrustworthy woman;--but she +had understood what she was saying. + +And there had been something in that argument about the Duchess of +Omnium's parties, and Mr. Happerton, which had its effect. If the man +did live with the great and wealthy, it must be because they thought +well of him and of his position. The fact of his being a "nasty +foreigner," and probably of Jewish descent, remained. To him, +Wharton, the man must always be distasteful. But he could hardly +maintain his opposition to one of whom the choice spirits of the +world thought well. And he tried to be fair on the subject. It might +be that it was a prejudice. Others probably did not find a man to be +odious because he was of foreign extraction and known by a foreign +name. Others would not suspect a man of being of Jewish blood because +he was swarthy, or even object to him if he were a Jew by descent. +But it was wonderful to him that his girl should like such a +man,--should like such a man well enough to choose him as the one +companion of her life. She had been brought up to prefer English +men, and English thinking, and English ways,--and English ways, too, +somewhat of a past time. He thought as did Brabantio, that it could +not be that without magic his daughter who had shunned-- + + + "The wealthy curled darlings of our nation, + Would ever have, to incur a general mock, + Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom + Of such a thing as"-- + + +this distasteful Portuguese. + +That evening he said nothing further to his daughter, but sat with +her, silent and disconsolate. Later in the evening, after she had +gone to her room, Everett came in while the old man was still walking +up and down the drawing-room. "Where have you been?" asked the +father,--not caring a straw as to any reply when he asked the +question, but roused almost to anger by the answer when it came. + +"I have been dining with Lopez at the club." + +"I believe you live with that man." + +"Is there any reason, sir, why I should not?" + +"You know that there is a good reason why there should be no peculiar +intimacy. But I don't suppose that my wishes, or your sister's +welfare, will interest you." + +"That is severe, sir." + +"I am not such a fool as to suppose that you are to quarrel with +a man because I don't approve his addressing your sister; but I +do think that while this is going on, and while he perseveres in +opposition to my distinct refusal, you need not associate with him in +any special manner." + +"I don't understand your objection to him, sir." + +"I dare say not. There are a great many things you don't understand. +But I do object." + +"He's a very rising man. Mr. Roby was saying to me just now--" + +"Who cares a straw what a fool like Roby says?" + +"I don't mean Uncle Dick, but his brother,--who, I suppose, is +somebody in the world. He was saying to me just now that he wondered +why Lopez does not go into the House;--that he would be sure to get a +seat if he chose, and safe to make a mark when he got there." + +"I dare say he could get into the House. I don't know any well-to-do +blackguard of whom you might not predict as much. A seat in the House +of Commons doesn't make a man a gentleman as far as I can see." + +"I think every one allows that Ferdinand Lopez is a gentleman." + +"Who was his father?" + +"I didn't happen to know him, sir." + +"And who was his mother? I don't suppose you will credit anything +because I say it, but as far as my experience goes, a man doesn't +often become a gentleman in the first generation. A man may be very +worthy, very clever, very rich,--very well worth knowing, if you +will;--but when one talks of admitting a man into close family +communion by marriage, one would, I fancy, wish to know something of +his father and mother." Then Everett escaped, and Mr. Wharton was +again left to his own meditations. Oh, what a peril, what a trouble, +what a labyrinth of difficulties was a daughter! He must either be +known as a stern, hard-hearted parent, utterly indifferent to his +child's feelings, using with tyranny the power over her which came to +him only from her sense of filial duty,--or else he must give up his +own judgment, and yield to her in a matter as to which he believed +that such yielding would be most pernicious to her own interests. + +Hitherto he really knew nothing of the man's means;--nor, if he could +have his own way, did he want such information. But, as things were +going now, he began to feel that if he could hear anything averse +to the man he might thus strengthen his hands against him. On the +following day he went into the city, and called on an old friend, +a banker,--one whom he had known for nearly half a century, and of +whom, therefore, he was not afraid to ask a question. For Mr. Wharton +was a man not prone, in the ordinary intercourse of life, either to +ask or to answer questions. "You don't know anything, do you, of a +man named Ferdinand Lopez?" + +"I have heard of him. But why do you ask?" + +"Well; I have a reason for asking. I don't know that I quite wish to +say what my reason is." + +"I have heard of him as connected with Hunky's house," said the +banker,--"or rather with one of the partners in the house." + +"Is he a man of means?" + +"I imagine him to be so;--but I know nothing. He has rather large +dealings, I take it, in foreign stocks. Is he after my old friend, +Miss Wharton?" + +"Well;--yes." + +"You had better get more information than I can give you. But, of +course, before anything of that kind was done you would see that +money was settled." This was all he heard in the city, and this was +not satisfactory. He had not liked to tell his friend that he wished +to hear that the foreigner was a needy adventurer,--altogether +untrustworthy; but that had really been his desire. Then he thought +of the L60,000 which he himself destined for his girl. If the man +were to his liking there would be money enough. Though he had +been careful to save money, he was not a greedy man, even for his +children. Should his daughter insist on marrying this man he could +take care that she should never want a sufficient income. + +As a first step,--a thing to be done almost at once,--he must take +her away from London. It was now July, and the custom of the family +was that the house in Manchester Square should be left for two +months, and that the flitting should take place about the middle of +August. Mr. Wharton usually liked to postpone the flitting, as he +also liked to hasten the return. But now it was a question whether he +had not better start at once,--start somewhither, and probably for +a much longer period than the usual vacation. Should he take the +bull by the horns, and declare his purpose of living for the next +twelvemonth at--; well, it did not much matter where; Dresden, he +thought, was a long way off, and would do as well as any place. Then +it occurred to him that his cousin, Sir Alured, was in town, and +that he had better see his cousin before he came to any decision. +They were, as usual, expected at Wharton Hall this autumn, and that +arrangement could not be abandoned without explanation. + +Sir Alured Wharton was a baronet, with a handsome old family place on +the Wye in Herefordshire, whose forefathers had been baronets since +baronets were first created, and whose earlier forefathers had lived +at Wharton Hall much before that time. It may be imagined, therefore, +that Sir Alured was proud of his name, of his estate, and of his +rank. But there were drawbacks to his happiness. As regarded his +name, it was to descend to a nephew whom he specially disliked,--and +with good cause. As to his estate, delightful as it was in many +respects, it was hardly sufficient to maintain his position with that +plentiful hospitality which he would have loved;--and other property +he had none. And as to his rank, he had almost become ashamed of it, +since,--as he was wont to declare was now the case,--every prosperous +tallow-chandler throughout the country was made a baronet as a matter +of course. So he lived at home through the year with his wife and +daughters, not pretending to the luxury of a season in London for +which his modest three or four thousand a year did not suffice;--and +so living, apart from all the friction of clubs, parliaments, and +mixed society, he did veritably believe that his dear country was +going utterly to the dogs. He was so staunch in politics, that during +the doings of the last quarter of a century,--from the repeal of the +Corn Laws down to the Ballot,--he had honestly declared one side to +be as bad as the other. Thus he felt that all his happiness was to be +drawn from the past. There was nothing of joy or glory to which he +could look forward either on behalf of his country or his family. His +nephew,--and alas, his heir,--was a needy spendthrift, with whom he +would hold no communication. The family settlement for his wife and +daughters would leave them but poorly off; and though he did struggle +to save something, the duty of living as Sir Alured Wharton of +Wharton Hall should live made those struggles very ineffective. +He was a melancholy, proud, ignorant man, who could not endure a +personal liberty, and who thought the assertion of social equality +on the part of men of lower rank to amount to the taking of personal +liberty;--who read little or nothing, and thought that he knew the +history of his country because he was aware that Charles I had had +his head cut off, and that the Georges had come from Hanover. If +Charles I had never had his head cut off, and if the Georges had +never come from Hanover, the Whartons would now probably be great +people and Britain a great nation. But the Evil One had been allowed +to prevail, and everything had gone astray, and Sir Alured now had +nothing of this world to console him but a hazy retrospect of past +glories, and a delight in the beauty of his own river, his own park, +and his own house. Sir Alured, with all his foibles and with all his +faults, was a pure-minded, simple gentleman, who could not tell a +lie, who could not do a wrong, and who was earnest in his desire to +make those who were dependent on him comfortable, and, if possible, +happy. Once a year he came up to London for a week, to see his +lawyers, and get measured for a coat, and go to the dentist. These +were the excuses which he gave, but it was fancied by some that his +wig was the great moving cause. Sir Alured and Mr. Wharton were +second cousins, and close friends. Sir Alured trusted his cousin +altogether in all things, believing him to be the great legal +luminary of Great Britain, and Mr. Wharton returned his cousin's +affection, entertaining something akin to reverence for the man who +was the head of his family. He dearly loved Sir Alured,--and loved +Sir Alured's wife and two daughters. Nevertheless, the second week at +Wharton Hall became always tedious to him, and the fourth, fifth, and +sixth weeks frightful with ennui. + +Perhaps it was with some unconscious dread of this tedium that he +made a sudden suggestion to Sir Alured in reference to Dresden. Sir +Alured had come to him at his chambers, and the two old men were +sitting together near the open window. Sir Alured delighted in the +privilege of sitting there, which seemed to confer upon him something +of an insight into the inner ways of London life beyond what he could +get at his hotel or his wigmaker's. "Go to Dresden;--for the winter!" +he exclaimed. + +"Not only for the winter. We should go at once." + +"Not before you come to Wharton!" said the amazed baronet. + +Mr. Wharton replied in a low, sad voice, "In that case we should not +go down to Herefordshire at all." The baronet looked hurt as well as +unhappy. "Yes, I know what you will say, and how kind you are." + +"It isn't kindness at all. You always come. It would be breaking up +everything." + +"Everything has to be broken up sooner or later. One feels that as +one grows older." + +"You and I, Abel, are just of an age. Why should you talk to me like +this? You are strong enough, whatever I am. Why shouldn't you come? +Dresden! I never heard of such a thing. I suppose it's some nonsense +of Emily's." + +Then Mr. Wharton told his whole story. "Nonsense of Emily's!" he +began. "Yes, it is nonsense,--worse than you think. But she doesn't +want to go abroad." The father's plaint needn't be repeated to the +reader as it was told to the baronet. Though it was necessary that +he should explain himself, yet he tried to be reticent. Sir Alured +listened in silence. He loved his cousin Emily, and, knowing that she +would be rich, knowing her advantages of birth, and recognizing her +beauty, had expected that she would make a match creditable to the +Wharton family. But a Portuguese Jew! A man who had never been even +known to allude to his own father! For by degrees Mr. Wharton had +been driven to confess all the sins of the lover, though he had +endeavoured to conceal the extent of his daughter's love. + +"Do you mean that Emily--favours him?" + +"I am afraid so." + +"And would she--would she--do anything without your sanction?" He was +always thinking of the disgrace attaching to himself by reason of his +nephew's vileness, and now, if a daughter of the family should also +go astray, so as to be exiled from the bosom of the Whartons, how +manifest would it be that all the glory was departing from their +house! + +"No! She will do nothing without my sanction. She has given her +word,--which is gospel." As he spoke the old lawyer struck his hand +upon the table. + +"Then why should you run away to Dresden?" + +"Because she is unhappy. She will not marry him,--or even see him, if +I forbid it. But she is near him." + +"Herefordshire is a long way off," said the baronet, pleading. + +"Change of scene is what she should have," said the father. + +"There can't be more of a change than she'd get at Wharton. She +always did like Wharton. It was there that she met Arthur Fletcher." +The father only shook his head as Arthur Fletcher's name was +mentioned. "Well,--that is sad. I always thought she'd give way about +Arthur at last." + +"It is impossible to understand a young woman," said the lawyer. With +such an English gentleman as Arthur Fletcher on one side, and with +this Portuguese Jew on the other, it was to him Hyperion to a Satyr. +A darkness had fallen over his girl's eyes, and for a time her power +of judgment had left her. + +"But I don't see why Wharton should not do just as well as Dresden," +continued the baronet. Mr. Wharton found himself quite unable to +make his cousin understand that the greater disruption caused by +a residence abroad, the feeling that a new kind of life had been +considered necessary for her, and that she must submit to the new +kind of life, might be gradually effective, while the journeyings and +scenes which had been common to her year after year would have no +effect. Nevertheless he gave way. They could hardly start to Germany +at once, but the visit to Wharton might be accelerated; and the +details of the residence abroad might be there arranged. It was +fixed, therefore, that Mr. Wharton and Emily should go down to +Wharton Hall at any rate before the end of July. + +"Why do you go earlier than usual, papa?" Emily asked him afterwards. + +"Because I think it best," he replied angrily. She ought at any rate +to understand the reason. + +"Of course I shall be ready, papa. You know that I always like +Wharton. There is no place on earth I like so much, and this year it +will be especially pleasant to me to go out of town. But--" + +"But what?" + +"I can't bear to think that I shall be taking you away." + +"I've got to bear worse things than that, my dear." + +"Oh, papa, do not speak to me like that! Of course I know what +you mean. There is no real reason for your going. If you wish it +I will promise you that I will not see him." He only shook his +head,--meaning to imply that a promise which could go no farther +than that would not make him happy. "It will be just the same, +papa,--either here, or at Wharton, or elsewhere. You need not be +afraid of me." + +"I am not afraid of you;--but I am afraid for you. I fear for your +happiness,--and for my own." + +"So do I, papa. But what can be done? I suppose sometimes people must +be unhappy. I can't change myself, and I can't change you. I find +myself to be as much bound to Mr. Lopez as though I were his wife." + +"No, no! you shouldn't say so. You've no right to say so." + +"But I have given you a promise, and I certainly will keep it. If +we must be unhappy, still we need not,--need not quarrel; need we, +papa?" Then she came up to him and kissed him,--whereupon he went out +of the room wiping his eyes. + +That evening he again spoke to her, saying merely a word. "I think, +my dear, we'll have it fixed that we go on the 30th. Sir Alured +seemed to wish it." + +"Very well, papa;--I shall be quite ready." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A Lover's Perseverance + + +Ferdinand Lopez learned immediately through Mrs. Roby that the early +departure for Herefordshire had been fixed. "I should go to him and +speak to him very plainly," said Mrs. Roby. "He can't bite you." + +"I'm not in the least afraid of his biting me." + +"You can talk so well! I should tell him everything, especially about +money,--which I'm sure is all right." + +"Yes,--that is all right," said Lopez, smiling. + +"And about your people." + +"Which I've no doubt you think is all wrong." + +"I don't know anything about it," said Mrs. Roby, "and I don't much +care. He has old-world notions. At any rate you should say something, +so that he should not be able to complain to her that you had kept +him in the dark. If there is anything to be known, it's much better +to have it known." + +"But there is nothing to be known." + +"Then tell him nothing;--but still tell it to him. After that you +must trust to her. I don't suppose she'd go off with you." + +"I'm sure she wouldn't." + +"But she's as obstinate as a mule. She'll get the better of him +if you really mean it." He assured her that he really did mean +it, and determined that he would take her advice as to seeing, or +endeavouring to see, Mr. Wharton once again. But before doing so he +thought it to be expedient to put his house into order, so that he +might be able to make a statement of his affairs if asked to do so. +Whether they were flourishing or the reverse, it might be necessary +that he should have to speak of them,--with, at any rate, apparent +candour. + +The reader may, perhaps, remember that in the month of April +Ferdinand Lopez had managed to extract a certain signature from his +unfortunate city friend, Sexty Parker, which made that gentleman +responsible for the payment of a considerable sum of money before +the end of July. The transaction had been one of an unmixed painful +nature to Mr. Parker. As soon as he came to think of it, after Lopez +had left him, he could not prevail upon himself to forgive himself +for his folly. That he,--he, Sextus Parker,--should have been induced +by a few empty words to give his name for seven hundred and fifty +pounds without any consideration or possibility of benefit! And the +more he thought of it the more sure he was that the money was lost. +The next day he confirmed his own fears, and before a week was +gone he had written down the sum as gone. He told nobody. He did +not like to confess his folly. But he made some inquiry about his +friend,--which was absolutely futile. No one that he knew seemed to +know anything of the man's affairs. But he saw his friend from time +to time in the city, shining as only successful men do shine, and he +heard of him as one whose name was becoming known in the city. Still +he suffered grievously. His money was surely gone. A man does not fly +a kite in that fashion till things with him have reached a bad pass. + +So it was with Mr. Parker all through May and to the end of +June,--the load ever growing heavier and heavier as the time became +nearer. Then, while he was still afflicted with a heaviness of +spirits which had never left him since that fatal day, who but +Ferdinand Lopez should walk into his office, wearing the gayest smile +and with a hat splendid as hats are splendid only in the city. And +nothing could be more "jolly" than his friend's manner,--so much +so that Sexty was almost lifted up into temporary jollity himself. +Lopez, seating himself, almost at once began to describe a certain +speculation into which he was going rather deeply, and as to which +he invited his friend Parker's co-operation. He was intending, +evidently, not to ask, but to confer, a favour. + +"I rather think that steady business is best," said Parker. "I hope +it's all right about that L750." + +"Ah; yes;--I meant to have told you. I didn't want the money, as it +turned out, for much above a fortnight, and as there was no use in +letting the bill run out, I settled it." So saying he took out a +pocket-book, extracted the bill, and showed it to Sexty. Sexty's +heart fluttered in his bosom. There was his name still on the bit of +paper, and it might still be used. Having it shown to him after this +fashion in its mid career, of course he had strong ground for hope. +But he could not bring himself to put out his hand for it. "As to +what you say about steady business, of course that's very well," said +Lopez. "It depends upon whether a man wants to make a small income or +a large fortune." He still held the bill as though he were going to +fold it up again, and the importance of it was so present to Sexty's +mind that he could hardly digest the argument about the steady +business. "I own that I am not satisfied with the former," continued +Lopez, "and that I go in for the fortune." As he spoke he tore the +bill into three or four bits, apparently without thinking of it, and +let the fragments fall upon the floor. It was as though a mountain +had been taken off Sexty's bosom. He felt almost inclined to send out +for a bottle of champagne on the moment, and the arguments of his +friend rang in his ears with quite a different sound. The allurements +of a steady income paled before his eyes, and he too began to tell +himself, as he had often told himself before, that if he would only +keep his eyes open and his heart high there was no reason why he too +should not become a city millionaire. But on that occasion Lopez left +him soon, without saying very much about his favourite speculation. +In a few days, however, the same matter was brought before Sexty's +eyes from another direction. He learned from a side wind that the +house of Hunky and Sons was concerned largely in this business,--or +at any rate he thought that he had so learned. The ease with which +Lopez had destroyed that bill six weeks before it was due had had +great effect upon him. Those arguments about a large fortune or a +small income still clung to him. Lopez had come to him about the +business in the first instance, but it was now necessary that he +should go to Lopez. He was, however, very cautious. He managed to +happen to meet Lopez in the street, and introduced the subject in his +own slap-dash, aery manner,--the result of which was, that he had +gone rather deep into two or three American mines before the end of +July. But he had already made some money out of them, and, though he +would find himself sometimes trembling before he had taken his daily +allowance of port wine and brandy-and-water, still he was buoyant, +and hopeful of living in a park, with a palace at the West End, +and a seat in Parliament. Knowing also, as he did, that his friend +Lopez was intimate with the Duchess of Omnium, he had much immediate +satisfaction in the intimacy which these relations created. He was +getting in the thin edge of the wedge, and would calculate as he went +home to Ponder's End how long it must be before he could ask his +friend to propose him at some West End club. On one halcyon summer +evening Lopez had dined with him at Ponder's End, had smiled on Mrs. +Parker, and played with the hopeful little Parkers. On that occasion +Sexty had assured his wife that he regarded his friendship with +Ferdinand Lopez as the most fortunate circumstance of his life. "Do +be careful, Sexty," the poor woman had said. But Parker had simply +told her that she understood nothing about business. On that evening +Lopez had thoroughly imbued him with the conviction that if you will +only set your mind that way, it is quite as easy to amass a large +fortune as to earn a small income. + +About a week before the departure of the Whartons for Herefordshire, +Lopez, in compliance with Mrs. Roby's counsels, called at the +chambers in Stone Buildings. It is difficult to say that you will +not see a man, when the man is standing just on the other side of an +open door;--nor, in this case, was Mr. Wharton quite clear that he +had better decline to see the man. But while he was doubting,--at +any rate before he had resolved upon denying his presence,--the +man was there, inside his room. Mr. Wharton got up from his chair, +hesitated a moment, and then gave his hand to the intruder in +that half-unwilling, unsatisfactory manner which most of us have +experienced when shaking hands with some cold-blooded, ungenial +acquaintance. "Well, Mr. Lopez,--what can I do for you?" he said, as +he reseated himself. He looked as though he were at his ease and +master of the situation. He had control over himself sufficient for +assuming such a manner. But his heart was not high within his bosom. +The more he looked at the man the less he liked him. + +"There is one thing, and one thing only, you can do for me," said +Lopez. His voice was peculiarly sweet, and when he spoke his words +seemed to mean more than when they came from other mouths. But Mr. +Wharton did not like sweet voices and mellow, soft words,--at least +not from men's mouths. + +"I do not think that I can do anything for you, Mr. Lopez," he said. +There was a slight pause, during which the visitor put down his hat +and seemed to hesitate. "I think your coming here can be of no avail. +Did I not explain myself when I saw you before?" + +"But, I fear, I did not explain myself. I hardly told my story." + +"You can tell it, of course,--if you think the telling will do you +any good." + +"I was not able to say then, as I can say now, that your daughter has +accepted my love." + +"You ought not to have spoken to my daughter on the subject after +what passed between us. I told you my mind frankly." + +"Ah, Mr. Wharton, how was obedience in such a matter possible? What +would you yourself think of a man who in such a position would be +obedient? I did not seek her secretly. I did nothing underhand. +Before I had once directly asked her for her love, I came to you." + +"What's the use of that, if you go to her immediately afterwards in +manifest opposition to my wishes? You found yourself bound, as would +any gentleman, to ask a father's leave, and when it was refused, you +went on just as though it had been granted! Don't you call that a +mockery?" + +"I can say now, sir, what I could not say then. We love each other. +And I am as sure of her as I am of myself when I assert that we shall +be true to each other. You must know her well enough to be sure of +that also." + +"I am sure of nothing but of this;--that I will not give her my +consent to become your wife." + +"What is your objection, Mr. Wharton?" + +"I explained it before as far as I found myself called upon to +explain it." + +"Are we both to be sacrificed for some reason that we neither of us +understand?" + +"How dare you take upon yourself to say that she doesn't understand! +Because I refuse to be more explicit to you, a stranger, do you +suppose that I am equally silent to my own child?" + +"In regard to money and social rank I am able to place your daughter +as my wife in a position as good as she now holds as Miss Wharton." + +"I care nothing about money, Mr. Lopez, and our ideas of social rank +are perhaps different. I have nothing further to say to you, and I do +not think that you can have anything further to say to me that can be +of any avail." Then, having finished his speech, he got up from his +chair and stood upright, thereby demanding of his visitor that he +should depart. + +"I think it no more than honest, Mr. Wharton, to declare this one +thing. I regard myself as irrevocably engaged to your daughter; and +she, although she has refused to bind herself to me by that special +word, is, I am certain, as firmly fixed in her choice as I am in +mine. My happiness, as a matter of course, can be nothing to you." + +"Not much," said the lawyer, with angry impatience. + +Lopez smiled, but he put down the word in his memory and determined +that he would treasure it there. "Not much, at any rate as yet," he +said. "But her happiness must be much to you." + +"It is everything. But in thinking of her happiness I must look +beyond what might be the satisfaction of the present day. You must +excuse me, Mr. Lopez, if I say that I would rather not discuss the +matter with you any further." Then he rang the bell and passed +quickly into an inner room. When the clerk came Lopez of course +marched out of the chambers and went his way. + +Mr. Wharton had been very firm, and yet he was shaken. It was by +degrees becoming a fixed idea in his mind that the man's material +prosperity was assured. He was afraid even to allude to the subject +when talking to the man himself, lest he should be overwhelmed by +evidence on that subject. Then the man's manner, though it was +distasteful to Wharton himself, would, he well knew, recommend him +to others. He was good-looking, he lived with people who were highly +regarded, he could speak up for himself, and he was a favoured guest +at Carlton House Terrace. So great had been the fame of the Duchess +and her hospitality during the last two months, that the fact of the +man's success in this respect had come home even to Mr. Wharton. He +feared that the world would be against him, and he already began to +dread the joint opposition of the world and his own child. The world +of this day did not, he thought, care whether its daughters' husbands +had or had not any fathers or mothers. The world as it was now didn't +care whether its sons-in-law were Christian or Jewish;--whether they +had the fair skin and bold eyes and uncertain words of an English +gentleman, or the swarthy colour and false grimace and glib tongue of +some inferior Latin race. But he cared for these things;--and it was +dreadful to him to think that his daughter should not care for them. +"I suppose I had better die and leave them to look after themselves," +he said, as he returned to his arm-chair. + +Lopez himself was not altogether ill-satisfied with the interview, +not having expected that Mr. Wharton would have given way at once, +and bestowed upon him then and there the kind father-in-law's "bless +you,--bless you!" Something yet had to be done before the blessing +would come, or the girl,--or the money. He had to-day asserted his +own material success, speaking of himself as of a moneyed man,--and +the statement had been received with no contradiction,--even without +the suggestion of a doubt. He did not therefore suppose that the +difficulty was over; but he was clever enough to perceive that the +aversion to him on another score might help to tide him over that +difficulty. And if once he could call the girl his wife, he did not +doubt but that he could build himself up with the old barrister's +money. After leaving Lincoln's Inn he went at once to Berkeley +Street, and was soon closeted with Mrs. Roby. "You can get her here +before they go?" he said. + +"She wouldn't come;--and if we arranged it without letting her know +that you were to be here, she would tell her father. She hasn't a +particle of female intrigue in her." + +"So much the better," said the lover. + +"That's all very well for you to say, but when a man makes such a +tyrant of himself as Mr. Wharton is doing, a girl is bound to look +after herself. If it was me I'd go off with my young man before I'd +stand such treatment." + +"You could give her a letter." + +"She'd only show it her father. She is so perverse that I sometimes +feel inclined to say that I'll have nothing further to do with her." + +"You'll give her a message at any rate?" + +"Yes,--I can do that;--because I can do it in a way that won't seem +to make it important." + +"But I want my message to be very important. Tell her that I've seen +her father, and have offered to explain all my affairs to him,--so +that he may know that there is nothing to fear on her behalf." + +"It isn't any thought of money that is troubling him." + +"But tell her what I say. He, however, would listen to nothing. Then +I assured him that no consideration on earth would induce me to +surrender her, and that I was as sure of her as I am of myself. Tell +her that;--and tell her that I think she owes it to me to say one +word to me before she goes into the country." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +Arthur Fletcher + + +It may, I think, be a question whether the two old men acted wisely +in having Arthur Fletcher at Wharton Hall when Emily arrived there. +The story of his love for Miss Wharton, as far as it had as yet gone, +must be shortly told. He had been the second son, as he was now the +second brother, of a Herefordshire squire endowed with much larger +property than that belonging to Sir Alured. John Fletcher, Esq., of +Longbarns, some twelve miles from Wharton, was a considerable man in +Herefordshire. This present squire had married Sir Alured's eldest +daughter, and the younger brother had, almost since they were +children together, been known to be in love with Emily Wharton. All +the Fletchers and everything belonging to them were almost worshipped +at Wharton Hall. There had been marriages between the two families +certainly as far back as the time of Henry VII, and they were +accustomed to speak, if not of alliances, at any rate of friendships, +much anterior to that. As regards family, therefore, the pretensions +of a Fletcher would always be held to be good by a Wharton. But this +Fletcher was the very pearl of the Fletcher tribe. Though a younger +brother, he had a very pleasant little fortune of his own. Though +born to comfortable circumstances, he had worked so hard in his young +days as to have already made for himself a name at the bar. He was +a fair-haired, handsome fellow, with sharp, eager eyes, with an +aquiline nose, and just that shape of mouth and chin which such men +as Abel Wharton regarded as characteristic of good blood. He was +rather thin, about five feet ten in height, and had the character of +being one of the best horsemen in the county. He was one of the most +popular men in Herefordshire, and at Longbarns was almost as much +thought of as the squire himself. He certainly was not the man to be +taken, from his appearance, for a forlorn lover. He looked like one +of those happy sons of the gods who are born to success. No young +man of his age was more courted both by men and women. There was no +one who in his youth had suffered fewer troubles from those causes +of trouble which visit English young men,--occasional impecuniosity, +sternness of parents, native shyness, fear of ridicule, inability of +speech, and a general pervading sense of inferiority combined with +an ardent desire to rise to a feeling of conscious superiority. So +much had been done for him by nature that he was never called upon +to pretend to anything. Throughout the county those were the lucky +men,--and those too were the happy girls,--who were allowed to call +him Arthur. And yet this paragon was vainly in love with Emily +Wharton, who, in the way of love, would have nothing to say to him, +preferring,--as her father once said in his extremest wrath,--a +greasy Jew adventurer out of the gutter! + +And now it had been thought expedient to have him down to Wharton, +although the lawyers' regular summer vacation had not yet commenced. +But there was some excuse made for this, over and above the emergency +of his own love, in the fact that his brother John, with Mrs. +Fletcher, was also to be at the Hall,--so that there was gathered +there a great family party of the Whartons and Fletchers; for +there was present there also old Mrs. Fletcher, a magnificently +aristocratic and high-minded old lady, with snow-white hair, and lace +worth fifty guineas a yard, who was as anxious as everybody else that +her younger son should marry Emily Wharton. Something of the truth +as to Emily Wharton's L60,000 was, of course, known to the Longbarns +people. Not that I would have it inferred that they wanted their +darling to sell himself for money. The Fletchers were great people, +with great spirits, too good in every way for such baseness. But when +love, old friendship, good birth, together with every other propriety +as to age, manners, and conduct, can be joined to money, such a +combination will always be thought pleasant. + +When Arthur reached the Hall it was felt to be necessary that a word +should be said to him as to that wretched interloper, Ferdinand +Lopez. Arthur had not of late been often in Manchester Square. Though +always most cordially welcomed there by old Wharton, and treated +with every kindness by Emily Wharton short of that love which he +desired, he had during the last three or four months abstained from +frequenting the house. During the past winter, and early in the +spring, he had pressed his suit,--but had been rejected, with warmest +assurances of all friendship short of love. It had then been arranged +between him and the elder Whartons that they should all meet down at +the Hall, and there had been sympathetic expressions of hope that all +might yet be well. But at that time little or nothing had been known +of Ferdinand Lopez. + +But now the old baronet spoke to him, the father having deputed the +loathsome task to his friend,--being unwilling himself even to hint +his daughter's disgrace. "Oh, yes, I've heard of him," said Arthur +Fletcher. "I met him with Everett, and I don't think I ever took +a stronger dislike to a man. Everett seems very fond of him." The +baronet mournfully shook his head. It was sad to find that Whartons +could go so far astray. "He goes to Carlton Terrace,--to the +Duchess's," continued the young man. + +"I don't think that that is very much in his favour," said the +baronet. + +"I don't know that it is, sir;--only they try to catch all fish in +that net that are of any use." + +"Do you go there, Arthur?" + +"I should if I were asked, I suppose. I don't know who wouldn't. You +see it's a Coalition affair, so that everybody is able to feel that +he is supporting his party by going to the Duchess's." + +"I hate Coalitions," said the baronet. "I think they are +disgraceful." + +"Well;--yes; I don't know. The coach has to be driven somehow. You +mustn't stick in the mud, you know. And after all, sir, the Duke of +Omnium is a respectable man, though he is a Liberal. A Duke of Omnium +can't want to send the country to the dogs." The old man shook his +head. He did not understand much about it, but he felt convinced that +the Duke and his colleagues were sending the country to the dogs, +whatever might be their wishes. "I shan't think of politics for the +next ten years, and so I don't trouble myself about the Duchess's +parties, but I suppose I should go if I were asked." + +Sir Alured felt that he had not as yet begun even to approach the +difficult subject. "I'm glad you don't like that man," he said. + +"I don't like him at all. Tell me, Sir Alured;--why is he always +going to Manchester Square?" + +"Ah;--that is it." + +"He has been there constantly;--has he not?" + +"No;--no. I don't think that. Mr. Wharton doesn't love him a bit +better than you do. My cousin thinks him a most objectionable young +man." + +"But Emily?" + +"Ah--. That's where it is." + +"You don't mean to say she--cares about that man!" + +"He has been encouraged by that aunt of hers, who, as far as I can +make out, is a very unfit sort of person to be much with such a girl +as our dear Emily. I never saw her but once, and then I didn't like +her at all." + +"A vulgar, good-natured woman. But what can she have done? She can't +have twisted Emily round her finger." + +"I don't suppose there is very much in it, but I thought it better to +tell you. Girls take fancies into their heads,--just for a time." + +"He's a handsome fellow, too," said Arthur Fletcher, musing in his +sorrow. + +"My cousin says he's a nasty Jew-looking man." + +"He's not that, Sir Alured. He's a handsome man, with a fine +voice;--dark, and not just like an Englishman; but still I can +fancy--. That's bad news for me, Sir Alured." + +"I think she'll forget all about him down here." + +"She never forgets anything. I shall ask her, straight away. She +knows my feeling about her, and I haven't a doubt but she'll tell me. +She's too honest to be able to lie. Has he got any money?" + +"My cousin seems to think that he's rich." + +"I suppose he is. Oh, Lord! That's a blow. I wish I could have the +pleasure of shooting him as a man might a few years ago. But what +would be the good? The girl would only hate me the more after it. The +best thing to do would be to shoot myself." + +"Don't talk like that, Arthur." + +"I shan't throw up the sponge as long as there's a chance left, Sir +Alured. But it will go badly with me if I'm beat at last. I shouldn't +have thought it possible that I should have felt anything so much." +Then he pulled his hair, and thrust his hand into his waistcoat; and +turned away, so that his old friend might not see the tear in his +eye. + +His old friend also was much moved. It was dreadful to him that the +happiness of a Fletcher, and the comfort of the Whartons generally, +should be marred by a man with such a name as Ferdinand Lopez. +"She'll never marry him without her father's consent," said Sir +Alured. + +"If she means it, of course he'll consent." + +"That I'm sure he won't. He doesn't like the man a bit better than +you do." Fletcher shook his head. "And he's as fond of you as though +you were already his son." + +"What does it matter? If a girl sets her heart on marrying a man, of +course she will marry him. If he had no money it might be different. +But if he's well off, of course he'll succeed. Well--; I suppose +other men have borne the same sort of thing before and it hasn't +killed them." + +"Let us hope, my boy. I think of her quite as much as of you." + +"Yes,--we can hope. I shan't give it up. As for her, I dare say +she knows what will suit her best. I've nothing to say against the +man,--excepting that I should like to cut him into four quarters." + +"But a foreigner!" + +"Girls don't think about that,--not as you do and Mr. Wharton. And I +think they like dark, greasy men with slippery voices, who are up to +dodges and full of secrets. Well, sir, I shall go to her at once and +have it out." + +"You'll speak to my cousin?" + +"Certainly I will. He has always been one of the best friends I ever +had in my life. I know it hasn't been his fault. But what can a man +do? Girls won't marry this man or that because they're told." + +Fletcher did speak to Emily's father, and learned more from him than +had been told him by Sir Alured. Indeed he learned the whole truth. +Lopez had been twice with the father pressing his suit and had been +twice repulsed, with as absolute denial as words could convey. Emily, +however, had declared her own feeling openly, expressing her wish to +marry the odious man, promising not to do so without her father's +consent, but evidently feeling that that consent ought not to be +withheld from her. All this Mr. Wharton told very plainly, walking +with Arthur a little before dinner along a shaded, lonely path, which +for half a mile ran along the very marge of the Wye at the bottom of +the park. And then he went on to speak other words which seemed to +rob his young friend of all hope. The old man was walking slowly, +with his hands clasped behind his back and with his eyes fixed on the +path as he went;--and he spoke slowly, evidently weighing his words +as he uttered them, bringing home to his hearer a conviction that the +matter discussed was one of supreme importance to the speaker,--as to +which he had thought much, so as to be able to express his settled +resolutions. "I've told you all now, Arthur;--only this. I do not +know how long I may be able to resist this man's claim if it be +backed by Emily's entreaties. I am thinking very much about it. I do +not know that I have really been able to think of anything else for +the last two months. It is all the world to me,--what she and Everett +do with themselves; and what she may do in this matter of marriage +is of infinitely greater importance than anything that can befall +him. If he makes a mistake, it may be put right. But with a woman's +marrying--, vestigia nulla retrorsum. She has put off all her old +bonds and taken new ones, which must be her bonds for life. Feeling +this very strongly, and disliking this man greatly,--disliking him, +that is to say, in the view of this close relation,--I have felt +myself to be justified in so far opposing my child by the use of a +high hand. I have refused my sanction to the marriage both to him and +to her,--though in truth I have been hard set to find any adequate +reason for doing so. I have no right to fashion my girl's life by my +prejudices. My life has been lived. Hers is to come. In this matter I +should be cruel and unnatural were I to allow myself to be governed +by any selfish inclination. Though I were to know that she would +be lost to me for ever, I must give way,--if once brought to a +conviction that by not giving way I should sacrifice her young +happiness. In this matter, Arthur, I must not even think of you, +though I love you well. I must consider only my child's welfare;--and +in doing so I must try to sift my own feelings and my own judgment, +and ascertain, if it be possible, whether my distaste to the man is +reasonable or irrational;--whether I should serve her or sacrifice +her by obstinacy of refusal. I can speak to you more plainly than to +her. Indeed I have laid bare to you my whole heart and my whole mind. +You have all my wishes, but you will understand that I do not promise +you my continued assistance." When he had so spoken he put out his +hand and pressed his companion's arm. Then he turned slowly into a +little by-path which led across the park up to the house, and left +Arthur Fletcher standing alone by the river's bank. + +And so by degrees the blow had come full home to him. He had been +twice refused. Then rumours had reached him,--not at first that he +had a rival, but that there was a man who might possibly become so. +And now this rivalry, and its success, were declared to him plainly. +He told himself from this moment that he had not a chance. Looking +forward he could see it all. He understood the girl's character +sufficiently to be sure that she would not be wafted about, from one +lover to another, by change of scene. Taking her to Dresden,--or to +New Zealand,--would only confirm in her passion such a girl as Emily +Wharton. Nothing could shake her but the ascertained unworthiness of +the man,--and not that unless it were ascertained beneath her own +eyes. And then years must pass by before she would yield to another +lover. There was a further question, too, which he did not fail to +ask himself. Was the man necessarily unworthy because his name was +Lopez, and because he had not come of English blood? + +As he strove to think of this, if not coolly yet rationally, he sat +himself down on the river's side and began to pitch stones off the +path in among the rocks, among which at that spot the water made +its way rapidly. There had been moments in which he had been almost +ashamed of his love,--and now he did not know whether to be most +ashamed or most proud of it. But he recognised the fact that it was +crucifying him, and that it would continue to crucify him. He knew +himself in London to be a popular man,--one of those for whom, +according to general opinion, girls should sigh, rather than one who +should break his heart sighing for a girl. He had often told himself +that it was beneath his manliness to be despondent; that he should +let such a trouble run from him like water from a duck's back, +consoling himself with the reflection that if the girl had such bad +taste she could hardly be worthy of him. He had almost tried to +belong to that school which throws the heart away and rules by the +head alone. He knew that others,--perhaps not those who knew him +best, but who nevertheless were the companions of many of his +hours,--gave him the credit for such power. Why should a man afflict +himself by the inward burden of an unsatisfied craving, and allow his +heart to sink into his very feet because a girl would not smile when +he wooed her? "If she be not fair for me, what care I how fair she +be!" He had repeated the lines to himself a score of times, and had +been ashamed of himself because he could not make them come true to +himself. + +They had not come true in the least. There he was, Arthur Fletcher, +whom all the world courted, with his heart in his very boots! There +was a miserable load within him, absolutely palpable to his outward +feeling,--a very physical pain,--which he could not shake off. As he +threw the stones into the water he told himself that it must be so +with him always. Though the world did pet him, though he was liked at +his club, and courted in the hunting-field, and loved at balls and +archery meetings, and reputed by old men to be a rising star, he told +himself that he was so maimed and mutilated as to be only half a man. +He could not reason about it. Nature had afflicted him with a certain +weakness. One man has a hump;--another can hardly see out of his +imperfect eyes;--a third can barely utter a few disjointed words. +It was his fate to be constructed with some weak arrangement of the +blood-vessels which left him in this plight. "The whole damned thing +is nothing to me," he said bursting out into absolute tears, after +vainly trying to reassure himself by a recollection of the good +things which the world still had in store for him. + +Then he strove to console himself by thinking that he might take a +pride in his love even though it were so intolerable a burden to +him. Was it not something to be able to love as he loved? Was it not +something at any rate that she to whom he had condescended to stoop +was worthy of all love? But even here he could get no comfort,--being +in truth unable to see very clearly into the condition of the thing. +It was a disgrace to him,--to him within his own bosom,--that she +should have preferred to him such a one as Ferdinand Lopez, and this +disgrace he exaggerated, ignoring the fact that the girl herself +might be deficient in judgment, or led away in her love by falsehood +and counterfeit attractions. To him she was such a goddess that she +must be right,--and therefore his own inferiority to such a one as +Ferdinand Lopez was proved. He could take no pride in his rejected +love. He would rid himself of it at a moment's notice if he knew the +way. He would throw himself at the feet of some second-rate, tawdry, +well-born, well-known beauty of the day,--only that there was not now +left to him strength to pretend the feeling that would be necessary. +Then he heard steps, and jumping up from his seat, stood just in the +way of Emily Wharton and her cousin Mary. "Ain't you going to dress +for dinner, young man?" said the latter. + +"I shall have time if you have, any way," said Arthur, endeavouring +to pluck up his spirits. + +"That's nice of him;--isn't it?" said Mary. "Why, we are dressed. +What more do you want? We came out to look for you, though we didn't +mean to come as far as this. It's past seven now, and we are supposed +to dine at a quarter past." + +"Five minutes will do for me." + +"But you've got to get to the house. You needn't be in a tremendous +hurry, because papa has only just come in from haymaking. They've got +up the last load, and there has been the usual ceremony. Emily and I +have been looking at them." + +"I wish I'd been here all the time," said Emily. "I do so hate London +in July." + +"So do I," said Arthur,--"in July and all other times." + +"You hate London!" said Mary. + +"Yes,--and Herefordshire,--and other places generally. If I've got to +dress I'd better get across the park as quick as I can go," and so +he left them. Mary turned round and looked at her cousin, but at the +moment said nothing. Arthur's passion was well known to Mary Wharton, +but Mary had as yet heard nothing of Ferdinand Lopez. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Never Run Away! + + +During the whole of that evening there was a forced attempt on the +part of all the party at Wharton Hall to be merry,--which, however, +as is the case whenever such attempts are forced, was a failure. +There had been a hay-making harvest-home which was supposed to give +the special occasion for mirth, as Sir Alured farmed the land around +the park himself, and was great in hay. "I don't think it pays very +well," he said with a gentle smile, "but I like to employ some of the +people myself. I think the old people find it easier with me than +with the tenants." + +"I shouldn't wonder," said his cousin;--"but that's charity; not +employment." + +"No, no," exclaimed the baronet. "They work for their wages and do +their best. Powell sees to that." Powell was the bailiff, who knew +the length of his master's foot to a quarter of an inch, and was +quite aware that the Wharton haymakers were not to be overtasked. +"Powell doesn't keep any cats about the place, but what catch mice. +But I am not quite sure that haymaking does pay." + +"How do the tenants manage?" + +"Of course they look to things closer. You wouldn't wish me to let +the land up to the house door." + +"I think," said old Mrs. Fletcher, "that a landlord should consent +to lose a little by his own farming. It does good in the long run." +Both Mr. Wharton and Sir Alured felt that this might be very well at +Longbarns, though it could hardly be afforded at Wharton. + +"I don't think I lose much by my farming," said the squire of +Longbarns. "I have about four hundred acres on hand, and I keep my +accounts pretty regularly." + +"Johnson is a very good man, I dare say," said the baronet. + +"Like most of the others," continued the squire, "he's very well +as long as he's looked after. I think I know as much about it as +Johnson. Of course, I don't expect a farmer's profit; but I do expect +my rent, and I get it." + +"I don't think I manage it quite that way," said the baronet in a +melancholy tone. + +"I'm afraid not," said the barrister. + +"John is as hard upon the men as any one of the tenants," said John's +wife, Mrs. Fletcher of Longbarns. + +"I'm not hard at all," said John, "and you understand nothing about +it. I'm paying three shillings a week more to every man, and eighteen +pence a week more to every woman, than I did three years ago." + +"That's because of the Unions," said the barrister. + +"I don't care a straw for the Unions. If the Unions interfered with +my comfort I'd let the land and leave the place." + +"Oh, John!" ejaculated John's mother. + +"I would not consent to be made a slave even for the sake of the +country. But the wages had to be raised,--and having raised them I +expect to get proper value for my money. If anything has to be given +away, let it be given away,--so that the people should know what it +is that they receive." + +"That's just what we don't want to do here," said Lady Wharton, who +did not often join in any of these arguments. + +"You're wrong, my lady," said her stepson. "You're only breeding +idleness when you teach people to think that they are earning wages +without working for their money. Whatever you do with 'em let 'em +know and feel the truth. It'll be the best in the long run." + +"I'm sometimes happy when I think that I shan't live to see the long +run," said the baronet. This was the manner in which they tried to +be merry that evening after dinner at Wharton Hall. The two girls +sat listening to their seniors in contented silence,--listening +or perhaps thinking of their own peculiar troubles, while Arthur +Fletcher held some book in his hand which he strove to read with all +his might. + +There was not one there in the room who did not know that it was the +wish of the united families that Arthur Fletcher should marry Emily +Wharton, and also that Emily had refused him. To Arthur of course the +feeling that it was so could not but be an additional vexation; but +the knowledge had grown up and had become common in the two families +without any power on his part to prevent so disagreeable a condition +of affairs. There was not one in that room, unless it was Mary +Wharton, who was not more or less angry with Emily, thinking her +to be perverse and unreasonable. Even to Mary her cousin's strange +obstinacy was matter of surprise and sorrow,--for to her Arthur +Fletcher was one of those demigods, who should never be refused, who +are not expected to do more than express a wish and be accepted. Her +own heart had not strayed that way because she thought but little of +herself, knowing herself to be portionless, and believing from long +thought on the subject that it was not her destiny to be the wife of +any man. She regarded Arthur Fletcher as being of all men the most +lovable,--though, knowing her own condition, she did not dream of +loving him. It did not become her to be angry with another girl on +such a cause;--but she was amazed that Arthur Fletcher should sigh in +vain. + +The girl's folly and perverseness on this head were known to them +all,--but as yet her greater folly and worse perverseness, her +vitiated taste and dreadful partiality for the Portuguese adventurer, +were known but to the two old men and to poor Arthur himself. When +that sternly magnificent old lady, Mrs. Fletcher,--whose ancestors +had been Welsh kings in the time of the Romans,--when she should hear +this story, the roof of the old hall would hardly be able to hold her +wrath and her dismay! The old kings had died away, but the Fletchers, +and the Vaughans,--of whom she had been one,--and the Whartons +remained, a peculiar people in an age that was then surrendering +itself to quick perdition, and with peculiar duties. Among these +duties, the chiefest of them incumbent on females was that of so +restraining their affections that they should never damage the good +cause by leaving it. They might marry within the pale,--or remain +single, as might be their lot. She would not take upon herself to +say that Emily Wharton was bound to accept Arthur Fletcher, merely +because such a marriage was fitting,--although she did think that +there was much perverseness in the girl, who might have taught +herself, had she not been stubborn, to comply with the wishes of the +families. But to love one below herself, a man without a father, a +foreigner, a black Portuguese nameless Jew, merely because he had a +bright eye, and a hook nose, and a glib tongue,--that a girl from the +Whartons should do this--! It was so unnatural to Mrs. Fletcher that +it would be hardly possible to her to be civil to the girl after she +had heard that her mind and taste were so astray. All this Sir Alured +knew and the barrister knew it,--and they feared her indignation the +more because they sympathised with the old lady's feelings. + +"Emily Wharton doesn't seem to me to be a bit more gracious than she +used to be," Mrs. Fletcher said to Lady Wharton that night. The two +old ladies were sitting together upstairs, and Mrs. John Fletcher was +with them. In such conferences Mrs. Fletcher always domineered,--to +the perfect contentment of old Lady Wharton, but not equally so to +that of her daughter-in-law. + +"I'm afraid she is not very happy," said Lady Wharton. + +"She has everything that ought to make a girl happy, and I don't +know what it is she wants. It makes me quite angry to see her so +discontented. She doesn't say a word, but sits there as glum as +death. If I were Arthur I would leave her for six months, and never +speak to her during the time." + +"I suppose, mother," said the younger Mrs. Fletcher,--who called her +husband's mother, mother, and her own mother, mamma,--"a girl needn't +marry a man unless she likes him." + +"But she should try to like him if it is suitable in other respects. +I don't mean to take any trouble about it. Arthur needn't beg for any +favour. Only I wouldn't have come here if I had thought that she had +intended to sit silent like that always." + +"It makes her unhappy, I suppose," said Lady Wharton, "because she +can't do what we all want." + +"Fall, lall! She'd have wanted it herself if nobody else had wished +it. I'm surprised that Arthur should be so much taken with her." + +"You'd better say nothing more about it, mother." + +"I don't mean to say anything more about it. It's nothing to me. +Arthur can do very well in the world without Emily Wharton. Only a +girl like that will sometimes make a disgraceful match; and we should +all feel that." + +"I don't think Emily will do anything disgraceful," said Lady +Wharton. And so they parted. + +In the meantime the two brothers were smoking their pipes in the +housekeeper's room, which, at Wharton, when the Fletchers or Everett +were there, was freely used for that purpose. + +"Isn't it rather quaint of you," said the elder brother, "coming down +here in the middle of term time?" + +"It doesn't matter much." + +"I should have thought it would matter;--that is, if you mean to go +on with it." + +"I'm not going to make a slave of myself about it, if you mean that. +I don't suppose I shall ever marry,--and as for rising to be a swell +in the profession, I don't care about it." + +"You used to care about it,--very much. You used to say that if you +didn't get to the top it shouldn't be your own fault." + +"And I have worked;--and I do work. But things get changed somehow. +I've half a mind to give it all up,--to raise a lot of money, and +to start off with a resolution to see every corner of the world. I +suppose a man could do it in about thirty years if he lived so long. +It's the kind of thing would suit me." + +"Exactly. I don't know any fellow who has been more into society, +and therefore you are exactly the man to live alone for the rest of +your life. You've always worked hard, I will say that for you;--and +therefore you're just the man to be contented with idleness. You've +always been ambitious and self-confident, and therefore it will +suit you to a T, to be nobody and to do nothing." Arthur sat +silent, smoking his pipe with all his might, and his brother +continued,--"Besides,--you read sometimes, I fancy." + +"I should read all the more." + +"Very likely. But what you have read, in the old plays, for instance, +must have taught you that when a man is cut up about a woman,--which +I suppose is your case just at present,--he never does get over +it. He never gets all right after a time,--does he? Such a one +had better go and turn monk at once, as the world is over for him +altogether;--isn't it? Men don't recover after a month or two, and go +on just the same. You've never seen that kind of thing yourself?" + +"I'm not going to cut my throat or turn monk either." + +"No. There are so many steamboats and railways now that travelling +seems easier. Suppose you go as far as St. Petersburg, and see if +that does you any good. If it don't, you needn't go on, because it +will be hopeless. If it does,--why, you can come back, because the +second journey will do the rest." + +"There never was anything, John, that wasn't matter for chaff with +you." + +"And I hope there never will be. People understand it when logic +would be thrown away. I suppose the truth is the girl cares for +somebody else." Arthur nodded his head. "Who is it? Any one I know?" + +"I think not." + +"Any one you know?" + +"I have met the man." + +"Decent?" + +"Disgustingly indecent, I should say." John looked very black, for +even with him the feeling about the Whartons and the Vaughans and the +Fletchers was very strong. "He's a man I should say you wouldn't let +into Longbarns." + +"There might be various reasons for that. It might be that you +wouldn't care to meet him." + +"Well;--no,--I don't suppose I should. But without that you wouldn't +like him. I don't think he's an Englishman." + +"A foreigner!" + +"He has got a foreign name." + +"An Italian nobleman?" + +"I don't think he's noble in any country." + +"Who the d---- is he?" + +"His name is--Lopez." + +"Everett's friend?" + +"Yes;--Everett's friend. I ain't very much obliged to Master Everett +for what he has done." + +"I've seen the man. Indeed, I may say I know him,--for I dined with +him once in Manchester Square. Old Wharton himself must have asked +him there." + +"He was there as Everett's friend. I only heard all this to-day, you +know;--though I had heard about it before." + +"And therefore you want to set out on your travels. As far as I saw I +should say he is a clever fellow." + +"I don't doubt that." + +"And a gentleman." + +"I don't know that he is not," said Arthur. "I've no right to say a +word against him. From what Wharton says I suppose he's rich." + +"He's good looking too;--at least he's the sort of man that women +like to look at." + +"Just so. I've no cause of quarrel with him,--nor with her. But--." + +"Yes, my friend, I see it all," said the elder brother. "I think +I know all about it. But running away is not the thing. One may +be pretty nearly sure that one is right when one says that a man +shouldn't run away from anything." + +"The thing is to be happy if you can," said Arthur. + +"No;--that is not the thing. I'm not much of a philosopher, but as +far as I can see there are two philosophies in the world. The one +is to make one's self happy, and the other is to make other people +happy. The latter answers the best." + +"I can't add to her happiness by hanging about London." + +"That's a quibble. It isn't her happiness we are talking about,--nor +yet your hanging about London. Gird yourself up and go on with what +you've got to do. Put your work before your feelings. What does a +poor man do, who goes out hedging and ditching with a dead child +lying in his house? If you get a blow in the face, return it if it +ought to be returned, but never complain of the pain. If you must +have your vitals eaten into,--have them eaten into like a man. But, +mind you,--these ain't your vitals." + +"It goes pretty near." + +"These ain't your vitals. A man gets cured of it,--almost always. I +believe always; though some men get hit so hard they can never bring +themselves to try it again. But tell me this. Has old Wharton given +his consent?" + +"No. He has refused," said Arthur with strong emphasis. + +"How is it to be, then?" + +"He has dealt very fairly by me. He has done all he could to get rid +of the man,--both with him and with her. He has told Emily that he +will have nothing to do with the man. And she will do nothing without +his sanction." + +"Then it will remain just as it is." + +"No, John; it will not. He has gone on to say that though he has +refused,--and has refused roughly enough,--he must give way if he +sees that she has really set her heart upon him. And she has." + +"Has she told you so?" + +"No;--but he has told me. I shall have it out with her to-morrow, if +I can. And then I shall be off." + +"You'll be here for shooting on the 1st?" + +"No. I dare say you're right in what you say about sticking to my +work. It does seem unmanly to run away because of a girl." + +"Because of anything! Stop and face it, whatever it is." + +"Just so;--but I can't stop and face her. It would do no good. For +all our sakes I should be better away. I can get shooting with +Musgrave and Carnegie in Perthshire. I dare say I shall go there, and +take a share with them." + +"That's better than going into all the quarters of the globe." + +"I didn't mean that I was to surrender and start at once. You take a +fellow up so short. I shall do very well, I've no doubt, and shall +be hunting here as jolly as ever at Christmas. But a fellow must say +it all to somebody." The elder brother put his hand out and laid it +affectionately upon the younger one's arm. "I'm not going to whimper +about the world like a whipped dog. The worst of it is so many people +have known of this." + +"You mean down here." + +"Oh;--everywhere. I have never told them. It has been a kind of +family affair and thought to be fit for general discussions." + +"That'll wear away." + +"In the meantime it's a bore. But that shall be the end of it. Don't +you say another word to me about it, and I won't to you. And tell +mother not to, or Sarah." Sarah was John Fletcher's wife. "It has +got to be dropped, and let us drop it as quickly as we can. If she +does marry this man I don't suppose she'll be much at Longbarns or +Wharton." + +"Not at Longbarns certainly, I should say," replied John. "Fancy +mother having to curtsey to her as Mrs. Lopez! And I doubt whether +Sir Alured would like him. He isn't of our sort. He's too clever, +too cosmopolitan,--a sort of man white-washed of all prejudices, who +wouldn't mind whether he ate horseflesh or beef if horseflesh were as +good as beef, and never had an association in his life. I'm not sure +that he's not on the safest side. Good night, old fellow. Pluck up, +and send us plenty of grouse if you do go to Scotland." + +John Fletcher, as I hope may have been already seen, was by no +means a weak man or an indifferent brother. He was warm-hearted, +sharp-witted, and, though perhaps a little self-opinionated, +considered throughout the county to be one of the most prudent in +it. Indeed no one ever ventured to doubt his wisdom on all practical +matters,--save his mother, who seeing him almost every day, had a +stronger bias towards her younger son. "Arthur has been hit hard +about that girl," he said to his wife that night. + +"Emily Wharton?" + +"Yes;--your cousin Emily. Don't say anything to him, but be as good +to him as you know how." + +"Good to Arthur! Am I not always good to him?" + +"Be a little more than usually tender with him. It makes one almost +cry to see such a fellow hurt like that. I can understand it, though +I never had anything of it myself." + +"You never had, John," said the wife leaning close upon the husband's +breast as she spoke. "It all came very easily to you;--too easily +perhaps." + +"If any girl had ever refused me, I should have taken her at her +word, I can tell you. There would have been no second 'hop' to that +ball." + +"Then I suppose I was right to catch it the first time?" + +"I don't say how that may be." + +"I was right. Oh, dear me!--Suppose I had doubted, just for once, and +you had gone off. You would have tried once more;--wouldn't you?" + +"You'd have gone about like a broken-winged old hen, and have +softened me that way." + +"And now poor Arthur has had his wing broken." + +"You mustn't let on to know that it's broken, and the wing will be +healed in due time. But what fools girls are!" + +"Indeed they are, John;--particularly me." + +"Fancy a girl like Emily Wharton," said he, not condescending to +notice her little joke, "throwing over a fellow like Arthur for a +greasy, black foreigner." + +"A foreigner!" + +"Yes;--a man named Lopez. Don't say anything about it at present. +Won't she live to find out the difference, and to know what she has +done! I can tell her of one that won't pity her." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +Good-Bye + + +Arthur Fletcher received his brother's teaching as true, and took +his brother's advice in good part;--so that, before the morning +following, he had resolved that however deep the wound might be, he +would so live before the world, that the world should not see his +wound. What people already knew they must know,--but they should +learn nothing further either by words or signs from him. He would, +as he had said to his brother, "have it out with Emily"; and then, +if she told him plainly that she loved the man, he would bid her +adieu, simply expressing regret that their course for life should be +divided. He was confident that she would tell him the entire truth. +She would be restrained neither by false modesty, nor by any assumed +unwillingness to discuss her own affairs with a friend so true to +her as he had been. He knew her well enough to be sure that she +recognised the value of his love though she could not bring herself +to accept it. There are rejected lovers who, merely because they are +lovers, become subject to the scorn and even to the disgust of the +girls they love. But again there are men who, even when they are +rejected, are almost loved, who are considered to be worthy of all +reverence, almost of worship;--and yet the worshippers will not love +them. Not analysing all this, but somewhat conscious of the light in +which this girl regarded him, he knew that what he might say would be +treated with deference. As to shaking her,--as to talking her out of +one purpose and into another,--that to him did not for a moment seem +to be practicable. There was no hope of that. He hardly knew why he +should endeavour to say a word to her before he left Wharton. And yet +he felt that it must be said. Were he to allow her to be married to +this man, without any further previous word between them, it would +appear that he had resolved to quarrel with her for ever. But now, at +this very moment of time, as he lay in his bed, as he dressed himself +in the morning, as he sauntered about among the new hay-stacks with +his pipe in his mouth after breakfast, he came to some conclusion in +his mind very much averse to such quarrelling. + +He had loved her with all his heart. It had not been a mere +drawing-room love begotten between a couple of waltzes, and fostered +by five minutes in a crush. He knew himself to be a man of the world, +and he did not wish to be other than he was. He could talk among men +as men talked, and act as men acted;--and he could do the same with +women. But there was one person who had been to him above all, and +round everything, and under everything. There had been a private nook +within him into which there had been no entrance but for the one +image. There had been a holy of holies, which he had guarded within +himself, keeping it free from all outer contamination for his own +use. He had cherished the idea of a clear fountain of ever-running +water which would at last be his, always ready for the comfort of his +own lips. Now all his hope was shattered, his trust was gone, and his +longing disappointed. But the person was the same person, though she +could not be his. The nook was there, though she would not fill it. +The holy of holies was not less holy, though he himself might not +dare to lift the curtain. The fountain would still run,--still the +clearest fountain of all,--though he might not put his lips to it. He +would never allow himself to think of it with lessened reverence, or +with changed ideas as to her nature. + +And then, as he stood leaning against a ladder which still kept +its place against one of the hay-ricks, and filled his second pipe +unconsciously, he had to realise to himself the probable condition of +his future life. Of course she would marry this man with very little +further delay. Her father had already declared himself to be too +weak to interfere much longer with her wishes. Of course Mr. Wharton +would give way. He had himself declared that he would give way. And +then,--what sort of life would be her life? No one knew anything +about the man. There was an idea that he was rich,--but wealth such +as his, wealth that is subject to speculation, will fly away at a +moment's notice. He might be cruel, a mere adventurer, or a thorough +ruffian for all that was known of him. There should, thought Arthur +Fletcher to himself, be more stability in the giving and taking +of wives than could be reckoned upon here. He became old in that +half-hour, taking home to himself and appreciating many saws of +wisdom and finger-directions of experience which hitherto had been +to him matters almost of ridicule. But he could only come to this +conclusion,--that as she was still to be to him his holy of holies +though he might not lay his hand upon the altar, his fountain though +he might not drink of it, the one image which alone could have filled +that nook, he would not cease to regard her happiness when she should +have become the wife of this stranger. With the stranger himself he +never could be on friendly terms;--but for the stranger's wife there +should always be a friend, if the friend were needed. + +About an hour before lunch, John Fletcher, who had been hanging about +the house all the morning in a manner very unusual to him, caught +Emily Wharton as she was passing through the hall, and told her that +Arthur was in a certain part of the grounds and wished to speak to +her. "Alone?" she asked. "Yes, certainly alone." "Ought I to go to +him, John?" she asked again. "Certainly I think you ought." Then he +had done his commission and was able to apply himself to whatever +business he had on hand. + +Emily at once put on her hat, took her parasol, and left the house. +There was something distasteful to her in the idea of this going out +at a lover's bidding, to meet him; but like all Whartons and all +Fletchers, she trusted John Fletcher. And then she was aware that +there were circumstances which might make such a meeting as this +serviceable. She knew nothing of what had taken place during the last +four-and-twenty hours. She had no idea that in consequence of words +spoken to him by her father and his brother, Arthur Fletcher was +about to abandon his suit. There would have been no doubt about her +going to meet him had she thought this. She supposed that she would +have to hear again the old story. If so, she would hear it, and +would then have an opportunity of telling him that her heart had +been given entirely to another. She knew all that she owed to him. +After a fashion she did love him. He was entitled to all kindest +consideration from her hands. But he should be told the truth. + +As she entered the shrubbery he came out to meet her, giving her his +hand with a frank, easy air and a pleasant smile. His smile was as +bright as the ripple of the sea, and his eye would then gleam, and +the slightest sparkle of his white teeth would be seen between his +lips, and the dimple of his chin would show itself deeper than at +other times. "It is very good of you. I thought you'd come. John +asked you, I suppose." + +"Yes;--he told me you were here, and he said I ought to come." + +"I don't know about ought, but I think it better. Will you mind +walking on, as I've got something that I want to say?" Then he turned +and she turned with him into the little wood. "I'm not going to +bother you any more, my darling," he said. "You are still my darling, +though I will not call you so after this." Her heart sank almost in +her bosom as she heard this,--though it was exactly what she would +have wished to hear. But now there must be some close understanding +between them and some tenderness. She knew how much she had owed him, +how good he had been to her, how true had been his love; and she felt +that words would fail her to say that which ought to be said. "So you +have given yourself to--one Ferdinand Lopez!" + +"Yes," she said, in a hard, dry voice. "Yes; I have. I do not know +who told you; but I have." + +"Your father told me. It was better,--was it not?--that I should +know. You are not sorry that I should know?" + +"It is better." + +"I am not going to say a word against him." + +"No;--do not do that." + +"Nor against you. I am simply here now to let you know that--I +retire." + +"You will not quarrel with me, Arthur?" + +"Quarrel with you! I could not quarrel with you, if I would. +No;--there shall be no quarrel. But I do not suppose we shall see +each other very often." + +"I hope we may." + +"Sometimes, perhaps. A man should not, I think, affect to be friends +with a successful rival. I dare say he is an excellent fellow, but +how is it possible that he and I should get on together? But you will +always have one,--one besides him,--who will love you best in this +world." + +"No;--no;--no." + +"It must be so. There will be nothing wrong in that. Every one has +some dearest friend, and you will always be mine. If anything of evil +should ever happen to you,--which of course there won't,--there would +be some one who would--. But I don't want to talk buncum; I only want +you to believe me. Good-bye, and God bless you." Then he put out his +right hand, holding his hat under his left arm. + +"You are not going away?" + +"To-morrow, perhaps. But I will say my real good-bye to you here, +now, to-day. I hope you may be happy. I hope it with all my heart. +Good-bye. God bless you!" + +"Oh, Arthur!" Then she put her hand in his. + +"Oh, I have loved you so dearly. It has been with my whole heart. You +have never quite understood me, but it has been as true as heaven. I +have thought sometimes that had I been a little less earnest about +it, I should have been a little less stupid. A man shouldn't let it +get the better of him, as I have done. Say good-bye to me, Emily." + +"Good-bye," she said, still leaving her hand in his. + +"I suppose that's about all. Don't let them quarrel with you here +if you can help it. Of course at Longbarns they won't like it for +a time. Oh,--if it could have been different!" Then he dropped her +hand, and turning his back quickly upon her, went away along the +path. + +She had expected and had almost wished that he should kiss her. A +girl's cheek is never so holy to herself as it is to her lover,--if +he do love her. There would have been something of reconciliation, +something of a promise of future kindness in a kiss, which even +Ferdinand would not have grudged. It would, for her, have robbed +the parting of that bitterness of pain which his words had given to +it. As to all that, he had made no calculation; but the bitterness +was there for him, and he could have done nothing that would have +expelled it. + +She wept bitterly as she returned to the house. There might have been +cause for joy. It was clear enough that her father, though he had +shown no sign to her of yielding, was nevertheless prepared to yield. +It was her father who had caused Arthur Fletcher to take himself off, +as a lover really dismissed. But, at this moment, she could not bring +herself to look at that aspect of the affair. Her mind would revert +to all those choicest moments in her early years in which she had +been happy with Arthur Fletcher; in which she had first learned to +love him, and had then taught herself to understand by some confused +and perplexed lesson that she did not love him as men and women love. +But why should she not so have loved him? Would she not have done so +could she then have understood how true and firm he was? And then, +independently of herself, throwing herself aside for the time as +she was bound to do when thinking of one so good to her as Arthur +Fletcher, she found that no personal joy could drown the grief which +she shared with him. For a moment the idea of a comparison between +the two men forced itself upon her,--but she drove it from her as she +hurried back to the house. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +The Duke of Omnium Thinks of Himself + + +The blaze made by the Duchess of Omnium during the three months of +the season up in London had been very great, but it was little in +comparison with the social coruscation expected to be achieved at +Gatherum Castle,--little at least as far as public report went, and +the general opinion of the day. No doubt the house in Carlton Gardens +had been thrown open as the house of no Prime Minister, perhaps of no +duke, had been opened before in this country; but it had been done by +degrees, and had not been accompanied by such a blowing of trumpets +as was sounded with reference to the entertainments at Gatherum. +I would not have it supposed that the trumpets were blown by the +direct order of the Duchess. The trumpets were blown by the customary +trumpeters as it became known that great things were to be done,--all +newspapers and very many tongues lending their assistance, till the +sounds of the instruments almost frightened the Duchess herself. +"Isn't it odd," she said to her friend, Mrs. Finn, "that one can't +have a few friends down in the country without such a fuss about it +as the people are making?" Mrs. Finn did not think that it was odd, +and so she said. Thousands of pounds were being spent in a very +conspicuous way. Invitations to the place even for a couple of +days,--for twenty-four hours,--had been begged for abjectly. It +was understood everywhere that the Prime Minister was bidding for +greatness and popularity. Of course the trumpets were blown very +loudly. "If people don't take care," said the Duchess, "I'll put +everybody off and have the whole place shut up. I'd do it for +sixpence, now." + +Perhaps of all the persons, much or little concerned, the one who +heard the least of the trumpets,--or rather who was the last to hear +them,--was the Duke himself. He could not fail to see something in +the newspapers, but what he did see did not attract him so frequently +or so strongly as it did others. It was a pity, he thought, that +a man's social and private life should be made subject to so many +remarks, but this misfortune was one of those to which wealth and +rank are liable. He had long recognised that fact, and for a time +endeavoured to believe that his intended sojourn at Gatherum Castle +was not more public than are the autumn doings of other dukes and +other prime ministers. But gradually the trumpets did reach even his +ears. Blind as he was to many things himself, he always had near to +him that other duke who was never blind to anything. "You are going +to do great things at Gatherum this year," said the Duke. + +"Nothing particular, I hope," said the Prime Minister, with an inward +trepidation,--for gradually there had crept upon him a fear that his +wife was making a mistake. + +"I thought it was going to be very particular." + +"It's Glencora's doing." + +"I don't doubt but that her Grace is right. Don't suppose that I am +criticizing your hospitality. We are to be at Gatherum ourselves +about the end of the month. It will be the first time I shall have +seen the place since your uncle's time." + +The Prime Minister at this moment was sitting in his own particular +room at the Treasury Chambers, and before the entrance of his friend +had been conscientiously endeavouring to define for himself, not a +future policy, but the past policy of the last month or two. It had +not been for him a very happy occupation. He had become the Head of +the Government,--and had not failed, for there he was, still the +Head of the Government, with a majority at his back, and the six +months' vacation before him. They who were entitled to speak to him +confidentially as to his position, were almost vehement in declaring +his success. Mr. Rattler, about a week ago, had not seen any reason +why the Ministry should not endure at least for the next four years. +Mr. Roby, from the other side, was equally confident. But, on looking +back at what he had done, and indeed on looking forward into his +future intentions, he could not see why he, of all men, should be +Prime Minister. He had once been Chancellor of the Exchequer, filling +that office through two halcyon Sessions, and he had known the reason +why he had held it. He had ventured to assure himself at the time +that he was the best man whom his party could then have found for +that office, and he had been satisfied. But he had none of that +satisfaction now. There were men under him who were really at +work. The Lord Chancellor had legal reforms on foot. Mr. Monk +was busy, heart and soul, in regard to income tax and brewers' +licences,--making our poor Prime Minister's mouth water. Lord +Drummond was active among the colonies. Phineas Finn had at any rate +his ideas about Ireland. But with the Prime Minister,--so at least +the Duke told himself,--it was all a blank. The policy confided +to him and expected at his hands was that of keeping together a +Coalition Ministry. That was a task that did not satisfy him. And +now, gradually,--very slowly indeed at first, but still with a +sure step,--there was creeping upon him the idea that his power of +cohesion was sought for, and perhaps found, not in his political +capacity, but in his rank and wealth. It might, in fact, be the +case that it was his wife the Duchess,--that Lady Glencora of whose +wild impulses and general impracticability he had always been in +dread,--that she with her dinner parties and receptions, with her +crowded saloons, her music, her picnics, and social temptations, was +Prime Minister rather than he himself. It might be that this had been +understood by the coalesced parties,--by everybody, in fact, except +himself. It had, perhaps, been found that in the state of things +then existing, a ministry could be best kept together, not by +parliamentary capacity, but by social arrangements, such as his +Duchess, and his Duchess alone, could carry out. She and she only +would have the spirit and the money and the sort of cleverness +required. In such a state of things he of course, as her husband, +must be the nominal Prime Minister. + +There was no anger in his bosom as he thought of this. It would +be hardly just to say that there was jealousy. His nature was +essentially free from jealousy. But there was shame,--and +self-accusation at having accepted so great an office with so little +fixed purpose as to great work. It might be his duty to subordinate +even his pride to the service of his country, and to consent to be +a faineant minister, a gilded Treasury log, because by remaining in +that position he would enable the Government to be carried on. But +how base the position, how mean, how repugnant to that grand idea of +public work which had hitherto been the motive power of all his life! +How would he continue to live if this thing were to go on from year +to year,--he pretending to govern while others governed,--stalking +about from one public hall to another in a blue ribbon, taking the +highest place at all tables, receiving mock reverence, and known to +all men as faineant First Lord of the Treasury? Now, as he had been +thinking of all this, the most trusted of his friends had come to +him, and had at once alluded to the very circumstances which had been +pressing so heavily on his mind. "I was delighted," continued the +elder Duke, "when I heard that you had determined to go to Gatherum +Castle this year." + +"If a man has a big house I suppose he ought to live in it, +sometimes." + +"Certainly. It was for such purposes as this now intended that your +uncle built it. He never became a public man, and therefore, though +he went there, every year I believe, he never really used it." + +"He hated it,--in his heart. And so do I. And so does Glencora. I +don't see why any man should have his private life interrupted by +being made to keep a huge caravansary open for persons he doesn't +care a straw about." + +"You would not like to live alone." + +"Alone,--with my wife and children,--I would certainly, during a +portion of the year at least." + +"I doubt whether such a life, even for a month, even for a week, is +compatible with your duties. You would hardly find it possible. Could +you do without your private secretaries? Would you know enough of +what is going on, if you did not discuss matters with others? A man +cannot be both private and public at the same time." + +"And therefore one has to be chopped up, like 'a reed out of the +river,' as the poet said, 'and yet not give sweet music afterwards.'" +The Duke of St. Bungay said nothing in answer to this, as he did not +understand the chopping of the reed. "I'm afraid I've been wrong +about this collection of people down at Gatherum," continued the +younger Duke. "Glencora is impulsive, and has overdone the thing. +Just look at that." And he handed a letter to his friend. The old +Duke put on his spectacles and read the letter through,--which ran as +follows: + + + Private. + + MY LORD DUKE,-- + + I do not doubt but that your Grace is aware of my position + in regard to the public press of the country, and I beg to + assure your Grace that my present proposition is made, not + on account of the great honour and pleasure which would be + conferred upon myself should your Grace accede to it, but + because I feel assured that I might so be best enabled to + discharge an important duty for the benefit of the public + generally. + + Your Grace is about to receive the whole fashionable world + of England and many distinguished foreign ambassadors at + your ancestral halls, not solely for social delight,--for + a man in your Grace's high position is not able to think + only of a pleasant life,--but in order that the prestige + of your combined Ministry may be so best maintained. That + your Grace is thereby doing a duty to your country no man + who understands the country can doubt. But it must be the + case that the country at large should interest itself in + your festivities, and should demand to have accounts of + the gala doings of your ducal palace. Your Grace will + probably agree with me that these records could be better + given by one empowered by yourself to give them, by one + who had been present, and who would write in your Grace's + interest, than by some interloper who would receive his + tale only at second hand. + + It is my purport now to inform your Grace that should + I be honoured by an invitation to your Grace's party at + Gatherum, I should obey such a call with the greatest + alacrity, and would devote my pen and the public organ + which is at my disposal to your Grace's service with the + readiest good-will. + + I have the honour to be, + My Lord Duke, + Your Grace's most obedient + And very humble servant, + + QUINTUS SLIDE. + + +The old Duke, when he had read the letter, laughed heartily. "Isn't +that a terribly bad sign of the times?" said the younger. + +"Well;--hardly that, I think. The man is both a fool and a +blackguard; but I don't think we are therefore to suppose that there +are many fools and blackguards like him. I wonder what he really has +wanted." + +"He has wanted me to ask him to Gatherum." + +"He can hardly have expected that. I don't think he can have been +such a fool. He may have thought that there was a possible off +chance, and that he would not lose even that for want of asking. Of +course you won't notice it." + +"I have asked Warburton to write to him, saying that he cannot be +received at my house. I have all letters answered unless they seem to +have come from insane persons. Would it not shock you if your private +arrangements were invaded in that way?" + +"He can't invade you." + +"Yes he can. He does. That is an invasion. And whether he is there +or not, he can and will write about my house. And though no one +else will make himself such a fool as he has done by his letter, +nevertheless even that is a sign of what others are doing. +You yourself were saying just now that we were going to do +something,--something particular, you said." + +"It was your word, and I echoed it. I suppose you are going to have a +great many people?" + +"I am afraid Glencora has overdone it. I don't know why I should +trouble you by saying so, but it makes me uneasy." + +"I can't see why." + +"I fear she has got some idea into her head of astounding the world +by display." + +"I think she has got an idea of conquering the world by graciousness +and hospitality." + +"It is as bad. It is, indeed, the same thing. Why should she want to +conquer what we call the world? She ought to want to entertain my +friends because they are my friends; and if from my public position +I have more so-called friends than would trouble me in a happier +condition of private life, why, then, she must entertain more people. +There should be nothing beyond that. The idea of conquering people, +as you call it, by feeding them, is to me abominable. If it goes on +it will drive me mad. I shall have to give up everything, because +I cannot bear the burden." This he said with more excitement, with +stronger passion, than his friend had ever seen in him before; so +much so that the old Duke was frightened. "I ought never to have been +where I am," said the Prime Minister, getting up from his chair and +walking about the room. + +"Allow me to assure you that in that you are decidedly mistaken," +said his Grace of St. Bungay. + +"I cannot make even you see the inside of my heart in such a matter +as this," said his Grace of Omnium. + +"I think I do. It may be that in saying so I claim for myself greater +power than I possess, but I think I do. But let your heart say what +it may on the subject, I am sure of this,--that when the Sovereign, +by the advice of two outgoing Ministers, and with the unequivocally +expressed assent of the House of Commons, calls on a man to serve her +and the country, that man cannot be justified in refusing, merely by +doubts about his own fitness. If your health is failing you, you may +know it, and say so. Or it may be that your honour,--your faith to +others,--should forbid you to accept the position. But of your own +general fitness you must take the verdict given by such general +consent. They have seen clearer than you have done what is required, +and know better than you can know how that which is wanted is to be +secured." + +"If I am to be here and do nothing, must I remain?" + +"A man cannot keep together the Government of a country and do +nothing. Do not trouble yourself about this crowd at Gatherum. The +Duchess, easily, almost without exertion, will do that which to you, +or to me either, would be impossible. Let her have her way, and take +no notice of the Quintus Slides." The Prime Minister smiled, as +though this repeated allusion to Mr. Slide's letter had brought +back his good humour, and said nothing further then as to his +difficulties. There were a few words to be spoken as to some +future Cabinet meeting, something perhaps to be settled as to some +man's work or position, a hint to be given, and a lesson to be +learned,--for of these inner Cabinet Councils between these two +statesmen there was frequent use; and then the Duke of St. Bungay +took his leave. + +Our Duke, as soon as his friend had left him, rang for his private +secretary, and went to work diligently, as though nothing had +disturbed him. I do not know that his labours on that occasion +were of a very high order. Unless there be some special effort of +lawmaking before the country, some reform bill to be passed, some +attempt at education to be made, some fetters to be forged or to +be relaxed, a Prime Minister is not driven hard by the work of his +portfolio,--as are his colleagues. But many men were in want of many +things, and contrived by many means to make their wants known to the +Prime Minister. A dean would fain be a bishop, or a judge a chief +justice, or a commissioner a chairman, or a secretary a commissioner. +Knights would fain be baronets, baronets barons, and barons earls. +In one guise or another the wants of gentlemen were made known, and +there was work to be done. A ribbon cannot be given away without +breaking the hearts of, perhaps, three gentlemen and of their wives +and daughters. And then he went down to the House of Lords,--for the +last time this Session as far as work was concerned. On the morrow +legislative work would be over, and the gentlemen of Parliament would +be sent to their country houses, and to their pleasant country joys. + +It had been arranged that on the day after the prorogation of +Parliament the Duchess of Omnium should go down to Gatherum to +prepare for the coming of the people, which was to commence about +three days later, taking her ministers, Mrs. Finn and Locock, with +her; and that her husband with his private secretaries and dispatch +boxes was to go for those three days to Matching, a smaller place +than Gatherum, but one to which they were much better accustomed. If, +as the Duchess thought to be not unlikely, the Duke should prolong +his stay for a few days at Matching, she felt confident that she +would be able to bear the burden of the Castle on her own shoulders. +She had thought it to be very probable that he would prolong his stay +at Matching, and if the absence were not too long, this might be +well explained to the assembled company. In the Duchess's estimation +a Prime Minister would lose nothing by pleading the nature of his +business as an excuse for such absence,--or by having such a plea +made for him. Of course he must appear at last. But as to that she +had no fear. His timidity, and his conscience also, would both be +too potent to allow him to shirk the nuisance of Gatherum altogether. +He would come, she was sure; but she did not much care how long he +deferred his coming. She was, therefore, not a little surprised when +he announced to her an alteration in his plans. This he did not many +hours after the Duke of St. Bungay had left him at the Treasury +Chambers. "I think I shall go down with you at once to Gatherum," he +said. + +"What is the meaning of that?" The Duchess was not skilled in hiding +her feelings, at any rate from him, and declared to him at once by +her voice and eye that the proposed change was not gratifying to her. + +"It will be better. I had thought that I would get a quiet day or two +at Matching. But as the thing has to be done, it may as well be done +at first. A man ought to receive his own guests. I can't say that I +look forward to any great pleasure in doing so on this occasion;--but +I shall do it." It was very easy to understand also the tone of his +voice. There was in it something of offended dignity, something +of future marital intentions,--something also of the weakness of +distress. + +She did not want him to come at once to Gatherum. A great deal of +money was being spent, and the absolute spending was not yet quite +perfected. There might still be possibility of interference. The +tents were not all pitched. The lamps were not as yet all hung in the +conservatories. Waggons would still be coming in and workmen still be +going out. He would think less of what had been done if he could be +kept from seeing it while it was being done. And the greater crowd +which would be gathered there by the end of the first week would +carry off the vastness of the preparations. As to money, he had given +her almost carte blanche, having at one vacillatory period of his +Prime Ministership been talked by her into some agreement with her +own plans. And in regard to money he would say to himself that he +ought not to interfere with any whim of hers on that score, unless +he thought it right to crush the whim on some other score. Half what +he possessed had been hers, and even if during this year he were to +spend more than his income,--if he were to double or even treble the +expenditure of past years,--he could not consume the additions to his +wealth which had accrued and heaped themselves up since his marriage. +He had therefore written a line to his banker, and a line to his +lawyer, and he had himself seen Locock, and his wife's hands had been +loosened. "I didn't think, your Grace," said Locock, "that his Grace +would be so very--very--very--" "Very what, Locock?" "So very free, +your Grace." The Duchess, as she thought of it, declared to herself +that her husband was the truest nobleman in all England. She revered, +admired, and almost loved him. She knew him to be infinitely better +than herself. But she could hardly sympathise with him, and was quite +sure that he did not sympathise with her. He was so good about the +money! But yet it was necessary that he should be kept in the dark +as to the spending of a good deal of it. Now he was going to upset a +portion of her plans by coming to Gatherum before he was wanted. She +knew him to be obstinate, but it might be possible to turn him back +to his old purpose by clever manipulation. + +"Of course it would be much nicer for me," she said. + +"That alone would be sufficient." + +"Thanks, dear. But we had arranged for people to come at first whom +I thought you would not specially care to meet. Sir Orlando and Mr. +Rattler will be there with their wives." + +"I have become quite used to Sir Orlando and Mr. Rattler." + +"No doubt, and therefore I wanted to spare you something of their +company. The Duke, whom you really do like, isn't coming yet. I +thought, too, you would have your work to finish off." + +"I fear it is of a kind that won't bear finishing off. However, I +have made up my mind, and have already told Locock to send word to +the people at Matching to say that I shall not be there yet. How long +will all this last at Gatherum?" + +"Who can say?" + +"I should have thought you could. People are not coming, I suppose, +for an indefinite time." + +"As one set leaves, one asks others." + +"Haven't you asked enough as yet? I should like to know when we may +expect to get away from the place." + +"You needn't stay till the end, you know." + +"But you must." + +"Certainly." + +"And I should wish you to go with me, when we do go to Matching." + +"Oh, Plantagenet," said the wife, "what a Darby and Joan kind of +thing you like to have it!" + +"Yes, I do. The Darby and Joan kind of thing is what I like." + +"Only Darby is to be in an office all day, and in Parliament all +night,--and Joan is to stay at home." + +"Would you wish me not to be in an office, and not to be in +Parliament? But don't let us misunderstand each other. You are doing +the best you can to further what you think to be my interests." + +"I am," said the Duchess. + +"I love you the better for it, day by day." This so surprised her, +that as she took him by the arm, her eyes were filled with tears. "I +know that you are working for me quite as hard as I work myself, and +that you are doing so with the pure ambition of seeing your husband a +great man." + +"And myself a great man's wife." + +"It is the same thing. But I would not have you overdo your work. +I would not have you make yourself conspicuous by anything like +display. There are ill-natured people who will say things that you do +not expect, and to which I should be more sensitive than I ought to +be. Spare me such pain as this, if you can." He still held her hand +as he spoke, and she answered him only by nodding her head. "I will +go down with you to Gatherum on Friday." Then he left her. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +Vulgarity + + +The Duke and Duchess with their children and personal servants +reached Gatherum Castle the day before the first crowd of visitors +was expected. It was on a lovely autumn afternoon, and the Duke, +who had endeavoured to make himself pleasant during the journey, +had suggested that as soon as the heat would allow them they would +saunter about the grounds and see what was being done. They could +dine late, at half-past eight or nine, so that they might be walking +from seven to eight. But the Duchess when she reached the Castle +declined to fall into this arrangement. The journey had been hot +and dusty and she was a little cross. They reached the place about +five, and then she declared that she would have a cup of tea and lie +down; she was too tired to walk; and the sun, she said, was still +scorchingly hot. He then asked that the children might go with him; +but the two little girls were weary and travel-worn, and the two +boys, the elder of whom was home from Eton and the younger from +some minor Eton, were already out about the place after their own +pleasures. So the Duke started for his walk alone. + +The Duchess certainly did not wish to have to inspect the works in +conjunction with her husband. She knew how much there was that she +ought still to do herself, how many things that she herself ought +to see. But she could neither do anything nor see anything to any +purpose under his wing. As to lying down, that she knew to be quite +out of the question. She had already found out that the life which +she had adopted was one of incessant work. But she was neither weak +nor idle. She was quite prepared to work,--if only she might work +after her own fashion and with companions chosen by herself. Had not +her husband been so perverse, she would have travelled down with Mrs. +Finn, whose coming was now postponed for two days, and Locock would +have been with her. The Duke had given directions which made it +necessary that Locock's coming should be postponed for a day, and +this was another grievance. She was put out a good deal, and began to +speculate whether her husband was doing it on purpose to torment her. +Nevertheless, as soon as she knew that he was out of the way, she +went to her work. She could not go out among the tents and lawns and +conservatories, as she would probably meet him. But she gave orders +as to bedchambers, saw to the adornments of the reception-rooms, had +an eye to the banners and martial trophies suspended in the vast +hall, and the busts and statues which adorned the corners, looked +in on the plate which was being prepared for the great dining-room, +and superintended the moving about of chairs, sofas, and tables +generally. "You may take it as certain, Mrs. Pritchard," she said to +the housekeeper, "that there will never be less than forty for the +next two months." + +"Forty to sleep, my lady?" To Pritchard the Duchess had for many +years been Lady Glencora, and she perhaps understood that her +mistress liked the old appellation. + +"Yes, forty to sleep, and forty to eat, and forty to drink. But +that's nothing. Forty to push through twenty-four hours every day! Do +you think you've got everything that you want?" + +"It depends, my lady, how long each of 'em stays." + +"One night! No,--say two nights on an average." + +"That makes shifting the beds very often;--doesn't it, my lady?" + +"Send up to Puddick's for sheets to-morrow. Why wasn't that thought +of before?" + +"It was, my lady,--and I think we shall do. We've got the +steam-washery put up." + +"Towels!" suggested the Duchess. + +"Oh yes, my lady. Puddick's did send a great many things;--a whole +waggon load there was come from the station. But the tablecloths +ain't, none of 'em, long enough for the big table." The Duchess's +face fell. "Of course there must be two. On them very long tables, my +lady, there always is two." + +"Why didn't you tell me, so that I could have had them made? It's +impossible,--impossible that one brain should think of it all. Are +you sure you've got enough hands in the kitchen?" + +"Well, my lady;--we couldn't do with more; and they ain't an atom of +use,--only just in the way,--if you don't know something about 'em. +I suppose Mr. Millepois will be down soon." This name, which Mrs. +Pritchard called Milleypoise, indicated a French cook who was as yet +unknown at the Castle. + +"He'll be here to-night." + +"I wish he could have been here a day or two sooner, my lady, so as +just to see about him." + +"And how should we have got our dinner in town? He won't make any +difficulties. The confectioner did come?" + +"Yes, my lady; and to tell the truth out at once, he was that drunk +last night that--; oh, dear, we didn't know what to do with him." + +"I don't mind that before the affair begins. I don't suppose he'll +get tipsy while he has to work for all these people. You've plenty of +eggs?" + +These questions went on so rapidly that in addition to the asking +of them the Duchess was able to go through all the rooms before she +dressed for dinner, and in every room she saw something to speak of, +noting either perfection or imperfection. In the meantime the Duke +had gone out alone. It was still hot, but he had made up his mind +that he would enjoy his first holiday out of town by walking about +his own grounds, and he would not allow the heat to interrupt him. +He went out through the vast hall, and the huge front door, which +was so huge and so grand that it was very seldom used. But it was +now open by chance, owing to some incident of this festival time, +and he passed through it and stood upon the grand terrace, with the +well-known and much-lauded portico over head. Up to the terrace, +though it was very high, there ran a road, constructed upon arches, +so that grand guests could drive almost into the house. The Duke, +who was never grand himself, as he stood there looking at the +far-stretching view before him, could not remember that he had ever +but once before placed himself on that spot. Of what use had been +the portico, and the marbles, and the huge pile of stone,--of what +use the enormous hall just behind him, cutting the house in two, +declaring aloud by its own aspect and proportions that it had been +built altogether for show and in no degree for use or comfort? And +now as he stood there he could already see that men were at work +about the place, that ground had been moved here, and grass laid down +there, and a new gravel road constructed in another place. Was it not +possible that his friends should be entertained without all these +changes in the gardens? Then he perceived the tents, and descending +from the terrace and turning to the left towards the end of the house +he came upon a new conservatory. The exotics with which it was to +be filled were at this moment being brought in on great barrows. He +stood for a moment and looked, but said not a word to the men. They +gazed at him but evidently did not know him. How should they know +him,--him, who was so seldom there, and who when there never showed +himself about the place? Then he went farther afield from the house +and came across more and more men. A great ha-ha fence had been made, +enclosing on three sides a large flat and turfed parallelogram of +ground, taken out of the park and open at one end to the gardens, +containing, as he thought, about an acre. "What are you doing this +for?" he said to one of the labourers. The man stared at him, and +at first seemed hardly inclined to make him an answer. "It be for +the quality to shoot their bows and harrows," he said at last, as +he continued the easy task of patting with his spade the completed +work. He evidently regarded this stranger as an intruder who was not +entitled to ask questions, even if he were permitted to wander about +the grounds. + +From one place he went on to another and found changes, and new +erections, and some device for throwing away money everywhere. It +angered him to think that there was so little of simplicity left in +the world that a man could not entertain his friends without such a +fuss as this. His mind applied itself frequently to the consideration +of the money, not that he grudged the loss of it, but the spending of +it in such a cause. And then perhaps there occurred to him an idea +that all this should not have been done without a word of consent +from himself. Had she come to him with some scheme for changing +everything about the place, making him think that the alterations +were a matter of taste or of mere personal pleasure, he would +probably have given his assent at once, thinking nothing of the +money. But all this was sheer display. Then he walked up and saw the +flag waving over the Castle, indicating that he, the Lord Lieutenant +of the County, was present there on his own soil. That was right. +That was as it should be, because the flag was waving in compliance +with an acknowledged ordinance. Of all that properly belonged to +his rank and station he could be very proud, and would allow no +diminution of that outward respect to which they were entitled. Were +they to be trenched on by his fault in his person, the rights of +others to their enjoyment would be endangered, and the benefits +accruing to his country from established marks of reverence would +be imperilled. But here was an assumed and preposterous grandeur +that was as much within the reach of some rich swindler or of some +prosperous haberdasher as of himself,--having, too, a look of raw +newness about it which was very distasteful to him. And then, too, +he knew that nothing of all this would have been done unless he had +become Prime Minister. Why on earth should a man's grounds be knocked +about because he becomes Prime Minister? He walked on arguing this +within his own bosom, till he had worked himself almost up to anger. +It was clear that he must henceforth take things more into his +own hands, or he would be made to be absurd before the world. +Indifference he knew he could bear. Harsh criticism he thought he +could endure. But to ridicule he was aware that he was pervious. +Suppose the papers were to say of him that he built a new +conservatory and made an archery ground for the sake of maintaining +the Coalition! + +When he got back to the house he found his wife alone in the small +room in which they intended to dine. After all her labours she was +now reclining for the few minutes her husband's absence might allow +her, knowing that after dinner there were a score of letters for +her to write. "I don't think," said she, "I was ever so tired in my +life." + +"It isn't such a very long journey after all." + +"But it's a very big house, and I've been, I think, into every room +since I have been here, and I've moved most of the furniture in +the drawing-rooms with my own hand, and I've counted the pounds of +butter, and inspected the sheets and tablecloths." + +"Was that necessary, Glencora?" + +"If I had gone to bed instead, the world, I suppose, would have +gone on, and Sir Orlando Drought would still have led the House of +Commons;--but things should be looked after, I suppose." + +"There are people to do it. You are like Martha, troubling yourself +with many things." + +"I always felt that Martha was very ill-used. If there were no +Marthas there would never be anything fit to eat. But it's odd how +sure a wife is to be scolded. If I did nothing at all, that wouldn't +please a busy, hard-working man like you." + +"I don't know that I have scolded,--not as yet." + +"Are you going to begin?" + +"Not to scold, my dear. Looking back, can you remember that I ever +scolded you?" + +"I can remember a great many times when you ought." + +"But to tell you the truth, I don't like all that you have done here. +I cannot see that it was necessary." + +"People make changes in their gardens without necessity sometimes." + +"But these changes are made because of your guests. Had they been +made to gratify your own taste I would have said nothing,--although +even in that case I think you might have told me what you proposed to +do." + +"What;--when you are so burdened with work that you do not know how +to turn?" + +"I am never so burdened that I cannot turn to you. But, as you +know, that is not what I complain of. If it were done for yourself, +though it were the wildest vagary, I would learn to like it. But it +distresses me to think that what might have been good enough for our +friends before should be thought to be insufficient because of the +office I hold. There is a--a--a--I was almost going to say vulgarity +about it which distresses me." + +"Vulgarity!" she exclaimed, jumping up from her sofa. + +"I retract the word. I would not for the world say anything that +should annoy you;--but pray, pray do not go on with it." Then again +he left her. + +Vulgarity! There was no other word in the language so hard to bear as +that. He had, indeed, been careful to say that he did not accuse her +of vulgarity,--but nevertheless the accusation had been made. Could +you call your friend a liar more plainly than by saying to him that +you would not say that he lied? They dined together, the two boys, +also, dining with them, but very little was said at dinner. The +horrid word was clinging to the lady's ears, and the remembrance of +having uttered the word was heavy on the man's conscience. He had +told himself very plainly that the thing was vulgar, but he had not +meant to use the word. When uttered it came even upon himself as a +surprise. But it had been uttered; and, let what apology there may +be made, a word uttered cannot be retracted. As he looked across +the table at his wife, he saw that the word had been taken in deep +dudgeon. + +She escaped, to the writing of her letters she said, almost before +the meal was done. "Vulgarity!" She uttered the word aloud to +herself, as she sat herself down in the little room up-stairs which +she had assigned to herself for her own use. But though she was very +angry with him, she did not, even in her own mind, contradict him. +Perhaps it was vulgar. But why shouldn't she be vulgar, if she could +most surely get what she wanted by vulgarity? What was the meaning +of the word vulgarity? Of course she was prepared to do things,--was +daily doing things,--which would have been odious to her had not her +husband been a public man. She submitted, without unwillingness, +to constant contact with disagreeable people. She lavished her +smiles,--so she now said to herself,--on butchers and tinkers. What +she said, what she read, what she wrote, what she did, whither she +went, to whom she was kind and to whom unkind,--was it not all said +and done and arranged with reference to his and her own popularity? +When a man wants to be Prime Minister he has to submit to vulgarity, +and must give up his ambition if the task be too disagreeable to him. +The Duchess thought that that had been understood, at any rate ever +since the days of Coriolanus. "The old Duke kept out of it," she said +to herself, "and chose to live in the other way. He had his choice. +He wants it to be done. And when I do it for him because he can't do +it for himself, he calls it by an ugly name!" Then it occurred to +her that the world tells lies every day,--telling on the whole much +more lies than truth,--but that the world has wisely agreed that the +world shall not be accused of lying. One doesn't venture to express +open disbelief even of one's wife; and with the world at large +a word spoken, whether lie or not, is presumed to be true of +course,--because spoken. Jones has said it, and therefore Smith,--who +has known the lie to be a lie,--has asserted his assured belief, +lying again. But in this way the world is able to live pleasantly. +How was she to live pleasantly if her husband accused her of +vulgarity? Of course it was all vulgar, but why should he tell her +so? She did not do it from any pleasure that she got from it. + +The letters remained long unwritten, and then there came a moment in +which she resolved that they should not be written. The work was very +hard, and what good would come from it? Why should she make her hands +dirty, so that even her husband accused her of vulgarity? Would it +not be better to give it all up, and be a great woman, une grande +dame, of another kind,--difficult of access, sparing of her favours, +aristocratic to the backbone,--a very Duchess of duchesses? The role +would be one very easy to play. It required rank, money, and a little +manner,--and these she possessed. The old Duke had done it with ease, +without the slightest trouble to himself, and had been treated almost +like a god because he had secluded himself. She could make the change +even yet,--and as her husband told her that she was vulgar, she +thought she would make it. + +But at last, before she had abandoned her desk and paper, there had +come to her another thought. Nothing to her was so distasteful as +failure. She had known that there would be difficulties, and had +assured herself that she would be firm and brave in overcoming them. +Was not this accusation of vulgarity simply one of the difficulties +which she had to overcome? Was her courage already gone from her? Was +she so weak that a single word should knock her over,--and a word +evidently repented of as soon as uttered? Vulgar! Well;--let her be +vulgar as long as she gained her object. There had been no penalty of +everlasting punishment denounced against vulgarity. And then a higher +idea touched her, not without effect,--an idea which she could not +analyse, but which was hardly on that account the less effective. She +did believe thoroughly in her husband, to the extent of thinking him +the fittest man in all the country to be its Prime Minister. His fame +was dear to her. Her nature was loyal; and though she might, perhaps, +in her younger days have been able to lean upon him with a more +loving heart had he been other than he was, brighter, more gay, given +to pleasures, and fond of trifles, still, she could recognise merits +with which her sympathy was imperfect. It was good that he should be +England's Prime Minister, and therefore she would do all she could to +keep him in that place. The vulgarity was a necessary essential. He +might not acknowledge this,--might even, if the choice were left to +him, refuse to be Prime Minister on such terms. But she need not, +therefore, give way. Having in this way thought it all out, she took +up her pen and completed the batch of letters before she allowed +herself to go to bed. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Sir Orlando's Policy + + +When the guests began to arrive our friend the Duchess had apparently +got through her little difficulties, for she received them with that +open, genial hospitality which is so delightful as coming evidently +from the heart. There had not been another word between her and her +husband as to the manner in which the thing was to be done, and she +had determined that the offensive word should pass altogether out of +her memory. The first comer was Mrs. Finn,--who came indeed rather +as an assistant hostess than as a mere guest, and to her the Duchess +uttered a few half-playful hints as to her troubles. "Considering the +time, haven't we done marvels? Because it does look nice,--doesn't +it? There are no dirt heaps about, and it's all as green as though +it had been there since the Conquest. He doesn't like it because it +looks new. And we've got forty-five bedrooms made up. The servants +are all turned out over the stables somewhere,--quite comfortable, +I assure you. Indeed they like it. And by knocking down the ends of +two passages we've brought everything together. And the rooms are all +numbered just like an inn. It was the only way. And I keep one book +myself, and Locock has another. I have everybody's room, and where it +is, and how long the tenant is to be allowed to occupy it. And here's +the way everybody is to take everybody down to dinner for the next +fortnight. Of course that must be altered, but it is easier when we +have a sort of settled basis. And I have some private notes as to who +should flirt with whom." + +"You'd better not let that lie about." + +"Nobody could understand a word of it if they had it. A. B. always +means X. Y. Z. And this is the code of the Gatherum Archery Ground. +I never drew a bow in my life,--not a real bow in the flesh, that is, +my dear,--and yet I've made 'em all out, and had them printed. The +way to make a thing go down is to give it some special importance. +And I've gone through the bill of fare for the first week with +Millepois, who is a perfect gentleman,--perfect." Then she gave a +little sigh as she remembered that word from her husband, which had +so wounded her. "I used to think that Plantagenet worked hard when he +was doing his decimal coinage; but I don't think he ever stuck to it +as I have done." + +"What does the Duke say to it all?" + +"Ah; well, upon the whole he behaves like an angel. He behaves so +well that half my time I think I'll shut it all up and have done with +it,--for his sake. And then, the other half, I'm determined to go on +with it,--also for his sake." + +"He has not been displeased?" + +"Ask no questions, my dear, and you'll hear no stories. You haven't +been married twice without knowing that women can't have everything +smooth. He only said one word. It was rather hard to bear, but it has +passed away." + +That afternoon there was quite a crowd. Among the first comers were +Mr. and Mrs. Roby, and Mr. and Mrs. Rattler. And there were Sir +Orlando and Lady Drought, Lord Ramsden, and Sir Timothy Beeswax. +These gentlemen with their wives represented, for the time, the +Ministry of which the Duke was the head, and had been asked in order +that their fealty and submission might be thus riveted. There were +also there Mr. and Mrs. Boffin, with Lord Thrift and his daughter +Angelica, who had belonged to former Ministries,--one on the Liberal +and the other on the Conservative side,--and who were now among the +Duke's guests, in order that they and others might see how wide the +Duke wished to open his hands. And there was our friend Ferdinand +Lopez, who had certainly made the best use of his opportunities in +securing for himself so great a social advantage as an invitation to +Gatherum Castle. How could any father, who was simply a barrister, +refuse to receive as his son-in-law a man who had been a guest at the +Duke of Omnium's country house? And then there were certain people +from the neighbourhood;--Frank Gresham of Greshamsbury, with his wife +and daughter, the master of the hounds in those parts, a rich squire +of old blood, and head of the family to which one of the aspirant +Prime Ministers of the day belonged. And Lord Chiltern, another +master of fox hounds, two counties off,--and also an old friend of +ours,--had been asked to meet him, and had brought his wife. And +there was Lady Rosina De Courcy, an old maid, the sister of the +present Earl De Courcy, who lived not far off and had been accustomed +to come to Gatherum Castle on state occasions for the last thirty +years,--the only relic in those parts of a family which had lived +there for many years in great pride of place; for her elder brother, +the Earl, was a ruined man, and her younger brothers were living with +their wives abroad, and her sisters had married, rather lowly in the +world, and her mother now was dead, and Lady Rosina lived alone in +a little cottage outside the old park palings, and still held fast +within her bosom all the old pride of the De Courcys. And then +there were Captain Gunner and Major Pountney, two middle-aged young +men, presumably belonging to the army, whom the Duchess had lately +enlisted among her followers as being useful in their way. They could +eat their dinners without being shy, dance on occasions, though very +unwillingly, talk a little, and run on messages;--and they knew the +peerage by heart, and could tell the details of every unfortunate +marriage for the last twenty years. Each thought himself, especially +since this last promotion, to be indispensably necessary to the +formation of London society, and was comfortable in a conviction that +he had thoroughly succeeded in life by acquiring the privilege of +sitting down to dinner three times a week with peers and peeresses. + +The list of guests has by no means been made as complete here as it +was to be found in the county newspapers, and in the "Morning Post" +of the time; but enough of names has been given to show of what +nature was the party. "The Duchess has got rather a rough lot to +begin with," said the Major to the Captain. + +"Oh, yes. I knew that. She wanted me to be useful, so of course I +came. I shall stay here this week, and then be back in September." +Up to this moment Captain Gunner had not received any invitation for +September, but then there was no reason why he should not do so. + +"I've been getting up that archery code with her," said Pountney, +"and I was pledged to come down and set it going. That little Gresham +girl isn't a bad looking thing." + +"Rather flabby," said Captain Gunner. + +"Very nice colour. She'll have a lot of money, you know." + +"There's a brother," said the Captain. + +"Oh, yes; there's a brother, who will have the Greshamsbury property, +but she's to have her mother's money. There's a very odd story about +all that, you know." Then the Major told the story, and told every +particular of it wrongly. "A man might do worse than look there," +said the Major. A man might have done worse, because Miss Gresham was +a very nice girl; but of course the Major was all wrong about the +money. + +"Well;--now you've tried it, what do you think about it?" This +question was put by Sir Timothy to Sir Orlando as they sat in a +corner of the archery ground, under the shelter of a tent, looking +on while Major Pountney taught Mrs. Boffin how to fix an arrow to +her bowstring. It was quite understood that Sir Timothy was inimical +to the Coalition though he still belonged to it, and that he would +assist in breaking it up if only there were a fair chance of his +belonging to the party which would remain in power. Sir Timothy +had been badly treated, and did not forget it. Now Sir Orlando had +also of late shown some symptoms of a disturbed ambition. He was +the Leader of the House of Commons, and it had become an almost +recognised law of the Constitution that the Leader of the House of +Commons should be the First Minister of the Crown. It was at least +understood by many that such was Sir Orlando's reading of the laws of +the Constitution. + +"We've got along, you know," said Sir Orlando. + +"Yes;--yes. We've got along. Can you imagine any possible +concatenation of circumstances in which we should not get along? +There's always too much good sense in the House for an absolute +collapse. But are you contented?" + +"I won't say I'm not," said the cautious baronet. "I didn't look for +very great things from a Coalition, and I didn't look for very great +things from the Duke." + +"It seems to me that the one achievement to which we've all looked +has been the reaching the end of the Session in safety. We've done +that certainly." + +"It is a great thing to do, Sir Timothy. Of course the main work of +Parliament is to raise supplies;--and, when that has been done with +ease, when all the money wanted has been voted without a break-down, +of course Ministers are very glad to get rid of the Parliament. It is +as much a matter of course that a Minister should dislike Parliament +now as that a Stuart King should have done so two hundred and fifty +years ago. To get a Session over and done with is an achievement and +a delight." + +"No Ministry can go on long on that far niente principle, and no +minister who accedes to it will remain long in any ministry." +Sir Timothy in saying this might be alluding to the Duke, or the +reference might be to Sir Orlando himself. "Of course, I'm not in +the Cabinet, and am not entitled to say a word; but I think that if +I were in the Cabinet, and if I were anxious,--which I confess I'm +not,--for a continuation of the present state of things, I should +endeavour to obtain from the Duke some idea of his policy for the +next Session." Sir Orlando was a man of certain parts. He could speak +volubly,--and yet slowly,--so that reporters and others could hear +him. He was patient, both in the House and in his office, and had the +great gift of doing what he was told by men who understood things +better than he did himself. He never went very far astray in his +official business, because he always obeyed the clerks and followed +precedents. He had been a useful man,--and would still have remained +so had he not been lifted a little too high. Had he been only one in +the ruck on the Treasury Bench he would have been useful to the end; +but special honour and special place had been assigned to him, and +therefore he desired still bigger things. The Duke's mediocrity of +talent and of energy and of general governing power had been so often +mentioned of late in Sir Orlando's hearing, that Sir Orlando had +gradually come to think that he was the Duke's equal in the Cabinet, +and that perhaps it behoved him to lead the Duke. At the commencement +of their joint operations he had held the Duke in some awe, and +perhaps something of that feeling in reference to the Duke personally +still restrained him. The Dukes of Omnium had always been big people. +But still it might be his duty to say a word to the Duke. Sir Orlando +assured himself that if ever convinced of the propriety of doing so, +he could say a word even to the Duke of Omnium. "I am confident that +we should not go on quite as we are at present," said Sir Timothy as +he closed the conversation. + +"Where did they pick him up?" said the Major to the Captain, pointing +with his head to Ferdinand Lopez, who was shooting with Angelica +Thrift and Mr. Boffin and one of the Duke's private secretaries. + +"The Duchess found him somewhere. He's one of those fabulously rich +fellows out of the City who make a hundred thousand pounds at a blow. +They say his people were grandees of Spain." + +"Does anybody know him?" asked the Major. + +"Everybody soon will know him," answered the Captain. "I think I +heard that he's going to stand for some place in the Duke's interest. +He don't look the sort of fellow I like; but he's got money and +he comes here, and he's good looking,--and therefore he'll be a +success." In answer to this the Major only grunted. The Major was a +year or two older than the Captain, and therefore less willing even +than his friend to admit the claims of new comers to social honours. + +Just at this moment the Duchess walked across the ground up to the +shooters, accompanied by Mrs. Finn and Lady Chiltern. She had not +been seen in the gardens before that day, and of course a little +concourse was made round her. The Major and the Captain, who had been +driven away by the success of Ferdinand Lopez, returned with their +sweetest smiles. Mr. Boffin put down his treatise on the nature of +Franchises, which he was studying in order that he might lead an +opposition against the Ministry next Session, and even Sir Timothy +Beeswax, who had done his work with Sir Orlando, joined the throng. + +"Now I do hope," said the Duchess, "that you are all shooting by the +new code. That is, and is to be, the Gatherum Archery Code, and I +shall break my heart if anybody rebels." + +"There are one or two men," said Major Pountney very gravely, "who +won't take the trouble to understand it." + +"Mr. Lopez," said the Duchess, pointing with her finger at our +friend, "are you that rebel?" + +"I fear I did suggest--" began Mr. Lopez. + +"I will have no suggestions,--nothing but obedience. Here are Sir +Timothy Beeswax and Mr. Boffin, and Sir Orlando Drought is not far +off; and here is Mr. Rattler, than whom no authority on such a +subject can be better. Ask them whether in other matters suggestions +are wanted." + +"Of course not," said Major Pountney. + +"Now, Mr. Lopez, will you or will you not be guided by a strict and +close interpretation of the Gatherum Code? Because, if not, I'm +afraid we shall feel constrained to accept your resignation." + +"I won't resign, and I will obey," said Lopez. + +"A good ministerial reply," said the Duchess. "I don't doubt but +that in time you'll ascend to high office and become a pillar of the +Gatherum constitution. How does he shoot, Miss Thrift?" + +"He will shoot very well indeed, Duchess, if he goes on and +practises," said Angelica, whose life for the last seven years had +been devoted to archery. Major Pountney retired far away into the +park, a full quarter of a mile off, and smoked a cigar under a tree. +Was it for this that he had absolutely given up a month to drawing +out this code of rules, going backwards and forwards two or three +times to the printers in his desire to carry out the Duchess's +wishes? "Women are so d---- ungrateful!" he said aloud in his +solitude, as he turned himself on the hard ground. "And some men are +so d---- lucky!" This fellow, Lopez, had absolutely been allowed to +make a good score off his own intractable disobedience. + +The Duchess's little joke about the Ministers generally, and the +advantages of submission on their part to their chief, was thought by +some who heard it not to have been made in good taste. The joke was +just such a joke as the Duchess would be sure to make,--meaning very +little but still not altogether pointless. It was levelled rather at +her husband than at her husband's colleagues who were present, and +was so understood by those who really knew her,--as did Mrs. Finn, +and Mr. Warburton, the private secretary. But Sir Orlando and Sir +Timothy and Mr. Rattler, who were all within hearing, thought that +the Duchess had intended to allude to the servile nature of their +position; and Mr. Boffin, who heard it, rejoiced within himself, +comforting himself with the reflection that his withers were unwrung, +and thinking with what pleasure he might carry the anecdote into the +farthest corners of the clubs. Poor Duchess! 'Tis pitiful to think +that after such Herculean labours she should injure the cause by one +slight unconsidered word, more, perhaps, than she had advanced it by +all her energy. + +During this time the Duke was at the Castle, but he showed himself +seldom to his guests,--so acting, as the reader will I hope +understand, from no sense of the importance of his own personal +presence, but influenced by a conviction that a public man should not +waste his time. He breakfasted in his own room, because he could thus +eat his breakfast in ten minutes. He read all the papers in solitude, +because he was thus enabled to give his mind to their contents. Life +had always been too serious to him to be wasted. Every afternoon +he walked for the sake of exercise, and would have accepted any +companion if any companion had especially offered himself. But he +went off by some side-door, finding the side-door to be convenient, +and therefore when seen by others was supposed to desire to remain +unseen. "I had no idea there was so much pride about the Duke," Mr. +Boffin said to his old colleague, Sir Orlando. "Is it pride?" asked +Sir Orlando. "It may be shyness," said the wise Boffin. "The two +things are so alike you can never tell the difference. But the man +who is cursed by either should hardly be a Prime Minister." + +It was on the day after this that Sir Orlando thought that the moment +had come in which it was his duty to say that salutary word to the +Duke which it was clearly necessary that some colleague should say, +and which no colleague could have so good a right to say as he who +was the Leader of the House of Commons. He understood clearly that +though they were gathered together then at Gatherum Castle for +festive purposes, yet that no time was unfit for the discussion of +State matters. Does not all the world know that when in autumn the +Bismarcks of the world, or they who are bigger than Bismarcks, meet +at this or that delicious haunt of salubrity, the affairs of the +world are then settled in little conclaves, with greater ease, +rapidity, and certainty than in large parliaments or the dull +chambers of public offices? Emperor meets Emperor, and King meets +King, and as they wander among rural glades in fraternal intimacy, +wars are arranged, and swelling territories are enjoyed in +anticipation. Sir Orlando hitherto had known all this, but had hardly +as yet enjoyed it. He had been long in office, but these sweet +confidences can of their very nature belong only to a very few. But +now the time had manifestly come. + +It was Sunday afternoon, and Sir Orlando caught the Duke in the very +act of leaving the house for his walk. There was no archery, and many +of the inmates of the Castle were asleep. There had been a question +as to the propriety of Sabbath archery, in discussing which reference +had been made to Laud's book of sports, and the growing idea that the +National Gallery should be opened on the Lord's-day. But the Duchess +would not have the archery. "We are just the people who shouldn't +prejudge the question," said the Duchess. The Duchess with various +ladies, with the Pountneys and Gunners, and other obedient male +followers, had been to church. None of the Ministers had of course +been able to leave the swollen pouches which are always sent out +from London on Saturday night, probably,--we cannot but think,--as +arranged excuses for such defalcation, and had passed their mornings +comfortably dozing over new novels. The Duke, always right in his +purpose but generally wrong in his practice, had stayed at home +working all the morning, thereby scandalising the strict, and had +gone to church alone in the afternoon, thereby offending the social. +The church was close to the house, and he had gone back to change his +coat and hat, and to get his stick. But as he was stealing out of the +little side-gate, Sir Orlando was down upon him. "If your Grace is +going for a walk, and will admit of company, I shall be delighted to +attend you," said Sir Orlando. The Duke professed himself to be well +pleased, and in truth was pleased. He would be glad to increase his +personal intimacy with his colleagues if it might be done pleasantly. + +They had gone nearly a mile across the park, watching the stately +movements of the herds of deer, and talking of this and that trifle, +before Sir Orlando could bring about an opportunity for uttering his +word. At last he did it somewhat abruptly. "I think upon the whole we +did pretty well last Session," he said, standing still under an old +oak-tree. + +"Pretty well," re-echoed the Duke. + +"And I suppose we have not much to be afraid of next Session?" + +"I am afraid of nothing," said the Duke. + +"But--;" then Sir Orlando hesitated. The Duke, however, said not a +word to help him on. Sir Orlando thought that the Duke looked more +ducal than he had ever seen him look before. Sir Orlando remembered +the old Duke, and suddenly found that the uncle and nephew were very +like each other. But it does not become the Leader of the House of +Commons to be afraid of any one. "Don't you think," continued Sir +Orlando, "we should try and arrange among ourselves something of a +policy? I am not quite sure that a ministry without a distinct course +of action before it can long enjoy the confidence of the country. +Take the last half century. There have been various policies, +commanding more or less of general assent; free trade--." Here Sir +Orlando gave a kindly wave of his hand, showing that on behalf of his +companion he was willing to place at the head of the list a policy +which had not always commanded his own assent;--"continued reform +in Parliament, to which I have, with my whole heart, given my poor +assistance." The Duke remembered how the bathers' clothes were +stolen, and that Sir Orlando had been one of the most nimble-fingered +of the thieves. "No popery, Irish grievances, the ballot, +retrenchment, efficiency of the public service, all have had their +time." + +"Things to be done offer themselves, I suppose, because they are in +themselves desirable; not because it is desirable to have something +to do." + +"Just so;--no doubt. But still, if you will think of it, no ministry +can endure without a policy. During the latter part of the last +Session it was understood that we had to get ourselves in harness +together, and nothing more was expected from us; but I think we +should be prepared with a distinct policy for the coming year. I fear +that nothing can be done in Ireland." + +"Mr. Finn has ideas--." + +"Ah, yes;--well, your Grace. Mr. Finn is a very clever young man +certainly; but I don't think we can support ourselves by his plan of +Irish reform." Sir Orlando had been a little carried away by his own +eloquence and the Duke's tameness, and had interrupted the Duke. The +Duke again looked ducal, but on this occasion Sir Orlando did not +observe his countenance. "For myself, I think, I am in favour of +increased armaments. I have been applying my mind to the subject, +and I think I see that the people of this country do not object to a +slightly rising scale of estimates in that direction. Of course there +is the county suffrage--" + +"I will think of what you have been saying," said the Duke. + +"As to the county suffrage--" + +"I will think it over," said the Duke. "You see that oak. That is the +largest tree we have here at Gatherum; and I doubt whether there be a +larger one in this part of England." The Duke's voice and words were +not uncourteous, but there was something in them which hindered Sir +Orlando from referring again on that occasion to county suffrages or +increased armaments. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +The Duchess's New Swan + + +When the party had been about a week collected at Gatherum Castle, +Ferdinand Lopez had manifestly become the favourite of the Duchess +for the time, and had, at her instance, promised to remain there for +some further days. He had hardly spoken to the Duke since he had been +in the house,--but then but few of that motley assembly did talk much +with the Duke. Gunner and Pountney had gone away,--the Captain having +declared his dislike of the upstart Portuguese to be so strong that +he could not stay in the same house with him any longer, and the +Major, who was of stronger mind, having resolved that he would put +the intruder down. "It is horrible to think what power money has in +these days," said the Captain. The Captain had shaken the dust of +Gatherum altogether from his feet, but the Major had so arranged that +a bed was to be found for him again in October,--for another happy +week; but he was not to return till bidden by the Duchess. "You won't +forget;--now will you, Duchess?" he said, imploring her to remember +him as he took his leave. "I did take a deal of trouble about the +code;--didn't I?" "They don't seem to me to care for the code," said +the Duchess, "but, nevertheless, I'll remember." + +"Who, in the name of all that's wonderful, was that I saw you with in +the garden?" the Duchess said to her husband one afternoon. + +"It was Lady Rosina De Courcy, I suppose." + +"Heaven and earth!--what a companion for you to choose." + +"Why not?--why shouldn't I talk to Lady Rosina De Courcy?" + +"I'm not jealous a bit, if you mean that. I don't think Lady Rosina +will steal your heart from me. But why you should pick her out of all +the people here, when there are so many would think their fortunes +made if you would only take a turn with them, I cannot imagine." + +"But I don't want to make any one's fortune," said the Duke; "and +certainly not in that way." + +"What could you be saying to her?" + +"She was talking about her family. I rather like Lady Rosina. She +is living all alone, it seems, and almost in poverty. Perhaps there +is nothing so sad in the world as the female scions of a noble but +impoverished stock." + +"Nothing so dull, certainly." + +"People are not dull to me, if they are real. I pity that poor lady. +She is proud of her blood and yet not ashamed of her poverty." + +"Whatever might come of her blood, she has been all her life willing +enough to get rid of her poverty. It isn't above three years since +she was trying her best to marry that brewer at Silverbridge. I wish +you could give your time a little to some of the other people." + +"To go and shoot arrows?" + +"No;--I don't want you to shoot arrows. You might act the part of +host without shooting. Can't you walk about with anybody except Lady +Rosina De Courcy?" + +"I was walking about with Sir Orlando Drought last Sunday, and I very +much prefer Lady Rosina." + +"There has been no quarrel?" asked the Duchess sharply. + +"Oh dear, no." + +"Of course he's an empty-headed idiot. Everybody has always known +that. And he's put above his place in the House. But it wouldn't do +to quarrel with him now." + +"I don't think I am a quarrelsome man, Cora. I don't remember at this +moment that I have ever quarrelled with anybody to your knowledge. +But I may perhaps be permitted to--" + +"Snub a man, you mean. Well, I wouldn't even snub Sir Orlando very +much, if I were you; though I can understand that it might be both +pleasant and easy." + +"I wish you wouldn't put slang phrases into my mouth, Cora. If I +think that a man intrudes upon me, I am of course bound to let him +know my opinion." + +"Sir Orlando has--intruded!" + +"By no means. He is in a position which justifies his saying many +things to me which another might not say. But then, again, he is a +man whose opinion does not go far with me, and I have not the knack +of seeming to agree with a man while I let his words pass idly by +me." + +"That is quite true, Plantagenet." + +"And, therefore, I was uncomfortable with Sir Orlando, while I was +able to sympathise with Lady Rosina." + +"What do you think of Ferdinand Lopez?" asked the Duchess, with +studied abruptness. + +"Think of Mr. Lopez! I haven't thought of him at all. Why should I +think of him?" + +"I want you to think of him. I think he's a very pleasant fellow, and +I'm sure he's a rising man." + +"You might think the latter, and perhaps feel sure of the former." + +"Very well. Then, to oblige you, I'll think the latter and feel sure +of the former. I suppose it's true that Mr. Grey is going on this +mission to Persia?" Mr. Grey was the Duke's intimate friend, and was +at this time member for the neighbouring borough of Silverbridge. + +"I think he will go. I've no doubt about it. He is to go after +Christmas." + +"And will give up his seat?" + +The Duke did not answer her immediately. It had only just been +decided,--decided by his friend himself,--that the seat should +be given up when the journey to Persia was undertaken. Mr. Grey, +somewhat in opposition to the Duke's advice, had resolved that he +could not be in Persia and do his duty in the House of Commons at the +same time. But this resolution had only now been made known to the +Duke, and he was rather puzzled to think how the Duchess had been +able to be so quick upon him. He had, indeed, kept the matter back +from the Duchess, feeling that she would have something to say about +it, which might possibly be unpleasant, as soon as the tidings should +reach her. "Yes," he said, "I think he will give up his seat. That is +his purpose, though I think it is unnecessary." + +"Let Mr. Lopez have it." + +"Mr. Lopez!" + +"Yes;--he is a clever man, a rising man, a man that is sure to do +well, and who will be of use to you. Just take the trouble to talk to +him. It is assistance of that kind that you want. You Ministers go on +shuffling the old cards till they are so worn out and dirty that one +can hardly tell the pips on them." + +"I am one of the dirty old cards myself," said the Duke. + +"That's nonsense, you know. A man who is at the head of affairs as +you are can't be included among the pack I am speaking of. What you +want is new blood, or new wood, or new metal, or whatever you may +choose to call it. Take my advice and try this man. He isn't a +pauper. It isn't money that he wants." + +"Cora, your geese are all swans." + +"That's not fair. I have never brought to you a goose yet. My swans +have been swans. Who was it brought you and your pet swan of all, Mr. +Grey, together? I won't name any names, but it is your swans have +been geese." + +"It is not for me to return a member for Silverbridge." When he said +this, she gave him a look which almost upset even his gravity, a look +which was almost the same as asking him whether he would not--"tell +that to the marines." "You don't quite understand these things, +Cora," he continued. "The influence which owners of property may have +in boroughs is decreasing every day, and there arises the question +whether a conscientious man will any longer use such influence." + +"I don't think you'd like to see a man from Silverbridge opposing you +in the House." + +"I may have to bear worse even than that." + +"Well;--there it is. The man is here and you have the opportunity of +knowing him. Of course I have not hinted at the matter to him. If +there were any Palliser wanted the borough I wouldn't say a word. +What more patriotic thing can a patron do with his borough than to +select a man who is unknown to him, not related to him, a perfect +stranger, merely for his worth?" + +"But I do not know what may be the worth of Mr. Lopez." + +"I will guarantee that," said the Duchess. Whereupon the Duke +laughed, and then left her. + +The Duchess had spoken with absolute truth when she told her husband +that she had not said a word to Mr. Lopez about Silverbridge, but it +was not long before she did say a word. On that same day she found +herself alone with him in the garden,--or so much alone as to be +able to speak with him privately. He had certainly made the best +use of his time since he had been at the Castle, having secured the +good-will of many of the ladies, and the displeasure of most of the +men. "You have never been in Parliament, I think," said the Duchess. + +"I have never even tried to get there." + +"Perhaps you dislike the idea of that kind of life." + +"No, indeed," he said. "So far from it, that I regard it as the +highest kind of life there is in England. A seat in Parliament gives +a man a status in this country which it has never done elsewhere." + +"Then why don't you try it?" + +"Because I've got into another groove. I've become essentially a city +man,--one of those who take up the trade of making money generally." + +"And does that content you?" + +"No, Duchess;--certainly not. Instead of contenting me it disgusts +me. Not but that I like the money,--only it is so insufficient a use +of one's life. I suppose I shall try to get into Parliament some day. +Seats in Parliament don't grow like blackberries on bushes." + +"Pretty nearly," said the Duchess. + +"Not in my part of the country. These good things seem to be +appointed to fall in the way of some men, and not of others. If there +were a general election going on to-morrow, I should not know how to +look for a seat." + +"They are to be found sometimes even without a general election," +said the Duchess. + +"Are you alluding to anything now?" + +"Well;--yes, I am. But I'm very discreet, and do not like to do more +than allude. I fancy that Mr. Grey, the member for Silverbridge, +is going to Persia. Mr. Grey is a Member of Parliament. Members of +Parliament ought to be in London and not in Persia. It is generally +supposed that no man in England is more prone to do what he ought to +do than Mr. Grey. Therefore, Mr. Grey will cease to be Member for +Silverbridge. That's logic; isn't it?" + +"Has your Grace any logic equally strong to prove that I can follow +him in the borough?" + +"No;--or if I have, the logic that I should use in that matter must +for the present be kept to myself." She certainly had a little +syllogism in her head as to the Duke ruling the borough, the Duke's +wife ruling the Duke, and therefore the Duke's wife ruling the +borough; but she did not think it prudent to utter this on the +present occasion. "I think it much better that men in Parliament +should be unmarried," said the Duchess. + +"But I am going to be married," said he. + +"Going to be married, are you?" + +"I have no right to say so, because the lady's father has rejected +me." Then he told her the whole story, and so told it as to secure +her entire sympathy. In telling it he never said that he was a rich +man, he never boasted that that search after wealth of which he had +spoken, had been successful; but he gave her to understand that there +was no objection to him at all on the score of money. "You may have +heard of the family," he said. + +"I have heard of the Whartons of course, and know that there is a +baronet,--but I know nothing more of them. He is not a man of large +property, I think." + +"My Miss Wharton,--the one I would fain call mine,--is the daughter +of a London barrister. He, I believe, is rich." + +"Then she will be an heiress." + +"I suppose so;--but that consideration has had no weight with me. I +have always regarded myself as the architect of my own fortune, and +have no wish to owe my material comfort to a wife." + +"Sheer love!" suggested the Duchess. + +"Yes, I think so. It's very ridiculous; is it not?" + +"And why does the rich barrister object?" + +"The rich barrister, Duchess, is an out and out old Tory, who thinks +that his daughter ought to marry no one but an English Tory. I am not +exactly that." + +"A man does not hamper his daughter in these days by politics, when +she is falling in love." + +"There are other cognate reasons. He does not like a foreigner. Now I +am an Englishman, but I have a foreign name. He does not think that a +name so grandly Saxon as Wharton should be changed to one so meanly +Latin as Lopez." + +"The lady does not object to the Latinity?" + +"I fancy not." + +"Or to the bearer of it?" + +"Ah;--there I must not boast. But in simple truth there is only the +father's ill-will between us." + +"With plenty of money on both sides?" asked the Duchess. Lopez +shrugged his shoulders. A shrug at such a time may mean anything, +but the Duchess took this shrug as signifying that the question was +so surely settled as to admit of no difficulty. "Then," said the +Duchess, "the old gentleman may as well give way at once. Of course +his daughter will be too many for him." In this way the Duchess of +Omnium became the fast friend of Ferdinand Lopez. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +St. James's Park + + +Towards the end of September Everett Wharton and Ferdinand Lopez were +in town together, and as no one else was in town,--so at least they +both professed to say,--they saw a good deal of each other. Lopez, +as we know, had spent a portion of the preceding month at Gatherum +Castle, and had made good use of his time, but Everett Wharton had +been less fortunate. He had been a little cross with his father, and +perhaps a little cross with all the Whartons generally, who did not, +he thought, make quite enough of him. In the event of "anything +happening" to that ne'er-do-well nephew, he himself would be the +heir; and he reflected not unfrequently that something very probably +might happen to the nephew. He did not often see this particular +cousin, but he always heard of him as being drunk, overwhelmed with +debt and difficulty, and altogether in that position of life in +which it is probable that something will "happen." There was always +of course the danger that the young man might marry and have a +child;--but in the meantime surely he, Everett Wharton, should have +been as much thought of on the banks of the Wye as Arthur Fletcher. +He had been asked down to Wharton Hall,--but he had been asked in a +way which he had not thought to be flattering and had declined to go. +Then there had been a plan for joining Arthur Fletcher in a certain +shooting, but that had failed in consequence of a few words between +himself and Arthur respecting Lopez. Arthur had wanted him to say +that Lopez was an unpardonable intruder,--but he had taken the part +of Lopez, and therefore, when the time came round, he had nothing +to do with the shooting. He had stayed in town till the middle of +August, and had then started by himself across the continent with +some keen intention of studying German politics; but he had found +perhaps that German politics do not manifest themselves in the +autumn, or that a foreign country cannot be well studied in +solitude,--and he had returned. + +Late in the summer, just before his father and sister had left town, +he had had some words with the old barrister. There had been a few +bills to be paid, and Everett's allowance had been insufficient. It +often was insufficient, and then ready money for his German tour +was absolutely necessary. Mr. Wharton might probably have said less +about the money had not his son accompanied his petition by a further +allusion to Parliament. "There are some fellows at last really +getting themselves together at the Progress, and of course it will +be necessary to know who will be ready to come forward at the next +general election." + +"I think I know one who won't," said the father, "judging from the +manner in which he seems at present to manage his own money affairs." +There was more severity in this than the old man had intended, for +he had often thought within his own bosom whether it would not be +well that he should encourage his son to stand for some seat. And +the money that he had now been asked to advance had not been very +much,--not more, in truth, than he expected to be called upon to pay +in addition to the modest sum which he professed to allow his son. He +was a rich man, who was not in truth made unhappy by parting with his +money. But there had been, he thought, an impudence in the conjoint +attack which it was his duty to punish. Therefore he had given his +son very little encouragement. + +"Of course, sir, if you tell me that you are not inclined to pay +anything beyond the allowance you make me, there is an end of it." + +"I rather think that you have just asked me to pay a considerable sum +beyond your allowance, and that I have consented." Everett argued the +matter no further, but he permitted his mind to entertain an idea +that he was ill-used by his father. The time would come when he +would probably be heir not only to his father's money, but also to +the Wharton title and the Wharton property,--when his position in +the country would really be, as he frequently told himself, quite +considerable. Was it possible that he should refrain from blaming +his father for not allowing him to obtain, early in life, that +parliamentary education which would fit him to be an ornament to the +House of Commons, and a safeguard to his country in future years? + +Now he and Lopez were at the Progress together, and they were almost +the only men in the club. Lopez was quite contented with his own +present sojourn in London. He had not only been at Gatherum Castle +but was going there again. And then he had brilliant hopes before +him,--so brilliant that they began, he thought, to assume the shape +of certainties. He had corresponded with the Duchess, and he had +gathered from her somewhat dubious words that the Duke would probably +accede to her wishes in the matter of Silverbridge. The vacancy had +not yet been declared. Mr. Grey was deterred, no doubt by certain +high State purposes, from applying for the stewardship of the +Chiltern Hundreds, and thereby releasing himself from his seat in +Parliament, and enabling himself to perform, with a clear conscience, +duties in a distant part of the world which he did not feel to be +compatible with that seat. The seekers after seats were, no doubt, +already on the track; but the Duchess had thought that as far as the +Duke's good word went, it might possibly be given in favour of Mr. +Lopez. The happy aspirant had taken this to be almost as good as a +promise. There were also certain pecuniary speculations on foot, +which could not be kept quite quiet even in September, as to which he +did not like to trust entirely to the unaided energy of Mr. Sextus +Parker, or to the boasted alliance of Mr. Mills Happerton. Sextus +Parker's whole heart and soul were now in the matter, but Mr. Mills +Happerton, an undoubted partner in Hunky and Sons, had blown a little +coldly on the affair. But in spite of this Ferdinand Lopez was happy. +Was it probable that Mr. Wharton should continue his opposition to +a marriage which would make his daughter the wife of a member of +Parliament and of a special friend of the Duchess of Omnium? + +He had said a word about his own prospects in reference to the +marriage, but Everett had been at first too full of his own affairs +to attend much to a matter which was comparatively so trifling. "Upon +my word," he said, "I am beginning to feel angry with the governor, +which is a kind of thing I don't like at all." + +"I can understand that when he's angry with you, you shouldn't like +it." + +"I don't mind that half so much. He'll come round. However unjust he +may be now, at the moment, he's the last man in the world to do an +injustice in his will. I have thorough confidence in him. But I find +myself driven into hostility to him by a conviction that he won't let +me take any real step in life, till my life has been half frittered +away." + +"You're thinking of Parliament." + +"Of course I am. I don't say you ain't an Englishman, but you are not +quite enough of an Englishman to understand what Parliament is to +us." + +"I hope to be,--some of these days," said Lopez. + +"Perhaps you may. I won't say but what you may get yourself educated +to it when you've been married a dozen years to an English wife, and +have half-a-dozen English children of your own. But, in the meantime, +look at my position. I am twenty-eight years old." + +"I am four years your senior." + +"It does not matter a straw to you," continued Everett. "But a few +years are everything with me. I have a right to suppose that I may be +able to represent the county,--say in twenty years. I shall probably +then be the head of the family and a rich man. Consider what a +parliamentary education would be to me! And then it is just the life +for which I have laid myself out, and in which I could make myself +useful. You don't sympathise with me, but you might understand me." + +"I do both. I think of going into the House myself." + +"You!" + +"Yes; I do." + +"You must have changed your ideas very much then within the last +month or two." + +"I have changed my ideas. My one chief object in life is, as you +know, to marry your sister; and if I were a Member of Parliament I +think that some difficulties would be cleared away." + +"But there won't be an election for the next three years at any +rate," said Everett Wharton, staring at his friend. "You don't mean +to keep Emily waiting for a dissolution?" + +"There are occasional vacancies," said Lopez. + +"Is there a chance of anything of that kind falling in your way?" + +"I think there is. I can't quite tell you all the particulars because +other people are concerned, but I don't think it improbable that I +may be in the House before--; well, say in three months' time." + +"In three months' time!" exclaimed Everett, whose mouth was watering +at the prospects of his friend. "That is what comes from going +to stay with the Prime Minister, I suppose." Lopez shrugged his +shoulders. "Upon my word I can't understand you," continued the +other. "It was only the other day you were arguing in this very room +as to the absurdity of a parliamentary career,--pitching into me, by +George, like the very mischief, because I had said something in its +favour,--and now you are going in for it yourself in some sort of +mysterious way that a fellow can't understand." It was quite clear +that Everett Wharton thought himself ill-used by his friend's +success. + +"There is no mystery;--only I can't tell people's names." + +"What is the borough?" + +"I cannot tell you that at present." + +"Are you sure there will be a vacancy?" + +"I think I am sure." + +"And that you will be invited to stand?" + +"I am not sure of that." + +"Of course anybody can stand whether invited or not." + +"If I come forward for this place I shall do so on the very best +interest. Don't mention it. I tell you because I already regard my +connection with you as being so close as to call upon me to tell you +anything of that kind." + +"And yet you do not tell me the details." + +"I tell you all that I can in honour tell." + +Everett Wharton certainly felt aggrieved by his friend's news, and +plainly showed that he did so. It was so hard that if a stray seat +in Parliament were going a-begging, it should be thrown in the way +of this man who didn't care for it, and couldn't use it to any good +purpose, instead of in his own way! Why should any one want Ferdinand +Lopez to be in Parliament? Ferdinand Lopez had paid no attention to +the great political questions of the Commonwealth. He knew nothing of +Labour and Capital, of Unions, Strikes, and Lock-outs. But because he +was rich, and, by being rich, had made his way among great people, +he was to have a seat in Parliament! As for the wealth, it might be +at his own command also,--if only his father could be got to see +the matter in a proper light. And as for the friendship of great +people,--Prime Ministers, Duchesses, and such like,--Everett Wharton +was quite confident that he was at any rate as well qualified to +shine among them as Ferdinand Lopez. He was of too good a nature to +be stirred to injustice against his friend by the soreness of this +feeling. He did not wish to rob his friend of his wealth, of his +Duchesses, or of his embryo seat in Parliament. But for the moment +there came upon him a doubt whether Ferdinand was so very clever, or +so peculiarly gentlemanlike or in any way very remarkable, and almost +a conviction that he was very far from being good-looking. + +They dined together, and quite late in the evening they strolled out +into St. James's Park. There was nobody in London, and there was +nothing for either of them to do, and therefore they agreed to walk +round the park, dark and gloomy as they knew the park would be. Lopez +had seen and had quite understood the bitterness of spirit by which +Everett had been oppressed, and with that peculiarly imperturbable +good humour which made a part of his character bore it all, even with +tenderness. He was a man, as are many of his race, who could bear +contradictions, unjust suspicions, and social ill-treatment without +a shadow of resentment, but who, if he had a purpose, could carry +it out without a shadow of a scruple. Everett Wharton had on this +occasion made himself very unpleasant, and Lopez had borne with him +as an angel would hardly have done; but should Wharton ever stand in +his friend's way, his friend would sacrifice him without compunction. +As it was, Lopez bore with him, simply noting in his own mind that +Everett Wharton was a greater ass than he had taken him to be. It was +Wharton's idea that they should walk round the park, and Lopez for a +time had discouraged the suggestion. "It is a wretchedly dark place +at night, and you don't know whom you may meet there." + +"You don't mean to say that you are afraid to walk round St. James's +Park with me, because it's dark!" said Wharton. + +"I certainly should be afraid by myself, but I don't know that I am +afraid with you. But what's the good?" + +"It's better than sitting here doing nothing, without a soul to speak +to. I've already smoked half-a-dozen cigars, till I'm so muddled I +don't know what I'm about. It's so hot one can't walk in the day, and +this is just the time for exercise." Lopez yielded, being willing to +yield in almost anything at present to the brother of Emily Wharton; +and, though the thing seemed to him to be very foolish, they entered +the park by St. James's Palace, and started to walk round it, turning +to the right and going in front of Buckingham Palace. As they went on +Wharton still continued his accusation against his father and said +also some sharp things against Lopez himself, till his companion +began to think that the wine he had drunk had been as bad as the +cigars. "I can't understand your wanting to go into Parliament," he +said. "What do you know about it?" + +"If I get there, I can learn like anybody else, I suppose." + +"Half of those who go there don't learn. They are, as it were, born +to it, and they do very well to support this party or that." + +"And why shouldn't I support this party,--or that?" + +"I don't suppose you know which party you would support,--except that +you'd vote for the Duke, if, as I suppose, you are to get in under +the Duke's influence. If I went into the House I should go with a +fixed and settled purpose of my own." + +"I'm not there yet," said Lopez, willing to drop the subject. + +"It will be a great expense to you, and will stand altogether in the +way of your profession. As far as Emily is concerned, I should think +my father would be dead against it." + +"Then he would be unreasonable." + +"Not at all, if he thought you would injure your professional +prospects. It is a d---- piece of folly; that's the long and the +short of it." + +This certainly was very uncivil, and it almost made Lopez angry. But +he had made up his mind that his friend was a little the worse for +the wine he had drunk, and therefore he did not resent even this. +"Never mind politics and Parliament now," he said, "but let us get +home. I am beginning to be sick of this. It's so awfully dark, and +whenever I do hear a step, I think somebody is coming to rob us. Let +us get on a bit." + +"What the deuce are you afraid of?" said Everett. They had then come +up the greater part of the length of the Birdcage Walk, and the +lights at Storey's Gate were just visible, but the road on which they +were then walking was very dark. The trees were black over their +head, and not a step was heard near them. At this time it was just +midnight. Now, certainly, among the faults which might be justly +attributed to Lopez, personal cowardice could not be reckoned. On +this evening he had twice spoken of being afraid, but the fear had +simply been that which ordinary caution indicates; and his object had +been that of hindering Wharton in the first place from coming into +the park, and then of getting him out of it as quickly as possible. + +"Come along," said Lopez. + +"By George, you are in a blue funk," said the other. "I can hear your +teeth chattering." Lopez, who was beginning to be angry, walked on +and said nothing. It was too absurd, he thought, for real anger, but +he kept a little in front of Wharton, intending to show that he was +displeased. "You had better run away at once," said Wharton. + +"Upon my word, I shall begin to think that you're tipsy," said Lopez. + +"Tipsy!" said the other. "How dare you say such a thing to me? You +never in your life saw me in the least altered by any thing I had +drunk." + +Lopez knew that at any rate this was untrue. "I've seen you as drunk +as Cloe before now," said he. + +"That's a lie," said Everett Wharton. + +"Come, Wharton," said the other, "do not disgrace yourself by conduct +such as that. Something has put you out, and you do not know what you +are saying. I can hardly imagine that you should wish to insult me." + +"It was you who insulted me. You said I was drunk. When you said it +you knew it was untrue." + +Lopez walked on a little way in silence, thinking over this most +absurd quarrel. Then he turned round and spoke. "This is all the +greatest nonsense I ever heard in the world. I'll go on and go to +bed, and to-morrow morning you'll think better of it. But pray +remember that under no circumstances should you call a man a liar, +unless on cool consideration you are determined to quarrel with him +for lying, and determined also to see the quarrel out." + +"I am quite ready to see this quarrel out." + +"Good night," said Lopez, starting off at a quick pace. They were +then close to the turn in the park, and Lopez went on till he had +nearly reached the park front of the new offices. As he had walked +he had listened to the footfall of his friend, and after a while +had perceived, or had thought that he had perceived, that the sound +was discontinued. It seemed to him that Wharton had altogether lost +his senses;--the insult to himself had been so determined and so +absolutely groundless! He had striven his best to conquer the man's +ill-humour by good-natured forbearance, and had only suggested that +Wharton was perhaps tipsy in order to give him some excuse. But if +his companion were really drunk, as he now began to think, could it +be right to leave him unprotected in the park? The man's manner had +been strange the whole evening, but there had been no sign of the +effect of wine till after they had left the club. But Lopez had heard +of men who had been apparently sober, becoming drunk as soon as they +got out into the air. It might have been so in this case, though +Wharton's voice and gait had not been those of a drunken man. At any +rate, he would turn back and look after him; and as he did turn back, +he resolved that whatever Wharton might say to him on this night he +would not notice. He was too wise to raise a further impediment to +his marriage by quarrelling with Emily's brother. + +As soon as he paused he was sure that he heard footsteps behind him +which were not those of Everett Wharton. Indeed, he was sure that he +heard the footsteps of more than one person. He stood still for a +moment to listen, and then he distinctly heard a rush and a scuffle. +He ran back to the spot at which he had left his friend, and at first +thought that he perceived a mob of people in the dusk. But as he got +nearer, he saw that there were a man and two women. Wharton was on +the ground, on his back, and the man was apparently kneeling on his +neck and head while the women were rifling his pockets. Lopez, hardly +knowing how he was acting, was upon them in a moment, flying in the +first place at the man, who had jumped up to meet him as he came. He +received at once a heavy blow on his head from some weapon, which, +however, his hat so far stopped as to save him from being felled or +stunned, and then he felt another blow from behind on the ear, which +he afterwards conceived to have been given him by one of the women. +But before he could well look about him, or well know how the whole +thing had happened, the man and the two women had taken to their +legs, and Wharton was standing on his feet leaning against the iron +railings. + +The whole thing had occupied a very short space of time, and yet +the effects were very grave. At the first moment Lopez looked round +and endeavoured to listen, hoping that some assistance might be +near,--some policeman, or, if not that, some wanderer by night who +might be honest enough to help him. But he could hear or see no one, +In this condition of things it was not possible for him to pursue the +ruffians, as he could not leave his friend leaning against the park +rails. It was at once manifest to him that Wharton had been much +hurt, or at any rate incapacitated for immediate exertion, by the +blows he had received;--and as he put his hand up to his own head, +from which in the scuffle his hat had fallen, he was not certain that +he was not severely hurt himself. Lopez could see that Wharton was +very pale, that his cravat had been almost wrenched from his neck by +pressure, that his waistcoat was torn open and the front of his shirt +soiled,--and he could see also that a fragment of the watch-chain was +hanging loose, showing that the watch was gone. "Are you hurt much?" +he said, coming close up and taking a tender hold of his friend's +arm. Wharton smiled and shook his head, but spoke not a word. He was +in truth more shaken, stunned, and bewildered than actually injured. +The ruffian's fist had been at his throat, twisting his cravat, and +for half a minute he had felt that he was choked. As he had struggled +while one woman pulled at his watch and the other searched for his +purse,--struggling, alas! unsuccessfully,--the man had endeavoured +to quiet him by kneeling on his chest, strangling him with his own +necktie, and pressing hard on his gullet. It is a treatment which, +after a few seconds of vigorous practice, is apt to leave the patient +for a while disconcerted and unwilling to speak. "Say a word if you +can," whispered Lopez, looking into the other man's face with anxious +eyes. + +At the moment there came across Wharton's mind a remembrance that +he had behaved very badly to his friend, and some sort of vague +misty doubt whether all this evil had not befallen him because of +his misconduct. But he knew at the same time that Lopez was not +responsible for the evil, and dismayed as he had been, still he +recalled enough of the nature of the struggle in which he had been +engaged, to be aware that Lopez had befriended him gallantly. He +could not even yet speak; but he saw the blood trickling down his +friend's temple and forehead, and lifting up his hand, touched the +spot with his fingers. Lopez also put his hand up, and drew it away +covered with blood. "Oh," said he, "that does not signify in the +least. I got a knock, I know, and I am afraid I have lost my hat, but +I'm not hurt." + +"Oh, dear!" The word was uttered with a low sigh. Then there was a +pause, during which Lopez supported the sufferer. "I thought that it +was all over with me at one moment." + +"You will be better now." + +"Oh, yes. My watch is gone!" + +"I fear it is," said Lopez. + +"And my purse," said Wharton, collecting his strength together +sufficiently to search for his treasures. "I had eight L5 notes in +it." + +"Never mind your money or your watch if your bones are not broken." + +"It's a bore all the same to lose every shilling that one has." Then +they walked very slowly away towards the steps at the Duke of York's +column, Wharton regaining his strength as he went, but still able +to progress but leisurely. Lopez had not found his hat, and, being +covered with blood, was, as far as appearances went, in a worse +plight than the other. At the foot of the steps they met a policeman, +to whom they told their story, and who, as a matter of course, +was filled with an immediate desire to arrest them both. To the +policeman's mind it was most distressing that a bloody-faced man +without a hat, with a companion almost too weak to walk, should not +be conveyed to a police-station. But after ten minutes' parley, +during which Wharton sat on the bottom step and Lopez explained all +the circumstances, he consented to get them a cab, to take their +address, and then to go alone to the station and make his report. +That the thieves had got off with their plunder was only too +manifest. Lopez took the injured man home to the house in Manchester +Square, and then returned in the same cab, hatless, to his own +lodgings. + +As he returned he applied his mind to think how he could turn the +events of the evening to his own use. He did not believe that Everett +Wharton was severely hurt. Indeed there might be a question whether +in the morning his own injury would not be the most severe. But the +immediate effect on the flustered and despoiled unfortunate one had +been great enough to justify Lopez in taking strong steps if strong +steps could in any way benefit himself. Would it be best to publish +this affair on the house-tops, or to bury it in the shade, as nearly +as it might be buried? He had determined in his own mind that his +friend certainly had been tipsy. In no other way could his conduct +be understood. And a row with a tipsy man at midnight in the park +is not, at first sight, creditable. But it could be made to have +a better appearance if told by himself, than if published from +other quarters. The old housekeeper at Manchester Square must know +something about it, and would, of course, tell what she knew, and +the loss of the money and the watch must in all probability be made +known. Before he had reached his own door he had quite made up his +mind that he himself would tell the story after his own fashion. + +And he told it, before he went to bed that night. He washed the blood +from his face and head, and cut away a part of the clotted hair, and +then wrote a letter to old Mr. Wharton at Wharton Hall. And between +three and four o'clock in the morning he went out and posted his +letter in the nearest pillar, so that it might go down by the day +mail and certainly be preceded by no other written tidings. The +letter which he sent was as follows:-- + + + DEAR MR. WHARTON, + + I regret to have to send you an account of a rather + serious accident which has happened to Everett. I am now + writing at 3 A.M., having just taken him home, and it + occurred at about midnight. You may be quite sure that + there is no danger or I should have advertised you by + telegram. + + There is nothing doing in town, and therefore, as the + night was fine, we, very foolishly, agreed to walk round + St. James's Park late after dinner. It is a kind of thing + that nobody does;--but we did it. When we had nearly got + round I was in a hurry, whereas Everett was for strolling + slowly, and so I went on before him. But I was hardly two + hundred yards in front of him before he was attacked by + three persons, a man and two women. The man I presume + came upon him from behind, but he has not sufficiently + collected his thoughts to remember exactly what occurred. + I heard the scuffle and of course turned back,--and was + luckily in time to get up before he was seriously hurt. + I think the man would otherwise have strangled him. I am + sorry to say that he lost both his watch and purse. + + He undoubtedly has been very much shaken, and altogether + "knocked out of time," as people say. Excuse the phrase, + because I think it will best explain what I want you to + understand. The man's hand at his throat must have stopped + his breathing for some seconds. He certainly has received + no permanent injury, but I should not wonder if he should + be unwell for some days. I tell you all exactly as it + occurred, as it strikes me that you may like to run up to + town for a day just to look at him. But you need not do so + on the score of any danger. Of course he will see a doctor + to-morrow. There did not seem to be any necessity for + calling one up to-night. We did give notice to the police + as we were coming home, but I fear the ruffians had ample + time for escape. He was too weak, and I was too fully + employed with him, to think of pursuing them at the time. + + Of course he is at Manchester Square. + + Most faithfully yours, + + FERDINAND LOPEZ. + + +He did not say a word about Emily, but he knew that Emily would +see the letter and would perceive that he had been the means of +preserving her brother; and, in regard to the old barrister himself, +Lopez thought that the old man could not but feel grateful for +his conduct. He had in truth behaved very well to Everett. He had +received a heavy blow on the head in young Wharton's defence,--of +which he was determined to make good use, though he had thought it +expedient to say nothing about the blow in his letter. Surely it +would all help. Surely the paternal mind would be softened towards +him when the father should be made to understand how great had been +his service to the son. That Everett would make little of what had +been done for him he did not in the least fear. Everett Wharton was +sometimes silly but was never ungenerous. + +In spite of his night's work Lopez was in Manchester Square before +nine on the following morning, and on the side of his brow he bore +a great patch of black plaster. "My head is very thick," he said +laughing, when Everett asked after his wound. "But it would have gone +badly with me if the ruffian had struck an inch lower. I suppose my +hat saved me, though I remember very little. Yes, old fellow, I have +written to your father, and I think he will come up. It was better +that it should be so." + +"There is nothing the matter with me," said Everett. + +"One didn't quite know last night whether there was or no. At any +rate his coming won't hurt you. It's always well to have your banker +near you, when your funds are low." + +Then after a pause Everett made his apology,--"I know I made a great +ass of myself last night." + +"Don't think about it." + +"I used a word I shouldn't have used, and I beg your pardon." + +"Not another word, Everett. Between you and me things can't go wrong. +We love each other too well." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +Surrender + + +The letter given in the previous chapter was received at Wharton +Hall late in the evening of the day on which it was written, and was +discussed among all the Whartons that night. Of course there was no +doubt as to the father's going up to town on the morrow. The letter +was just such a letter as would surely make a man run to his son's +bedside. Had the son written himself it would have been different; +but the fact that the letter had come from another man seemed to be +evidence that the poor sufferer could not write. Perhaps the urgency +with which Lopez had sent off his dispatch, getting his account of +the fray ready for the very early day mail, though the fray had not +taken place till midnight, did not impress them sufficiently when +they accepted this as evidence of Everett's dangerous condition. At +this conference at Wharton very little was said about Lopez, but +there was a general feeling that he had behaved well. "It was very +odd that they should have parted in the park," said Sir Alured. +"But very lucky that they should not have parted sooner," said John +Fletcher. If a grain of suspicion against Lopez might have been set +afloat in their minds by Sir Alured's suggestion, it was altogether +dissipated by John Fletcher's reply;--for everybody there knew that +John Fletcher carried common sense for the two families. Of course +they all hated Ferdinand Lopez, but nothing could be extracted from +the incident, as far as its details were yet known to them, which +could be turned to his injury. + +While they sat together discussing the matter in the drawing-room +Emily Wharton hardly said a word. She uttered a little shriek when +the account of the affair was first read to her, and then listened +with silent attention to what was said around her. When there had +seemed for a moment to be a doubt,--or rather a question, for there +had been no doubt,--whether her father should go at once to London, +she had spoken just a word. "Of course you will go, papa." After +that, she said nothing till she came to him in his own room. "Of +course I will go with you to-morrow, papa." + +"I don't think that will be necessary." + +"Oh, yes. Think how wretched I should be." + +"I would telegraph to you immediately." + +"And I shouldn't believe the telegraph. Don't you know how it always +is? Besides we have been more than the usual time. We were to go to +town in ten days, and you would not think of returning to fetch me. +Of course I will go with you. I have already begun to pack my things, +and Jane is now at it." Her father, not knowing how to oppose her, +yielded, and Emily before she went to bed had made the ladies of the +house aware that she also intended to start the next morning at eight +o'clock. + +During the first part of the journey very little was said between Mr. +Wharton and Emily. There were other persons in the carriage, and she, +though she had determined in some vague way that she would speak some +words to her father before she reached their own house, had still +wanted time to resolve what those words should be. But before she +had reached Gloucester she had made up her mind, and going on from +Gloucester she found herself for a time alone with her father. She +was sitting opposite to him, and after conversing for a while she +touched his knee with her hand. "Papa," she said, "I suppose I must +now have to meet Mr. Lopez in Manchester Square?" + +"Why should you have to meet Mr. Lopez in Manchester Square?" + +"Of course he will come there to see Everett. After what has occurred +you can hardly forbid him the house. He has saved Everett's life." + +"I don't know that he has done anything of the kind," said Mr. +Wharton, who was vacillating between different opinions. He did in +his heart believe that the Portuguese whom he so hated had saved his +son from the thieves, and he also had almost come to the conviction +that he must give his daughter to the man,--but at the same time he +could not as yet bring himself to abandon his opposition to the +marriage. + +"Perhaps you think the story is not true." + +"I don't doubt the story in the least. Of course one man sticks to +another in such an affair, and I have no doubt that Mr. Lopez behaved +as any English gentleman would." + +"Any English gentleman, papa, would have to come afterwards and see +the friend he had saved. Don't you think so?" + +"Oh, yes;--he might call." + +"And Mr. Lopez will have an additional reason for calling,--and I +know he will come. Don't you think he will come?" + +"I don't want to think anything about it," said the father. + +"But I want you to think about it, papa. Papa, I know you are not +indifferent to my happiness." + +"I hope you know it." + +"I do know it. I am quite sure of it. And therefore I don't think you +ought to be afraid to talk to me about what must concern my happiness +so greatly. As far as my own self and my own will are concerned I +consider myself given away to Mr. Lopez already. Nothing but his +marrying some other woman,--or his death,--would make me think of +myself otherwise than as belonging to him. I am not a bit ashamed of +owning my love--to you; nor to him, if the opportunity were allowed +me. I don't think there should be concealment about anything so +important between people who are dear to each other. I have told +you that I will do whatever you bid me about him. If you say that +I shall not speak to him or see him, I will not speak to him or see +him--willingly. You certainly need not be afraid that I should marry +him without your leave." + +"I am not in the least afraid of it." + +"But I think you should think over what you are doing. And I am quite +sure of this,--that you must tell me what I am to do in regard to +receiving Mr. Lopez in Manchester Square." Mr. Wharton listened +attentively to what his daughter said to him, shaking his head from +time to time as though almost equally distracted by her passive +obedience and by her passionate protestations of love; but he said +nothing. When she had completed her supplication he threw himself +back in his seat and after a while took his book. It may be doubted +whether he read much, for the question as to his girl's happiness was +quite as near his heart as she could wish it to be. + +It was late in the afternoon before they reached Manchester Square, +and they were both happy to find that they were not troubled by Mr. +Lopez at the first moment. Everett was at home and in bed, and had +not indeed as yet recovered from the effect of the man's knuckles at +his windpipe; but he was well enough to assure his father and sister +that they need not have disturbed themselves or hurried their return +from Herefordshire on his account. "To tell the truth," said he, +"Ferdinand Lopez was hurt worse than I was." + +"He said nothing of being hurt himself," said Mr. Wharton. + +"How was he hurt?" asked Emily in the quietest, stillest voice. + +"The fact is," said Everett, beginning to tell the whole story after +his own fashion, "if he hadn't been at hand then, there would have +been an end of me. We had separated, you know,--" + +"What could make two men separate from each other in the darkness of +St. James's Park?" + +"Well,--to tell the truth, we had quarrelled. I had made an ass +of myself. You need not go into that any further, except that you +should know that it was all my fault. Of course it wasn't a real +quarrel,"--when he said this Emily, who was sitting close to his +bed-head, pressed his arm under the clothes with her hand,--"but I +had said something rough, and he had gone on just to put an end to +it." + +"It was uncommonly foolish," said old Wharton. "It was very foolish +going round the park at all at that time of night." + +"No doubt, sir;--but it was my doing. And if he had not gone with me, +I should have gone alone." Here there was another pressure. "I was a +little low in spirits, and wanted the walk." + +"But how is he hurt?" asked the father. + +"The man who was kneeling on me and squeezing the life out of me +jumped up when he heard Lopez coming, and struck him over the head +with a bludgeon. I heard the blow, though I was pretty well done for +at the time myself. I don't think they hit me, but they got something +round my neck, and I was half strangled before I knew what they were +doing. Poor Lopez bled horribly, but he says he is none the worse for +it." Here there was another little pressure under the bed-clothes; +for Emily felt that her brother was pleading for her in every word +that he said. + +About ten on the following morning Lopez came and asked for Mr. +Wharton. He was shown into the study, where he found the old man, and +at once began to give his account of the whole concern in an easy, +unconcerned manner. He had the large black patch on the side of his +head, which had been so put on as almost to become him. But it was so +conspicuous as to force a question respecting it from Mr. Wharton. "I +am afraid you got rather a sharp knock yourself, Mr. Lopez?" + +"I did get a knock, certainly;--but the odd part of it is that I knew +nothing about it till I found the blood in my eyes after they had +decamped. But I lost my hat, and there is a rather long cut just +above the temple. It hasn't done me the slightest harm. The worst of +it was that they got off with Everett's watch and money." + +"Had he much money?" + +"Forty pounds!" And Lopez shook his head, thereby signifying that +forty pounds at the present moment was more than Everett Wharton +could afford to lose. Upon the whole he carried himself very well, +ingratiating himself with the father, raising no question about the +daughter, and saying as little as possible of himself. He asked +whether he could go up and see his friend, and of course was allowed +to do so. A minute before he entered the room Emily left it. They did +not see each other. At any rate he did not see her. But there was a +feeling with both of them that the other was close,--and there was +something present to them, almost amounting to conviction, that the +accident of the park robbery would be good for them. + +"He certainly did save Everett's life," Emily said to her father the +next day. + +"Whether he did or not, he did his best," said Mr. Wharton. + +"When one's dearest relation is concerned," said Emily, "and when +his life has been saved, one feels that one has to be grateful even +if it has been an accident. I hope he knows, at any rate, that I am +grateful." + +The old man had not been a week in London before he knew that he had +absolutely lost the game. Mrs. Roby came back to her house round the +corner, ostensibly with the object of assisting her relatives in +nursing Everett,--a purpose for which she certainly was not needed; +but, as the matter progressed, Mr. Wharton was not without suspicion +that her return had been arranged by Ferdinand Lopez. She took upon +herself, at any rate, to be loud in the praise of the man who had +saved the life of her "darling nephew,"--and to see that others also +should be loud in his praise. In a little time all London had heard +of the affair, and it had been discussed out of London. Down at +Gatherum Castle the matter had been known, or partly known,--but the +telling of it had always been to the great honour and glory of the +hero. Major Pountney had almost broken his heart over it, and Captain +Gunner, writing to his friend from the Curragh, had asserted his +knowledge that it was all a "got-up thing" between the two men. The +"Breakfast Table" and the "Evening Pulpit" had been loud in praise of +Lopez; but the "People's Banner," under the management of Mr. Quintus +Slide, had naturally thrown much suspicion on the incident when it +became known to the Editor that Ferdinand Lopez had been entertained +by the Duke and Duchess of Omnium. "We have always felt some slight +doubts as to the details of the affair said to have happened about a +fortnight ago, just at midnight, in St. James's Park. We should be +glad to know whether the policemen have succeeded in tracing any of +the stolen property, or whether any real attempt to trace it has been +made." This was one of the paragraphs, and it was hinted still more +plainly afterwards that Everett Wharton, being short of money, had +arranged the plan with the view of opening his father's purse. But +the general effect was certainly serviceable to Lopez. Emily Wharton +did believe him to be a hero. Everett was beyond measure grateful to +him,--not only for having saved him from the thieves, but also for +having told nothing of his previous folly. Mrs. Roby always alluded +to the matter as if, for all coming ages, every Wharton ought to +acknowledge that gratitude to a Lopez was the very first duty of +life. The old man felt the absurdity of much of this, but still it +affected him. When Lopez came he could not be rough to the man who +had done a service to his son. And then he found himself compelled +to do something. He must either take his daughter away, or he must +yield. But his power of taking his daughter away seemed to be less +than it had been. There was an air of quiet, unmerited suffering +about her, which quelled him. And so he yielded. + +It was after this fashion. Whether affected by the violence of the +attack made on him, or from other cause, Everett had been unwell +after the affair, and had kept his room for a fortnight. During this +time Lopez came to see him daily, and daily Emily Wharton had to take +herself out of the man's way, and hide herself from the man's sight. +This she did with much tact and with lady-like quietness, but not +without an air of martyrdom, which cut her father to the quick. "My +dear," he said to her one evening, as she was preparing to leave the +drawing-room on hearing his knock, "stop and see him if you like it." + +"Papa!" + +"I don't want to make you wretched. If I could have died first, and +got out of the way, perhaps it would have been better." + +"Papa, you will kill me if you speak in that way! If there is +anything to say to him, do you say it." And then she escaped. + +Well! It was an added bitterness, but no doubt it was his duty. If he +did intend to consent to the marriage, it certainly was for him to +signify that consent to the man. It would not be sufficient that he +should get out of the way and leave his girl to act for herself as +though she had no friend in the world. The surrender which he had +made to his daughter had come from a sudden impulse at the moment, +but it could not now be withdrawn. So he stood out on the staircase, +and when Lopez came up on his way to Everett's bedroom, he took +him by the arm and led him into the drawing-room. "Mr. Lopez," he +said, "you know that I have not been willing to welcome you into +my house as a son-in-law. There are reasons on my mind,--perhaps +prejudices,--which are strong against it. They are as strong now +as ever. But she wishes it, and I have the utmost reliance on her +constancy." + +"So have I," said Lopez. + +"Stop a moment, if you please, sir. In such a position a father's +thought is only as to his daughter's happiness and prosperity. It is +not his own that he should consider. I hear you well spoken of in +the outer world, and I do not know that I have a right to demand +of my daughter that she should tear you from her affections, +because--because you are not just such as I would have her husband to +be. You have my permission to see her." Then, before Lopez could say +a word, he left the room, and took his hat and hurried away to his +club. + +As he went he was aware that he had made no terms at all;--but then +he was inclined to think that no terms should be made. There seemed +to be a general understanding that Lopez was doing well in the +world,--in a profession of the working of which Mr. Wharton +himself knew absolutely nothing. He had a large fortune at his +own bestowal,--intended for his daughter,--which would have been +forthcoming at the moment and paid down on the nail, had she +married Arthur Fletcher. The very way in which the money should be +invested and tied up and made to be safe and comfortable to the +Fletcher-cum-Wharton interests generally, had been fully settled +among them. But now this other man, this stranger, this Portuguese, +had entered in upon the inheritance. But the stranger, the +Portuguese, must wait. Mr. Wharton knew himself to be an old man. +She was his child, and he would not wrong her. But she should have +her money closely settled upon herself on his death,--and on her +children, should she then have any. It should be done by his will. He +would say nothing about money to Lopez, and if Lopez should, as was +probable, ask after his daughter's fortune, he would answer to this +effect. Thus he almost resolved that he would give his daughter to +the man without any inquiry as to the man's means. The thing had to +be done, and he would take no further trouble about it. The comfort +of his life was gone. His home would no longer be a home to him. His +daughter could not now be his companion. The sooner that death came +to him the better, but till death should come he must console himself +as well as he could by playing whist at the Eldon. It was after this +fashion that Mr. Wharton thought of the coming marriage between his +daughter and her lover. + +"I have your father's consent to marry your sister," said Ferdinand +immediately on entering Everett's room. + +"I knew it must come soon," said the invalid. + +"I cannot say that it has been given in the most gracious +manner,--but it has been given very clearly. I have his express +permission to see her. Those were his last words." + +Then there was a sending of notes between the sick-room and the sick +man's sister's room. Everett wrote and Ferdinand wrote, and Emily +wrote,--short lines each of them,--a few words scrawled. The last +from Emily was as follows:--"Let him go into the drawing-room. E. W." +And so Ferdinand went down, to meet his love,--to encounter her for +the first time as her recognised future husband and engaged lover. +Passionate, declared, and thorough as was her love for this man, the +familiar intercourse between them had hitherto been very limited. +There had been little,--we may perhaps say none,--of that dalliance +between them which is so delightful to the man and so wondrous to the +girl till custom has staled the edge of it. He had never sat with his +arm round her waist. He had rarely held even her hand in his for a +happy recognised pause of a few seconds. He had never kissed even +her brow. And there she was now, standing before him, all his own, +absolutely given to him, with the fullest assurance of love on her +part, and with the declared consent of her father. Even he had been +a little confused as he opened the door,--even he, as he paused to +close it behind him, had had to think how he would address her, and +perhaps had thought in vain. But he had not a moment for any thought +after entering the room. Whether it was his doing or hers he hardly +knew; but she was in his arms, and her lips were pressed to his, and +his arm was tight round her waist, holding her close to his breast. +It seemed as though all that was wanting had been understood in a +moment, and as though they had lived together and loved for the last +twelve months with the fullest mutual confidence. And she was the +first to speak:-- + +"Ferdinand, I am so happy! Are you happy?" + +"My love; my darling!" + +"You have never doubted me, I know,--since you first knew it." + +"Doubted you, my girl!" + +"That I would be firm! And now papa has been good to me, and how +quickly one's sorrow is over. I am yours, my love, for ever and ever. +You knew it before, but I like to tell you. I will be true to you in +everything! Oh, my love!" + +He had but little to say to her, but we know that for "lovers lacking +matter, the cleanliest shift is to kiss." In such moments silence +charms, and almost any words are unsuitable except those soft, +bird-like murmurings of love which, sweet as they are to the ear, can +hardly be so written as to be sweet to the reader. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +The Marriage + + +The engagement was made in October, and the marriage took place +in the latter part of November. When Lopez pressed for an early +day,--which he did very strongly,--Emily raised no difficulties in +the way of his wishes. The father, foolishly enough, would at first +have postponed it, and made himself so unpleasant to Lopez by his +manner of doing this, that the bride was driven to take her lover's +part. As the thing was to be done, what was to be gained by delay? +It could not be made a joy to him; nor, looking at the matter as he +looked at it, could he make a joy even of her presence during the few +intervening weeks. Lopez proposed to take his bride into Italy for +the winter months, and to stay there at any rate through December +and January, alleging that he must be back in town by the beginning +of February;--and this was taken as a fair plea for hastening the +marriage. + +When the matter was settled, he went back to Gatherum Castle, as he +had arranged to do with the Duchess, and managed to interest her +Grace in all his proceedings. She promised that she would call on his +bride in town, and even went so far as to send her a costly wedding +present. "You are sure she has got money?" said the Duchess. + +"I am not sure of anything," said Lopez,--"except this, that I do +not mean to ask a single question about it. If he says nothing to +me about money, I certainly shall say nothing to him. My feeling is +this, Duchess; I am not marrying Miss Wharton for her money. The +money, if there be any, has had nothing to do with it. But of course +it will be a pleasure added if it be there." The Duchess complimented +him, and told him that this was exactly as it should be. + +But there was some delay as to the seat for Silverbridge. Mr. Grey's +departure for Persia had been postponed,--the Duchess thought only +for a month or six weeks. The Duke, however, was of opinion that +Mr. Grey should not vacate his seat till the day of his going was +at any rate fixed. The Duke, moreover, had not made any promise of +supporting his wife's favourite. "Don't set your heart upon it too +much, Mr. Lopez," the Duchess had said; "but you may be sure I will +not forget you." Then it had been settled between them that the +marriage should not be postponed, or the proposed trip to Italy +abandoned, because of the probable vacancy at Silverbridge. Should +the vacancy occur during his absence, and should the Duke consent, +he could return at once. All this occurred in the last week or two +before his marriage. + +There were various little incidents which did not tend to make the +happiness of Emily Wharton complete. She wrote to her cousin Mary +Wharton, and also to Lady Wharton;--and her father wrote to Sir +Alured; but the folk at Wharton Hall did not give in their adherence. +Old Mrs. Fletcher was still there, but John Fletcher had gone home to +Longbarns. The obduracy of the Whartons might probably be owing to +these two accidents. Mrs. Fletcher declared aloud, as soon as the +tidings reached her, that she never wished to see or hear anything +more of Emily Wharton. "She must be a girl," said Mrs. Fletcher, +"of an ingrained vulgar taste." Sir Alured, whose letter from Mr. +Wharton had been very short, replied as shortly to his cousin. "Dear +Abel,--We all hope that Emily will be happy, though of course we +regret the marriage." The father, though he had not himself written +triumphantly, or even hopefully,--as fathers are wont to write when +their daughters are given away in marriage,--was wounded by the +curtness and unkindness of the baronet's reply, and at the moment +declared to himself that he would never go to Herefordshire any more. +But on the following day there came a worse blow than Sir Alured's +single line. Emily, not in the least doubting but that her request +would be received with the usual ready assent, had asked Mary Wharton +to be one of her bridesmaids. It must be supposed that the answer to +this was written, if not under the dictation, at any rate under the +inspiration, of Mrs. Fletcher. It was as follows:-- + + + DEAR EMILY, + + Of course we all wish you to be very happy in your + marriage, but equally of course we are all disappointed. + We had taught ourselves to think that you would have bound + yourself closer with us down here, instead of separating + yourself entirely from us. + + Under all the circumstances mamma thinks it would not be + wise for me to go up to London as one of your bridesmaids. + + Your affectionate Cousin, + + MARY WHARTON. + + +This letter made poor Emily very angry for a day or two. "It is as +unreasonable as it is ill-natured," she said to her brother. + +"What else could you expect from a stiff-necked, prejudiced set of +provincial ignoramuses?" + +"What Mary says is not true. She did not think that I was going to +bind myself closer with them, as she calls it. I have been quite +open with her, and have always told her that I could not be Arthur +Fletcher's wife." + +"Why on earth should you marry to please them?" + +"Because they don't know Ferdinand they are determined to insult him. +It is an insult never to mention even his name. And to refuse to come +to my marriage! The world is wide and there is room for us and them; +but it makes me unhappy,--very unhappy,--that I should have to break +with them." And then the tears came into her eyes. It was intended, +no doubt, to be a complete breach, for not a single wedding present +was sent from Wharton Hall to the bride. But from Longbarns,--from +John Fletcher himself,--there did come an elaborate coffee-pot, +which, in spite of its inutility and ugliness, was very valuable to +Emily. + +But there was one other of her old Herefordshire friends who received +the tidings of her marriage without quarrelling with her. She herself +had written to her old lover. + + + MY DEAR ARTHUR, + + There has been so much true friendship and affection + between us that I do not like that you should hear + from any one but myself the news that I am going to be + married to Mr. Lopez. We are to be married on the 28th of + November,--this day month. + + Yours affectionately, + + EMILY WHARTON. + + +To this she received a very short reply;-- + + + DEAR EMILY, + + I am as I always have been. + + Yours, + + A. F. + + +He sent her no present, nor did he say a word to her beyond this; +but in her anger against the Herefordshire people she never included +Arthur Fletcher. She pored over the little note a score of times, and +wept over it, and treasured it up among her inmost treasures, and +told herself that it was a thousand pities. She could talk, and did +talk, to Ferdinand about the Whartons, and about old Mrs. Fletcher, +and described to him the arrogance and the stiffness and the +ignorance of the Herefordshire squirearchy generally; but she never +spoke to him of Arthur Fletcher,--except in that one narrative of her +past life, in which, girl-like, she told her lover of the one other +lover who had loved her. + +But these things of course gave a certain melancholy to the occasion +which perhaps was increased by the season of the year,--by the +November fogs, and by the emptiness and general sadness of the town. +And added to this was the melancholy of old Mr. Wharton himself. +After he had given his consent to the marriage he admitted a certain +amount of intimacy with his son-in-law, asking him to dinner, and +discussing with him matters of general interest,--but never, in +truth, opening his heart to him. Indeed, how can any man open his +heart to one whom he dislikes? At best he can only pretend to open +his heart, and even this Mr. Wharton would not do. And very soon +after the engagement Lopez left London and went to the Duke's place +in the country. His objects in doing this and his aspirations in +regard to a seat in Parliament were all made known to his future +wife,--but he said not a word on the subject to her father; and she, +acting under his instructions, was equally reticent. "He will get to +know me in time," he said to her, "and his manner will be softened +towards me. But till that time shall come, I can hardly expect him to +take a real interest in my welfare." + +When Lopez left London not a word had been said between him and his +father-in-law as to money. Mr. Wharton was content with such silence, +not wishing to make any promise as to immediate income from himself, +pretending to look at the matter as though he should say that, as his +daughter had made for herself her own bed, she must lie on it, such +as it might be. And this silence certainly suited Ferdinand Lopez at +the time. To tell the truth of him,--though he was not absolutely +penniless, he was altogether propertyless. He had been speculating +in money without capital, and though he had now and again been +successful, he had also now and again failed. He had contrived +that his name should be mentioned here and there with the names +of well-known wealthy commercial men, and had for the last twelve +months made up a somewhat intimate alliance with that very sound +commercial man, Mr. Mills Happerton. But his dealings with Mr. Sextus +Parker were in truth much more confidential than those with Mr. +Mills Happerton, and at the present moment poor Sexty Parker was +alternately between triumph and despair as things went this way or +that. + +It was not, therefore, surprising that Ferdinand Lopez should +volunteer no statements to the old lawyer about money, and that he +should make no inquiries. He was quite confident that Mr. Wharton had +the wealth which was supposed to belong to him, and was willing to +trust to his power of obtaining a fair portion of it as soon as he +should in truth be Mr. Wharton's son-in-law. Situated as he was, of +course he must run some risk. And then, too, he had spoken of himself +with a grain of truth when he had told the Duchess that he was not +marrying for money. Ferdinand Lopez was not an honest man or a good +man. He was a self-seeking, intriguing adventurer, who did not know +honesty from dishonesty when he saw them together. But he had at any +rate this good about him, that he did love the girl whom he was about +to marry. He was willing to cheat all the world,--so that he might +succeed, and make a fortune, and become a big and a rich man; but +he did not wish to cheat her. It was his ambition now to carry her +up with him, and he thought how he might best teach her to assist +him in doing so,--how he might win her to help him in his cheating, +especially in regard to her own father. For to himself, to his own +thinking, that which we call cheating was not dishonesty. To his +thinking there was something bold, grand, picturesque, and almost +beautiful in the battle which such a one as himself must wage with +the world before he could make his way up in it. He would not pick +a pocket, or turn a false card, or, as he thought, forge a name. +That which he did, and desired to do, took with him the name of +speculation. When he persuaded poor Sexty Parker to hazard his all, +knowing well that he induced the unfortunate man to believe what +was false, and to trust what was utterly untrustworthy, he did not +himself think that he was going beyond the lines of fair enterprise. +Now, in his marriage, he had in truth joined himself to real wealth. +Could he only command at once that which he thought ought to be his +wife's share of the lawyer's money, he did not doubt but that he +could make a rapid fortune. It would not do for him to seem to be +desirous of the money a day before the time;--but, when the time +should come, would not his wife help him in his great career? But +before she could do so she must be made to understand something of +the nature of that career, and of the need of such aid. + +Of course there arose the question where they should live. But he was +ready with an immediate answer to this question. He had been to look +at a flat,--a set of rooms,--in the Belgrave Mansions, in Pimlico, +or Belgravia you ought more probably to call it. He proposed to take +them furnished till they could look about at their leisure and get a +house that should suit them. Would she like a flat? She would have +liked a cellar with him, and so she told him. Then they went to look +at the flat, and old Mr. Wharton condescended to go with them. Though +his heart was not in the business, still he thought that he was bound +to look after his daughter's comfort. "They are very handsome rooms," +said Mr. Wharton, looking round upon the rather gorgeous furniture. + +"Oh, Ferdinand, are they not too grand?" said Emily. + +"Perhaps they are a little more than we quite want just at present," +he said. "But I'll tell you, sir, just how it has happened. A man I +know wanted to let them for one year, just as they are, and offered +them to me for L450,--if I could pay the money in advance, at the +moment. And so I paid it." + +"You have taken them, then?" said Mr. Wharton. + +"Is it all settled?" said Emily, almost with disappointment. + +"I have paid the money, and I have so far taken them. But it is by +no means settled. You have only to say you don't like them, and you +shall never be asked to put your foot in them again." + +"But I do like them," she whispered to him. + +"The truth is, sir, that there is not the slightest difficulty in +parting with them. So that when the chance came in my way I thought +it best to secure the thing. It had all to be done, so to say, in an +hour. My friend,--as far as he was a friend, for I don't know much +about him,--wanted the money and wanted to be off. So here they are, +and Emily can do as she likes." Of course the rooms were regarded +from that moment as the home for the next twelve months of Mr. and +Mrs. Ferdinand Lopez. + +And then they were married. The marriage was by no means a gay +affair, the chief management of it falling into the hands of Mrs. +Dick Roby. Mrs. Dick indeed provided not only the breakfast,--or +saw rather that it was provided, for of course Mr. Wharton paid the +bill,--but the four bridesmaids also, and all the company. They were +married in the church in Vere Street, then went back to the house in +Manchester Square, and within a couple of hours were on their road to +Dover. Through it all not a word was said about money. At the last +moment,--when he was free from fear as to any questions about his own +affairs,--Lopez had hoped that the old man would say something. "You +will find so many thousand pounds at your bankers';"--or, "You may +look to me for so many hundreds a year." But there was not a word. +The girl had come to him without the assurance of a single shilling. +In his great endeavour to get her he had been successful. As he +thought of this in the carriage, he pressed his arm close round her +waist. If the worst were to come to the worst, he would fight the +world for her. But if this old man should be stubborn, close-fisted, +and absolutely resolved to bestow all his money upon his son because +of this marriage,--ah!--how should he be able to bear such a wrong as +that? + +Half-a-dozen times during that journey to Dover he resolved to think +nothing further about it, at any rate for a fortnight; and yet, +before he reached Dover, he had said a word to her. "I wonder what +your father means to do about money? He never told you?" + +"Not a word." + +"It is very odd that he should never have said anything." + +"Does it matter, dear?" + +"Not in the least. But of course I have to talk about everything to +you;--and it is odd." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +The Beginning of the Honeymoon + + +On the morning of his marriage, before he went to the altar, Lopez +made one or two resolutions as to his future conduct. The first was +that he would give himself a fortnight from his marriage day in which +he would not even think of money. He had made certain arrangements, +in the course of which he had caused Sextus Parker to stare with +surprise and to sweat with dismay, but which nevertheless were +successfully concluded. Bills were drawn to run over to February, +and ready money to a moderate extent was forthcoming, and fiscal +tranquillity was insured for a certain short period. The confidence +which Sextus Parker had once felt in his friend's own resources was +somewhat on the decline, but he still believed in his friend's skill +and genius, and, after due inquiry, he believed entirely in his +friend's father-in-law. Sextus Parker still thought that things +would come round. Ferdinand,--he always now called his friend by his +Christian name,--Ferdinand was beautifully, seraphically confident. +And Sexty, who had been in a manner magnetised by Ferdinand, was +confident too--at certain periods of the day. He was very confident +when he had had his two or three glasses of sherry at luncheon, +and he was often delightfully confident with his cigar and +brandy-and-water at night. But there were periods in the morning in +which he would shake with fear and sweat with dismay. + +But Lopez himself, having with his friend's assistance arranged his +affairs comfortably for a month or two, had, as a first resolution, +promised himself a fortnight's freedom from all carking cares. His +second resolution had been that at the end of the fortnight he would +commence his operations on Mr. Wharton. Up to the last moment he had +hoped,--had almost expected,--that a sum of money would have been +paid to him. Even a couple of thousand pounds for the time would have +been of great use to him;--but no tender of any kind had been made. +Not a word had been said. Things could not of course go on in that +way. He was not going to play the coward with his father-in-law. +Then he bethought himself how he would act if his father-in-law were +sternly to refuse to do anything for him, and he assured himself that +in such circumstances he would make himself very disagreeable to his +father-in-law. And then his third resolution had reference to his +wife. She must be instructed in his ways. She must learn to look at +the world with his eyes. She must be taught the great importance +of money,--not in a griping, hard-fisted, prosaic spirit; but that +she might participate in that feeling of his own which had in it so +much that was grand, so much that was delightful, so much that was +picturesque. He would never ask her to be parsimonious,--never even +to be economical. He would take a glory in seeing her well dressed +and well attended, with her own carriage and her own jewels. But she +must learn that the enjoyment of these things must be built upon +a conviction that the most important pursuit in the world was the +acquiring of money. And she must be made to understand, first of all, +that she had a right to at any rate a half of her father's fortune. +He had perceived that she had much influence with her father, and she +must be taught to use this influence unscrupulously on her husband's +behalf. + +We have already seen that under the pressure of his thoughts he did +break his first resolution within an hour or two of his marriage. It +is easy for a man to say that he will banish care, so that he may +enjoy to the full the delights of the moment. But this is a power +which none but a savage possesses,--or perhaps an Irishman. We have +learned the lesson from the divines, the philosophers, and the poets. +Post equitem sedet atra cura. Thus was Ferdinand Lopez mounted high +on his horse,--for he had triumphed greatly in his marriage, and +really felt that the world could give him no delight so great as to +have her beside him, and her as his own. But the inky devil sat close +upon his shoulders. Where would he be at the end of three months if +Mr. Wharton would do nothing for him,--and if a certain venture in +guano, to which he had tempted Sexty Parker, should not turn out the +right way? He believed in the guano and he believed in Mr. Wharton, +but it is a terrible thing to have one's whole position in the world +hanging upon either an unwilling father-in-law or a probable rise in +the value of manure! And then how would he reconcile himself to her +if both father-in-law and guano should go against him, and how should +he endure her misery? + +The inky devil had forced him to ask the question even before they +had reached Dover. "Does it matter?" she had asked. Then for the time +he had repudiated his solicitude, and had declared that no question +of money was of much consequence to him,--thereby making his future +task with her so much the more difficult. After that he said nothing +to her on the subject on that their wedding day,--but he could not +prevent himself from thinking of it. Had he gone to the depth of ruin +without a wife, what would it have mattered? For years past he had +been at the same kind of work,--but while he was unmarried there +had been a charm in the very danger. And as a single man he had +succeeded, being sometimes utterly impecunious, but still with a +capacity of living. Now he had laden himself with a burden of which +the very intensity of his love immensely increased the weight. As for +not thinking of it, that was impossible. Of course she must help him. +Of course she must be taught how imperative it was that she should +help him at once. "Is there anything troubles you?" she said, as she +sat leaning against him after their dinner in the hotel at Dover. + +"What should trouble me on such a day as this?" + +"If there is anything, tell it me. I do not mean to say now, at this +moment,--unless you wish it. Whatever may be your troubles, it shall +be my greatest happiness, as it is my first duty, to lessen them if I +can." + +The promise was very well. It all went in the right direction. It +showed him that she was at any rate prepared to take a part in the +joint work of their life. But, nevertheless, she should be spared for +the moment. "When there is trouble, you shall be told everything," he +said, pressing his lips to her brow, "but there is nothing that need +trouble you yet." He smiled as he said this, but there was something +in the tone of his voice which told her that there would be trouble. + +When he was in Paris he received a letter from Parker, to whom he +had been obliged to intrust a running address, but from whom he had +enforced a promise that there should be no letter-writing unless +under very pressing circumstances. The circumstances had not been +pressing. The letter contained only one paragraph of any importance, +and that was due to what Lopez tried to regard as fidgety cowardice +on the part of his ally. "Please to bear in mind that I can't and +won't arrange for the bills for L1500 due 3rd February." That was +the paragraph. Who had asked him to arrange for these bills? And +yet Lopez was well aware that he intended that poor Sexty should +"arrange" for them, in the event of his failure to make arrangements +with Mr. Wharton. + +At last he was quite unable to let the fortnight pass by without +beginning the lessons which his wife had to learn. As for that first +intention as to driving his cares out of his own mind for that time, +he had long since abandoned even the attempt. It was necessary to +him that a considerable sum of money should be extracted from the +father-in-law, at any rate before the end of January, and a week or +even a day might be of importance. They had hurried on southwards +from Paris, and before the end of the first week had passed over the +Simplon, and were at a pleasant inn on the shores of Como. Everything +in their travels had been as yet delightful to Emily. This man, of +whom she knew in truth so little, had certain good gifts,--gifts of +intellect, gifts of temper, gifts of voice and manner and outward +appearance,--which had hitherto satisfied her. A husband who is also +an eager lover must be delightful to a young bride. And hitherto no +lover could have been more tender than Lopez. Every word and every +act, every look and every touch, had been loving. Had she known +the world better she might have felt, perhaps, that something was +expected where so much was given. Perhaps a rougher manner, with some +little touch of marital self-assertion, might be a safer commencement +of married life,--safer to the wife as coming from her husband. +Arthur Fletcher by this time would have asked her to bring him his +slippers, taking infinite pride in having his little behests obeyed +by so sweet a servitor. That also would have been pleasant to her had +her heart in the first instance followed his image; but now also the +idolatry of Ferdinand Lopez had been very pleasant. + +But the moment for the first lesson had come. "Your father has not +written to you since you started?" he said. + +"Not a line. He has not known our address. He is never very good at +letter-writing. I did write to him from Paris, and I scribbled a few +words to Everett yesterday." + +"It is very odd that he should never have written to me." + +"Did you expect him to write?" + +"To tell you the truth, I rather did. Not that I should have dreamed +of his corresponding with me had he spoken to me on a certain +subject. But as, on that subject, he never opened his mouth to me, I +almost thought he would write." + +"Do you mean about money?" she asked in a very low voice. + +"Well;--yes; I do mean about money. Things hitherto have gone so very +strangely between us. Sit down, dear, till we have a real domestic +talk." + +"Tell me everything," she said, as she nestled herself close to his +side. + +"You know how it was at first between him and me. He objected to me +violently,--I mean openly, to my face. But he based his objection +solely on my nationality,--nationality and blood. As to my condition +in the world, fortune, or income, he never asked a word. That was +strange." + +"I suppose he thought he knew." + +"He could not have thought he knew, dearest. But it was not for me to +force the subject upon him. You can see that." + +"I am sure whatever you did was right, Ferdinand." + +"He is indisputably a rich man,--one who might be supposed to be able +and willing to give an only daughter a considerable fortune. Now I +certainly had never thought of marrying for money." Here she rubbed +her face upon his arm. "I felt that it was not for me to speak of +money. If he chose to be reticent, I could be so equally. Had he +asked me, I should have told him that I had no fortune, but was +making a large though precarious income. It would then be for him +to declare what he intended to do. That would, I think, have been +preferable. As it is we are all in doubt. In my position a knowledge +of what your father intends to do would be most valuable to me." + +"Should you not ask him?" + +"I believe there has always been a perfect confidence between you and +him?" + +"Certainly,--as to all our ways of living. But he never said a word +to me about money in his life." + +"And yet, my darling, money is most important." + +"Of course it is. I know that, Ferdinand." + +"Would you mind asking?" She did not answer him at once, but sat +thinking. And he also paused before he went on with his lesson. +But, in order that the lesson should be efficacious, it would be as +well that he should tell her as much as he could even at this first +lecture. "To tell you the truth, this is quite essential to me at +present,--very much more than I had thought it would be when we fixed +the day for our marriage." Her mind within her recoiled at this, +though she was very careful that he should not feel any such motion +in her body. "My business is precarious." + +"What is your business, Ferdinand?" Poor girl! That she should have +been allowed to marry a man, and then have to ask such a question! + +"It is generally commercial. I buy and sell on speculation. The +world, which is shy of new words, has not yet given it a name. I am +a good deal at present in the South American trade." She listened, +but received no glimmering of an idea from his words. "When we were +engaged everything was as bright as roses with me." + +"Why did you not tell me this before,--so that we might have been +more prudent?" + +"Such prudence would have been horrid to me. But the fact is that +I should not now have spoken to you at all, but that since we left +England I have had letters from a sort of partner of mine. In our +business things will go astray sometimes. It would be of great +service to me if I could learn what are your father's intentions." + +"You want him to give you some money at once." + +"It would not be unusual, dear,--when there is money to be given. But +I want you specially to ask him what he himself would propose to do. +He knows already that I have taken a home for you and paid for it, +and he knows--. But it does not signify going into that." + +"Tell me everything." + +"He is aware that there are many expenses. Of course if he were a +poor man there would not be a word about it. I can with absolute +truth declare that had he been penniless it would have made no +difference as to my suit to you. But it would possibly have made some +difference as to our after plans. He is a thorough man of the world, +and he must know all that. I am sure he must feel that something is +due to you,--and to me as your husband. But he is odd-tempered, and, +as I have not spoken to him, he chooses to be silent to me. Now, my +darling, you and I cannot afford to wait to see who can be silent the +longest." + +"What do you want me to do?" + +"To write to him." + +"And ask him for money?" + +"Not exactly in that way. I think you should say that we should be +glad to know what he intends to do, also saying that a certain sum of +money would at present be of use to me." + +"Would it not be better from you? I only ask, Ferdinand. I never have +even spoken to him about money, and of course he would know that you +had dictated what I said." + +"No doubt he would. It is natural that I should do so. I hope the +time may come when I may write quite freely to your father myself, +but hitherto he has hardly been courteous to me. I would rather that +you should write,--if you do not mind it. Write your own letter, and +show it me. If there is anything too much or anything too little I +will tell you." + +And so the first lesson was taught. The poor young wife did not at +all like the lesson. Even within her own bosom she found no fault +with her husband. But she began to understand that the life before +her was not to be a life of roses. The first word spoken to her in +the train, before it reached Dover, had explained something of this +to her. She had felt at once that there would be trouble about money. +And now, though she did not at all understand what might be the +nature of those troubles, though she had derived no information +whatever from her husband's hints about the South American trade, +though she was as ignorant as ever of his affairs, yet she felt that +the troubles would come soon. But never for a moment did it seem to +her that he had been unjust in bringing her into troubled waters. +They had loved each other, and therefore, whatever might be the +troubles, it was right that they should marry each other. There was +not a spark of anger against him in her bosom;--but she was unhappy. + +He demanded from her the writing of the letter almost immediately +after the conversation which has been given above, and of course the +letter was written,--written and recopied, for the paragraph about +the money was, of course, at last of his wording. And she could not +make the remainder of the letter pleasant. The feeling that she was +making a demand for money on her father ran through it all. But the +reader need only see the passage in which Ferdinand Lopez made his +demand,--through her hand. + +"Ferdinand has been speaking to me about my fortune." It had gone +much against the grain with her to write these words, "my fortune." +"But I have no fortune," she said. He insisted however, explaining +to her that she was entitled to use these words by her father's +undoubted wealth. And so, with an aching heart, she wrote them. +"Ferdinand has been speaking to me about my fortune. Of course, I +told him that I knew nothing, and that as he had never spoken to +me about money before our marriage, I had never asked about it. He +says that it would be of great service to him to know what are your +intentions; and also that he hopes you may find it convenient to +allow him to draw upon you for some portion of it at present. He says +that L3000 would be of great use to him in his business." That was +the paragraph, and the work of writing it was so distasteful to her +that she could hardly bring herself to form the letters. It seemed +as though she were seizing the advantage of the first moment of her +freedom to take a violent liberty with her father. + +"It is altogether his own fault, my pet," he said to her. "I have the +greatest respect in the world for your father, but he has allowed +himself to fall into the habit of keeping all his affairs secret from +his children; and, of course, as they go out into the world, this +secrecy must in some degree be invaded. There is precisely the same +thing going on between him and Everett; only Everett is a great deal +rougher to him than you are likely to be. He never will let Everett +know whether he is to regard himself as a rich man or a poor man." + +"He gives him an allowance." + +"Because he cannot help himself. To you he does not do even as much +as that, because he can help himself. I have chosen to leave it to +him and he has done nothing. But this is not quite fair, and he must +be told so. I don't think he could be told in more dutiful language." + +Emily did not like the idea of telling her father anything which he +might not like to hear; but her husband's behests were to her in +these, her early married days, quite imperative. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +The End of the Honeymoon + + +Mrs. Lopez had begged her father to address his reply to her at +Florence, where,--as she explained to him,--they expected to find +themselves within a fortnight from the date of her writing. They +had reached the lake about the end of November, when the weather +had still been fine, but they intended to pass the winter months +of December and January within the warmth of the cities. That +intervening fortnight was to her a period of painful anticipation. +She feared to see her father's handwriting, feeling almost sure that +he would be bitterly angry with her. During this time her husband +frequently spoke to her about the letter,--about her own letter and +her father's expected reply. It was necessary that she should learn +her lesson, and she could only do so by having the subject of money +made familiar to her ears. It was not a part of his plan to tell her +anything of the means by which he hoped to make himself a wealthy +man. The less she knew of that the better. But the fact that her +father absolutely owed to him a large amount of money as her fortune +could not be made too clear to her. He was very desirous to do this +in such a manner as not to make her think that he was accusing +her,--or that he would accuse her if the money were not forthcoming. +But she must learn the fact, and must be imbued with the conviction +that her husband would be the most ill-treated of men unless the +money were forthcoming. "I am a little nervous about it too," said +he, alluding to the expected letter;--"not so much as to the money +itself, though that is important; but as to his conduct. If he +chooses simply to ignore us after our marriage he will be behaving +very badly." She had no answer to make to this. She could not defend +her father, because by doing so she would offend her husband. And yet +her whole life-long trust in her father could not allow her to think +it possible that he should behave ill to them. + +On their arrival at Florence he went at once to the post-office, but +there was as yet no letter. The fortnight, however, which had been +named had only just run itself out. They went on from day to day +inspecting buildings, looking at pictures, making for themselves +a taste in marble and bronze, visiting the lovely villages which +cluster on the hills round the city,--doing precisely in this respect +as do all young married couples who devote a part of their honeymoon +to Florence;--but in all their little journeyings and in all their +work of pleasure the inky devil sat not only behind him but behind +her also. The heavy care of life was already beginning to work +furrows on her face. She would already sit, knitting her brow, as she +thought of coming troubles. Would not her father certainly refuse? +And would not her husband then begin to be less loving and less +gracious to herself? + +Every day for a week he called at the post-office when he went out +with her, and still the letter did not come. "It can hardly be +possible," he said at last to her, "that he should decline to answer +his own daughter's letter." + +"Perhaps he is ill," she replied. + +"If there were anything of that kind Everett would tell us." + +"Perhaps he has gone back to Herefordshire?" + +"Of course his letter would go after him. I own it is very singular +to me that he should not write. It looks as though he were determined +to cast you off from him altogether because you have married against +his wishes." + +"Not that, Ferdinand;--do not say that!" + +"Well; we shall see." + +And on the next day they did see. He went to the post-office before +breakfast, and on this day he returned with a letter in his hand. +She was sitting waiting for him with a book in her lap, and saw the +letter at once. "Is it from papa?" she said. He nodded his head as +he handed it to her. "Open it and read it, Ferdinand. I have got +to be so nervous about it, that I cannot do it. It seems to be so +important." + +"Yes;--it is important," he said with a grim smile, and then he +opened the letter. She watched his face closely as he read it, and at +first she could tell nothing from it. Then, in that moment, it first +occurred to her that he had a wonderful command of his features. All +this, however, lasted but half a minute. Then he chucked the letter, +lightly, in among the tea-cups, and coming to her took her closely in +his arms and almost hurt her by the violence of his repeated kisses. + +"Has he written kindly?" she said, as soon as she could find her +breath to speak. + +"By George, he's a brick after all. I own I did not think it. My +darling, how much I owe you for all the trouble I have given you." + +"Oh, Ferdinand! if he has been good to you I shall be so happy." + +"He has been awfully good. Ha, ha, ha!" And then he began walking +about the room as he laughed in an unnatural way. "Upon my word it is +a pity we didn't say four thousand, or five. Think of his taking me +just at my word. It's a great deal better than I expected; that's all +I can say. And at the present moment it is of the utmost importance +to me." + +All this did not take above a minute or two, but during that minute +or two she had been so bewildered by his manner as almost to fancy +that the expressions of his delight had been ironical. He had been +so unlike himself as she had known him that she almost doubted the +reality of his joy. But when she took the letter and read it, she +found that his joy was true enough. The letter was very short, and +was as follows:-- + + + MY DEAR EMILY, + + What you have said under your husband's instruction about + money, I find upon consideration to be fair enough. I + think he should have spoken to me before his marriage; but + then again perhaps I ought to have spoken to him. As it + is, I am willing to give him the sum he requires, and I + will pay L3000 to his account, if he would tell me where + he would have it lodged. Then I shall think I have done + my duty by him. What I shall do with the remainder of any + money that I may have, I do not think he is entitled to + ask. + + Everett is well again, and as idle as ever. Your aunt Roby + is making a fool of herself at Harrogate. I have heard + nothing from Herefordshire. Everything is very quiet and + lonely here. + + Your affectionate father, + + A. WHARTON. + + +As he had dined at the Eldon every day since his daughter had left +him, and had played on an average a dozen rubbers of whist daily, he +was not justified in complaining of the loneliness of London. + +The letter seemed to Emily herself to be very cold, and had not her +husband rejoiced over it so warmly she would have considered it to be +unsatisfactory. No doubt the L3000 would be given; but that, as far +as she could understand her father's words, was to be the whole of +her fortune. She had never known anything of her father's affairs or +of his intentions, but she had certainly supposed that her fortune +would be very much more than this. She had learned in some indirect +way that a large sum of money would have gone with her hand to +Arthur Fletcher, could she have brought herself to marry that +suitor favoured by her family. And now, having learned, as she had +learned, that money was of vital importance to her husband, she was +dismayed at what seemed to her to be parental parsimony. But he was +overjoyed,--so much so that for a while he lost that restraint over +himself which was habitual to him. He ate his breakfast in a state of +exultation, and talked,--not alluding specially to this L3000,--as +though he had the command of almost unlimited means. He ordered a +carriage and drove her out, and bought presents for her,--things +as to which they had both before decided that they should not be +bought because of the expense. "Pray don't spend your money for me," +she said to him. "It is nice to have you giving me things, but it +would be nicer to me even than that to think that I could save you +expense." + +But he was not in a mood to be denied. "You don't understand," he +said. "I don't want to be saved from little extravagances of this +sort. Owing to circumstances, your father's money was at this moment +of importance to me;--but he has answered to the whip and the money +is there, and that trouble is over. We can enjoy ourselves now. Other +troubles will spring up, no doubt, before long." + +She did not quite like being told that her father had "answered to +the whip,"--but she was willing to believe that it was a phrase +common among men to which it would be prudish to make objection. +There was, also, something in her husband's elation which was +distasteful to her. Could it be that reverses of fortune with +reference to moderate sums of money, such as this which was now +coming into his hands, would always affect him in the same way? Was +it not almost unmanly, or at any rate was it not undignified? And yet +she tried to make the best of it, and lent herself to his holiday +mood as well as she was able. "Shall I write and thank papa?" she +said that evening. + +"I have been thinking of that," he said. "You can write if you like, +and of course you will. But I also will write, and had better do so +a post or two before you. As he has come round I suppose I ought to +show myself civil. What he says about the rest of his money is of +course absurd. I shall ask him nothing about it, but no doubt after a +bit he will make permanent arrangements." Everything in the business +wounded her more or less. She now perceived that he regarded this +L3000 only as the first instalment of what he might get, and that his +joy was due simply to this temporary success. And then he called her +father absurd to her face. For a moment she thought that she would +defend her father; but she could not as yet bring herself to question +her husband's words even on such a subject as that. + +He did write to Mr. Wharton, but in doing so he altogether laid aside +that flighty manner which for a while had annoyed her. He thoroughly +understood that the wording of the letter might be very important to +him, and he took much trouble with it. It must be now the great work +of his life to ingratiate himself with this old man, so that, at any +rate at the old man's death, he might possess at least half of the +old man's money. He must take care that there should be no division +between his wife and her father of such a nature as to make the +father think that his son ought to enjoy any special privilege of +primogeniture or of male inheritance. And if it could be so managed +that the daughter should, before the old man's death, become his +favourite child, that also would be well. He was therefore very +careful about the letter, which was as follows:-- + + + MY DEAR MR. WHARTON, + + I cannot let your letter to Emily pass without thanking + you myself for the very liberal response made by you to + what was of course a request from myself. Let me in the + first place assure you that had you, before our marriage, + made any inquiry about my money affairs, I would have told + you everything with accuracy; but as you did not do so + I thought that I should seem to intrude upon you, if I + introduced the subject. It is too long for a letter, but + whenever you may like to allude to it, you will find that + I will be quite open with you. + + I am engaged in business which often requires the use of + a considerable amount of capital. It has so happened that + even since we were married the immediate use of a sum of + money became essential to me to save me from sacrificing a + cargo of guano which will be of greatly increased value in + three months' time, but which otherwise must have gone for + what it would now fetch. Your kindness will see me through + that difficulty. + + Of course there is something precarious in such a + business as mine;--but I am endeavouring to make it less + so from day to day, and hope very shortly to bring it + into that humdrum groove which best befits a married man. + Should I ask further assistance from you in doing this, + perhaps you will not refuse it if I can succeed in making + the matter clear to you. As it is I thank you sincerely + for what you have done. I will ask you to pay the L3000 + you have so kindly promised, to my account at Messrs. + Hunky and Sons, Lombard Street. They are not regular + bankers, but I have an account there. + + We are wandering about and enjoying ourselves mightily in + the properly romantic manner. Emily sometimes seems to + think that she would like to give up business, and London, + and all sublunary troubles, in order that she might settle + herself for life under an Italian sky. But the idea does + not generally remain with her very long. Already she is + beginning to show symptoms of home sickness in regard to + Manchester Square. + + Yours always most faithfully, + + FERDINAND LOPEZ. + + +To this letter Lopez received no reply;--nor did he expect one. +Between Emily and her father a few letters passed, not very long; +nor, as regarded those from Mr. Wharton, were they very interesting. +In none of them, however, was there any mention of money. But early +in January Lopez received a most pressing,--we might almost say an +agonising letter from his friend Parker. The gist of the letter +was to make Lopez understand that Parker must at once sell certain +interests in a coming cargo of guano,--at whatever sacrifice,--unless +he could be certified as to that money which must be paid in +February, and which he, Parker, must pay, should Ferdinand Lopez be +at that moment unable to meet his bond. The answer sent to Parker +shall be given to the reader. + + + MY DEAR OLD AWFULLY SILLY, AND ABSURDLY IMPATIENT FRIEND, + + You are always like a toad under a harrow, and that + without the slightest cause. I have money lying at Hunky's + more than double enough for the bills. Why can't you trust + a man? If you won't trust me in saying so, you can go to + Mills Happerton and ask him. But, remember, I shall be + very much annoyed if you do so,--and that such an inquiry + cannot but be injurious to me. If, however, you won't + believe me, you can go and ask. At any rate, don't meddle + with the guano. We should lose over L1000 each of us, if + you were to do so. By George, a man should neither marry, + nor leave London for a day, if he has to do with a fellow + so nervous as you are. As it is I think I shall be back + a week or two before my time is properly up, lest you + and one or two others should think that I have levanted + altogether. + + I have no hesitation in saying that more fortunes are lost + in business by trembling cowardice than by any amount of + imprudence or extravagance. My hair stands on end when you + talk of parting with guano in December because there are + bills which have to be met in February. Pluck up your + heart, man, and look around, and see what is done by men + with good courage. + + Yours always, + + FERDINAND LOPEZ. + + +These were the only communications between our married couple and +their friends at home with which I need trouble my readers. Nor need +I tell any further tales of their honeymoon. If the time was not one +of complete and unalloyed joy to Emily,--and we must fear that it +was not,--it is to be remembered that but very little complete and +unalloyed joy is allowed to sojourners in this vale of tears, even +though they have been but two months married. In the first week in +February they appeared in the Belgrave mansion, and Emily Lopez took +possession of her new home with a heart as full of love for her +husband as it had been when she walked out of the church in Vere +Street, though it may be that some of her sweetest illusions had +already been dispelled. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +The Duke's Misery + + +We must go back for a while to Gatherum Castle and see the guests +whom the Duchess had collected there for her Christmas festivities. +The hospitality of the Duke's house had been maintained almost +throughout the autumn. Just at the end of October they went to +Matching, for what the Duchess called a quiet month,--which, however, +at the Duke's urgent request became six weeks. But even here the +house was full all the time, though from deficiency of bedrooms the +guests were very much less numerous. But at Matching the Duchess had +been uneasy and almost cross. Mrs. Finn had gone with her husband to +Ireland, and she had taught herself to fancy that she could not live +without Mrs. Finn. And her husband had insisted upon having round +him politicians of his own sort, men who really preferred work to +archery, or even to hunting, and who discussed the evils of direct +taxation absolutely in the drawing-room. The Duchess was assured +that the country could not be governed by the support of such men as +these, and was very glad to get back to Gatherum,--whither also came +Phineas Finn with his wife, and the St. Bungay people, and Barrington +Erle, and Mr. Monk, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with Lord and +Lady Cantrip, and Lord and Lady Drummond,--Lord Drummond being the +only representative of the other or coalesced party. And Major +Pountney was there, having been urgent with the Duchess,--and having +fully explained to his friend Captain Gunner that he had acceded to +the wishes of his hostess only on the assurance of her Grace that +the house would not be again troubled by the presence of Ferdinand +Lopez. Such assurances were common between the two friends, but were +innocent, as, of course, neither believed the other. And Lady Rosina +was again there,--with many others. The melancholy poverty of Lady +Rosina had captivated the Duke. "She shall come and live here, if you +like," the Duchess had said in answer to a request from her husband +on his new friend's behalf,--"I've no doubt she will be willing." The +place was not crowded as it had been before; but still about thirty +guests sat down to dinner daily, and Locock, Millepois, and Mrs. +Pritchard were all kept hard at work. Nor was our Duchess idle. +She was always making up the party,--meaning the coalition,--doing +something to strengthen the buttresses, writing little letters +to little people, who, little as they were, might become big by +amalgamation. "One has always to be binding one's fagot," she said to +Mrs. Finn, having read her Aesop not altogether in vain. "Where should +we have been without you?" she had whispered to Sir Orlando Drought +when that gentleman was leaving Gatherum at the termination of his +second visit. She had particularly disliked Sir Orlando, and was +aware that her husband had on this occasion been hardly as gracious +as he should have been, in true policy, to so powerful a colleague. +Her husband had been peculiarly shy of Sir Orlando since the day +on which they had walked together in the park,--and, consequently, +the Duchess had whispered to him. "Don't bind your fagot too +conspicuously," Mrs. Finn had said to her. Then the Duchess had +fallen to a seat almost exhausted by labour, mingled with regrets, +and by the doubts which from time to time pervaded even her audacious +spirit. "I'm not a god," she said, "or a Pitt, or an Italian with a +long name beginning with M., that I should be able to do these things +without ever making a mistake. And yet they must be done. And as for +him,--he does not help me in the least. He wanders about among the +clouds of the multiplication table, and thinks that a majority will +drop into his mouth because he does not shut it. Can you tie the +fagot any better?" "I think I would leave it untied," said Mrs. Finn. +"You would not do anything of the kind. You'd be just as fussy as I +am." And thus the game was carried on at Gatherum Castle from week to +week. + +"But you won't leave him?" This was said to Phineas Finn by his wife +a day or two before Christmas, and the question was intended to ask +whether Phineas thought of giving up his place. + +"Not if I can help it." + +"You like the work." + +"That has but little to do with the question, unfortunately. I +certainly like having something to do. I like earning money." + +"I don't know why you like that especially," said the wife, laughing. + +"I do at any rate,--and, in a certain sense, I like authority. But in +serving with the Duke I find a lack of that sympathy which one should +have with one's chief. He would never say a word to me unless I spoke +to him. And when I do speak, though he is studiously civil,--much +too courteous,--I know that he is bored. He has nothing to say to me +about the country. When he has anything to communicate, he prefers to +write a minute for Warburton, who then writes to Morton,--and so it +reaches me." + +"Doesn't it do as well?" + +"It may do with me. There are reasons which bind me to him, which +will not bind other men. Men don't talk to me about it, because +they know that I am bound to him through you. But I am aware of the +feeling which exists. You can't be really loyal to a king if you +never see him,--if he be always locked up in some almost divine +recess." + +"A king may make himself too common, Phineas." + +"No doubt. A king has to know where to draw the line. But the Duke +draws no intentional line at all. He is not by nature gregarious or +communicative, and is therefore hardly fitted to be the head of a +ministry." + +"It will break her heart if anything goes wrong." + +"She ought to remember that Ministries seldom live very long," said +Phineas. "But she'll recover even if she does break her heart. She is +too full of vitality to be much repressed by any calamity. Have you +heard what is to be done about Silverbridge?" + +"The Duchess wants to get it for this man, Ferdinand Lopez." + +"But it has not been promised yet?" + +"The seat is not vacant," said Mrs. Finn, "and I don't know when it +will be vacant. I think there is a hitch about it,--and I think the +Duchess is going to be made very angry." + +Throughout the autumn the Duke had been an unhappy man. While the +absolute work of the Session had lasted he had found something +to console him; but now, though he was surrounded by private +secretaries, and though dispatch-boxes went and came twice a day, +though there were dozens of letters as to which he had to give some +instruction,--yet, there was in truth nothing for him to do. It +seemed to him that all the real work of the Government had been +filched from him by his colleagues, and that he was stuck up in +pretended authority,--a kind of wooden Prime Minister, from whom no +real ministration was demanded. His first fear had been that he was +himself unfit;--but now he was uneasy, fearing that others thought +him to be unfit. There was Mr. Monk with his budget, and Lord +Drummond with his three or four dozen half rebellious colonies, and +Sir Orlando Drought with the House to lead and a ship to build, and +Phineas Finn with his scheme of municipal Home Rule for Ireland, and +Lord Ramsden with a codified Statute Book,--all full of work, all +with something special to be done. But for him,--he had to arrange +who should attend the Queen, what ribbons should be given away, and +what middle-aged young man should move the address. He sighed as he +thought of those happy days in which he used to fear that his mind +and body would both give way under the pressure of decimal coinage. + +But Phineas Finn had read the Duke's character rightly in saying that +he was neither gregarious nor communicative, and therefore but little +fitted to rule Englishmen. He had thought that it was so himself, +and now from day to day he was becoming more assured of his own +deficiency. He could not throw himself into cordial relations with +the Sir Orlando Droughts, or even with the Mr. Monks. But, though he +had never wished to be put into his present high office, now that +he was there he dreaded the sense of failure which would follow his +descent from it. It is this feeling rather than genuine ambition, +rather than the love of power or patronage or pay, which induces men +to cling to place. The absence of real work, and the quantity of mock +work, both alike made the life wearisome to him; but he could not +endure the idea that it should be written in history that he had +allowed himself to be made a faineant Prime Minister, and then had +failed even in that. History would forget what he had done as a +working Minister in recording the feebleness of the Ministry which +would bear his name. + +The one man with whom he could talk freely, and from whom he could +take advice, was now with him, here at his Castle. He was shy at +first even with the Duke of St. Bungay, but that shyness he could +generally overcome, after a few words. But though he was always sure +of his old friend's sympathy and of his old friend's wisdom, yet he +doubted his old friend's capacity to understand himself. The young +Duke felt the old Duke to be thicker-skinned than himself and +therefore unable to appreciate the thorns which so sorely worried his +own flesh. "They talk to me about a policy," said the host. They were +closeted at this time in the Prime Minister's own sanctum, and there +yet remained an hour before they need dress for dinner. + +"Who talks about a policy?" + +"Sir Orlando Drought especially." For the Duke of Omnium had never +forgotten the arrogance of that advice given in the park. + +"Sir Orlando is of course entitled to speak, though I do not know +that he is likely to say anything very well worth the hearing. What +is his special policy?" + +"If he had any, of course, I would hear him. It is not that he wants +any special thing to be done, but he thinks that I should get up some +special thing in order that Parliament may be satisfied." + +"If you wanted to create a majority that might be true. Just listen +to him and have done with it." + +"I cannot go on in that way. I cannot submit to what amounts to +complaint from the gentlemen who are acting with me. Nor would they +submit long to my silence. I am beginning to feel that I have been +wrong." + +"I don't think you have been wrong at all." + +"A man is wrong if he attempts to carry a weight too great for his +strength." + +"A certain nervous sensitiveness, from which you should free yourself +as from a disease, is your only source of weakness. Think about your +business as a shoemaker thinks of his. Do your best, and then let +your customers judge for themselves. Caveat emptor. A man should +never endeavour to price himself, but should accept the price which +others put on him,--only being careful that he should learn what that +price is. Your policy should be to keep your government together by a +strong majority. After all, the making of new laws is too often but +an unfortunate necessity laid on us by the impatience of the people. +A lengthened period of quiet and therefore good government with a +minimum of new laws would be the greatest benefit the country could +receive. When I recommended you to comply with the Queen's behest I +did so because I thought that you might inaugurate such a period more +certainly than any other one man." This old Duke was quite content +with a state of things such as he described. He had been a Cabinet +Minister for more than half his life. He liked being a Cabinet +Minister. He thought it well for the country generally that his party +should be in power,--and if not his party in its entirety, then as +much of his party as might be possible. He did not expect to be +written of as a Pitt or a Somers, but he thought that memoirs would +speak of him as a useful nobleman,--and he was contented. He was +not only not ambitious himself, but the effervescence and general +turbulence of ambition in other men was distasteful to him. Loyalty +was second nature to him, and the power of submitting to defeat +without either shame or sorrow had become perfect with him by +long practice. He would have made his brother Duke such as he was +himself,--had not his brother Duke been so lamentably thin-skinned. + +"I suppose we must try it for another Session?" said the Duke of +Omnium with a lachrymose voice. + +"Of course we must,--and for others after that, I both hope and +trust," said the Duke of St. Bungay, getting up. "If I don't go +up-stairs I shall be late, and then her Grace will look at me with +unforgiving eyes." + +On the following day after lunch the Prime Minister took a walk with +Lady Rosina De Courcy. He had fallen into a habit of walking with +Lady Rosina almost every day of his life, till the people in the +Castle began to believe that Lady Rosina was the mistress of some +deep policy of her own. For there were many there who did in truth +think that statecraft could never be absent from a minister's mind, +day or night. But in truth Lady Rosina chiefly made herself agreeable +to the Prime Minister by never making any most distant allusion +to public affairs. It might be doubted whether she even knew that +the man who paid her so much honour was the Head of the British +Government as well as the Duke of Omnium. She was a tall, thin, +shrivelled-up old woman,--not very old, fifty perhaps, but looking +at least ten years more,--very melancholy, and sometimes very cross. +She had been notably religious, but that was gradually wearing off as +she advanced in years. The rigid strictness of Sabbatarian practice +requires the full energy of middle life. She had been left entirely +alone in the world, with a very small income, and not many friends +who were in any way interested in her existence. But she knew herself +to be Lady Rosina De Courcy, and felt that the possession of that +name ought to be more to her than money and friends, or even than +brothers and sisters. "The weather is not frightening you," said the +Duke. Snow had fallen, and the paths, even where they had been swept, +were wet and sloppy. + +"Weather never frightens me, your Grace. I always have thick +boots;--I am very particular about that;--and cork soles." + +"Cork soles are admirable." + +"I think I owe my life to cork soles," said Lady Rosina +enthusiastically. "There is a man named Sprout in Silverbridge who +makes them. Did your Grace ever try him for boots?" + +"I don't think I ever did," said the Prime Minister. + +"Then you had better. He's very good and very cheap too. Those London +tradesmen never think they can charge you enough. I find I can wear +Sprout's boots the whole winter through and then have them resoled. I +don't suppose you ever think of such things?" + +"I like to have my feet dry." + +"I have got to calculate what they cost." They then passed Major +Pountney, who was coming and going between the stables and the house, +and who took off his hat and who saluted the host and his companion +with perhaps more flowing courtesy than was necessary. "I never have +found out what that gentleman's name is yet," said Lady Rosina. + +"Pountney, I think. I believe they call him Major Pountney." + +"Oh, Pountney! There are Pountneys in Leicestershire. Perhaps he is +one of them?" + +"I don't know where he comes from," said the Duke,--"nor, to tell +the truth, where he goes to." Lady Rosina looked up at him with an +interested air. "He seems to be one of those idle men who get into +people's houses heaven knows why, and never do anything." + +"I suppose you asked him?" said Lady Rosina. + +"The Duchess did, I dare say." + +"How odd it would be if she were to suppose that you had asked him." + +"The Duchess, no doubt, knows all about it." Then there was a little +pause. "She is obliged to have all sorts of people," said the Duke +apologetically. + +"I suppose so,--when you have so many coming and going. I am sorry +to say that my time is up to-morrow, so that I shall make way for +somebody else." + +"I hope you won't think of going, Lady Rosina,--unless you are +engaged elsewhere. We are delighted to have you." + +"The Duchess has been very kind, but--" + +"The Duchess, I fear, is almost too much engaged to see as much of +her guests individually as she ought to do. To me your being here is +a great pleasure." + +"You are too good to me,--much too good. But I shall have stayed +out my time, and I think, Duke, I will go to-morrow. I am very +methodical, you know, and always act by rule. I have walked my two +miles now, and I will go in. If you do want boots with cork soles +mind you go to Sprout's. Dear me; there is that Major Pountney again. +That is four times he has been up and down that path since we have +been walking here." + +Lady Rosina went in, and the Duke turned back, thinking of his friend +and perhaps thinking of the cork soles of which she had to be so +careful and which were so important to her comfort. It could not be +that he fancied Lady Rosina to be clever, nor can we imagine that her +conversation satisfied any of those wants to which he and all of us +are subject. But nevertheless he liked Lady Rosina, and was never +bored by her. She was natural, and she wanted nothing from him. When +she talked about cork soles she meant cork soles. And then she did +not tread on any of his numerous corns. As he walked on he determined +that he would induce his wife to persuade Lady Rosina to stay a +little longer at the Castle. In meditating upon this he made another +turn in the grounds, and again came upon Major Pountney as that +gentleman was returning from the stables. "A very cold afternoon," he +said, feeling it to be ungracious to pass one of his own guests in +his own grounds without a word of salutation. + +"Very cold indeed, your Grace,--very cold." The Duke had intended +to pass on, but the Major managed to stop him by standing in the +pathway. The Major did not in the least know his man. He had heard +that the Duke was shy, and therefore thought that he was timid. He +had not hitherto been spoken to by the Duke,--a condition of things +which he attributed to the Duke's shyness and timidity. But, with +much thought on the subject, he had resolved that he would have a few +words with his host, and had therefore passed backwards and forwards +between the house and the stables rather frequently. "Very cold, +indeed, but yet we've had beautiful weather. I don't know when I have +enjoyed myself so much altogether as I have at Gatherum Castle." +The Duke bowed, and made a little but a vain effort to get on. "A +splendid pile!" said the Major, stretching his hand gracefully +towards the building. + +"It is a big house," said the Duke. + +"A noble mansion;--perhaps the noblest mansion in the three +kingdoms," said Major Pountney. "I have seen a great many of the +best country residences in England, but nothing that at all equals +Gatherum." Then the Duke made a little effort at progression, but +was still stopped by the daring Major. "By-the-by, your Grace, if +your Grace has a few minutes to spare,--just half a minute,--I wish +you would allow me to say something." The Duke assumed a look of +disturbance, but he bowed and walked on, allowing the Major to walk +by his side. "I have the greatest possible desire, my Lord Duke, to +enter public life." + +"I thought you were already in the army," said the Duke. + +"So I am;--was on Sir Bartholomew Bone's staff in Canada for two +years, and have seen as much of what I call home service as any man +going. One of my chief objects is to take up the army." + +"It seems that you have taken it up." + +"I mean in Parliament, your Grace. I am very fairly off as regards +private means, and would stand all the racket of the expense of a +contest myself,--if there were one. But the difficulty is to get a +seat, and, of course, if it can be privately managed, it is very +comfortable." The Duke looked at him again,--this time without +bowing. But the Major, who was not observant, rushed on to his +destruction. "We all know that Silverbridge will soon be vacant. Let +me assure your Grace that if it might be consistent with your Grace's +plans in other respects to turn your kind countenance towards me, +you would find that you would have a supporter than whom none would +be more staunch, and perhaps I may say, one who in the House would +not be the least useful!" That portion of the Major's speech which +referred to the Duke's kind countenance had been learned by heart, +and was thrown trippingly off the tongue with a kind of twang. The +Major had perceived that he had not been at once interrupted when +he began to open the budget of his political aspirations, and had +allowed himself to indulge in pleasing auguries. "Nothing ask and +nothing have," had been adopted as the motto of his life, and +more than once he had expressed to Captain Gunner his conviction +that,--"By George, if you've only cheek enough, there is nothing you +cannot get." On this emergency the Major certainly was not deficient +in cheek. "If I might be allowed to consider myself your Grace's +candidate, I should indeed be a happy man," said the Major. + +"I think, sir," said the Duke, "that your proposition is the most +unbecoming and the most impertinent that ever was addressed to me." +The Major's mouth fell, and he stared with all his eyes as he looked +up into the Duke's face. "Good afternoon," said the Duke, turning +quickly round and walking away. The Major stood for a while +transfixed to the place, and, cold as was the weather, was bathed in +perspiration. A keen sense of having "put his foot into it" almost +crushed him for a time. Then he assured himself that, after all, the +Duke "could not eat him," and with that consolatory reflection he +crept back to the house and up to his own room. + +To put the man down had of course been an easy task to the Duke, but +he was not satisfied with that. To the Major it seemed that the Duke +had passed on with easy indifference;--but in truth he was very far +from being easy. The man's insolent request had wounded him at many +points. It was grievous to him that he should have as a guest in his +own house a man whom he had been forced to insult. It was grievous +to him that he himself should not have been held in personal respect +high enough to protect him from such an insult. It was grievous to +him that he should be openly addressed,--addressed by an absolute +stranger,--as a borough-mongering lord, who would not scruple to give +away a seat in Parliament as seats were given away in former days. +And it was especially grievous to him that all these misfortunes +should have come upon him as a part of the results of his wife's +manner of exercising his hospitality. If this was to be Prime +Minister he certainly would not be Prime Minister much longer! +Had any aspirant to political life ever dared so to address Lord +Brock, or Lord De Terrier, or Mr. Mildmay, the old Premiers whom he +remembered? He thought not. They had managed differently. They had +been able to defend themselves from such attacks by personal dignity. +And would it have been possible that any man should have dared so to +speak to his uncle, the late Duke? He thought not. As he shut himself +up in his own room he grieved inwardly with a deep grief. After a +while he walked off to his wife's room, still perturbed in spirit. +The perturbation had indeed increased from minute to minute. He would +rather give up politics altogether and shut himself up in absolute +seclusion than find himself subject to the insolence of any Pountney +that might address him. With his wife he found Mrs. Finn. Now for +this lady personally he entertained what for him was a warm regard. +In various matters of much importance he and she had been brought +together, and she had, to his thinking, invariably behaved well. And +an intimacy had been established which had enabled him to be at ease +with her,--so that her presence was often a comfort to him. But at +the present moment he had not wished to find any one with his wife, +and felt that she was in his way. "Perhaps I am disturbing you," he +said in a tone of voice that was solemn and almost funereal. + +"Not at all," said the Duchess, who was in high spirits. "I want to +get your promise now about Silverbridge. Don't mind her. Of course +she knows everything." To be told that any body knew everything was +another shock to him. "I have just got a letter from Mr. Lopez." +Could it be right that his wife should be corresponding on such a +subject with a person so little known as this Mr. Lopez? "May I tell +him that he shall have your interest when the seat is vacant?" + +"Certainly not," said the Duke, with a scowl that was terrible even +to his wife. "I wished to speak to you, but I wished to speak to you +alone." + +"I beg a thousand pardons," said Mrs. Finn, preparing to go. + +"Don't stir, Marie," said the Duchess; "he is going to be cross." + +"If Mrs. Finn will allow me, with every feeling of the most perfect +respect and sincerest regard, to ask her to leave me with you for +a few minutes, I shall be obliged. And if, with her usual hearty +kindness, she will pardon my abruptness--" Then he could not go on, +his emotion being too great; but he put out his hand, and taking hers +raised it to his lips and kissed it. The moment had become too solemn +for any further hesitation as to the lady's going. The Duchess for a +moment was struck dumb, and Mrs. Finn, of course, left the room. + +"In the name of heaven, Plantagenet, what is the matter?" + +"Who is Major Pountney?" + +"Who is Major Pountney! How on earth should I know? He is--Major +Pountney. He is about everywhere." + +"Do not let him be asked into any house of mine again. But that is a +trifle." + +"Anything about Major Pountney must, I should think, be a trifle. +Have tidings come that the heavens are going to fall? Nothing short +of that could make you so solemn." + +"In the first place, Glencora, let me ask you not to speak to me +again about the seat for Silverbridge. I am not at present prepared +to argue the matter with you, but I have resolved that I will know +nothing about the election. As soon as the seat is vacant, if it +should be vacated, I shall take care that my determination be known +in Silverbridge." + +"Why should you abandon your privileges in that way? It is sheer +weakness." + +"The interference of any peer is unconstitutional." + +"There is Braxon," said the Duchess energetically, "where the Marquis +of Crumber returns the member regularly, in spite of all their Reform +bills; and Bamford, and Cobblersborough;--and look at Lord Lumley +with a whole county in his pocket, not to speak of two boroughs! What +nonsense, Plantagenet! Anything is constitutional, or anything is +unconstitutional, just as you choose to look at it." It was clear +that the Duchess had really studied the subject carefully. + +"Very well, my dear, let it be nonsense. I only beg to assure you +that it is my intention, and I request you to act accordingly. And +there is another thing I have to say to you. I shall be sorry to +interfere in any way with the pleasure which you may derive from +society, but as long as I am burdened with the office which has been +imposed upon me, I will not again entertain any guests in my own +house." + +"Plantagenet!" + +"You cannot turn the people out who are here now; but I beg that they +may be allowed to go as the time comes, and that their places may not +be filled by further invitations." + +"But further invitations have gone out ever so long ago, and have +been accepted. You must be ill, my dear." + +"Ill at ease,--yes. At any rate let none others be sent out." Then +he remembered a kindly purpose which he had formed early in the day, +and fell back upon that. "I should, however, be glad if you would +ask Lady Rosina De Courcy to remain here." The Duchess stared at him, +really thinking now that something was amiss with him. "The whole +thing is a failure and I will have no more of it. It is degrading +me." Then without allowing her a moment in which to answer him, he +marched back to his own room. + +But even here his spirit was not as yet at rest. That Major must +not go unpunished. Though he hated all fuss and noise he must do +something. So he wrote as follows to the Major:-- + + + The Duke of Omnium trusts that Major Pountney will not + find it inconvenient to leave Gatherum Castle shortly. + Should Major Pountney wish to remain at the Castle over + the night, the Duke of Omnium hopes that he will not + object to be served with his dinner and with his breakfast + in his own room. A carriage and horses will be ready for + Major Pountney's use, to take him to Silverbridge, as soon + as Major Pountney may express to the servants his wish to + that effect. + + Gatherum Castle, -- December, 18--. + + +This note the Duke sent by the hands of his own servant, having said +enough to the man as to the carriage and the possible dinner in the +Major's bedroom, to make the man understand almost exactly what had +occurred. A note from the Major was brought to the Duke while he was +dressing. The Duke having glanced at the note threw it into the fire; +and the Major that evening eat his dinner at the Palliser Arms Inn at +Silverbridge. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +The Duchess Is Much Troubled + + +It is hardly possible that one man should turn another out of his +house without many people knowing it; and when the one person is a +Prime Minister and the other such a Major as Major Pountney, the +affair is apt to be talked about very widely. The Duke of course +never opened his mouth on the subject, except in answer to questions +from the Duchess; but all the servants knew it. "Pritchard tells me +that you have sent that wretched man out of the house with a flea in +his ear," said the Duchess. + +"I sent him out of the house, certainly." + +"He was hardly worth your anger." + +"He is not at all worth my anger;--but I could not sit down to dinner +with a man who had insulted me." + +"What did he say, Plantagenet? I know it was something about +Silverbridge." To this question the Duke gave no answer, but in +respect to Silverbridge he was stern as adamant. Two days after the +departure of the Major it was known to Silverbridge generally that in +the event of there being an election the Duke's agent would not as +usual suggest a nominee. There was a paragraph on the subject in the +County paper, and another in the London "Evening Pulpit." The Duke of +Omnium,--that he might show his respect to the law, not only as to +the letter of the law, but as to the spirit also,--had made it known +to his tenantry in and round Silverbridge generally that he would +in no way influence their choice of a candidate in the event of +an election. But these newspapers did not say a word about Major +Pountney. + +The clubs of course knew all about it, and no man at any club ever +knew more than Captain Gunner. Soon after Christmas he met his friend +the Major on the steps of the new military club, The Active Service, +which was declared by many men in the army to have left all the other +military clubs "absolutely nowhere." "Halloa, Punt!" he said, "you +seem to have made a mess of it at last down at the Duchess's." + +"I wonder what you know about it." + +"You had to come away pretty quick, I take it." + +"Of course I came away pretty quick." So much as that the Major was +aware must be known. There were details which he could deny safely, +as it would be impossible that they should be supported by evidence, +but there were matters which must be admitted. "I'll bet a fiver that +beyond that you know nothing about it." + +"The Duke ordered you off, I take it." + +"After a fashion he did. There are circumstances in which a man +cannot help himself." This was diplomatical, because it left the +Captain to suppose that the Duke was the man who could not help +himself. + +"Of course I was not there," said Gunner, "and I can't absolutely +know, but I suppose you had been interfering with the Duchess about +Silverbridge. Glencora will bear a great deal,--but since she has +taken up politics, by George, you had better not touch her there." At +last it came to be believed that the Major had been turned out by the +order of the Duchess, because he had ventured to put himself forward +as an opponent to Ferdinand Lopez, and the Major felt himself really +grateful to his friend the Captain for this arrangement of the +story. And there came at last to be mixed up with the story some +half-understood innuendo that the Major's jealousy against Lopez +had been of a double nature,--in reference both to the Duchess and +the borough,--so that he escaped from much of that disgrace which +naturally attaches itself to a man who has been kicked out of another +man's house. There was a mystery;--and when there is a mystery a man +should never be condemned. Where there is a woman in the case a man +cannot be expected to tell the truth. As for calling out or in any +way punishing the Prime Minister, that of course was out of the +question. And so it went on till at last the Major was almost proud +of what he had done, and talked about it willingly with mysterious +hints, in which practice made him perfect. + +But with the Duchess the affair was very serious, so much so that +she was driven to call in advice,--not only from her constant friend, +Mrs. Finn, but afterwards from Barrington Erle, from Phineas Finn, +and lastly even from the Duke of St. Bungay, to whom she was hardly +willing to subject herself, the Duke being the special friend of +her husband. But the matter became so important to her that she was +unable to trifle with it. At Gatherum the expulsion of Major Pountney +soon became a forgotten affair. When the Duchess learned the truth +she quite approved of the expulsion, only hinting to Barrington +Erle that the act of kicking out should have been more absolutely +practical. And the loss of Silverbridge, though it hurt her sorely, +could be endured. She must write to her friend Ferdinand Lopez, when +the time should come, excusing herself as best she might, and must +lose the exquisite delight of making a Member of Parliament out of +her own hand. The newspapers, however, had taken that matter up in +the proper spirit, and political capital might to some extent be +made of it. The loss of Silverbridge, though it bruised, broke +no bones. But the Duke had again expressed himself with unusual +sternness respecting her ducal hospitalities, and had reiterated the +declaration of his intention to live out the remainder of his period +of office in republican simplicity. "We have tried it and it has +failed, and let there be an end of it," he said to her. Simple and +direct disobedience to such an order was as little in her way as +simple or direct obedience. She knew her husband well, and knew how +he could be managed and how he could not be managed. When he declared +that there should be an "end of it,"--meaning an end of the very +system by which she hoped to perpetuate his power,--she did not dare +to argue with him. And yet he was so wrong! The trial had been no +failure. The thing had been done and well done, and had succeeded. +Was failure to be presumed because one impertinent puppy had found +his way into the house? And then to abandon the system at once, +whether it had failed or whether it had succeeded, would be to call +the attention of all the world to an acknowledged failure,--to a +failure so disreputable that its acknowledgment must lead to the +loss of everything! It was known now,--so argued the Duchess to +herself,--that she had devoted herself to the work of cementing and +consolidating the Coalition by the graceful hospitality which the +wealth of herself and her husband enabled her to dispense. She had +made herself a Prime Ministress by the manner in which she opened +her saloons, her banqueting halls, and her gardens. It had never +been done before, and now it had been well done. There had been no +failure. And yet everything was to be broken down because his nerves +had received a shock! + +"Let it die out," Mrs. Finn had said. "The people will come here and +will go away, and then, when you are up in London, you will soon fall +into your old ways." But this did not suit the new ambition of the +Duchess. She had so fed her mind with daring hopes that she could not +bear that it should "die out." She had arranged a course of things in +her own mind by which she should come to be known as the great Prime +Minister's wife; and she had, perhaps unconsciously, applied the +epithet more to herself than to her husband. She, too, wished to be +written of in memoirs, and to make a niche for herself in history. +And now she was told that she was to let it "die out!" + +"I suppose he is a little bilious," Barrington Erle had said. "Don't +you think he'll forget all about it when he gets up to London?" The +Duchess was sure that her husband would not forget anything. He never +did forget anything. "I want him to be told," said the Duchess, "that +everybody thinks that he is doing very well. I don't mean about +politics exactly, but as to keeping the party together. Don't you +think that we have succeeded?" Barrington Erle thought that upon the +whole they had succeeded; but suggested at the same time that there +were seeds of weakness. "Sir Orlando and Sir Timothy Beeswax are not +sound, you know," said Barrington Erle. "He can't make them sounder +by shutting himself up like a hermit," said the Duchess. Barrington +Erle, who had peculiar privileges of his own, promised that if he +could by any means make an occasion, he would let the Duke know that +their side of the Coalition was more than contented with the way in +which he did his work. + +"You don't think we've made a mess of it?" she said to Phineas, +asking him a question. "I don't think that the Duke has made a mess +of it,--or you," said Phineas, who had come to love the Duchess +because his wife loved her. "But it won't go on for ever, Duchess." +"You know what I've done," said the Duchess, who took it for granted +that Mr. Finn knew all that his wife knew. "Has it answered?" Phineas +was silent for a moment. "Of course you will tell me the truth. You +won't be so bad as to flatter me now that I am so much in earnest." +"I almost think," said Phineas, "that the time has gone by for what +one may call drawing-room influences. They used to be very great. +Old Lord Brock used them extensively, though by no means as your +Grace has done. But the spirit of the world has changed since then." +"The spirit of the world never changes," said the Duchess, in her +soreness. + +But her strongest dependence was on the old Duke. The party at the +Castle was almost broken up when she consulted him. She had been so +far true to her husband as not to ask another guest to the house +since his command;--but they who had been asked before came and went +as had been arranged. Then, when the place was nearly empty, and when +Locock and Millepois and Pritchard were wondering among themselves at +this general collapse, she asked her husband's leave to invite their +old friend again for a day or two. "I do so want to see him, and I +think he'll come," said the Duchess. The Duke gave his permission +with a ready smile,--not because the proposed visitor was his own +confidential friend, but because it suited his spirit to grant such +a request as to any one after the order that he had given. Had she +named Major Pountney, I think he would have smiled and acceded. + +The Duke came, and to him she poured out her whole soul. "It has +been for him and for his honour that I have done it;--that men and +women might know how really gracious he is, and how good. Of course, +there has been money spent, but he can afford it without hurting +the children. It has been so necessary that with a Coalition people +should know each other! There was some little absurd row here. A man +who was a mere nobody, one of the travelling butterfly men that fill +up spaces and talk to girls, got hold of him and was impertinent. He +is so thin-skinned that he could not shake the creature into the dust +as you would have done. It annoyed him,--that, and, I think, seeing +so many strange faces,--so that he came to me and declared, that as +long as he remained in office he would not have another person in the +house, either here or in London. He meant it literally, and he meant +me to understand it literally. I had to get special leave before I +could ask so dear an old friend as your Grace." + +"I don't think he would object to me," said the Duke, laughing. + +"Of course not. He was only too glad to think you would come. But +he took the request as being quite the proper thing. It will kill me +if this is to be carried out. After all that I have done, I could +show myself nowhere. And it will be so injurious to him! Could not +you tell him, Duke? No one else in the world can tell him but you. +Nothing unfair has been attempted. No job has been done. I have +endeavoured to make his house pleasant to people, in order that they +might look upon him with grace and favour. Is that wrong? Is that +unbecoming a wife?" + +The old Duke patted her on the head as though she were a little girl, +and was more comforting to her than her other counsellors. He would +say nothing to her husband now;--but they must both be up in London +at the meeting of Parliament, and then he would tell his friend that, +in his opinion, no sudden change should be made. "This husband of +yours is a very peculiar man," he said, smiling. "His honesty is not +like the honesty of other men. It is more downright;--more absolutely +honest; less capable of bearing even the shadow which the stain from +another's dishonesty might throw upon it. Give him credit for all +that, and remember that you cannot find everything combined in the +same person. He is very practical in some things, but the question +is, whether he is not too scrupulous to be practical in all things." +At the close of the interview the Duchess kissed him and promised to +be guided by him. The occurrences of the last few weeks had softened +the Duchess much. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +The Two Candidates for Silverbridge + + +On his arrival in London Ferdinand Lopez found a letter waiting for +him from the Duchess. This came into his hand immediately on his +reaching the rooms in Belgrave Mansions, and was of course the first +object of his care. "That contains my fate," he said to his wife, +putting his hand down upon the letter. He had talked to her much of +the chance that had come in his way, and had shown himself to be very +ambitious of the honour offered to him. She of course had sympathised +with him, and was willing to think all good things both of the +Duchess and of the Duke, if they would between them put her husband +into Parliament. He paused a moment, still holding the letter under +his hand. "You would hardly think that I should be such a coward that +I don't like to open it," he said. + +"You've got to do it." + +"Unless I make you do it for me," he said, holding out the letter to +her. "You will have to learn how weak I am. When I am really anxious +I become like a child." + +"I do not think you are ever weak," she said, caressing him. "If +there were a thing to be done you would do it at once. But I'll open +it if you like." Then he tore off the envelope with an air of comic +importance and stood for a few minutes while he read it. + +"What I first perceive is that there has been a row about it," he +said. + +"A row about it! What sort of a row?" + +"My dear friend the Duchess has not quite hit it off with my less +dear friend the Duke." + +"She does not say so?" + +"Oh dear, no! My friend the Duchess is much too discreet for +that;--but I can see that it has been so." + +"Are you to be the new member? If that is arranged I don't care a bit +about the Duke and Duchess." + +"These things do not settle themselves quite so easily as that. I am +not to have the seat at any rate without fighting for it. There's the +letter." + +The Duchess's letter to her new adherent shall be given, but it must +first be understood that many different ideas had passed through the +writer's mind between the writing of the letter and the order given +by the Prime Minister to his wife concerning the borough. She of +course became aware at once that Mr. Lopez must be informed that she +could not do for him what she had suggested that she would do. But +there was no necessity of writing at the instant. Mr. Grey had not +yet vacated the seat, and Mr. Lopez was away on his travels. The +month of January was passed in comparative quiet at the Castle, and +during that time it became known at Silverbridge that the election +would be open. The Duke would not even make a suggestion, and would +neither express, nor feel, resentment should a member be returned +altogether hostile to his Ministry. By degrees the Duchess accustomed +herself to this condition of affairs, and as the consternation caused +by her husband's very imperious conduct wore off, she began to ask +herself whether even yet she need quite give up the game. She could +not make a Member of Parliament altogether out of her own hand, +as she had once fondly hoped she might do; but still she might do +something. She would in nothing disobey her husband, but if Mr. +Lopez were to stand for Silverbridge, it could not but be known in +the borough that Mr. Lopez was her friend. Therefore she wrote the +following letter:-- + + + Gatherum, -- January, 18--. + + MY DEAR MR. LOPEZ, + + I remember that you said that you would be home at this + time, and therefore I write to you about the borough. + Things are changed since you went away, and, I fear, not + changed for your advantage. + + We understand that Mr. Grey will apply for the Chiltern + Hundreds at the end of March, and that the election will + take place in April. No candidate will appear as favoured + from hence. We used to run a favourite, and our favourite + would sometimes win,--would sometimes even have a walk + over; but those good times are gone. All the good times + are going, I think. There is no reason that I know why you + should not stand as well as any one else. You can be early + in the field;--because it is only now known that there + will be no Gatherum interest. And I fancy it has already + leaked out that you would have been the favourite if there + had been a favourite;--which might be beneficial. + + I need hardly say that I do not wish my name to be + mentioned in the matter. + + Sincerely yours, + + GLENCORA OMNIUM. + + Sprugeon, the ironmonger, would, I do not doubt, be proud + to nominate you. + + +"I don't understand much about it," said Emily. + +"I dare say not. It is not meant that any novice should understand +much about it. Of course you will not mention her Grace's letter." + +"Certainly not." + +"She intends to do the very best she can for me. I have no doubt that +some understrapper from the Castle has had some communication with +Mr. Sprugeon. The fact is that the Duke won't be seen in it, but that +the Duchess does not mean that the borough shall quite slip through +their fingers." + +"Shall you try it?" + +"If I do I must send an agent down to see Mr. Sprugeon on the sly, +and the sooner I do so the better. I wonder what your father will say +about it?" + +"He is an old Conservative." + +"But would he not like his son-in-law to be in Parliament?" + +"I don't know that he would care about it very much. He seems always +to laugh at people who want to get into Parliament. But if you have +set your heart upon it, Ferdinand--" + +"I have not set my heart on spending a great deal of money. When I +first thought of Silverbridge the expense would have been almost +nothing. It would have been a walk over, as the Duchess calls it. But +now there will certainly be a contest." + +"Give it up if you cannot afford it." + +"Nothing venture nothing have. You don't think your father would help +me in doing it? It would add almost as much to your position as to +mine." Emily shook her head. She had always heard her father ridicule +the folly of men who spent more than they could afford in the vanity +of writing two letters after their name, and she now explained that +it had always been so with him. "You would not mind asking him," he +said. + +"I will ask him if you wish it, certainly." Ever since their marriage +he had been teaching her,--intentionally teaching her,--that it would +be the duty of both of them to get all they could from her father. +She had learned the lesson, but it had been very distasteful to her. +It had not induced her to think ill of her husband. She was too much +engrossed with him, too much in love with him for that. But she was +beginning to feel that the world in general was hard and greedy +and uncomfortable. If it was proper that a father should give his +daughter money when she was married, why did not her father do so +without waiting to be asked? And yet, if he were unwilling to do so, +would it not be better to leave him to his pleasure in the matter? +But now she began to perceive that her father was to be regarded as +a milch cow, and that she was to be the dairy-maid. Her husband at +times would become terribly anxious on the subject. On receiving +the promise of L3000 he had been elated, but since that he had +continually talked of what more her father ought to do for them. + +"Perhaps I had better take the bull by the horns," he said, "and do +it myself. Then I shall find out whether he really has our interest +at heart, or whether he looks on you as a stranger because you've +gone away from him." + +"I don't think he will look upon me as a stranger." + +"We'll see," said Lopez. + +It was not long before he made the experiment. He had called himself +a coward as to the opening of the Duchess's letter, but he had +in truth always courage for perils of this nature. On the day of +their arrival they dined with Mr. Wharton in Manchester Square, and +certainly the old man had received his daughter with great delight. +He had been courteous also to Lopez, and Emily, amidst the pleasure +of his welcome, had forgotten some of her troubles. The three were +alone together, and when Emily had asked after her brother, Mr. +Wharton had laughed and said that Everett was an ass. "You have not +quarrelled with him?" she said. He ridiculed the idea of any quarrel, +but again said that Everett was an ass. + +After dinner Mr. Wharton and Lopez were left together, as the old +man, whether alone or in company, always sat for an hour sipping +port wine after the manner of his forefathers. Lopez had already +determined that he would not let the opportunity escape him, and +began his attack at once. "I have been invited, sir," he said with +his sweetest smile, "to stand for Silverbridge." + +"You too!" said Mr. Wharton. But, though there was a certain amount +of satire in the exclamation, it had been good-humoured satire. + +"Yes, sir. We all get bit sooner or later, I suppose." + +"I never was bit." + +"Your sagacity and philosophy have been the wonder of the world, sir. +There can be no doubt that in my profession a seat in the House would +be of the greatest possible advantage to me. It enables a man to do a +great many things which he could not touch without it." + +"It may be so. I don't know anything about it." + +"And then it is a great honour." + +"That depends on how you get it, and how you use it;--very much also +on whether you are fit for it." + +"I shall get it honestly if I do get it. I hope I may use it well. +And as for my fitness, I must leave that to be ascertained when I am +there. I am sorry to say there will probably be a contest." + +"I suppose so. A seat in Parliament without a contest does not drop +into every young man's mouth." + +"It very nearly dropped into mine." Then he told his father-in-law +almost all the particulars of the offer which had been made him, +and of the manner in which the seat was now suggested to him. He +somewhat hesitated in the use of the name of the Duchess, leaving an +impression on Mr. Wharton that the offer had in truth come from the +Duke. "Should there be a contest, would you help me?" + +"In what way? I could not canvass at Silverbridge, if you mean that." + +"I was not thinking of giving you personal trouble." + +"I don't know a soul in the place. I shouldn't know that there was +such a place except that it returns a member of Parliament." + +"I meant with money, sir." + +"To pay the election bills! No; certainly not. Why should I?" + +"For Emily's sake." + +"I don't think it would do Emily any good, or you either. It would +certainly do me none. It is a kind of luxury that a man should not +attempt to enjoy unless he can afford it easily." + +"A luxury!" + +"Yes, a luxury; just as much as a four-in-hand coach or a yacht. +Men go into Parliament because it gives them fashion, position, and +power." + +"I should go to serve my country." + +"Success in your profession I thought you said was your object. Of +course you must do as you please. If you ask me for advice, I advise +you not to try it. But certainly I will not help you with money. That +ass Everett is quarrelling with me at this moment because I won't +give him money to go and stand somewhere." + +"Not at Silverbridge!" + +"I'm sure I can't say. But don't let me do him an injury. To give him +his due, he is more reasonable than you, and only wants a promise +from me that I will pay electioneering bills for him at the next +general election. I have refused him,--though for reasons which I +need not mention I think him better fitted for Parliament than you. +I must certainly also refuse you. I cannot imagine any circumstances +which would induce me to pay a shilling towards getting you into +Parliament. If you won't drink any more wine, we'll join Emily +upstairs." + +This had been very plain speaking, and by no means comfortable to +Lopez. What of personal discourtesy there had been in the lawyer's +words,--and they had not certainly been flattering,--he could throw +off from him as meaning nothing. As he could not afford to quarrel +with his father-in-law, he thought it probable that he might +have to bear a good deal of incivility from the old man. He was +quite prepared to bear it as long as he could see a chance of a +reward;--though, should there be no such chance, he would be ready to +avenge it. But there had been a decision in the present refusal which +made him quite sure that it would be vain to repeat his request. "I +shall find out, sir," he said, "whether it may probably be a costly +affair, and if so I shall give it up. You are rather hard upon me as +to my motives." + +"I only repeated what you told me yourself." + +"I am quite sure of my own intentions, and know that I need not be +ashamed of them." + +"Not if you have plenty of money. It all depends on that. If you have +plenty of money, and your fancy goes that way, it is all very well. +Come, we'll go upstairs." + +The next day he saw Everett Wharton, who welcomed him back with warm +affection. "He'll do nothing for me;--nothing at all. I am almost +beginning to doubt whether he'll ever speak to me again." + +"Nonsense!" + +"I tell you everything, you know," said Everett. "In January I lost +a little money at whist. They got plunging at the club, and I was in +it. I had to tell him, of course. He keeps me so short that I can't +stand any blow without going to him like a school-boy." + +"Was it much?" + +"No;--to him no more than half-a-crown to you. I had to ask him for a +hundred and fifty." + +"He refused it!" + +"No;--he didn't do that. Had it been ten times as much, if I owed +the money, he would pay it. But he blew me up, and talked about +gambling,--and--and--" + +"I should have taken that as a matter of course." + +"But I'm not a gambler. A man now and then may fall into a thing of +that kind, and if he's decently well off and don't do it often, he +can bear it." + +"I thought your quarrel had been altogether about Parliament." + +"Oh no! He has been always the same about that. He told me that I +was going head foremost to the dogs, and I couldn't stand that. I +shouldn't be surprised if he hasn't lost more at cards than I have +during the last two years." Lopez made an offer to act as go-between, +to effect a reconciliation; but Everett declined the offer. "It would +be making too much of an absurdity," he said. "When he wants to see +me, I suppose he'll send for me." + +Lopez did dispatch an agent down to Mr. Sprugeon at Silverbridge, +and the agent found that Mr. Sprugeon was a very discreet man. Mr. +Sprugeon at first knew little or nothing,--seemed hardly to be aware +that there was a member of Parliament for Silverbridge, and declared +himself to be indifferent as to the parliamentary character of the +borough. But at last he melted a little, and by degrees, over a +glass of hot brandy-and-water with the agent at the Palliser Arms, +confessed to a shade of an opinion that the return of Mr. Lopez for +the borough would not be disagreeable to some person or persons who +did not live quite a hundred miles away. The instructions given by +Lopez to his agent were of the most cautious kind. The agent was +merely to feel the ground, make a few inquiries, and do nothing. His +client did not intend to stand unless he could see the way to almost +certain success with very little outlay. But the agent, perhaps +liking the job, did a little outstep his employer's orders. Mr. +Sprugeon, when the frost of his first modesty had been thawed, +introduced the agent to Mr. Sprout, the maker of cork soles, and +Mr. Sprugeon and Mr. Sprout between them had soon decided that +Mr. Ferdinand Lopez should be run for the borough as the "Castle" +candidate. "The Duke won't interfere," said Sprugeon; "and, of +course, the Duke's man of business can't do anything openly;--but +the Duke's people will know." Then Mr. Sprout told the agent that +there was already another candidate in the field, and in a whisper +communicated the gentleman's name. When the agent got back to London, +he gave Lopez to understand that he must certainly put himself +forward. The borough expected him. Sprugeon and Sprout considered +themselves pledged to bring him forward and support him,--on behalf +of the Castle. Sprugeon was quite sure that the Castle influence +was predominant. The Duke's name had never been mentioned at +Silverbridge,--hardly even that of the Duchess. Since the Duke's +declaration "The Castle" had taken the part which the old Duke +used to play. The agent was quite sure that no one could get in +for Silverbridge without having the Castle on his side. No doubt +the Duke's declaration had had the ill effect of bringing up +a competitor, and thus of causing expense. That could not now +be helped. The agent was of opinion that the Duke had had no +alternative. The agent hinted that times were changing, and that +though dukes were still dukes, and could still exercise ducal +influences, they were driven by these changes to act in an altered +form. The proclamation had been especially necessary because the Duke +was Prime Minister. The agent did not think that Mr. Lopez should +be in the least angry with the Duke. Everything would be done that +the Castle could do, and Lopez would be no doubt returned,--though, +unfortunately, not without some expense. How much would it cost? Any +accurate answer to such a question would be impossible, but probably +about L600. It might be L800;--could not possibly be above L1000. +Lopez winced as he heard these sums named, but he did not decline the +contest. + +Then the name of the opposition candidate was whispered to Lopez. It +was Arthur Fletcher! Lopez started, and asked some questions as to +Mr. Fletcher's interest in the neighbourhood. The Fletchers were +connected with the De Courcys, and as soon as the declaration of the +Duke had been made known, the De Courcy interest had aroused itself, +and had invited that rising young barrister, Arthur Fletcher, to +stand for the borough on strictly conservative views. Arthur Fletcher +had acceded, and a printed declaration of his purpose and political +principles had been just published. "I have beaten him once," said +Lopez to himself, "and I think I can beat him again." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +"Yes;--a Lie!" + + +"So you went to Happerton after all," said Lopez to his ally, Mr. +Sextus Parker. "You couldn't believe me when I told you the money was +all right! What a cur you are!" + +"That's right;--abuse me." + +"Well, it was horrid. Didn't I tell you that it must necessarily +injure me with the house? How are two fellows to get on together +unless they can put some trust in each other? Even if I did run you +into a difficulty, do you really think I'm ruffian enough to tell you +that the money was there if it were untrue?" + +Sexty looked like a cur and felt like a cur, as he was being thus +abused. He was not angry with his friend for calling him bad names, +but only anxious to excuse himself. "I was out of sorts," he said, +"and so d----d hippish I didn't know what I was about." + +"Brandy-and-soda!" suggested Lopez. + +"Perhaps a little of that;--though, by Jove, it isn't often I do that +kind of thing. I don't know a fellow who works harder for his wife +and children than I do. But when one sees such things all round +one,--a fellow utterly smashed here who had a string of hunters +yesterday, and another fellow buying a house in Piccadilly and +pulling it down because it isn't big enough, who was contented with a +little box at Hornsey last summer, one doesn't quite know how to keep +one's legs." + +"If you want to learn a lesson look at the two men, and see where the +difference lies. The one has had some heart about him, and the other +has been a coward." + +Parker scratched his head, balanced himself on the hind legs of +his stool, and tacitly acknowledged the truth of all that his +enterprising friend said to him. "Has old Wharton come down well?" at +last he asked. + +"I have never said a word to old Wharton about money," Lopez +replied,--"except as to the cost of this election I was telling you +of." + +"And he wouldn't do anything in that?" + +"He doesn't approve of the thing itself. I don't doubt but that the +old gentleman and I shall understand each other before long." + +"You've got the length of his foot." + +"But I don't mean to drive him. I can get along without that. He's an +old man, and he can't take his money along with him when he goes the +great journey." + +"There's a brother, Lopez,--isn't there?" + +"Yes,--there's a brother; but Wharton has enough for two; and if he +were to put either out of his will it wouldn't be my wife. Old men +don't like parting with their money, and he's like other old men. +If it were not so I shouldn't bother myself coming into the city at +all." + +"Has he enough for that, Lopez?" + +"I suppose he's worth a quarter of a million." + +"By Jove! And where did he get it?" + +"Perseverance, sir. Put by a shilling a day, and let it have its +natural increase, and see what it will come to at the end of fifty +years. I suppose old Wharton has been putting by two or three +thousand out of his professional income, at any rate for the last +thirty years, and never for a moment forgetting its natural increase. +That's one way to make a fortune." + +"It ain't rapid enough for you and me, Lopez." + +"No. That was the old-fashioned way, and the most sure. But, as +you say, it is not rapid enough; and it robs a man of the power of +enjoying his money when he has made it. But it's a very good thing +to be closely connected with a man who has already done that kind of +thing. There's no doubt about the money when it is there. It does not +take to itself wings and fly away." + +"But the man who has it sticks to it uncommon hard." + +"Of course he does;--but he can't take it away with him." + +"He can leave it to hospitals, Lopez. That's the devil!" + +"Sexty, my boy, I see you have taken an outlook into human life which +does you credit. Yes, he can leave it to hospitals. But why does he +leave it to hospitals?" + +"Something of being afraid about his soul, I suppose." + +"No; I don't believe in that. Such a man as this, who has been +hard-fisted all his life, and who has had his eyes thoroughly open, +who has made his own money in the sharp intercourse of man to man, +and who keeps it to the last gasp,--he doesn't believe that he'll do +his soul any good by giving it to hospitals when he can't keep it +himself any longer. His mind has freed itself from those cobwebs long +since. He gives his money to hospitals because the last pleasure of +which he is capable is that of spiting his relations. And it is a +great pleasure to an old man, when his relations have been disgusted +with him for being old and loving his money. I rather think I should +do it myself." + +"I'd give myself a chance of going to heaven, I think," said Parker. + +"Don't you know that men will rob and cheat on their death-beds, and +say their prayers all the time? Old Wharton won't leave his money to +hospitals if he's well handled by those about him." + +"And you'll handle him well;--eh, Lopez?" + +"I won't quarrel with him, or tell him that he's a curmudgeon because +he doesn't do all that I want him. He's over seventy, and he can't +carry his money with him." + +All this left so vivid an impression of the wisdom of his friend on +the mind of Sextus Parker, that in spite of the harrowing fears by +which he had been tormented on more than one occasion already, he +allowed himself to be persuaded into certain fiscal arrangements, by +which Lopez would find himself put at ease with reference to money at +any rate for the next four months. He had at once told himself that +this election would cost him L1000. When various sums were mentioned +in reference to such an affair, safety could alone be found in taking +the outside sum;--perhaps might generally be more surely found by +adding fifty per cent. to that. He knew that he was wrong about the +election, but he assured himself that he had had no alternative. The +misfortune had been that the Duke should have made his proclamation +about the borough immediately after the offer made by the Duchess. He +had been almost forced to send the agent down to inquire;--and the +agent, when making his inquiries, had compromised him. He must go +on with it now. Perhaps some idea of the pleasantness of increased +intimacy with the Duchess of Omnium encouraged him in this way of +thinking. The Duchess was up in town in February, and Lopez left a +card in Carlton Terrace. On the very next day the card of the Duchess +was left for Mrs. Lopez at the Belgrave Mansions. + +Lopez went into the city every day, leaving home at about eleven +o'clock, and not returning much before dinner. The young wife at +first found that she hardly knew what to do with her time. Her aunt, +Mrs. Roby, was distasteful to her. She had already learned from her +husband that he had but little respect for Mrs. Roby. "You remember +the sapphire brooch," he had said once. "That was part of the price I +had to pay for being allowed to approach you." He was sitting at the +time with his arm round her waist, looking out on beautiful scenery +and talking of his old difficulties. She could not find it in her +heart to be angry with him, but the idea brought to her mind was +disagreeable to her. And she was thoroughly angry with Mrs. Roby. Of +course in these days Mrs. Roby came to see her, and of course when +she was up in Manchester Square, she went to the house round the +corner,--but there was no close intimacy between the aunt and the +niece. And many of her father's friends,--whom she regarded as the +Herefordshire set,--were very cold to her. She had not made herself a +glory to Herefordshire, and,--as all these people said,--had broken +the heart of the best Herefordshire young man of the day. This made +a great falling-off in her acquaintance, which was the more felt as +she had never been, as a girl, devoted to a large circle of dearest +female friends. She whom she had loved best had been Mary Wharton, +and Mary Wharton had refused to be her bridesmaid almost without an +expression of regret. She saw her father occasionally. Once he came +and dined with them at their rooms, on which occasion Lopez struggled +hard to make up a well-sounding party. There were Roby from the +Admiralty, and the Happertons, and Sir Timothy Beeswax, with whom +Lopez had become acquainted at Gatherum, and old Lord Mongrober. But +the barrister, who had dined out a good deal in his time, perceived +the effort. Who, that ever with difficulty scraped his dinner +guests together, was able afterwards to obliterate the signs of the +struggle? It was, however, a first attempt, and Lopez, whose courage +was good, thought that he might do better before long. If he could +get into the House and make his mark there people then would dine +with him fast enough. But while this was going on Emily's life was +rather dull. He had provided her with a brougham, and everything +around her was even luxurious, but there came upon her gradually a +feeling that by her marriage she had divided herself from her own +people. She did not for a moment allow this feeling to interfere with +her loyalty to him. Had she not known that this division would surely +take place? Had she not married him because she loved him better than +her own people? So she sat herself down to read Dante,--for they had +studied Italian together during their honeymoon, and she had found +that he knew the language well. And she was busy with her needle. And +she already began to anticipate the happiness which would come to her +when a child of his should be lying in her arms. + +She was of course much interested about the election. Nothing could +as yet be done, because as yet there was no vacancy; but still the +subject was discussed daily between them. "Who do you think is going +to stand against me?" he said one day with a smile. "A very old +friend of yours." She knew at once who the man was, and the blood +came to her face. "I think he might as well have left it alone, you +know," he said. + +"Did he know?" she asked in a whisper. + +"Know;--of course he knew. He is doing it on purpose. But I beat +him once, old girl, didn't I? And I'll beat him again." She liked +him to call her old girl. She loved the perfect intimacy with which +he treated her. But there was something which grated against her +feelings in this allusion by him to the other man who had loved her. +Of course she had told him the whole story. She had conceived it to +be her duty to do so. But then the thing should have been over. It +was necessary, perhaps, that he should tell her who was his opponent. +It was impossible that she should not know when the fight came. But +she did not like to hear him boast that he had beaten Arthur Fletcher +once, and that he would beat him again. By doing so he likened the +sweet fragrance of her love to the dirty turmoil of an electioneering +contest. + +He did not understand,--how should he?--that though she had never +loved Arthur Fletcher, had never been able to bring herself to love +him when all her friends had wished it, her feelings to him were +nevertheless those of affectionate friendship;--that she regarded him +as being perfect in his way, a thorough gentleman, a man who would +not for worlds tell a lie, as most generous among the generous, most +noble among the noble. When the other Whartons had thrown her off, he +had not been cold to her. That very day, as soon as her husband had +left her, she looked again at that little note. "I am as I always +have been!" And she remembered that farewell down by the banks of the +Wye. "You will always have one,--one besides him,--who will love you +best in the world." They were dangerous words for her to remember; +but in recalling them to her memory she had often assured herself +that they should not be dangerous to her. She was too sure of her own +heart to be afraid of danger. She had loved the one man and had not +loved the other;--but yet, now, when her husband talked of beating +this man again, she could not but remember the words. + +She did not think,--or rather had not thought,--that Arthur Fletcher +would willingly stand against her husband. It had occurred to her at +once that he must first have become a candidate without knowing who +would be his opponent. But Ferdinand had assured her as a matter of +fact that Fletcher had known all about it. "I suppose in politics +men are different," she said to herself. Her husband had evidently +supposed that Arthur Fletcher had proposed himself as a candidate +for Silverbridge, with the express object of doing an injury to +the man who had carried off his love. And she repeated to herself +her husband's words, "He is doing it on purpose." She did not like +to differ from her husband, but she could hardly bring herself to +believe that revenge of this kind should have recommended itself to +Arthur Fletcher. + +Some little time after this, when she had been settled in London +about a month, a letter was brought her, and she at once recognised +Arthur Fletcher's writing. She was alone at the time, and it occurred +to her at first that perhaps she ought not to open any communication +from him without showing it to her husband. But then it seemed that +such a hesitation would imply a doubt of the man, and almost a doubt +of herself. Why should she fear what any man might write to her? So +she opened the letter, and read it,--with infinite pleasure. It was +as follows:-- + + + MY DEAR MRS. LOPEZ, + + I think it best to make an explanation to you as to a + certain coincidence which might possibly be misunderstood + unless explained. I find that your husband and I are to + be opponents at Silverbridge. I wish to say that I had + pledged myself to the borough before I had heard his name + as connected with it. I have very old associations with + the neighbourhood, and was invited to stand by friends + who had known me all my life as soon as it was understood + that there would be an open contest. I cannot retire now + without breaking faith with my party, nor do I know that + there is any reason why I should do so. I should not, + however, have come forward had I known that Mr. Lopez was + to stand. I think you had better tell him so, and tell + him also, with my compliments, that I hope we may fight + our political battle with mutual good-fellowship and + good-feeling. + + Yours very sincerely, + + ARTHUR FLETCHER. + + +Emily was very much pleased by this letter, and yet she wept over it. +She felt that she understood accurately all the motives that were +at work within the man's breast when he was writing it. As to its +truth,--of course the letter was gospel to her. Oh,--if the man +could become her husband's friend how sweet it would be! Of course +she wished, thoroughly wished, that her husband should succeed at +Silverbridge. But she could understand that such a contest as this +might be carried on without personal animosity. The letter was so +like Arthur Fletcher,--so good, so noble, so generous, so true! The +moment her husband came in she showed it to him with delight. "I was +sure," she said as he was reading the letter, "that he had not known +that you were to stand." + +"He knew it as well as I did," he replied, and as he spoke there +came a dark scowl across his brow. "His writing to you is a piece of +infernal impudence." + +"Oh, Ferdinand!" + +"You don't understand, but I do. He deserves to be horsewhipped for +daring to write to you, and if I can come across him he shall have +it." + +"Oh,--for heaven's sake!" + +"A man who was your rejected lover,--who has been trying to marry you +for the last two years, presuming to commence a correspondence with +you without your husband's sanction!" + +"He meant you to see it. He says I am to tell you." + +"Psha! That is simple cowardice. He meant you not to tell me; and +then when you had answered him without telling me, he would have had +the whip-hand of you." + +"Oh, Ferdinand, what evil thoughts you have!" + +"You are a child, my dear, and must allow me to dictate to you what +you ought to think in such a matter as this. I tell you he knew all +about my candidature, and that what he has said here to the contrary +is a mere lie;--yes, a lie." He repeated the word because he saw +that she shrank at hearing it; but he did not understand why she +shrank,--that the idea of such an accusation against Arthur Fletcher +was intolerable to her. "I have never heard of such a thing," he +continued. "Do you suppose it is common for men who have been thrown +over to write to the ladies who have rejected them immediately after +their marriage?" + +"Do not the circumstances justify it?" + +"No;--they make it infinitely worse. He should have felt himself to +be debarred from writing to you, both as being my wife and as being +the wife of the man whom he intends to oppose at Silverbridge." + +This he said with so much anger that he frightened her. "It is not my +fault," she said. + +"No; it is not your fault. But you should regard it as a great fault +committed by him." + +"What am I to do?" + +"Give me the letter. You, of course, can do nothing." + +"You will not quarrel with him?" + +"Certainly I will. I have quarrelled with him already. Do you think +I will allow any man to insult my wife without quarrelling with him? +What I shall do I cannot yet say, and whatever I may do, you had +better not know. I never thought much of these Herefordshire swells +who believe themselves to be the very cream of the earth, and now I +think less of them than ever." + +He was then silent, and slowly she took herself out of the room, and +went away to dress. All this was very terrible. He had never been +rough to her before, and she could not at all understand why he had +been so rough to her now. Surely it was impossible that he should +be jealous because her old lover had written to her such a letter +as that which she had shown him! And then she was almost stunned by +the opinions he had expressed about Fletcher, opinions which she +knew,--was sure that she knew,--to be absolutely erroneous. A liar! +Oh, heavens! And then the letter itself was so ingenuous and so +honest! Anxious as she was to do all that her husband bade her, she +could not be guided by him in this matter. And then she remembered +his words: "You must allow me to dictate to you what you ought to +think." Could it be that marriage meant as much as that,--that a +husband was to claim to dictate to his wife what opinions she was +to form about this and that person,--about a person she had known +so well, whom he had never known? Surely she could only think in +accordance with her own experience and her own intelligence! She was +certain that Arthur Fletcher was no liar. Not even her own husband +could make her think that. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +"Yes;--with a Horsewhip in My Hand" + + +Emily Lopez, when she crept out of her own room and joined her +husband just before dinner, was hardly able to speak to him, so +thoroughly was she dismayed, and troubled, and horrified, by the +manner in which he had taken Arthur Fletcher's letter. While she had +been alone she had thought it all over, anxious if possible to bring +herself into sympathy with her husband; but the more she thought +of it the more evident did it become to her that he was altogether +wrong. He was so wrong that it seemed to her that she would be a +hypocrite if she pretended to agree with him. There were half-a-dozen +accusations conveyed against Mr. Fletcher by her husband's view +of the matter. He was a liar, giving a false account of his +candidature;--and he was a coward; and an enemy to her, who had laid +a plot by which he had hoped to make her act fraudulently towards her +own husband, who had endeavoured to creep into a correspondence with +her, and so to compromise her! All this, which her husband's mind had +so easily conceived, was not only impossible to her, but so horrible +that she could not refrain from disgust at her husband's conception. +The letter had been left with him, but she remembered every word of +it. She was sure that it was an honest letter, meaning no more than +had been said,--simply intending to explain to her that he would not +willingly have stood in the way of a friend whom he had loved, by +interfering with her husband's prospects. And yet she was told that +she was to think as her husband bade her think! She could not think +so. She could not say that she thought so. If her husband would +not credit her judgment, let the matter be referred to her father. +Ferdinand would at any rate acknowledge that her father could +understand such a matter even if she could not. + +During dinner he said nothing on the subject, nor did she. They were +attended by a page in buttons whom he had hired to wait upon her, +and the meal passed off almost in silence. She looked up at him +frequently and saw that his brow was still black. As soon as they +were alone she spoke to him, having studied during dinner what words +she would first say: "Are you going down to the club to-night?" He +had told her that the matter of this election had been taken up at +the Progress, and that possibly he might have to meet two or three +persons there on this evening. There had been a proposition that +the club should bear a part of the expenditure, and he was very +solicitous that such an arrangement should be made. + +"No," said he, "I shall not go out to-night. I am not sufficiently +light-hearted." + +"What makes you heavy-hearted, Ferdinand?" + +"I should have thought you would have known." + +"I suppose I do know,--but I don't know why it should. I don't know +why you should be displeased. At any rate, I have done nothing +wrong." + +"No;--not as to the letter. But it astonishes me that you should be +so--so bound to this man that--" + +"Bound to him, Ferdinand!" + +"No;--you are bound to me. But that you have so much regard for him +as not to see that he has grossly insulted you." + +"I have a regard for him." + +"And you dare to tell me so?" + +"Dare! What should I be if I had any feeling which I did not dare to +tell you? There is no harm in regarding a man with friendly feelings +whom I have known since I was a child, and whom all my family have +loved." + +"Your family wanted you to marry him!" + +"They did. But I have married you, because I loved you. But I need +not think badly of an old friend, because I did not love him. Why +should you be angry with him? What can you have to be afraid of?" +Then she came and sat on his knee and caressed him. + +"It is he that shall be afraid of me," said Lopez. "Let him give the +borough up if he means what he says." + +"Who could ask him to do that?" + +"Not you,--certainly." + +"Oh, no." + +"I can ask him." + +"Could you, Ferdinand?" + +"Yes;--with a horsewhip in my hand." + +"Indeed, indeed you do not know him. Will you do this;--will you tell +my father everything, and leave it to him to say whether Mr. Fletcher +has behaved badly to you?" + +"Certainly not. I will not have any interference from your father +between you and me. If I had listened to your father, you would +not have been here now. Your father is not as yet a friend of mine. +When he comes to know what I can do for myself, and that I can rise +higher than these Herefordshire people, then perhaps he may become my +friend. But I will consult him in nothing so peculiar to myself as my +own wife. And you must understand that in coming to me all obligation +from you to him became extinct. Of course he is your father; but +in such a matter as this he has no more to say to you than any +stranger." After that he hardly spoke to her; but sat for an hour +with a book in his hand, and then rose and said that he would go down +to the club. "There is so much villainy about," he said, "that a man +if he means to do anything must keep himself on the watch." + +When she was alone she at once burst into tears; but she soon dried +her eyes, and putting down her work, settled herself to think of it +all. What did it mean? Why was he thus changed to her? Could it be +that he was the same Ferdinand to whom she had given herself without +a doubt as to his personal merit? Every word that he had spoken since +she had shown him the letter from Arthur Fletcher had been injurious +to her, and offensive. It almost seemed as though he had determined +to show himself to be a tyrant to her, and had only put off playing +the part till the first convenient opportunity after their honeymoon. +But through all this, her ideas were loyal to him. She would obey him +in all things where obedience was possible, and would love him better +than all the world. Oh yes;--for was he not her husband? Were he +to prove himself the worst of men she would still love him. It had +been for better or for worse; and as she had repeated the words to +herself, she had sworn that if the worst should come, she would still +be true. + +But she could not bring herself to say that Arthur Fletcher had +behaved badly. She could not lie. She knew well that his conduct had +been noble and generous. Then unconsciously and involuntarily,--or +rather in opposition to her own will and inward efforts,--her mind +would draw comparisons between her husband and Arthur Fletcher. There +was some peculiar gift, or grace, or acquirement belonging without +dispute to the one, and which the other lacked. What was it? She had +heard her father say when talking of gentlemen,--of that race of +gentlemen with whom it had been his lot to live,--that you could not +make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. The use of the proverb had +offended her much, for she had known well whom he had then regarded +as a silk purse and whom as a sow's ear. But now she perceived that +there had been truth in all this, though she was as anxious as ever +to think well of her husband, and to endow him with all possible +virtues. She had once ventured to form a doctrine for herself, to +preach to herself a sermon of her own, and to tell herself that this +gift of gentle blood and of gentle nurture, of which her father +thought so much, and to which something of divinity was attributed +down in Herefordshire, was after all but a weak, spiritless quality. +It could exist without intellect, without heart, and with very +moderate culture. It was compatible with many littlenesses and with +many vices. As for that love of honest, courageous truth which her +father was wont to attribute to it, she regarded his theory as based +upon legends, as in earlier years was the theory of the courage, and +constancy, and loyalty of the knights of those days. The beau ideal +of a man which she then pictured to herself was graced, first with +intelligence, then with affection, and lastly with ambition. She knew +no reason why such a hero as her fancy created should be born of +lords and ladies rather than of working mechanics, should be English +rather than Spanish or French. The man could not be her hero without +education, without attributes to be attained no doubt more easily +by the rich than by the poor; but, with that granted, with those +attained, she did not see why she, or why the world, should go back +beyond the man's own self. Such had been her theories as to men and +their attributes, and acting on that, she had given herself and all +her happiness into the keeping of Ferdinand Lopez. Now, there was +gradually coming upon her a change in her convictions,--a change that +was most unwelcome, that she strove to reject,--one which she would +not acknowledge that she had adopted even while adopting it. But +now,--ay, from the very hour of her marriage,--she had commenced to +learn what it was that her father had meant when he spoke of the +pleasure of living with gentlemen. Arthur Fletcher certainly was a +gentleman. He would not have entertained the suspicion which her +husband had expressed. He could not have failed to believe such +assertions as had been made. He could never have suggested to his own +wife that another man had endeavoured to entrap her into a secret +correspondence. She seemed to hear the tones of Arthur Fletcher's +voice, as those of her husband still rang in her ear when he bade her +remember that she was now removed from her father's control. Every +now and then the tears would come to her eyes, and she would sit +pondering, listless, and low in heart. Then she would suddenly rouse +herself with a shake, and take up her book with a resolve that she +would read steadily, would assure herself as she did so that her +husband should still be her hero. The intelligence at any rate was +there, and, in spite of his roughness, the affection which she +craved. And the ambition, too, was there. But, alas, alas! why should +such vile suspicions have fouled his mind? + +He was late that night, but when he came he kissed her brow as she +lay in bed, and she knew that his temper was again smooth. She +feigned to be sleepy, though not asleep, as she just put her hand up +to his cheek. She did not wish to speak to him again that night, but +she was glad to know that in the morning he would smile on her. "Be +early at breakfast," he said to her as he left her the next morning, +"for I'm going down to Silverbridge to-day." + +Then she started up. "To-day!" + +"Yes;--by the 11.20. There is plenty of time, only don't be unusually +late." + +Of course she was something more than usually early, and when she +came out she found him reading his paper. "It's all settled now," he +said. "Grey has applied for the Hundreds, and Mr. Rattler is to move +for the new writ to-morrow. It has come rather sudden at last, as +these things always do after long delays. But they say the suddenness +is rather in my favour." + +"When will the election take place?" + +"I suppose in about a fortnight;--perhaps a little longer." + +"And must you be at Silverbridge all that time?" + +"Oh dear no. I shall stay there to-night, and perhaps to-morrow +night. Of course I shall telegraph to you directly I find how it is +to be. I shall see the principal inhabitants, and probably make a +speech or two." + +"I do so wish I could hear you." + +"You'd find it awfully dull work, my girl. And I shall find it +awfully dull too. I do not imagine that Mr. Sprugeon and Mr. Sprout +will be pleasant companions. Well; I shall stay there a day or two +and settle when I am to go down for the absolute canvass. I shall +have to go with my hat in my hand to every blessed inhabitant in that +dirty little town, and ask them all to be kind enough to drop in a +paper for the most humble of their servants, Ferdinand Lopez." + +"I suppose all candidates have to do the same." + +"Oh yes;--your friend, Master Fletcher, will have to do it." She +winced at this. Arthur Fletcher was her friend, but at the present +moment he ought not so to have spoken of him. "And from all I hear, +he is just the sort of fellow that will like the doing of it. It is +odious to me to ask a fellow that I despise for anything." + +"Why should you despise them?" + +"Low, ignorant, greasy cads, who have no idea of the real meaning of +political privileges;--men who would all sell their votes for thirty +shillings each, if that game had not been made a little too hot!" + +"If they are like that I would not represent them." + +"Oh yes, you would;--when you came to understand the world. It's +a fine thing to be in Parliament, and that is the way to get in. +However, on this visit I shall only see the great men of the +town,--the Sprouts and Sprugeons." + +"Shall you go to Gatherum Castle?" + +"Oh, heavens, no! I may go anywhere now rather than there. The Duke +is supposed to be in absolute ignorance of the very names of the +candidates, or whether there are candidates. I don't suppose that the +word Silverbridge will be even whispered in his ear till the thing is +over." + +"But you are to get in by his friendship." + +"Or by hers;--at least I hope so. I have no doubt that the Sprouts +and the Sprugeons have been given to understand by the Lococks and +the Pritchards what are the Duchess's wishes, and that it has also +been intimated in some subtle way that the Duke is willing to oblige +the Duchess. There are ever so many ways, you know, of killing a +cat." + +"And the expense?" suggested Emily. + +"Oh,--ah; the expense. When you come to talk of the expense things +are not so pleasant. I never saw such a set of meaningless asses in +my life as those men at the club. They talk and talk, but there is +not one of them who knows how to do anything. Now at the club over +the way they do arrange matters. It's a common cause, and I don't +see what right they have to expect that one man should bear all the +expense. I've a deuced good mind to leave them in the lurch." + +"Don't do it, Ferdinand, if you can't afford it." + +"I shall go on with it now. I can't help feeling that I've been a +little let in among them. When the Duchess first promised me it was +to be a simple walk over. Now that they've got their candidate, they +go back from that and open the thing to any comer. I can't tell you +what I think of Fletcher for taking advantage of such a chance. And +then the political committee at the club coolly say that they've got +no money. It isn't honest, you know." + +"I don't understand all that," said Emily sadly. Every word that he +said about Fletcher cut her to the heart;--not because it grieved +her that Fletcher should be abused, but that her husband should +condescend to abuse him. She escaped from further conflict at the +moment by proclaiming her ignorance of the whole matter; but she knew +enough of it to be well aware that Arthur Fletcher had as good a +right to stand as her husband, and that her husband lowered himself +by personal animosity to the man. Then Lopez took his departure. "Oh, +Ferdinand," she said, "I do so hope you may be successful." + +"I don't think he can have a chance. From what people say, he must +be a fool to try. That is, if the Castle is true to me. I shall know +more about it when I come back." + +That afternoon she dined with her father, and there met Mrs. Roby. +It was of course known that Lopez had gone down to Silverbridge, +and Emily learned in Manchester Square that Everett had gone with +him. "From all I hear, they're two fools for their pains," said the +lawyer. + +"Why, papa?" + +"The Duke has given the thing up." + +"But still his interest remains." + +"No such thing! If there is an honest man in England it is the Duke +of Omnium, and when he says a thing he means it. Left to themselves, +the people of a little town like Silverbridge are sure to return a +Conservative. They are half of them small farmers, and of course will +go that way if not made to go the other. If the club mean to pay the +cost--" + +"The club will pay nothing, papa." + +"Then I can only hope that Lopez is doing well in his business!" +After that, nothing further was said about the election, but she +perceived that her father was altogether opposed to the idea of +her husband being in Parliament, and that his sympathies and even +his wishes were on the other side. When Mrs. Roby suggested that +it would be a very nice thing for them all to have Ferdinand in +Parliament,--she always called him Ferdinand now,--Mr. Wharton railed +at her. "Why should it be a nice thing? I wonder whether you have any +idea of a meaning in your head when you say that. Do you suppose that +a man gets L1000 a year by going into Parliament?" + +"Laws, Mr. Wharton; how uncivil you are! Of course I know that +members of Parliament ain't paid." + +"Where's the niceness then? If a man has his time at his command and +has studied the art of legislation it may be nice, because he will be +doing his duty;--or if he wants to get into the government ruck like +your brother-in-law, it may be nice;--or if he be an idle man with +a large fortune it may be nice to have some place to go to. But why +it should be nice for Ferdinand Lopez I cannot understand. Everett +has some idea in his head when he talks about Parliament,--though I +cannot say that I agree with him." It may easily be understood that +after this Emily would say nothing further in Manchester Square as to +her husband's prospects at Silverbridge. + +Lopez was at Silverbridge for a couple of days, and then returned, +as his wife thought, by no means confident of success. He remained +in town nearly a week, and during that time he managed to see the +Duchess. He had written to her saying that he would do himself +the honour of calling on her, and when he came was admitted. But +the account he gave to his wife of the visit did not express much +satisfaction. It was quite late in the evening before he told her +whither he had been. He had intended to keep the matter to himself, +and at last spoke of it,--guided by the feeling which induces all men +to tell their secrets to their wives,--because it was a comfort to +him to talk to some one who would not openly contradict him. "She's a +sly creature after all," he said. + +"I had always thought that she was too open rather than sly," said +his wife. + +"People always try to get a character just opposite to what they +deserve. When I hear that a man is always to be believed, I know that +he is the most dangerous liar going. She hummed and hawed and would +not say a word about the borough. She went so far as to tell me that +I wasn't to say a word about it to her." + +"Wasn't that best if her husband wished her not to talk of it?" + +"It is all humbug and falsehood to the very bottom. She knows that I +am spending money about it, and she ought to be on the square with +me. She ought to tell me what she can do and what she can't. When I +asked her whether Sprugeon might be trusted, she said that she really +wished that I wouldn't say anything more to her about it. I call that +dishonest and sly. I shouldn't at all wonder but that Fletcher has +been with the Duke. If I find that out, won't I expose them both!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +"What Business Is It of Yours?" + + +Things had not gone altogether smoothly with the Duchess herself +since the breaking up of the party at Gatherum Castle,--nor perhaps +quite smoothly with the Duke. It was now March. The House was again +sitting, and they were both in London,--but till they came to town +they had remained at the Castle, and that huge mansion had not +been found to be more comfortable by either of them as it became +empty. For a time the Duchess had been cowed by her husband's stern +decision; but as he again became gentle to her,--almost seeming by +his manner to apologise for his unwonted roughness,--she plucked up +her spirit and declared to herself that she would not give up the +battle. All that she did,--was it not for his sake? And why should +she not have her ambition in life as well as he his? And had she not +succeeded in all that she had done? Could it be right that she should +be asked to abandon everything, to own herself to have been defeated, +to be shown to have failed before all the world, because such a one +as Major Pountney had made a fool of himself? She attributed it +all to Major Pountney;--very wrongly. When a man's mind is veering +towards some decision, some conclusion which he has been perhaps slow +in reaching, it is probably a little thing which at last fixes his +mind and clenches his thoughts. The Duke had been gradually teaching +himself to hate the crowd around him and to reprobate his wife's +strategy, before he had known that there was a Major Pountney under +his roof. Others had offended him, and first and foremost among them +his own colleague, Sir Orlando. The Duchess hardly read his character +aright, and certainly did not understand his present motives, when +she thought that all might be forgotten as soon as the disagreeable +savour of the Major should have passed away. + +But in nothing, as she thought, had her husband been so silly as in +his abandonment of Silverbridge. When she heard that the day was +fixed for declaring the vacancy, she ventured to ask him a question. +His manner to her lately had been more than urbane, more than +affectionate;--it had almost been that of a lover. He had petted +her and caressed her when they met, and once even said that nothing +should really trouble him as long as he had her with him. Such a +speech as that never in his life had he made before to her! So she +plucked up her courage and asked her question,--not exactly on that +occasion, but soon afterwards; "May not I say a word to Sprugeon +about the election?" + +"Not a word!" And he looked at her as he had looked on that day when +he had told her of the Major's sins. She tossed her head and pouted +her lips and walked on without speaking. If it was to be so, then +indeed would she have failed. And, therefore, though in his general +manner he was loving to her, things were not going smooth with her. + +And things were not going smooth with him because there had reached +him a most troublous dispatch from Sir Orlando Drought only two days +before the Cabinet meeting at which the points to be made in the +Queen's speech were to be decided. It had been already agreed that a +proposition should be made to Parliament by the Government, for an +extension of the county suffrage, with some slight redistribution of +seats. The towns with less than 20,000 inhabitants were to take in +some increased portions of the country parishes around. But there was +not enough of a policy in this to satisfy Sir Orlando, nor was the +conduct of the bill through the House to be placed in his hands. +That was to be intrusted to Mr. Monk, and Mr. Monk would be, if not +nominally the Leader, yet the chief man of the Government in the +House of Commons. This was displeasing to Sir Orlando, and he had, +therefore, demanded from the Prime Minister more of a "policy." Sir +Orlando's present idea of a policy was the building four bigger +ships of war than had ever been built before,--with larger guns, and +more men, and thicker iron plates, and, above all, with a greater +expenditure of money. He had even gone so far as to say, though +not in his semi-official letter to the Prime Minister, that he +thought that "The Salvation of the Empire" should be the cry of the +Coalition party. "After all," he said, "what the people care about +is the Salvation of the Empire!" Sir Orlando was at the head of the +Admiralty; and if glory was to be achieved by the four ships, it +would rest first on the head of Sir Orlando. + +Now the Duke thought that the Empire was safe, and had been +throughout his political life averse to increasing the army and navy +estimates. He regarded the four ships as altogether unnecessary,--and +when reminded that he might in this way consolidate the Coalition, +said that he would rather do without the Coalition and the four +ships than have to do with both of them together,--an opinion which +was thought by some to be almost traitorous to the party as now +organised. The secrets of Cabinets are not to be disclosed lightly, +but it came to be understood,--as what is done at Cabinet meetings +generally does come to be understood,--that there was something like +a disagreement. The Prime Minister, the Duke of St. Bungay, and +Mr. Monk were altogether against the four ships. Sir Orlando was +supported by Lord Drummond and another of his old friends. At the +advice of the elder Duke, a paragraph was hatched, in which it was +declared that her Majesty, "having regard to the safety of the nation +and the possible, though happily not probable, chances of war, +thought that the present strength of the navy should be considered." +"It will give him scope for a new gun-boat on an altered principle," +said the Duke of St. Bungay. But the Prime Minister, could he have +had his own way, would have given Sir Orlando no scope whatever. He +would have let the Coalition have gone to the dogs and have fallen +himself into infinite political ruin, but that he did not dare that +men should hereafter say of him that this attempt at government had +failed because he was stubborn, imperious, and self-confident. He had +known when he took his present place that he must yield to others; +but he had not known how terrible it is to have to yield when a +principle is in question,--how great is the suffering when a man +finds himself compelled to do that which he thinks should not be +done! Therefore, though he had been strangely loving to his wife, the +time had not gone smoothly with him. + +In direct disobedience to her husband the Duchess did speak a word to +Mr. Sprugeon. When at the Castle she was frequently driven through +Silverbridge, and on one occasion had her carriage stopped at the +ironmonger's door. Out came Mr. Sprugeon, and there were at first +half-a-dozen standing by who could hear what she said. Millepois, +the cook, wanted to have some new kind of iron plate erected in the +kitchen. Of course she had provided herself beforehand with her +excuse. As a rule, when the cook wanted anything done, he did not +send word to the tradesman by the Duchess. But on this occasion the +Duchess was personally most anxious. She wanted to see how the iron +plate would work. It was to be a particular kind of iron plate. Then, +having watched her opportunity, she said her word, "I suppose we +shall be safe with Mr. Lopez?" When Mr. Sprugeon was about to reply, +she shook her head and went on about the iron plate. This would +be quite enough to let Mr. Sprugeon understand that she was still +anxious about the borough. Mr. Sprugeon was an intelligent man, and +possessed of discretion to a certain extent. As soon as he saw the +little frown and the shake of the head, he understood it all. He and +the Duchess had a secret together. Would not everything about the +Castle in which a morsel of iron was employed want renewing? And +would not the Duchess take care that it should all be renewed by +Sprugeon? But then he must be active, and his activity would be of no +avail unless others helped him. So he whispered a word to Sprout, and +it soon became known that the Castle interest was all alive. + +But unfortunately the Duke was also on the alert. The Duke had been +very much in earnest when he made up his mind that the old custom +should be abandoned at Silverbridge and had endeavoured to impress +that determination of his upon his wife. The Duke knew more about his +property and was better acquainted with its details than his wife or +others believed. He heard that in spite of all his orders the Castle +interest was being maintained, and a word was said to him which +seemed to imply that this was his wife's doings. It was then about +the middle of February, and arrangements were in process for the +removal of the family to London. The Duke had already been up to +London for the meeting of Parliament, and had now come back to +Gatherum, purporting to return to London with his wife. Then it was +that it was hinted to him that her Grace was still anxious as to +the election,--and had manifested her anxiety. The rumour hurt him, +though he did not in the least believe it. It showed to him, as +he thought, not that his wife had been false to him,--as in truth +she had been,--but that even her name could not be kept free from +slander. And when he spoke to her on the subject, he did so rather +with the view of proving to her how necessary it was that she should +keep herself altogether aloof from such matters, than with any wish +to make further inquiry. But he elicited the whole truth. "It is so +hard to kill an old established evil," he said. + +"What evil have you failed to kill now?" + +"Those people at Silverbridge still say that I want to return a +member for them." + +"Oh; that's the evil! You know I think that instead of killing an +evil, you have murdered an excellent institution." This at any rate +was very imprudent on the part of the Duchess. After that disobedient +word spoken to Mr. Sprugeon, she should have been more on her guard. + +"As to that, Glencora, I must judge for myself." + +"Oh yes,--you have been jury, and judge, and executioner." + +"I have done as I thought right to do. I am sorry that I should fail +to carry you with me in such a matter, but even failing in that I +must do my duty. You will at any rate agree with me that when I say +the thing should be done, it should be done." + +"If you wanted to destroy the house, and cut down all the trees, +and turn the place into a wilderness, I suppose you would only have +to speak. Of course I know it would be wrong that I should have an +opinion. As 'man' you are of course to have your own way." She was +in one of her most aggravating moods. Though he might compel her to +obey, he could not compel her to hold her tongue. + +"Glencora, I don't think you know how much you add to my troubles, or +you would not speak to me like that." + +"What am I to say? It seems to me that any more suicidal thing than +throwing away the borough never was done. Who will thank you? What +additional support will you get? How will it increase your power? +It's like King Lear throwing off his clothes in the storm because his +daughters turned him out. And you didn't do it because you thought it +right." + +"Yes, I did," he said, scowling. + +"You did it because Major Pountney disgusted you. You kicked him out. +Why wouldn't that satisfy you without sacrificing the borough? It +isn't what I think or say about it, but that everybody is thinking +and saying the same thing." + +"I choose that it shall be so." + +"Very well." + +"And I don't choose that your name shall be mixed up in it. They say +in Silverbridge that you are canvassing for Mr. Lopez." + +"Who says so?" + +"I presume it's not true." + +"Who says so, Plantagenet?" + +"It matters not who has said so, if it be untrue. I presume it to be +false." + +"Of course it is false." Then the Duchess remembered her word to Mr. +Sprugeon, and the cowardice of the lie was heavy on her. I doubt +whether she would have been so shocked by the idea of a falsehood as +to have been kept back from it had she before resolved that it would +save her; but she was not in her practice a false woman, her courage +being too high for falsehood. It now seemed to her that by this +lie she was owning herself to be quelled and brought into absolute +subjection by her husband. So she burst out into truth. "Now I think +of it, I did say a word to Mr. Sprugeon. I told him that--that I +hoped Mr. Lopez would be returned. I don't know whether you call that +canvassing." + +"I desired you not to speak to Mr. Sprugeon," he thundered forth. + +"That's all very well, Plantagenet, but if you desire me to hold my +tongue altogether, what am I to do?" + +"What business is this of yours?" + +"I suppose I may have my political sympathies as well as another. +Really you are becoming so autocratic that I shall have to go in for +women's rights." + +"You mean me to understand then that you intend to put yourself in +opposition to me." + +"What a fuss you make about it all!" she said. "Nothing that one can +do is right! You make me wish that I was a milkmaid or a farmer's +wife." So saying she bounced out of the room, leaving the Duke sick +at heart, low in spirit, and doubtful whether he were right or wrong +in his attempts to manage his wife. Surely he must be right in +feeling that in his high office a clearer conduct and cleaner way of +walking was expected from him than from other men! Noblesse oblige! +To his uncle the privilege of returning a member to Parliament had +been a thing of course; and when the Radical newspapers of the day +abused his uncle, his uncle took that abuse as a thing of course. The +old Duke acted after his kind, and did not care what others said of +him. And he himself, when he first came to his dukedom, was not as +he was now. Duties, though they were heavy enough, were lighter then. +Serious matters were less serious. There was this and that matter +of public policy on which he was intent, but, thinking humbly of +himself, he had not yet learned to conceive that he must fit his +public conduct in all things to a straight rule of patriotic justice. +Now it was different with him, and though the change was painful, he +felt it to be imperative. He would fain have been as other men, but +he could not. But in this change it was so needful to him that he +should carry with him the full sympathies of one person;--that she +who was the nearest to him of all should act with him! And now she +had not only disobeyed him, but had told him, as some grocer's wife +might tell her husband, that he was "making a fuss about it all!" + +And then, as he thought of the scene which has been described, +he could not quite approve of himself. He knew that he was too +self-conscious,--that he was thinking too much about his own conduct +and the conduct of others to him. The phrase had been odious to him, +but still he could not acquit himself of "making a fuss." Of one +thing only was he sure,--that a grievous calamity had befallen +him when circumstances compelled him to become the Queen's Prime +Minister. + +He said nothing further to his wife till they were in London +together, and then he was tempted to caress her again, to be loving +to her, and to show her that he had forgiven her. But she was brusque +to him, as though she did not wish to be forgiven. "Cora," he said, +"do not separate yourself from me." + +"Separate myself! What on earth do you mean? I have not dreamed of +such a thing." The Duchess answered him as though he had alluded to +some actual separation. + +"I do not mean that. God forbid that a misfortune such as that should +ever happen! Do not disjoin yourself from me in all these troubles." + +"What am I to do when you scold me? You must know pretty well by this +time that I don't like to be scolded. 'I desired you not to speak to +Mr. Sprugeon!'" As she repeated his words she imitated his manner and +voice closely. "I shouldn't dream of addressing the children with +such magnificence of anger. 'What business is it of yours?' No woman +likes that sort of thing, and I'm not sure that I am acquainted with +any woman who likes it much less than--Glencora, Duchess of Omnium." +As she said these last words in a low whisper, she curtseyed down to +the ground. + +"You know how anxious I am," he began, "that you should share +everything with me,--even in politics. But in all things there must +at last be one voice that shall be the ruling voice." + +"And that is to be yours,--of course." + +"In such a matter as this it must be." + +"And, therefore, I like to do a little business of my own behind your +back. It's human nature, and you've got to put up with it. I wish +you had a better wife. I dare say there are many who would be better. +There's the Duchess of St. Bungay who never troubles her husband +about politics, but only scolds him because the wind blows from the +east. It is just possible there might be worse." + +"Oh, Glencora!" + +"You had better make the best you can of your bargain and not expect +too much from her. And don't ride over her with a very high horse. +And let her have her own way a little if you really believe that she +has your interest at heart." + +After this he was quite aware that she had got the better of him +altogether. On that occasion he smiled and kissed her, and went his +way. But he was by no means satisfied. That he should be thwarted by +her, ate into his very heart;--and it was a wretched thing to him +that he could not make her understand his feeling in this respect. +If it were to go on he must throw up everything. Ruat coelum, +fiat--proper subordination from his wife in regard to public matters! +No wife had a fuller allowance of privilege, or more complete power +in her hands, as to things fit for women's management. But it was +intolerable to him that she should seek to interfere with him in +matters of a public nature. And she was constantly doing so. She +had always this or that aspirant for office on hand;--this or +that job to be carried, though the jobs were not perhaps much in +themselves;--this or that affair to be managed by her own political +allies, such as Barrington Erle and Phineas Finn. And in his heart he +suspected her of a design of managing the Government in her own way, +with her own particular friend, Mrs. Finn, for her Prime Minister. If +he could in no other way put an end to such evils as these, he must +put an end to his own political life. Ruat coelum, fiat justitia. +Now "justitia" to him was not compatible with feminine interference +in his own special work. + +It may therefore be understood that things were not going very +smoothly with the Duke and Duchess; and it may also be understood +why the Duchess had had very little to say to Mr. Lopez about the +election. She was aware that she owed something to Mr. Lopez, whom +she had certainly encouraged to stand for the borough, and she had +therefore sent her card to his wife and was prepared to invite them +both to her parties;--but just at present she was a little tired of +Ferdinand Lopez, and perhaps unjustly disposed to couple him with +that unfortunate wretch, Major Pountney. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +Showing That a Man Should Not Howl + + +Arthur Fletcher, in his letter to Mrs. Lopez, had told her that when +he found out who was to be his antagonist at Silverbridge, it was too +late for him to give up the contest. He was, he said, bound in faith +to continue it by what had passed between himself and others. But in +truth he had not reached his conclusion without some persuasion from +others. He had been at Longbarns with his brother when he first heard +that Lopez intended to stand, and he at once signified his desire +to give way. The information reached him from Mr. Frank Gresham, of +Greshamsbury, a gentleman connected with the De Courcys who was now +supposed to represent the De Courcy interest in the county, and who +had first suggested to Arthur that he should come forward. It was +held at Longbarns that Arthur was bound in honour to Mr. Gresham and +to Mr. Gresham's friends, and to this opinion he had yielded. + +Since Emily Wharton's marriage her name had never been mentioned at +Longbarns in Arthur's presence. When he was away,--and of course his +life was chiefly passed in London,--old Mrs. Fletcher was free enough +in her abuse of the silly creature who had allowed herself to be +taken out of her own rank by a Portuguese Jew. But she had been made +to understand by her elder son, the lord of Longbarns, that not a +word was to be said when Arthur was there. "I think he ought to be +taught to forget her," Mrs. Fletcher had said. But John in his own +quiet but imperious way, had declared that there were some men to +whom such lessons could not be taught, and that Arthur was one of +them. "Is he never to get a wife, then?" Mrs. Fletcher had asked. +John wouldn't pretend to answer that question, but was quite sure +that his brother would not be tempted into other matrimonial +arrangements by anything that could be said against Emily Lopez. When +Mrs. Fletcher declared in her extreme anger that Arthur was a fool +for his trouble, John did not contradict her, but declared that the +folly was of a nature to require tender treatment. + +Matters were in this condition at Longbarns when Arthur communicated +to his brother the contents of Mr. Gresham's letter, and expressed +his own purpose of giving up Silverbridge. "I don't quite see that," +said John. + +"No;--and it is impossible that you should be expected to see it. I +don't quite know how to talk about it even to you, though I think you +are about the softest-hearted fellow out." + +"I don't acknowledge the soft heart;--but go on." + +"I don't want to interfere with that man. I have a sort of feeling +that as he has got her he might as well have the seat too." + +"The seat, as you call it, is not there for his gratification or for +yours. The seat is there in order that the people of Silverbridge may +be represented in Parliament." + +"Let them get somebody else. I don't want to put myself in opposition +to him, and I certainly do not want to oppose her." + +"They can't change their candidate in that way at a day's notice. +You would be throwing Gresham over, and, if you ask me, I think +that is a thing you have no right to do. This objection of yours is +sentimental, and there is nothing of which a man should be so much +in dread as sentimentalism. It is not your fault that you oppose +Mr. Lopez. You were in the field first, and you must go on with it." +John Fletcher, when he spoke in this way, was, at Longbarns, always +supposed to be right; and on the present occasion he, as usual, +prevailed. Then Arthur Fletcher wrote his letter to the lady. He +would not have liked to have had it known that the composition and +copying of that little note had cost him an hour. He had wished that +she should understand his feelings, and yet it was necessary that +he should address her in words that should be perfectly free from +affection or emotion. He must let her know that, though he wrote to +her, the letter was for her husband as well as for herself, and he +must do this in a manner which would not imply any fear that his +writing to her would be taken amiss. The letter when completed was at +any rate simple and true; and yet, as we know, it was taken very much +amiss. + +Arthur Fletcher had by no means recovered from the blow he had +received that day when Emily had told him everything down by the +river side; but then, it must be said of him, that he had no +intention of recovery. He was as a man who, having taken a burden +on his back, declares to himself that he will, for certain reasons, +carry it throughout his life. The man knows that with the burden he +cannot walk as men walk who are unencumbered, but for those reasons +of his he has chosen to lade himself, and having done so he abandons +regret and submits to his circumstances. So had it been with him. +He would make no attempt to throw off the load. It was now far back +in his life, as much at least as three years, since he had first +assured himself of his desire to make Emily Wharton the companion +of his life. From that day she had been the pivot on which his whole +existence had moved. She had refused his offers more than once, but +had done so with so much tender kindness, that, though he had found +himself to be wounded and bruised, he had never abandoned his object. +Her father and all his own friends encouraged him. He was continually +told that her coldness was due to the simple fact that she had not +yet learned to give her heart away. And so he had persevered, being +ever thoroughly intent on his purpose, till he was told by herself +that her love was given to this other man. + +Then he knew that it behoved him to set some altered course of life +before him. He could not shoot his rival or knock him over the head, +nor could he carry off his girl, as used to be done in rougher times. +There was nothing now for a man in such a catastrophe as this but +submission. But he might submit and shake off his burden, or submit +and carry it hopelessly. He told himself that he would do the latter. +She had been his goddess, and he would not now worship at another +shrine. And then ideas came into his head,--not hopes, or purposes, +or a belief even in any possibility,--but vague ideas, mere castles +in the air, that a time might come in which it might be in his power +to serve her, and to prove to her beyond doubting what had been the +nature of his love. Like others of his family, he thought ill of +Lopez, believing the man to be an adventurer, one who would too +probably fall into misfortune, however high he might now seem to hold +his head. He was certainly a man not standing on the solid basis of +land, or of Three per Cents,--those solidities to which such as the +Whartons and Fletchers are wont to trust. No doubt, should there be +such fall, the man's wife would have other help than that of her +rejected lover. She had a father, brother, and cousins, who would +also be there to aid her. The idea was, therefore, but a castle in +the air. And yet it was dear to him. At any rate he resolved that he +would live for it, and that the woman should still be his goddess, +though she was the wife of another man, and might now perhaps never +even be seen by him. Then there came upon him, immediately almost +after her marriage, the necessity of writing to her. The task was one +which, of course, he did not perform lightly. + +He never said a word of this to anybody else;--but his brother +understood it all, and in a somewhat silent fashion fully sympathised +with him. John could not talk to him about love, or mark passages of +poetry for him to read, or deal with him at all romantically; but he +could take care that his brother had the best horses to ride, and the +warmest corner out shooting, and that everything in the house should +be done for his brother's comfort. As the squire looked and spoke +at Longbarns, others looked and spoke,--so that everybody knew that +Mr. Arthur was to be contradicted in nothing. Had he, just at this +period, ordered a tree in the park to be cut down, it would, I think, +have been cut down, without reference to the master! But, perhaps, +John's power was most felt in the way in which he repressed the +expressions of his mother's high indignation. "Mean slut!" she once +said, speaking of Emily in her eldest son's hearing. For the girl, +to her thinking, had been mean and had been a slut. She had not +known,--so Mrs. Fletcher thought,--what birth and blood required of +her. + +"Mother," John Fletcher had said, "you would break Arthur's heart if +he heard you speak in that way, and I am sure you would drive him +from Longbarns. Keep it to yourself." The old woman had shaken her +head angrily, but she had endeavoured to do as she had been bid. + +"Isn't your brother riding that horse a little rashly?" Reginald +Cotgrave said to John Fletcher in the hunting field one day. + +"I didn't observe," said John; "but whatever horse he's on, he always +rides rashly." Arthur was mounted on a long, raking thorough-bred +black animal, which he had bought himself about a month ago, and +which, having been run at steeplechases, rushed at every fence as +though he were going to swallow it. His brother had begged him to put +some rough-rider up till the horse could be got to go quietly, but +Arthur had persevered. And during the whole of this day the squire +had been in a tremor, lest there should be some accident. + +"He used to have a little more judgment, I think," said Cotgrave. "He +went at that double just now as hard as the brute could tear. If the +horse hadn't done it all, where would he have been?" + +"In the further ditch, I suppose. But you see the horse did do it +all." + +This was all very well as an answer to Reginald Cotgrave,--to whom +it was not necessary that Fletcher should explain the circumstances. +But the squire had known as well as Cotgrave that his brother had +been riding rashly, and he had understood the reason why. "I don't +think a man ought to break his neck," he said, "because he can't +get everything that he wishes." The two brothers were standing then +together before the fire in the squire's own room, having just come +in from hunting. + +"Who is going to break his neck?" + +"They tell me that you tried to to-day." + +"Because I was riding a pulling horse. I'll back him to be the +biggest leaper and the quickest horse in Herefordshire." + +"I dare say,--though for the matter of that the chances are very much +against it. But a man shouldn't ride so as to have those things said +of him." + +"What is a fellow to do if he can't hold a horse?" + +"Get off him." + +"That's nonsense, John!" + +"No, it's not. You know what I mean very well. If I were to lose half +my property to-morrow, don't you think it would cut me up a good +deal?" + +"It would me, I know." + +"But what would you think of me if I howled about it?" + +"Do I howl?" asked Arthur angrily. + +"Every man howls who is driven out of his ordinary course by any +trouble. A man howls if he goes about frowning always." + +"Do I frown?" + +"Or laughing." + +"Do I laugh?" + +"Or galloping over the country like a mad devil who wants to get rid +of his debts by breaking his neck. Aequam memento--. You remember all +that, don't you?" + +"I remember it; but it isn't so easy to do it." + +"Try. There are other things to be done in life except getting +married. You are going into Parliament." + +"I don't know that." + +"Gresham tells me there isn't a doubt about it. Think of that. Fix +your mind upon it. Don't take it only as an accident, but as the +thing you're to live for. If you'll do that,--if you'll so manage +that there shall be something to be done in Parliament which only you +can do, you won't ride a runaway horse as you did that brute to-day." +Arthur looked up into his brother's face almost weeping. "We expect +much of you, you know. I'm not a man to do anything except be a good +steward for the family property, and keep the old house from falling +down. You're a clever fellow,--so that between us, if we both do our +duty, the Fletchers may still thrive in the land. My house shall be +your house, and my wife your wife, and my children your children. And +then the honour you win shall be my honour. Hold up your head,--and +sell that beast." Arthur Fletcher squeezed his brother's hand and +went away to dress. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +The Silverbridge Election + + +About a month after this affair with the runaway horse Arthur +Fletcher went to Greshamsbury, preparatory to his final sojourn at +Silverbridge for the week previous to his election. Greshamsbury, the +seat of Francis Gresham, Esq., who was a great man in these parts, +was about twenty miles from Silverbridge, and the tedious work of +canvassing the electors could not therefore be done from thence;--but +he spent a couple of pleasant days with his old friend, and learned +what was being said and what was being done in and about the borough. +Mr. Gresham was a man, not as yet quite forty years of age, very +popular, with a large family, of great wealth, and master of the +county hounds. His father had been an embarrassed man, with a large +estate; but this Gresham had married a lady with immense wealth, +and had prospered in the world. He was not an active politician. He +did not himself care for Parliament, or for the good things which +political power can give, and was on this account averse to the +Coalition. He thought that Sir Orlando Drought and the others were +touching pitch and had defiled themselves. But he was conscious that +in so thinking he was one of but a small minority; and, bad as the +world around him certainly was, terrible as had been the fall of the +glory of old England, he was nevertheless content to live without +loud grumbling as long as the farmers paid him their rent, and the +labourers in his part of the country did not strike for wages, and +the land when sold would fetch thirty years' purchase. He had not +therefore been careful to ascertain that Arthur Fletcher would pledge +himself to oppose the Coalition before he proffered his assistance +in this matter of the borough. It would not be easy to find such +a candidate, or perhaps possible to bring him in when found. The +Fletchers had always been good Conservatives, and were proper people +to be in Parliament. A Conservative in Parliament is, of course, +obliged to promote a great many things which he does not really +approve. Mr. Gresham quite understood that. You can't have tests and +qualifications, rotten boroughs and the divine right of kings, back +again. But as the glorious institutions of the country are made to +perish, one after the other, it is better that they should receive +the coup de grace tenderly from loving hands than be roughly +throttled by Radicals. Mr. Gresham would thank his stars that he +could still preserve foxes down in his own country, instead of doing +any of this dirty work,--for let the best be made of such work, +still it was dirty,--and was willing, now as always, to give his +assistance, and if necessary to spend a little money, to put a +Fletcher into Parliament and to keep a Lopez out. + +There was to be a third candidate. That was the first news that +Fletcher heard. "It will do us all the good in the world," said Mr. +Gresham. "The Rads in the borough are not satisfied with Mr. Lopez. +They say they don't know him. As long as a certain set could make +it be believed that he was the Duke's nominee they were content to +accept him;--even though he was not proposed directly by the Duke's +people in the usual way. But the Duke has made himself understood +at last. You have seen the Duke's letter?" Arthur had not seen the +Duke's letter, which had only been published in the "Silverbridge +Gazette" of that week, and he now read it, sitting in Mr. Gresham's +magistrate's-room, as a certain chamber in the house had been called +since the days of the present squire's great-grandfather. + +The Duke's letter was addressed to his recognised man of business in +those parts, and was as follows:-- + + + Carlton Terrace, -- March, 187--. + + MY DEAR MR. MORETON, [Mr. Moreton was the successor of one + Mr. Fothergill, who had reigned supreme in those parts + under the old Duke.] + + I am afraid that my wishes with regard to the borough and + the forthcoming election there of a member of Parliament + are not yet clearly understood, although I endeavoured to + declare them when I was at Gatherum Castle. I trust that + no elector will vote for this or that gentleman with an + idea that the return of any special candidate will please + me. The ballot will of course prevent me or any other man + from knowing how an elector may vote;--but I beg to assure + the electors generally that should they think fit to + return a member pledged to oppose the Government of which + I form a part, it would not in any way change my cordial + feelings towards the town. I may perhaps be allowed to add + that, in my opinion, no elector can do his duty except by + voting for the candidate whom he thinks best qualified to + serve the country. In regard to the gentlemen who are now + before the constituency, I have no feeling for one rather + than for the other; and had I any such feeling I should + not wish it to actuate the vote of a single elector. I + should be glad if this letter could be published so as to + be brought under the eyes of the electors generally. + + Yours faithfully, + + OMNIUM. + + +When the Duke said that he feared that his wishes were not +understood, and spoke of the inefficacy of his former declaration, +he was alluding of course to the Duchess and to Mr. Sprugeon. Mr. +Sprugeon guessed that it might be so, and, still wishing to have the +Duchess for his good friend, was at once assiduous in explaining +to his friends in the borough that even this letter did not mean +anything. A Prime Minister was bound to say that kind of thing! But +the borough, if it wished to please the Duke, must return Lopez in +spite of the Duke's letter. Such was Mr. Sprugeon's doctrine. But +he did not carry Mr. Sprout with him. Mr. Sprout at once saw his +opportunity, and suggested to Mr. Du Boung, the local brewer, that +he should come forward. Du Boung was a man rapidly growing into +provincial eminence, and jumped at the offer. Consequently there were +three candidates. Du Boung came forward as a Conservative prepared to +give a cautious, but very cautious, support to the Coalition. Mr. Du +Boung, in his printed address, said very sweet things of the Duke +generally. The borough was blessed by the vicinity of the Duke. But, +looking at the present perhaps unprecedented crisis in affairs, Mr. +Du Boung was prepared to give no more than a very cautious support to +the Duke's Government. Arthur Fletcher read Mr. Du Boung's address +immediately after the Duke's letter. + +"The more the merrier," said Arthur. + +"Just so. Du Boung will not rob you of a vote, but he will cut the +ground altogether from under the other man's feet. You see that as +far as actual political programme goes there isn't much to choose +between any of you. You are all Government men." + +"With a difference." + +"One man in these days is so like another," continued Gresham +sarcastically, "that it requires good eyes to see the shades of the +colours." + +"Then you'd better support Du Boung," said Arthur. + +"I think you've just a turn in your favour. Besides, I couldn't +really carry a vote myself. As for Du Boung, I'd sooner have him +than a foreign cad like Lopez." Then Arthur Fletcher frowned and Mr. +Gresham became confused, remembering the catastrophe about the young +lady whose story he had heard. "Du Boung used to be plain English +as Bung before he got rich and made his name beautiful," continued +Gresham, "but I suppose Mr. Lopez does come of foreign extraction." + +"I don't know what he comes from," said Arthur moodily. "They tell +me he's a gentleman. However, as we are to have a contest, I hope he +mayn't win." + +"Of course you do. And he shan't win. Nor shall the great Du Boung. +You shall win, and become Prime Minister, and make me a peer. Would +you like papa to be Lord Greshamsbury?" he said to a little girl, who +then rushed into the room. + +"No, I wouldn't. I'd like papa to give me the pony which the man +wants to sell out in the yard." + +"She's quite right, Fletcher," said the squire. "I'm much more likely +to be able to buy them ponies as simple Frank Gresham than I should +be if I had a lord's coronet to pay for." + +This was on a Saturday, and on the following Monday Mr. Gresham +drove the candidate over to Silverbridge and started him on his work +of canvassing. Mr. Du Boung had been busy ever since Mr. Sprout's +brilliant suggestion had been made, and Lopez had been in the field +even before him. Each one of the candidates called at the house of +every elector in the borough,--and every man in the borough was +an elector. When they had been at work for four or five days each +candidate assured the borough that he had already received promises +of votes sufficient to insure his success, and each candidate was +as anxious as ever,--nay, was more rabidly anxious than ever,--to +secure the promise of a single vote. Hints were made by honest +citizens of the pleasure they would have in supporting this or that +gentleman,--for the honest citizens assured one gentleman after the +other of the satisfaction they had in seeing so all-sufficient a +candidate in the borough,--if the smallest pecuniary help were given +them, even a day's pay, so that their poor children might not be +injured by their going to the poll. But the candidates and their +agents were stern in their replies to such temptations. "That's a +dodge of that rascal Sprout," said Sprugeon to Mr. Lopez. "That's one +of Sprout's men. If he could get half-a-crown from you it would be +all up with us." But though Sprugeon called Sprout a rascal, he laid +the same bait both for Du Boung and for Fletcher;--but laid it in +vain. Everybody said that it was a very clean election. "A brewer +standing, and devil a glass of beer!" said one old elector who had +remembered better things when the borough never heard of a contest. + +On the third day of his canvass Arthur Fletcher with his gang of +agents and followers behind him met Lopez with his gang in the +street. It was probable that they would so meet, and Fletcher had +resolved what he would do when such a meeting took place. He walked +up to Lopez, and with a kindly smile offered his hand. The two men, +though they had never been intimate, had known each other, and +Fletcher was determined to show that he would not quarrel with a man +because that man had been his favoured rival. In comparison with that +other matter this affair of the candidature was of course trivial. +But Lopez who had, as the reader may remember, made some threat about +a horsewhip, had come to a resolution of a very different nature. He +put his arms a-kimbo, resting his hands on his hips, and altogether +declined the proffered civility. "You had better walk on," he said, +and then stood, scowling, on the spot till the other should pass by. +Fletcher looked at him for a moment, then bowed and passed on. At +least a dozen men saw what had taken place, and were aware that Mr. +Lopez had expressed his determination to quarrel personally with Mr. +Fletcher, in opposition to Mr. Fletcher's expressed wish for amity. +And before they had gone to bed that night all the dozen knew the +reason why. Of course there was some one then at Silverbridge clever +enough to find out that Arthur Fletcher had been in love with Miss +Wharton, but that Miss Wharton had lately been married to Mr. Lopez. +No doubt the incident added a pleasurable emotion to the excitement +caused by the election at Silverbridge generally. A personal quarrel +is attractive everywhere. The expectation of such an occurrence will +bring together the whole House of Commons. And of course this quarrel +was very attractive in Silverbridge. There were some Fletcherites +and Lopezites in the quarrel; as there were also Du Boungites, who +maintained that when gentlemen could not canvass without quarrelling +in the streets they were manifestly unfit to represent such a borough +as Silverbridge in Parliament;--and that therefore Mr. Du Boung +should be returned. + +Mr. Gresham was in the town that day, though not till after the +occurrence, and Fletcher could not avoid speaking of it. "The man +must be a cur," said Gresham. + +"It would make no difference in the world to me," said Arthur, +struggling hard to prevent signs of emotion from showing themselves +in his face, "were it not that he has married a lady whom I have long +known and whom I greatly esteem." He felt that he could hardly avoid +all mention of the marriage, and yet was determined that he would say +no word that his brother would call "howling." + +"There has been no previous quarrel, or offence?" asked Gresham. + +"None in the least." When Arthur so spoke he forgot altogether the +letter he had written; nor, had he then remembered it, would he have +thought it possible that that letter should have given offence. He +had been the sufferer, not Lopez. This man had robbed him of his +happiness; and, though it would have been foolish in him to make a +quarrel for a grievance such as that, there might have been some +excuse had he done so. It had taken him some time to perceive that +greatly as this man had injured him, there had been no injustice done +to him, and that therefore there should be no complaint made by him. +But that this other man should complain was to him unintelligible. + +"He is not worth your notice," said Mr. Gresham. "He is simply not a +gentleman, and does not know how to behave himself. I am very sorry +for the young lady;--that's all." At this allusion to Emily Arthur +felt that his face became red with the rising blood; and he felt +also that his friend should not have spoken thus openly,--thus +irreverently,--on so sacred a subject. But at the moment he said +nothing further. As far as his canvass was concerned it had been +successful, and he was beginning to feel sure that he would be the +new member. He endeavoured therefore to drown his sorrow in this +coming triumph. + +But Lopez had been by no means gratified with his canvass or with +the conduct of the borough generally. He had already begun to feel +that the Duchess and Mr. Sprugeon and the borough had thrown him +over shamefully. Immediately on his arrival in Silverbridge a local +attorney had with the blandest possible smile asked him for a cheque +for L500. Of course there must be money spent at once, and of course +the money must come out of the candidate's pocket. He had known all +this beforehand, and yet the demand for the money had come upon him +as an injury. He gave the cheque, but showed clearly by his manner +that he resented the application. This did not tend to bind to him +more closely the services of those who were present when the demand +was made. And then, as he began his canvass, he found that he could +not conjure at all with the name of the Duke, or even with that of +the Duchess; and was told on the second day by Mr. Sprugeon himself +that he had better fight the battle "on his own hook." Now his own +hook in Silverbridge was certainly not a strong hook. Mr. Sprugeon +was still of opinion that a good deal might be done by judicious +manipulation, and went so far as to suggest that another cheque +for L500 in the hands of Mr. Wise, the lawyer, would be effective. +But Lopez did not give the other cheque, and Sprugeon whispered to +him that the Duke had been too many for the Duchess. Still he had +persevered, and a set of understrappers around him, who would make +nothing out of the election without his candidature, assured him from +time to time that he would even yet come out all right at the ballot. +With such a hope still existing he had not scrupled to affirm in his +speeches that the success of his canvass had been complete. But, on +the morning of the day on which he met Fletcher in the street, Mr. Du +Boung had called upon him accompanied by two of the Du Boung agents +and by Mr. Sprugeon himself,--and had suggested that he, Lopez, +should withdraw from the contest, so that Du Boung might be returned, +and that the "Liberal interests" of the borough might not be +sacrificed. + +This was a heavy blow, and one which Ferdinand Lopez was not the +man to bear with equanimity. From the moment in which the Duchess +had mentioned the borough to him, he had regarded the thing as +certain. After a while he had understood that his return must be +accompanied by more trouble and greater expense than he had at first +anticipated;--but still he had thought that it was all but sure. He +had altogether misunderstood the nature of the influence exercised +by the Duchess, and the nature also of the Duke's resolution. Mr. +Sprugeon had of course wished to have a candidate, and had allured +him. Perhaps he had in some degree been ill-treated by the borough. +But he was a man whom the feeling of injustice to himself would drive +almost to frenzy, though he never measured the amount of his own +injustice to others. When the proposition was made to him, he scowled +at them all, and declared that he would fight the borough to the +last. "Then you'll let Mr. Fletcher in to a certainty," said Mr. +Sprout. Now there was an idea in the borough that, although all the +candidates were ready to support the Duke's government, Mr. Du Boung +and Mr. Lopez were the two Liberals. Mr. Du Boung was sitting in the +room when the appeal was made, and declared that he feared that such +would be the result. "I'll tell you what I'll do," said Lopez; "I'll +toss up which of us retires." Mr. Sprout, on behalf of Mr. Du Boung, +protested against that proposition. Mr. Du Boung, who was a gentleman +of great local influence, was in possession of four-fifths of the +Liberal interests of the borough. Even were he to retire Mr. Lopez +could not get in. Mr. Sprout declared that this was known to all the +borough at large. He, Sprout, was sorry that a gentleman like Mr. +Lopez should have been brought down there under false ideas. He had +all through told Mr. Sprugeon that the Duke had been in earnest, but +Mr. Sprugeon had not comprehended the position. It had been a pity. +But anybody who understood the borough could see with one eye that +Mr. Lopez had not a chance. If Mr. Lopez would retire Mr. Du Boung +would no doubt be returned. If Mr. Lopez went to the poll, Mr. +Fletcher would probably be the new member. This was the picture as it +was painted by Mr. Sprout,--who had, even then, heard something of +the loves of the two candidates, and who had thought that Lopez would +be glad to injure Arthur Fletcher's chances of success. So far he was +not wrong;--but the sense of the injury done to himself oppressed +Lopez so much that he could not guide himself by reason. The idea of +retiring was very painful to him, and he did not believe these men. +He thought it to be quite possible that they were there to facilitate +the return of Arthur Fletcher. He had never even heard of Du Boung +till he had come to Silverbridge two or three days ago. He still +could not believe that Du Boung would be returned. He thought over +it all for a moment, and then he gave his answer. "I've been brought +down here to fight, and I'll fight it to the last," he said. "Then +you'll hand over the borough to Mr. Fletcher," said Sprout, getting +up and ushering Mr. Du Boung out of the room. + +It was after that, but on the same day, that Lopez and Fletcher met +each other in the street. The affair did not take a minute, and then +they parted, each on his own way. In the course of that evening Mr. +Sprugeon told his candidate that he, Sprugeon, could not concern +himself any further in that election. He was very sorry for what had +occurred;--very sorry indeed. It was no doubt a pity that the Duke +had been so firm. "But,"--and Mr. Sprugeon shrugged his shoulders as +he spoke,--"when a nobleman like the Duke chooses to have a way of +his own, he must have it." Mr. Sprugeon went on to declare that any +further candidature would be waste of money, waste of time, and waste +of energy, and then signified his intention of retiring, as far as +this election went, into private life. When asked, he acknowledged +that they who had been acting with him had come to the same resolve. +Mr. Lopez had in fact come there as the Duke's nominee, and as the +Duke had no nominee, Mr. Lopez was in fact "nowhere." + +"I don't suppose that any man was ever so treated before, since +members were first returned to Parliament," said Lopez. + +"Well, sir;--yes, sir; it is a little hard. But, you see, sir, +her Grace meant the best. Her Grace did mean the best, no doubt. +It may be, sir, there was a little misunderstanding;--a little +misunderstanding at the Castle, sir." Then Mr. Sprugeon retired, and +Lopez understood that he was to see nothing more of the ironmonger. + +Of course there was nothing for him now but to retire;--to shake the +dust off his feet and get out of Silverbridge as quickly as he could. +But his friends had all deserted him and he did not know how to +retire. He had paid L500, and he had a strong opinion that a portion +at least of the money should be returned to him. He had a keen sense +of ill-usage, and at the same time a feeling that he ought not to run +out of the borough like a whipt dog, without showing his face to any +one. But his strongest sensation at this moment was one of hatred +against Arthur Fletcher. He was sure that Arthur Fletcher would be +the new member. He did not put the least trust in Mr. Du Boung. He +had taught himself really to think that Fletcher had insulted him +by writing to his wife, and that a further insult had been offered +to him by that meeting in the street. He had told his wife that he +would ask Fletcher to give up the borough, and that he would make +that request with a horsewhip in his hand. It was too late now to +say anything of the borough, but it might not be too late for the +horsewhip. He had a great desire to make good that threat as far as +the horsewhip was concerned,--having an idea that he would thus lower +Fletcher in his wife's eyes. It was not that he was jealous,--not +jealous according to the ordinary meaning of the word. His wife's +love to himself had been too recently given and too warmly maintained +for such a feeling as that. But there was a rancorous hatred in his +heart against the man, and a conviction that his wife at any rate +esteemed the man whom he hated. And then would he not make his +retreat from the borough with more honour if before he left he could +horsewhip his successful antagonist? We, who know the feeling of +Englishmen generally better than Mr. Lopez did, would say--certainly +not. We would think that such an incident would by no means redound +to the credit of Mr. Lopez. And he himself, probably, at cooler +moments, would have seen the folly of such an idea. But anger about +the borough had driven him mad, and now in his wretchedness the +suggestion had for him a certain charm. The man had outraged all +propriety by writing to his wife. Of course he would be justified +in horsewhipping him. But there were difficulties. A man is not +horsewhipped simply because you wish to horsewhip him. + +In the evening, as he was sitting alone, he got a note from Mr. +Sprugeon. "Mr. Sprugeon's compliments. Doesn't Mr. Lopez think an +address to the electors should appear in to-morrow's 'Gazette,'--very +short and easy;--something like the following." Then Mr. Sprugeon +added a very "short and easy letter" to the electors of the borough +of Silverbridge, in which Mr. Lopez was supposed to tell them that +although his canvass promised to him every success, he felt that +he owed it to the borough to retire, lest he should injure the +borough by splitting the Liberal interest with their much respected +fellow-townsman, Mr. Du Boung. In the course of the evening he did +copy that letter, and sent it out to the newspaper office. He must +retire, and it was better for him that he should retire after some +recognised fashion. But he wrote another letter also, and sent it +over to the opposition hotel. The other letter was as follows:-- + + + SIR,-- + + Before this election began you were guilty of gross + impertinence in writing a letter to my wife,--to her + extreme annoyance and to my most justifiable anger. Any + gentleman would think that the treatment you had already + received at her hands would have served to save her from + such insult, but there are men who will never take a + lesson without a beating. And now, since you have been + here, you have presumed to offer to shake hands with me in + the street, though you ought to have known that I should + not choose to meet you on friendly terms after what has + taken place. I now write to tell you that I shall carry a + horsewhip while I am here, and that if I meet you in the + streets again before I leave the town I shall use it. + + FERDINAND LOPEZ. + + Mr. Arthur Fletcher. + + +This letter he sent at once to his enemy, and then sat late into +the night thinking of his threat and of the manner in which he +would follow it up. If he could only get one fair blow at Fletcher +his purpose, he thought, would be achieved. In any matter of +horsewhipping the truth hardly ever gets itself correctly known. +The man who has given the first blow is generally supposed to +have thrashed the other. What might follow, though it might be +inconvenient, must be borne. The man had insulted him by writing to +his wife, and the sympathies of the world, he thought, would be with +him. To give him his due, it must be owned that he had no personal +fear as to the encounter. + +That night Arthur Fletcher had gone over to Greshamsbury, and on the +following morning he returned with Mr. Gresham. "For heaven's sake, +look at that!" he said, handing the letter to his friend. + +"Did you ever write to his wife?" asked Gresham, when he read it. + +"Yes;--I did. All this is dreadful to me;--dreadful. Well;--you know +how it used to be with me. I need not go into all that; need I?" + +"Don't say a word more than you think necessary." + +"When you asked me to stand for the place I had not heard that he +thought of being a candidate. I wrote and told her so, and told her +also that had I known it before I would not have come here." + +"I don't quite see that," said Gresham. + +"Perhaps not;--perhaps I was a fool. But we needn't go into that. +At any rate there was no insult to him. I wrote in the simplest +language." + +"Looking at it all round I think you had better not have written." + +"You wouldn't say so if you saw the letter. I'm sure you wouldn't. +I had known her all my life. My brother is married to her cousin. +Oh heavens! we had been all but engaged. I would have done anything +for her. Was it not natural that I should tell her? As far as the +language was concerned the letter was one to be read at Charing +Cross." + +"He says that she was annoyed and insulted." + +"Impossible! It was a letter that any man might have written to any +woman." + +"Well;--you have got to take care of yourself at any rate. What will +you do?" + +"What ought I to do?" + +"Go to the police." Mr. Gresham had himself once, when young, +thrashed a man who had offended him and had then thought himself much +aggrieved because the police had been called in. But that had been +twenty years ago, and Mr. Gresham's opinions had been matured and, +perhaps, corrected by age. + +"No; I won't do that," said Arthur Fletcher. + +"That's what you ought to do." + +"I couldn't do that." + +"Then take no notice of the letter and carry a fairly big stick. It +should be big enough to hurt him a good deal, but not to do him any +serious damage." At that moment an agent came in with news of the +man's retirement from the contest. "Has he left the town?" asked +Gresham. No;--he had not left the town, nor had he been seen by any +one that morning. "You had better let me go out and get the stick, +before you show yourself," said Gresham. And so the stick was +selected. + +As the two walked down the street together, almost the first thing +they saw was Lopez standing at his hotel door with a cutting whip +in his hand. He was at that moment quite alone, but on the opposite +side of the street there was a policeman,--one of the borough +constables,--very slowly making his way along the pavement. His +movement, indeed, was so slow that any one watching him would have +come to the conclusion that that particular part of the High Street +had some attraction for him at that special moment. Alas, alas! How +age will alter the spirit of a man! Twenty years since Frank Gresham +would have thought any one to be a mean miscreant who would have +interposed a policeman between him and his foe. But it is to be +feared that while selecting that stick he had said a word which was +causing the constable to loiter on the pavement! + +But Gresham turned no eye to the policeman as he walked on with his +friend, and Fletcher did not see the man. "What an ass he is!" said +Fletcher,--as he got the handle of the stick well into his hand. +Then Lopez advanced to them with his whip raised; but as he did so +the policeman came across the street quickly, but very quietly, and +stood right before him. The man was so thoroughly in the way of the +aggrieved wretch that it was out of the question that he should touch +Fletcher with his whip. + +"Do you usually walk about attended by a policeman?" said Lopez, with +all the scorn which he knew how to throw into his voice. + +"I didn't know that the man was here," said Fletcher. + +"You may tell that to the marines. All the borough shall know what +a coward you are." Then he turned round and addressed the street, +but still under the shadow, as it were, of the policeman's helmet. +"This man who presumes to offer himself as a candidate to represent +Silverbridge in Parliament has insulted my wife. And now, because he +fears that I shall horsewhip him, he goes about the street under the +care of a policeman." + +"This is intolerable," said Fletcher, turning to his friend. + +"Mr. Lopez," said Gresham. "I am sorry to say that I must give you +in charge;--unless you will undertake to leave the town without +interfering further with Mr. Fletcher either by word or deed." + +"I will undertake nothing," said Lopez. "The man has insulted my +wife, and is a coward." + +About two o'clock on the afternoon of that day Mr. Lopez appeared +before the Silverbridge bench of magistrates, and was there sworn to +keep the peace to Mr. Fletcher for the next six months. After that he +was allowed to leave the town, and was back in London, with his wife +in Belgrave Mansions, to dinner that evening. + +On the day but one after this the ballot was taken, and at eight +o'clock on the evening of that day Arthur Fletcher was declared to be +duly elected. But Mr. Du Boung ran him very hard. + +The numbers were-- + + + FLETCHER 315 + + DU BOUNG 308 + + +Mr. Du Boung's friends during these two last days had not hesitated +to make what use they could on behalf of their own candidate of the +Lopez and Fletcher quarrel. If Mr. Fletcher had insulted the other +man's wife, surely he could not be a proper member for Silverbridge. +And then the row was declared to have been altogether discreditable. +Two strangers had come into this peaceful town and had absolutely +quarrelled with sticks and whips in the street, calling each other +opprobrious names. Would it not be better that they should elect +their own respectable townsman? All this was nearly effective. But, +in spite of all, Arthur Fletcher was at last returned. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +Lopez Back in London + + +Lopez, as he returned to town, recovered something of his senses, +though he still fancied that Arthur Fletcher had done him a positive +injury by writing to his wife. But something of that madness left +him which had come from his deep sense of injury, both as to the +letter and as to the borough, and he began to feel that he had been +wrong about the horsewhip. He was very low in spirits on this return +journey. The money which he had spent had been material to him, and +the loss of it for the moment left him nearly bare. While he had had +before his eyes the hope of being a member of Parliament he had been +able to buoy himself up. The position itself would have gone very far +with Sexty Parker, and would, he thought, have had some effect even +with his father-in-law. But now he was returning a beaten man. Who +is there that has not felt that fall from high hope to utter despair +which comes from some single failure? As he thought of this he +was conscious that his anger had led him into great imprudence at +Silverbridge. He had not been circumspect, as it specially behoved a +man to be surrounded by such difficulties as his. All his life he had +been schooling his temper so as to keep it under control,--sometimes +with great difficulty, but always with a consciousness that in +his life everything might depend on it. Now he had, alas, allowed +it to get the better of him. No doubt he had been insulted;--but, +nevertheless, he had been wrong to speak of a horsewhip. + +His one great object must now be to conciliate his father-in-law, +and he had certainly increased his difficulty in doing this by his +squabble down at Silverbridge. Of course the whole thing would be +reported in the London papers, and of course the story would be told +against him, as the respectabilities of the town had been opposed to +him. But he knew himself to be clever, and he still hoped that he +might overcome these difficulties. Then it occurred to him that +in doing this he must take care to have his wife entirely on his +side. He did not doubt her love; he did not in the least doubt her +rectitude;--but there was the lamentable fact that she thought +well of Arthur Fletcher. It might be that he had been a little too +imperious with his wife. It suited his disposition to be imperious +within his own household;--to be imperious out of it, if that were +possible;--but he was conscious of having had a fall at Silverbridge, +and he must for a while take in some sail. + +He had telegraphed to her, acquainting her with his defeat, and +telling her to expect his return. "Oh, Ferdinand," she said, "I am so +unhappy about this. It has made me so wretched!" + +"Better luck next time," he said with his sweetest smile. "It is +no good groaning over spilt milk. They haven't treated me really +well,--have they?" + +"I suppose not,--though I do not quite understand it all." + +He was burning to abuse Arthur Fletcher, but he abstained. He would +abstain at any rate for the present moment. "Dukes and duchesses are +no doubt very grand people," he said, "but it is a pity they should +not know how to behave honestly, as they expect others to behave to +them. The Duchess has thrown me over in the most infernal way. I +really can't understand it. When I think of it I am lost in wonder. +The truth, I suppose, is, that there has been some quarrel between +him and her." + +"Who will get in?" + +"Oh, Du Boung, no doubt." He did not think so, but he could not bring +himself to declare the success of his enemy to her. "The people +there know him. Your old friend is as much a stranger there as I am. +By-the-way, he and I had a little row in the place." + +"A row, Ferdinand!" + +"You needn't look like that, my pet. I haven't killed him. But he +came up to speak to me in the street, and I told him what I thought +about his writing to you." On hearing this Emily looked very +wretched. "I could not restrain myself from doing that. Come;--you +must admit that he shouldn't have written." + +"He meant it in kindness." + +"Then he shouldn't have meant it. Just think of it. Suppose that I +had been making up to any girl,--which by-the-by I never did but to +one in my life,"--then he put his arm round her waist and kissed her, +"and she were to have married some one else. What would have been +said of me if I had begun to correspond with her immediately? Don't +suppose I am blaming you, dear." + +"Certainly I do not suppose that," said Emily. + +"But you must admit that it were rather strong." He paused, but she +said nothing. "Only I suppose you can bring yourself to admit nothing +against him. However, so it was. There was a row, and a policeman +came up, and they made me give a promise that I didn't mean to shoot +him or anything of that kind." As she heard this she turned pale, but +said nothing. "Of course I didn't want to shoot him. I wished him to +know what I thought about it, and I told him. I hate to trouble you +with all this, but I couldn't bear that you shouldn't know it all." + +"It is very sad!" + +"Sad enough! I have had plenty to bear, I can tell you. Everybody +seemed to turn away from me there. Everybody deserted me." As he said +this he could perceive that he must obtain her sympathy by recounting +his own miseries and not Arthur Fletcher's sins. "I was all alone +and hardly knew how to hold up my head against so much wretchedness. +And then I found myself called upon to pay an enormous sum for my +expenses." + +"Oh, Ferdinand!" + +"Think of their demanding L500!" + +"Did you pay it?" + +"Yes, indeed. I had no alternative. Of course they took care to +come for that before they talked of my resigning. I believe it was +all planned beforehand. The whole thing seems to me to have been a +swindle from beginning to end. By heaven, I'm almost inclined to +think that the Duchess knew all about it herself!" + +"About the L500!" + +"Perhaps not the exact sum, but the way in which the thing was to be +done. In these days one doesn't know whom to trust. Men, and women +too, have become so dishonest that nobody is safe anywhere. It has +been awfully hard upon me,--awfully hard. I don't suppose that there +was ever a moment in my life when the loss of L500 would have been so +much to me as it is now. The question is, what will your father do +for us?" Emily could not but remember her husband's intense desire to +obtain money from her father not yet three months since, as though +all the world depended on his getting it,--and his subsequent +elation, as though all his sorrows were over for ever, because the +money had been promised. And now,--almost immediately,--he was again +in the same position. She endeavoured to judge him kindly, but a +feeling of insecurity in reference to his affairs struck her at once +and made her heart cold. Everything had been achieved, then, by a +gift of L3000,--surely a small sum to effect such a result with +a man living as her husband lived. And now the whole L3000 was +gone;--surely a large sum to have vanished in so short a time! +Something of the uncertainty of business she could understand, but a +business must be perilously uncertain if subject to such vicissitudes +as these! But as ideas of this nature crowded themselves into her +mind she told herself again and again that she had taken him for +better and for worse. If the worse were already coming she would +still be true to her promise. "You had better tell papa everything," +she said. + +"Had it not better come from you?" + +"No, Ferdinand. Of course I will do as you bid me. I will do anything +that I can do. But you had better tell him. His nature is such that +he will respect you more if it come from yourself. And then it is so +necessary that he should know all;--all." She put whatever emphasis +she knew how to use upon this word. + +"You could tell him--all, as well as I." + +"You would not bring yourself to tell it to me, nor could I +understand it. He will understand everything, and if he thinks that +you have told him everything, he will at any rate respect you." + +He sat silent for a while meditating, feeling always and most acutely +that he had been ill-used,--never thinking for an instant that he had +ill-used others. "L3000, you know, was no fortune for your father to +give you!" She had no answer to make, but she groaned in spirit as +she heard the accusation. "Don't you feel that yourself?" + +"I know nothing about money, Ferdinand. If you had told me to speak +to him about it before we were married I would have done so." + +"He ought to have spoken to me. It is marvellous how close-fisted +an old man can be. He can't take it with him." Then he sat for +half-an-hour in moody silence, during which she was busy with +her needle. After that he jumped up, with a manner altogether +altered,--gay, only that the attempt was too visible to deceive even +her,--and shook himself, as though he were ridding himself of his +trouble. "You are right, old girl. You are always right,--almost. I +will go to your father to-morrow, and tell him everything. It isn't +so very much that I want him to do. Things will all come right again. +I'm ashamed that you should have seen me in this way;--but I have +been disappointed about the election, and troubled about that Mr. +Fletcher. You shall not see me give way again like this. Give me a +kiss, old girl." + +She kissed him, but she could not even pretend to recover herself as +he had done. "Had we not better give up the brougham?" she said. + +"Certainly not. For heaven's sake do not speak in that way! You do +not understand things." + +"No; certainly I do not." + +"It isn't that I haven't the means of living, but that in my business +money is so often required for instant use. And situated as I am at +present an addition to my capital would enable me to do so much!" She +certainly did not understand it, but she had sufficient knowledge of +the world and sufficient common sense to be aware that their present +rate of expenditure ought to be matter of importance to a man who +felt the loss of L500 as he felt that loss at Silverbridge. + +On the next morning Lopez was at Mr. Wharton's chambers early,--so +early that the lawyer had not yet reached them. He had resolved,--not +that he would tell everything, for such men never even intend to +tell everything,--but that he would tell a good deal. He must, +if possible, affect the mind of the old man in two ways. He must +ingratiate himself;--and at the same time make it understood that +Emily's comfort in life would depend very much on her father's +generosity. The first must be first accomplished, if possible,--and +then the second, as to which he could certainly produce at any rate +belief. He had not married a rich man's daughter without an intention +of getting the rich man's money! Mr. Wharton would understand that. +If the worst came to the worst, Mr. Wharton must of course maintain +his daughter,--and his daughter's husband! But things had not come to +the worst as yet, and he did not intend on the present occasion to +represent that view of his affairs to his father-in-law. + +Mr. Wharton when he entered his chambers found Lopez seated there. He +was himself at this moment very unhappy. He had renewed his quarrel +with Everett,--or Everett rather had renewed the quarrel with him. +There had been words between them about money lost at cards. Hard +words had been used, and Everett had told his father that if either +of them were a gambler it was not he. Mr. Wharton had resented this +bitterly and had driven his son from his presence,--and now the +quarrel made him very wretched. He certainly was sorry that he +had called his son a gambler, but his son had been, as he thought, +inexcusable in the retort which he had made. He was a man to whom +his friends gave credit for much sternness;--but still he was one +who certainly had no happiness in the world independent of his +children. His daughter had left him, not, as he thought, under happy +auspices,--and he was now, at this moment, soft-hearted and tender in +his regards as to her. What was there in the world for him but his +children? And now he felt himself to be alone and destitute. He was +already tired of whist at the Eldon. That which had been a delight to +him once or twice a week, became almost loathsome when it was renewed +from day to day;--and not the less when his son told him that he also +was a gambler. "So you have come back from Silverbridge?" he said. + +"Yes, sir; I have come back, not exactly triumphant. A man should not +expect to win always." Lopez had resolved to pluck up his spirit and +carry himself like a man. + +"You seem to have got into some scrape down there, besides losing +your election." + +"Oh; you have seen that in the papers already. I have come to tell +you of it. As Emily is concerned in it you ought to know." + +"Emily concerned! How is she concerned?" + +Then Lopez told the whole story,--after his own fashion, and yet +with no palpable lie. Fletcher had written to her a letter which +he had thought to be very offensive. On hearing this, Mr. Wharton +looked very grave, and asked for the letter. Lopez said that he had +destroyed it, not thinking that such a document should be preserved. +Then he went on to explain that it had had reference to the election, +and that he had thought it to be highly improper that Fletcher should +write to his wife on that or on any other subject. "It depends very +much on the letter," said the old man. + +"But on any subject,--after what has passed." + +"They were very old friends." + +"Of course I will not argue with you, Mr. Wharton; but I own that it +angered me. It angered me very much,--very much indeed. I took it to +be an insult to her, and when he accosted me in the street down at +Silverbridge I told him so. I may not have been very wise, but I did +it on her behalf. Surely you can understand that such a letter might +make a man angry." + +"What did he say?" + +"That he would do anything for her sake,--even retire from +Silverbridge if his friends would let him." Mr. Wharton scratched his +head, and Lopez saw that he was perplexed. "Should he have offered to +do anything for her sake, after what had passed?" + +"I know the man so well," said Mr. Wharton, "that I cannot and do not +believe him to have harboured an improper thought in reference to my +child." + +"Perhaps it was an indiscretion only." + +"Perhaps so. I cannot say. And then they took you before the +magistrates?" + +"Yes;--in my anger I had threatened him. Then there was a policeman +and a row. And I had to swear that I would not hurt him. Of course I +have no wish to hurt him." + +"I suppose it ruined your chance at Silverbridge?" + +"I suppose it did." This was a lie, as Lopez had retired before the +row took place. "What I care for most now is that you should not +think that I have misbehaved myself." + +The story had been told very well, and Mr. Wharton was almost +disposed to sympathise with his son-in-law. That Arthur Fletcher had +meant nothing that could be regarded as offensive to his daughter he +was quite sure;--but it might be that in making an offer intended to +be generous he had used language which the condition of the persons +concerned made indiscreet. "I suppose," he said, "that you spent +a lot of money at Silverbridge?" This gave Lopez the opening that +he wanted, and he described the manner in which the L500 had been +extracted from him. "You can't play that game for nothing," said Mr. +Wharton. + +"And just at present I could very ill afford it. I should not have +done it had I not felt it a pity to neglect such a chance of rising +in the world. After all, a seat in the British House of Commons is an +honour." + +"Yes;--yes;--yes." + +"And the Duchess, when she spoke to me about it, was so certain." + +"I will pay the L500," said Mr. Wharton. + +"Oh, sir, that is generous!" Then he got up and took the old man's +hands. "Some day, when you are at liberty, I hope that you will allow +me to explain to you the exact state of my affairs. When I wrote +to you from Como I told you that I would wish to do so. You do not +object?" + +"No;" said the lawyer,--but with infinite hesitation in his voice. +"No; I don't object. But I do not know how I could serve them. I +shall be busy just now, but I will give you the cheque. And if you +and Emily have nothing better to do, come and dine to-morrow." Lopez +with real tears in his eyes took the cheque, and promised to come on +the morrow. "And in the meantime I wish you would see Everett." Of +course he promised that he would see Everett. + +Again he was exalted, on this occasion not so much by the acquisition +of the money as by the growing conviction that his father-in-law was +a cow capable of being milked. And the quarrel between Everett and +his father might clearly be useful to him. He might either serve the +old man by reducing Everett to proper submission, or he might manage +to creep into the empty space which the son's defection would make +in the father's heart and the father's life. He might at any rate +make himself necessary to the old man, and become such a part of the +household in Manchester Square as to be indispensable. Then the old +man would every day become older and more in want of assistance. He +thought that he saw the way to worm himself into confidence, and, +soon, into possession. The old man was not a man of iron as he had +feared, but quite human, and if properly managed, soft and malleable. + +He saw Sexty Parker in the city that day, and used his cheque for +L500 in some triumphant way, partly cajoling and partly bullying his +poor victim. To Sexty also he had to tell his own story about the row +down at Silverbridge. He had threatened to thrash the fellow in the +street, and the fellow had not dared to come out of his house without +a policeman. Yes;--he had lost his election. The swindling of those +fellows at Silverbridge had been too much for him. But he flattered +himself that he had got the better of Master Fletcher. That was the +tone in which he told the story to his friend in the city. + +Then, before dinner, he found Everett at the club. Everett Wharton +was to be found there now almost every day. His excuse to himself lay +in the political character of the institution. The club intended to +do great things,--to find Liberal candidates for all the boroughs and +counties in England which were not hitherto furnished, and then to +supply the candidates with money. Such was the great purpose of the +Progress. It had not as yet sent out many candidates or collected +much money. As yet it was, politically, almost quiescent. And +therefore Everett Wharton, whose sense of duty took him there, spent +his afternoons either in the whist-room or at the billiard-table. + +The story of the Silverbridge row had to be told again, and was told +nearly with the same incidents as had been narrated to the father. +He could of course abuse Arthur Fletcher more roundly, and be more +confident in his assertion that Fletcher had insulted his wife. But +he came as quickly as he could to the task which he had on hand. +"What's all this between you and your father?" + +"Simply this. I sometimes play a game of whist, and therefore he +called me a gambler. Then I reminded him that he also sometimes +played a game of whist, and I asked him what deduction was to be +drawn." + +"He is awfully angry with you." + +"Of course I was a fool. My father has the whip-hand of me, because +he has money and I have none, and it was simply kicking against the +pricks to speak as I did. And then too there isn't a fellow in London +has a higher respect for his father than I have, nor yet a warmer +affection. But it is hard to be driven in that way. Gambler is a +nasty word." + +"Yes, it is; very nasty. But I suppose a man does gamble when he +loses so much money that he has to ask his father to pay it for him." + +"If he does so often, he gambles. I never asked him for money to pay +what I had lost before in my life." + +"I wonder you told him." + +"I never lie to him, and he ought to know that. But he is just the +man to be harder to his own son than to anybody else in the world. +What does he want me to do now?" + +"I don't know that he wants you to do anything," said Lopez. + +"Did he send you to me?" + +"Well;--no; I can't say that he did. I told him I should see you as a +matter of course, and he said something rough,--about your being an +ass." + +"I dare say he did." + +"But if you ask me," said Lopez, "I think he would take it kindly of +you if you were to go and see him. Come and dine to-day, just as if +nothing had happened." + +"I could not do that,--unless he asked me." + +"I can't say that he asked you, Everett. I would say so, in spite +of its being a lie, if I didn't fear that your father might say +something unkind, so that the lie would be detected by both of you." + +"And yet you ask me to go and dine there!" + +"Yes, I do. It's only going away if he does cut up rough. And if he +takes it well,--why then,--the whole thing is done." + +"If he wants me, he can ask me." + +"You talk about it, my boy, just as if a father were the same as +anybody else. If I had a father with a lot of money, by George he +should knock me about with his stick if he liked, and I would be just +the same the next day." + +"Unfortunately I am of a stiffer nature," said Everett, taking some +pride to himself for his stiffness, and being perhaps as little +"stiff" as any young man of his day. + +That evening, after dinner in Manchester Square, the conversation +between the father-in-law and the son-in-law turned almost +exclusively on the son and brother-in-law. Little or nothing was +said about the election, and the name of Arthur Fletcher was not +mentioned. But out of his full heart the father spoke. He was +wretched about Everett. Did Everett mean to cut him? "He wants you to +withdraw some name you called him," said Lopez. + +"Withdraw some name,--as he might ask some hot-headed fellow to do, +of his own age, like himself; some fellow that he had quarrelled +with! Does he expect his father to send him a written apology? He had +been gambling, and I told him that he was a gambler. Is that too much +for a father to say?" Lopez shrugged his shoulders, and declared that +it was a pity. "He will break my heart if he goes on like this," said +the old man. + +"I asked him to come and dine to-day, but he didn't seem to like it." + +"Like it! No. He likes nothing but that infernal club." + +When the evening was over Lopez felt that he had done a good stroke +of work. He had not exactly made up his mind to keep the father and +son apart. That was not a part of his strategy,--at any rate as yet. +But he did intend to make himself necessary to the old man,--to +become the old man's son, and if possible the favourite son. And now +he thought that he had already done much towards the achievement of +his object. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +The Jolly Blackbird + + +There was great triumph at Longbarns when the news of Arthur's +victory reached the place;--and when he arrived there himself with +his friend, Mr. Gresham, he was received as a conquering hero. But +of course the tidings of "the row" had gone before him, and it was +necessary that both he and Mr. Gresham should tell the story;--nor +could it be told privately. Sir Alured Wharton was there, and Mrs. +Fletcher. The old lady had heard of the row, and of course required +to be told all the particulars. This was not pleasant to the hero, as +in talking of the man it was impossible for them not to talk of the +man's wife. "What a terrible misfortune for poor Mr. Wharton," said +the old lady, nodding her head at Sir Alured. Sir Alured sighed and +said nothing. Certainly a terrible misfortune, and one which affected +more or less the whole family of Whartons! + +"Do you mean to say that he was going to attack Arthur with a whip?" +asked John Fletcher. + +"I only know that he was standing there with a whip in his hand," +said Mr. Gresham. + +"I think he would have had the worst of that." + +"You would have laughed," said Arthur, "to see me walking +majestically along the High Street with a cudgel which Gresham had +just bought for me as being of the proper medium size. I don't doubt +he meant to have a fight. And then you should have seen the policeman +sloping over and putting himself in the way. I never quite understood +where that policeman came from." + +"They are very well off for policemen in Silverbridge," said Gresham. +"They've always got them going about." + +"He must be mad," said John. + +"Poor unfortunate young woman!" said Mrs. Fletcher, holding up both +her hands. "I must say that I cannot but blame Mr. Wharton. If he had +been firm, it never would have come to that. I wonder whether he ever +sees him." + +"Of course he does," said John. "Why shouldn't he see him? You'd see +him if he'd married a daughter of yours." + +"Never!" exclaimed the old woman. "If I had had a child so lost to +all respect as that, I do not say that I would not have seen her. +Human nature might have prevailed. But I would never willingly have +put myself into contact with one who had so degraded me and mine." + +"I shall be very anxious to know what Mr. Wharton does about his +money," said John. + +Arthur allowed himself but a couple of days among his friends, +and then hurried up to London to take his seat. When there he was +astonished to find how many questions were asked him about "the row," +and how much was known about it,--and at the same time how little +was really known. Everybody had heard that there had been a row, and +everybody knew that there had been a lady in the case. But there +seemed to be a general idea that the lady had been in some way +misused, and that Arthur Fletcher had come forward like a Paladin to +protect her. A letter had been written, and the husband, ogre-like, +had intercepted the letter. The lady was the most unfortunate of +human beings,--or would have been but for that consolation which she +must have in the constancy of her old lover. As to all these matters +the stories varied; but everybody was agreed on one point. All the +world knew that Arthur Fletcher had gone to Silverbridge, had stood +for the borough, and had taken the seat away from his rival,--because +that rival had robbed him of his bride. How the robbery had been +effected the world could not quite say. The world was still of +opinion that the lady was violently attached to the man she had +not married. But Captain Gunner explained it all clearly to Major +Pountney by asserting that the poor girl had been coerced into the +marriage by her father. And thus Arthur Fletcher found himself almost +as much a hero in London as at Longbarns. + +Fletcher had not been above a week in town, and had become heartily +sick of the rumours which in various shapes made their way round to +his own ears, when he received an invitation from Mr. Wharton to +go and dine with him at a tavern called the Jolly Blackbird. The +invitation surprised him,--that he should be asked by such a man +to dine at such a place,--but he accepted it as a matter of course. +He was indeed much interested in a Bill for the drainage of common +lands which was to be discussed in the House that night; there was +a good deal of common land round Silverbridge, and he had some idea +of making his first speech,--but he calculated that he might get his +dinner and yet be back in time for the debate. So he went to the +Jolly Blackbird,--a very quaint, old-fashioned law dining-house in +the neighbourhood of Portugal Street, which had managed not to get +itself pulled down a dozen years ago on behalf of the Law Courts +which are to bless some coming generation. Arthur had never been +there before and was surprised at the black wainscoting, the black +tables, the old-fashioned grate, the two candles on the table, and +the silent waiter. "I wanted to see you, Arthur," said the old man, +pressing his hand in a melancholy way, "but I couldn't ask you to +Manchester Square. They come in sometimes in the evening, and it +might have been unpleasant. At your young men's clubs they let +strangers dine. We haven't anything of that kind at the Eldon. You'll +find they'll give you a very good bit of fish here, and a fairish +steak." Arthur declared that he thought it a capital place,--the best +fun in the world. "And they've a very good bottle of claret;--better +than we get at the Eldon, I think. I don't know that I can say much +for their champagne. We'll try it. You young fellows always drink +champagne." + +"I hardly ever touch it," said Arthur. "Sherry and claret are my +wines." + +"Very well;--very well. I did want to see you, my boy. Things haven't +turned out just as we wished--have they?" + +"Not exactly, sir." + +"No indeed. You know the old saying, 'God disposes it all.' I have to +make the best of it,--and so no doubt do you." + +"There's no doubt about it, sir," said Arthur, speaking in a low but +almost angry voice. They were not in a room by themselves, but in a +recess which separated them from the room. "I don't know that I want +to talk about it, but to me it is one of those things for which there +is no remedy. When a man loses his leg, he hobbles on, and sometimes +has a good time of it at last;--but there he is, without a leg." + +"It wasn't my fault, Arthur." + +"There has been no fault but my own. I went in for the running and +got distanced. That's simply all about it, and there's no more to be +said." + +"You ain't surprised that I should wish to see you." + +"I'm ever so much obliged. I think it's very kind of you." + +"I can't go in for a new life as you can. I can't take up politics +and Parliament. It's too late for me." + +"I'm going to. There's a Bill coming on this very night that I'm +interested about. You mustn't be angry if I rush off a little before +ten. We are going to lend money to the parishes on the security +of the rates for draining bits of common land. Then we shall sell +the land and endow the unions, so as to lessen the poor rates, and +increase the cereal products of the country. We think we can bring +300,000 acres under the plough in three years, which now produce +almost nothing, and in five years would pay all the expenses. Putting +the value of the land at L25 an acre, which is low, we shall have +created property to the value of seven millions and a half. That's +something, you know." + +"Oh, yes," said Mr. Wharton, who felt himself quite unable to follow +with any interest the aspirations of the young legislator. + +"Of course it's complicated," continued Arthur, "but when you come to +look into it it comes out clear enough. It is one of the instances +of the omnipotence of capital. Parliament can do such a thing, not +because it has any creative power of its own, but because it has the +command of unlimited capital." Mr. Wharton looked at him, sighing +inwardly as he reflected that unrequited love should have brought a +clear-headed young barrister into mists so thick and labyrinths so +mazy as these. "A very good beefsteak indeed," said Arthur. "I don't +know when I ate a better one. Thank you, no;--I'll stick to the +claret." Mr. Wharton had offered him Madeira. "Claret and brown meat +always go well together. Pancake! I don't object to a pancake. A +pancake's a very good thing. Now would you believe it, sir; they +can't make a pancake at the House." + +"And yet they sometimes fall very flat too," said the lawyer, making +a real lawyer's joke. + +"It's all in the mixing, sir," said Arthur, carrying it on. "We've +mixture enough just at present, but it isn't of the proper sort;--too +much of the flour, and not enough of the egg." + +But Mr. Wharton had still something to say, though he hardly knew how +to say it. "You must come and see us in the Square after a bit." + +"Oh;--of course." + +"I wouldn't ask you to dine there to-day, because I thought we should +be less melancholy here;--but you mustn't cut us altogether. You +haven't seen Everett since you've been in town?" + +"No, sir. I believe he lives a good deal,--a good deal with--Mr. +Lopez. There was a little row down at Silverbridge. Of course it will +wear off, but just at present his lines and my lines don't converge." + +"I'm very unhappy about him, Arthur." + +"There's nothing the matter?" + +"My girl has married that man. I've nothing to say against him;--but +of course it wasn't to my taste; and I feel it as a separation. And +now Everett has quarrelled with me." + +"Quarrelled with you!" + +Then the father told the story as well as he knew how. His son +had lost some money, and he had called his son a gambler;--and +consequently his son would not come near him. "It is bad to lose them +both, Arthur." + +"That is so unlike Everett." + +"It seems to me that everybody has changed,--except myself. Who would +have dreamed that she would have married that man? Not that I have +anything to say against him except that he was not of our sort. He +has been very good about Everett, and is very good about him. But +Everett will not come to me unless I--withdraw the word;--say that I +was wrong to call him a gambler. That is a proposition that no son +should make to a father." + +"It is very unlike Everett," repeated the other. "Has he written to +that effect?" + +"He has not written a word." + +"Why don't you see him yourself, and have it out with him?" + +"Am I to go to that club after him?" said the father. + +"Write to him and bid him come to you. I'll give up my seat if he +don't come to you. Everett was always a quaint fellow, a little idle, +you know,--mooning about after ideas--" + +"He's no fool, you know," said the father. + +"Not at all;--only vague. But he's the last man in the world to +have nasty vulgar ideas of his own importance as distinguished from +yours." + +"Lopez says--" + +"I wouldn't quite trust Lopez." + +"He isn't a bad fellow in his way, Arthur. Of course he is not what +I would have liked for a son-in-law. I needn't tell you that. But he +is kind and gentle-mannered, and has always been attached to Everett. +You know he saved Everett's life at the risk of his own." Arthur +could not but smile as he perceived how the old man was being won +round by the son-in-law, whom he had treated so violently before the +man had become his son-in-law. "By-the-way, what was all that about a +letter you wrote to him?" + +"Emily,--I mean Mrs. Lopez,--will tell you if you ask her." + +"I don't want to ask her. I don't want to appear to set the wife +against the husband. I am sure, my boy, you would write nothing that +could affront her." + +"I think not, Mr. Wharton. If I know myself at all, or my own nature, +it is not probable that I should affront your daughter." + +"No; no; no. I know that, my dear boy. I was always sure of that. +Take some more wine." + +"No more, thank you. I must be off because I'm so anxious about this +Bill." + +"I couldn't ask Emily about this letter. Now that they are married I +have to make the best of it,--for her sake. I couldn't bring myself +to say anything to her which might seem to accuse him." + +"I thought it right, sir, to explain to her that were I not in the +hands of other people I would not do anything to interfere with her +happiness by opposing her husband. My language was most guarded." + +"He destroyed the letter." + +"I have a copy of it, if it comes to that," said Arthur. + +"It will be best, perhaps, to say nothing further about it. +Well;--good night, my boy, if you must go." Then Fletcher went off to +the House, wondering as he went at the change which had apparently +come over the character of his old friend. Mr. Wharton had always +been a strong man, and now he seemed to be as weak as water. As to +Everett, Fletcher was sure that there was something wrong, but he +could not see his way to interfere himself. For the present he was +divided from the family. Nevertheless he told himself again and again +that that division should not be permanent. Of all the world she must +always be to him the dearest. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +The Horns + + +The first months of the Session went on very much as the last Session +had gone. The ministry did nothing brilliant. As far as the outer +world could see, they seemed to be firm enough. There was no opposing +party in the House strong enough to get a vote against them on any +subject. Outsiders, who only studied politics in the columns of their +newspapers, imagined the Coalition to be very strong. But they who +were inside, members themselves, and the club quidnuncs who were +always rubbing their shoulders against members, knew better. The +opposition to the Coalition was within the Coalition itself. Sir +Orlando Drought had not been allowed to build his four ships, and was +consequently eager in his fears that the country would be invaded +by the combined forces of Germany and France, that India would be +sold by those powers to Russia, that Canada would be annexed to the +States, that a great independent Roman Catholic hierarchy would be +established in Ireland, and that Malta and Gibraltar would be taken +away from us;--all which evils would be averted by the building of +four big ships. A wet blanket of so terrible a size was in itself +pernicious to the Cabinet, and heartrending to the poor Duke. But Sir +Orlando could do worse even than this. As he was not to build his +four ships, neither should Mr. Monk be allowed to readjust the county +suffrage. When the skeleton of Mr. Monk's scheme was discussed in the +Cabinet, Sir Orlando would not agree to it. The gentlemen, he said, +who had joined the present Government with him, would never consent +to a measure which would be so utterly destructive of the county +interest. If Mr. Monk insisted on his measure in its proposed form, +he must, with very great regret, place his resignation in the Duke's +hands, and he believed that his friends would find themselves +compelled to follow the same course. Then our Duke consulted the +old Duke. The old Duke's advice was the same as ever. The Queen's +Government was the main object. The present ministry enjoyed the +support of the country, and he considered it the duty of the First +Lord of the Treasury to remain at his post. The country was in no +hurry, and the question of suffrages in the counties might be well +delayed. Then he added a little counsel which might be called quite +private, as it was certainly intended for no other ears than those +of his younger friend. "Give Sir Orlando rope enough and he'll hang +himself. His own party are becoming tired of him. If you quarrel with +him this Session, Drummond, and Ramsden, and Beeswax, would go out +with him, and the Government would be broken up; but next Session you +may get rid of him safely." + +"I wish it were broken up," said the Prime Minister. + +"You have your duty to do by the country and by the Queen, and you +mustn't regard your own wishes. Next Session let Monk be ready with +his Bill again,--the same measure exactly. Let Sir Orlando resign +then if he will. Should he do so I doubt whether any one would go +with him. Drummond does not like him much better than you and I do." +The poor Prime Minister was forced to obey. The old Duke was his +only trusted counsellor, and he found himself constrained by his +conscience to do as that counsellor counselled him. When, however, +Sir Orlando, in his place as Leader of the House, in answer to some +question from a hot and disappointed Radical, averred that the whole +of her Majesty's Government had been quite in unison on this question +of the county suffrage, he was hardly able to restrain himself. "If +there be differences of opinion they must be kept in the background," +said the Duke of St. Bungay. "Nothing can justify a direct +falsehood," said the Duke of Omnium. Thus it came to pass that the +only real measure which the Government had in hand was one by which +Phineas Finn hoped so to increase the power of Irish municipalities +as to make the Home Rulers believe that a certain amount of Home Rule +was being conceded to them. It was not a great measure, and poor +Phineas himself hardly believed in it. And thus the Duke's ministry +came to be called the Faineants. + +But the Duchess, though she had been much snubbed, still persevered. +Now and again she would declare herself to be broken-hearted, and +would say that things might go their own way, that she would send in +her resignation, that she would retire into private life and milk +cows, that she would shake hands with no more parliamentary cads and +"caddesses,"--a word which her Grace condescended to coin for her own +use; that she would spend the next three years in travelling about +the world; and lastly, that, let there come of it whatever might, Sir +Orlando Drought should never again be invited into any house of which +she was the mistress. This last threat, which was perhaps the most +indiscreet of them all, she absolutely made good,--thereby adding +very greatly to her husband's difficulties. + +But by the middle of June the parties at the house in Carlton Terrace +were as frequent and as large as ever. Indeed it was all party with +her. The Duchess possessed a pretty little villa down at Richmond, on +the river, called The Horns, and gave parties there when there were +none in London. She had picnics, and flower parties, and tea parties, +and afternoons, and evenings, on the lawn,--till half London was +always on its way to Richmond or back again. How she worked! And yet +from day to day she swore that the world was ungrateful, and that she +would work no more! I think that the world was ungrateful. Everybody +went. She was so far successful that nobody thought of despising +her parties. It was quite the thing to go to the Duchess's, whether +at Richmond or in London. But people abused her and laughed at +her. They said that she intrigued to get political support for her +husband,--and, worse than that, they said that she failed. She +did not fail altogether. The world was not taken captive as she +had intended. Young members of Parliament did not become hotly +enthusiastic in support of her and her husband as she had hoped that +they would do. She had not become an institution of granite, as her +dreams had fondly told her might be possible;--for there had been +moments in which she had almost thought that she could rule England +by giving dinner and supper parties, by ices and champagne. But in a +dull, phlegmatic way, they who ate the ices and drank the champagne +were true to her. There was a feeling abroad that "Glencora" was +a "good sort of fellow" and ought to be supported. And when the +ridicule became too strong, or the abuse too sharp, men would take +up the cudgels for her, and fight her battles;--a little too openly, +perhaps, as they would do it under her eyes, and in her hearing, and +would tell her what they had done, mistaking on such occasions her +good humour for sympathy. There was just enough of success to prevent +that abandonment of her project which she so often threatened, but +not enough to make her triumphant. She was too clever not to see +that she was ridiculed. She knew that men called her Glencora among +themselves. She was herself quite alive to the fact that she herself +was wanting in dignity, and that with all the means at her disposal, +with all her courage and all her talent, she did not quite play the +part of the really great lady. But she did not fail to tell herself +that labour continued would at last be successful, and she was strong +to bear the buffets of the ill-natured. She did not think that she +brought first-class materials to her work, but she believed,--a +belief as erroneous as, alas, it is common,--that first-rate results +might be achieved by second-rate means. "We had such a battle about +your Grace last night," Captain Gunner said to her. + +"And were you my knight?" + +"Indeed I was. I never heard such nonsense." + +"What were they saying?" + +"Oh, the old story;--that you were like Martha, busying yourself +about many things." + +"Why shouldn't I busy myself about many things? It is a pity, Captain +Gunner, that some of you men have not something to busy yourselves +about." All this was unpleasant. She could on such an occasion make +up her mind to drop any Captain Gunner who had ventured to take too +much upon himself; but she felt that in the efforts which she had +made after popularity, she had submitted herself to unpleasant +familiarities;--and though persistent in her course, she was still +angry with herself. + +When she had begun her campaign as the Prime Minister's wife, one +of her difficulties had been with regard to money. An abnormal +expenditure became necessary, for which her husband's express +sanction must be obtained, and steps taken in which his personal +assistance would be necessary;--but this had been done, and there +was now no further impediment in that direction. It seemed to be +understood that she was to spend what money she pleased. There had +been various contests between them, but in every contest she had +gained something. He had been majestically indignant with her in +reference to the candidature at Silverbridge,--but, as is usual with +many of us, had been unable to maintain his anger about two things +at the same time. Or, rather, in the majesty of his anger about her +interference, he had disdained to descend to the smaller faults of +her extravagance. He had seemed to concede everything else to her, +on condition that he should be allowed to be imperious in reference +to the borough. In that matter she had given way, never having +opened her mouth about it after that one unfortunate word to Mr. +Sprugeon. But, having done so, she was entitled to squander her +thousands without remorse,--and she squandered them. "It is your +five-and-twenty thousand pounds, my dear," she once said to Mrs. +Finn, who often took upon herself to question the prudence of all +this expenditure. This referred to a certain sum of money which +had been left by the old Duke to Madame Goesler, as she was then +called,--a legacy which that lady had repudiated. The money had, +in truth, been given away to a relation of the Duke's by the joint +consent of the lady and of the Duke himself, but the Duchess was +pleased to refer to it occasionally as a still existing property. + +"My five-and-twenty thousand pounds, as you call it, would not go +very far." + +"What's the use of money if you don't spend it? The Duke would go +on collecting it and buying more property, which always means more +trouble,--not because he is avaricious, but because for the time +that comes easier than spending. Supposing he had married a woman +without a shilling, he would still have been a rich man. As it is, +my property was more even than his own. If we can do any good by +spending the money, why shouldn't it be spent?" + +"If you can do any good!" + +"It all comes round to that. It isn't because I like always to live +in a windmill! I have come to hate it. At this moment I would give +worlds to be down at Matching with no one but the children, and to +go about in a straw hat and a muslin gown. I have a fancy that I +could sit under a tree and read a sermon, and think it the sweetest +recreation. But I've made the attempt to do all this, and it is so +mean to fail!" + +"But where is to be the end of it?" + +"There shall be no end as long as he is Prime Minister. He is the +first man in England. Some people would say the first in Europe,--or +in the world. A Prince should entertain like a Prince." + +"He need not be always entertaining." + +"Hospitality should run from a man with his wealth and his position, +like water from a fountain. As his hand is known to be full, so it +should be known to be open. When the delight of his friends is in +question he should know nothing of cost. Pearls should drop from him +as from a fairy. But I don't think you understand me." + +"Not when the pearls are to be picked up by Captain Gunners, Lady +Glen." + +"I can't make the men any better,--nor yet the women. They are poor +mean creatures. The world is made up of such. I don't know that +Captain Gunner is worse than Sir Orlando Drought or Sir Timothy +Beeswax. People seen by the mind are exactly different to things seen +by the eye. They grow smaller and smaller as you come nearer down to +them, whereas things become bigger. I remember when I used to think +that members of the Cabinet were almost gods, and now they seem to be +no bigger than the shoeblacks,--only less picturesque. He told me the +other day of the time when he gave up going into power for the sake +of taking me abroad. Ah me! how much was happening then,--and how +much has happened since that! We didn't know you then." + +"He has been a good husband to you." + +"And I have been a good wife to him! I have never had him for an +hour out of my heart since that, or ever for a moment forgotten his +interest. I can't live with him because he shuts himself up reading +blue-books, and is always at his office or in the House;--but I would +if I could. Am I not doing it all for him? You don't think that the +Captain Gunners are particularly pleasant to me! Think of your life +and of mine. You have had lovers." + +"One in my life,--when I was quite entitled to have one." + +"Well; I am Duchess of Omnium, and I am the wife of the Prime +Minister, and I had a larger property of my own than any other young +woman that ever was born; and I am myself too,--Glencora M'Cluskie +that was, and I've made for myself a character that I'm not ashamed +of. But I'd be the curate's wife to-morrow, and make puddings, if I +could only have my own husband and my own children with me. What's +the use of it all? I like you better than anybody else, but you do +nothing but scold me." Still the parties went on, and the Duchess +laboured hard among her guests, and wore her jewels, and stood on +her feet all the night, night after night, being civil to one person, +bright to a second, confidential to a third, and sarcastic to an +unfortunate fourth;--and in the morning she would work hard with +her lists, seeing who had come to her and who had stayed away, and +arranging who should be asked and who should be omitted. + +In the meantime the Duke altogether avoided these things. At +first he had been content to show himself, and escape as soon as +possible;--but now he was never seen at all in his own house, except +at certain heavy dinners. To Richmond he never went at all, and in +his own house in town very rarely even passed through the door that +led into the reception rooms. He had not time for ordinary society. +So said the Duchess. And many, perhaps the majority of those who +frequented the house, really believed that his official duties were +too onerous to leave him time for conversation. But in truth the +hours went heavily with him as he sat alone in his study, sighing for +some sweet parliamentary task, and regretting the days in which he +was privileged to sit in the House of Commons till two o'clock in the +morning, in the hope that he might get a clause or two passed in his +Bill for decimal coinage. + +It was at the Horns at an afternoon party, given there in the gardens +by the Duchess, early in July, that Arthur Fletcher first saw Emily +after her marriage, and Lopez after the occurrence in Silverbridge. +As it happened he came out upon the lawn close after them, and found +them speaking to the Duchess as they passed on. She had put herself +out of the way to be civil to Mr. and Mrs. Lopez, feeling that she +had in some degree injured him in reference to the election, and had +therefore invited both him and his wife on more than one occasion. +Arthur Fletcher was there as a young man well known in the world, +and as a supporter of the Duke's Government. The Duchess had taken +up Arthur Fletcher,--as she was wont to take up new men, and had +personally become tired of Lopez. Of course she had heard of the +election, and had been told that Lopez had behaved badly. Of Mr. +Lopez she did not know enough to care anything, one way or the +other;--but she still encouraged him because she had caused him +disappointment. She had now detained them a minute on the terrace +before the windows while she said a word, and Arthur Fletcher became +one of the little party before he knew whom he was meeting. "I am +delighted," she said, "that you two Silverbridge heroes should meet +together here as friends." It was almost incumbent on her to say +something, though it would have been better for her not to have +alluded to their heroism. Mrs. Lopez put out her hand, and Arthur +Fletcher of course took it. Then the two men bowed slightly to each +other, raising their hats. Arthur paused a moment with them, as they +passed on from the Duchess, thinking that he would say something in +a friendly tone. But he was silenced by the frown on the husband's +face, and was almost constrained to go away without a word. It was +very difficult for him even to be silent, as her greeting had been +kind. But yet it was impossible for him to ignore the displeasure +displayed in the man's countenance. So he touched his hat, and asking +her to remember him affectionately to her father, turned off the path +and went away. + +"Why did you shake hands with that man?" said Lopez. It was the first +time since their marriage that his voice had been that of an angry +man and an offended husband. + +"Why not, Ferdinand? He and I are very old friends, and we have not +quarrelled." + +"You must take up your husband's friendships and your husband's +quarrels. Did I not tell you that he had insulted you?" + +"He never insulted me." + +"Emily, you must allow me to be the judge of that. He insulted you, +and then he behaved like a poltroon down at Silverbridge, and I will +not have you know him any more. When I say so I suppose that will be +enough." He waited for a reply, but she said nothing. "I ask you to +tell me that you will obey me in this." + +"Of course he will not come to my house, nor should I think of going +to his, if you disapproved." + +"Going to his house! He is unmarried." + +"Supposing he had a wife! Ferdinand, perhaps it will be better that +you and I should not talk about him." + +"By G----," said Lopez, "there shall be no subject on which I will be +afraid to talk to my own wife. I insist on your assuring me that you +will never speak to him again." + +He had taken her along one of the upper walks because it was +desolate, and he could there speak to her, as he thought, without +being heard. She had, almost unconsciously, made a faint attempt +to lead him down upon the lawn, no doubt feeling averse to private +conversation at the moment; but he had persevered, and had resented +the little effort. The idea in his mind that she was unwilling +to hear him abuse Arthur Fletcher, unwilling to renounce the man, +anxious to escape his order for such renunciation, added fuel to his +jealousy. It was not enough for him that she had rejected this man +and had accepted him. The man had been her lover, and she should be +made to denounce the man. It might be necessary for him to control +his feelings before old Wharton;--but he knew enough of his wife to +be sure that she would not speak evil of him or betray him to her +father. Her loyalty to him, which he could understand though not +appreciate, enabled him to be a tyrant to her. So now he repeated his +order to her, pausing in the path, with a voice unintentionally loud, +and frowning down upon her as he spoke. "You must tell me, Emily, +that you will never speak to him again." + +She was silent, looking up into his face, not with tremulous eyes, +but with infinite woe written in them, had he been able to read the +writing. She knew that he was disgracing himself, and yet he was +the man whom she loved! "If you bid me not to speak to him, I will +not;--but he must know the reason why." + +"He shall know nothing from you. You do not mean to say that you +would write to him?" + +"Papa must tell him." + +"I will not have it so. In this matter, Emily, I will be master,--as +it is fit that I should be. I will not have you talk to your father +about Mr. Fletcher." + +"Why not, Ferdinand?" + +"Because I have so decided. He is an old family friend. I can +understand that, and do not therefore wish to interfere between him +and your father. But he has taken upon himself to write an insolent +letter to you as my wife, and to interfere in my affairs. As to what +should be done between you and him I must be the judge, and not your +father." + +"And must I not speak to papa about it?" + +"No!" + +"Ferdinand, you make too little, I think, of the associations and +affections of a whole life." + +"I will hear nothing about affection," he said angrily. + +"You cannot mean that--that--you doubt me?" + +"Certainly not. I think too much of myself and too little of him." It +did not occur to him to tell her that he thought too well of her for +that. "But the man who has offended me must be held to have offended +you also." + +"You might say the same if it were my father." + +He paused at this, but only for a moment. "Certainly I might. It is +not probable, but no doubt I might do so. If your father were to +quarrel with me, you would not, I suppose, hesitate between us?" + +"Nothing on earth could divide me from you." + +"Nor me from you. In this very matter I am only taking your part, +if you did but know it." They had now passed on, and had met other +persons, having made their way through a little shrubbery on to a +further lawn; and she had hoped, as they were surrounded by people, +that he would allow the matter to drop. She had been unable as yet +to make up her mind as to what she would say if he pressed her hard. +But if it could be passed by,--if nothing more were demanded from +her,--she would endeavour to forget it all, saying to herself that +it had come from sudden passion. But he was too resolute for such a +termination as that, and too keenly alive to the expediency of making +her thoroughly subject to him. So he turned her round and took her +back through the shrubbery, and in the middle of it stopped her again +and renewed his demand. "Promise me that you will not speak again to +Mr. Fletcher." + +"Then I must tell papa." + +"No;--you shall tell him nothing." + +"Ferdinand, if you exact a promise from me that I will not speak to +Mr. Fletcher or bow to him should circumstances bring us together as +they did just now, I must explain to my father why I have done so." + +"You will wilfully disobey me?" + +"In that I must." He glared at her, almost as though he were going to +strike her, but she bore his look without flinching. "I have left all +my old friends, Ferdinand, and have given myself heart and soul to +you. No woman did so with a truer love or more devoted intention of +doing her duty to her husband. Your affairs shall be my affairs." + +"Well; yes; rather." + +She was endeavouring to assure him of her truth, but could understand +the sneer which was conveyed in his acknowledgement. "But you cannot, +nor can I for your sake, abolish the things which have been." + +"I wish to abolish nothing that has been. I speak of the future." + +"Between our family and that of Mr. Fletcher there has been old +friendship which is still very dear to my father,--the memory of +which is still very dear to me. At your request I am willing to put +all that aside from me. There is no reason why I should ever see +any of the Fletchers again. Our lives will be apart. Should we meet +our greeting would be very slight. The separation can be effected +without words. But if you demand an absolute promise,--I must tell my +father." + +"We will go home at once," he said instantly, and aloud. And home +they went, back to London, without exchanging a word on the journey. +He was absolutely black with rage, and she was content to remain +silent. The promise was not given, nor, indeed, was it exacted under +the conditions which the wife had imposed upon it. He was most +desirous to make her subject to his will in all things, and quite +prepared to exercise tyranny over her to any extent,--so that her +father should know nothing of it. He could not afford to quarrel with +Mr. Wharton. "You had better go to bed," he said, when he got her +back to town;--and she went, if not to bed, at any rate into her own +room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +Sir Orlando Retires + + +"He is a horrid man. He came here and quarrelled with the other man +in my house, or rather down at Richmond, and made a fool of himself, +and then quarrelled with his wife and took her away. What fools, what +asses, what horrors men are! How impossible it is to be civil and +gracious without getting into a mess. I am tempted to say that I will +never know anybody any more." Such was the complaint made by the +Duchess to Mrs. Finn a few days after the Richmond party, and from +this it was evident that the latter affair had not passed without +notice. + +"Did he make a noise about it?" asked Mrs. Finn. + +"There was not a row, but there was enough of a quarrel to be visible +and audible. He walked about and talked loud to the poor woman. Of +course it was my own fault. But the man was clever and I liked him, +and people told me that he was of the right sort." + +"The Duke heard of it?" + +"No;--and I hope he won't. It would be such a triumph for him, after +all the fuss at Silverbridge. But he never hears of anything. If two +men fought a duel in his own dining-room he would be the last man in +London to know it." + +"Then say nothing about it, and don't ask the men any more." + +"You may be sure I won't ask the man with the wife any more. The +other man is in Parliament and can't be thrown over so easily--and it +wasn't his fault. But I'm getting so sick of it all! I'm told that +Sir Orlando has complained to Plantagenet that he isn't asked to the +dinners." + +"Impossible!" + +"Don't you mention it, but he has. Warburton has told me so." +Warburton was one of the Duke's private secretaries. + +"What did the Duke say?" + +"I don't quite know. Warburton is one of my familiars, but I didn't +like to ask him for more than he chose to tell me. Warburton +suggested that I should invite Sir Orlando at once; but there I was +obdurate. Of course, if Plantagenet tells me I'll ask the man to come +every day of the week;--but it is one of those things that I shall +need to be told directly. My idea is, you know, that they had better +get rid of Sir Orlando,--and that if Sir Orlando chooses to kick over +the traces, he may be turned loose without any danger. One has little +birds that give one all manner of information, and one little bird +has told me that Sir Orlando and Mr. Roby don't speak. Mr. Roby is +not very much himself, but he is a good straw to show which way the +wind blows. Plantagenet certainly sent no message about Sir Orlando, +and I'm afraid the gentleman must look for his dinners elsewhere." + +The Duke had in truth expressed himself very plainly to Mr. +Warburton; but with so much indiscreet fretfulness that the discreet +private secretary had not told it even to the Duchess. "This kind +of thing argues a want of cordiality that may be fatal to us," Sir +Orlando had said somewhat grandiloquently to the Duke, and the Duke +had made--almost no reply. "I suppose I may ask my own guests in +my own house," he had said afterwards to Mr. Warburton, "though in +public life I am everybody's slave." Mr. Warburton, anxious of course +to maintain the unity of the party, had told the Duchess so much as +would, he thought, induce her to give way; but he had not repeated +the Duke's own observations, which were, Mr. Warburton thought, +hostile to the interests of the party. The Duchess had only smiled +and made a little grimace, with which the private secretary was +already well acquainted. And Sir Orlando received no invitation. + +In those days Sir Orlando was unhappy and irritable, doubtful of +further success as regarded the Coalition, but quite resolved to pull +the house down about the ears of the inhabitants rather than to leave +it with gentle resignation. To him it seemed to be impossible that +the Coalition should exist without him. He too had had moments of +high-vaulting ambition, in which he had almost felt himself to be the +great man required by the country, the one ruler who could gather +together in his grasp the reins of government and drive the State +coach single-handed safe through its difficulties for the next +half-dozen years. There are men who cannot conceive of themselves +that anything should be difficult for them, and again others who +cannot bring themselves so to trust themselves as to think that they +can ever achieve anything great. Samples of each sort from time to +time rise high in political life, carried thither apparently by +Epicurean concourse of atoms; and it often happens that the more +confident samples are by no means the most capable. The concourse of +atoms had carried Sir Orlando so high that he could not but think +himself intended for something higher. But the Duke, who had really +been wafted to the very top, had always doubted himself, believing +himself capable of doing some one thing by dint of industry, but with +no further confidence in his own powers. Sir Orlando had perceived +something of his Leader's weakness, and had thought that he might +profit by it. He was not only a distinguished member of the Cabinet, +but even the recognised Leader of the House of Commons. He looked out +the facts and found that for five-and-twenty years out of the last +thirty the Leader of the House of Commons had been the Head of the +Government. He felt that he would be mean not to stretch out his hand +and take the prize destined for him. The Duke was a poor timid man +who had very little to say for himself. Then came the little episode +about the dinners. It had become very evident to all the world that +the Duchess of Omnium had cut Sir Orlando Drought,--that the Prime +Minister's wife, who was great in hospitality, would not admit the +First Lord of the Admiralty into her house. The doings at Gatherum +Castle, and in Carlton Terrace, and at the Horns were watched much +too closely by the world at large to allow such omissions to be +otherwise than conspicuous. Since the commencement of the Session +there had been a series of articles in the "People's Banner" +violently abusive of the Prime Minister, and in one or two of these +the indecency of these exclusions had been exposed with great +strength of language. And the Editor of the "People's Banner" had +discovered that Sir Orlando Drought was the one man in Parliament fit +to rule the nation. Till Parliament should discover this fact, or at +least acknowledge it,--the discovery having been happily made by the +"People's Banner,"--the Editor of the "People's Banner" thought that +there could be no hope for the country. Sir Orlando of course saw +all these articles, and in his very heart believed that a man had +at length sprung up among them fit to conduct a newspaper. The Duke +also unfortunately saw the "People's Banner." In his old happy days +two papers a day, one in the morning and the other before dinner, +sufficed to tell him all that he wanted to know. Now he felt it +necessary to see almost every rag that was published. And he would +skim through them all till he found the lines in which he himself +was maligned, and then, with sore heart and irritated nerves, would +pause over every contumelious word. He would have bitten his tongue +out rather than have spoken of the tortures he endured, but he was +tortured and did endure. He knew the cause of the bitter personal +attacks made on him,--of the abuse with which he was loaded, and of +the ridicule, infinitely more painful to him, with which his wife's +social splendour was bespattered. He remembered well the attempt +which Mr. Quintus Slide had made to obtain an entrance into his +house, and his own scornful rejection of that gentleman's overtures. +He knew,--no man knew better,--the real value of that able Editor's +opinion. And yet every word of it was gall and wormwood to him. In +every paragraph there was a scourge which hit him on the raw and +opened wounds which he could show to no kind surgeon, for which he +could find solace in no friendly treatment. Not even to his wife +could he condescend to say that Mr. Quintus Slide had hurt him. + +Then Sir Orlando had come himself. Sir Orlando explained himself +gracefully. He of course could understand that no gentleman +had a right to complain because he was not asked to another +gentleman's house. But the affairs of the country were above private +considerations; and he, actuated by public feelings, would condescend +to do that which under other circumstances would be impossible. The +public press, which was ever vigilant, had suggested that there was +some official estrangement, because he, Sir Orlando, had not been +included in the list of guests invited by his Grace. Did not his +Grace think that there might be seeds of,--he would not quite say +decay for the Coalition, in such a state of things? The Duke paused a +moment, and then said that he thought there were no such seeds. Sir +Orlando bowed haughtily and withdrew--swearing at the moment that the +Coalition should be made to fall into a thousand shivers. This had +all taken place a fortnight before the party at the Horns from which +poor Mrs. Lopez had been withdrawn so hastily. + +But Sir Orlando, when he commenced the proceedings consequent on +this resolution, did not find all that support which he had expected. +Unfortunately there had been an uncomfortable word or two between him +and Mr. Roby, the political Secretary at the Admiralty. Mr. Roby had +never quite seconded Sir Orlando's ardour in that matter of the four +ships, and Sir Orlando in his pride of place had ventured to snub Mr. +Roby. Now Mr. Roby could bear a snubbing perhaps as well as any other +official subordinate,--but he was one who would study the question +and assure himself that it was, or that it was not, worth his while +to bear it. He, too, had discussed with his friends the condition +of the Coalition, and had come to conclusions rather adverse to Sir +Orlando than otherwise. When, therefore, the First Secretary sounded +him as to the expediency of some step in the direction of a firmer +political combination than that at present existing,--by which of +course was meant the dethronement of the present Prime Minister,--Mr. +Roby had snubbed him! Then there had been slight official +criminations and recriminations, till a state of things had come to +pass which almost justified the statement made by the Duchess to Mrs. +Finn. + +The Coalition had many component parts, some coalescing without +difficulty, but with no special cordiality. Such was the condition of +things between the very conservative Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland and +his somewhat radical Chief Secretary, Mr. Finn,--between probably the +larger number of those who were contented with the duties of their +own offices and the pleasures and profits arising therefrom. Some +by this time hardly coalesced at all, as was the case with Sir +Gregory Grogram and Sir Timothy Beeswax, the Attorney-General and +Solicitor-General;--and was especially the case with the Prime +Minister and Sir Orlando Drought. But in one or two happy cases the +Coalition was sincere and loyal,--and in no case was this more so +than with regard to Mr. Rattler and Mr. Roby. Mr. Rattler and Mr. +Roby had throughout their long parliamentary lives belonged to +opposite parties, and had been accustomed to regard each other with +mutual jealousy and almost with mutual hatred. But now they had come +to see how equal, how alike, and how sympathetic were their tastes, +and how well each might help the other. As long as Mr. Rattler could +keep his old place at the Treasury,--and his ambition never stirred +him to aught higher,--he was quite contented that his old rival +should be happy at the Admiralty. And that old rival, when he looked +about him and felt his present comfort, when he remembered how +short-lived had been the good things which had hitherto come in his +way, and how little probable it was that long-lived good things +should be his when the Coalition was broken up, manfully determined +that loyalty to the present Head of the Government was his duty. He +had sat for too many years on the same bench with Sir Orlando to +believe much in his power of governing the country. Therefore, when +Sir Orlando dropped his hint Mr. Roby did not take it. + +"I wonder whether it's true that Sir Orlando complained to the Duke +that he was not asked to dinner?" said Mr. Roby to Mr. Rattler. + +"I should hardly think so. I can't fancy that he would have the +pluck," said Mr. Rattler. "The Duke isn't the easiest man in the +world to speak to about such a thing as that." + +"It would be a monstrous thing for a man to do! But Drought's head is +quite turned. You can see that." + +"We never thought very much about him, you know, on our side." + +"It was what your side thought about him," rejoined Roby, "that put +him where he is now." + +"It was the fate of accidents, Roby, which puts so many of us in our +places, and arranges our work for us, and makes us little men or big +men. There are other men besides Drought who have been tossed up in a +blanket till they don't know whether their heads or their heels are +highest." + +"I quite believe in the Duke," said Mr. Roby, almost alarmed by the +suggestion which his new friend had seemed to make. + +"So do I, Roby. He has not the obduracy of Lord Brock, nor the +ineffable manner of Mr. Mildmay, nor the brilliant intellect of Mr. +Gresham." + +"Nor the picturesque imagination of Mr. Daubeny," said Mr. Roby, +feeling himself bound to support the character of his late chief. + +"Nor his audacity," said Mr. Rattler. "But he has peculiar gifts +of his own, and gifts fitted for the peculiar combination of +circumstances, if he will only be content to use them. He is a just, +unambitious, intelligent man, in whom after a while the country +would come to have implicit confidence. But he is thin-skinned and +ungenial." + +"I have got into his boat," said Roby, enthusiastically, "and he will +find that I shall be true to him." + +"There is no better boat to be in at present," said the slightly +sarcastic Rattler. "As to the Drought pinnace, it will be more +difficult to get it afloat than the four ships themselves. To tell +the truth honestly, Roby, we have to rid ourselves of Sir Orlando. I +have a great regard for the man." + +"I can't say I ever liked him," said Roby. + +"I don't talk about liking,--but he has achieved success, and is to +be regarded. Now he has lost his head, and he is bound to get a fall. +The question is,--who shall fall with him?" + +"I do not feel myself at all bound to sacrifice myself." + +"I don't know who does. Sir Timothy Beeswax, I suppose, will resent +the injury done to him. But I can hardly think that a strong +government can be formed by Sir Orlando Drought and Sir Timothy +Beeswax. Any secession is a weakness,--of course; but I think he may +survive it." And so Mr. Rattler and Mr. Roby made up their minds that +the First Lord of the Admiralty might be thrown overboard without +much danger to the Queen's ship. + +Sir Orlando, however, was quite in earnest. The man had spirit enough +to feel that no alternative was left to him after he had condescended +to suggest that he should be asked to dinner and had been refused. He +tried Mr. Roby, and found that Mr. Roby was a mean fellow, wedded, +as he told himself, to his salary. Then he sounded Lord Drummond, +urging various reasons. The country was not safe without more ships. +Mr. Monk was altogether wrong about revenue. Mr. Finn's ideas about +Ireland were revolutionary. But Lord Drummond thought that, upon the +whole, the present Ministry served the country well, and considered +himself bound to adhere to it. "He cannot bear the idea of being +out of power," said Sir Orlando to himself. He next said a word to +Sir Timothy; but Sir Timothy was not the man to be led by the nose +by Sir Orlando. Sir Timothy had his grievances and meant to have +his revenge, but he knew how to choose his own time. "The Duke's +not a bad fellow," said Sir Timothy,--"perhaps a little weak, but +well-meaning. I think we ought to stand by him a little longer. As +for Finn's Irish Bill, I haven't troubled myself about it." Then +Sir Orlando declared to himself that Sir Timothy was a coward, and +resolved that he would act alone. + +About the middle of July he went to the Duke at the Treasury, +was closeted with him, and in a very long narration of his own +differences, difficulties, opinions, and grievances, explained to the +Duke that his conscience called upon him to resign. The Duke listened +and bowed his head, and with one or two very gently-uttered words +expressed his regret. Then Sir Orlando, in another long speech, +laid bare his bosom to the Chief whom he was leaving, declaring the +inexpressible sorrow with which he had found himself called upon to +take a step which he feared might be prejudicial to the political +status of a man whom he honoured so much as he did the Duke of +Omnium. Then the Duke bowed again, but said nothing. The man had been +guilty of the impropriety of questioning the way in which the Duke's +private hospitality was exercised, and the Duke could not bring +himself to be genially civil to such an offender. Sir Orlando went on +to say that he would of course explain his views in the Cabinet, but +that he had thought it right to make them known to the Duke as soon +as they were formed. "The best friends must part, Duke," he said as +he took his leave. "I hope not, Sir Orlando; I hope not," said the +Duke. But Sir Orlando had been too full of himself and of the words +he was to speak, and of the thing he was about to do, to understand +either the Duke's words or his silence. + +And so Sir Orlando resigned, and thus supplied the only morsel of +political interest which the Session produced. "Take no more notice +of him than if your footman was going," had been the advice of the +old Duke. Of course there was a Cabinet meeting on the occasion, but +even there the commotion was very slight, as every member knew before +entering the room what it was that Sir Orlando intended to do. Lord +Drummond said that the step was one to be much lamented. "Very much, +indeed," said the Duke of St. Bungay. His words themselves were false +and hypocritical, but the tone of his voice took away all the deceit. +"I am afraid," said the Prime Minister, "from what Sir Orlando has +said to me privately, that we cannot hope that he will change his +mind." "That I certainly cannot do," said Sir Orlando, with all the +dignified courage of a modern martyr. + +On the next morning the papers were full of the political fact, and +were blessed with a subject on which they could excercise their +prophetical sagacity. The remarks made were generally favourable to +the Government. Three or four of the morning papers were of opinion +that though Sir Orlando had been a strong man, and a good public +servant, the Ministry might exist without him. But the "People's +Banner" was able to expound to the people at large that the only +grain of salt by which the Ministry had been kept from putrefaction +had been now cast out, and that mortification, death, and corruption, +must ensue. It was one of Mr. Quintus Slide's greatest efforts. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +"Get Round Him" + + +Ferdinand Lopez maintained his anger against his wife for more than a +week after the scene at Richmond, feeding it with reflections on what +he called her disobedience. Nor was it a make-believe anger. She had +declared her intention to act in opposition to his expressed orders. +He felt that his present condition was prejudicial to his interests, +and that he must take his wife back into favour, in order that he +might make progress with her father, but could hardly bring himself +to swallow his wrath. He thought that it was her duty to obey him +in everything,--and that disobedience on a matter touching her old +lover was an abominable offence, to be visited with severest marital +displeasure, and with a succession of scowls that should make her +miserable for a month at least. Nor on her behalf would he have +hesitated, though the misery might have continued for three months. +But then the old man was the main hope of his life, and must be made +its mainstay. Brilliant prospects were before him. He had used to +think that Mr. Wharton was a hale man, with some terribly vexatious +term of life before him. But now, now that he was seen more closely, +he appeared to be very old. He would sit half bent in the arm-chair +in Stone Buildings, and look as though he were near a hundred. And +from day to day he seemed to lean more upon his son-in-law, whose +visits to him were continued, and always well taken. The constant +subject of discourse between them was Everett Wharton, who had not +yet seen his father since the misfortune of their quarrel. Everett +had declared to Lopez a dozen times that he would go to his father if +his father wished it, and Lopez as often reported to the father that +Everett would not go to him unless the father expressed such a wish. +And so they had been kept apart. Lopez did not suppose that the old +man would disinherit his son altogether,--did not, perhaps, wish it. +But he thought that the condition of the old man's mind would affect +the partition of his property, and that the old man would surely make +some new will in the present state of his affairs. The old man always +asked after his daughter, begging that she would come to him, and at +last it was necessary that an evening should be fixed. "We shall be +delighted to come to-day or to-morrow," Lopez said. + +"We had better say to-morrow. There would be nothing to eat to-day. +The house isn't now what it used to be." It was therefore expedient +that Lopez should drop his anger when he got home, and prepare his +wife to dine in Manchester Square in a proper frame of mind. + +Her misery had been extreme;--very much more bitter than he had +imagined. It was not only that his displeasure made her life for +the time wearisome, and robbed the only society she had of all its +charms. It was not only that her heart was wounded by his anger. +Those evils might have been short-lived. But she had seen,--she could +not fail to see,--that his conduct was unworthy of her and of her +deep love. Though she struggled hard against the feeling, she could +not but despise the meanness of his jealousy. She knew thoroughly +well that there had been no grain of offence in that letter from +Arthur Fletcher,--and she knew that no man, no true man, would have +taken offence at it. She tried to quench her judgment, and to silence +the verdict which her intellect gave against him, but her intellect +was too strong even for her heart. She was beginning to learn that +the god of her idolatry was but a little human creature, and that she +should not have worshipped at so poor a shrine. But nevertheless the +love should be continued, and, if possible, the worship, though the +idol had been already found to have feet of clay. He was her husband, +and she would be true to him. As morning after morning he left her, +still with that harsh, unmanly frown upon his face, she would look up +at him with entreating eyes, and when he returned would receive him +with her fondest smile. + +At length he, too, smiled. He came to her after that interview with +Mr. Wharton and told her, speaking with the soft yet incisive voice +which she used to love so well, that they were to dine in the Square +on the following day. "Let there be an end of all this," he said, +taking her in his arms and kissing her. Of course she did not tell +him that "all this" had sprung from his ill-humour and not from hers. +"I own I have been angry," he continued. "I will say nothing more +about it now; but that man did vex me." + +"I have been so sorry that you should have been vexed." + +"Well;--let it pass away. I don't think your father is looking very +well." + +"He is not ill?" + +"Oh no. He feels the loss of your society. He is so much alone. You +must be more with him." + +"Has he not seen Everett yet?" + +"No. Everett is not behaving altogether well." Emily was made unhappy +by this and showed it. "He is the best fellow in the world. I may +safely say there is no other man whom I regard so warmly as I do your +brother. But he takes wrong ideas into his head, and nothing will +knock them out. I wonder what your father has done about his will." + +"I have not an idea. Nothing you may be sure will make him unjust to +Everett." + +"Ah!--You don't happen to know whether he ever made a will?" + +"Not at all. He would be sure to say nothing about it to me,--or to +anybody." + +"That is a kind of secrecy which I think wrong. It leads to so much +uncertainty. You wouldn't like to ask him?" + +"No;--certainly." + +"It is astonishing to me how afraid you are of your father. He hasn't +any land, has he?" + +"Land!" + +"Real estate. You know what I mean. He couldn't well have landed +property without your knowing it." She shook her head. "It might make +an immense difference to us, you know." + +"Why so?" + +"If he were to die without a will, any land,--houses and that kind +of property,--would go to Everett. I never knew a man who told his +children so little. I want to make you understand these things. You +and I will be badly off if he doesn't do something for us." + +"You don't think he is really ill?" + +"No;--not ill. Men above seventy are apt to die, you know." + +"Oh, Ferdinand,--what a way to talk of it!" + +"Well, my love, the thing is so seriously matter-of-fact, that it +is better to look at it in a matter-of-fact way. I don't want your +father to die." + +"I hope not. I hope not." + +"But I should be very glad to learn what he means to do while he +lives. I want to get you into sympathy with me in this matter;--but +it is so difficult." + +"Indeed I sympathise with you." + +"The truth is he has taken an aversion to Everett." + +"God forbid!" + +"I am doing all I can to prevent it. But if he does throw Everett +over we ought to have the advantage of it. There is no harm in saying +as much as that. Think what it would be if he should take it into +his head to leave his money to hospitals. My G----; fancy what my +condition would be if I were to hear of such a will as that! If he +destroyed an old will, partly because he didn't like our marriage, +and partly in anger against Everett, and then died without making +another, the property would be divided,--unless he had bought land. +You see how many dangers there are. Oh dear! I can look forward and +see myself mad,--or else see myself so proudly triumphant!" All +this horrified her, but he did not see her horror. He knew that she +disliked it, but thought that she disliked the trouble, and that she +dreaded her father. "Now I do think that you could help me a little," +he continued. + +"What can I do?" + +"Get round him when he's a little down in the mouth. That is the way +in which old men are conquered." How utterly ignorant he was of the +very nature of her mind and disposition! To be told by her husband +that she was to "get round" her father! "You should see him every +day. He would be delighted if you would go to him at his chambers. Or +you could take care to be in the Square when he comes home. I don't +know whether we had not better leave this and go and live near him. +Would you mind that?" + +"I would do anything you would suggest as to living anywhere." + +"But you won't do anything I suggest as to your father." + +"As to being with him, if I thought he wished it,--though I had to +walk my feet off, I would go to him." + +"There's no need of hurting your feet. There's the brougham." + +"I do so wish, Ferdinand, you would discontinue the brougham. I don't +at all want it. I don't at all dislike cabs. And I was only joking +about walking. I walk very well." + +"Certainly not. You fail altogether to understand my ideas about +things. If things were going bad with us, I would infinitely prefer +getting a pair of horses for you to putting down the one you have." +She certainly did not understand his ideas. "Whatever we do we must +hold our heads up. I think he is coming round to cotton to me. He is +very close, but I can see that he likes my going to him. Of course, +as he grows older from day to day, he'll constantly want some one to +lean on more than heretofore." + +"I would go and stay with him if he wanted me." + +"I have thought of that too. Now that would be a saving,--without any +fall. And if we were both there we could hardly fail to know what he +was doing. You could offer that, couldn't you? You could say as much +as that?" + +"I could ask him if he wished it." + +"Just so. Say that it occurs to you that he is lonely by himself, and +that we will both go to the Square at a moment's notice if he thinks +it will make him comfortable. I feel sure that that will be the best +step to take. I have already had an offer for these rooms, and could +get rid of the things we have bought to advantage." + +This, too, was terrible to her, and at the same time altogether +unintelligible. She had been invited to buy little treasures to make +their home comfortable, and had already learned to take that delight +in her belongings which is one of the greatest pleasures of a young +married woman's life. A girl in her old home, before she is given up +to a husband, has many sources of interest, and probably from day to +day sees many people. And the man just married goes out to his work, +and occupies his time, and has his thickly-peopled world around him. +But the bride, when the bridal honours of the honeymoon are over, +when the sweet care of the first cradle has not yet come to her, is +apt to be lonely and to be driven to the contemplation of the pretty +things with which her husband and her friends have surrounded her. It +had certainly been so with this young bride, whose husband left her +in the morning and only returned for their late dinner. And now she +was told that her household gods had had a price put upon them and +that they were to be sold. She had intended to suggest that she would +pay her father a visit, and her husband immediately proposed that +they should quarter themselves permanently on the old man! She was +ready to give up her brougham, though she liked the comfort of it +well enough; but to that he would not consent because the possession +of it gave him an air of wealth; but without a moment's hesitation +he could catch at the idea of throwing upon her father the burden of +maintaining both her and himself! She understood the meaning of this. +She could read his mind so far. She endeavoured not to read the book +too closely,--but there it was, opened to her wider day by day, and +she knew that the lessons which it taught were vulgar and damnable. + +And yet she had to hide from him her own perception of himself! She +had to sympathise with his desires and yet to abstain from doing +that which his desires demanded from her. Alas, poor girl! She soon +knew that her marriage had been a mistake. There was probably no +one moment in which she made the confession to herself. But the +conviction was there, in her mind, as though the confession had +been made. Then there would come upon her unbidden, unwelcome +reminiscences of Arthur Fletcher,--thoughts that she would struggle +to banish, accusing herself of some heinous crime because the +thoughts would come back to her. She remembered his light wavy hair, +which she had loved as one loves the beauty of a dog, which had +seemed to her young imagination, to her in the ignorance of her early +years, to lack something of a dreamed-of manliness. She remembered +his eager, boyish, honest entreaties to herself, which to her had +been without that dignity of a superior being which a husband should +possess. She became aware that she had thought the less of him +because he had thought the more of her. She had worshipped this other +man because he had assumed superiority and had told her that he +was big enough to be her master. But now,--now that it was all too +late,--the veil had fallen from her eyes. She could now see the +difference between manliness and "deportment." Ah,--that she should +ever have been so blind, she who had given herself credit for seeing +so much clearer than they who were her elders! And now, though at +last she did see clearly, she could not have the consolation of +telling any one what she had seen. She must bear it all in silence, +and live with it, and still love this god of clay that she had +chosen. And, above all, she must never allow herself even to think of +that other man with the wavy light hair,--that man who was rising in +the world, of whom all people said all good things, who was showing +himself to be a man by the work he did, and whose true tenderness she +could never doubt. + +Her father was left to her. She could still love her father. It might +be that it would be best for him that she should go back to her old +home, and take care of his old age. If he should wish it, she would +make no difficulty of parting with the things around her. Of what +concern were the prettinesses of life to one whose inner soul was +hampered with such ugliness? It might be better that they should +live in Manchester Square,--if her father wished it. It was clear +to her now that her husband was in urgent want of money, though of +his affairs, even of his way of making money, she knew nothing. As +that was the case, of course she would consent to any practicable +retrenchment which he would propose. And then she thought of other +coming joys and coming troubles,--of how in future years she might +have to teach a girl falsely to believe that her father was a good +man, and to train a boy to honest purposes whatever parental lessons +might come from the other side. + +But the mistake she had made was acknowledged. The man who could +enjoin her to "get round" her father could never have been worthy of +the love she had given him. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +"Come and Try It" + + +The husband was almost jovial when he came home just in time to take +his young wife to dine with their father. "I've had such a day in the +city," he said, laughing. "I wish I could introduce you to my friend, +Mr. Sextus Parker." + +"Cannot you do so?" + +"Well, no; not exactly. Of course you'd like him because he is such a +wonderful character, but he'd hardly do for your drawing-room. He's +the vulgarest little creature you ever put your eyes on; and yet in a +certain way he's my partner." + +"Then I suppose you trust him?" + +"Indeed I don't;--but I make him useful. Poor little Sexty! I do +trust him to a degree, because he believes in me and thinks he can +do best by sticking to me. The old saying of 'honour among thieves' +isn't without a dash of truth in it. When two men are in a boat +together they must be true to each other, else neither will get to +the shore." + +"You don't attribute high motives to your friend." + +"I'm afraid there are not very many high motives in the world, my +girl, especially in the city;--nor yet at Westminster. It can hardly +be from high motives when a lot of men, thinking differently on every +possible subject, come together for the sake of pay and power. I +don't know whether, after all, Sextus Parker mayn't have as high +motives as the Duke of Omnium. I don't suppose any one ever had lower +motives than the Duchess when she chiselled me about Silverbridge. +Never mind;--it'll all be one a hundred years hence. Get ready, for I +want you to be with your father a little before dinner." + +Then, when they were in the brougham together, he began a course of +very plain instructions. "Look here, dear; you had better get him to +talk to you before dinner. I dare say Mrs. Roby will be there, and +I will get her on one side. At any rate you can manage it because +we shall be early, and I'll take up a book while you are talking to +him." + +"What do you wish me to say to him, Ferdinand?" + +"I have been thinking of your own proposal, and I am quite sure that +we had better join him in the Square. The thing is, I am in a little +mess about the rooms, and can't stay on without paying very dearly +for them." + +"I thought you had paid for them." + +"Well;--yes; in one sense I had; but you don't understand about +business. You had better not interrupt me now as I have got a good +deal to say before we get to the Square. It will suit me to give up +the rooms. I don't like them, and they are very dear. As you yourself +said, it will be a capital thing for us to go and stay with your +father." + +"I meant only for a visit." + +"It will be for a visit,--and we'll make it a long visit." It was odd +that the man should have been so devoid of right feeling himself as +not to have known that the ideas which he expressed were revolting! +"You can sound him. Begin by saying that you are afraid he is +desolate. He told me himself that he was desolate, and you can refer +to that. Then tell him that we are both of us prepared to do anything +that we can to relieve him. Put your arm over him, and kiss him, and +all that sort of thing." She shrunk from him into the corner of the +brougham, and yet he did not perceive it. "Then say that you think +he would be happier if we were to join him here for a time. You +can make him understand that there would be no difficulty about +the apartments. But don't say it all in a set speech, as though +it were prepared,--though of course you can let him know that you +have suggested it to me and that I am willing. Be sure to let him +understand that the idea began with you." + +"But it did not." + +"You proposed to go and stay with him. Tell him just that. And you +should explain to him that he can dine at the club just as much as he +likes. When you were alone with him here, of course he had to come +home; but he needn't do that now unless he chooses. Of course the +brougham would be my affair. And if he should say anything about +sharing the house expenses, you can tell him that I would do anything +he might propose." Her father to share the household expenses in his +own house, and with his own children! "You say as much as you can +of all this before dinner, so that when we are sitting below he may +suggest it if he pleases. It would suit me to get in there next week +if possible." + +And so the lesson had been given. She had said little or nothing in +reply, and he had only finished as they entered the Square. She had +hardly a minute allowed her to think how far she might follow, and in +what she must ignore, her husband's instructions. If she might use +her own judgment she would tell her father at once that a residence +for a time beneath his roof would be a service to them pecuniarily. +But this she might not do. She understood that her duty to her +husband did forbid her to proclaim his poverty in opposition to his +wishes. She would tell nothing that he did not wish her to tell,--but +then no duty could require her to say what was false. She would make +the suggestion about their change of residence, and would make it +with proper affection;--but as regarded themselves she would simply +say that it would suit their views to give up their rooms if it +suited him. + +Mr. Wharton was all alone when they entered the drawing-room,--but, +as Lopez had surmised, had asked his sister-in-law round the corner +to come to dinner. "Roby always likes an excuse to get to his club," +said the old man, "and Harriet likes an excuse to go anywhere." It +was not long before Lopez began to play his part by seating himself +close to the open window and looking out into the Square; and +Emily when she found herself close to her father, with her hand in +his, could hardly divest herself of a feeling that she also was +playing her part. "I see so very little of you," said the old man +plaintively. + +"I'd come up oftener if I thought you'd like it." + +"It isn't liking, my dear. Of course you have to live with your +husband. Isn't this sad about Everett?" + +"Very sad. But Everett hasn't lived here for ever so long." + +"I don't know why he shouldn't. He was a fool to go away when he did. +Does he go to you?" + +"Yes;--sometimes." + +"And what does he say?" + +"I'm sure he would be with you at once if you would ask him." + +"I have asked him. I've sent word by Lopez over and over again. If he +means that I am to write to him and say that I'm sorry for offending +him, I won't. Don't talk of him any more. It makes me so angry that +I sometimes feel inclined to do things which I know I should repent +when dying." + +"Not anything to injure Everett, papa!" + +"I wonder whether he ever thinks that I am an old man and all alone, +and that his brother-in-law is daily with me. But he's a fool, and +thinks of nothing. I know it is very sad being here night after night +by myself." Mr. Wharton forgot, no doubt, at the moment, that he +passed the majority of his evenings at the Eldon,--though, had he +been reminded of it, he might have declared with perfect truth that +the delights of his club were not satisfactory. + +"Papa," said Emily, "would you like us to come and live here?" + +"What,--you and Lopez;--here, in the Square?" + +"Yes;--for a time. He is thinking of giving up the place in Belgrave +Mansions." + +"I thought he had them for--for ever so many months." + +"He does not like them, and they are expensive, and he can give them +up. If you would wish it, we would come here,--for a time." He turned +round and looked at her almost suspiciously; and she,--she blushed as +she remembered how accurately she was obeying her husband's orders. +"It would be such a joy to me to be near you again." + +There was something in her voice which instantly reassured him. +"Well--;" he said; "come and try it if it will suit him. The house is +big enough. It will ease his pocket and be a comfort to me. Come and +try it." + +It astonished her that the thing should be done so easily. Here +was all that her husband had proposed to arrange by deep diplomacy +settled in three words. And yet she felt ashamed of herself,--as +though she had taken her father in. That terrible behest to "get +round him" still grated on her ears. Had she got round him? Had she +cheated him into this? "Papa," she said, "do not do this unless you +feel sure that you will like it." + +"How is anybody to feel sure of anything, my dear?" + +"But if you doubt, do not do it." + +"I feel sure of one thing, that it will be a great saving to your +husband, and I am nearly sure that that ought not to be a matter of +indifference to him. There is plenty of room here, and it will at any +rate be a comfort to me to see you sometimes." Just at this moment +Mrs. Roby came in, and the old man began to tell his news aloud. +"Emily has not gone away for long. She's coming back like a bad +shilling." + +"Not to live in the Square?" said Mrs. Roby, looking round at Lopez. + +"Why not? There's room here for them, and it will be just as well to +save expense. When will you come, my dear?" + +"Whenever the house may be ready, papa." + +"It's ready now. You ought to know that. I am not going to refurnish +the rooms for you, or anything of that kind. Lopez can come in and +hang up his hat whenever it pleases him." + +During this time Lopez had hardly known how to speak or what to say. +He had been very anxious that his wife should pave the way, as he +would have called it. He had been urgent with her to break the ice +to her father. But it had not occurred to him that the matter would +be settled without any reference to himself. Of course he had heard +every word that had been spoken, and was aware that his own poverty +had been suggested as the cause for such a proceeding. It was a great +thing for him in every way. He would live for nothing, and would also +have almost unlimited power of being with Mr. Wharton as old age grew +on him. This ready compliance with his wishes was a benefit far too +precious to be lost. But yet he felt that his own dignity required +some reference to himself. It was distasteful to him that his +father-in-law should regard him,--or, at any rate, that he should +speak of him,--as a pauper, unable to provide a home for his own +wife. "Emily's notion in suggesting it, sir," he said, "has been her +care for your comfort." The barrister turned round and looked at +him, and Lopez did not quite like the look. "It was she thought of +it first, and she certainly had no other idea than that. When she +mentioned it to me, I was delighted to agree." + +Emily heard it all and blushed. It was not absolutely untrue in +words,--this assertion of her husband's,--but altogether false in +spirit. And yet she could not contradict him. "I don't see why it +should not do very well, indeed," said Mrs. Roby. + +"I hope it may," said the barrister. "Come, Emily, I must take you +down to dinner to-day. You are not at home yet, you know. As you are +to come, the sooner the better." + +During dinner not a word was said on the subject. Lopez exerted +himself to be pleasant, and told all that he had heard as to the +difficulties of the Cabinet. Sir Orlando had resigned, and the +general opinion was that the Coalition was going to pieces. Had Mr. +Wharton seen the last article in the "People's Banner" about the +Duke? Lopez was strongly of the opinion that Mr. Wharton ought to see +that article. "I never had the 'People's Banner' within my fingers in +my life," said the barrister angrily, "and I certainly never will." + +"Ah, sir; this is an exception. You should see this. When Slide +really means to cut a fellow up, he can do it. There's no one like +him. And the Duke has deserved it. He's a poor, vacillating creature, +led by the Duchess; and she,--according to all that one hears,--she +isn't much better than she should be." + +"I thought the Duchess was a great friend of yours," said Mr. +Wharton. + +"I don't care much for such friendship. She threw me over most +shamefully." + +"And therefore, of course, you are justified in taking away her +character. I never saw the Duchess of Omnium in my life, and should +probably be very uncomfortable if I found myself in her society; +but I believe her to be a good sort of woman in her way." Emily sat +perfectly silent, knowing that her husband had been rebuked, but +feeling that he had deserved it. He, however, was not abashed; but +changed the conversation, dashing into city rumours, and legal +reforms. The old man from time to time said sharp little things, +showing that his intellect was not senile, all of which his +son-in-law bore imperturbably. It was not that he liked it, or was +indifferent, but that he knew that he could not get the good things +which Mr. Wharton could do for him without making some kind of +payment. He must take the sharp words of the old man,--and take all +that he could get besides. + +When the two men were alone together after dinner, Mr. Wharton used a +different tone. "If you are to come," he said, "you might as well do +it as soon as possible." + +"A day or two will be enough for us." + +"There are one or two things you should understand. I shall be very +happy to see your friends at any time, but I shall like to know when +they are coming before they come." + +"Of course, sir." + +"I dine out a good deal." + +"At the club," suggested Lopez. + +"Well;--at the club or elsewhere. It doesn't matter. There will +always be dinner here for you and Emily, just as though I were at +home. I say this, so that there need be no questionings or doubts +about it hereafter. And don't let there ever be any question of money +between us." + +"Certainly not." + +"Everett has an allowance, and this will be tantamount to an +allowance to Emily. You have also had L3500. I hope it has been well +expended;--except the L500 at that election, which has, of course, +been thrown away." + +"The other was brought into the business." + +"I don't know what the business is. But you and Emily must understand +that the money has been given as her fortune." + +"Oh, quite so;--part of it, you mean." + +"I mean just what I say." + +"I call it part of it, because, as you observed just now, our living +here will be the same as though you made Emily an allowance." + +"Ah;--well; you can look at it in that light if you please. John has +the key of the cellar. He's a man I can trust. As a rule I have port +and sherry at table every day. If you like claret I will get some a +little cheaper than what I use when friends are here." + +"What wine I have is quite indifferent to me." + +"I like it good, and I have it good. I always breakfast at 9.30. +You can have yours earlier if you please. I don't know that there's +anything else to be said. I hope we shall get into the way of +understanding each other, and being mutually comfortable. Shall we +go upstairs to Emily and Mrs. Roby?" And so it was determined that +Emily was to come back to her old house about eight months after her +marriage. + +Mr. Wharton himself sat late into the night, all alone, thinking +about it. What he had done, he had done in a morose way, and he was +aware that it was so. He had not beamed with smiles, and opened his +arms lovingly, and, bidding God bless his dearest children, told them +that if they would only come and sit round his hearth he should be +the happiest old man in London. He had said little or nothing of his +own affection even for his daughter, but had spoken of the matter as +one of which the pecuniary aspect alone was important. He had found +out that the saving so effected would be material to Lopez, and had +resolved that there should be no shirking of the truth in what he was +prepared to do. He had been almost asked to take the young married +couple in, and feed them,--so that they might live free of expense. +He was willing to do it,--but was not willing that there should be +any soft-worded, high-toned false pretension. He almost read Lopez to +the bottom,--not, however, giving the man credit for dishonesty so +deep or cleverness so great as he possessed. But as regarded Emily, +he was also actuated by a personal desire to have her back again as +an element of happiness to himself. He had pined for her since he had +been left alone, hardly knowing what it was that he had wanted. And +now as he thought of it all, he was angry with himself that he had +not been more loving and softer in his manner to her. She at any rate +was honest. No doubt of that crossed his mind. And now he had been +bitter to her,--bitter in his manner,--simply because he had not +wished to appear to have been taken in by her husband. Thinking of +all this, he got up, and went to his desk, and wrote her a note, +which she would receive on the following morning after her husband +had left her. It was very short. + + + DEAREST E. + + I am so overjoyed that you are coming back to me. + + A. W. + + +He had judged her quite rightly. The manner in which the thing had +been arranged had made her very wretched. There had been no love in +it;--nothing apparently but assertions on one side that much was +being given, and on the other acknowledgments that much was to be +received. She was aware that in this her father had condemned her +husband. She also had condemned him;--and felt, alas, that she also +had been condemned. But this little letter took away that sting. She +could read in her father's note all the action of his mind. He had +known that he was bound to acquit her, and he had done so with one of +the old long-valued expressions of his love. + + + + +VOLUME II + +CHAPTER XLI + +The Value of a Thick Skin + + +Sir Orlando Drought must have felt bitterly the quiescence with which +he sank into obscurity on the second bench on the opposite side of +the House. One great occasion he had on which it was his privilege +to explain to four or five hundred gentlemen the insuperable reasons +which caused him to break away from those right honourable friends to +act with whom had been his comfort and his duty, his great joy and +his unalloyed satisfaction. Then he occupied the best part of an hour +in abusing those friends and all their measures. This no doubt had +been a pleasure, as practice had made the manipulation of words easy +to him,--and he was able to revel in that absence of responsibility +which must be as a fresh perfumed bath to a minister just freed from +the trammels of office. But the pleasure was surely followed by much +suffering when Mr. Monk,--Mr. Monk who was to assume his place as +Leader of the House,--only took five minutes to answer him, saying +that he and his colleagues regretted much the loss of the Right +Honourable Baronet's services, but that it would hardly be necessary +for him to defend the Ministry on all those points on which it had +been attacked, as, were he to do so, he would have to repeat the +arguments by which every measure brought forward by the present +Ministry had been supported. Then Mr. Monk sat down, and the business +of the House went on just as if Sir Orlando Drought had not moved his +seat at all. + +"What makes everybody and everything so dead?" said Sir Orlando to +his old friend Mr. Boffin as they walked home together from the +House that night. They had in former days been staunch friends, +sitting night after night close together, united in opposition, and +sometimes, for a few halcyon months, in the happier bonds of office. +But when Sir Orlando had joined the Coalition, and when the sterner +spirit of Mr. Boffin had preferred principles to place,--to use the +language in which he was wont to speak to himself and to his wife +and family of his own abnegation,--there had come a coolness +between them. Mr. Boffin, who was not a rich man, nor by any means +indifferent to the comforts of office, had felt keenly the injury +done to him when he was left hopelessly in the cold by the desertion +of his old friends. It had come to pass that there had been no +salt left in the opposition. Mr. Boffin in all his parliamentary +experience had known nothing like it. Mr. Boffin had been sure that +British honour was going to the dogs and that British greatness was +at an end. But the secession of Sir Orlando gave a little fillip to +his life. At any rate he could walk home with his old friend and talk +of the horrors of the present day. + +"Well, Drought, if you ask me, you know, I can only speak as I feel. +Everything must be dead when men holding different opinions on every +subject under the sun come together in order that they may carry on a +government as they would a trade business. The work may be done, but +it must be done without spirit." + +"But it may be all important that the work should be done," said the +Baronet, apologising for his past misconduct. + +"No doubt;--and I am very far from judging those who make the +attempt. It has been made more than once before, and has, I think, +always failed. I don't believe in it myself, and I think that +the death-like torpor of which you speak is one of its worst +consequences." After that Mr. Boffin admitted Sir Orlando back into +his heart of hearts. + +Then the end of the Session came, very quietly and very early. By +the end of July there was nothing left to be done, and the world of +London was allowed to go down into the country almost a fortnight +before its usual time. + +With many men, both in and out of Parliament, it became a question +whether all this was for good or evil. The Boffinites had of course +much to say for themselves. Everything was torpid. There was no +interest in the newspapers,--except when Mr. Slide took the tomahawk +into his hands. A member of Parliament this Session had not been by +half so much bigger than another man as in times of hot political +warfare. One of the most moving sources of our national excitement +seemed to have vanished from life. We all know what happens to +stagnant waters. So said the Boffinites, and so also now said Sir +Orlando. But the Government was carried on and the country was +prosperous. A few useful measures had been passed by unambitious men, +and the Duke of St. Bungay declared that he had never known a Session +of Parliament more thoroughly satisfactory to the ministers. + +But the old Duke in so saying had spoken as it were his public +opinion,--giving, truly enough, to a few of his colleagues, such as +Lord Drummond, Sir Gregory Grogram and others, the results of his +general experience; but in his own bosom and with a private friend he +was compelled to confess that there was a cloud in the heavens. The +Prime Minister had become so moody, so irritable, and so unhappy, +that the old Duke was forced to doubt whether things could go on +much longer as they were. He was wont to talk of these things to his +friend Lord Cantrip, who was not a member of the Government, but +who had been a colleague of both the Dukes, and whom the old Duke +regarded with peculiar confidence. "I cannot explain it to you," he +said to Lord Cantrip. "There is nothing that ought to give him a +moment's uneasiness. Since he took office there hasn't once been +a majority against him in either House on any question that the +Government has made its own. I don't remember such a state of +things,--so easy for the Prime Minister,--since the days of Lord +Liverpool. He had one thorn in his side, our friend who was at the +Admiralty, and that thorn like other thorns has worked itself out. +Yet at this moment it is impossible to get him to consent to the +nomination of a successor to Sir Orlando." This was said a week +before the Session had closed. + +"I suppose it is his health," said Lord Cantrip. + +"He's well enough as far as I can see;--though he will be ill unless +he can relieve himself from the strain on his nerves." + +"Do you mean by resigning?" + +"Not necessarily. The fault is that he takes things too seriously. If +he could be got to believe that he might eat, and sleep, and go to +bed, and amuse himself like other men, he might be a very good Prime +Minister. He is over troubled by his conscience. I have seen a good +many Prime Ministers, Cantrip, and I've taught myself to think that +they are not very different from other men. One wants in a Prime +Minister a good many things, but not very great things. He should be +clever but need not be a genius; he should be conscientious but by no +means strait-laced; he should be cautious but never timid, bold but +never venturesome; he should have a good digestion, genial manners, +and, above all, a thick skin. These are the gifts we want, but we +can't always get them, and have to do without them. For my own part, +I find that though Smith be a very good Minister, the best perhaps to +be had at the time, when he breaks down Jones does nearly as well." + +"There will be a Jones, then, if your Smith does break down?" + +"No doubt. England wouldn't come to an end because the Duke of Omnium +shut himself up at Matching. But I love the man, and, with some few +exceptions, am contented with the party. We can't do better, and it +cuts me to the heart when I see him suffering, knowing how much I did +myself to make him undertake the work." + +"Is he going to Gatherum Castle?" + +"No;--to Matching. There is some discomfort about that." + +"I suppose," said Lord Cantrip,--speaking almost in a whisper, +although they were closeted together,--"I suppose the Duchess is a +little troublesome." + +"She's the dearest woman in the world," said the Duke of St. Bungay. +"I love her almost as I do my own daughter. And she is most zealous +to serve him." + +"I fancy she overdoes it." + +"No doubt." + +"And that he suffers from perceiving it," said Lord Cantrip. + +"But a man hasn't a right to suppose that he shall have no +annoyances. The best horse in the world has some fault. He pulls, or +he shies, or is slow at his fences, or doesn't like heavy ground. +He has no right to expect that his wife shall know everything and +do everything without a mistake. And then he has such faults of +his own! His skin is so thin. Do you remember dear old Brock? By +heavens;--there was a covering, a hide impervious to fire or steel! +He wouldn't have gone into tantrums because his wife asked too many +people to the house. Nevertheless, I won't give up all hope." + +"A man's skin may be thickened, I suppose." + +"No doubt;--as a blacksmith's arm." + +But the Duke of St. Bungay, though he declared that he wouldn't give +up hope, was very uneasy on the matter. "Why won't you let me go?" +the other Duke had said to him. + +"What;--because such a man as Sir Orlando Drought throws up his +office?" + +But in truth the Duke of Omnium had not been instigated to ask the +question by the resignation of Sir Orlando. At that very moment +the "People's Banner" had been put out of sight at the bottom of a +heap of other newspapers behind the Prime Minister's chair, and his +present misery had been produced by Mr. Quintus Slide. To have a +festering wound and to be able to show the wound to no surgeon, is +wretchedness indeed! "It's not Sir Orlando, but a sense of general +failure," said the Prime Minister. Then his old friend had made use +of that argument of the ever-recurring majorities to prove that there +had been no failure. "There seems to have come a lethargy upon the +country," said the poor victim. Then the Duke of St. Bungay knew that +his friend had read that pernicious article in the "People's Banner," +for the Duke had also read it and remembered that phrase of a +"lethargy on the country," and understood at once how the poison had +rankled. + +It was a week before he would consent to ask any man to fill the +vacancy made by Sir Orlando. He would not allow suggestions to be +made to him and yet would name no one himself. The old Duke, indeed, +did make a suggestion, and anything coming from him was of course +borne with patience. Barrington Erle, he thought, would do for the +Admiralty. But the Prime Minister shook his head. "In the first place +he would refuse, and that would be a great blow to me." + +"I could sound him," said the old Duke. But the Prime Minister again +shook his head and turned the subject. With all his timidity he was +becoming autocratic and peevishly imperious. Then he went to Lord +Cantrip, and when Lord Cantrip, with all the kindness which he could +throw into his words, stated the reasons which induced him at present +to decline office, he was again in despair. At last he asked Phineas +Finn to move to the Admiralty, and, when our old friend somewhat +reluctantly obeyed, of course he had the same difficulty in filling +the office Finn had held. Other changes and other complications +became necessary, and Mr. Quintus Slide, who hated Phineas Finn +even worse than the poor Duke, found ample scope for his patriotic +indignation. + +This all took place in the closing week of the Session, filling our +poor Prime Minister with trouble and dismay, just when other people +were complaining that there was nothing to think of and nothing to +do. Men do not really like leaving London before the grouse calls +them,--the grouse, or rather the fashion of the grouse. And some +ladies were very angry at being separated so soon from their swains +in the city. The tradesmen too were displeased,--so that there were +voices to re-echo the abuse of the "People's Banner." The Duchess had +done her best to prolong the Session by another week, telling her +husband of the evil consequences above suggested, but he had thrown +wide his arms and asked her with affected dismay whether he was to +keep Parliament sitting in order that more ribbons might be sold! +"There is nothing to be done," said the Duke almost angrily. + +"Then you should make something to be done," said the Duchess, +mimicking him. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +Retribution + + +The Duchess had been at work with her husband for the last two months +in the hope of renewing her autumnal festivities, but had been +lamentably unsuccessful. The Duke had declared that there should be +no more rural crowds, no repetition of what he called London turned +loose on his own grounds. He could not forget the necessity which had +been imposed upon him of turning Major Pountney out of his house, or +the change that had been made in his gardens, or his wife's attempt +to conquer him at Silverbridge. "Do you mean," she said, "that we are +to have nobody?" He replied that he thought it would be best to go to +Matching. "And live a Darby and Joan life?" said the Duchess. + +"I said nothing of Darby and Joan. Whatever may be my feelings I +hardly think that you are fitted for that kind of thing. Matching is +not so big as Gatherum, but it is not a cottage. Of course you can +ask your own friends." + +"I don't know what you mean by my own friends. I endeavour always to +ask yours." + +"I don't know that Major Pountney, and Captain Gunner, and Mr. Lopez +were ever among the number of my friends." + +"I suppose you mean Lady Rosina?" said the Duchess. "I shall be happy +to have her at Matching if you wish it." + +"I should like to see Lady Rosina De Courcy at Matching very much." + +"And is there to be nobody else? I'm afraid I should find it rather +dull while you two were opening your hearts to each other." Here +he looked at her angrily. "Can you think of anybody besides Lady +Rosina?" + +"I suppose you will wish to have Mrs. Finn?" + +"What an arrangement! Lady Rosina for you to flirt with, and Mrs. +Finn for me to grumble to." + +"That is an odious word," said the Prime Minister. + +"What;--flirting? I don't see anything bad about the word. The thing +is dangerous. But you are quite at liberty if you don't go beyond +Lady Rosina. I should like to know whether you would wish anybody +else to come?" Of course he made no becoming answer to this question, +and of course no becoming answer was expected. He knew that she was +trying to provoke him because he would not let her do this year +as she had done last. The house, he had no doubt, would be full +to overflowing when he got there. He could not help that. But as +compared with Gatherum Castle the house at Matching was small, and +his domestic authority sufficed at any rate for shutting up Gatherum +for the time. + +I do not know whether at times her sufferings were not as acute as +his own. He, at any rate, was Prime Minister, and it seemed to her +that she was to be reduced to nothing. At the beginning of it all +he had, with unwonted tenderness, asked her for her sympathy in his +undertaking, and, according to her powers, she had given it to him +with her whole heart. She had thought that she had seen a way by +which she might assist him in his great employment, and she had +worked at it like a slave. Every day she told herself that she did +not, herself, love the Captain Gunners and Major Pountneys, nor the +Sir Orlandos, nor, indeed, the Lady Rosinas. She had not followed +the bent of her own inclination when she had descended to sheets and +towels, and busied herself to establish an archery-ground. She had +not shot an arrow during the whole season, nor had she cared who had +won and who had lost. It had not been for her own personal delight +that she had kept open house for forty persons throughout four months +of the year, in doing which he had never taken an ounce of the labour +off her shoulders by any single word or deed! It had all been done +for his sake,--that his reign might be long and triumphant, that the +world might say that his hospitality was noble and full, that his +name might be in men's mouths, and that he might prosper as a British +Minister. Such, at least, were the assertions which she made to +herself, when she thought of her own grievances and her own troubles. +And now she was angry with her husband. It was very well for him +to ask for her sympathy, but he had none to give her in return! He +could not pity her failures,--even though he had himself caused them! +If he had a grain of intelligence about him he must, she thought, +understand well enough how sore it must be for her to descend from +her princely entertainments to solitude at Matching, and thus to own +before all the world that she was beaten. Then when she asked him +for advice, when she was really anxious to know how far she might go +in filling her house without offending him, he told her to ask Lady +Rosina De Courcy! If he chose to be ridiculous he might. She would +ask Lady Rosina De Courcy. In her active anger she did write to Lady +Rosina De Courcy a formal letter, in which she said that the Duke +hoped to have the pleasure of her ladyship's company at Matching Park +on the 1st of August. It was an absurd letter, somewhat long, written +very much in the Duke's name, with overwhelming expressions of +affection, instigated in the writer's mind partly by the fun of the +supposition that such a man as her husband should flirt with such a +woman as Lady Rosina. There was something too of anger in what she +wrote, some touch of revenge. She sent off this invitation, and she +sent no other. Lady Rosina took it all in good part, and replied +saying that she should have the greatest pleasure in going to +Matching. She had declared to herself that she would ask none but +those he had named, and in accordance with her resolution she sent +out no other written invitations. + +He had also told her to ask Mrs. Finn. Now this had become almost a +matter of course. There had grown up from accidental circumstances so +strong a bond between these two women, that it was taken for granted +by both their husbands that they should be nearly always within +reach of one another. And the two husbands were also on kindly, if +not affectionate, terms with each other. The nature of the Duke's +character was such that, with a most loving heart, he was hardly +capable of that opening out of himself to another which is necessary +for positive friendship. There was a stiff reserve about him, of +which he was himself only too conscious, which almost prohibited +friendship. But he liked Mr. Finn both as a man and a member of his +party, and was always satisfied to have him as a guest. The Duchess, +therefore, had taken it for granted that Mrs. Finn would come to +her,--and that Mr. Finn would come also during any time that he might +be able to escape from Ireland. But, when the invitation was verbally +conveyed, Mr. Finn had gone to the Admiralty, and had already made +his arrangements for going to sea, as a gallant sailor should. "We +are going away in the 'Black Watch' for a couple of months," said +Mrs. Finn. Now the "Black Watch" was the Admiralty yacht. + +"Heavens and earth!" ejaculated the Duchess. + +"It is always done. The First Lord would have his epaulets stripped +if he didn't go to sea in August." + +"And must you go with him?" + +"I have promised." + +"I think it very unkind,--very hard upon me. Of course you knew that +I should want you." + +"But if my husband wants me too?" + +"Bother your husband! I wish with all my heart I had never helped to +make up the match." + +"It would have been made up just the same, Lady Glen." + +"You know that I cannot get on without you. And he ought to know it +too. There isn't another person in the world that I can really say a +thing to." + +"Why don't you have Mrs. Grey?" + +"She's going to Persia after her husband. And then she is not wicked +enough. She always lectured me, and she does it still. What do you +think is going to happen?" + +"Nothing terrible, I hope," said Mrs. Finn, mindful of her husband's +new honours at the Admiralty, and hoping that the Duke might not have +repeated his threat of resigning. + +"We are going to Matching." + +"So I supposed." + +"And whom do you think we are going to have?" + +"Not Major Pountney?" + +"No;--not at my asking." + +"Nor Mr. Lopez?" + +"Nor yet Mr. Lopez. Guess again." + +"I suppose there will be a dozen to guess." + +"No," shrieked the Duchess. "There will only be one. I have asked +one,--at his special desire,--and as you won't come I shall ask +nobody else. When I pressed him to name a second he named you. I'll +obey him to the letter. Now, my dear, who do you think is the chosen +one,--the one person who is to solace the perturbed spirit of the +Prime Minister for the three months of the autumn?" + +"Mr. Warburton, I should say." + +"Oh, Mr. Warburton! No doubt Mr. Warburton will come as a part of +his luggage, and possibly half-a-dozen Treasury clerks. He declares, +however, that there is nothing to do, and therefore Mr. Warburton's +strength may alone suffice to help him to do it. There is to be one +unnecessary guest,--unnecessary, that is, for official purpose; +though,--oh,--so much needed for his social happiness. Guess once +more." + +"Knowing the spirit of mischief that is in you,--perhaps it is Lady +Rosina." + +"Of course it is Lady Rosina," said the Duchess, clapping her hands +together. "And I should like to know what you mean by a spirit of +mischief! I asked him, and he himself said that he particularly +wished to have Lady Rosina at Matching. Now, I'm not a jealous +woman,--am I?" + +"Not of Lady Rosina." + +"I don't think they'll do any harm together, but it is particular, +you know. However, she is to come. And nobody else is to come. I did +count upon you." Then Mrs. Finn counselled her very seriously as to +the bad taste of such a joke, explaining to her that the Duke had +certainly not intended that her invitations should be confined to +Lady Rosina. But it was not all joke with the Duchess. She had been +driven almost to despair, and was very angry with her husband. He had +brought the thing upon himself, and must now make the best of it. She +would ask nobody else. She declared that there was nobody whom she +could ask with propriety. She was tired of asking. Let her ask whom +she would, he was dissatisfied. The only two people he cared to see +were Lady Rosina and the old Duke. She had asked Lady Rosina for his +sake. Let him ask his old friend himself if he pleased. + +The Duke and Duchess with all the family went down together, and Mr. +Warburton went with them. The Duchess had said not a word more to her +husband about his guests, nor had he alluded to the subject. But each +was labouring under a conviction that the other was misbehaving, and +with that feeling it was impossible that there should be confidence +between them. He busied himself with books and papers,--always +turning over those piles of newspapers to see what evil was said of +himself,--and speaking only now and again to his private Secretary. +She engaged herself with the children or pretended to read a novel. +Her heart was sore within her. She had wished to punish him, but in +truth she was punishing herself. + +On the day of their arrival, the father and mother, with Lord +Silverbridge, the eldest son, who was home from Eton, and the private +Secretary dined together. As the Duke sat at table, he began to think +how long it was since such a state of things had happened to him +before, and his heart softened towards her. Instead of being made +angry by the strangeness of her proceeding, he took delight in +it, and in the course of the evening spoke a word to signify his +satisfaction. "I'm afraid it won't last long," she said, "for Lady +Rosina comes to-morrow." + +"Oh, indeed." + +"You bid me ask her yourself." + +Then he perceived it all;--how she had taken advantage of his former +answer to her and had acted upon it in a spirit of contradictory +petulance. But he resolved that he would forgive it and endeavour +to bring her back to him. "I thought we were both joking," he said +good-humouredly. + +"Oh, no! I never suspected you of a joke. At any rate she is coming." + +"She will do neither of us any harm. And Mrs. Finn?" + +"You have sent her to sea." + +"She may be at sea,--and he too; but it is without my sending. The +First Lord, I believe, usually does go a cruise. Is there nobody +else?" + +"Nobody else,--unless you have asked any one." + +"Not a creature. Well;--so much the better. I dare say Lady Rosina +will get on very well." + +"You will have to talk to her," said the Duchess. + +"I will do my best," said the Duke. + +Lady Rosina came and no doubt did think it odd. But she did not say +so, and it really did seem to the Duchess as though all her vengeance +had been blown away by the winds. And she too laughed at the +matter--to herself, and began to feel less cross and less perverse. +The world did not come to an end because she and her husband with +Lady Rosina and her boy and the private Secretary sat down to dinner +every day together. The parish clergyman with the neighbouring squire +and his wife and daughter did come one day,--to the relief of M. +Millepois, who had begun to feel that the world had collapsed. And +every day at a certain hour the Duke and Lady Rosina walked together +for an hour and a half in the park. The Duchess would have enjoyed +it, instead of suffering, could she only have had her friend, Mrs. +Finn, to hear her jokes. "Now, Plantagenet," she said, "do tell me +one thing. What does she talk about?" + +"The troubles of her family generally, I think." + +"That can't last for ever." + +"She wears cork soles to her boots and she thinks a good deal about +them." + +"And you listen to her?" + +"Why not? I can talk about cork soles as well as anything else. +Anything that may do material good to the world at large, or even to +yourself privately, is a fit subject for conversation to rational +people." + +"I suppose I never was one of them." + +"But I can talk upon anything," continued the Duke, "as long as the +talker talks in good faith and does not say things that should not be +said, or deal with matters that are offensive. I could talk for an +hour about bankers' accounts, but I should not expect a stranger to +ask me the state of my own. She has almost persuaded me to send to +Mr. Sprout of Silverbridge and get some cork soles myself." + +"Don't do anything of the kind," said the Duchess with animation;--as +though she had secret knowledge that cork soles were specially fatal +to the family of the Pallisers. + +"Why not, my dear?" + +"He was the man who especially, above all others, threw me over at +Silverbridge." Then again there came upon his brow that angry frown +which during the last few days had been dissipated by the innocence +of Lady Rosina's conversation. "Of course I don't mean to ask you +to take any interest in the borough again. You have said that you +wouldn't, and you are always as good as your word." + +"I hope so." + +"But I certainly would not employ a tradesman just at your elbow who +has directly opposed what was generally understood in the town to be +your interests." + +"What did Mr. Sprout do? This is the first I have heard of it." + +"He got Mr. Du Boung to stand against Mr. Lopez." + +"I am very glad for the sake of the borough that Mr. Lopez did not +get in." + +"So am I. But that is nothing to do with it. Mr. Sprout knew at any +rate what my wishes were, and went directly against them." + +"You were not entitled to have wishes in the matter, Glencora." + +"That's all very well;--but I had, and he knew it. As for the future, +of course, the thing is over. But you have done everything for the +borough." + +"You mean that the borough has done much for me." + +"I know what I mean very well;--and I shall take it very ill if a +shilling out of the Castle ever goes into Mr. Sprout's pocket again." + +It is needless to trouble the reader at length with the sermon which +he preached her on the occasion,--showing the utter corruption which +must come from the mixing up of politics with trade, or with the +scorn which she threw into the few words with which she interrupted +him from time to time. "Whether a man makes good shoes, and at a +reasonable price, and charges for them honestly,--that is what you +have to consider," said the Duke impressively. + +"I'd rather pay double for bad shoes to a man who did not thwart me." + +"You should not condescend to be thwarted in such a matter. You lower +yourself by admitting such a feeling." And yet he writhed himself +under the lashes of Mr. Slide! + +"I know an enemy when I see him," said the Duchess, "and as long as I +live I'll treat an enemy as an enemy." + +There was ever so much of it, in the course of which the Duke +declared his purpose of sending at once to Mr. Sprout for ever so +many cork soles, and the Duchess,--most imprudently,--declared her +purpose of ruining Mr. Sprout. There was something in this threat +which grated terribly against the Duke's sense of honour;--that his +wife should threaten to ruin a poor tradesman, that she should do so +in reference to the political affairs of the borough which he all +but owned,--that she should do so in declared opposition to him! Of +course he ought to have known that her sin consisted simply in her +determination to vex him at the moment. A more good-natured woman did +not live;--or one less prone to ruin any one. But any reference to +the Silverbridge election brought back upon him the remembrance of +the cruel attacks which had been made upon him, and rendered him +for the time moody, morose, and wretched. So they again parted ill +friends, and hardly spoke when they met at dinner. + +The next morning there reached Matching a letter which greatly added +to his bitterness of spirit against the world in general and against +her in particular. The letter, though marked "private," had been +opened, as were all his letters, by Mr. Warburton, but the private +Secretary thought it necessary to show the letter to the Prime +Minister. He, when he had read it, told Warburton that it did not +signify, and maintained for half-an-hour an attitude of quiescence. +Then he walked forth, having the letter hidden in his hand, and +finding his wife alone, gave it her to read. "See what you have +brought upon me," he said, "by your interference and disobedience." +The letter was as follows:-- + + + Manchester Square, August 3, 187--. + + MY LORD DUKE, + + I consider myself entitled to complain to your Grace of + the conduct with which I was treated at the last election + at Silverbridge, whereby I was led into very heavy + expenditure without the least chance of being returned for + the borough. I am aware that I had no direct conversation + with your Grace on the subject, and that your Grace can + plead that, as between man and man, I had no authority + from yourself for supposing that I should receive your + Grace's support. But I was distinctly asked by the Duchess + to stand, and was assured by her that if I did so I should + have all the assistance that your Grace's influence could + procure for me;--and it was also explained to me that + your Grace's official position made it inexpedient that + your Grace on this special occasion should have any + personal conference with your own candidate. Under these + circumstances I submit to your Grace that I am entitled to + complain of the hardship I have suffered. + + I had not been long in the borough before I found that my + position was hopeless. Influential men in the town who had + been represented to me as being altogether devoted to your + Grace's interests started a third candidate,--a Liberal as + myself,--and the natural consequence was that neither of + us succeeded, though my return as your Grace's candidate + would have been certain had not this been done. That all + this was preconcerted there can be no doubt, but, before + the mine was sprung on me,--immediately, indeed, on my + arrival, if I remember rightly,--an application was made + to me for L500, so that the money might be exacted before + the truth was known to me. Of course I should not have + paid the L500 had I known that your Grace's usual agents + in the town,--I may name Mr. Sprout especially,--were + prepared to act against me. But I did pay the money, + and I think your Grace will agree with me that a very + opprobrious term might be applied without injustice to the + transaction. + + My Lord Duke, I am a poor man;--ambitious I will own, + whether that be a sin or a virtue,--and willing, perhaps, + to incur expenditure which can hardly be justified in + pursuit of certain public objects. But I must say, with + the most lively respect for your Grace personally, that I + do not feel inclined to sit down tamely under such a loss + as this. I should not have dreamed of interfering in the + election at Silverbridge had not the Duchess exhorted me + to do so. I would not even have run the risk of a doubtful + contest. But I came forward at the suggestion of the + Duchess, backed by her personal assurance that the seat + was certain as being in your Grace's hands. It was no + doubt understood that your Grace would not yourself + interfere, but it was equally well understood that your + Grace's influence was for the time deputed to the Duchess. + The Duchess herself will, I am sure, confirm my statement + that I had her direct authority for regarding myself as + your Grace's candidate. + + I can of course bring an action against Mr. Wise, the + gentleman to whom I paid the money, but I feel that as a + gentleman I should not do so without reference to your + Grace, as circumstances might possibly be brought out in + evidence,--I will not say prejudicial to your Grace,--but + which would be unbecoming. I cannot, however, think that + your Grace will be willing that a poor man like myself, + in his search for an entrance into public life, should be + mulcted to so heavy an extent in consequence of an error + on the part of the Duchess. Should your Grace be able + to assist me in my view of getting into Parliament for + any other seat I shall be willing to abide the loss I + have incurred. I hardly, however, dare to hope for such + assistance. In this case I think your Grace ought to see + that I am reimbursed. + + I have the honour to be, + My Lord Duke, + Your Grace's very faithful Servant, + + FERDINAND LOPEZ. + + +The Duke stood over her in her own room upstairs, with his back to +the fireplace and his eyes fixed upon her while she was reading this +letter. He gave her ample time, and she did not read it very quickly. +Much of it indeed she perused twice, turning very red in the face as +she did so. She was thus studious partly because the letter astounded +even her, and partly because she wanted time to consider how she +would meet his wrath. "Well," said he, "what do you say to that?" + +"The man is a blackguard,--of course." + +"He is so;--though I do not know that I wish to hear him called such +a name by your lips. Let him be what he may he was your friend." + +"He was my acquaintance." + +"He was the man whom you selected to be your candidate for the +borough in opposition to my wishes, and whom you continued to support +in direct disobedience to my orders." + +"Surely, Plantagenet, we have had all that about disobedience out +before." + +"You cannot have such things 'out,'--as you call it. Evil-doing will +not bury itself out of the way and be done with. Do you feel no shame +at having your name mentioned a score of times with reprobation as +that man mentions it;--at being written about by such a man as that?" + +"Do you want to make me roll in the gutter because I mistook him for +a gentleman?" + +"That was not all,--nor half. In your eagerness to serve such a +miserable creature as this you forgot my entreaties, my commands, +my position! I explained to you why I, of all men, and you, of all +women, as a part of me, should not do this thing; and yet you did it, +mistaking such a cur as that for a man! What am I to do? How am I to +free myself from the impediments which you make for me? My enemies I +can overcome,--but I cannot escape the pitfalls which are made for +me by my own wife. I can only retire into private life and hope to +console myself with my children and my books." + +There was a reality of tragedy about him which for the moment +overcame her. She had no joke ready, no sarcasm, no feminine +counter-grumble. Little as she agreed with him when he spoke of the +necessity of retiring into private life because a man had written +to him such a letter as this, incapable as she was of understanding +fully the nature of the irritation which tormented him, still she +knew that he was suffering, and acknowledged to herself that she had +been the cause of the agony. "I am sorry," she ejaculated at last. +"What more can I say?" + +"What am I to do? What can be said to the man? Warburton read the +letter, and gave it me in silence. He could see the terrible +difficulty." + +"Tear it in pieces, and then let there be an end of it." + +"I do not feel sure but that he has right on his side. He is, as you +say, certainly a blackguard, or he would not make such a claim. He is +taking advantage of the mistake made by a good-natured woman through +her folly and her vanity;"--as he said this the Duchess gave an +absurd little pout, but luckily he did not see it,--"and he knows +very well that he is doing so. But still he has a show of justice on +his side. There was, I suppose, no chance for him at Silverbridge +after I had made myself fully understood. The money was absolutely +wasted. It was your persuasion and then your continued encouragement +that led him on to spend the money." + +"Pay it then. The loss will not hurt you." + +"Ah;--if we could but get out of our difficulties by paying! Suppose +that I do pay it. I begin to think that I must pay it;--that after +all I cannot allow such a plea to remain unanswered. But when it is +paid;--what then? Do you think such a payment made by the Queen's +Minister will not be known to all the newspapers, and that I shall +escape the charge of having bribed the man to hold his tongue?" + +"It will be no bribe if you pay him because you think you ought." + +"But how shall I excuse it? There are things done which are holy as +the heavens,--which are clear before God as the light of the sun, +which leave no stain on the conscience, and which yet the malignity +of man can invest with the very blackness of hell! I shall know why +I pay this L500. Because she who of all the world is the nearest and +the dearest to me,"--she looked up into his face with amazement, as +he stood stretching out both his arms in his energy,--"has in her +impetuous folly committed a grievous blunder, from which she would +not allow her husband to save her, this sum must be paid to the +wretched craven. But I cannot tell the world that. I cannot say +abroad that this small sacrifice of money was the justest means of +retrieving the injury which you had done." + +"Say it abroad. Say it everywhere." + +"No, Glencora." + +"Do you think that I would have you spare me if it was my fault? And +how would it hurt me? Will it be new to any one that I have done a +foolish thing? Will the newspapers disturb my peace? I sometimes +think, Plantagenet, that I should have been the man, my skin is so +thick; and that you should have been the woman, yours is so tender." + +"But it is not so." + +"Take the advantage, nevertheless, of my toughness. Send him the L500 +without a word,--or make Warburton do so, or Mr. Moreton. Make no +secret of it. Then if the papers talk about it--" + +"A question might be asked about it in the House." + +"Or if questioned in any way,--say that I did it. Tell the exact +truth. You are always saying that nothing but truth ever serves. Let +the truth serve now. I shall not blench. Your saying it all in the +House of Lords won't wound me half so much as your looking at me as +you did just now." + +"Did I wound you? God knows I would not hurt you willingly." + +"Never mind. Go on. I know you think that I have brought it all on +myself by my own wickedness. Pay this man the money, and then if +anything be said about it, explain that it was my fault, and say that +you paid the money because I had done wrong." + +When he came in she had been seated on a sofa, which she constantly +used herself, and he had stood over her, masterful, imperious, and +almost tyrannical. She had felt his tyranny, but had resented it +less than usual,--or rather had been less determined in holding her +own against him and asserting herself as his equal,--because she +confessed to herself that she had injured him. She had, she thought, +done but little, but that which she had done had produced this +injury. So she had sat and endured the oppression of his standing +posture. But now he sat down by her, very close to her, and put his +hand upon her shoulder,--almost round her waist. + +"Cora," he said, "you do not quite understand it." + +"I never understand anything, I think," she answered. + +"Not in this case,--perhaps never,--what it is that a husband feels +about his wife. Do you think that I could say a word against you, +even to a friend?" + +"Why not?" + +"I never did. I never could. If my anger were at the hottest I would +not confess to a human being that you were not perfect,--except to +yourself." + +"Oh, thank you! If you were to scold me vicariously I should feel it +less." + +"Do not joke with me now, for I am so much in earnest! And if I could +not consent that your conduct should be called in question even by a +friend, do you suppose it possible that I could contrive an escape +from public censure by laying the blame publicly on you?" + +"Stick to the truth;--that's what you always say." + +"I certainly shall stick to the truth. A man and his wife are one. +For what she does he is responsible." + +"They couldn't hang you, you know, because I committed a murder." + +"I should be willing that they should do so. No;--if I pay this money +I shall take the consequences. I shall not do it in any way under the +rose. But I wish you would remember--" + +"Remember what? I know I shall never forget all this trouble about +that dirty little town, which I never will enter again as long as I +live." + +"I wish you would think that in all that you do you are dealing with +my feelings, with my heartstrings, with my reputation. You cannot +divide yourself from me; nor, for the value of it all, would I wish +that such division were possible. You say that I am thin-skinned." + +"Certainly you are. What people call a delicate +organisation,--whereas I am rough and thick and monstrously +commonplace." + +"Then should you too be thin-skinned for my sake." + +"I wish I could make you thick-skinned for your own. It's the only +way to be decently comfortable in such a coarse, rough-and-tumble +world as this is." + +"Let us both do our best," he said, now putting his arm round her and +kissing her. "I think I shall send the man his money at once. It is +the least of two evils. And now let there never be a word more about +it between us." + +Then he left her and went back,--not to the study in which he was +wont, when at Matching, to work with his private Secretary,--but +to a small inner closet of his own, in which many a bitter moment +was spent while he thought over that abortive system of decimal +coinage by which he had once hoped to make himself one of the great +benefactors of his nation, revolving in his mind the troubles which +his wife brought upon him, and regretting the golden inanity of the +coronet which in the very prime of life had expelled him from the +House of Commons. Here he seated himself, and for an hour neither +stirred from his seat, nor touched a pen, nor opened a book. He was +trying to calculate in his mind what might be the consequences of +paying the money to Mr. Lopez. But when the calculation slipped +from him,--as it did,--then he demanded of himself whether strict +high-minded justice did not call upon him to pay the money let the +consequences be what they might. And here his mind was truer to him, +and he was able to fix himself to a purpose,--though the resolution +to which he came was not, perhaps, wise. + +When the hour was over he went to his desk, drew a cheque for L500 in +favour of Ferdinand Lopez, and then caused his Secretary to send it +in the following note:-- + + + Matching, August 4, 187--. + + SIR,-- + + The Duke of Omnium has read the letter you have addressed to him, + dated the 3rd instant. The Duke of Omnium, feeling that you may + have been induced to undertake the late contest at Silverbridge by + misrepresentations made to you at Gatherum Castle, directs me to + enclose a cheque for L500, that being the sum stated by you to have + been expended in carrying on the contest at Silverbridge. + + I am, sir, + Your obedient servant, + + ARTHUR WARBURTON. + + Ferdinand Lopez, Esq. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +Kauri Gum + + +The reader will no doubt think that Ferdinand Lopez must have been +very hardly driven indeed by circumstances before he would have made +such an appeal to the Duke as that given in the last chapter. But +it was not want of money only that had brought it about. It may +be remembered that the L500 had already been once repaid him by +his father-in-law,--that special sum having been given to him for +that special purpose. And Lopez, when he wrote to the Duke, assured +himself that if, by any miracle, his letter should produce pecuniary +results in the shape of a payment from the Duke, he would refund the +money so obtained to Mr. Wharton. But when he wrote the letter he did +not expect to get money,--nor, indeed, did he expect that aid towards +another seat, to which he alluded at the close of his letter. He +expected probably nothing but to vex the Duke, and to drive the Duke +into a correspondence with him. + +Though this man had lived nearly all his life in England, he had not +quite acquired that knowledge of the way in which things are done +which is so general among men of a certain class, and so rare among +those beneath them. He had not understood that the Duchess's promise +of her assistance at Silverbridge might be taken by him for what it +was worth, and that her aid might be used as far as it went,--but, +that in the event of its failing him, he was bound in honour to take +the result without complaining, whatever that result might be. He +felt that a grievous injury had been done him, and that it behoved +him to resent that injury,--even though it were against a woman. +He just knew that he could not very well write to the Duchess +herself,--though there was sometimes present to his mind a plan for +attacking her in public, and telling her what evil she had done him. +He had half resolved that he would do so in her own garden at the +Horns;--but on that occasion the apparition of Arthur Fletcher had +disturbed him, and he had vented his anger in another direction. But +still his wrath against the Duke and Duchess remained, and he was +wont to indulge it with very violent language as he sat upon one of +the chairs in Sexty Parker's office, talking somewhat loudly of his +own position, of the things that he would do, and of the injury done +him. Sexty Parker sympathised with him to the full,--especially as +that first L500, which he had received from Mr. Wharton, had gone +into Sexty's coffers. At that time Lopez and Sexty were together +committed to large speculations in the guano trade, and Sexty's mind +was by no means easy in the early periods of the day. As he went +into town by his train, he would think of his wife and family and of +the terrible things that might happen to them. But yet, up to this +period, money had always been forthcoming from Lopez when absolutely +wanted, and Sexty was quite alive to the fact that he was living +with a freedom of expenditure in his own household that he had never +known before, and that without apparent damage. Whenever, therefore, +at some critical moment, a much-needed sum of money was produced, +Sexty would become light-hearted, triumphant, and very sympathetic. +"Well;--I never heard such a story," he had said when Lopez was +insisting on his wrongs. "That's what the Dukes and Duchesses call +honour among thieves! Well, Ferdy, my boy, if you stand that you'll +stand anything." In these latter days Sexty had become very intimate +indeed with his partner. + +"I don't mean to stand it," Lopez had replied, and then on the spot +had written the letter which he had dated from Manchester Square. +He had certainly contrived to make that letter as oppressive as +possible. He had been clever enough to put into it words which were +sure to wound the poor Duke and to confound the Duchess. And having +written it he was very careful to keep the first draft, so that if +occasion came he might use it again and push his vengeance farther. +But he certainly had not expected such a result as it produced. + +When he received the private Secretary's letter with the money he +was sitting opposite to his father-in-law at breakfast, while his +wife was making the tea. Not many of his letters came to Manchester +Square. Sexty Parker's office or his club were more convenient +addresses; but in this case he had thought that Manchester Square +would have a better sound and appearance. When he opened the letter +the cheque of course appeared bearing the Duke's own signature. He +had seen that and the amount before he had read the letter, and +as he saw it his eye travelled quickly across the table to his +father-in-law's face. Mr. Wharton might certainly have seen the +cheque and even the amount, probably also the signature, without the +slightest suspicion as to the nature of the payment made. As it was, +he was eating his toast, and had thought nothing about the letter. +Lopez, having concealed the cheque, read the few words which the +private Secretary had written, and then put the document with its +contents into his pocket. "So you think, sir, of going down to +Herefordshire on the 15th," he said in a very cheery voice. The +cheery voice was still pleasant to the old man, but the young wife +had already come to distrust it. She had learned, though she was +hardly conscious how the lesson had come to her, that a certain tone +of cheeriness indicated, if not deceit, at any rate the concealment +of something. It grated against her spirit; and when this tone +reached her ears a frown or look of sorrow would cross her brow. And +her husband also had perceived that it was so, and knew at such times +that he was rebuked. He was hardly aware what doings, and especially +what feelings, were imputed to him as faults,--not understanding the +lines which separated right from wrong; but he knew that he was often +condemned by his wife, and he lived in fear that he should also be +condemned by his wife's father. Had it been his wife only, he thought +that he could soon have quenched her condemnation. He would soon have +made her tired of showing her disapproval. But he had put himself +into the old man's house, where the old man could see not only him +but his treatment of his wife, and the old man's good-will and good +opinion were essential to him. Yet he could not restrain one glance +of anger at her when he saw that look upon her face. + +"I suppose I shall," said the barrister. "I must go somewhere. My +going need not disturb you." + +"I think we have made up our mind," said Lopez, "to take a cottage at +Dovercourt. It is not a very lively place, nor yet fashionable. But +it is very healthy, and I can run up to town easily. Unfortunately my +business won't let me be altogether away this autumn." + +"I wish my business would keep me," said the barrister. + +"I did not understand that you had made up your mind to go to +Dovercourt," said Emily. He had spoken to Mr. Wharton of their joint +action in the matter, and as the place had only once been named by +him to her, she resented what seemed to be a falsehood. She knew +that she was to be taken or left as it suited him. If he had said +boldly,--"We'll go to Dovercourt. That's what I've settled on. +That's what will suit me," she would have been contented. She quite +understood that he meant to have his own way in such things. But +it seemed to her that he wanted to be a tyrant without having the +courage necessary for tyranny. + +"I thought you seemed to like it," he said. + +"I don't dislike it at all." + +"Then, as it suits my business, we might as well consider it +settled." So saying, he left the room and went off to the city. The +old man was still sipping his tea and lingering over his breakfast in +a way that was not usual with him. He was generally anxious to get +away to Lincoln's Inn, and on most mornings had left the house before +his son-in-law. Emily of course remained with him, sitting silent in +her place opposite to the teapot, meditating perhaps on her prospects +of happiness at Dovercourt,--a place of which she had never heard +even the name two days ago, and in which it was hardly possible that +she should find even an acquaintance. In former years these autumn +months, passed in Herefordshire, had been the delight of her life. + +Mr. Wharton also had seen the cloud on his daughter's face, and had +understood the nature of the little dialogue about Dovercourt. And +he was aware,--had been aware since they had both come into his +house,--that the young wife's manner and tone to her husband was not +that of perfect conjugal sympathy. He had already said to himself +more than once that she had made her bed for herself, and must lie +upon it. She was the man's wife, and must take her husband as he was. +If she suffered under this man's mode and manner of life, he, as her +father, could not assist her,--could do nothing for her, unless the +man should become absolutely cruel. He had settled that within his +own mind already; but yet his heart yearned towards her, and when +he thought that she was unhappy he longed to comfort her and tell +her that she still had a father. But the time had not come as yet +in which he could comfort her by sympathising with her against +her husband. There had never fallen from her lips a syllable of +complaint. When she had spoken to him a chance word respecting her +husband, it had always carried with it some tone of affection. But +still he longed to say to her something which might tell her that his +heart was soft towards her. "Do you like the idea of going to this +place?" he said. + +"I don't at all know what it will be like. Ferdinand says it will be +cheap." + +"Is that of such vital consequence?" + +"Ah;--yes; I fear it is." + +This was very sad to him. Lopez had already had from him a +considerable sum of money, having not yet been married twelve months, +and was now living in London almost free of expense. Before his +marriage he had always spoken of himself, and had contrived to be +spoken of, as a wealthy man, and now he was obliged to choose some +small English seaside place to which to retreat, because thus he +might live at a low rate! Had they married as poor people there would +have been nothing to regret in this;--there would be nothing that +might not be done with entire satisfaction. But, as it was, it told a +bad tale for the future! "Do you understand his money matters, +Emily?" + +"Not at all, papa." + +"I do not in the least mean to make inquiry. Perhaps I should have +asked before;--but if I did make inquiry now it would be of him. But +I think a wife should know." + +"I know nothing." + +"What is his business?" + +"I have no idea. I used to think he was connected with Mr. Mills +Happerton and with Messrs. Hunky and Sons." + +"Is he not connected with Hunky's house?" + +"I think not. He has a partner of the name of Parker, who is,--who is +not, I think, quite--quite a gentleman. I never saw him." + +"What does he do with Mr. Parker?" + +"I believe they buy guano." + +"Ah;--that, I fancy, was only one affair." + +"I'm afraid he lost money, papa, by that election at Silverbridge." + +"I paid that," said Mr. Wharton sternly. Surely he should have told +his wife that he had received that money from her family! + +"Did you? That was very kind. I am afraid, papa, we are a great +burden on you." + +"I should not mind it, my dear, if there were confidence and +happiness. What matter would it be to me whether you had your money +now or hereafter, so that you might have it in the manner that would +be most beneficial to you? I wish he would be open with me, and tell +me everything." + +"Shall I let him know that you say so?" + +He thought for a minute or two before he answered her. Perhaps the +man would be more impressed if the message came to him through his +wife. "If you think that he will not be annoyed with you, you may do +so." + +"I don't know why he should,--but if it be right, that must be borne. +I am not afraid to say anything to him." + +"Then tell him so. Tell him that it will be better that he should +let me know the whole condition of his affairs. God bless you, dear." +Then he stooped over her, and kissed her, and went his way to Stone +Buildings. + +It was not as he sat at the breakfast table that Ferdinand Lopez made +up his mind to pocket the Duke's money and to say nothing about it to +Mr. Wharton. He had been careful to conceal the cheque, but he had +done so with the feeling that the matter was one to be considered in +his own mind before he took any step. As he left the house, already +considering it, he was inclined to think that the money must be +surrendered. Mr. Wharton had very generously paid his electioneering +expenses, but had not done so simply with the view of making him a +present of money. He wished the Duke had not taken him at his word. +In handing this cheque over to Mr. Wharton he would be forced to tell +the story of his letter to the Duke, and he was sure that Mr. Wharton +would not approve of his having written such a letter. How could +any one approve of his having applied for a sum of money which had +already been paid to him? How could such a one as Mr. Wharton,--an +old-fashioned English gentleman,--approve of such an application +being made under any circumstances? Mr. Wharton would very probably +insist on having the cheque sent back to the Duke,--which would be +a sorry end to the triumph as at present achieved. And the more he +thought of it the more sure he was that it would be imprudent to +mention to Mr. Wharton his application to the Duke. The old men +of the present day were, he said to himself, such fools that they +understood nothing. And then the money was very convenient to +him. He was intent on obtaining Sexty Parker's consent to a large +speculation, and knew that he could not do so without a show of +funds. By the time, therefore, that he had reached the city he had +resolved that at any rate for the present he would use the money and +say nothing about it to Mr. Wharton. Was it not spoil got from the +enemy by his own courage and cleverness? When he was writing his +acknowledgement for the money to Warburton he had taught himself to +look upon the sum extracted from the Duke as a matter quite distinct +from the payment made to him by his father-in-law. + +It was evident on that day to Sexty Parker that his partner was a +man of great resources. Though things sometimes looked very bad, yet +money always "turned up." Some of their buyings and sellings had +answered pretty well. Some had been great failures. No great stroke +had been made as yet, but then the great stroke was always being +expected. Sexty's fears were greatly exaggerated by the feeling that +the coffee and guano were not always real coffee and guano. His +partner, indeed, was of opinion that in such a trade as this they +were following there was no need at all of real coffee and real +guano, and explained his theory with considerable eloquence. "If I +buy a ton of coffee and keep it six weeks, why do I buy it and keep +it, and why does the seller sell it instead of keeping it? The seller +sells it because he thinks he can do best by parting with it now at a +certain price. I buy it because I think I can make money by keeping +it. It is just the same as though we were to back our opinions. He +backs the fall. I back the rise. You needn't have coffee and you +needn't have guano to do this. Indeed the possession of the coffee +or the guano is only a very clumsy addition to the trouble of your +profession. I make it my study to watch the markets;--but I needn't +buy everything I see in order to make money by my labour and +intelligence." Sexty Parker before his lunch always thought that his +partner was wrong, but after that ceremony he almost daily became +a convert to the great doctrine. Coffee and guano still had to be +bought because the world was dull and would not learn the tricks of +trade as taught by Ferdinand Lopez,--also possibly because somebody +might want such articles,--but our enterprising hero looked for a +time in which no such dull burden should be imposed on him. + +On this day, when the Duke's L500 was turned into the business, Sexty +yielded in a large matter which his partner had been pressing upon +him for the last week. They bought a cargo of Kauri gum, coming from +New Zealand. Lopez had reasons for thinking that Kauri gum must have +a great rise. There was an immense demand for amber, and Kauri gum +might be used as a substitute, and in six months' time would be +double its present value. This unfortunately was a real cargo. He +could not find an individual so enterprising as to venture to deal in +a cargo of Kauri gum after his fashion. But the next best thing was +done. The real cargo was bought, and his name and Sexty's name were +on the bills given for the goods. On that day he returned home in +high spirits, for he did believe in his own intelligence and good +fortune. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +Mr. Wharton Intends to Make a New Will + + +On that afternoon, immediately on the husband's return to the house, +his wife spoke to him as her father had desired. On that evening Mr. +Wharton was dining at his club, and therefore there was the whole +evening before them; but the thing to be done was disagreeable, and +therefore she did it at once,--rushing into the matter almost before +he had seated himself in the arm-chair which he had appropriated to +his use in the drawing-room. "Papa was talking about our affairs +after you left this morning, and he thinks that it would be so much +better if you would tell him all about them." + +"What made him talk of that to-day?" he said, turning at her almost +angrily and thinking at once of the Duke's cheque. + +"I suppose it is natural that he should be anxious about us, +Ferdinand;--and the more natural as he has money to give if he +chooses to give it." + +"I have asked him for nothing lately;--though, by George, I intend to +ask him and that very roundly. Three thousand pounds isn't much of a +sum of money for your father to have given you." + +"And he paid the election bill;--didn't he?" + +"He has been complaining of that behind my back,--has he? I didn't +ask him for it. He offered it. I wasn't such a fool as to refuse, but +he needn't bring that up as a grievance to you." + +"It wasn't brought up as a grievance. I was saying that your standing +had been a heavy expenditure--" + +"Why did you say so? What made you talk about it at all? Why should +you be discussing my affairs behind my back?" + +"To my own father! And that too when you are telling me every day +that I am to induce him to help you!" + +"Not by complaining that I am poor. But how did it all begin?" She +had to think for a moment before she could recollect how it did +begin. "There has been something," he said, "which you are ashamed to +tell me." + +"There is nothing that I am ashamed to tell you. There never has been +and never will be anything." And she stood up as she spoke, with open +eyes and extended nostrils. "Whatever may come, however wretched it +may be, I shall not be ashamed of myself." + +"But of me!" + +"Why do you say so? Why do you try to make unhappiness between us?" + +"You have been talking of--my poverty." + +"My father asked why you should go to Dovercourt,--and whether it was +because it would save expense." + +"You want to go somewhere?" + +"Not at all. I am contented to stay in London. But I said that I +thought the expense had a good deal to do with it. Of course it has." + +"Where do you want to be taken? I suppose Dovercourt is not +fashionable." + +"I want nothing." + +"If you are thinking of travelling abroad, I can't spare the time. +It isn't an affair of money, and you had no business to say so. I +thought of the place because it is quiet and because I can get up and +down easily. I am sorry that I ever came to live in this house." + +"Why do you say that, Ferdinand?" + +"Because you and your father make cabals behind my back. If there is +anything I hate it is that kind of thing." + +"You are very unjust," she said to him sobbing. "I have never +caballed. I have never done anything against you. Of course papa +ought to know." + +"Why ought he to know? Why is your father to have the right of +inquiry into all my private affairs?" + +"Because you want his assistance. It is only natural. You always tell +me to get him to assist you. He spoke most kindly, saying that he +would like to know how the things are." + +"Then he won't know. As for wanting his assistance, of course I +want the fortune which he ought to give you. He is man of the world +enough to know that as I am in business capital must be useful to +me. I should have thought that you would understand as much as that +yourself." + +"I do understand it, I suppose." + +"Then why don't you act as my friend rather than his? Why don't you +take my part? It seems to me that you are much more his daughter than +my wife." + +"That is most unfair." + +"If you had any pluck you would make him understand that for your +sake he ought to say what he means to do, so that I might have the +advantage of the fortune which I suppose he means to give you some +day. If you had the slightest anxiety to help me you could influence +him. Instead of that you talk to him about my poverty. I don't want +him to think that I am a pauper. That's not the way to get round +a man like your father, who is rich himself and who thinks it a +disgrace in other men not to be rich too." + +"I can't tell him in the same breath that you are rich and that you +want money." + +"Money is the means by which men make money. If he was confident of +my business he'd shell out his cash quick enough! It is because he +has been taught to think that I am in a small way. He'll find his +mistake some day." + +"You won't speak to him then?" + +"I don't say that at all. If I find that it will answer my own +purpose I shall speak to him. But it would be very much easier to me +if I could get you to be cordial in helping me." + +Emily by this time quite knew what such cordiality meant. He had been +so free in his words to her that there could be no mistake. He had +instructed her to "get round" her father. And now again he spoke +of her influence over her father. Although her illusions were all +melting away,--oh, so quickly vanishing,--still she knew that it was +her duty to be true to her husband, and to be his wife rather than +her father's daughter. But what could she say on his behalf, knowing +nothing of his affairs? She had no idea what was his business, what +was his income, what amount of money she ought to spend as his +wife. As far as she could see,--and her common sense in seeing such +things was good,--he had no regular income, and was justified in no +expenditure. On her own account she would ask for no information. She +was too proud to request that from him which should be given to her +without any request. But in her own defence she must tell him that +she could use no influence with her father as she knew none of the +circumstances by which her father would be guided. "I cannot help you +in the manner you mean," she said, "because I know nothing myself." + +"You know that you can trust me to do the best with your money if I +could get hold of it, I suppose?" She certainly did not know this, +and held her tongue. "You could assure him of that?" + +"I could only tell him to judge for himself." + +"What you mean is that you'd see me d----d before you would open your +mouth for me to the old man!" + +He had never sworn at her before, and now she burst out into a flood +of tears. It was to her a terrible outrage. I do not know that a +woman is very much the worse because her husband may forget himself +on an occasion and "rap out an oath at her," as he would call it when +making the best of his own sin. Such an offence is compatible with +uniform kindness and most affectionate consideration. I have known +ladies who would think little or nothing about it,--who would go no +farther than the mildest protest,--"Do remember where you are!" or, +"My dear John!"--if no stranger were present. But then a wife should +be initiated into it by degrees; and there are different tones of +bad language, of which by far the most general is the good-humoured +tone. We all of us know men who never damn their servants, or any +inferiors, or strangers, or women,--who in fact keep it all for +their bosom friends; and if a little does sometimes flow over in +the freedom of domestic life, the wife is apt to remember that she +is the bosomest of her husband's friends, and so to pardon the +transgression. But here the word had been uttered with all its +foulest violence, with virulence and vulgarity. It seemed to the +victim to be the sign of a terrible crisis in her early married +life,--as though the man who had so spoken to her could never again +love her, never again be kind to her, never again be sweetly gentle +and like a lover. And as he spoke it he looked at her as though he +would like to tear her limbs asunder. She was frightened as well as +horrified and astounded. She had not a word to say to him. She did +not know in what language to make her complaint of such treatment. +She burst into tears, and throwing herself on the sofa hid her face +in her hands. "You provoke me to be violent," he said. But still she +could not speak to him. "I come away from the city, tired with work +and troubled with a thousand things, and you have not a kind word to +say to me." Then there was a pause, during which she still sobbed. +"If your father has anything to say to me, let him say it. I shall +not run away. But as to going to him of my own accord with a story as +long as my arm about my own affairs, I don't mean to do it." Then he +paused a moment again. "Come, old girl, cheer up! Don't pretend to +be broken-hearted because I used a hard word. There are worse things +than that to be borne in the world." + +"I--I--I was so startled, Ferdinand." + +"A man can't always remember that he isn't with another man. Don't +think anything more about it; but do bear this in mind,--that, +situated as we are, your influence with your father may be the making +or the marring of me." And so he left the room. + +She sat for the next ten minutes thinking of it all. The words which +he had spoken were so horrible that she could not get them out of her +mind,--could not bring herself to look upon them as a trifle. The +darkness of his countenance still dwelt with her,--and that absence +of all tenderness, that coarse un-marital and yet marital roughness, +which should not at any rate have come to him so soon. The whole man +too was so different from what she had thought him to be. Before +their marriage no word as to money had ever reached her ears from +his lips. He had talked to her of books,--and especially of poetry. +Shakespeare and Moliere, Dante and Goethe, had been or had seemed +to be dear to him. And he had been full of fine ideas about women, +and about men in their intercourse with women. For his sake she had +separated herself from all her old friends. For his sake she had +hurried into a marriage altogether distasteful to her father. For +his sake she had closed her heart against that other lover. Trusting +altogether in him she had ventured to think that she had known what +was good for her better than all those who had been her counsellors, +and had given herself to him utterly. Now she was awake; her dream +was over, and the natural language of the man was still ringing in +her ears! + +They met together at dinner and passed the evening without a further +allusion to the scene which had been acted. He sat with a magazine +in his hand, every now and then making some remark intended to be +pleasant but which grated on her ears as being fictitious. She would +answer him,--because it was her duty to do so, and because she would +not condescend to sulk; but she could not bring herself even to say +to herself that all should be with her as though that horrid word had +not been spoken. She sat over her work till ten, answering him when +he spoke in a voice which was also fictitious, and then took herself +off to her bed that she might weep alone. It would, she knew, be late +before he would come to her. + +On the next morning there came a message to him as he was dressing. +Mr. Wharton wished to speak to him. Would he come down before +breakfast, or would he call on Mr. Wharton in Stone Buildings? He +sent down word that he would do the latter at an hour he fixed, and +then did not show himself in the breakfast-room till Mr. Wharton was +gone. "I've got to go to your father to-day," he said to his wife, +"and I thought it best not to begin till we come to the regular +business. I hope he does not mean to be unreasonable." To this she +made no answer. "Of course you think the want of reason will be all +on my side." + +"I don't know why you should say so." + +"Because I can read your mind. You do think so. You've been in the +same boat with your father all your life, and you can't get out of +that boat and get into mine. I was wrong to come and live here. +Of course it was not the way to withdraw you from his influence." +She had nothing to say that would not anger him, and was therefore +silent. "Well; I must do the best I can by myself, I suppose. +Good-bye," and so he was off. + +"I want to know," said Mr. Wharton, on whom was thrown by +premeditation on the part of Lopez the task of beginning the +conversation,--"I want to know what is the nature of your operation. +I have never been quite able to understand it." + +"I do not know that I quite understand it myself," said Lopez, +laughing. + +"No man alive," continued the old barrister almost solemnly, "has a +greater objection to thrust himself into another man's affairs than +I have. And as I didn't ask the question before your marriage,--as +perhaps I ought to have done,--I should not do so now, were it not +that the disposition of some part of the earnings of my life must +depend on the condition of your affairs." Lopez immediately perceived +that it behoved him to be very much on the alert. It might be that +if he showed himself to be very poor, his father-in-law would see +the necessity of assisting him at once; or, it might be, that +unless he could show himself to be in prosperous circumstances, +his father-in-law would not assist him at all. "To tell you the +plain truth, I am minded to make a new will. I had of course made +arrangements as to my property before Emily's marriage. Those +arrangements I think I shall now alter. I am greatly distressed with +Everett; and from what I see and from a few words which have dropped +from Emily, I am not, to tell you the truth, quite happy as to your +position. If I understand rightly you are a general merchant, buying +and selling goods in the market?" + +"That's about it, sir." + +"What capital have you in the business?" + +"What capital?" + +"Yes;--how much did you put into it at starting?" + +Lopez paused a moment. He had got his wife. The marriage could not +be undone. Mr. Wharton had money enough for them all, and would not +certainly discard his daughter. Mr. Wharton could place him on a +really firm footing, and might not improbably do so if he could be +made to feel some confidence in his son-in-law. At this moment there +was much doubt with the son-in-law whether he had better not tell the +simple truth. "It has gone in by degrees," he said. "Altogether I +have had about L8000 in it." In truth he had never been possessed of +a shilling. + +"Does that include the L3000 you had from me?" + +"Yes; it does." + +"Then you have married my girl and started into the world with a +business based on L5000, and which had so far miscarried that within +a month or two after your marriage you were driven to apply to me for +funds!" + +"I wanted money for a certain purpose." + +"Have you any partner, Mr. Lopez?" This address was felt to be very +ominous. + +"Yes. I have a partner who is possessed of capital. His name is +Parker." + +"Then his capital is your capital." + +"Well;--I can't explain it, but it is not so." + +"What is the name of your firm?" + +"We haven't a registered name." + +"Have you a place of business?" + +"Parker has a place of business in Little Tankard Yard." + +Mr. Wharton turned to a directory and found out Parker's name. "Mr. +Parker is a stockbroker. Are you also a stockbroker?" + +"No,--I am not." + +"Then, sir, it seems to me that you are a commercial adventurer." + +"I am not at all ashamed of the name, Mr. Wharton. According to your +manner of reckoning, half the business in the City of London is done +by commercial adventurers. I watch the markets and buy goods,--and +sell them at a profit. Mr. Parker is a moneyed man, who happens also +to be a stockbroker. We can very easily call ourselves merchants, and +put up the names of Lopez and Parker over the door." + +"Do you sign bills together?" + +"Yes." + +"As Lopez and Parker?" + +"No. I sign them and he signs them. I trade also by myself, and so, I +believe, does he." + +"One other question, Mr. Lopez. On what income have you paid +income-tax for the last three years?" + +"On L2000 a-year," said Lopez. This was a direct lie. + +"Can you make out any schedule showing your exact assets and +liabilities at the present time?" + +"Certainly I can." + +"Then do so, and send it to me before I go into Herefordshire. My +will as it stands at present would not be to your advantage. But I +cannot change it till I know more of your circumstances than I do +now." And so the interview was over. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +Mrs. Sexty Parker + + +Though Mr. Wharton and Lopez met every day for the next week, nothing +more was said about the schedule. The old man was thinking about +it every day, and so also was Lopez. But Mr. Wharton had made his +demand, and, as he thought, nothing more was to be said on the +subject. He could not continue the subject as he would have done +with his son. But as day after day passed by he became more and more +convinced that his son-in-law's affairs were not in a state which +could bear to see the light. He had declared his purpose of altering +his will in the man's favour, if the man would satisfy him. And yet +nothing was done and nothing was said. + +Lopez had come among them and robbed him of his daughter. Since the +man had become intimate in his house he had not known an hour's +happiness. The man had destroyed all the plans of his life, broken +through into his castle, and violated his very hearth. No doubt he +himself had vacillated. He was aware of that, and in his present mood +was severe enough in judging himself. In his desolation he had tried +to take the man to his heart,--had been kind to him, and had even +opened his house to him. He had told himself that as the man was the +husband of his daughter he had better make the best of it. He had +endeavoured to make the best of it, but between him and the man there +were such differences that they were poles asunder. And now it became +clear to him that the man was, as he had declared to the man's face, +no better than an adventurer! + +By his will as it at present stood he had left two-thirds of his +property to Everett, and one-third to his daughter, with arrangements +for settling her share on her children, should she be married and +have children at the time of his death. This will had been made many +years ago, and he had long since determined to alter it, in order +that he might divide his property equally between his children;--but +he had postponed the matter, intending to give a large portion of +Emily's share to her directly on her marriage with Arthur Fletcher. +She had not married Arthur Fletcher;--but still it was necessary that +a new will should be made. + +When he left town for Herefordshire he had not yet made up his mind +how this should be done. He had at one time thought that he would +give some considerable sum to Lopez at once, knowing that to a man in +business such assistance would be useful. And he had not altogether +abandoned that idea, even when he had asked for the schedule. He did +not relish the thought of giving his hard-earned money to Lopez, but, +still, the man's wife was his daughter, and he must do the best that +he could for her. Her taste in marrying the man was inexplicable +to him. But that was done;--and now how might he best arrange his +affairs so as to serve her interests? + +About the middle of August he went to Herefordshire and she to the +seaside in Essex,--to the little place which Lopez had selected. +Before the end of the month the father-in-law wrote a line to his +son-in-law. + + + DEAR LOPEZ, [not without premeditation had he departed + from the sternness of that "Mr. Lopez," which in his anger + he had used at his chambers]-- + + When we were discussing your affairs I asked you for a + schedule of your assets and liabilities. I can make no new + arrangement of my property till I receive this. Should I + die leaving my present will as the instrument under which + my property would be conveyed to my heirs, Emily's share + would go into the hands of trustees for the use of herself + and her possible children. I tell you this that you may + understand that it is for your own interest to comply with + my requisition. + + Yours, + + A. WHARTON. + + +Of course questions were asked him as to how the newly married couple +were getting on. At Wharton these questions were mild and easily put +off. Sir Alured was contented with a slight shake of his head, and +Lady Wharton only remarked for the fifth or sixth time that "it was +a pity." But when they all went to Longbarns, the difficulty became +greater. Arthur was not there, and old Mrs. Fletcher was in full +strength. "So the Lopezes have come to live with you in Manchester +Square?" Mr. Wharton acknowledged that it was so with an affirmative +grunt. "I hope he's a pleasant inmate." There was a scorn in the old +woman's voice as she said this, which ought to have provoked any man. + +"More so than most men would be," said Mr. Wharton. + +"Oh, indeed!" + +"He is courteous and forbearing, and does not think that everything +around him should be suited to his own peculiar fancies." + +"I am glad that you are contented with the marriage, Mr. Wharton." + +"Who has said that I am contented with it? No one ought to +understand or to share my discontent so cordially as yourself, Mrs. +Fletcher;--and no one ought to be more chary of speaking of it. +You and I had hoped other things, and old people do not like to be +disappointed. But I needn't paint the devil blacker than he is." + +"I'm afraid that, as usual, he is rather black." + +"Mother," said John Fletcher, "the thing has been done and you might +as well let it be. We are all sorry that Emily has not come nearer +to us; but she has had a right to choose for herself, and I for one +wish,--as does my brother also,--that she may be happy in the lot she +has chosen." + +"His conduct to Arthur at Silverbridge was so nice!" said the +pertinacious old woman. + +"Never mind his conduct, mother. What is it to us?" + +"That's all very well, John; but according to that nobody is to talk +about anybody." + +"I would much prefer, at any rate," said Mr. Wharton, "that you would +not talk about Mr. Lopez in my hearing." + +"Oh; if that is to be so, let it be so. And now I understand where +I am." Then the old woman shook herself, and endeavoured to look as +though Mr. Wharton's soreness on the subject were an injury to her as +robbing her of a useful topic. + +"I don't like Lopez, you know," Mr. Wharton said to John Fletcher +afterwards. "How would it be possible that I should like such a man? +But there can be no good got by complaints. It is not what your +mother suffers, or what even I may suffer,--or worse again, what +Arthur may suffer, that makes the sadness of all this. What will be +her life? That is the question. And it is too near me, too important +to me, for the endurance either of scorn or pity. I was glad that you +asked your mother to be silent." + +"I can understand it," said John. "I do not think that she will +trouble you again." + +In the mean time Lopez received Mr. Wharton's letter at Dovercourt, +and had to consider what answer he should give to it. No answer +could be satisfactory,--unless he could impose a false answer on his +father-in-law so as to make it credible. The more he thought of it, +the more he believed that this would be impossible. The cautious +old lawyer would not accept unverified statements. A certain sum of +money,--by no means illiberal as a present,--he had already extracted +from the old man. What he wanted was a further and a much larger +grant. Though Mr. Wharton was old he did not want to have to wait for +the death even of an old man. The next two or three years,--probably +the very next year,--might be the turning-point of his life. He had +married the girl, and ought to have the girl's fortune,--down on +the nail! That was his idea; and the old man was robbing him in +not acting up to it. As he thought of this he cursed his ill luck. +The husbands of other girls had their fortunes conveyed to them +immediately on their marriage. What would not L20,000 do for him, if +he could get it into his hand? And so he taught himself to regard +the old man as a robber and himself as a victim. Who among us is +there that does not teach himself the same lesson? And then too how +cruelly, how damnably he had been used by the Duchess of Omnium! And +now Sexty Parker, whose fortune he was making for him, whose fortune +he at any rate intended to make, was troubling him in various ways. +"We're in a boat together," Sexty had said. "You've had the use of my +money, and by heavens you have it still. I don't see why you should +be so stiff. Do you bring your missus to Dovercourt, and I'll take +mine, and let 'em know each other." There was a little argument on +the subject, but Sexty Parker had the best of it, and in this way the +trip to Dovercourt was arranged. + +Lopez was in a very good humour when he took his wife down, and he +walked her round the terraces and esplanades of that not sufficiently +well-known marine paradise, now bidding her admire the sea and now +laughing at the finery of the people, till she became gradually +filled with an idea that as he was making himself pleasant, she also +ought to do the same. Of course she was not happy. The gilding had so +completely and so rapidly been washed off her idol that she could not +be very happy. But she also could be good-humoured. "And now," said +he, smiling, "I have got something for you to do for me,--something +that you will find very disagreeable." + +"What is it? It won't be very bad, I'm sure." + +"It will be very bad, I'm afraid. My excellent but horribly vulgar +partner, Mr. Sextus Parker, when he found that I was coming here, +insisted on bringing his wife and children here also. I want you to +know them." + +"Is that all? She must be very bad indeed if I can't put up with +that." + +"In one sense she isn't bad at all. I believe her to be an excellent +woman, intent on spoiling her children and giving her husband a good +dinner every day. But I think you'll find that she is,--well,--not +quite what you call a lady." + +"I shan't mind that in the least. I'll help her to spoil the +children." + +"You can get a lesson there, you know," he said, looking into her +face. The little joke was one which a young wife might take with +pleasure from her husband, but her life had already been too much +embittered for any such delight. Yes; the time was coming when that +trouble also would be added to her. She dreaded she knew not what, +and had often told herself that it would be better that she should be +childless. + +"Do you like him?" she said. + +"Like him. No;--I can't say I like him. He is useful, and in one +sense honest." + +"Is he not honest in all senses?" + +"That's a large order. To tell you the truth, I don't know any man +who is." + +"Everett is honest." + +"He loses money at play which he can't pay without assistance from +his father. If his father had refused, where would then have been his +honesty? Sexty is as honest as others, I dare say, but I shouldn't +like to trust him much farther than I can see him. I shan't go up to +town to-morrow, and we'll both look in on them after luncheon." + +In the afternoon the call was made. The Parkers, having children, had +dined early, and he was sitting out in a little porch smoking his +pipe, drinking whisky and water, and looking at the sea. His eldest +girl was standing between his legs, and his wife, with the other +three children round her, was sitting on the doorstep. "I've brought +my wife to see you," said Lopez, holding out his hand to Mrs. Parker, +as she rose from the ground. + +"I told her that you'd be coming," said Sexty, "and she wanted me +to put off my pipe and little drop of drink; but I said that if +Mrs. Lopez was the lady I took her to be she wouldn't begrudge a +hard-working fellow his pipe and glass on a holiday." + +There was a soundness of sense in this which mollified any feeling of +disgust which Emily might have felt at the man's vulgarity. "I think +you are quite right, Mr. Parker. I should be very sorry if,--if--" + +"If I was to put my pipe out. Well, I won't. You'll take a glass of +sherry, Lopez? Though I'm drinking spirits myself, I brought down a +hamper of sherry wine. Oh, nonsense;--you must take something. That's +right, Jane. Let us have the stuff and the glasses, and then they can +do as they like." Lopez lit a cigar, and allowed his host to pour +out for him a glass of "sherry wine," while Mrs. Lopez went into the +house with Mrs. Parker and the children. + +Mrs. Parker opened herself out to her new friend immediately. She +hoped that they two might see "a deal of each other;--that is, if +you don't think me too pushing." Sextus, she said, was so much away, +coming down to Dovercourt only every other day! And then, within the +half hour which was consumed by Lopez with his cigar, the poor woman +got upon the general troubles of her life. Did Mrs. Lopez think that +"all this speckelation was just the right thing?" + +"I don't think that I know anything about it, Mrs. Parker." + +"But you ought;--oughtn't you, now? Don't you think that a wife ought +to know what it is that her husband is after;--specially if there's +children? A good bit of the money was mine, Mrs. Lopez; and though +I don't begrudge it, not one bit, if any good is to come out of it +to him or them, a woman doesn't like what her father has given her +should be made ducks and drakes of." + +"But are they making ducks and drakes?" + +"When he don't tell me I'm always afeard. And I'll tell you what +I know just as well as two and two. When he comes home a little +flustered, and then takes more than his regular allowance, he's been +at something as don't quite satisfy him. He's never that way when +he's done a good day's work at his regular business. He takes to the +children then, and has one glass after his dinner, and tells me all +about it,--down to the shillings and pence. But it's very seldom he's +that way now." + +"You may think it very odd, Mrs. Parker, but I don't in the least +know what my husband is--in business." + +"And you never ask?" + +"I haven't been very long married, you know;--only about ten months." + +"I'd had my fust by that time." + +"Only nine months, I think, indeed." + +"Well; I wasn't very long after that. But I took care to know what it +was he was a-doing of in the city long before that time. And I did +use to know everything, till--" She was going to say, till Lopez had +come upon the scene. But she did not wish, at any rate as yet, to be +harsh to her new friend. + +"I hope it is all right," said Emily. + +"Sometimes he's as though the Bank of England was all his own. And +there's been more money come into the house;--that I must say. And +there isn't an open-handeder one than Sexty anywhere. He'd like to +see me in a silk gown every day of my life;--and as for the children, +there's nothing smart enough for them. Only I'd sooner have a little +and safe, than anything ever so fine, and never be sure whether it +wasn't going to come to an end." + +"There I agree with you, quite." + +"I don't suppose men feels it as we do; but, oh, Mrs. Lopez, give +me a little, safe, so that I may know that I shan't see my children +want. When I thinks what it would be to have them darlings' little +bellies empty, and nothing in the cupboard, I get that low that I'm +nigh fit for Bedlam." + +In the mean time the two men outside the porch were discussing their +affairs in somewhat the same spirit. At last Lopez showed his friend +Wharton's letter, and told him of the expected schedule. "Schedule be +d----d, you know," said Lopez. "How am I to put down a rise of 12s. +6d. a ton on Kauri gum in a schedule? But when you come to 2000 tons +it's L1250." + +"He's very old;--isn't he?" + +"But as strong as a horse." + +"He's got the money?" + +"Yes;--he has got it safe enough. There's no doubt about the money." + +"What he talks about is only a will. Now you want the money at once." + +"Of course I do;--and he talks to me as if I were some old fogy with +an estate of my own. I must concoct a letter and explain my views; +and the more I can make him understand how things really are the +better. I don't suppose he wants to see his daughter come to grief." + +"Then the sooner you write it the better," said Mr. Parker. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +"He Wants to Get Rich Too Quick" + + +As they strolled home Lopez told his wife that he had accepted an +invitation to dine the next day at the Parkers' cottage. In doing +this his manner was not quite so gentle as when he had asked her to +call on them. He had been a little ruffled by what had been said, and +now exhibited his temper. "I don't suppose it will be very nice," he +said, "but we may have to put up with worse things than that." + +"I have made no objection." + +"But you don't seem to take to it very cordially." + +"I had thought that I got on very well with Mrs. Parker. If you can +eat your dinner with them, I'm sure that I can. You do not seem to +like him altogether, and I wish you had got a partner more to your +taste." + +"Taste, indeed! When you come to this kind of thing it isn't a matter +of taste. The fact is that I am in that fellow's hands to an extent +I don't like to think of, and don't see my way out of it unless your +father will do as he ought to do. You altogether refuse to help me +with your father, and you must, therefore, put up with Sexty Parker +and his wife. It is quite on the cards that worse things may come +even than Sexty Parker." To this she made no immediate answer, but +walked on, increasing her pace, not only unhappy, but also very +angry. It was becoming a matter of doubt to her whether she could +continue to bear these repeated attacks about her father's money. "I +see how it is," he continued. "You think that a husband should bear +all the troubles of life, and that a wife should never be made to +hear of them." + +"Ferdinand," she said, "I declare I did not think that any man could +be so unfair to a woman as you are to me." + +"Of course! Because I haven't got thousands a year to spend on you I +am unfair." + +"I am content to live in any way that you may direct. If you are +poor, I am satisfied to be poor. If you are even ruined, I am content +to be ruined." + +"Who is talking about ruin?" + +"If you are in want of everything, I also will be in want and will +never complain. Whatever our joint lot may bring to us I will endure, +and will endeavour to endure with cheerfulness. But I will not ask +my father for money, either for you or for myself. He knows what he +ought to do. I trust him implicitly." + +"And me not at all." + +"He is, I know, in communication with you about what should be done. +I can only say,--tell him everything." + +"My dear, that is a matter in which it may be possible that I +understand my own interest best." + +"Very likely. I certainly understand nothing, for I do not even know +the nature of your business. How can I tell him that he ought to give +you money?" + +"You might ask him for your own." + +"I have got nothing. Did I ever tell you that I had?" + +"You ought to have known." + +"Do you mean that when you asked me to marry you I should have +refused you because I did not know what money papa would give me? Why +did you not ask papa?" + +"Had I known him then as well as I do now you may be quite sure that +I should have done so." + +"Ferdinand, it will be better that we should not speak about my +father. I will in all things strive to do as you would have me, but I +cannot hear him abused. If you have anything to say, go to Everett." + +"Yes;--when he is such a gambler that your father won't even speak +to him. Your father will be found dead in his bed some day, and all +his money will have been left to some cursed hospital." They were at +their own door when this was said, and she, without further answer, +went up to her bedroom. + +All these bitter things had been said, not because Lopez had thought +that he could further his own views by saying them;--he knew indeed +that he was injuring himself by every display of ill-temper;--but +she was in his power, and Sexty Parker was rebelling. He thought a +good deal that day on the delight he would have in "kicking that +ill-conditioned cur," if only he could afford to kick him. But his +wife was his own, and she must be taught to endure his will, and must +be made to know that though she was not to be kicked, yet she was to +be tormented and ill-used. And it might be possible that he should so +cow her spirit as to bring her to act as he should direct. Still, as +he walked alone along the sea-shore, he knew that it would be better +for him to control his temper. + +On that evening he did write to Mr. Wharton,--as follows,--and he +dated his letter from Little Tankard Yard, so that Mr. Wharton might +suppose that that was really his own place of business, and that he +was there, at his work:-- + + + MY DEAR SIR, + + You have asked for a schedule of my affairs, and I have + found it quite impossible to give it. As it was with + the merchants whom Shakespeare and the other dramatists + described,--so it is with me. My caravels are out at sea, + and will not always come home in time. My property at + this moment consists of certain shares of cargoes of jute, + Kauri gum, guano, and sulphur, worth altogether at the + present moment something over L26,000, of which Mr. Parker + possesses the half;--but then of this property only a + portion is paid for,--perhaps something more than a half. + For the other half our bills are in the market. But in + February next these articles will probably be sold for + considerably more than L30,000. If I had L5000 placed to + my credit now, I should be worth about L15,000 by the end + of next February. I am engaged in sundry other smaller + ventures, all returning profits;--but in such a condition + of things it is impossible that I should make a schedule. + + I am undoubtedly in the condition of a man trading beyond + his capital. I have been tempted by fair offers, and + what I think I may call something beyond an average + understanding of such matters, to go into ventures beyond + my means. I have stretched my arm out too far. In such a + position it is not perhaps unnatural that I should ask a + wealthy father-in-law to assist me. It is certainly not + unnatural that I should wish him to do so. + + I do not think that I am a mercenary man. When I married + your daughter I raised no question as to her fortune. + Being embarked in trade I no doubt thought that her + means,--whatever they might be,--would be joined to my + own. I know that a sum of L20,000, with my experience in + the use of money, would give us a noble income. But I + would not condescend to ask a question which might lead to + a supposition that I was marrying her for her money and + not because I loved her. + + You now know, I think, all that I can tell you. If there + be any other questions I would willingly answer them. It + is certainly the case that Emily's fortune, whatever you + may choose to give her, would be of infinitely greater use + to me now,--and consequently to her,--than at a future + date which I sincerely pray may be very long deferred. + + Believe me to be, + Your affectionate son-in-law, + + FERDINAND LOPEZ. + + A. Wharton, Esq. + + +This letter he himself took up to town on the following day, and +there posted, addressing it to Wharton Hall. He did not expect very +great results from it. As he read it over, he was painfully aware +that all his trash about caravels and cargoes of sulphur would not +go far with Mr. Wharton. But it might go farther than nothing. He +was bound not to neglect Mr. Wharton's letter to him. When a man +is in difficulty about money, even a lie,--even a lie that is sure +to be found out to be a lie,--will serve his immediate turn better +than silence. There is nothing that the courts hate so much as +contempt;--not even perjury. And Lopez felt that Mr. Wharton was the +judge before whom he was bound to plead. + +He returned to Dovercourt on that day, and he and his wife dined +with the Parkers. No woman of her age had known better what were +the manners of ladies and gentlemen than Emily Wharton. She had +thoroughly understood that when in Herefordshire she was surrounded +by people of that class, and that when she was with her aunt, Mrs. +Roby, she was not quite so happily placed. No doubt she had been +terribly deceived by her husband,--but the deceit had come from the +fact that his manners gave no indication of his character. When she +found herself in Mrs. Parker's little sitting-room, with Mr. Parker +making florid speeches to her, she knew that she had fallen among +people for whose society she had not been intended. But this was a +part, and only a very trifling part, of the punishment which she felt +that she deserved. If that, and things like that, were all, she would +bear them without a murmur. + +"Now I call Dovercourt a dooced nice little place," said Mr. Parker, +as he helped her to the "bit of fish," which he told her he had +brought down with him from London. + +"It is very healthy, I should think." + +"Just the thing for the children, ma'am. You've none of your own, +Mrs. Lopez, but there's a good time coming. You were up to-day, +weren't you, Lopez? Any news?" + +"Things seemed to be very quiet in the city." + +"Too quiet, I'm afraid. I hate having 'em quiet. You must come and +see me in Little Tankard Yard some of these days, Mrs. Lopez. We +can give you a glass of cham. and the wing of a chicken;--can't we, +Lopez?" + +"I don't know. It's more than you ever gave me," said Lopez, trying +to look good-humoured. + +"But you ain't a lady." + +"Or me," said Mrs. Parker. + +"You're only a wife. If Mrs. Lopez will make a day of it we'll treat +her well in the city;--won't we, Ferdinand?" A black cloud came +across "Ferdinand's" face, but he said nothing. Emily of a sudden +drew herself up, unconsciously,--and then at once relaxed her +features and smiled. If her husband chose that it should be so, she +would make no objection. + +"Upon my honour, Sexty, you are very familiar," said Mrs. Parker. + +"It's a way we have in the city," said Sexty. Sexty knew what he was +about. His partner called him Sexty, and why shouldn't he call his +partner Ferdinand? + +"He'll call you Emily before long," said Lopez. + +"When you call my wife Jane, I shall,--and I've no objection in life. +I don't see why people ain't to call each other by their Christian +names. Take a glass of champagne, Mrs. Lopez. I brought down +half-a-dozen to-day so that we might be jolly. Care killed a cat. +Whatever we call each other, I'm very glad to see you here, Mrs. +Lopez, and I hope it's the first of a great many. Here's your +health." + +It was all his ordering, and if he bade her dine with a +crossing-sweeper she would do it. But she could not but remember that +not long since he had told her that his partner was not a person with +whom she could fitly associate; and she did not fail to perceive that +he must be going down in the world to admit such association for her +after he had so spoken. And as she sipped the mixture which Sexty +called champagne, she thought of Herefordshire and the banks of the +Wye, and,--alas, alas,--she thought of Arthur Fletcher. Nevertheless, +come what might, she would do her duty, even though it might call +upon her to sit at dinner with Mr. Parker three days in the week. +Lopez was her husband, and would be the father of her child, and she +would make herself one with him. It mattered not what people might +call him,--or even her. She had acted on her own judgment in marrying +him, and had been a fool; and now she would bear the punishment +without complaint. + +When dinner was over Mrs. Parker helped the servant to remove the +dinner things from the single sitting-room, and the two men went out +to smoke their cigars in the covered porch. Mrs. Parker herself took +out the whisky and hot water, and sugar and lemons, and then returned +to have a little matronly discourse with her guest. "Does Mr. Lopez +ever take a drop too much?" she asked. + +"Never," said Mrs. Lopez. + +"Perhaps it don't affect him as it do Sexty. He ain't a +drinker;--certainly not. And he's one that works hard every day of +his life. But he's getting fond of it these last twelve months, and +though he don't take very much it hurries him and flurries him. If I +speaks at night he gets cross;--and in the morning when he gets up, +which he always do regular, though it's ever so bad with him, then I +haven't the heart to scold him. It's very hard sometimes for a wife +to know what to do, Mrs. Lopez." + +"Yes, indeed." Emily could not but think how soon she herself had +learned that lesson. + +"Of course I'd do anything for Sexty,--the father of my bairns, and +has always been a good husband to me. You don't know him, of course, +but I do. A right good man at bottom;--but so weak!" + +"If he,--if he,--injures his health, shouldn't you talk to him +quietly about it?" + +"It isn't the drink as is the evil, Mrs. Lopez, but that which makes +him drink. He's not one as goes a mucker merely for the pleasure. +When things are going right he'll sit out in our arbour at home, and +smoke pipe after pipe, playing with the children, and one glass of +gin and water cold will see him to bed. Tobacco, dry, do agree with +him, I think. But when he comes to three or four goes of hot toddy, I +know it's not as it should be." + +"You should restrain him, Mrs. Parker." + +"Of course I should;--but how? Am I to walk off with the bottle +and disgrace him before the servant girl? Or am I to let the +children know as their father takes too much? If I was as much as +to make one fight of it, it'd be all over Ponder's End that he's +a drunkard;--which he ain't. Restrain him;--oh, yes! If I could +restrain that gambling instead of regular business! That's what I'd +like to restrain." + +"Does he gamble?" + +"What is it but gambling that he and Mr. Lopez is a-doing together? +Of course, ma'am, I don't know you, and you are different from me. +I ain't foolish enough not to know all that. My father stood in +Smithfield and sold hay, and your father is a gentleman as has been +high up in the Courts all his life. But it's your husband is a-doing +this." + +"Oh, Mrs. Parker!" + +"He is then. And if he brings Sexty and my little ones to the +workhouse, what'll be the good then of his guano and his gum?" + +"Is it not all in the fair way of commerce?" + +"I'm sure I don't know about commerce, Mrs. Lopez, because I'm only +a woman; but it can't be fair. They goes and buys things that they +haven't got the money to pay for, and then waits to see if they'll +turn up trumps. Isn't that gambling?" + +"I cannot say. I do not know." She felt now that her husband had +been accused, and that part of the accusation had been levelled at +herself. There was something in her manner of saying these few words +which the poor complaining woman perceived, feeling immediately that +she had been inhospitable and perhaps unjust. She put out her hand +softly, touching the other woman's arm, and looking up into her +guest's face. "If this is so, it is terrible," said Emily. + +"Perhaps I oughtn't to speak so free." + +"Oh, yes;--for your children, and yourself, and your husband." + +"It's them,--and him. Of course it's not your doing, and Mr. Lopez, +I'm sure, is a very fine gentleman. And if he gets wrong one way, +he'll get himself right in another." Upon hearing this Emily shook +her head. "Your papa is a rich man, and won't see you and yours come +to want. There's nothing more to come to me or Sexty let it be ever +so." + +"Why does he do it?" + +"Why does who do it?" + +"Your husband. Why don't you speak to him as you do to me, and tell +him to mind only his proper business?" + +"Now you are angry with me." + +"Angry! No;--indeed I am not angry. Every word that you say is good, +and true, and just what you ought to say. I am not angry, but I am +terrified. I know nothing of my husband's business. I cannot tell you +that you should trust to it. He is very clever, but--" + +"But--what, ma'am?" + +"Perhaps I should say that he is ambitious." + +"You mean he wants to get rich too quick, ma'am." + +"I'm afraid so." + +"Then it's just the same with Sexty. He's ambitious too. But what's +the good of being ambitious, Mrs. Lopez, if you never know whether +you're on your head or your heels? And what's the good of being +ambitious if you're to get into the workhouse? I know what that +means. There's one or two of them sort of men gets into Parliament, +and has houses as big as the Queen's palace, while hundreds of them +has their wives and children in the gutter. Who ever hears of them? +Nobody. It don't become any man to be ambitious who has got a wife +and family. If he's a bachelor, why, of course, he can go to the +Colonies. There's Mary Jane and the two little ones right down on +the sea, with their feet in the salt water. Shall we put on our hats, +Mrs. Lopez, and go and look after them?" To this proposition Emily +assented, and the two ladies went out after the children. + +"Mix yourself another glass," said Sexty to his partner. + +"I'd rather not. Don't ask me again. You know I never drink, and I +don't like being pressed." + +"By George!--You are particular." + +"What's the use of teasing a fellow to do a thing he doesn't like?" + +"You won't mind me having another?" + +"Fifty if you please, so that I'm not forced to join you." + +"Forced! It's liberty 'all here, and you can do as you please. Only +when a fellow will take a drop with me he's better company." + +"Then I'm d---- bad company, and you'd better get somebody else to +be jolly with. To tell you the truth, Sexty, I suit you better at +business than at this sort of thing. I'm like Shylock, you know." + +"I don't know about Shylock, but I'm blessed if I think you suit me +very well at anything. I'm putting up with a deal of ill-usage, and +when I try to be happy with you, you won't drink, and you tell me +about Shylock. He was a Jew, wasn't he?" + +"That is the general idea." + +"Then you ain't very much like him, for they're a sort of people that +always have money about 'em." + +"How do you suppose he made his money to begin with? What an ass you +are!" + +"That's true. I am. Ever since I began putting my name on the same +bit of paper with yours I've been an ass." + +"You'll have to be one a bit longer yet;--unless you mean to throw +up everything. At this present moment you are six or seven thousand +pounds richer than you were before you first met me." + +"I wish I could see the money." + +"That's like you. What's the use of money you can see? How are you +to make money out of money by looking at it? I like to know that my +money is fructifying." + +"I like to know that it's all there,--and I did know it before I ever +saw you. I'm blessed if I know it now. Go down and join the ladies, +will you? You ain't much of a companion up here." + +Shortly after that Lopez told Mrs. Parker that he had already +bade adieu to her husband, and then he took his wife to their own +lodgings. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +As for Love! + + +The time spent by Mrs. Lopez at Dovercourt was by no means one of +complete happiness. Her husband did not come down very frequently, +alleging that his business kept him in town, and that the journey was +too long. When he did come he annoyed her either by moroseness and +tyranny, or by an affectation of loving good-humour, which was the +more disagreeable alternative of the two. She knew that he had no +right to be good-humoured, and she was quite able to appreciate the +difference between fictitious love and love that was real. He did not +while she was at Dovercourt speak to her again directly about her +father's money,--but he gave her to understand that he required from +her very close economy. Then again she referred to the brougham which +she knew was to be in readiness on her return to London; but he told +her that he was the best judge of that. The economy which he demanded +was that comfortless heart-rending economy which nips the practiser +at every turn, but does not betray itself to the world at large. He +would have her save out of her washerwoman and linendraper, and yet +have a smart gown and go in a brougham. He begrudged her postage +stamps, and stopped the subscription at Mudie's, though he insisted +on a front seat in the Dovercourt church, paying half a guinea more +for it than he would for a place at the side. And then before their +sojourn at the place had come to an end he left her for awhile +absolutely penniless, so that when the butcher and baker called for +their money she could not pay them. That was a dreadful calamity to +her, and of which she was hardly able to measure the real worth. It +had never happened to her before to have to refuse an application for +money that was due. In her father's house such a thing, as far as she +knew, had never happened. She had sometimes heard that Everett was +impecunious, but that had simply indicated an additional call upon +her father. When the butcher came the second time she wrote to her +husband in an agony. Should she write to her father for a supply? She +was sure that her father would not leave them in actual want. Then +he sent her a cheque, enclosed in a very angry letter. Apply to her +father! Had she not learned as yet that she was not to lean on her +father any longer, but simply on him? And was she such a fool as to +suppose that a tradesman could not wait a month for his money? + +During all this time she had no friend,--no person to whom she could +speak,--except Mrs. Parker. Mrs. Parker was very open and very +confidential about the business, really knowing very much more about +it than did Mrs. Lopez. There was some sympathy and confidence +between her and her husband, though they had latterly been much +lessened by Sexty's conduct. Mrs. Parker talked daily about the +business now that her mouth had been opened, and was very clearly of +opinion that it was not a good business. "Sexty don't think it good +himself," she said. + +"Then why does he go on with it?" + +"Business is a thing, Mrs. Lopez, as people can't drop out of just at +a moment. A man gets hisself entangled, and must free hisself as best +he can. I know he's terribly afeard;--and sometimes he does say such +things of your husband!" Emily shrunk almost into herself as she +heard this. "You mustn't be angry, for indeed it's better you should +know all." + +"I'm not angry; only very unhappy. Surely Mr. Parker could separate +himself from Mr. Lopez if he pleased?" + +"That's what I say to him. Give it up, though it be ever so much as +you've to lose by him. Give it up, and begin again. You've always got +your experience, and if it's only a crust you can earn, that's sure +and safe. But then he declares that he means to pull through yet. I +know what men are at when they talk of pulling through, Mrs. Lopez. +There shouldn't be no need of pulling through. It should all come +just of its own accord,--little and little; but safe." Then, when +the days of their marine holiday were coming to an end,--in the +first week in October,--the day before the return of the Parkers to +Ponder's End, she made a strong appeal to her new friend. "You ain't +afraid of him; are you?" + +"Of my husband?" said Mrs. Lopez. "I hope not. Why should you ask?" + +"Believe me, a woman should never be afraid of 'em. I never would +give in to be bullied and made little of by Sexty. I'd do a'most +anything to make him comfortable, I'm that soft-hearted. And why not, +when he's the father of my children? But I'm not going not to say a +thing if I thinks it right, because I'm afeard." + +"I think I could say anything if I thought it right." + +"Then tell him of me and my babes,--as how I can never have a quiet +night while this is going on. It isn't that they two men are fond of +one another. Nothing of the sort! Now you;--I've got to be downright +fond of you, though, of course, you think me common." Mrs. Lopez +would not contradict her, but stooped forward and kissed her cheek. +"I'm downright fond of you, I am," continued Mrs. Parker, snuffling +and sobbing, "but they two men are only together because Mr. Lopez +wants to gamble, and Parker has got a little money to gamble with." +This aspect of the thing was so terrible to Mrs. Lopez that she could +only weep and hide her face. "Now, if you would tell him just the +truth! Tell him what I say, and that I've been a-saying it! Tell him +it's for my children I'm a-speaking, who won't have bread in their +very mouths if their father's squeezed dry like a sponge! Sure, if +you'd tell him this, he wouldn't go on!" Then she paused a moment, +looking up into the other woman's face. "He'd have some bowels of +compassion;--wouldn't he now?" + +"I'll try," said Mrs. Lopez. + +"I know you're good and kind-hearted, my dear. I saw it in your +eyes from the very first. But them men, when they get on at +money-making,--or money-losing, which makes 'em worse,--are like +tigers clawing one another. They don't care how many they kills, so +that they has the least bit for themselves. There ain't no fear of +God in it, nor yet no mercy, nor ere a morsel of heart. It ain't +what I call manly,--not that longing after other folks' money. When +it's come by hard work, as I tell Sexty,--by the very sweat of his +brow,--oh,--it's sweet as sweet. When he'd tell me that he'd made his +three pound, or his five pound, or, perhaps, his ten pound in a day, +and'd calculate it up, how much it'd come to if he did that every +day, and where we could go to, and what we could do for the children, +I loved to hear him talk about his money. But now--! why, it's +altered the looks of the man altogether. It's just as though he was +a-thirsting for blood." + +Thirsting for blood! Yes, indeed. It was the very idea that had +occurred to Mrs. Lopez herself when her husband had bade her to "get +round her father." No;--it certainly was not manly. There certainly +was neither fear of God in it, nor mercy. Yes;--she would try. But as +for bowels of compassion in Ferdinand Lopez--; she, the young wife, +had already seen enough of her husband to think that he was not to be +moved by any prayers on that side. Then the two women bade each other +farewell. "Parker has been talking of my going to Manchester Square," +said Mrs. Parker, "but I shan't. What'd I be in Manchester Square? +And, besides, there'd better be an end of it. Mr. Lopez'd turn Sexty +and me out of the house at a moment's notice if it wasn't for the +money." + +"It's papa's house," said Mrs. Lopez, not, however, meaning to make +an attack on her husband. + +"I suppose so, but I shan't come to trouble no one; and we live ever +so far away, at Ponder's End,--out of your line altogether, Mrs. +Lopez. But I've taken to you, and will never think ill of you any +way;--only do as you said you would." + +"I will try," said Mrs. Lopez. + +In the meantime Lopez had received from Mr. Wharton an answer to his +letter about the missing caravels, which did not please him. Here is +the letter:-- + + + MY DEAR LOPEZ, + + I cannot say that your statement is satisfactory, nor can + I reconcile it to your assurance to me that you have made + a trade income for some years past of L2000 a year. I do + not know much of business, but I cannot imagine such a + result from such a condition of things as you describe. + Have you any books; and, if so, will you allow them to be + inspected by any accountant I may name? + + You say that a sum of L20,000 would suit your business + better now than when I'm dead. Very likely. But with such + an account of the business as that you have given me, I do + not know that I feel disposed to confide the savings of my + life to assist so very doubtful an enterprise. Of course + whatever I may do to your advantage will be done for the + sake of Emily and her children, should she have any. As + far as I can see at present, I shall best do my duty + to her, by leaving what I may have to leave to her, to + trustees, for her benefit and that of her children. + + Yours truly, + + A. WHARTON. + + +This, of course, did not tend to mollify the spirit of the man to +whom it was written, or to make him gracious towards his wife. He +received the letter three weeks before the lodgings at Dovercourt +were given up,--but during these three weeks he was very little +at the place, and when there did not mention the letter. On these +occasions he said nothing about business, but satisfied himself with +giving strict injunctions as to economy. Then he took her back to +town on the day after her promise to Mrs. Parker that she would +"try." Mrs. Parker had told her that no woman ought to be afraid to +speak to her husband, and, if necessary, to speak roundly on such +subjects. Mrs. Parker was certainly not a highly educated lady, but +she had impressed Emily with an admiration for her practical good +sense and proper feeling. The lady who was a lady had begun to +feel that in the troubles of her life she might find a much less +satisfactory companion than the lady who was not a lady. She would do +as Mrs. Parker had told her. She would not be afraid. Of course it +was right that she should speak on such a matter. She knew herself +to be an obedient wife. She had borne all her unexpected sorrows +without a complaint, with a resolve that she would bear all for his +sake,--not because she loved him, but because she had made herself +his wife. Into whatever calamities he might fall, she would share +them. Though he should bring her utterly into the dirt, she would +remain in the dirt with him. It seemed probable to her that it might +be so,--that they might have to go into the dirt;--and if it were +so, she would still be true to him. She had chosen to marry him, and +she would be his true wife. But, as such, she would not be afraid of +him. Mrs. Parker had told her that "a woman should never be afraid +of 'em," and she believed in Mrs. Parker. In this case, too, it was +clearly her duty to speak,--for the injury being done was terrible, +and might too probably become tragical. How could she endure to think +of that woman and her children, should she come to know that the +husband of the woman and the father of the children had been ruined +by her husband? + +Yes,--she would speak to him. But she did fear. It is all very well +for a woman to tell herself that she will encounter some anticipated +difficulty without fear,--or for a man either. The fear cannot be +overcome by will. The thing, however, may be done, whether it be +leading a forlorn hope, or speaking to an angry husband,--in spite +of fear. She would do it; but when the moment for doing it came, her +very heart trembled within her. He had been so masterful with her, +so persistent in repudiating her interference, so exacting in his +demands for obedience, so capable of making her miserable by his +moroseness when she failed to comply with his wishes, that she could +not go to her task without fear. But she did feel that she ought not +to be afraid, or that her fears, at any rate, should not be allowed +to restrain her. A wife, she knew, should be prepared to yield, but +yet was entitled to be her husband's counsellor. And it was now the +case that in this matter she was conversant with circumstances which +were unknown to her husband. It was to her that Mrs. Parker's appeal +had been made, and with a direct request from the poor woman that it +should be repeated to her husband's partner. + +She found that she could not do it on the journey home from +Dovercourt, nor yet on that evening. Mrs. Dick Roby, who had come +back from a sojourn at Boulogne, was with them in the Square, and +brought her dear friend Mrs. Leslie with her, and also Lady Eustace. +The reader may remember that Mr. Wharton had met these ladies at +Mrs. Dick's house some months before his daughter's marriage, but he +certainly had never asked them into his own. On this occasion Emily +had given them no invitation, but had been told by her husband that +her aunt would probably bring them in with her. "Mrs. Leslie and Lady +Eustace!" she exclaimed with a little shudder. "I suppose your aunt +may bring a couple of friends with her to see you, though it is your +father's house?" he had replied. She had said no more, not daring to +have a fight on that subject at present, while the other matter was +pressing on her mind. The evening had passed away pleasantly enough, +she thought, to all except herself. Mrs. Leslie and Lady Eustace +had talked a great deal, and her husband had borne himself quite +as though he had been a wealthy man and the owner of the house in +Manchester Square. In the course of the evening Dick Roby came in and +Major Pountney, who since the late affairs at Silverbridge had become +intimate with Lopez. So that there was quite a party; and Emily was +astonished to hear her husband declare that he was only watching the +opportunity of another vacancy in order that he might get into the +House, and expose the miserable duplicity of the Duke of Omnium. And +yet this man, within the last month, had taken away her subscription +at Mudie's, and told her that she shouldn't wear things that wanted +washing! But he was able to say ever so many pretty little things to +Lady Eustace, and had given a new fan to Mrs. Dick, and talked of +taking a box for Mrs. Leslie at The Gaiety. + +But on the next morning before breakfast she began. "Ferdinand," she +said, "while I was at Dovercourt I saw a good deal of Mrs. Parker." + +"I could not help that. Or rather you might have helped it if you +pleased. It was necessary that you should meet, but I didn't tell you +that you were to see a great deal of her." + +"I liked her very much." + +"Then I must say you've got a very odd taste. Did you like him?" + +"No. I did not see so much of him, and I think that the manners of +women are less objectionable than those of men. But I want to tell +you what passed between her and me." + +"If it is about her husband's business she ought to have held her +tongue, and you had better hold yours now." + +This was not a happy beginning, but still she was determined to go +on. "It was I think more about your business than his." + +"Then it was infernal impudence on her part, and you should not have +listened to her for a moment." + +"You do not want to ruin her and her children!" + +"What have I to do with her and her children? I did not marry her, +and I am not their father. He has got to look to that." + +"She thinks that you are enticing him into risks which he cannot +afford." + +"Am I doing anything for him that I ain't doing for myself! If there +is money made, will not he share it? If money has to be lost, of +course he must do the same." Lopez in stating his case omitted to +say that whatever capital was now being used belonged to his partner. +"But women when they get together talk all manner of nonsense. Is it +likely that I shall alter my course of action because you tell me +that she tells you that he tells her that he is losing money? He is a +half-hearted fellow who quails at every turn against him. And when he +is crying drunk I dare say he makes a poor mouth to her." + +"I think, Ferdinand, it is more than that. She says that--" + +"To tell you the truth, Emily, I don't care a d---- what she says. +Now give me some tea." + +The roughness of this absolutely quelled her. It was not now that +she was afraid of him,--not at this moment, but that she was knocked +down as though by a blow. She had been altogether so unused to such +language that she could not get on with her matter in hand, letting +the bad word pass by her as an unmeaning expletive. She wearily +poured out the cup of tea and sat herself down silent. The man was +too strong for her, and would be so always. She told herself at this +moment that language such as that must always absolutely silence her. +Then, within a few minutes, he desired her, quite cheerfully, to ask +her uncle and aunt to dinner the day but one following, and also to +ask Lady Eustace and Mrs. Leslie. "I will pick up a couple of men, +which will make us all right," he said. + +This was in every way horrible to her. Her father had been back in +town, had not been very well, and had been recommended to return +to the country. He had consequently removed himself,--not to +Herefordshire,--but to Brighton, and was now living at an hotel, +almost within an hour of London. Had he been at home he certainly +would not have invited Mrs. Leslie and Lady Eustace to his house. He +had often expressed a feeling of dislike to the former lady in the +hearing of his son-in-law, and had ridiculed his sister-in-law for +allowing herself to be made acquainted with Lady Eustace, whose name +had at one time been very common in the mouths of people. Emily also +felt that she was hardly entitled to give a dinner-party in his house +in his absence. And, after all that she had lately heard about her +husband's poverty, she could not understand how he should wish to +incur the expense. "You would not ask Mrs. Leslie here!" she said. + +"Why should we not ask Mrs. Leslie?" + +"Papa dislikes her." + +"But 'papa,' as you call him, isn't going to meet her." + +"He has said that he doesn't know what day he may be home. And he +does more than dislike her. He disapproves of her." + +"Nonsense! She is your aunt's friend. Because your father once heard +some cock-and-bull story about her, and because he has always taken +upon himself to criticise your aunt's friends, I am not to be civil +to a person I like." + +"But, Ferdinand, I do not like her myself. She never was in this +house till the other night." + +"Look here, my dear, Lady Eustace can be useful to me, and I cannot +ask Lady Eustace without asking her friend. You do as I bid you,--or +else I shall do it myself." + +She paused for a moment, and then she positively refused. "I cannot +bring myself to ask Mrs. Leslie to dine in this house. If she comes +to dine with you, of course I shall sit at the table, but she will be +sure to see that she is not welcome." + +"It seems to me that you are determined to go against me in +everything I propose." + +"I don't think you would say that if you knew how miserable you made +me." + +"I tell you that that other woman can be very useful to me." + +"In what way useful?" + +"Are you jealous, my dear?" + +"Certainly not of Lady Eustace,--nor of any woman. But it seems so +odd that such a person's services should be required." + +"Will you do as I tell you, and ask them? You can go round and tell +your aunt about it. She knows that I mean to ask them. Lady Eustace +is a very rich woman, and is disposed to do a little in commerce. Now +do you understand?" + +"Not in the least," said Emily. + +"Why shouldn't a woman who has money buy coffee as well as buy +shares?" + +"Does she buy shares?" + +"By George, Emily, I think that you're a fool." + +"I dare say I am, Ferdinand. I do not in the least know what it all +means. But I do know this, that you ought not, in papa's absence, to +ask people to dine here whom he particularly dislikes, and whom he +would not wish to have in his house." + +"You think that I am to be governed by you in such a matter as that?" + +"I do not want to govern you." + +"You think that a wife should dictate to a husband as to the way in +which he is to do his work, and the partners he may be allowed to +have in his business, and the persons whom he may ask to dinner! +Because you have been dictating to me on all these matters. Now, look +here, my dear. As to my business, you had better never speak to me +about it any more. I have endeavoured to take you into my confidence +and to get you to act with me, but you have declined that, and have +preferred to stick to your father. As to my partners, whether I may +choose to have Sexty Parker or Lady Eustace, I am a better judge +than you. And as to asking Mrs. Leslie and Lady Eustace or any other +persons to dinner, as I am obliged to make even the recreations of +life subservient to its work, I must claim permission to have my own +way." She had listened, but when he paused she made no reply. "Do you +mean to do as I bid you and ask these ladies?" + +"I cannot do that. I know that it ought not to be done. This is +papa's house, and we are living here as his guests." + +"D---- your papa!" he said as he burst out of the room. After a +quarter of an hour he put his head again into the room and saw her +sitting, like a statue, exactly where he had left her. "I have +written the notes both to Lady Eustace and to Mrs. Leslie," he said. +"You can't think it any sin at any rate to ask your aunt." + +"I will see my aunt," she said. + +"And remember I am not going to be your father's guest, as you call +it. I mean to pay for the dinner myself, and to send in my own wines. +Your father shall have nothing to complain of on that head." + +"Could you not ask them to Richmond, or to some hotel?" she said. + +"What; in October! If you think that I am going to live in a house in +which I can't invite a friend to dinner, you are mistaken." And with +that he took his departure. + +The whole thing had now become so horrible to her that she felt +unable any longer to hold up her head. It seemed to her to be +sacrilege that these women should come and sit in her father's room; +but when she spoke of her father her husband had cursed him with +scorn! Lopez was going to send food and wine into the house, which +would be gall and wormwood to her father. At one time she thought she +would at once write to her father and tell him of it all,--or perhaps +telegraph to him; but she could not do so without letting her husband +know what she had done, and then he would have justice on his side in +calling her disobedient. Were she to do that, then it would indeed be +necessary that she should take part against her husband. + +She had brought all this misery on herself and on her father because +she had been obstinate in thinking that she could with certainty +read a lover's character. As for love,--that of course had died +away in her heart,--imperceptibly, though, alas, so quickly! It was +impossible that she could continue to love a man who from day to day +was teaching her mean lessons, and who was ever doing mean things, +the meanness of which was so little apparent to himself that he did +not scruple to divulge them to her. How could she love a man who +would make no sacrifice either to her comfort, her pride, or her +conscience? But still she might obey him,--if she could feel sure +that obedience to him was a duty. Could it be a duty to sin against +her father's wishes, and to assist in profaning his house and abusing +his hospitality after this fashion? Then her mind again went back to +the troubles of Mrs. Parker, and her absolute inefficiency in that +matter. It seemed to her that she had given herself over body and +soul and mind to some evil genius, and that there was no escape. + +"Of course we'll come," Mrs. Roby had said to her when she went round +the corner into Berkeley Street early in the day. "Lopez spoke to me +about it before." + +"What will papa say about it, Aunt Harriet?" + +"I suppose he and Lopez understand each other." + +"I do not think papa will understand this." + +"I am sure Mr. Wharton would not lend his house to his son-in-law, +and then object to the man he had lent it to asking a friend to dine +with him. And I am sure that Mr. Lopez would not consent to occupy a +house on those terms. If you don't like it, of course we won't come." + +"Pray don't say that. As these other women are to come, pray do not +desert me. But I cannot say I think it is right." Mrs. Dick, however, +only laughed at her scruples. + +In the course of the evening Emily got letters addressed to herself +from Lady Eustace and Mrs. Leslie, informing her that they would +have very much pleasure in dining with her on the day named. And +Lady Eustace went on to say, with much pleasantry, that she always +regarded little parties, got up without any ceremony, as being the +pleasantest, and that she should come on this occasion without any +ceremonial observance. Then Emily was aware that her husband had not +only written the notes in her name, but had put into her mouth some +studied apology as to the shortness of the invitation. Well! She was +the man's wife, and she supposed that he was entitled to put any +words that he pleased into her mouth. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + +"Has He Ill-treated You?" + + +Lopez relieved his wife from all care as to provision for his guests. +"I've been to a shop in Wigmore Street," he said, "and everything +will be done. They'll send in a cook to make the things hot, and your +father won't have to pay even for a crust of bread." + +"Papa doesn't mind paying for anything," she said in her indignation. + +"It is all very pretty for you to say so, but my experience of him +goes just the other way. At any rate there will be nothing to be paid +for. Stewam and Sugarscraps will send in everything, if you'll only +tell the old fogies downstairs not to interfere." Then she made a +little request. Might she ask Everett, who was now in town? "I've +already got Major Pountney and Captain Gunner," he said. She pleaded +that one more would make no difference. "But that's just what one +more always does. It destroys everything, and turns a pretty little +dinner into an awkward feed. We won't have him this time. Pountney'll +take you, and I'll take her ladyship. Dick will take Mrs. Leslie, and +Gunner will have Aunt Harriet. Dick will sit opposite to me, and the +four ladies will sit at the four corners. We shall be very pleasant, +but one more would spoil us." + +She did speak to the "old fogies" downstairs,--the housekeeper, who +had lived with her father since she was a child, and the butler, who +had been there still longer, and the cook, who, having been in her +place only three years, resigned impetuously within half-an-hour +after the advent of Mr. Sugarscraps' head man. The "fogies" were +indignant. The butler expressed his intention of locking himself up +in his own peculiar pantry, and the housekeeper took upon herself to +tell her young mistress that "Master wouldn't like it." Since she had +known Mr. Wharton such a thing as cooked food being sent into the +house from a shop had never been so much as heard of. Emily, who had +hitherto been regarded in the house as a rather strong-minded young +woman, could only break down and weep. Why, oh why, had she consented +to bring herself and her misery into her father's house? She could +at any rate have prevented that by explaining to her father the +unfitness of such an arrangement. + +The "party" came. There was Major Pountney, very fine, rather loud, +very intimate with the host, whom on one occasion he called "Ferdy, +my boy," and very full of abuse of the Duke and Duchess of Omnium. +"And yet she was a good creature when I knew her," said Lady Eustace. +Pountney suggested that the Duchess had not then taken up politics. +"I've got out of her way," said Lady Eustace, "since she did that." +And there was Captain Gunner, who defended the Duchess, but who +acknowledged that the Duke was the "most consumedly stuck-up +cox-comb" then existing. "And the most dishonest," said Lopez, who +had told his new friends nothing about the repayment of the election +expenses. And Dick was there. He liked these little parties, in which +a good deal of wine could be drunk, and at which ladies were not +supposed to be very stiff. The Major and the Captain, and Mrs. Leslie +and Lady Eustace, were such people as he liked,--all within the pale, +but having a piquant relish of fastness and impropriety. Dick was +wont to declare that he hated the world in buckram. Aunt Harriet was +triumphant in a manner which disgusted Emily, and which she thought +to be most disrespectful to her father;--but in truth Aunt Harriet +did not now care very much for Mr. Wharton, preferring the friendship +of Mr. Wharton's son-in-law. Mrs. Leslie came in gorgeous clothes, +which, as she was known to be very poor, and to have attached herself +lately with almost more than feminine affection to Lady Eustace, were +at any rate open to suspicious cavil. In former days Mrs. Leslie had +taken upon herself to say bitter things about Mr. Lopez, which Emily +could now have repeated, to that lady's discomfiture, had such a mode +of revenge suited her disposition. With Mrs. Leslie there was Lady +Eustace, pretty as ever, and sharp and witty, with the old passion +for some excitement, the old proneness to pretend to trust everybody, +and the old incapacity for trusting anybody. Ferdinand Lopez had +lately been at her feet, and had fired her imagination with stories +of the grand things to be done in trade. Ladies do it? Yes; why not +women as well as men? Any one might do it who had money in his pocket +and experience to tell him, or to tell her, what to buy and what to +sell. And the experience, luckily, might be vicarious. At the present +moment half the jewels worn in London were,--if Ferdinand Lopez knew +anything about it,--bought from the proceeds of such commerce. Of +course there were misfortunes. But these came from a want of that +experience which Ferdinand Lopez possessed, and which he was quite +willing to place at the service of one whom he admired so thoroughly +as he did Lady Eustace. Lady Eustace had been charmed, had seen her +way into a new and most delightful life,--but had not yet put any of +her money into the hands of Ferdinand Lopez. + +I cannot say that the dinner was good. It may be a doubt whether such +tradesmen as Messrs. Stewam and Sugarscraps do ever produce good +food;--or whether, with all the will in the world to do so, such +a result is within their power. It is certain, I think, that the +humblest mutton chop is better eating than any "Supreme of chicken +after martial manner,"--as I have seen the dish named in a French +bill of fare, translated by a French pastrycook for the benefit +of his English customers,--when sent in from Messrs. Stewam and +Sugarscraps even with their best exertions. Nor can it be said that +the wine was good, though Mr. Sugarscraps, when he contracted for the +whole entertainment, was eager in his assurance that he procured the +very best that London could produce. But the outside look of things +was handsome, and there were many dishes, and enough of servants +to hand them, and the wines, if not good, were various. Probably +Pountney and Gunner did not know good wines. Roby did, but was +contented on this occasion to drink them bad. And everything went +pleasantly, with perhaps a little too much noise;--everything except +the hostess, who was allowed by general consent to be sad and +silent;--till there came a loud double-rap at the door. + +"There's papa," said Emily, jumping up from her seat. + +Mrs. Dick looked at Lopez, and saw at a glance that for a moment his +courage had failed him. But he recovered himself quickly. "Hadn't you +better keep your seat, my dear?" he said to his wife. "The servants +will attend to Mr. Wharton, and I will go to him presently." + +"Oh, no," said Emily, who by this time was almost at the door. + +"You didn't expect him,--did you?" asked Dick Roby. + +"Nobody knew when he was coming. I think he told Emily that he might +be here any day." + +"He's the most uncertain man alive," said Mrs. Dick, who was a good +deal scared by the arrival, though determined to hold up her head and +exhibit no fear. + +"I suppose the old gentleman will come in and have some dinner," +whispered Captain Gunner to his neighbour Mrs. Leslie. + +"Not if he knows I'm here," replied Mrs. Leslie, tittering. "He +thinks that I am,--oh, something a great deal worse than I can tell +you." + +"Is he given to be cross?" asked Lady Eustace, also affecting to +whisper. + +"Never saw him in my life," answered the Major, "but I shouldn't +wonder if he was. Old gentlemen generally are cross. Gout, and that +kind of thing, you know." + +For a minute or two the servants stopped their ministrations, +and things were very uncomfortable; but Lopez, as soon as he had +recovered himself, directed Mr. Sugarscraps' men to proceed with the +banquet. "We can eat our dinner, I suppose, though my father-in-law +has come back," he said. "I wish my wife was not so fussy, though +that is a kind of thing, Lady Eustace, that one has to expect from +young wives." The banquet did go on, but the feeling was general that +a misfortune had come upon them, and that something dreadful might +possibly happen. + +Emily, when she rushed out, met her father in the hall, and ran into +his arms. "Oh, papa!" she exclaimed. + +"What's all this about?" he asked, and as he spoke he passed on +through the hall to his own room at the back of the house. There were +of course many evidences on all sides of the party,--the strange +servants, the dishes going in and out, the clatter of glasses, and +the smell of viands. "You've got a dinner-party," he said. "Had you +not better go back to your friends?" + +"No, papa." + +"What is the matter, Emily? You are unhappy." + +"Oh, so unhappy!" + +"What is it all about? Who are they? Whose doing is it,--yours or +his? What makes you unhappy?" + +He was now seated in his arm-chair, and she threw herself on her +knees at his feet. "He would have them. You mustn't be angry with me. +You won't be angry with me;--will you?" + +He put his hand upon her head, and stroked her hair. "Why should I +be angry with you because your husband has asked friends to dinner?" +She was so unlike her usual self that he knew not what to make of it. +It had not been her nature to kneel and to ask for pardon, or to be +timid and submissive. "What is it, Emily, that makes you like this?" + +"He shouldn't have had the people." + +"Well;--granted. But it does not signify much. Is your aunt Harriet +there?" + +"Yes." + +"It can't be very bad, then." + +"Mrs. Leslie is there, and Lady Eustace,--and two men I don't like." + +"Is Everett here?" + +"No;--he wouldn't have Everett." + +"Oughtn't you to go to them?" + +"Don't make me go. I should only cry. I have been crying all day, and +the whole of yesterday." Then she buried her face upon his knees, and +sobbed as though she would break her heart. + +He couldn't at all understand it. Though he distrusted his +son-in-law, and certainly did not love him, he had not as yet learned +to hold him in aversion. When the connection was once made he had +determined to make the best of it, and had declared to himself that +as far as manners went the man was well enough. He had not as yet +seen the inside of the man, as it had been the sad fate of the poor +wife to see him. It had never occurred to him that his daughter's +love had failed her, or that she could already be repenting what she +had done. And now, when she was weeping at his feet and deploring the +sin of the dinner-party,--which, after all, was a trifling sin,--he +could not comprehend the feelings which were actuating her. "I +suppose your aunt Harriet made up the party," he said. + +"He did it." + +"Your husband?" + +"Yes;--he did it. He wrote to the women in my name when I refused." +Then Mr. Wharton began to perceive that there had been a quarrel. "I +told him Mrs. Leslie oughtn't to come here." + +"I don't love Mrs. Leslie,--nor, for the matter of that, Lady +Eustace. But they won't hurt the house, my dear." + +"And he has had the dinner sent in from a shop." + +"Why couldn't he let Mrs. Williams do it?" As he said this, the tone +of his voice became for the first time angry. + +"Cook has gone away. She wouldn't stand it. And Mrs. Williams is very +angry. And Barker wouldn't wait at table." + +"What's the meaning of it all?" + +"He would have it so. Oh, papa, you don't know what I've undergone. +I wish,--I wish we had not come here. It would have been better +anywhere else." + +"What would have been better, dear?" + +"Everything. Whether we lived or died, it would have been better. Why +should I bring my misery to you? Oh, papa, you do not know,--you can +never know." + +"But I must know. Is there more than this dinner to disturb you?" + +"Oh, yes;--more than that. Only I couldn't bear that it should be +done in your house." + +"Has he--ill-treated you?" + +Then she got up, and stood before him. "I do not mean to complain. I +should have said nothing only that you have found us in this way. For +myself I will bear it all, whatever it may be. But, papa, I want you +to tell him that we must leave this house." + +"He has got no other home for you." + +"He must find one. I will go anywhere. I don't care where it is. But +I won't stay here. I have done it myself, but I won't bring it upon +you. I could bear it all if I thought that you would never see me +again." + +"Emily!" + +"Yes;--if you would never see me again. I know it all, and that would +be best." She was now walking about the room. "Why should you see it +all?" + +"See what, my love?" + +"See his ruin, and my unhappiness, and my baby. Oh,--oh,--oh!" + +"I think so very differently, Emily, that under no circumstances will +I have you taken to another home. I cannot understand much of all +this yet, but I suppose I shall come to see it. If Lopez be, as you +say, ruined, it is well that I have still enough for us to live on. +This is a bad time just now to talk about your husband's affairs." + +"I did not mean to talk about them, papa." + +"What would you like best to do now,--now at once. Can you go down +again to your husband's friends?" + +"No;--no;--no." + +"As for the dinner, never mind about that. I can't blame him for +making use of my house in my absence, as far as that goes,--though +I wish he could have contented himself with such a dinner as my +servants could have prepared for him. I will have some tea here." + +"Let me stay with you, papa, and make it for you." + +"Very well, dear. I do not mean to be ashamed to enter my own +dining-room. I shall, therefore, go in and make your apologies." +Thereupon Mr. Wharton walked slowly forth and marched into the +dining-room. + +"Oh, Mr. Wharton," said Mrs. Dick, "we didn't expect you." + +"Have you dined yet, sir?" asked Lopez. + +"I dined early," said Mr. Wharton. "I should not now have come in to +disturb you, but that I have found Mrs. Lopez unwell, and she has +begged me to ask you to excuse her." + +"I will go to her," said Lopez, rising. + +"It is not necessary," said Wharton. "She is not ill, but hardly able +to take her place at table." Then Mrs. Dick proposed to go to her +dear niece; but Mr. Wharton would not allow it, and left the room, +having succeeded in persuading them to go on with their dinner. Lopez +certainly was not happy during the evening, but he was strong enough +to hide his misgivings, and to do his duty as host with seeming +cheerfulness. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX + +"Where Is Guatemala?" + + +Though his daughter's words to him had been very wild they did almost +more to convince Mr. Wharton that he should not give his money to +his son-in-law than even the letters which had passed between them. +To Emily herself he spoke very little as to what had occurred that +evening. "Papa," she said, "do not ask me anything more about it. I +was very miserable,--because of the dinner." Nor did he at that time +ask her any questions, contenting himself with assuring her that, at +any rate at present, and till after her baby should have been born, +she must remain in Manchester Square. "He won't hurt me," said Mr. +Wharton, and then added with a smile, "He won't have to have any more +dinner-parties while I am here." + +Nor did he make any complaint to Lopez as to what had been done, or +even allude to the dinner. But when he had been back about a week he +announced to his son-in-law his final determination as to money. "I +had better tell you, Lopez, what I mean to do, so that you may not be +left in doubt. I shall not intrust any further sum of money into your +hands on behalf of Emily." + +"You can do as you please, sir,--of course." + +"Just so. You have had what to me is a very considerable sum,--though +I fear that it did not go for much in your large concerns." + +"It was not very much, Mr. Wharton." + +"I dare say not. Opinions on such a matter differ, you know. At any +rate, there will be no more. At present I wish Emily to live here, +and you, of course, are welcome here also. If things are not going +well with you, this will, at any rate, relieve you from immediate +expense." + +"My calculations, sir, have never descended to that." + +"Mine are more minute. The necessities of my life have caused me to +think of these little things. When I am dead there will be provision +for Emily made by my will,--the income going to trustees for her +benefit, and the capital to her children after her death. I thought +it only fair to you that this should be explained." + +"And you will do nothing for me?" + +"Nothing;--if that is nothing. I should have thought that your +present maintenance and the future support of your wife and children +would have been regarded as something." + +"It is nothing;--nothing!" + +"Then let it be nothing. Good morning." + +Two days after that Lopez recurred to the subject. "You were very +explicit with me the other day, sir." + +"I meant to be so." + +"And I will be equally so to you now. Both I and your daughter are +absolutely ruined unless you reconsider your purpose." + +"If you mean money by reconsideration,--present money to be given to +you,--I certainly shall not reconsider it. You may take my solemn +assurance that I will give you nothing that can be of any service to +you in trade." + +"Then, sir,--I must tell you my purpose, and give you my assurance, +which is equally solemn. Under those circumstances I must leave +England, and try my fortune in Central America. There is an opening +for me at Guatemala, though not a very hopeful one." + +"Guatemala!" + +"Yes;--friends of mine have a connection there. I have not broken it +to Emily yet, but under these circumstances she will have to go." + +"You will not take her to Guatemala!" + +"Not take my wife, sir? Indeed I shall. Do you suppose that I would +go away and leave my wife a pensioner on your bounty? Do you think +that she would wish to desert her husband? I don't think you know +your daughter." + +"I wish you had never known her." + +"That is neither here nor there, sir. If I cannot succeed in this +country I must go elsewhere. As I have told you before, L20,000 at +the present moment would enable me to surmount all my difficulties, +and make me a very wealthy man. But unless I can command some such +sum by Christmas everything here must be sacrificed." + +"Never in my life did I hear so base a proposition," said Mr. +Wharton. + +"Why is it base? I can only tell you the truth." + +"So be it. You will find that I mean what I have said." + +"So do I, Mr. Wharton." + +"As to my daughter, she must, of course, do as she thinks fit." + +"She must do as I think fit, Mr. Wharton." + +"I will not argue with you. Alas, alas; poor girl!" + +"Poor girl, indeed! She is likely to be a poor girl if she is treated +in this way by her father. As I understand that you intend to use, or +to try to use, authority over her, I shall take steps for removing +her at once from your house." And so the interview was ended. + +Lopez had thought the matter over, and had determined to "brazen it +out," as he himself called it. Nothing further was, he thought, to be +got by civility and obedience. Now he must use his power. His idea +of going to Guatemala was not an invention of the moment, nor was it +devoid of a certain basis of truth. Such a suggestion had been made +to him some time since by Mr. Mills Happerton. There were mines in +Guatemala which wanted, or at some future day might want, a resident +director. The proposition had been made to Lopez before his marriage, +and Mr. Happerton probably had now forgotten all about it;--but the +thing was of service now. He broke the matter very suddenly to his +wife. "Has your father been speaking to you of my plans?" + +"Not lately;--not that I remember." + +"He could not speak of them without your remembering, I should think. +Has he told you that I am going to Guatemala?" + +"Guatemala! Where is Guatemala, Ferdinand?" + +"You can answer my question though your geography is deficient." + +"He has said nothing about your going anywhere." + +"You will have to go,--as soon after Christmas as you may be fit." + +"But where is Guatemala;--and for how long, Ferdinand?" + +"Guatemala is in Central America, and we shall probably settle there +for the rest of our lives. I have got nothing to live on here." + +During the next two months this plan of seeking a distant home and a +strange country was constantly spoken of in Manchester Square, and +did receive corroboration from Mr. Happerton himself. Lopez renewed +his application and received a letter from that gentleman saying +that the thing might probably be arranged if he were in earnest. +"I am quite in earnest," Lopez said as he showed this letter to Mr. +Wharton. "I suppose Emily will be able to start two months after her +confinement. They tell me that babies do very well at sea." + +During this time, in spite of his threat, he continued to live +with Mr. Wharton in Manchester Square, and went every day into the +city,--whether to make arrangements and receive instructions as to +Guatemala, or to carry on his old business, neither Emily nor her +father knew. He never at this time spoke about his affairs to either +of them, but daily referred to her future expatriation as a thing +that was certain. At last there came up the actual question,--whether +she were to go or not. Her father told her that though she was +doubtless bound by law to obey her husband, in such a matter as this +she might defy the law. "I do not think that he can actually force +you on board the ship," her father said. + +"But if he tells me that I must go?" + +"Stay here with me," said the father. "Stay here with your baby. I'll +fight it out for you. I'll so manage that you shall have all the +world on your side." + +Emily at that moment came to no decision, but on the following day +she discussed the matter with Lopez himself. "Of course you will go +with me," he said, when she asked the question. + +"You mean that I must, whether I wish to go or not." + +"Certainly you must. Good G----! where is a wife's place? Am I to go +out without my child, and without you, while you are enjoying all +the comforts of your father's wealth at home? That is not my idea of +life." + +"Ferdinand, I have been thinking about it very much. I must beg you +to allow me to remain. I ask it of you as if I were asking my life." + +"Your father has put you up to this." + +"No;--not to this." + +"To what then?" + +"My father thinks that I should refuse to go." + +"He does, does he?" + +"But I shall not refuse. I shall go if you insist upon it. There +shall be no contest between us about that." + +"Well; I should hope not." + +"But I do implore you to spare me." + +"That is very selfish, Emily." + +"Yes,"--she said, "yes. I cannot contradict that. But so is the man +selfish who prays the judge to spare his life." + +"But you do not think of me. I must go." + +"I shall not make you happier, Ferdinand." + +"Do you think that it is a fine thing for a man to live in such a +country as that all alone?" + +"I think he would be better so than with a wife he does not--love." + +"Who says I do not love you?" + +"Or with one who does--not--love him." This she said very slowly, +very softly, but looking up into his eyes as she said it. + +"Do you tell me that to my face?" + +"Yes;--what good can I do now by lying? You have not been to me as I +thought you would be." + +"And so, because you have built up some castle in the air that has +fallen to pieces, you tell your husband to his face that you do not +love him, and that you prefer not to live with him. Is that your idea +of duty?" + +"Why have you been so cruel?" + +"Cruel! What have I done? Tell me what cruelty. Have I beat +you? Have you been starved? Have I not asked and implored your +assistance,--only to be refused? The fact is that your father and you +have found out that I am not a rich man, and you want to be rid of +me. Is that true or false?" + +"It is not true that I want to be rid of you because you are poor." + +"I do not mean to be rid of you. You will have to settle down and do +your work as my wife in whatever place it may suit me to live. Your +father is a rich man, but you shall not have the advantage of his +wealth unless it comes to you, as it ought to come, through my hands. +If your father would give me the fortune which ought to be yours +there need be no going abroad. He cannot bear to part with his money, +and therefore we must go. Now you know all about it." She was then +turning to leave him, when he asked her a direct question. "Am I to +understand that you intend to resist my right to take you with me?" + +"If you bid me go,--I shall go." + +"It will be better, as you will save both trouble and exposure." + +Of course she told her father what had taken place, but he could only +shake his head, and sit groaning over his misery in his chambers. +He had explained to her what he was willing to do on her behalf, but +she declined his aid. He could not tell her that she was wrong. She +was the man's wife, and out of that terrible destiny she could not +now escape. The only question with him was whether it would not +be best to buy the man,--give him a sum of money to go, and to go +alone. Could he have been quit of the man even for L20,000, he would +willingly have paid the money. But the man would either not go, or +would come back as soon as he had got the money. His own life, as he +passed it now, with this man in the house with him, was horrible to +him. For Lopez, though he had more than once threatened that he would +carry his wife to another home, had taken no steps towards getting +that other home ready for her. + +During all this time Mr. Wharton had not seen his son. Everett had +gone abroad just as his father returned to London from Brighton, and +was still on the continent. He received his allowance punctually, +and that was the only intercourse which took place between them. But +Emily had written to him, not telling him much of her troubles,--only +saying that she believed that her husband would take her to Central +America early in the spring, and begging him to come home before she +went. + +Just before Christmas her baby was born, but the poor child did not +live a couple of days. She herself at the time was so worn with care, +so thin and wan and wretched, that looking in the glass she hardly +knew her own face. "Ferdinand," she said to him, "I know he will not +live. The Doctor says so." + +"Nothing thrives that I have to do with," he answered gloomily. + +"Will you not look at him?" + +"Well; yes. I have looked at him, have I not? I wish to God that +where he is going I could go with him." + +"I wish I was;--I wish I was going," said the poor mother. Then the +father went out, and before he had returned to the house the child +was dead. "Oh, Ferdinand, speak one kind word to me now," she said. + +"What kind word can I speak when you have told me that you do not +love me? Do you think that I can forget that because--because he has +gone?" + +"A woman's love may always be won back again by kindness." + +"Psha! How am I to kiss and make pretty speeches with my mind +harassed as it is now?" But he did touch her brow with his lips +before he went away. + +The infant was buried, and then there was not much show of mourning +in the house. The poor mother would sit gloomily alone day after day, +telling herself that it was perhaps better that she should have been +robbed of her treasure than have gone forth with him into the wide, +unknown, harsh world with such a father as she had given him. Then +she would look at all the preparations she had made,--the happy +work of her fingers when her thoughts of their future use were her +sweetest consolation,--and weep till she would herself feel that +there never could be an end to her tears. + +The second week in January had come and yet nothing further had been +settled as to this Guatemala project. Lopez talked about it as though +it was certain, and even told his wife that as they would move so +soon it would not be now worth while for him to take other lodgings +for her. But when she asked as to her own preparations,--the wardrobe +necessary for the long voyage and her general outfit,--he told her +that three weeks or a fortnight would be enough for all, and that he +would give her sufficient notice. "Upon my word he is very kind to +honour my poor house as he does," said Mr. Wharton. + +"Papa, we will go at once if you wish it," said his daughter. + +"Nay, Emily; do not turn upon me. I cannot but be sensible to the +insult of his daily presence; but even that is better than losing +you." + +Then there occurred a ludicrous incident,--or combination of +incidents,--which, in spite of their absurdity, drove Mr. Wharton +almost frantic. First there came to him the bill from Messrs. Stewam +and Sugarscraps for the dinner. At this time he kept nothing back +from his daughter. "Look at that!" he said. The bill was absolutely +made out in his name. + +"It is a mistake, papa." + +"Not at all. The dinner was given in my house, and I must pay for +it. I would sooner do so than that he should pay it,--even if he had +the means." So he paid Messrs. Stewam and Sugarscraps L25 9s. 6d., +begging them as he did so never to send another dinner into his +house, and observing that he was in the habit of entertaining his +friends at less than three guineas a head. "But Chateau Yquem and +Cote d'Or!" said Mr. Sugarscraps. "Chateau fiddlesticks!" said Mr. +Wharton, walking out of the house with his receipt. + +Then came the bill for the brougham,--for the brougham from the very +day of their return to town after their wedding trip. This he showed +to Lopez. Indeed the bill had been made out to Lopez and sent to Mr. +Wharton with an apologetic note. "I didn't tell him to send it," said +Lopez. + +"But will you pay it?" + +"I certainly shall not ask you to pay it." But Mr. Wharton at last +did pay it, and he also paid the rent of the rooms in the Belgrave +Mansions, and between L30 and L40 for dresses which Emily had got at +Lewes and Allenby's under her husband's orders in the first days of +their married life in London. + +"Oh, papa, I wish I had not gone there," she said. + +"My dear, anything that you may have had I do not grudge in the +least. And even for him, if he would let you remain here, I would pay +willingly. I would supply all his wants if he would only--go away." + + + + +CHAPTER L + +Mr. Slide's Revenge + + +"Do you mean to say, my lady, that the Duke paid his electioneering +bill down at Silverbridge?" + +"I do mean to say so, Mr. Slide." Lady Eustace nodded her head, and +Mr. Quintus Slide opened his mouth. + +"Goodness gracious!" said Mrs. Leslie, who was sitting with them. +They were in Lady Eustace's drawing-room, and the patriotic editor of +the "People's Banner" was obtaining from a new ally information which +might be useful to the country. + +"But 'ow do you know, Lady Eustace? You'll pardon the persistency of +my inquiries, but when you come to public information accuracy is +everything. I never trust myself to mere report. I always travel up +to the very fountain 'ead of truth." + +"I know it," said Lizzy Eustace oracularly. + +"Um--m!" The Editor as he ejaculated the sound looked at her ladyship +with admiring eyes,--with eyes that were intended to flatter. But +Lizzie had been looked at so often in so many ways, and was so well +accustomed to admiration, that this had no effect on her at all. "'E +didn't tell you himself; did 'e, now?" + +"Can you tell me the truth as to trusting him with my money?" + +"Yes, I can." + +"Shall I be safe if I take the papers which he calls bills of sale?" + +"One good turn deserves another, my lady." + +"I don't want to make a secret of it, Mr. Slide. Pountney found it +out. You know the Major?" + +"Yes, I know Major Pountney. He was at Gatherum 'imself, and got a +little bit of cold shoulder;--didn't he?" + +"I dare say he did. What has that to do with it? You may be sure that +Lopez applied to the Duke for his expenses at Silverbridge, and that +the Duke sent him the money." + +"There's no doubt about it, Mr. Slide," said Mrs. Leslie. "We got it +all from Major Pountney. There was some bet between him and Pountney, +and he had to show Pountney the cheque." + +"Pountney saw the money," said Lady Eustace. + +Mr. Slide stroked his hand over his mouth and chin as he sat thinking +of the tremendous national importance of this communication. The man +who had paid the money was the Prime Minister of England,--and was, +moreover, Mr. Slide's enemy! "When the right 'and of fellowship has +been rejected, I never forgive," Mr. Slide has been heard to say. +Even Lady Eustace, who was not particular as to the appearance of +people, remarked afterwards to her friend that Mr. Slide had looked +like the devil as he was stroking his face. "It's very remarkable," +said Mr. Slide; "very remarkable!" + +"You won't tell the Major that we told you," said her Ladyship. + +"Oh dear, no. I only just wanted to 'ear how it was. And as to +embarking your money, my lady, with Ferdinand Lopez,--I wouldn't do +it." + +"Not if I get the bills of sale? It's for rum, and they say rum will +go up to any price." + +"Don't, Lady Eustace. I can't say any more,--but don't. I never +mention names. But don't." + +Then Mr. Slide went at once in search of Major Pountney, and having +found the Major at his club extracted from him all that he knew about +the Silverbridge payment. Pountney had really seen the Duke's cheque +for L500. "There was some bet,--eh, Major?" asked Mr. Slide. + +"No, there wasn't. I know who has been telling you. That's Lizzie +Eustace, and just like her mischief. The way of it was this;--Lopez, +who was very angry, had boasted that he would bring the Duke down on +his marrow-bones. I was laughing at him as we sat at dinner one day +afterwards, and he took out the cheque and showed it me. There was +the Duke's own signature for L500,--'Omnium,' as plain as letters +could make it." Armed with this full information, Mr. Slide felt that +he had done all that the most punctilious devotion to accuracy could +demand of him, and immediately shut himself up in his cage at the +"People's Banner" office and went to work. + +This occurred about the first week in January. The Duke was then +at Matching with his wife and a very small party. The singular +arrangement which had been effected by the Duchess in the early +autumn had passed off without any wonderful effects. It had been done +by her in pique, and the result had been apparently so absurd that it +had at first frightened her. But in the end it answered very well. +The Duke took great pleasure in Lady Rosina's company, and enjoyed +the comparative solitude which enabled him to work all day without +interruption. His wife protested that it was just what she liked, +though it must be feared that she soon became weary of it. To Lady +Rosina it was of course a Paradise on earth. In September, Phineas +Finn and his wife came to them, and in October there were other +relaxations and other business. The Prime Minister and his wife +visited their Sovereign, and he made some very useful speeches +through the country on his old favourite subject of decimal coinage. +At Christmas, for a fortnight, they went to Gatherum Castle and +entertained the neighbourhood,--the nobility and squirearchy dining +there on one day, and the tenants and other farmers on another. All +this went very smoothly, and the Duke did not become outrageously +unhappy because the "People's Banner" made sundry severe remarks on +the absence of Cabinet Councils through the autumn. + +After Christmas they returned to Matching, and had some of their old +friends with them. There was the Duke of St. Bungay and the Duchess, +and Phineas Finn and his wife, and Lord and Lady Cantrip, Barrington +Erle, and one or two others. But at this period there came a great +trouble. One morning as the Duke sat in his own room after breakfast +he read an article in the "People's Banner," of which the following +sentences were a part. "We wish to know by whom were paid the +expenses incurred by Mr. Ferdinand Lopez during the late contest +at Silverbridge. It may be that they were paid by that gentleman +himself,--in which case we shall have nothing further to say, not +caring at the present moment to inquire whether those expenses were +or were not excessive. It may be that they were paid by subscription +among his political friends,--and if so, again we shall be satisfied. +Or it is possible that funds were supplied by a new political club of +which we have lately heard much, and with the action of such a body +we of course have nothing to do. If an assurance can be given to +us by Mr. Lopez or his friends that such was the case we shall be +satisfied. + +"But a report has reached us, and we may say more than a report, +which makes it our duty to ask this question. Were those expenses +paid out of the private pocket of the present Prime Minister? If +so, we maintain that we have discovered a blot in that nobleman's +character which it is our duty to the public to expose. We will go +farther and say that if it be so,--if these expenses were paid out +of the private pocket of the Duke of Omnium, it is not fit that that +nobleman should any longer hold the high office which he now fills. + +"We know that a peer should not interfere in elections for the House +of Commons. We certainly know that a Minister of the Crown should not +attempt to purchase parliamentary support. We happen to know also the +almost more than public manner,--are we not justified in saying the +ostentation?--with which at the last election the Duke repudiated +all that influence with the borough which his predecessors, and we +believe he himself, had so long exercised. He came forward telling us +that he, at least, meant to have clean hands;--that he would not do +as his forefathers had done;--that he would not even do as he himself +had done in former years. What are we to think of the Duke of Omnium +as a Minister of this country, if, after such assurances, he has out +of his own pocket paid the electioneering expenses of a candidate at +Silverbridge?" There was much more in the article, but the passages +quoted will suffice to give the reader a sufficient idea of the +accusation made, and which the Duke read in the retirement of his own +chamber. + +He read it twice before he allowed himself to think of the matter. +The statement made was at any rate true to the letter. He had paid +the man's electioneering expenses. That he had done so from the +purest motives he knew and the reader knows;--but he could not even +explain those motives without exposing his wife. Since the cheque was +sent he had never spoken of the occurrence to any human being,--but +he had thought of it very often. At the time his private Secretary, +with much hesitation, almost with trepidation, had counselled him not +to send the money. The Duke was a man with whom it was very easy to +work, whose courtesy to all dependent on him was almost exaggerated, +who never found fault, and was anxious as far as possible to do +everything for himself. The comfort of those around him was always +matter of interest to him. Everything he held, he held as it were in +trust for the enjoyment of others. But he was a man whom it was very +difficult to advise. He did not like advice. He was so thin-skinned +that any counsel offered to him took the form of criticism. When +cautioned what shoes he should wear,--as had been done by Lady +Rosina, or what wine or what horses he should buy, as was done by his +butler and coachman, he was thankful, taking no pride to himself for +knowledge as to shoes, wine, or horses. But as to his own conduct, +private or public, as to any question of politics, as to his opinions +and resolutions, he was jealous of interference. Mr. Warburton +therefore had almost trembled when asking the Duke whether he was +quite sure about sending the money to Lopez. "Quite sure," the Duke +had answered, having at that time made up his mind. Mr. Warburton had +not dared to express a further doubt, and the money had been sent. +But from the moment of sending it doubts had repeated themselves in +the Prime Minister's mind. + +Now he sat with the newspaper in his hand thinking of it. Of course +it was open to him to take no notice of the matter,--to go on as +though he had not seen the article, and to let the thing die if it +would die. But he knew Mr. Quintus Slide and his paper well enough to +be sure that it would not die. The charge would be repeated in the +"People's Banner" till it was copied into other papers; and then the +further question would be asked,--why had the Prime Minister allowed +such an accusation to remain unanswered? But if he did notice it, +what notice should he take of it? It was true. And surely he had a +right to do what he liked with his own money so long as he disobeyed +no law. He had bribed no one. He had spent his money with no corrupt +purpose. His sense of honour had taught him to think that the man had +received injury through his wife's imprudence, and that he therefore +was responsible as far as the pecuniary loss was concerned. He was +not ashamed of the thing he had done;--but yet he was ashamed that it +should be discussed in public. + +Why had he allowed himself to be put into a position in which he was +subject to such grievous annoyance? Since he had held his office he +had not had a happy day, nor,--so he told himself,--had he received +from it any slightest gratification, nor could he buoy himself up +with the idea that he was doing good service for his country. After +a while he walked into the next room and showed the paper to Mr. +Warburton. "Perhaps you were right," he said, "when you told me not +to send that money." + +"It will matter nothing," said the private Secretary when he had read +it,--thinking, however, that it might matter much, but wishing to +spare the Duke. + +"I was obliged to repay the man as the Duchess had--had encouraged +him. The Duchess had not quite--quite understood my wishes." Mr. +Warburton knew the whole history now, having discussed it all with +the Duchess more than once. + +"I think your Grace should take no notice of the article." + +No notice was taken of it, but three days afterwards there appeared a +short paragraph in large type,--beginning with a question. "Does the +Duke of Omnium intend to answer the question asked by us last Friday? +Is it true that he paid the expenses of Mr. Lopez when that gentleman +stood for Silverbridge? The Duke may be assured that the question +shall be repeated till it is answered." This the Duke also saw and +took to his private Secretary. + +"I would do nothing at any rate till it be noticed in some other +paper," said the private Secretary. "The 'People's Banner' is known +to be scandalous." + +"Of course it is scandalous. And, moreover, I know the motives and +the malice of the wretched man who is the editor. But the paper is +read, and the foul charge if repeated will become known, and the +allegation made is true. I did pay the man's election expenses;--and, +moreover, to tell the truth openly as I do not scruple to do to you, +I am not prepared to state publicly the reason why I did so. And +nothing but that reason could justify me." + +"Then I think your Grace should state it." + +"I cannot do so." + +"The Duke of St. Bungay is here. Would it not be well to tell the +whole affair to him?" + +"I will think of it. I do not know why I should have troubled you." + +"Oh, my lord!" + +"Except that there is always some comfort in speaking even of one's +trouble. I will think about it. In the meantime you need perhaps not +mention it again." + +"Who? I? Oh, certainly not." + +"I did not mean to others,--but to myself. I will turn it in my mind +and speak of it when I have decided anything." And he did think about +it,--thinking of it so much that he could hardly get the matter out +of his mind day or night. To his wife he did not allude to it at +all. Why trouble her with it? She had caused the evil, and he had +cautioned her as to the future. She could not help him out of the +difficulty she had created. He continued to turn the matter over +in his thoughts till he so magnified it, and built it up into such +proportions, that he again began to think that he must resign. It +was, he thought, true that a man should not remain in office as Prime +Minister who in such a matter could not clear his own conduct. + +Then there was a third attack in the "People's Banner," and after +that the matter was noticed in the "Evening Pulpit." This notice +the Duke of St. Bungay saw and mentioned to Mr. Warburton. "Has the +Duke spoken to you of some allegations made in the press as to the +expenses of the late election at Silverbridge?" The old Duke was +at this time, and had been for some months, in a state of nervous +anxiety about his friend. He had almost admitted to himself that he +had been wrong in recommending a politician so weakly organised to +take the office of Prime Minister. He had expected the man to be +more manly,--had perhaps expected him to be less conscientiously +scrupulous. But now, as the thing had been done, it must be +maintained. Who else was there to take the office? Mr. Gresham +would not. To keep Mr. Daubeny out was the very essence of the Duke +of St. Bungay's life,--the turning-point of his political creed, +the one grand duty the idea of which was always present to him. +And he had, moreover, a most true and most affectionate regard +for the man whom he now supported, appreciating the sweetness +of his character,--believing still in the Minister's patriotism, +intelligence, devotion, and honesty; though he was forced to own to +himself that the strength of a man's heart was wanting. + +"Yes," said Warburton; "he did mention it." + +"Does it trouble him?" + +"Perhaps you had better speak to him about it." Both the old Duke and +the private Secretary were as fearful and nervous about the Prime +Minister as a mother is for a weakly child. They could hardly tell +their opinions to each other, but they understood one another, and +between them they coddled their Prime Minister. They were specially +nervous as to what might be done by the Prime Minister's wife, +nervous as to what was done by every one who came in contact with +him. It had been once suggested by the private Secretary that Lady +Rosina should be sent for, as she had a soothing effect upon the +Prime Minister's spirit. + +"Has it irritated him?" asked the Duke. + +"Well;--yes, it has;--a little, you know. I think your Grace had +better speak to him;--and not perhaps mention my name." The Duke of +St. Bungay nodded his head, and said that he would speak to the great +man and would not mention any one's name. + +And he did speak. "Has any one said anything to you about it?" asked +the Prime Minister. + +"I saw it in the 'Evening Pulpit' myself. I have not heard it +mentioned anywhere." + +"I did pay the man's expenses." + +"You did!" + +"Yes,--when the election was over, and, as far as I can remember, +some time after it was over. He wrote to me saying that he had +incurred such and such expenses, and asking me to repay him. I sent +him a cheque for the amount." + +"But why?" + +"I was bound in honour to do it." + +"But why?" + +There was a short pause before this second question was answered. +"The man had been induced to stand by representations made to him +from my house. He had been, I fear, promised certain support which +certainly was not given him when the time came." + +"You had not promised it?" + +"No;--not I." + +"Was it the Duchess?" + +"Upon the whole, my friend, I think I would rather not discuss it +further, even with you. It is right that you should know that I did +pay the money,--and also why I paid it. It may also be necessary that +we should consider whether there may be any further probable result +from my doing so. But the money has been paid, by me myself,--and was +paid for the reason I have stated." + +"A question might be asked in the House." + +"If so, it must be answered as I have answered you. I certainly shall +not shirk any responsibility that may be attached to me." + +"You would not like Warburton to write a line to the newspaper?" + +"What;--to the 'People's Banner!'" + +"It began there, did it? No, not to the 'People's Banner,' but to the +'Evening Pulpit.' He could say, you know, that the money was paid +by you, and that the payment had been made because your agents had +misapprehended your instructions." + +"It would not be true," said the Prime Minister, slowly. + +"As far as I can understand that was what occurred," said the other +Duke. + +"My instructions were not misapprehended. They were disobeyed. I +think that perhaps we had better say no more about it." + +"Do not think that I wish to press you," said the old man, tenderly; +"but I fear that something ought to be done;--I mean for your own +comfort." + +"My comfort!" said the Prime Minister. "That has vanished long +ago;--and my peace of mind, and my happiness." + +"There has been nothing done which cannot be explained with perfect +truth. There has been no impropriety." + +"I do not know." + +"The money was paid simply from an over-nice sense of honour." + +"It cannot be explained. I cannot explain it even to you, and how +then can I do it to all the gaping fools of the country who are ready +to trample upon a man simply because he is in some way conspicuous +among them?" + +After that the old Duke again spoke to Mr. Warburton, but Mr. +Warburton was very loyal to his chief. "Could one do anything by +speaking to the Duchess?" said the old Duke. + +"I think not." + +"I suppose it was her Grace who did it all." + +"I cannot say. My own impression is that he had better wait till the +Houses meet, and then, if any question is asked, let it be answered. +He himself would do it in the House of Lords, or Mr. Finn or +Barrington Erle, in our House. It would surely be enough to explain +that his Grace had been made to believe that the man had received +encouragement at Silverbridge from his own agents, which he himself +had not intended should be given, and that therefore he had thought +it right to pay the money. After such an explanation what more could +any one say?" + +"You might do it yourself." + +"I never speak." + +"But in such a case as that you might do so; and then there would be +no necessity for him to talk to another person on the matter." + +So the affair was left for the present, though the allusions to it +in the "People's Banner" were still continued. Nor did any other of +the Prime Minister's colleagues dare to speak to him on the subject. +Barrington Erle and Phineas Finn talked of it among themselves, but +they did not mention it even to the Duchess. She would have gone to +her husband at once; and they were too careful of him to risk such a +proceeding. It certainly was the case that among them they coddled +the Prime Minister. + + + + +CHAPTER LI + +Coddling the Prime Minister + + +Parliament was to meet on the 12th of February, and it was of course +necessary that there should be a Cabinet Council before that time. +The Prime Minister, about the end of the third week in January, +was prepared to name a day for this, and did so, most unwillingly. +But he was then ill, and talked both to his friend the old Duke +and his private Secretary of having the meeting held without him. +"Impossible!" said the old Duke. + +"If I could not go it would have to be possible." + +"We could all come here if it were necessary." + +"Bring fourteen or fifteen ministers out of town because a poor +creature such as I am is ill!" But in truth the Duke of St. Bungay +hardly believed in this illness. The Prime Minister was unhappy +rather than ill. + +By this time everybody in the House,--and almost everybody in the +country who read the newspapers,--had heard of Mr. Lopez and his +election expenses,--except the Duchess. No one had yet dared to tell +her. She saw the newspapers daily, but probably did not read them +very attentively. Nevertheless she knew that something was wrong. Mr. +Warburton hovered about the Prime Minister more tenderly than usual; +the Duke of St. Bungay was more concerned; the world around her was +more mysterious, and her husband more wretched. "What is it that's +going on?" she said one day to Phineas Finn. + +"Everything,--in the same dull way as usual." + +"If you don't tell me, I'll never speak to you again. I know there is +something wrong." + +"The Duke, I'm afraid, is not quite well." + +"What makes him ill? I know well when he's ill and when he's well. +He's troubled by something." + +"I think he is, Duchess. But as he has not spoken to me I am loath to +make guesses. If there be anything, I can only guess at it." + +Then she questioned Mrs. Finn, and got an answer which, if not +satisfactory, was at any rate explanatory. "I think he is uneasy +about that Silverbridge affair." + +"What Silverbridge affair?" + +"You know that he paid the expenses which that man Lopez says that he +incurred." + +"Yes;--I know that." + +"And you know that that other man Slide has found it out, and +published it all in the 'People's Banner'?" + +"No!" + +"Yes, indeed. And a whole army of accusations has been brought +against him. I have never liked to tell you, and yet I do not think +that you should be left in the dark." + +"Everybody deceives me," said the Duchess angrily. + +"Nay;--there has been no deceit." + +"Everybody keeps things from me. I think you will kill me among you. +It was my doing. Why do they attack him? I will write to the papers. +I encouraged the man after Plantagenet had determined that he should +not be assisted,--and, because I had done so, he paid the man his +beggarly money. What is there to hurt him in that? Let me bear it. My +back is broad enough." + +"The Duke is very sensitive." + +"I hate people to be sensitive. It makes them cowards. A man when he +is afraid of being blamed, dares not at last even show himself, and +has to be wrapped up in lamb's wool." + +"Of course men are differently organised." + +"Yes;--but the worst of it is, that when they suffer from this +weakness, which you call sensitiveness, they think that they are made +of finer material than other people. Men shouldn't be made of Sevres +china, but of good stone earthenware. However, I don't want to abuse +him, poor fellow." + +"I don't think you ought." + +"I know what that means. You do want to abuse me. So they've been +bullying him about the money he paid to that man Lopez. How did +anybody know anything about it?" + +"Lopez must have told of it," said Mrs. Finn. + +"The worst, my dear, of trying to know a great many people is, that +you are sure to get hold of some that are very bad. Now that man is +very bad. Yet they say he has married a nice wife." + +"That's often the case, Duchess." + +"And the contrary;--isn't it, my dear? But I shall have it out with +Plantagenet. If I have to write letters to all the newspapers myself, +I'll put it right." She certainly coddled her husband less than the +others; and, indeed, in her heart of hearts disapproved altogether +of the coddling system. But she was wont at this particular time to +be somewhat tender to him because she was aware that she herself +had been imprudent. Since he had discovered her interference at +Silverbridge, and had made her understand its pernicious results, +she had been,--not, perhaps, shamefaced, for that word describes +a condition to which hardly any series of misfortunes could have +reduced the Duchess of Omnium,--but inclined to quiescence by +feelings of penitence. She was less disposed than heretofore to +attack him with what the world of yesterday calls "chaff," or with +what the world of to-day calls "cheek." She would not admit to +herself that she was cowed;--but the greatness of the game and the +high interest attached to her husband's position did in some degree +dismay her. Nevertheless she executed her purpose of "having it out +with Plantagenet." "I have just heard," she said, having knocked at +the door of his own room, and having found him alone,--"I have just +heard, for the first time, that there is a row about the money you +paid to Mr. Lopez." + +"Who told you?" + +"Nobody told me,--in the usual sense of the word. I presumed that +something was the matter, and then I got it out from Marie. Why had +you not told me?" + +"Why should I tell you?" + +"But why not? If anything troubled me I should tell you. That is, if +it troubled me much." + +"You take it for granted that this does trouble me much." He was +smiling as he said this, but the smile passed very quickly from his +face. "I will not, however, deceive you. It does trouble me." + +"I knew very well that something was wrong." + +"I have not complained." + +"One can see as much as that without words. What is it that you fear? +What can the man do to you? What matter is it to you if such a one as +that pours out his malice on you? Let it run off like the rain from +the housetops. You are too big even to be stung by such a reptile as +that." He looked into her face, admiring the energy with which she +spoke to him. "As for answering him," she continued to say, "that +may or may not be proper. If it should be done, there are people to +do it. But I am speaking of your own inner self. You have a shield +against your equals, and a sword to attack them with if necessary. +Have you no armour of proof against such a creature as that? Have you +nothing inside you to make you feel that he is too contemptible to be +regarded?" + +"Nothing," he said. + +"Oh, Plantagenet!" + +"Cora, there are different natures which have each their own +excellencies and their own defects. I will not admit that I am a +coward, believing as I do that I could dare to face necessary danger. +But I cannot endure to have my character impugned,--even by Mr. Slide +and Mr. Lopez." + +"What matter,--if you are in the right? Why blench if your conscience +accuses you of no fault? I would not blench even if it did. What;--is +a man to be put in the front of everything, and then to be judged as +though he could give all his time to the picking of his steps?" + +"Just so! And he must pick them more warily than another." + +"I do not believe it. You see all this with jaundiced eyes. I read +somewhere the other day that the great ships have always little worms +attached to them, but that the great ships swim on and know nothing +of the worms." + +"The worms conquer at last." + +"They shouldn't conquer me! After all, what is it that they say about +the money? That you ought not to have paid it?" + +"I begin to think that I was wrong to pay it." + +"You certainly were not wrong. I had led the man on. I had been +mistaken. I had thought that he was a gentleman. Having led him on at +first, before you had spoken to me, I did not like to go back from my +word. I did go to the man at Silverbridge who sells the pots, and no +doubt the man, when thus encouraged, told it all to Lopez. When Lopez +went to the town he did suppose that he would have what the people +call the Castle interest." + +"And I had done so much to prevent it!" + +"What's the use of going back to that now, unless you want me to put +my neck down to be trodden on? I am confessing my own sins as fast as +I can." + +"God knows I would not have you trodden on." + +"I am willing,--if it be necessary. Then came the question;--as I had +done this evil, how was it to be rectified? Any man with a particle +of spirit would have taken his rubs and said nothing about it. But as +this man asked for the money, it was right that he should have it. If +it is all made public he won't get very well out of it." + +"What does that matter to me?" + +"Nor shall I;--only luckily I do not mind it." + +"But I mind it for you." + +"You must throw me to the whale. Let somebody say in so many words +that the Duchess did so and so. It was very wicked no doubt; but they +can't kill me,--nor yet dismiss me. And I won't resign. In point of +fact I shan't be a penny the worse for it." + +"But I should resign." + +"If all the Ministers in England were to give up as soon as their +wives do foolish things, that question about the Queen's Government +would become very difficult." + +"They may do foolish things, dear; and yet--" + +"And yet what?" + +"And yet not interfere in politics." + +"That's all you know about it, Plantagenet. Doesn't everybody know +that Mrs. Daubeny got Dr. MacFuzlem made a bishop, and that Mrs. +Gresham got her husband to make that hazy speech about women's +rights, so that nobody should know which way he meant to go? There +are others just as bad as me, only I don't think they get blown up so +much. You do now as I ask you." + +"I couldn't do it, Cora. Though the stain were but a little spot, and +the thing to be avoided political destruction, I could not ride out +of the punishment by fixing that stain on my wife. I will not have +your name mentioned. A man's wife should be talked about by no one." + +"That's high-foluting, Plantagenet." + +"Glencora, in these matters you must allow me to judge for myself, +and I will judge. I will never say that I didn't do it;--but that it +was my wife who did." + +"Adam said so,--because he chose to tell the truth." + +"And Adam has been despised ever since,--not because he ate the +apple, but because he imputed the eating of it to a woman. I will +not do it. We have had enough of this now." Then she turned to go +away,--but he called her back. "Kiss me, dear," he said. Then she +stooped over him and kissed him. "Do not think I am angry with you +because the thing vexes me. I am dreaming always of some day when we +may go away together with the children, and rest in some pretty spot, +and live as other people live." + +"It would be very stupid," she muttered to herself as she left the +room. + +He did go up to town for the Cabinet meeting. Whatever may have been +done at that august assembly there was certainly no resignation, or +the world would have heard it. It is probable, too, that nothing was +said about these newspaper articles. Things if left to themselves +will generally die at last. The old Duke and Phineas Finn and +Barrington Erle were all of opinion that the best plan for the +present was to do nothing. "Has anything been settled?" the Duchess +asked Phineas when he came back. + +"Oh yes;--the Queen's Speech. But there isn't very much in it." + +"But about the payment of this money?" + +"I haven't heard a word about it," said Phineas. + +"You're just as bad as all the rest, Mr. Finn, with your pretended +secrecy. A girl with her first sweetheart isn't half so fussy as a +young Cabinet Minister." + +"The Cabinet Ministers get used to it sooner, I think," said Phineas +Finn. + +Parliament had already met before Mr. Slide had quite determined in +what way he would carry on the war. He could indeed go on writing +pernicious articles about the Prime Minister _ad infinitum_,--from +year's end to year's end. It was an occupation in which he took +delight, and for which he imagined himself to be peculiarly well +suited. But readers will become tired even of abuse if it be not +varied. And the very continuation of such attacks would seem to imply +that they were not much heeded. Other papers had indeed taken the +matter up,--but they had taken it up only to drop it. The subject had +not been their own. The little discovery had been due not to their +acumen, and did not therefore bear with them the highest interest. It +had almost seemed as though nothing would come of it;--for Mr. Slide +in his wildest ambition could have hardly imagined the vexation and +hesitation, the nervousness and serious discussions which his words +had occasioned among the great people at Matching. But certainly the +thing must not be allowed to pass away as a matter of no moment. Mr. +Slide had almost worked his mind up to real horror as he thought of +it. What! A prime minister, a peer, a great duke,--put a man forward +as a candidate for a borough, and, when the man was beaten, pay his +expenses! Was this to be done,--to be done and found out and then +nothing come of it in these days of purity, when a private member of +Parliament, some mere nobody, loses his seat because he has given +away a few bushels of coals or a score or two of rabbits! Mr. Slide's +energetic love of public virtue was scandalised as he thought of the +probability of such a catastrophe. To his thinking, public virtue +consisted in carping at men high placed, in abusing ministers and +judges and bishops--and especially in finding out something for +which they might be abused. His own public virtue was in this matter +very great, for it was he who had ferreted out the secret. For his +intelligence and energy in that matter the country owed him much. But +the country would pay him nothing, would give him none of the credit +he desired, would rob him of this special opportunity of declaring +a dozen times that the "People's Banner" was the surest guardian of +the people's liberty,--unless he could succeed in forcing the matter +further into public notice. "How terrible is the apathy of the people +at large," said Mr. Slide to himself, "when they cannot be wakened by +such a revelation as this!" + +Mr. Slide knew very well what ought to be the next step. Proper +notice should be given and a question should be asked in Parliament. +Some gentleman should declare that he had noticed such and such +statements in the public press, and that he thought it right to ask +whether such and such payments had been made by the Prime Minister. +In his meditations Mr. Slide went so far as to arrange the very words +which the indignant gentleman should utter, among which words was a +graceful allusion to a certain public-spirited newspaper. He did even +go so far as to arrange a compliment to the editor,--but in doing +so he knew that he was thinking only of that which ought to be, and +not of that which would be. The time had not come as yet in which +the editor of a newspaper in this country received a tithe of the +honour due to him. But the question in any form, with or without a +compliment to the "People's Banner," would be the thing that was now +desirable. + +Who was to ask the question? If public spirit were really strong in +the country there would be no difficulty on that point. The crime +committed had been so horrible that all the great politicians of the +country ought to compete for the honour of asking it. What greater +service can be trusted to the hands of a great man than that of +exposing the sins of the rulers of the nation? So thought Mr. Slide. +But he knew that he was in advance of the people, and that the matter +would not be seen in the proper light by those who ought so to see +it. There might be a difficulty in getting any peer to ask the +question in the House in which the Prime Minister himself sat, and +even in the other House there was now but little of that acrid, +indignant opposition upon which, in Mr. Slide's opinion, the safety +of the nation altogether depends. + +When the statement was first made in the "People's Banner," Lopez had +come to Mr. Slide at once and had demanded his authority for making +it. Lopez had found the statement to be most injurious to himself. He +had been paid his election expenses twice over, making a clear profit +of L500 by the transaction; and, though the matter had at one time +troubled his conscience, he had already taught himself to regard +it as one of those bygones to which a wise man seldom refers. But +now Mr. Wharton would know that he had been cheated, should this +statement reach him. "Who gave you authority to publish all this?" +asked Lopez, who at this time had become intimate with Mr. Slide. + +"Is it true, Lopez?" asked the editor. + +"Whatever was done was done in private,--between me and the Duke." + +"Dukes, my dear fellow, can't be private, and certainly not when they +are Prime Ministers." + +"But you've no right to publish these things about me." + +"Is it true? If it's true I have got every right to publish it. If +it's not true, I've got the right to ask the question. If you will +'ave to do with Prime Ministers you can't 'ide yourself under a +bushel. Tell me this;--is it true? You might as well go 'and in 'and +with me in the matter. You can't 'urt yourself. And if you oppose +me,--why, I shall oppose you." + +"You can't say anything of me." + +"Well;--I don't know about that. I can generally 'it pretty 'ard if I +feel inclined. But I don't want to 'it you. As regards you I can tell +the story one way,--or the other, just as you please." Lopez, seeing +it in the same light, at last agreed that the story should be told in +a manner not inimical to himself. The present project of his life was +to leave his troubles in England,--Sexty Parker being the worst of +them,--and get away to Guatemala. In arranging this the good word of +Mr. Slide might not benefit him, but his ill word might injure him. +And then, let him do what he would, the matter must be made public. +Should Mr. Wharton hear of it,--as of course he would,--it must +be brazened out. He could not keep it from Mr. Wharton's ears by +quarrelling with Quintus Slide. + +"It was true," said Lopez. + +"I knew it before just as well as though I had seen it. I ain't +often very wrong in these things. You asked him for the money,--and +threatened him." + +"I don't know about threatening him." + +"'E wouldn't have sent it else." + +"I told him that I had been deceived by his people in the borough, +and that I had been put to expense through the misrepresentations of +the Duchess. I don't think I did ask for the money. But he sent a +cheque, and of course I took it." + +"Of course;--of course. You couldn't give me a copy of your letter?" + +"Never kept a copy." He had a copy in his breast coat-pocket at that +moment, and Slide did not for a moment believe the statement made. +But in such discussions one man hardly expects truth from another. +Mr. Slide certainly never expected truth from any man. "He sent the +cheque almost without a word," said Lopez. + +"He did write a note, I suppose?" + +"Just a few words." + +"Could you let me 'ave that note?" + +"I destroyed it at once." This was also in his breast-pocket at the +time. + +"Did 'e write it 'imself?" + +"I think it was his private Secretary, Mr. Warburton." + +"You must be sure, you know. Which was it?" + +"It was Mr. Warburton." + +"Was it civil?" + +"Yes, it was. If it had been uncivil I should have sent it back. I'm +not the man to take impudence even from a duke." + +"If you'll give me those two letters, Lopez, I'll stick to you +through thick and thin. By heavens I will! Think what the 'People's +Banner' is. You may come to want that kind of thing some of these +days." Lopez remained silent, looking into the other man's eager +face. "I shouldn't publish them, you know; but it would be so much to +me to have the evidence in my hands. You might do worse, you know, +than make a friend of me." + +"You won't publish them?" + +"Certainly not. I shall only refer to them." + +Then Lopez pulled a bundle of papers out of his pocket. "There they +are," he said. + +"Well," said Slide, when he had read them; "it is one of the rummest +transactions I ever 'eard of. Why did 'e send the money? That's what +I want to know. As far as the claim goes, you 'adn't a leg to stand +on." + +"Not legally." + +"You 'adn't a leg to stand on any way. But that doesn't much matter. +He sent the money, and the sending of the money was corrupt. Who +shall I get to ask the question? I suppose young Fletcher wouldn't do +it?" + +"They're birds of a feather," said Lopez. + +"Birds of a feather do fall out sometimes. Or Sir Orlando Drought? +I wonder whether Sir Orlando would do it. If any man ever 'ated +another, Sir Orlando Drought must 'ate the Duke of Omnium." + +"I don't think he'd let himself down to that kind of thing." + +"Let 'imself down! I don't see any letting down in it. But those men +who have been in cabinets do stick to one another even when they are +enemies. They think themselves so mighty that they oughtn't to be +'andled like other men. But I'll let 'em know that I'll 'andle 'em. A +Cabinet Minister or a cowboy is the same to Quintus Slide when he has +got his pen in 'is 'and." + +On the next morning there came out another article in the "People's +Banner," in which the writer declared that he had in his own +possession the damnatory correspondence between the Prime Minister +and the late candidate at Silverbridge. "The Prime Minister may +deny the fact," said the article. "We do not think it probable, but +it is possible. We wish to be fair and above-board in everything. +And therefore we at once inform the noble Duke that the entire +correspondence is in our hands." In saying this Mr. Quintus Slide +thought that he had quite kept the promise which he made when he said +that he would only refer to the letters. + + + + +CHAPTER LII + +"I Can Sleep Here To-night, I Suppose?" + + +That scheme of going to Guatemala had been in the first instance +propounded by Lopez with the object of frightening Mr. Wharton +into terms. There had, indeed, been some previous thoughts on the +subject,--some plan projected before his marriage; but it had been +resuscitated mainly with the hope that it might be efficacious to +extract money. When by degrees the son-in-law began to feel that even +this would not be operative on his father-in-law's purse,--when under +this threat neither Wharton nor Emily gave way,--and when, with the +view of strengthening his threat, he renewed his inquiries as to +Guatemala and found that there might still be an opening for him in +that direction,--the threat took the shape of a true purpose, and he +began to think that he would in real earnest try his fortunes in a +new world. From day to day things did not go well with him, and from +day to day Sexty Parker became more unendurable. It was impossible +for him to keep from his partner this plan of emigration,--but he +endeavoured to make Parker believe that the thing, if done at all, +was not to be done till all his affairs were settled,--or in other +words all his embarrassments cleared by downright money payments, and +that Mr. Wharton was to make these payments on the condition that he +thus expatriated himself. But Mr. Wharton had made no such promise. +Though the threatened day came nearer and nearer he could not bring +himself to purchase a short respite for his daughter by paying money +to a scoundrel,--which payment he felt sure would be of no permanent +service. During all this time Mr. Wharton was very wretched. If he +could have freed his daughter from her marriage by half his fortune +he would have done it without a second thought. If he could have +assuredly purchased the permanent absence of her husband, he would +have done it at a large price. But let him pay what he would, +he could see his way to no security. From day to day he became +more strongly convinced of the rascality of this man who was his +son-in-law, and who was still an inmate in his own house. Of course +he had accusations enough to make within his own breast against his +daughter, who, when the choice was open to her, would not take the +altogether fitting husband provided for her, but had declared herself +to be broken-hearted for ever unless she were allowed to throw +herself away upon this wretched creature. But he blamed himself +almost as much as he did her. Why had he allowed himself to be so +enervated by her prayers at last as to surrender everything,--as he +had done? How could he presume to think that he should be allowed to +escape, when he had done so little to prevent this misery? + +He spoke to Emily about it,--not often indeed, but with great +earnestness. "I have done it myself," she said, "and I will bear it." + +"Tell him you cannot go till you know to what home you are going." + +"That is for him to consider. I have begged him to let me remain, and +I can say no more. If he chooses to take me, I shall go." + +Then he spoke to her about money. "Of course I have money," he said. +"Of course I have enough both for you and Everett. If I could do any +good by giving it to him, he should have it." + +"Papa," she answered, "I will never again ask you to give him a +single penny. That must be altogether between you and him. He is what +they call a speculator. Money is not safe with him." + +"I shall have to send it you when you are in want." + +"When I am--dead there will be no more to be sent. Do not look like +that, papa. I know what I have done, and I must bear it. I have +thrown away my life. It is just that. If baby had lived it would +have been different." This was about the end of January, and then Mr. +Wharton heard of the great attack made by Mr. Quintus Slide against +the Prime Minister, and heard, of course, of the payment alleged to +have been made to Ferdinand Lopez by the Duke on the score of the +election at Silverbridge. Some persons spoke to him on the subject. +One or two friends at the club asked him what he supposed to be the +truth in the matter, and Mrs. Roby inquired of him on the subject. "I +have asked Lopez," she said, "and I am sure from his manner that he +did get the money." + +"I don't know anything about it," said Mr. Wharton. + +"If he did get it I think he was very clever." It was well known at +this time to Mrs. Roby that the Lopez marriage had been a failure, +that Lopez was not a rich man, and that Emily, as well as her father, +was discontented and unhappy. She had latterly heard of the Guatemala +scheme, and had of course expressed her horror. But she sympathised +with Lopez rather than with his wife, thinking that if Mr. Wharton +would only open his pockets wide enough things might still be right. +"It was all the Duchess's fault, you know," she said to the old man. + +"I know nothing about it, and when I want to know I certainly shall +not come to you. The misery he has brought upon me is so great that +it makes me wish that I had never seen any one who knew him." + +"It was Everett who introduced him to your house." + +"It was you who introduced him to Everett." + +"There you are wrong,--as you so often are, Mr. Wharton. Everett met +him first at the club." + +"What's the use of arguing about it? It was at your house that Emily +met him. It was you that did it. I wonder you can have the face to +mention his name to me." + +"And the man living all the time in your own house!" + +Up to this time Mr. Wharton had not mentioned to a single person +the fact that he had paid his son-in-law's election expenses at +Silverbridge. He had given him the cheque without much consideration, +with the feeling that by doing so he would in some degree benefit +his daughter; and had since regretted the act, finding that no such +payment from him could be of any service to Emily. But the thing +had been done,--and there had been, so far, an end of it. In no +subsequent discussion would Mr. Wharton have alluded to it, had not +circumstances now as it were driven it back upon his mind. And since +the day on which he had paid that money he had been, as he declared +to himself, swindled over and over again by his son-in-law. There was +the dinner in Manchester Square, and after that the brougham, and +the rent, and a score of bills, some of which he had paid and some +declined to pay! And yet he had said but little to the man himself of +all these injuries. Of what use was it to say anything? Lopez would +simply reply that he had asked him to pay nothing. "What is it all," +Lopez had once said, "to the fortune I had a right to expect with +your daughter?" "You had no right to expect a shilling," Wharton had +said. Then Lopez had shrugged his shoulders, and there had been an +end of it. + +But now, if this rumour were true, there had been positive +dishonesty. From whichever source the man might have got the money +first, if the money had been twice got, the second payment had been +fraudulently obtained. Surely if the accusation had been untrue Lopez +would have come to him and declared it to be false, knowing what must +otherwise be his thoughts. Lately, in the daily worry of his life, +he had avoided all conversation with the man. He would not allow his +mind to contemplate clearly what was coming. He entertained some +irrational, undefined hope that something would at last save his +daughter from the threatened banishment. It might be, if he held his +own hand tight enough, that there would not be money enough even to +pay for her passage out. As for her outfit, Lopez would of course +order what he wanted and have the bills sent to Manchester Square. +Whether or not this was being done neither he nor Emily knew. And +thus matters went on without much speech between the two men. But now +the old barrister thought that he was bound to speak. He therefore +waited on a certain morning till Lopez had come down, having +previously desired his daughter to leave the room. "Lopez," he asked, +"what is this that the newspapers are saying about your expenses at +Silverbridge?" + +Lopez had expected the attack and had endeavoured to prepare himself +for it. "I should have thought, sir, that you would not have paid +much attention to such statements in a newspaper." + +"When they concern myself, I do. I paid your electioneering +expenses." + +"You certainly subscribed L500 towards them, Mr. Wharton." + +"I subscribed nothing, sir. There was no question of a +subscription,--by which you intend to imply contribution from various +sources; You told me that the contest cost you L500 and that sum I +handed to you, with the full understanding on your part, as well as +on mine, that I was paying for the whole. Was that so?" + +"Have it your own way, sir." + +"If you are not more precise, I shall think that you have defrauded +me." + +"Defrauded you!" + +"Yes, sir;--defrauded me, or the Duke of Omnium. The money is gone, +and it matters little which. But if that be so I shall know that +either from him or from me you have raised money under false +pretences." + +"Of course, Mr. Wharton, from you I must bear whatever you may choose +to say." + +"Is it true that you have applied to the Duke of Omnium for money on +account of your expenses at Silverbridge, and is it true that he has +paid you money on that score?" + +"Mr. Wharton, as I said just now, I am bound to hear and to bear from +you anything that you may choose to say. Your connection with my wife +and your age alike restrain my resentment. But I am not bound to +answer your questions when they are accompanied by such language as +you have chosen to use, and I refuse to answer any further questions +on this subject." + +"Of course I know that you have taken the money from the Duke." + +"Then why do you ask me?" + +"And of course I know that you are as well aware as I am of the +nature of the transaction. That you can brazen it out without a blush +only proves to me that you have got beyond the reach of shame!" + +"Very well, sir." + +"And you have no further explanation to make?" + +"What do you expect me to say? Without knowing any of the facts of +the case,--except the one, that you contributed L500 to my election +expenses,--you take upon yourself to tell me that I am a shameless, +fraudulent swindler. And then you ask for a further explanation! In +such a position is it likely that I shall explain anything;--that I +can be in a humour to be explanatory? Just turn it all over in your +mind, and ask yourself the question." + +"I have turned it over in my own mind, and I have asked myself the +question, and I do not think it probable that you should wish to +explain anything. I shall take steps to let the Duke know that I as +your father-in-law had paid the full sum which you had stated that +you had spent at Silverbridge." + +"Much the Duke will care about that." + +"And after what has passed I am obliged to say that the sooner you +leave this house the better I shall be pleased." + +"Very well, sir. Of course I shall take my wife with me." + +"That must be as she pleases." + +"No, Mr. Wharton. That must be as I please. She belongs to me,--not +to you or to herself. Under your influence she has forgotten much of +what belongs to the duty of a wife, but I do not think that she will +so far have forgotten herself as to give me more trouble than to bid +her come with me when I desire it." + +"Let that be as it may, I must request that you, sir, will absent +yourself. I will not entertain as my guest a man who has acted as you +have done in this matter,--even though he be my son-in-law." + +"I can sleep here to-night, I suppose?" + +"Or to-morrow if it suits you. As for Emily, she can remain here, if +you will allow her to do so." + +"That will not suit me," said Lopez. + +"In that case, as far as I am concerned, I shall do whatever she may +ask me to do. Good morning." + +Mr. Wharton left the room, but did not leave the house. Before he did +so he would see his daughter; and, thinking it probable that Lopez +would also choose to see his wife, he prepared to wait in his own +room. But, in about ten minutes, Lopez started from the hall door +in a cab, and did so without going upstairs. Mr. Wharton had reason +to believe that his son-in-law was almost destitute of money for +immediate purposes. Whatever he might have would at any rate be +serviceable to him before he started. Any home for Emily must be +expensive; and no home in their present circumstances could be so +reputable for her as one under her father's roof. He therefore almost +hoped that she might still be left with him till that horrid day +should come,--if it ever did come,--in which she would be taken away +from him for ever. "Of course, papa, I shall go if he bids me," she +said, when he told her all that he thought right to tell her of that +morning's interview. + +"I hardly know how to advise you," said the father, meaning in truth +to bring himself round to the giving of some advice adverse to her +husband's will. + +"I want no advice, papa." + +"Want no advice! I never knew a woman who wanted it more." + +"No, papa. I am bound to do as he tells me. I know what I have done. +When some poor wretch has got himself into perpetual prison by his +misdeeds, no advice can serve him then. So it is with me." + +"You can at any rate escape from your prison." + +"No;--no. I have a feeling of pride which tells me that as I chose +to become the wife of my husband,--as I insisted on it in opposition +to all my friends,--as I would judge for myself,--I am bound to put +up with my choice. If this had come upon me through the authority of +others, if I had been constrained to marry him, I think I could have +reconciled myself to deserting him. But I did it myself, and I will +abide by it. When he bids me go, I shall go." Poor Mr. Wharton went +to his chambers, and sat there the whole day without taking a book +or a paper into his hands. Could there be no rescue, no protection, +no relief! He turned over in his head various plans, but in a vague +and useless manner. What if the Duke were to prosecute Lopez for the +fraud! What if he could induce Lopez to abandon his wife,--pledging +himself by some deed not to return to her,--for, say, twenty or even +thirty thousand pounds! What if he himself were to carry his daughter +away to the continent, half forcing and half persuading her to make +the journey! Surely there might be some means found by which the +man might be frightened into compliance. But there he sat,--and did +nothing. And in the evening he ate a solitary mutton chop at The +Jolly Blackbird, because he could not bear to face even his club, and +then returned to his chambers,--to the great disgust of the old woman +who had them in charge at nights. And at about midnight he crept away +to his own house, a wretched old man. + +Lopez when he left Manchester Square did not go in search of a new +home for himself and his wife, nor during the whole of the day did +he trouble himself on that subject. He spent most of the day at the +rooms in Coleman Street of the San Juan Mining Association, of which +Mr. Mills Happerton had once been Chairman. There was now another +Chairman and other Directors; but Mr. Mills Happerton's influence had +so far remained with the Company as to enable Lopez to become well +known in the Company's offices, and acknowledged as a claimant for +the office of resident Manager at San Juan in Guatemala. Now the +present project was this,--that Lopez was to start on behalf of the +Company early in May, that the Company was to pay his own personal +expenses out to Guatemala, and that they should allow him while there +a salary of L1000 a year for managing the affairs of the mine. As far +as this offer went, the thing was true enough. It was true that Lopez +had absolutely secured the place. But he had done so subject to the +burden of one very serious stipulation. He was to become proprietor +of 50 shares in the mine, and to pay up L100 each on those shares. It +was considered that the man who was to get L1000 a year in Guatemala +for managing the affair, should at any rate assist the affair, and +show his confidence in the affair to an extent as great as that. Of +course the holder of these 50 shares would be as fully entitled as +any other shareholder to that 20 per cent. which those who promoted +the mine promised as the immediate result of the speculation. + +At first Lopez had hoped that he might be enabled to defer the actual +payment of the L5000 till after he had sailed. When once out in +Guatemala as manager, as manager he would doubtless remain. But by +degrees he found that the payment must actually be made in advance. +Now there was nobody to whom he could apply but Mr. Wharton. He was, +indeed, forced to declare at the office that the money was to come +from Mr. Wharton, and had given some excellent but fictitious reason +why Mr. Wharton would not pay the money till February. + +And in spite of all that had come and gone he still did hope that if +the need to go were actually there he might even yet get the money +from Mr. Wharton. Surely Mr. Wharton would sooner pay such a sum than +be troubled at home with such a son-in-law. Should the worst come to +the worst, of course he could raise the money by consenting to leave +his wife at home. But this was not part of his plan, if he could +avoid it. L5000 would be a very low price at which to sell his wife, +and all that he might get from his connection with her. As long as +he kept her with him he was in possession at any rate of all that Mr. +Wharton would do for her. He had not therefore as yet made his final +application to his father-in-law for the money, having found it +possible to postpone the payment till the middle of February. His +quarrel with Mr. Wharton this morning he regarded as having little or +no effect upon his circumstances. Mr. Wharton would not give him the +money because he loved him, nor yet from personal respect, nor from +any sense of duty as to what he might owe to a son-in-law. It would +be simply given as the price by which his absence might be purchased, +and his absence would not be the less desirable because of this +morning's quarrel. + +But, even yet, he was not quite resolved as to going to Guatemala. +Sexty Parker had been sucked nearly dry, and was in truth at this +moment so violent with indignation and fear and remorse that Lopez +did not dare to show himself in Little Tankard Yard; but still there +were, even yet, certain hopes in that direction from which great +results might come. If a certain new spirit which had just been +concocted from the bark of trees in Central Africa, and which was +called Bios, could only be made to go up in the market, everything +might be satisfactorily arranged. The hoardings of London were +already telling the public that if it wished to get drunk without any +of the usual troubles of intoxication it must drink Bios. The public +no doubt does read the literature of the hoardings, but then it reads +so slowly! This Bios had hardly been twelve months on the boards as +yet! But they were now increasing the size of the letters in the +advertisements and the jocundity of the pictures,--and the thing +might be done. There was, too, another hope,--another hope of instant +moneys by which Guatemala might be staved off, as to which further +explanation shall be given in a further chapter. + +"I suppose I shall find Dixon a decent sort of a fellow?" said Lopez +to the Secretary of the Association in Coleman Street. + +"Rough, you know." + +"But honest?" + +"Oh, yes;--he's all that." + +"If he's honest, and what I call loyal, I don't care a straw for +anything else. One doesn't expect West-end manners in Guatemala. But +I shall have a deal to do with him,--and I hate a fellow that you +can't depend on." + +"Mr. Happerton used to think a great deal of Dixon." + +"That's all right," said Lopez. Mr. Dixon was the underground manager +out at the San Juan mine, and was perhaps as anxious for a loyal and +honest colleague as was Mr. Lopez. If so, Mr. Dixon was very much in +the way to be disappointed. + +Lopez stayed at the office all the day studying the affairs of the +San Juan mine, and then went to the Progress for his dinner. Hitherto +he had taken no steps whatever as to getting lodgings for himself or +for his wife. + + + + +CHAPTER LIII + +Mr. Hartlepod + + +When the time came at which Lopez should have left Manchester Square +he was still there. Mr. Wharton, in discussing the matter with his +daughter,--when wishing to persuade her that she might remain in his +house even in opposition to her husband,--had not told her that he +had actually desired Lopez to leave it. He had then felt sure that +the man would go and would take his wife with him, but he did not +even yet know the obduracy and the cleverness and the impregnability +of his son-in-law. When the time came, when he saw his daughter in +the morning after the notice had been given, he could not bring +himself even yet to say to her that he had issued an order for +his banishment. Days went by and Lopez was still there, and the +old barrister said no further word on the subject. The two men +never met;--or met simply in the hall or passages. Wharton himself +studiously avoided such meetings, thus denying himself the commonest +uses of his own house. At last Emily told him that her husband had +fixed the day for her departure. The next Indian mail-packet by which +they would leave England would start from Southampton on the 2nd of +April, and she was to be ready to go on that day. "How is it to be +till then?" the father asked in a low, uncertain voice. + +"I suppose I may remain with you." + +"And your husband?" + +"He will be here too,--I suppose." + +"Such a misery,--such a destruction of everything no man ever +heard of before!" said Mr. Wharton. To this she made no reply, +but continued working at some necessary preparation for her final +departure. "Emily," he said, "I will make any sacrifice to prevent +it. What can be done? Short of injuring Everett's interests I will do +anything." + +"I do not know," she said. + +"You must understand something of his affairs." + +"Nothing whatever. He has told me nothing of them. In earlier +days,--soon after our marriage,--he bade me get money from you." + +"When you wrote to me for money from Italy?" + +"And after that. I have refused to do anything;--to say a word. I +told him that it must be between you and him. What else could I say? +And now he tells me nothing." + +"I cannot think that he should want you to go with him." Then there +was again a pause. "Is it because he loves you?" + +"Not that, papa." + +"Why then should he burden himself with a companion? His money, +whatever he has, would go further without such impediment." + +"Perhaps he thinks, papa, that while I am with him he has a hold upon +you." + +"He shall have a stronger hold by leaving you. What is he to gain? If +I could only know his price." + +"Ask him, papa." + +"I do not even know how I am to speak to him again." + +Then again there was a pause. "Papa," she said after a while, "I have +done it myself. Let me go. You will still have Everett. And it may be +that after a time I shall come back to you. He will not kill me, and +it may be that I shall not die." + +"By God!" said Mr. Wharton, rising from his chair suddenly, "if there +were money to be made by it, I believe that he would murder you +without scruple." Thus it was that within eighteen months of her +marriage the father spoke to his daughter of her husband. + +"What am I to take with me?" she said to her husband a few days +later. + +"You had better ask your father." + +"Why should I ask him, Ferdinand? How should he know?" + +"And how should I?" + +"I should have thought that you would interest yourself about it." + +"Upon my word I have enough to interest me just at present, without +thinking of your finery. I suppose you mean what clothes you should +have?" + +"I was not thinking of myself only." + +"You need think of nothing else. Ask him what he pleases to allow you +to spend, and then I will tell you what to get." + +"I will never ask him for anything, Ferdinand." + +"Then you may go without anything. You might as well do it at once, +for you will have to do it sooner or later. Or, if you please, go +to his tradesmen and say nothing to him about it. They will give +you credit. You see how it is, my dear. He has cheated me in a most +rascally manner. He has allowed me to marry his daughter, and because +I did not make a bargain with him as another man would have done, he +denies me the fortune I had a right to expect with you. You know that +the Israelites despoiled the Egyptians, and it was taken as a merit +on their part. Your father is an Egyptian to me, and I will despoil +him. You can tell him that I say so if you please." + +And so the days went on till the first week of February had passed, +and Parliament had met. Both Lopez and his wife were still living in +Manchester Square. Not another word had been said as to that notice +to quit, nor an allusion made to it. It was supposed to be a settled +thing that Lopez was to start with his wife for Guatemala in the +first week in April. Mr. Wharton had himself felt that difficulty +as to his daughter's outfit, and had told her that she might get +whatever it pleased her on his credit. "For yourself, my dear." + +"Papa, I will get nothing till he bids me." + +"But you can't go across the world without anything. What are you to +do in such a place as that unless you have the things you want?" + +"What do poor people do who have to go? What should I do if you had +cast me off because of my disobedience?" + +"But I have not cast you off." + +"Tell him that you will give him so much, and then, if he bids me, I +will spend it." + +"Let it be so. I will tell him." + +Upon that Mr. Wharton did speak to his son-in-law;--coming upon him +suddenly one morning in the dining-room. "Emily will want an outfit +if she is to go to this place." + +"Like other people she wants many things that she cannot get." + +"I will tell my tradesmen to furnish her with what she wants, up +to,--well,--suppose I say L200. I have spoken to her and she wants +your sanction." + +"My sanction for spending your money? She can have that very +quickly." + +"You can tell her so;--or I will do so." + +Upon that Mr. Wharton was going, but Lopez stopped him. It was now +essential that the money for the shares in the San Juan mine should +be paid up, and his father-in-law's pocket was still the source from +which the enterprising son-in-law hoped to procure it. Lopez had +fully made up his mind to demand it, and thought that the time had +now come. And he was resolved that he would not ask it as a favour on +bended knee. He was beginning to feel his own power, and trusted that +he might prevail by other means than begging. "Mr. Wharton," he said, +"you and I have not been very good friends lately." + +"No, indeed." + +"There was a time,--a very short time,--during which I thought that +we might hit it off together, and I did my best. You do not, I fancy, +like men of my class." + +"Well;--well! You had better go on if there be anything to say." + +"I have much to say, and I will go on. You are a rich man, and I am +your son-in-law." Mr. Wharton put his left hand up to his forehead, +brushing the few hairs back from his head, but he said nothing. "Had +I received from you during the last most vital year that assistance +which I think I had a right to expect, I also might have been a rich +man now. It is no good going back to that." Then he paused, but still +Mr. Wharton said nothing. "Now you know what has come to me and to +your daughter. We are to be expatriated." + +"Is that my fault?" + +"I think it is, but I mean to say nothing further of that. This +Company which is sending me out, and which will probably be the most +thriving thing of the kind which has come up within these twenty +years, is to pay me a salary of L1000 a year as resident manager at +San Juan." + +"So I understand." + +"The salary alone would be a beggarly thing. Guatemala, I take it, is +not the cheapest country in the world in which a man can live. But I +am to go out as the owner of fifty shares on which L100 each must be +paid up, and I am entitled to draw another L1000 a year as dividend +on the profit of those shares." + +"That will be twenty per cent." + +"Exactly." + +"And will double your salary." + +"Just so. But there is one little ceremony to be perfected before I +can be allowed to enter upon so halcyon a state of existence. The +L100 a share must be paid up." Mr. Wharton simply stared at him. "I +must have the L5000 to invest in the undertaking before I can start." + +"Well!" + +"Now I have not got L5000 myself, nor any part of it. You do not +wish, I suppose, to see either me or your daughter starve. And as +for me, I hardly flatter myself when I say that you are very anxious +to be rid of me. L5000 is not very much for me to ask of you, as I +regard it." + +"Such consummate impudence I never met in my life before!" + +"Nor perhaps so much unprevaricating downright truth. At any rate +such is the condition of my affairs. If I am to go the money must be +paid this week. I have, perhaps foolishly, put off mentioning the +matter till I was sure that I could not raise the sum elsewhere. +Though I feel my claim on you to be good, Mr. Wharton, it is not +pleasant to me to make it." + +"You are asking me for L5000 down!" + +"Certainly I am." + +"What security am I to have?" + +"Security?" + +"Yes;--that if I pay it I shall not be troubled again by the meanest +scoundrel that it has ever been my misfortune to meet. How am I to +know that you will not come back to-morrow? How am I to know that you +will go at all? Do you think it probable that I will give you L5000 +on your own simple word?" + +"Then the scoundrel will stay in England,--and will generally find it +convenient to live in Manchester Square." + +"I'll be d----d if he does. Look here, sir. Between you and me +there can be a bargain, and nothing but a bargain. I will pay the +L5000,--on certain conditions." + +"I didn't doubt at all that you would pay it." + +"I will go with you to the office of this Company, and will pay for +the shares if I can receive assurance there that the matter is as you +say, and that the shares will not be placed in your power before you +have reached Guatemala." + +"You can come to-day, sir, and receive all that assurance." + +"And I must have a written undertaking from you,--a document which my +daughter can show if it be necessary,--that you will never claim her +society again or trouble her with any application." + +"You mistake me, Mr. Wharton. My wife goes with me to Guatemala." + +"Then I will not pay one penny. Why should I? What is your presence +or absence to me except as it concerns her? Do you think that I care +for your threats of remaining here? The police will set that right." + +"Wherever I go, my wife goes." + +"We'll see to that too. If you want the money, you must leave her. +Good morning." + +Mr. Wharton as he went to his chambers thought the matter over. He +was certainly willing to risk the L5000 demanded if he could rid +himself and his daughter of this terrible incubus, even if it were +only for a time. If Lopez would but once go to Guatemala, leaving his +wife behind him, it would be comparatively easy to keep them apart +should he ever return. The difficulty now was not in him but in her. +The man's conduct had been so outrageous, so bare-faced, so cruel, +that the lawyer did not doubt but that he could turn the husband +out of his house, and keep the wife, even now, were it not that she +was determined to obey the man whom she, in opposition to all her +friends, had taken as her master. "I have done it myself, and I will +bear it," was all the answer she would make when her father strove +to persuade her to separate herself from her husband. "You have got +Everett," she would say. "When a girl is married she is divided from +her family;--and I am divided." But she would willingly stay if Lopez +would bid her stay. It now seemed that he could not go without the +L5000; and, when the pressure came upon him, surely he would go and +leave his wife. + +In the course of that day Mr. Wharton went to the offices of the +San Juan mine and asked to see the Director. He was shown up into +a half-furnished room, two stories high, in Coleman Street, where +he found two clerks sitting upon stools;--and when he asked for the +Director was shown into the back room in which sat the Secretary. The +Secretary was a dark, plump little man with a greasy face, who had +the gift of assuming an air of great importance as he twisted his +chair round to face visitors who came to inquire about the San Juan +Mining Company. His name was Hartlepod; and if the San Juan mine +"turned out trumps," as he intended that it should, Mr. Hartlepod +meant to be a great man in the City. To Mr. Hartlepod Mr. Wharton, +with considerable embarrassment, explained as much of the joint +history of himself and Lopez as he found to be absolutely necessary. +"He has only left the office about half-an-hour," said Mr. Hartlepod. + +"Of course you understand that he is my son-in-law." + +"He has mentioned your name to us, Mr. Wharton, before now." + +"And he is going out to Guatemala?" + +"Oh yes;--he's going out. Has he not told you as much himself?" + +"Certainly, sir. And he has told me that he is desirous of buying +certain shares in the Company before he starts." + +"Probably, Mr. Wharton." + +"Indeed, I believe he cannot go unless he buys them." + +"That may be so, Mr. Wharton. No doubt he has told you all that +himself." + +"The fact is, Mr. Hartlepod, I am willing, under certain +stipulations, to advance him the money." Mr. Hartlepod bowed. "I +need not trouble you with private affairs between myself and my +son-in-law." Again the Secretary bowed. "But it seems to be for his +interest that he should go." + +"A very great opening indeed, Mr. Wharton. I don't see how a man is +to have a better opening. A fine salary! His expenses out paid! One +of the very best things that has come up for many years! And as for +the capital he is to embark in the affair, he is as safe to get 20 +per cent. on it,--as safe,--as safe as the Bank of England." + +"He'll have the shares?" + +"Oh yes;--the scrip will be handed to him at once." + +"And,--and--" + +"If you mean about the mine, Mr. Wharton, you may take my word that +it's all real. It's not one of those sham things that melt away like +snow and leave the shareholders nowhere. There's the prospectus, Mr. +Wharton. Perhaps you have not seen that before. Take it away and +cast your eye over it at your leisure." Mr. Wharton put the somewhat +lengthy pamphlet into his pocket. "Look at the list of Directors. +We've three members of Parliament, a baronet, and one or two City +names that are as good--as good as the Bank of England. If that +prospectus won't make a man confident I don't know what will. Why, +Mr. Wharton, you don't think that your son-in-law would get those +fifty shares at par unless he was going out as our general local +manager. The shares ain't to be had. It's a large concern as far as +capital goes. You'll see if you look. About a quarter of a million +paid up. But it's all in a box as one may say. It's among ourselves. +The shares ain't in the market. Of course it's not for me to say what +should be done between you and your son-in-law. Lopez is a friend +of mine, and a man I esteem, and all that. Nevertheless I shouldn't +think of advising you to do this or that,--or not to do it. But when +you talk of safety, Mr. Wharton,--why, Mr. Wharton, I don't scruple +to tell you as a man who knows what these things are, that this is +an opportunity that doesn't come in a man's way perhaps twice in his +life." + +Mr. Wharton found that he had nothing more to say, and went back to +Lincoln's Inn. He knew very well that Mr. Hartlepod's assurances +were not worth much. Mr. Hartlepod himself and his belongings, the +clerks in his office, the look of the rooms, and the very nature of +the praises which he had sung, all of them inspired anything but +confidence. Mr. Wharton was a man of the world; and, though he knew +nothing of City ways, was quite aware that no man in his senses would +lay out L5000 on the mere word of Mr. Hartlepod. But still he was +inclined to make the payment. If only he could secure the absence +of Lopez,--if he could be sure that Lopez would in truth go to +Guatemala, and if also he could induce the man to go without his +wife, he would risk the money. The money would, of course, be thrown +away,--but he would throw it away. Lopez no doubt had declared that +he would not go without his wife, even though the money were paid +for him. But the money was an alluring sum! As the pressure upon the +man became greater, Mr. Wharton thought he would probably consent to +leave his wife behind him. + +In his emergency the barrister went to his attorney and told him +everything. The two lawyers were closeted together for an hour, and +Mr. Wharton's last words to his old friend were as follows:--"I will +risk the money, Walker, or rather I will consent absolutely to throw +it away,--as it will be thrown away,--if it can be managed that he +shall in truth go to this place without his wife." + + + + +CHAPTER LIV + +Lizzie + + +It cannot be supposed that Ferdinand Lopez at this time was a very +happy man. He had, at any rate, once loved his wife, and would have +loved her still could he have trained her to think as he thought, +to share his wishes, and "to put herself into the same boat with +him,"--as he was wont to describe the unison and sympathy which he +required from her. To give him his due, he did not know that he was +a villain. When he was exhorting her to "get round her father" he +was not aware that he was giving her lessons which must shock a +well-conditioned girl. He did not understand that everything that she +had discovered of his moral disposition since her marriage was of a +nature to disgust her. And, not understanding all this, he conceived +that he was grievously wronged by her in that she adhered to her +father rather than to him. This made him unhappy, and doubly +disappointed him. He had neither got the wife that he had expected +nor the fortune. But he still thought that the fortune must come if +he would only hold on to the wife which he had got. + +And then everything had gone badly with him since his marriage. He +was apt, when thinking over his affairs, to attribute all this to the +fears and hesitation and parsimony of Sexty Parker. None of his late +ventures with Sexty Parker had been successful. And now Sexty was in +a bad condition, very violent, drinking hard, declaring himself to +be a ruined man, and swearing that if this and that were not done +he would have bitter revenge. Sexty still believed in the wealth of +his partner's father-in-law, and still had some hope of salvation +from that source. Lopez would declare to him, and up to this very +time persevered in protesting, that salvation was to be found in +Bios. If Sexty would only risk two or three thousand pounds more +upon Bios,--or his credit to that amount, failing the immediate +money,--things might still be right. "Bios be d----," said Sexty, +uttering a string of heavy imprecations. On that morning he had been +trusting to native produce rather than to the new African spirit. But +now as the Guatemala scheme really took form and loomed on Lopez's +eyesight as a thing that might be real, he endeavoured to keep out of +Sexty's way. But in vain; Sexty too had heard of Guatemala, and in +his misery hunted Lopez about the city. "By G----, I believe you're +afraid to come to Little Tankard Yard," he said one day, having +caught his victim under the equestrian statue in front of the +Exchange. + +"What is the good of my coming when you will do nothing when I am +there?" + +"I'll tell you what it is, Lopez,--you're not going out of the +country about this mining business, if I know it." + +"Who said I was?" + +"I'll put a spoke in your wheel there, my man. I'll give a written +account of all the dealings between us to the Directors. By G----, +they shall know their man." + +"You're an ass, Sexty, and always were. Look here. If I can carry +on as though I were going to this place, I can draw L5000 from +old Wharton. He has already offered it. He has treated me with a +stinginess that I never knew equalled. Had he done what I had a right +to expect, you and I would have been rich men now. But at last I have +got a hold upon him up to L5000. As you and I stand, pretty nearly +the whole of that will go to you. But don't you spoil it all by +making an ass of yourself." + +Sexty, who was three parts drunk, looked up into his face for a few +seconds, and then made his reply. "I'm d----d if I believe a word of +it." Upon this Lopez affected to laugh, and then made his escape. + +All this, as I have said, did not tend to make his life happy. Though +he had impudence enough, and callousness of conscience enough, to get +his bills paid by Mr. Wharton as often as he could, he was not quite +easy in his mind while doing so. His ambition had never been high, +but it had soared higher than that. He had had great hopes. He had +lived with some high people. He had dined with lords and ladies. +He had been the guest of a Duchess. He had married the daughter of +a gentleman. He had nearly been a member of Parliament. He still +belonged to what he considered to be a first-rate club. From a great +altitude he looked down upon Sexty Parker and men of Sexty's class, +because of his social successes, and because he knew how to talk and +to look like a gentleman. It was unpleasant to him, therefore, to be +driven to the life he was now living. And the idea of going out to +Guatemala and burying himself in a mine in Central America was not to +him a happy idea. In spite of all that he had done he had still some +hope that he might avoid that banishment. He had spoken the truth +to Sexty Parker in saying that he intended to get the L5000 from +Mr. Wharton without that terrible personal sacrifice, though he had +hardly spoken the truth when he assured his friend that the greater +portion of that money would go to him. There were many schemes +fluctuating through his brain, and all accompanied by many doubts. +If he could get Mr. Wharton's money by giving up his wife, should he +consent to give her up? In either case should he stay or should he +go? Should he run one further great chance with Bios,--and if so, by +whose assistance? And if he should at last decide that he would do so +by the aid of a certain friend that was yet left to him, should he +throw himself at that friend's feet, the friend being a lady, and +propose to desert his wife and begin the world again with her? For +the lady in question was a lady in possession, as he believed, of +very large means. Or should he cut his throat and have done at once +with all his troubles, acknowledging to himself that his career +had been a failure, and that, therefore, it might be brought with +advantage to an end? "After all," said he to himself, "that may be +the best way of winding up a bankrupt concern." + +Our old friend Lady Eustace, in these days, lived in a very small +house in a very small street bordering upon May Fair; but the street, +though very small, and having disagreeable relations with a mews, +still had an air of fashion about it. And with her lived the widow, +Mrs. Leslie, who had introduced her to Mrs. Dick Roby, and through +Mrs. Roby to Ferdinand Lopez. Lady Eustace was in the enjoyment of a +handsome income, as I hope that some of my readers may remember,--and +this income, during the last year or two, she had learned to foster, +if not with much discretion, at any rate with great zeal. During +her short life she had had many aspirations. Love, poetry, sport, +religion, fashion, Bohemianism had all been tried; but in each crisis +there had been a certain care for wealth which had saved her from the +folly of squandering what she had won by her early energies in the +pursuit of her then prevailing passion. She had given her money to no +lover, had not lost it on race-courses, or in building churches;--nor +even had she materially damaged her resources by servants and +equipages. At the present time she was still young, and still +pretty,--though her hair and complexion took rather more time than +in the days when she won Sir Florian Eustace. She still liked a +lover,--or perhaps two,--though she had thoroughly convinced herself +that a lover may be bought too dear. She could still ride a horse, +though hunting regularly was too expensive for her. She could +talk religion if she could find herself close to a well-got-up +clergyman,--being quite indifferent as to the denomination of the +religion. But perhaps a wild dash for a time into fast vulgarity was +what in her heart of hearts she liked best,--only that it was so +difficult to enjoy that pleasure without risk of losing everything. +And then, together with these passions, and perhaps above them all, +there had lately sprung up in the heart of Lady Eustace a desire to +multiply her means by successful speculation. This was the friend +with whom Lopez had lately become intimate, and by whose aid he hoped +to extricate himself from some of his difficulties. + +Poor as he was he had contrived to bribe Mrs. Leslie by handsome +presents out of Bond Street;--for, as he still lived in Manchester +Square, and was the undoubted son-in-law of Mr. Wharton, his credit +was not altogether gone. In the giving of these gifts no purport was, +of course, named, but Mrs. Leslie was probably aware that her good +word with her friend was expected. "I only know what I used to hear +from Mrs. Roby," Mrs. Leslie said to her friend. "He was mixed up +with Hunkey's people, who roll in money; Old Wharton wouldn't have +given him his daughter if he had not been doing well." + +"It's very hard to be sure," said Lizzie Eustace. + +"He looks like a man who'd know how to feather his own nest," said +Mrs. Leslie. "Don't you think he's very handsome?" + +"I don't know that he's likely to do the better for that." + +"Well; no; but there are men of whom you are sure, when you look at +them, that they'll be successful. I don't suppose he was anything to +begin with, but see where he is now!" + +"I believe you are in love with him, my dear," said Lizzie Eustace. + +"Not exactly. I don't know that he has given me any provocation. But +I don't see why a woman shouldn't be in love with him if she likes. +He is a deal nicer than those fair-haired men who haven't got a +word to say to you, and yet look as though you ought to jump down +their mouths;--like that fellow you were trying to talk to last +night;--that Mr. Fletcher. He could just jerk out three words at a +time, and yet he was proud as Lucifer. I like a man who if he likes +me is neither ashamed nor afraid to say so." + +"There is a romance there, you know. Mr. Fletcher was in love with +Emily Wharton, and she threw him over for Lopez. They say he has not +held up his head since." + +"She was quite right," said Mrs. Leslie. "But she is one of those +stiff-necked creatures who are set up with pride though they have +nothing to be proud of. I suppose she had a lot of money. Lopez would +never have taken her without." + +When, therefore, Lopez called one day at the little house in the +little street he was not an unwelcome visitor. Mrs. Leslie was in +the drawing-room, but soon left it after his arrival. He had of late +been often there, and when he at once introduced the subject on which +he was himself intent it was not unexpected. "Seven thousand five +hundred pounds!" said Lizzie, after listening to the proposition +which he had come to make. "That is a very large sum of money!" + +"Yes;--it's a large sum of money. It's a large affair. I'm in it to +rather more than that, I believe." + +"How are you to get people to drink it?" she asked after a pause. + +"By telling them that they ought to drink it. Advertise it. It has +become a certainty now that if you will only advertise sufficiently +you may make a fortune by selling anything. Only the interest on +the money expended increases in so large a ratio in accordance with +the magnitude of the operation! If you spend a few hundreds in +advertising you throw them away. A hundred thousand pounds well laid +out makes a certainty of anything." + +"What am I to get to show for my money;--I mean immediately, you +know?" + +"Registered shares in the Company." + +"The Bios Company?" + +"No;--we did propose to call ourselves Parker and Co., limited. I +think we shall change the name. They will probably use my name. Lopez +and Co., limited." + +"But it's all for Bios?" + +"Oh yes;--all for Bios." + +"And it's to come from Central Africa?" + +"It will be rectified in London, you know. Some English spirit will +perhaps be mixed. But I must not tell you the secrets of the trade +till you join us. That Bios is distilled from the bark of the +Duffer-tree is a certainty." + +"Have you drank any?" + +"I've tasted it." + +"Is it nice?" + +"Very nice;--rather sweet, you know, and will be the better for +mixing." + +"Gin?" suggested her ladyship. + +"Perhaps so,--or whisky. I think I may say that you can't do very +much better with your money. You know I would not say this to you +were it not true. In such a matter I treat you just as if,--as if you +were my sister." + +"I know how good you are,--but seven thousand five hundred! I +couldn't raise so much as that just at present." + +"There are to be six shares," said Lopez, "making L45,000 capital. +Would you consent to take a share jointly with me? That would be +three thousand seven hundred and fifty." + +"But you have a share already," said Lizzie suspiciously. + +"I should then divide that with Mr. Parker. We intend to register at +any rate as many as nine partners. Would you object to hold it with +me?" Lopez, as he asked the question, looked at her as though he were +offering her half his heart. + +"No," said Lizzie, slowly, "I don't suppose I should object to that." + +"I should be doubly eager about the affair if I were in partnership +with you." + +"It's such a venture." + +"Nothing venture nothing have." + +"But I've got something as it is, Mr. Lopez, and I don't want to lose +it all." + +"There's no chance of that if you join us." + +"You think Bios is so sure!" + +"Quite safe," said Lopez. + +"You must give me a little more time to think about it," said Lady +Eustace at last, panting with anxiety, struggling with herself, +anxious for the excitement which would come to her from dealing in +Bios, but still fearing to risk her money. + +This had taken place immediately after Mr. Wharton's offer of the +L5000, in making which he had stipulated that Emily should be left at +home. Then a few days went by, and Lopez was pressed for his money at +the office of the San Juan mine. Did he or did he not mean to take up +the mining shares allotted to him? If he did mean to do so, he must +do it at once. He swore by all his gods that of course he meant to +take them up. Had not Mr. Wharton himself been at the office saying +that he intended to pay for them? Was not that sufficient guarantee? +They knew well enough that Mr. Wharton was a man to whom the raising +of L5000 could be a matter of no difficulty. But they did not know, +never could know, how impossible it was to get anything done by Mr. +Wharton. But Mr. Wharton had promised to pay for the shares, and when +money was concerned his word would surely suffice. Mr. Hartlepod, +backed by two of the Directors, said that if the thing was to go on +at all, the money must really be paid at once. But the conference was +ended by allowing the new local manager another fortnight in which to +complete the arrangement. + +Lopez allowed four days to pass by, during each of which he was +closeted for a time with Lady Eustace, and then made an attempt to +get at Mr. Wharton through his wife. "Your father has said that he +will pay the money for me," said Lopez. + +"If he has said so he certainly will do it." + +"But he has promised it on the condition that you should remain +at home. Do you wish to desert your husband?" To this she made no +immediate answer. "Are you already anxious to be rid of me?" + +"I should prefer to remain at home," she said in a very low voice. + +"Then you do wish to desert your husband?" + +"What is the use of all this, Ferdinand? You do not love me. You did +not marry me because I loved you." + +"By heaven I did;--for that and that only." + +"And how have you treated me?" + +"What have I done to you?" + +"But I do not mean to make accusations, Ferdinand. I should only add +to our miseries by that. We should be happier apart." + +"Not I. Nor is that my idea of marriage. Tell your father that you +wish to go with me, and then he will let us have the money." + +"I will tell him no lie, Ferdinand. If you bid me go, I will go. +Where you find a home I must find one too if it be your pleasure to +take me. But I will not ask my father to give you money because it is +my pleasure to go. Were I to say so he would not believe me." + +"It is you who have told him to give it me only on the condition of +your staying." + +"I have told him nothing. He knows that I do not wish to go. He +cannot but know that. But he knows that I mean to go if you require +it." + +"And you will do nothing for me?" + +"Nothing,--in regard to my father." He raised his fist with the +thought of striking her, and she saw the motion. But his arm fell +again to his side. He had not quite come to that yet. "Surely you +will have the charity to tell me whether I am to go, if it be fixed," +she said. + +"Have I not told you so twenty times?" + +"Then it is fixed." + +"Yes;--it is fixed. Your father will tell you about your things. +He has promised you some beggarly sum,--about as much as a +tallow-chandler would give his daughter." + +"Whatever he does for me will be sufficient for me. I am not afraid +of my father, Ferdinand." + +"You shall be afraid of me before I have done with you," said he, +leaving the room. + +Then as he sat at his club, dining there alone, there came across +his mind ideas of what the world would be like to him if he could +leave his wife at home and take Lizzie Eustace with him to Guatemala. +Guatemala was very distant, and it would matter little there whether +the woman he brought with him was his wife or no. It was clear enough +to him that his wife desired no more of his company. What were the +conventions of the world to him? This other woman had money at her +own command. He could not make it his own because he could not marry +her, but he fancied that it might be possible to bring her so far +under his control as to make the money almost as good as his own. +Mr. Wharton's money was very hard to reach, and would be as hard to +reach,--perhaps harder,--when Mr. Wharton was dead, as now, during +his life. He had said a good deal to the lady since the interview of +which a report has been given. She had declared herself to be afraid +of Bios. She did not in the least doubt that great things might be +ultimately done with Bios, but she did not quite see the way with her +small capital,--thus humbly did she speak of her wealth,--to be one +of those who should take the initiative in the matter. Bios evidently +required a great deal of advertisement, and Lizzie Eustace had a +short-sighted objection to expend what money she had saved on the +hoardings of London. Then he opened to her the glories of Guatemala, +not contenting himself with describing the certainty of the 20 per +cent., but enlarging on the luxurious happiness of life in a country +so golden, so green, so gorgeous, and so grand. It had been the +very apple of the eye of the old Spaniards. In Guatemala, he said, +Cortez and Pizarro had met and embraced. They might have done so for +anything Lizzie Eustace knew to the contrary. And here our hero took +advantage of his name. Don Diego di Lopez had been the first to raise +the banner of freedom in Guatemala when the kings of Spain became +tyrants to their American subjects. All is fair in love and war, and +Lizzie amidst the hard business of her life still loved a dash of +romance. Yes, he was about to change the scene and try his fortune in +that golden, green, and gorgeous country. "You will take your wife of +course," Lady Eustace had said. Then Lopez had smiled, and shrugging +his shoulders had left the room. + +It was certainly the fact that she could not eat him. Other men +before Lopez have had to pick up what courage they could in their +attacks upon women by remembering that fact. She had flirted with him +in a very pleasant way, mixing up her prettiness and her percentages +in a manner that was peculiar to herself. He did not know her, and he +knew that he did not know her;--but still there was the chance. She +had thrown his wife more than once in his face, after the fashion of +women when they are wooed by married men since the days of Cleopatra +downwards. But he had taken that simply as encouragement. He had +already let her know that his wife was a vixen who troubled his life. +Lizzie had given him her sympathy, and had almost given him a tear. +"But I am not a man to be broken-hearted because I have made a +mistake," said Lopez. "Marriage vows are very well, but they shall +never bind me to misery." "Marriage vows are not very well. They may +be very ill," Lizzie had replied, remembering certain passages in her +own life. + +There was no doubt about her money, and certainly she could not eat +him. The fortnight allowed him by the San Juan Company had nearly +gone by when he called at the little house in the little street, +resolved to push his fortune in that direction without fear and +without hesitation. Mrs. Leslie again took her departure, leaving +them together, and Lizzie allowed her friend to go, although the last +words that Lopez had spoken had been, as he thought, a fair prelude +to the words he intended to speak to-day. "And what do you think of +it?" he said, taking both her hands in his. + +"Think of what?" + +"Of our Spanish venture." + +"Have you given up Bios, my friend?" + +"No; certainly not," said Lopez, seating himself beside her. "I have +not taken the other half share, but I have kept my old venture in the +scheme. I believe in Bios, you know." + +"Ah;--it is so nice to believe." + +"But I believe more firmly in the country to which I am going." + +"You are going then?" + +"Yes, my friend;--I am going. The allurements are too strong to +be resisted. Think of that climate and of this." He probably had +not heard of the mosquitoes of Central America when he so spoke. +"Remember that an income which gives you comfort here will there +produce for you every luxury which wealth can purchase. It is to be +a king there, or to be but very common among commoners here." + +"And yet England is a dear old country." + +"Have you found it so? Think of the wrongs which you have +endured;--of the injuries which you have suffered." + +"Yes, indeed." For Lizzie Eustace had gone through hard days in her +time. + +"I certainly will fly from such a country to those golden shores on +which man may be free and unshackled." + +"And your wife?" + +"Oh, Lizzie!" It was the first time that he had called her Lizzie, +and she was apparently neither shocked nor abashed. Perhaps he +thought too much of this, not knowing how many men had called her +Lizzie in her time. "Do not you at least understand that a man or a +woman may undergo that tie, and yet be justified in disregarding it +altogether?" + +"Oh, yes;--if there has been bigamy, or divorce, or anything of that +kind." Now Lizzie had convicted her second husband of bigamy, and had +freed herself after that fashion. + +"To h---- with their prurient laws," said Lopez, rising suddenly from +his chair. "I will neither appeal to them nor will I obey them. And +I expect from you as little subservience as I myself am prepared to +pay. Lizzie Eustace, will you go with me, to that land of the sun, + + + _Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle, + Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime?_ + + +Will you dare to escape with me from the cold conventionalities, from +the miserable thraldom of this country bound in swaddling cloths? +Lizzie Eustace, if you will say the word, I will take you to that +land of glorious happiness." + +But Lizzie Eustace had L4000 a year and a balance at her banker's. +"Mr. Lopez," she said. + +"What answer have you to make me?" + +"Mr. Lopez, I think you must be a fool." + +He did at last succeed in getting himself into the street, and at any +rate she had not eaten him. + + + + +CHAPTER LV + +Mrs. Parker's Sorrows + + +The end of February had come, and as far as Mrs. Lopez knew she was +to start for Guatemala in a month's time. And yet there was so much +of indecision in her husband's manner, and apparently so little done +by him in regard to personal preparation, that she could hardly bring +herself to feel certain that she would have to make the journey. From +day to day her father would ask her whether she had made her intended +purchases, and she would tell him that she had still postponed the +work. Then he would say no more, for he himself was hesitating, +doubtful what he would do, and still thinking that when at last the +time should come, he would buy his daughter's release at any price +that might be demanded. Mr. Walker, the attorney, had as yet been +able to manage nothing. He had seen Lopez more than once, and had +also seen Mr. Hartlepod. Mr. Hartlepod had simply told him that he +would be very happy to register the shares on behalf of Lopez as soon +as the money was paid. Lopez had been almost insolent in his bearing. +"Did Mr. Wharton think," he asked, "that he was going to sell his +wife for L5000?" "I think you'll have to raise your offer," Mr. +Walker had said to Mr. Wharton. That was all very well. Mr. Wharton +was willing enough to raise his offer. He would have doubled his +offer could he thereby have secured the annihilation of Lopez. "I +will raise it if he will go without his wife, and give her a written +assurance that he will never trouble her again." But the arrangement +was one which Mr. Walker found it very difficult to carry out. So +things went on till the end of February had come. + +And during all this time Lopez was still resident in Mr. Wharton's +house. "Papa," she said to him one day, "this is the cruellest thing +of all. Why don't you tell him that he must go?" + +"Because he would take you with him." + +"It would be better so. I could come to see you." + +"I did tell him to go,--in my passion. I repented of it instantly, +because I should have lost you. But what did my telling matter to +him? He was very indignant, and yet he is still here." + +"You told him to go?" + +"Yes;--but I am glad that he did not obey me. There must be an end to +this soon, I suppose." + +"I do not know, papa." + +"Do you think that he will not go?" + +"I feel that I know nothing, papa. You must not let him stay here +always, you know." + +"And what will become of you when he goes?" + +"I must go with him. Why should you be sacrificed also? I will tell +him that he must leave the house. I am not afraid of him, papa." + +"Not yet, my dear;--not yet. We will see." + +At this time Lopez declared his purpose one day of dining at the +Progress, and Mr. Wharton took advantage of the occasion to remain +at home with his daughter. Everett was now expected, and there was a +probability that he might come on this evening. Mr. Wharton therefore +returned from his chambers early; but when he reached the house he +was told that there was a woman in the dining-room with Mrs. Lopez. +The servant did not know what woman. She had asked to see Mrs. Lopez, +and Mrs. Lopez had gone down to her. + +The woman in the dining-room was Mrs. Parker. She had called at the +house at about half-past five, and Emily had at once come down when +summoned by tidings that a "lady" wanted to see her. Servants have a +way of announcing a woman as a lady, which clearly expresses their +own opinion that the person in question is not a lady. So it had +been on the present occasion, but Mrs. Lopez had at once gone to her +visitor. "Oh, Mrs. Parker, I am so glad to see you. I hope you are +well." + +"Indeed, then, Mrs. Lopez, I am very far from well. No poor woman, +who is the mother of five children, was ever farther from being well +than I am." + +"Is anything wrong?" + +"Wrong, ma'am! Everything is wrong. When is Mr. Lopez going to pay my +husband all the money he has took from him?" + +"Has he taken money?" + +"Taken! he has taken everything. He has shorn my husband as bare as a +board. We're ruined, Mrs. Lopez, and it's your husband has done it. +When we were at Dovercourt, I told you how it was going to be. His +business has left him, and now there is nothing. What are we to do?" +The woman was seated on a chair, leaning forward with her two hands +on her knees. The day was wet, the streets were half mud and half +snow, and the poor woman, who had made her way through the slush, was +soiled and wet. "I look to you to tell me what me and my children is +to do. He's your husband, Mrs. Lopez." + +"Yes, Mrs. Parker; he is my husband." + +"Why couldn't he let Sexty alone? Why should the like of him be +taking the bread out of my children's mouths? What had we ever done +to him? You're rich." + +"Indeed I am not, Mrs. Parker." + +"Yes, you are. You're living here in a grand house, and your father's +made of money. You'll know nothing of want, let the worst come to +the worst. What are we to do, Mrs. Lopez? I'm the wife of that poor +creature, and you're the wife of the man that has ruined him. What +are we to do, Mrs. Lopez?" + +"I do not understand my husband's business, Mrs. Parker." + +"You're one with him, ain't you? If anybody had ever come to me and +said my husband had robbed him, I'd never have stopped till I knew +the truth of it. If any woman had ever said to me that Parker had +taken the bread out of her children's mouths, do you think that I'd +sit as you are sitting? I tell you that Lopez has robbed us,--has +robbed us, and taken everything." + +"What can I say, Mrs. Parker;--what can I do?" + +"Where is he?" + +"He is not here. He is dining at his club." + +"Where is that? I will go there and shame him before them all. Don't +you feel no shame? Because you've got things comfortable here, I +suppose it's all nothing to you. You don't care, though my children +were starving in the gutter,--as they will do." + +"If you knew me, Mrs. Parker, you wouldn't speak to me like that." + +"Know you! Of course I know you. You're a lady, and your father's a +rich man, and your husband thinks no end of himself. And we're poor +people, so it don't matter whether we're robbed and ruined or not. +That's about it." + +"If I had anything, I'd give you all that I had." + +"And he's taken to drinking that hard that he's never rightly sober +from morning to night." As she told this story of her husband's +disgrace, the poor woman burst into tears. "Who's to trust him with +business now? He's that broken-hearted that he don't know which way +to turn,--only to the bottle. And Lopez has done it all,--done it +all! I haven't got a father, ma'am, who has got a house over his +head for me and my babies. Only think if you was turned out into the +street with your babby, as I am like to be." + +"I have no baby," said the wretched woman through her tears and sobs. + +"Haven't you, Mrs. Lopez? Oh dear!" exclaimed the soft-hearted woman, +reduced at once to pity. "How was it then?" + +"He died, Mrs. Parker,--just a few days after he was born." + +"Did he now? Well, well. We all have our troubles, I suppose." + +"I have mine, I know," said Emily, "and very, very heavy they are. I +cannot tell you what I have to suffer." + +"Isn't he good to you?" + +"I cannot talk about it, Mrs. Parker. What you tell me about yourself +has added greatly to my sorrows. My husband is talking of going +away,--to live out of England." + +"Yes, at a place they call--I forget what they call it, but I heard +it." + +"Guatemala,--in America." + +"I know. Sexty told me. He has no business to go anywhere, while he +owes Sexty such a lot of money. He has taken everything, and now he's +going to Kattymaly!" At this moment Mr. Wharton knocked at the door +and entered the room. As he did so Mrs. Parker got up and curtseyed. + +"This is my father, Mrs. Parker," said Emily. "Papa, this is Mrs. +Parker. She is the wife of Mr. Parker, who was Ferdinand's partner. +She has come here with bad news." + +"Very bad news indeed, sir," said Mrs. Parker, curtseying again. Mr. +Wharton frowned, not as being angry with the woman, but feeling that +some further horror was to be told him of his son-in-law. "I can't +help coming, sir," continued Mrs. Parker. "Where am I to go if I +don't come? Mr. Lopez, sir, has ruined us root and branch,--root and +branch." + +"That at any rate is not my fault," said Mr. Wharton. + +"But she is his wife, sir. Where am I to go if not to where he lives? +Am I to put up with everything gone, and my poor husband in the right +way to go to Bedlam, and not to say a word about it to the grand +relations of him who did it all?" + +"He is a bad man," said Mr. Wharton. "I cannot make him otherwise." + +"Will he do nothing for us?" + +"I will tell you all I know about him." Then Mr. Wharton did tell +her all that he knew, as to the appointment at Guatemala and the +amount of salary which was to be attached to it. "Whether he will do +anything for you, I cannot say;--I should think not, unless he be +forced. I should advise you to go to the offices of the Company in +Coleman Street and try to make some terms there. But I fear,--I fear +it will be all useless." + +"Then we may starve." + +"It is not her fault," said Mr. Wharton, pointing to his daughter. +"She has had no hand in it. She knows less of it all than you do." + +"It is my fault," said Emily, bursting out into self-reproach,--"my +fault that I married him." + +"Whether married or single he would have preyed upon Mr. Parker to +the same extent." + +"Like enough," said the poor wife. "He'd prey upon anybody as he +could get a-hold of. And so, Mr. Wharton, you think that you can do +nothing for me." + +"If your want be immediate I can relieve it," said the barrister. +Mrs. Parker did not like the idea of accepting direct charity, but, +nevertheless, on going away did take the five sovereigns which Mr. +Wharton offered to her. + +After such an interview as that the dinner between the father and the +daughter was not very happy. She was eaten up by remorse. Gradually +she had learned how frightful was the thing she had done in giving +herself to a man of whom she had known nothing. And it was not only +that she had degraded herself by loving such a man, but that she had +been persistent in clinging to him though her father and all his +friends had told her of the danger which she was running. And now +it seemed that she had destroyed her father as well as herself! All +that she could do was to be persistent in her prayer that he would +let her go. "I have done it," she said that night, "and I could bear +it better, if you would let me bear it alone." But he only kissed +her, and sobbed over her, and held her close to his heart with his +clinging arms,--in a manner in which he had never held her in their +old happy days. + +He took himself to his own rooms before Lopez returned, but she of +course had to bear her husband's presence. As she had declared to +her father more than once, she was not afraid of him. Even though +he should strike her,--though he should kill her,--she would not be +afraid of him. He had already done worse to her than anything that +could follow. "Mrs. Parker has been here to-day," she said to him +that night. + +"And what had Mrs. Parker to say?" + +"That you had ruined her husband." + +"Exactly. When a man speculates and doesn't win of course he throws +the blame on some one else. And when he is too much of a cur to come +himself, he sends his wife." + +"She says you owe him money." + +"What business have you to listen to what she says? If she comes +again, do not see her. Do you understand me?" + +"Yes, I understand. She saw papa also. If you owe him money, should +it not be paid?" + +"My dearest love, everybody who owes anything to anybody should +always pay it. That is so self-evident that one would almost suppose +that it might be understood without being enunciated. But the virtue +of paying your debts is incompatible with an absence of money. Now, +if you please, we will not say anything more about Mrs. Parker. She +is not at any rate a fit companion for you." + +"It was you who introduced me to her." + +"Hold your tongue about her,--and let that be an end of it. I little +knew what a world of torment I was preparing for myself when I +allowed you to come and live in your father's house." + + + + +CHAPTER LVI + +What the Duchess Thought of Her Husband + + +When the Session began it was understood in the political world that +a very strong opposition was to be organised against the Government +under the guidance of Sir Orlando Drought, and that the great sin to +be imputed to the Cabinet was an utter indifference to the safety +and honour of Great Britain, as manifested by their neglect of the +navy. All the world knew that Sir Orlando had deserted the Coalition +because he was not allowed to build new ships, and of course Sir +Orlando would make the most of his grievance. With him was joined +Mr. Boffin, the patriotic Conservative who had never listened to +the voice of the seducer, and the staunch remainder of the old Tory +party. And with them the more violent of the Radicals were prepared +to act, not desirous, indeed, that new ships should be built, or that +a Conservative Government should be established,--or, indeed, that +anything should be done,--but animated by intense disgust that so +mild a politician as the Duke of Omnium should be Prime Minister. +The fight began at once, Sir Orlando objecting violently to certain +passages in the Queen's Speech. It was all very well to say that the +country was at present at peace with all the world; but how was peace +to be maintained without a fleet? Then Sir Orlando paid a great many +compliments to the Duke, and ended his speech by declaring him to be +the most absolutely faineant minister that had disgraced the country +since the days of the Duke of Newcastle. Mr. Monk defended the +Coalition, and assured the House that the navy was not only the most +powerful navy existing, but that it was the most powerful that ever +had existed in the possession of this or any other country, and was +probably in absolute efficiency superior to the combined navies of +all the world. The House was not shocked by statements so absolutely +at variance with each other, coming from two gentlemen who had lately +been members of the same Government, and who must be supposed to +know what they were talking about, but seemed to think that upon the +whole Sir Orlando had done his duty. For though there was complete +confidence in the navy as a navy, and though a very small minority +would have voted for any considerably increased expense, still it +was well that there should be an opposition. And how can there be an +opposition without some subject for grumbling,--some matter on which +a minister may be attacked? No one really thought that the Prussians +and French combined would invade our shores and devastate our fields, +and plunder London, and carry our daughters away into captivity. The +state of the funds showed very plainly that there was no such fear. +But a good cry is a very good thing,--and it is always well to rub +up the officials of the Admiralty by a little wholesome abuse. Sir +Orlando was thought to have done his business well. Of course he did +not risk a division upon the address. Had he done so he would have +been "nowhere." But, as it was, he was proud of his achievement. + +The ministers generally would have been indifferent to the very hard +words that were said of them, knowing what they were worth, and +feeling aware that a ministry which had everything too easy must lose +its interest in the country, had it not been that their chief was +very sore on the subject. The old Duke's work at this time consisted +almost altogether in nursing the younger Duke. It did sometimes occur +to his elder Grace that it might be well to let his brother retire, +and that a Prime Minister, malgre lui, could not be a successful +Prime Minister, or a useful one. But if the Duke of Omnium went the +Coalition must go too, and the Coalition had been the offspring of +the old statesman. The country was thriving under the Coalition, and +there was no real reason why it should not last for the next ten +years. He continued, therefore, his system of coddling, and was ready +at any moment, or at every moment, to pour, if not comfort, at any +rate consolation into the ears of his unhappy friend. In the present +emergency, it was the falsehood and general baseness of Sir Orlando +which nearly broke the heart of the Prime Minister. "How is one to +live," he said, "if one has to do with men of that kind?" + +"But you haven't to do with him any longer," said the Duke of St. +Bungay. + +"When I see a man who is supposed to have earned the name of a +statesman, and been high in the councils of his sovereign, induced +by personal jealousy to do as he is doing, it makes me feel that an +honest man should not place himself where he may have to deal with +such persons." + +"According to that the honest men are to desert their country in +order that the dishonest men may have everything their own way." Our +Duke could not answer this, and therefore for the moment he yielded. +But he was unhappy, saturnine, and generally silent except when +closeted with his ancient mentor. And he knew that he was saturnine +and silent, and that it behoved him as a leader of men to be genial +and communicative,--listening to counsel even if he did not follow +it, and at any rate appearing to have confidence in his colleagues. + +During this time Mr. Slide was not inactive, and in his heart of +hearts the Prime Minister was more afraid of Mr. Slide's attacks than +of those made upon him by Sir Orlando Drought. Now that Parliament +was sitting, and the minds of men were stirred to political feeling +by the renewed energy of the House, a great deal was being said in +many quarters about the last Silverbridge election. The papers had +taken the matter up generally, some accusing the Prime Minister and +some defending. But the defence was almost as unpalatable to him as +the accusation. It was admitted on all sides that the Duke, both +as a peer and as a Prime Minister, should have abstained from any +interference whatever in the election. And it was also admitted on +all sides that he had not so abstained,--if there was any truth at +all in the allegation that he had paid money for Mr. Lopez. But +it was pleaded on his behalf that the Dukes of Omnium had always +interfered at Silverbridge, and that no Reform Bill had ever had any +effect in reducing their influence in that borough. Frequent allusion +was made to the cautious Dod who, year after year, had reported that +the Duke of Omnium exercised considerable influence in the borough. +And then the friendly newspapers went on to explain that the Duke had +in this instance stayed his hand, and that the money, if paid at all, +had been paid because the candidate who was to have been his nominee +had been thrown over, when the Duke at the last moment made up his +mind that he would abandon the privilege which had hitherto been +always exercised by the head of his family, and which had been +exercised more than once or twice in his own favour. But Mr. Slide, +day after day, repeated his question, "We want to know whether the +Prime Minister did or did not pay the election expenses of Mr. Lopez +at the last Silverbridge election, and if so, why he paid them. We +shall continue to ask this question till it has been answered, and +when asking it we again say that the actual correspondence on the +subject between the Duke and Mr. Lopez is in our own hands." And +then, after a while, allusions were made to the Duchess;--for Mr. +Slide had learned all the facts of the case from Lopez himself. When +Mr. Slide found how hard it was "to draw his badger," as he expressed +himself concerning his own operations, he at last openly alluded to +the Duchess, running the risk of any punishment that might fall upon +him by action for libel or by severe reprehension from his colleagues +of the Press. "We have as yet," he said, "received no answers to +the questions which we have felt ourselves called upon to ask in +reference to the conduct of the Prime Minister at the Silverbridge +election. We are of opinion that all interference by peers with the +constituencies of the country should be put down by the strong hand +of the law as thoroughly and unmercifully as we are putting down +ordinary bribery. But when the offending peer is also the Prime +Minister of this great country, it becomes doubly the duty of those +who watch over the public safety,"--Mr. Slide was always speaking +of himself as watching over the public safety,--"to animadvert upon +his crime till it has been assoiled, or at any rate repented. From +what we now hear we have reason to believe that the crime itself +is acknowledged. Had the payment on behalf of Mr. Lopez not been +made,--as it certainly was made, or the letters in our hand would be +impudent forgeries,--the charge would long since have been denied. +Silence in such a matter amounts to confession. But we understand +that the Duke intends to escape under the plea that he has a second +self, powerful as he is to exercise the baneful influence which his +territorial wealth unfortunately gives him, but for the actions of +which second self he, as a Peer of Parliament and as Prime Minister, +is not responsible. In other words we are informed that the privilege +belonging to the Palliser family at Silverbridge was exercised, not +by the Duke himself, but by the Duchess;--and that the Duke paid the +money when he found that the Duchess had promised more than she could +perform. We should hardly have thought that even a man so notoriously +weak as the Duke of Omnium would have endeavoured to ride out of +responsibility by throwing the blame upon his wife; but he will +certainly find that the attempt, if made, will fail. + +"Against the Duchess herself we wish to say not a word. She is known +as exercising a wide if not a discriminate hospitality. We believe +her to be a kind-hearted, bustling, ambitious lady, to whom any +little faults may easily be forgiven on account of her good-nature +and generosity. But we cannot accept her indiscretion as an excuse +for a most unconstitutional act performed by the Prime Minister of +this country." + +Latterly the Duchess had taken in her own copy of the "People's +Banner." Since she had found that those around her were endeavouring +to keep from her what was being said of her husband in regard to +the borough, she had been determined to see it all. She therefore +read the article from which two or three paragraphs have just been +given,--and having read it she handed it to her friend Mrs. Finn. "I +wonder that you trouble yourself with such trash," her friend said to +her. + +"That is all very well, my dear, from you; but we poor wretches who +are the slaves of the people have to regard what is said of us in the +'People's Banner.'" + +"It would be much better for you to neglect it." + +"Just as authors are told not to read the criticisms;--but I never +would believe any author who told me that he didn't read what +was said about him. I wonder when the man found out that I was +good-natured. He wouldn't find me good-natured if I could get hold of +him." + +"You are not going to allow it to torment you!" + +"For my own sake, not a moment. I fancy that if I might be permitted +to have my own way I could answer him very easily. Indeed with these +dregs of the newspapers, these gutter-slanderers, if one would be +open and say all the truth aloud, what would one have to fear? After +all, what is it that I did? I disobeyed my husband because I thought +that he was too scrupulous. Let me say as much, out loud to the +public,--saying also that I am sorry for it, as I am,--and who would +be against me? Who would have a word to say after that? I should +be the most popular woman in England for a month,--and, as regards +Plantagenet, Mr. Slide and his articles would all sink into silence. +But even though he were to continue this from day to day for a +twelvemonth it would not hurt me,--but that I know how it scorches +him. This mention of my name will make it more intolerable to him +than ever. I doubt that you know him even yet." + +"I thought that I did." + +"Though in manner he is as dry as a stick, though all his pursuits +are opposite to the very idea of romance, though he passes his days +and nights in thinking how he may take a halfpenny in the pound off +the taxes of the people without robbing the revenue, there is a +dash of chivalry about him worthy of the old poets. To him a woman, +particularly his own woman, is a thing so fine and so precious that +the winds of heaven should hardly be allowed to blow upon her. He +cannot bear to think that people should even talk of his wife. And +yet, Heaven knows, poor fellow, I have given people occasion enough +to talk of me. And he has a much higher chivalry than that of the old +poets. They, or their heroes, watched their women because they did +not want to have trouble about them,--shut them up in castles, kept +them in ignorance, and held them as far as they could out of harm's +way." + +"I hardly think they succeeded," said Mrs. Finn. + +"But in pure selfishness they tried all they could. But he is too +proud to watch. If you and I were hatching treason against him in the +dark, and chance had brought him there, he would stop his ears with +his fingers. He is all trust, even when he knows that he is being +deceived. He is honour complete from head to foot. Ah, it was before +you knew me when I tried him the hardest. I never could quite tell +you that story, and I won't try it now; but he behaved like a god. I +could never tell him what I felt,--but I felt it." + +"You ought to love him." + +"I do;--but what's the use of it? He is a god, but I am not a +goddess;--and then, though he is a god, he is a dry, silent, +uncongenial and uncomfortable god. It would have suited me much +better to have married a sinner. But then the sinner that I would +have married was so irredeemable a scapegrace." + +"I do not believe in a woman marrying a bad man in the hope of making +him good." + +"Especially not when the woman is naturally inclined to evil herself. +It will half kill him when he reads all this about me. He has read it +already, and it has already half killed him. For myself I do not mind +it in the least, but for his sake I mind it much. It will rob him +of his only possible answer to the accusation. The very thing which +this wretch in the newspaper says he will say, and that he will be +disgraced by saying, is the very thing that he ought to say. And +there would be no disgrace in it,--beyond what I might well bear for +my little fault, and which I could bear so easily." + +"Shall you speak to him about it?" + +"No; I dare not. In this matter it has gone beyond speaking. I +suppose he does talk it over with the old Duke; but he will say +nothing to me about it,--unless he were to tell me that he had +resigned, and that we were to start off and live in Minorca for the +next ten years. I was so proud when they made him Prime Minister; +but I think that I am beginning to regret it now." Then there was a +pause, and the Duchess went on with her newspapers; but she soon +resumed her discourse. Her heart was full, and out of a full heart +the mouth speaks. "They should have made me Prime Minister, and have +let him be Chancellor of the Exchequer. I begin to see the ways of +Government now. I could have done all the dirty work. I could have +given away garters and ribbons, and made my bargains while giving +them. I could select sleek, easy bishops who wouldn't be troublesome. +I could give pensions or withhold them, and make the stupid men +peers. I could have the big noblemen at my feet, praying to be +Lieutenants of Counties. I could dole out secretaryships and +lordships, and never a one without getting something in return. I +could brazen out a job and let the 'People's Banners' and the Slides +make their worst of it. And I think I could make myself popular with +my party, and do the high-flowing patriotic talk for the benefit of +the Provinces. A man at a regular office has to work. That's what +Plantagenet is fit for. He wants always to be doing something that +shall be really useful, and a man has to toil at that and really to +know things. But a Prime Minister should never go beyond generalities +about commerce, agriculture, peace, and general philanthropy. Of +course he should have the gift of the gab, and that Plantagenet +hasn't got. He never wants to say anything unless he has got +something to say. I could do a Mansion House dinner to a marvel!" + +"I don't doubt that you could speak at all times, Lady Glen." + +"Oh, I do so wish that I had the opportunity," said the Duchess. + +Of course the Duke had read the article in the privacy of his own +room, and of course the article had nearly maddened him with anger +and grief. As the Duchess had said, the article had taken from him +the very ground on which his friends had told him that he could +stand. He had never consented, and never would consent, to lay the +blame publicly on his wife; but he had begun to think that he must +take notice of the charge made against him, and deputize some one to +explain for him in the House of Commons that the injury had been done +at Silverbridge by the indiscretion of an agent who had not fulfilled +his employer's intentions, and that the Duke had thought it right +afterwards to pay the money in consequence of this indiscretion. He +had not agreed to this, but he had brought himself to think that he +must agree to it. But now, of course, the question would follow:--Who +was the indiscreet agent? Was the Duchess the person for whose +indiscretion he had had to pay L500 to Mr. Lopez? And in this matter +did he not find himself in accord even with Mr. Slide? "We should +hardly have thought that even a man so notoriously weak as the Duke +of Omnium would have endeavoured to ride out of responsibility by +throwing the blame upon his wife." He read and reread these words +till he knew them by heart. For a few moments it seemed to him to be +an evil in the Constitution that the Prime Minister should not have +the power of instantly crucifying so foul a slanderer;--and yet it +was the very truth of the words that crushed him. He was weak,--he +told himself;--notoriously weak, it must be; and it would be most +mean in him to ride out of responsibility by throwing blame upon his +wife. But what else was he to do? There seemed to him to be but one +course,--to get up in the House of Lords and declare that he paid the +money because he had thought it right to do so under circumstances +which he could not explain, and to declare that it was not his +intention to say another word on the subject, or to have another word +said on his behalf. + +There was a Cabinet Council held that day, but no one ventured +to speak to the Prime Minister as to the accusation. Though he +considered himself to be weak, his colleagues were all more or less +afraid of him. There was a certain silent dignity about the man +which saved him from the evils, as it also debarred him from the +advantages, of familiarity. He had spoken on the subject to Mr. Monk +and to Phineas Finn, and, as the reader knows, very often to his old +mentor. He had also mentioned it to his friend Lord Cantrip, who was +not in the Cabinet. Coming away from the Cabinet he took Mr. Monk's +arm, and led him away to his own room in the Treasury Chambers. +"Have you happened to see an article in the 'People's Banner' this +morning?" he asked. + +"I never see the 'People's Banner,'" said Mr. Monk. + +"There it is;--just look at that." Whereupon Mr. Monk read the +article. "You understand what people call constitutional practice as +well as any one I know. As I told you before, I did pay that man's +expenses. Did I do anything unconstitutional?" + +"That would depend, Duke, upon the circumstances. If you were to back +a man up by your wealth in an expensive contest, I think it would be +unconstitutional. If you set yourself to work in that way, and cared +not what you spent, you might materially influence the elections, and +buy parliamentary support for yourself." + +"But in this case the payment was made after the man had failed, and +certainly had not been promised either by me or by any one on my +behalf." + +"I think it was unfortunate," said Mr. Monk. + +"Certainly, certainly; but I am not asking as to that," said the Duke +impatiently. "The man had been injured by indiscreet persons acting +on my behalf and in opposition to my wishes." He said not a word +about the Duchess; but Mr. Monk no doubt knew that her Grace had +been at any rate one of the indiscreet persons. "He applied to +me for the money, alleging that he had been injured by my agents. +That being so,--presuming that my story be correct,--did I act +unconstitutionally?" + +"I think not," said Mr. Monk, "and I think that the circumstances, +when explained, will bear you harmless." + +"Thank you; thank you. I did not want to trouble you about that just +at present." + + + + +CHAPTER LVII + +The Explanation + + +Mr. Monk had been altogether unable to decipher the Duke's purpose in +the question he had asked. About an hour afterwards they walked down +to the Houses together, Mr. Monk having been kept at his office. "I +hope I was not a little short with you just now," said the Duke. + +"I did not find it out," said Mr. Monk, smiling. + +"You read what was in the papers, and you may imagine that it is of a +nature to irritate a man. I knew that no one could answer my question +so correctly as you, and therefore I was a little eager to keep +directly to the question. It occurred to me afterwards that I had +been--perhaps uncourteous." + +"Not at all, Duke." + +"If I was, your goodness will excuse an irritated man. If a question +were asked about this in the House of Commons, who would be the best +man to answer it? Would you do it?" + +Mr. Monk considered awhile. "I think," he said, "that Mr. Finn would +do it with a better grace. Of course I will do it if you wish it. But +he has tact in such matters, and it is known that his wife is much +regarded by her Grace." + +"I will not have the Duchess's name mentioned," said the Duke, +turning short upon his companion. + +"I did not allude to that, but I thought that the intimacy which +existed might make it pleasant to you to employ Mr. Finn as the +exponent of your wishes." + +"I have the greatest confidence in Mr. Finn, certainly, and am on +most friendly personal terms with him. It shall be so, if I decide on +answering any question in your House on a matter so purely personal +to myself." + +"I would suggest that you should have the question asked in a +friendly way. Get some independent member, such as Mr. Beverley +or Sir James Deering, to ask it. The matter would then be brought +forward in no carping spirit, and you would be enabled, through Mr. +Finn, to set the matter at rest. You have probably spoken to the Duke +about it." + +"I have mentioned it to him." + +"Is not that what he would recommend?" + +The old Duke had recommended that the entire truth should be told, +and that the Duchess's operations should be made public. Here was our +poor Prime Minister's great difficulty. He and his Mentor were at +variance. His Mentor was advising that the real naked truth should +be told, whereas Telemachus was intent upon keeping the name of the +actual culprit in the background. "I will think it all over," said +the Prime Minister as the two parted company at Palace Yard. + +That evening he spoke to Lord Cantrip on the subject. Though the +matter was so odious to him, he could not keep his mind from it for +a moment. Had Lord Cantrip seen the article in the "People's Banner"? +Lord Cantrip, like Mr. Monk, declared that the paper in question +did not constitute part of his usual morning's recreation. "I won't +ask you to read it," said the Duke;--"but it contains a very bitter +attack upon me,--the bitterest that has yet been made. I suppose I +ought to notice the matter?" + +"If I were you," said Lord Cantrip, "I should put myself into the +hands of the Duke of St. Bungay, and do exactly what he advises. +There is no man in England knows so well as he does what should be +done in such a case as this." The Prime Minister frowned and said +nothing. "My dear Duke," continued Lord Cantrip, "I can give you no +other advice. Who is there that has your personal interest and your +honour at heart so entirely as his Grace;--and what man can be a more +sagacious or more experienced adviser?" + +"I was thinking that you might ask a question about it in our House." + +"I?" + +"You would do it for me in a manner that--that would be free from all +offence." + +"If I did it at all, I should certainly strive to do that. But it has +never occurred to me that you would make such a suggestion. Would +you give me a few moments to think about it?" "I couldn't do it," +Lord Cantrip said afterwards. "By taking such a step, even at your +request, I should certainly express the opinion that the matter was +one on which Parliament was entitled to expect that you should make +an explanation. But my own opinion is that Parliament has no business +to meddle in the matter. I do not think that every action of a +minister's life should be made matter of inquiry because a newspaper +may choose to make allusions to it. At any rate, if any word is said +about it, it should, I think, be said in the other House." + +"The Duke of St. Bungay thinks that something should be said." + +"I could not myself consent even to appear to desire information on a +matter so entirely personal to yourself." The Duke bowed, and smiled +with a cold, glittering, uncomfortable smile which would sometimes +cross his face when he was not pleased, and no more was then said +upon the subject. + +Attempts were made to have the question asked in a far different +spirit by some hostile member of the House of Commons. Sir Orlando +Drought was sounded, and he for a while did give ear to the +suggestion. But, as he came to have the matter full before him, he +could not do it. The Duke had spurned his advice as a minister, and +had refused to sanction a measure which he, as the head of a branch +of the Government, had proposed. The Duke had so offended him that +he conceived himself bound to regard the Duke as his enemy. But he +knew,--and he could not escape from the knowledge,--that England did +not contain a more honourable man than the Duke. He was delighted +that the Duke should be vexed, and thwarted, and called ill names in +the matter. To be gratified at this discomfiture of his enemy was in +the nature of parliamentary opposition. Any blow that might weaken +his opponent was a blow in his favour. But this was a blow which +he could not strike with his own hands. There were things in +parliamentary tactics which even Sir Orlando could not do. Arthur +Fletcher was also asked to undertake the task. He was the successful +candidate, the man who had opposed Lopez, and who was declared in +the "People's Banner" to have emancipated that borough by his noble +conduct from the tyranny of the House of Palliser. And it was thought +that he might like an opportunity of making himself known in the +House. But he was simply indignant when the suggestion was made +to him. "What is it to me," he said, "who paid the blackguard's +expenses?" + +This went on for some weeks after Parliament had met, and for some +days even after the article in which direct allusion was made to +the Duchess. The Prime Minister could not be got to consent that no +notice should be taken of the matter, let the papers or the public +say what they would, nor could he be induced to let the matter be +handled in the manner proposed by the elder Duke. And during this +time he was in such a fever that those about him felt that something +must be done. Mr. Monk suggested that if everybody held his +tongue,--meaning all the Duke's friends,--the thing would wear itself +out. But it was apparent to those who were nearest to the minister, +to Mr. Warburton, for instance, and the Duke of St. Bungay, that the +man himself would be worn out first. The happy possessor of a thick +skin can hardly understand how one not so blessed may be hurt by +the thong of a little whip! At last the matter was arranged. At the +instigation of Mr. Monk, Sir James Deering, who was really the father +of the House, an independent member, but one who generally voted with +the Coalition, consented to ask the question in the House of Commons. +And Phineas Finn was instructed by the Duke as to the answer that was +to be given. The Duke of Omnium in giving these instructions made a +mystery of the matter which he by no means himself intended. But he +was so sore that he could not be simple in what he said. "Mr. Finn," +he said, "you must promise me this,--that the name of the Duchess +shall not be mentioned." + +"Certainly not by me, if you tell me that I am not to mention it." + +"No one else can do so. The matter will take the form of a simple +question, and though the conduct of a minister may no doubt be made +the subject of debate,--and it is not improbable that my conduct may +do so in this instance,--it is, I think, impossible that any member +should make an allusion to my wife. The privilege or power of +returning a member for the borough has undoubtedly been exercised by +our family since as well as previous to both the Reform Bills. At +the last election I thought it right to abandon that privilege, and +notified to those about me my intention. But that which a man has +the power of doing he cannot always do without the interference +of those around him. There was a misconception, and among my,--my +adherents,--there were some who injudiciously advised Mr. Lopez +to stand on my interest. But he did not get my interest, and was +beaten;--and therefore when he asked me for the money which he +had spent, I paid it to him. That is all. I think the House can +hardly avoid to see that my effort was made to discontinue an +unconstitutional proceeding." + +Sir James Deering asked the question. "He trusted," he said, "that +the House would not think that the question of which he had given +notice and which he was about to ask was instigated by any personal +desire on his part to inquire into the conduct of the Prime Minister. +He was one who believed that the Duke of Omnium was as little likely +as any man in England to offend by unconstitutional practice on +his own part. But a great deal had been talked and written lately +about the late election at Silverbridge, and there were those who +thought,--and he was one of them,--that something should be said to +stop the mouths of cavillers. With this object he would ask the Right +Honourable Gentleman who led the House, and who was perhaps first in +standing among the noble Duke's colleagues in that House, whether the +noble Duke was prepared to have any statement on the subject made." + +The House was full to the very corners of the galleries. Of course it +was known to everybody that the question was to be asked and to be +answered. There were some who thought that the matter was so serious +that the Prime Minister could not get over it. Others had heard in +the clubs that Lady Glen, as the Duchess was still called, was to be +made the scapegoat. Men of all classes were open-mouthed in their +denunciation of the meanness of Lopez,--though no one but Mr. Wharton +knew half his villainy, as he alone knew that the expenses had been +paid twice over. In one corner of the reporters' gallery sat Mr. +Slide, pencil in hand, prepared to revert to his old work on so +momentous an occasion. It was a great day for him. He by his own +unassisted energy had brought a Prime Minister to book, and had +created all this turmoil. It might be his happy lot to be the means +of turning that Prime Minister out of office. It was he who had +watched over the nation! The Duchess had been most anxious to be +present,--but had not ventured to come without asking her husband's +leave, which he had most peremptorily refused to give. "I cannot +understand, Glencora, how you can suggest such a thing," he had said. + +"You make so much of everything," she had replied petulantly; but she +had remained at home. The ladies' gallery was, however, quite full. +Mrs. Finn was there, of course, anxious not only for her friend, +but eager to hear how her husband would acquit himself in his task. +The wives and daughters of all the ministers were there,--excepting +the wife of the Prime Minister. There never had been, in the memory +of them all, a matter that was so interesting to them, for it was +the only matter they remembered in which a woman's conduct might +probably be called in question in the House of Commons. And the seats +appropriated to peers were so crammed that above a dozen grey-headed +old lords were standing in the passage which divides them from the +common strangers. After all it was not, in truth, much of an affair. +A very little man indeed had calumniated the conduct of a minister +of the Crown, till it had been thought well that the minister should +defend himself. No one really believed that the Duke had committed +any great offence. At the worst it was no more than indiscretion, +which was noticeable only because a Prime Minister should never be +indiscreet. Had the taxation of the whole country for the next year +been in dispute, there would have been no such interest felt. Had the +welfare of the Indian Empire occupied the House, the House would have +been empty. But the hope that a certain woman's name would have to be +mentioned, crammed it from the floor to the ceiling. + +The reader need not be told that that name was not mentioned. Our old +friend Phineas, on rising to his legs, first apologised for doing so +in place of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. But perhaps the House +would accept a statement from him, as the noble Duke at the head of +the Government had asked him to make it. Then he made his statement. +"Perhaps," he said, "no falser accusation than this had ever been +brought forward against a minister of the Crown, for it specially +charged his noble friend with resorting to the employment of +unconstitutional practices to bolster up his parliamentary support, +whereas it was known by everybody that there would have been no +matter for accusation at all had not the Duke of his own motion +abandoned a recognised privilege, because, in his opinion, the +exercise of that privilege was opposed to the spirit of the +Constitution. Had the noble Duke simply nominated a candidate, as +candidates had been nominated at Silverbridge for centuries past, +that candidate would have been returned with absolute certainty, +and there would have been no word spoken on the subject. It was not, +perhaps, for him, who had the honour of serving under his Grace, and +who, as being a part of his Grace's Government, was for the time +one with his Grace, to expatiate at length on the nobility of the +sacrifice here made. But they all knew there at what rate was valued +a seat in that House. Thank God that privilege could not now be +rated at any money price. It could not be bought and sold. But this +privilege which his noble friend had so magnanimously resigned from +purely patriotic motives, was, he believed, still in existence, and +he would ask those few who were still in the happy, or, perhaps, he +had better say in the envied, position of being able to send their +friends to that House, what was their estimation of the conduct of +the Duke in this matter? It might be that there were one or two such +present, and who now heard him,--or, perhaps, one or two who owed +their seats to the exercise of such a privilege. They might marvel at +the magnitude of the surrender. They might even question the sagacity +of the man who could abandon so much without a price. But he hardly +thought that even they would regard it as unconstitutional. + +"This was what the Prime Minister had done,--acting not as Prime +Minister, but as an English nobleman, in the management of his own +property and privileges. And now he would come to the gist of the +accusation made; in making which, the thing which the Duke had really +done had been altogether ignored. When the vacancy had been declared +by the acceptance of the Chiltern Hundreds by a gentleman whose +absence from the House they all regretted, the Duke had signified to +his agents his intention of retiring altogether from the exercise of +any privilege or power in the matter. But the Duke was then, as he +was also now, and would, it was to be hoped, long continue to be, +Prime Minister of England. He need hardly remind gentlemen in that +House that the Prime Minister was not in a position to devote his +undivided time to the management of his own property, or even to the +interests of the Borough of Silverbridge. That his Grace had been +earnest in his instructions to his agents, the sequel fully proved; +but that earnestness his agents had misinterpreted." + +Then there was heard a voice in the House, "What agents?" and from +another voice, "Name them." For there were present some who thought +it to be shameful that the excitement of the occasion should be +lowered by keeping back all allusion to the Duchess. + +"I have not distinguished," said Phineas, assuming an indignant tone, +"the honourable gentlemen from whom those questions have come, and +therefore I have the less compunction in telling them that it is no +part of my duty on this occasion to gratify a morbid and an indecent +curiosity." Then there was a cry of "Order," and an appeal to the +Speaker. Certain gentlemen wished to know whether indecent was +parliamentary. The Speaker, with some hesitation, expressed his +opinion that the word, as then used, was not open to objection from +him. He thought that it was within the scope of a member's rights to +charge another member with indecent curiosity. "If," said Phineas, +rising again to his legs, for he had sat down for a moment, "the +gentleman who called for a name will rise in his place and repeat the +demand, I will recall the word indecent and substitute another,--or +others. I will tell him that he is one who, regardless of the real +conduct of the Prime Minister, either as a man or as a servant of +the Crown, is only anxious to inflict an unmanly wound in order that +he may be gratified by seeing the pain which he inflicts." Then +he paused, but as no further question was asked, he continued his +statement. "A candidate had been brought forward," he said, "by those +interested in the Duke's affairs. A man whom he would not name, but +who, he trusted, would never succeed in his ambition to occupy a seat +in that House, had been brought forward, and certain tradesmen in +Silverbridge had been asked to support him as the Duke's nominee. +There was no doubt about it. The House perhaps could understand that +the local adherents and neighbours of a man so high in rank and +wealth as the Duke of Omnium would not gladly see the privileges +of their lord diminished. Perhaps, too, it occurred to them that a +Prime Minister could not have his eye everywhere. There would always +be worthy men in boroughs who liked to exercise some second-hand +authority. At any rate it was the case that this candidate was +encouraged. Then the Duke had heard it, and had put his foot upon +the little mutiny, and had stamped it out at once. He might perhaps +here," he said, "congratulate the House on the acquisition it had +received by the failure of that candidate. So far, at any rate," +he thought, "it must be admitted that the Duke had been free from +blame;--but now he came to the gravamen of the charge." The gravamen +of the charge is so well known to the reader that the simple account +which Phineas gave of it need not be repeated. The Duke had paid +the money, when asked for it, because he felt that the man had been +injured by incorrect representations made to him. "I need hardly +pause to stigmatise the meanness of that application," said Phineas, +"but I may perhaps conclude by saying that whether the last act +done by the Duke in this matter was or was not indiscreet, I shall +probably have the House with me when I say that it savours much more +strongly of nobility than of indiscretion." + +When Phineas Finn sat down no one arose to say another word on the +subject. It was afterwards felt that it would only have been graceful +had Sir Orlando risen and expressed his opinion that the House had +heard the statement just made with perfect satisfaction. But he did +not do so, and after a short pause the ordinary business of the day +was recommenced. Then there was a speedy descent from the galleries, +and the ladies trooped out of their cage, and the grey-headed old +peers went back to their own chamber, and the members themselves +quickly jostled out through the doors, and Mr. Monk was left to +explain his proposed alteration in the dog tax to a thin House of +seventy or eighty members. + +The thing was then over, and people were astonished that so great +a thing should be over with so little fuss. It really seemed that +after Phineas Finn's speech there was nothing more to be said on the +matter. Everybody of course knew that the Duchess had been the chief +of the agents to whom he had alluded, but they had known as much as +that before. It was, however, felt by everybody that the matter had +been brought to an end. The game, such as it was, had been played +out. Perhaps the only person who heard Mr. Finn's speech throughout, +and still hoped that the spark could be again fanned into a flame, +was Quintus Slide. He went out and wrote another article about the +Duchess. If a man was so unable to rule his affairs at home, he was +certainly unfit to be Prime Minister. But even Quintus Slide, as +he wrote his article, felt that he was hoping against hope. The +charge might be referred to hereafter as one that had never been +satisfactorily cleared up. That game is always open to the opponents +of a minister. After the lapse of a few months an old accusation can +be serviceably used, whether at the time it was proved or disproved. +Mr. Slide published his article, but he felt that for the present +the Silverbridge election papers had better be put by among the +properties of the "People's Banner," and brought out, if necessary, +for further use at some future time. + +"Mr. Finn," said the Duke, "I feel indebted to you for the trouble +you have taken." + +"It was only a pleasant duty." + +"I am grateful to you for the manner in which it was performed." This +was all the Duke said, and Phineas felt it to be cold. The Duke, in +truth, was grateful; but gratitude with him always failed to exhibit +itself readily. From the world at large Phineas Finn received great +praise for the manner in which he had performed his task. + + + + +CHAPTER LVIII + +"Quite Settled" + + +The abuse which was now publicly heaped on the name of Ferdinand +Lopez hit the man very hard; but not so hard perhaps as his rejection +by Lady Eustace. That was an episode in his life of which even he +felt ashamed, and of which he was unable to shake the disgrace from +his memory. He had no inner appreciation whatsoever of what was +really good or what was really bad in a man's conduct. He did not +know that he had done evil in applying to the Duke for the money. He +had only meant to attack the Duke; and when the money had come it +had been regarded as justifiable prey. And when after receiving the +Duke's money, he had kept also Mr. Wharton's money, he had justified +himself again by reminding himself that Mr. Wharton certainly +owed him much more than that. In a sense he was what is called a +gentleman. He knew how to speak, and how to look, how to use a knife +and fork, how to dress himself, and how to walk. But he had not the +faintest notion of the feelings of a gentleman. He had, however, a +very keen conception of the evil of being generally ill spoken of. +Even now, though he was making up his mind to leave England for a +long term of years, he understood the disadvantage of leaving it +under so heavy a cloud;--and he understood also that the cloud might +possibly impede his going altogether. Even in Coleman Street they +were looking black upon him, and Mr. Hartlepod went so far as to say +to Lopez himself, that, "by Jove, he had put his foot in it." He had +endeavoured to be courageous under his burden, and every day walked +into the offices of the Mining Company, endeavouring to look as +though he had committed no fault of which he had to be ashamed. But +after the second day he found that nothing was said to him of the +affairs of the Company, and on the fourth day Mr. Hartlepod informed +him that the time allowed for paying up his shares had passed by, and +that another local manager would be appointed. "The time is not over +till to-morrow," said Lopez angrily. "I tell you what I am told to +tell you," said Mr. Hartlepod. "You will only waste your time by +coming here any more." + +He had not once seen Mr. Wharton since the statement made in +Parliament, although he had lived in the same house with him. Everett +Wharton had come home, and they two had met;--but the meeting had +been stormy. "It seems to me, Lopez, that you are a scoundrel," +Everett said to him one day after having heard the whole story,--or +rather many stories,--from his father. This took place not in +Manchester Square, but at the club, where Everett had endeavoured to +cut his brother-in-law. It need hardly be said that at this time +Lopez was not popular at his club. On the next day a meeting of the +whole club was to be held that the propriety of expelling him might +be discussed. But he had resolved that he would not be cowed, that he +would still show himself, and still defend his conduct. He did not +know, however, that Everett Wharton had already made known to the +Committee of the club all the facts of the double payment. + +He had addressed Everett in that solicitude to which a man should +never be reduced of seeking to be recognised by at any rate one +acquaintance,--and now his brother-in-law had called him a scoundrel +in the presence of other men. He raised his arm as though to use the +cane in his hands, but he was cowed by the feeling that all there +were his adversaries. "How dare you use that language to me!" he said +very weakly. + +"It is the language that I must use if you speak to me." + +"I am your brother-in-law, and that restrains me." + +"Unfortunately you are." + +"And am living in your father's house." + +"That, again, is a misfortune which it appears difficult to remedy. +You have been told to go, and you won't go." + +"Your ingratitude, sir, is marvellous! Who saved your life when +you were attacked in the park, and were too drunk to take care of +yourself? Who has stood your friend with your close-fisted old father +when you have lost money at play that you could not pay? But you +are one of those who would turn away from any benefactor in his +misfortune." + +"I must certainly turn away from a man who has disgraced himself as +you have done," said Everett, leaving the room. Lopez threw himself +into an easy-chair, and rang the bell loudly for a cup of coffee, and +lit a cigar. He had not been turned out of the club as yet, and the +servant at any rate was bound to attend to him. + +That night he waited up for his father-in-law in Manchester Square. +He would certainly go to Guatemala now,--if it were not too late. He +would go though he were forced to leave his wife behind him, and thus +surrender any further hope for money from Mr. Wharton beyond the sum +which he would receive as the price of his banishment. It was true +that the fortnight allowed to him by the Company was only at an end +that day, and that, therefore, the following morning might be taken +as the last day named for the payment of the money. No doubt, also, +Mr. Wharton's bill at a few days' date would be accepted if that +gentleman could not at the moment give a cheque for so large a sum as +was required. And the appointment had been distinctly promised to him +with no other stipulation than that the money required for the shares +should be paid. He did not believe in Mr. Hartlepod's threat. It was +impossible, he thought, that he should be treated in so infamous +a manner merely because he had had his election expenses repaid +him by the Duke of Omnium! He would, therefore, ask for the money, +and--renounce the society of his wife. + +As he made this resolve something like real love returned to his +heart, and he became for a while sick with regret. He assured himself +that he had loved her, and that he could love her still;--but why had +she not been true to him? Why had she clung to her father instead of +clinging to her husband? Why had she not learned his ways,--as a wife +is bound to learn the ways of the man she marries? Why had she not +helped him in his devices, fallen into his plans, been regardful of +his fortunes, and made herself one with him? There had been present +to him at times an idea that if he could take her away with him to +that distant country to which he thought to go, and thus remove her +from the upas influence of her father's roof-tree, she would then +fall into his views and become his wife indeed. Then he would again +be tender to her, again love her, again endeavour to make the world +soft to her. But it was too late now for that. He had failed in +everything as far as England was concerned, and it was chiefly by her +fault that he had failed. He would consent to leave her;--but, as he +thought of it in his solitude, his eyes became moist with regret. + +In these days Mr. Wharton never came home till about midnight, and +then passed rapidly through the hall to his own room,--and in the +morning had his breakfast brought to him in the same room, so that he +might not even see his son-in-law. His daughter would go to him when +at breakfast, and there, together for some half-hour, they would +endeavour to look forward to their future fate. But hitherto they had +never been able to look forward in accord, as she still persisted in +declaring that if her husband bade her to go with him,--she would +go. On this night Lopez sat up in the dining-room, and as soon as he +heard Mr. Wharton's key in the door, he placed himself in the hall. +"I wish to speak to you to-night, sir," he said. "Would you object to +come in for a few moments?" Then Mr. Wharton followed him into the +room. "As we live now," continued Lopez, "I have not much opportunity +of speaking to you, even on business." + +"Well, sir; you can speak now,--if you have anything to say." + +"The L5000 you promised me must be paid to-morrow. It is the last +day." + +"I promised it only on certain conditions. Had you complied with them +the money would have been paid before this." + +"Just so. The conditions are very hard, Mr. Wharton. It surprises me +that such a one as you should think it right to separate a husband +from his wife." + +"I think it right, sir, to separate my daughter from such a one as +you are. I thought so before, but I think so doubly now. If I can +secure your absence in Guatemala by the payment of this money, and if +you will give me a document that shall be prepared by Mr. Walker and +signed by yourself, assuring your wife that you will not hereafter +call upon her to live with you, the money shall be paid." + +"All that will take time, Mr. Wharton." + +"I will not pay a penny without it. I can meet you at the office in +Coleman Street to-morrow, and doubtless they will accept my written +assurance to pay the money as soon as those stipulations shall be +complied with." + +"That would disgrace me in the office, Mr. Wharton." + +"And are you not disgraced there already? Can you tell me that they +have not heard of your conduct in Coleman Street, or that hearing it +they disregard it?" His son-in-law stood frowning at him, but did not +at the moment say a word. "Nevertheless, I will meet you there if +you please, at any time that you may name, and if they do not object +to employ such a man as their manager, I shall not object on their +behalf." + +"To the last you are hard and cruel to me," said Lopez;--"but I will +meet you in Coleman Street at eleven to-morrow." Then Mr. Wharton +left the room, and Lopez was there alone amidst the gloom of the +heavy curtains and the dark paper. A London dining-room at night is +always dark, cavernous, and unlovely. The very pictures on the walls +lack brightness, and the furniture is black and heavy. This room was +large, but old-fashioned and very dark. Here Lopez walked up and down +after Mr. Wharton had left him, trying to think how far Fate and how +far he himself were responsible for his present misfortunes. No doubt +he had begun the world well. His father had been little better than a +travelling pedlar, but had made some money by selling jewellery, and +had educated his son. Lopez could on no score impute blame to his +father for what had happened to him. And, when he thought of the +means at his disposal in his early youth, he felt that he had a right +to boast of some success. He had worked hard, and had won his way +upwards, and had almost lodged himself securely among those people +with whom it had been his ambition to live. Early in life he had +found himself among those who were called gentlemen and ladies. He +had been able to assume their manners, and had lived with them on +equal terms. When thinking of his past life he never forgot to remind +himself that he had been a guest at the house of the Duke of Omnium! +And yet how was it with him now? He was penniless. He was rejected by +his father-in-law. He was feared, and, as he thought, detested by his +wife. He was expelled from his club. He was cut by his old friends. +And he had been told very plainly by the Secretary in Coleman Street +that his presence there was no longer desired. What should he do +with himself if Mr. Wharton's money were now refused, and if the +appointment in Guatemala were denied to him? And then he thought of +poor Sexty Parker and his family. He was not naturally an ill-natured +man. Though he could upbraid his wife for alluding to Mrs. Parker's +misery, declaring that Mrs. Parker must take the rubs of the world +just as others took them, still the misfortunes which he had brought +on her and on her children did add something to the weight of his own +misfortunes. If he could not go to Guatemala, what should he do with +himself;--where should he go? Thus he walked up and down the room for +an hour. Would not a pistol or a razor give him the best solution for +all his difficulties? + +On the following morning he kept his appointment at the office in +Coleman Street, as did Mr. Wharton also. The latter was there first +by some minutes, and explained to Mr. Hartlepod that he had come +there to meet his son-in-law. Mr. Hartlepod was civil, but very cold. +Mr. Wharton saw at the first glance that the services of Ferdinand +Lopez were no longer in request by the San Juan Mining Company; +but he sat down and waited. Now that he was there, however painful +the interview would be, he would go through it. At ten minutes +past eleven he made up his mind that he would wait till the +half-hour,--and then go, with the fixed resolution that he would +never willingly spend another shilling on behalf of that wretched +man. But at a quarter past eleven the wretched man came,--swaggering +into the office, though it had not, hitherto, been his custom to +swagger. But misfortune masters all but the great men, and upsets the +best-learned lesson of even a long life. "I hope I have not kept you +waiting, Mr. Wharton. Well, Hartlepod, how are you to-day? So this +little affair is to be settled at last, and now these shares shall be +bought and paid for." Mr. Wharton did not say a word, not even rising +from his chair, or greeting his son-in-law by a word. "I dare say Mr. +Wharton has already explained himself," said Lopez. + +"I don't know that there is any necessity," said Mr. Hartlepod. + +"Well,--I suppose it's simple enough," continued Lopez. "Mr. Wharton, +I believe I am right in saying that you are ready to pay the money at +once." + +"Yes;--I am ready to pay the money as soon as I am assured that you +are on your route to Guatemala. I will not pay a penny till I know +that as a fact." + +Then Mr. Hartlepod rose from his seat and spoke. "Gentlemen," he +said, "the matter within the last few days has assumed a different +complexion." + +"As how?" exclaimed Lopez. + +"The Directors have changed their mind as to sending out Mr. Lopez +as their local manager. The Directors intend to appoint another +gentleman. I had already acquainted Mr. Lopez with the Directors' +intention." + +"Then the matter is settled?" said Mr. Wharton. + +"Quite settled," said Mr. Hartlepod. + +As a matter of course Lopez began to fume and to be furious. +What!--after all that had been done did the Directors mean to go back +from their word? After he had been induced to abandon his business in +his own country, was he to be thrown over in that way? If the Company +intended to treat him like that, the Company would very soon hear +from him. Thank God there were laws in the land. "Yesterday was the +last day fixed for the payment of the money," said Mr. Hartlepod. + +"It is at any rate certain that Mr. Lopez is not to go to Guatemala?" +asked Mr. Wharton. + +"Quite certain," said Mr. Hartlepod. Then Mr. Wharton rose from his +chair and quitted the room. + +"By G----, you have ruined me among you," said Lopez;--"ruined me +in the most shameful manner. There is no mercy, no friendship, no +kindness, no forbearance anywhere! Why am I to be treated in this +manner?" + +"If you have any complaint to make," said Mr. Hartlepod, "you had +better write to the Directors. I have nothing to do but my duty." + +"By heavens, the Directors shall hear of it!" said Lopez as he left +the office. + +Mr. Wharton went to his chambers and endeavoured to make up his mind +what step he must now take in reference to this dreadful incubus. +Of course he could turn the man out of his house, but in so doing +it might well be that he would also turn out his own daughter. He +believed Lopez to be utterly without means, and a man so destitute +would generally be glad to be relieved from the burden of his wife's +support. But this man would care nothing for his wife's comfort; +nothing even, as Mr. Wharton believed, for his wife's life. He would +simply use his wife as best he might as a means for obtaining money. +There was nothing to be done but to buy him off, by so much money +down, and by so much at stated intervals as long as he should keep +away. Mr. Walker must manage it, but it was quite clear to Mr. +Wharton that the Guatemala scheme was altogether at an end. In +the meantime a certain sum must be offered to the man at once, on +condition that he would leave the house and do so without taking his +wife with him. + +So far Mr. Wharton had a plan, and a plan that was at least feasible. +Wretched as he was, miserable, as he thought of the fate which had +befallen his daughter,--there was still a prospect of some relief. +But Lopez as he walked out of the office had nothing to which he +could look for comfort. He slowly made his way to Little Tankard +Yard, and there he found Sexty Parker balancing himself on the back +legs of his chair, with a small decanter of public-house sherry +before him. "What; you here?" he said. + +"Yes;--I have come to say good-bye." + +"Where are you going then? You shan't start to Guatemala if I know +it." + +"That's all over, my boy," said Lopez, smiling. + +"What is it you mean?" said Sexty, sitting square on his chair and +looking very serious. + +"I am not going to Guatemala or anywhere else. I thought I'd just +look in to tell you that I'm just done for,--that I haven't a hope +of a shilling now or hereafter. You told me the other day that I was +afraid to come here. You see that as soon as anything is fixed, I +come and tell you everything at once." + +"What is fixed?" + +"That I am ruined. That there isn't a penny to come from any source." + +"Wharton has got money," said Sexty. + +"And there is money in the Bank of England,--but I cannot get at it." + +"What are you going to do, Lopez?" + +"Ah; that's the question. What am I going to do? I can say nothing +about that, but I can say, Sexty, that our affairs are at an end. I'm +very sorry for it, old boy. We ought to have made fortunes, but we +didn't. As far as the work went, I did my best. Good-bye, old fellow. +You'll do well some of these days yet, I don't doubt. Don't teach the +bairns to curse me. As for Mrs. P. I have no hope there, I know." +Then he went, leaving Sexty Parker quite aghast. + + + + +CHAPTER LIX + +"The First and the Last" + + +When Mr. Wharton was in Coleman Street, having his final interview +with Mr. Hartlepod, there came a visitor to Mrs. Lopez in Manchester +Square. Up to this date there had been great doubt with Mr. Wharton +whether at last the banishment to Guatemala would become a fact. From +day to day his mind had changed. It had been an infinite benefit that +Lopez should go, if he could be got to go alone, but as great an evil +if at last he should take his wife with him. But the father had never +dared to express these doubts to her, and she had taught herself +to think that absolute banishment with a man whom she certainly no +longer loved, was the punishment she had to pay for the evil she had +done. It was now March, and the second or third of April had been +fixed for her departure. Of course, she had endeavoured from time to +time to learn all that was to be learned from her husband. Sometimes +he would be almost communicative to her; at other times she could get +hardly a word from him. But, through it all, he gave her to believe +that she would have to go. Nor did her father make any great effort +to turn his mind the other way. If it must be so, of what use would +be such false kindness on his part? She had therefore gone to work to +make her purchases, studying that economy which must henceforth be +the great duty of her life, and reminding herself as to everything +she bought that it would have to be worn with tears and used in +sorrow. + +And then she sent a message to Arthur Fletcher. It so happened that +Sir Alured Wharton was up in London at this time with his daughter +Mary. Sir Alured did not come to Manchester Square. There was nothing +that the old baronet could say in the midst of all this misery,--no +comfort that he could give. It was well-known now to all the Whartons +and all the Fletchers that this Lopez, who had married her who was +to have been the pearl of the two families, had proved himself to +be a scoundrel. The two old Whartons met no doubt at some club, or +perhaps in Stone Buildings, and spoke some few bitter words to each +other; but Sir Alured did not see the unfortunate young woman who +had disgraced herself by so wretched a marriage. But Mary came, and +by her a message was sent to Arthur Fletcher. "Tell him that I am +going," said Emily. "Tell him not to come; but give him my love. He +was always one of my kindest friends." + +"Why,--why,--why did you not take him?" said Mary, moved by the +excitement of the moment to suggestions which were quite at variance +with the fixed propriety of her general ideas. + +"Why should you speak of that?" said the other. "I never speak of +him,--never think of him. But, if you see him, tell him what I say." +Arthur Fletcher was of course in the Square on the following day,--on +that very day on which Mr. Wharton learned that, whatever might +be his daughter's fate, she would not, at any rate, be taken to +Guatemala. They two had never met since the day on which they +had been brought together for a moment at the Duchess's party at +Richmond. It had of course been understood by both of them that they +were not to be allowed to see each other. Her husband had made a +pretext of an act of friendship on his part to establish a quarrel, +and both of them had been bound by that quarrel. When a husband +declares that his wife shall not know a man, that edict must be +obeyed,--or, if disobeyed, must be subverted by intrigue. In this +case there had been no inclination to intrigue on either side. The +order had been obeyed, and as far as the wife was concerned, had been +only a small part of the terrible punishment which had come upon her +as the result of her marriage. But now, when Arthur Fletcher sent up +his name, she did not hesitate as to seeing him. No doubt she had +thought it probable that she might see him when she gave her message +to her cousin. + +"I could not let you go without coming to you," he said. + +"It is very good of you. Yes;--I suppose we are going. Guatemala +sounds a long way off, Arthur, does it not? But they tell me it +is a beautiful country." She spoke with a cheerful voice, almost +as though she liked the idea of her journey; but he looked at her +with beseeching, anxious, sorrow-laden eyes. "After all, what is a +journey of a few weeks? Why should I not be as happy in Guatemala +as in London? As to friends, I do not know that it will make much +difference,--except papa." + +"It seems to me to make a difference," said he. + +"I never see anybody now,--neither your people, nor the Wharton +Whartons. Indeed, I see nobody. If it were not for papa I should be +glad to go. I am told that it is a charming country. I have not found +Manchester Square very charming. I am inclined to think that all the +world is very much alike, and that it does not matter very much where +one lives,--or, perhaps, what one does. But at any rate I am going, +and I am very glad to be able to say good-bye to you before I start." +All this she said rapidly, in a manner unlike herself. She was +forcing herself to speak so that she might save herself, if possible, +from breaking down in his presence. + +"Of course I came when Mary told me." + +"Yes;--she was here. Sir Alured did not come. I don't wonder at that, +however. And your mother was in town some time ago,--but I didn't +expect her to come. Why should they come? I don't know whether you +might not have better stayed away. Of course I am a Pariah now; but +Pariah as I am, I shall be as good as any one else in Guatemala. You +have seen Everett since he has been in town, perhaps?" + +"Yes;--I have seen him." + +"I hope they won't quarrel with Everett because of what I have done. +I have felt that more than all,--that both papa and he have suffered +because of it. Do you know, I think people are hard. They might have +thrown me off without being unkind to them. It is that that has +killed me, Arthur;--that they should have suffered." He sat looking +at her, not knowing how to interrupt her, or what to say. There was +much that he meant to say, but he did not know how to begin it, or +how to frame his words. "When I am gone, perhaps, it will be all +right," she continued. "When he told me that I was to go, that was my +comfort. I think I have taught myself to think nothing of myself, to +bear it all as a necessity, to put up with it, whatever it may be, as +men bear thirst in the desert. Thank God, Arthur, I have no baby to +suffer with me. Here,--here, it is still very bad. When I think of +papa creeping in and out of his house, I sometimes feel that I must +kill myself. But our going will put an end to all that. It is much +better that we should go. I wish we might start to-morrow." Then she +looked up at him, and saw that the tears were running down his face, +and as she looked she heard his sobs. "Why should you cry, Arthur? +He never cries,--nor do I. When baby died I cried,--but very little. +Tears are vain, foolish things. It has to be borne, and there is +an end of it. When one makes up one's mind to that, one does not +cry. There was a poor woman here the other day whose husband he had +ruined. She wept and bewailed herself till I pitied her almost more +than myself;--but then she had children." + +"Oh, Emily!" + +"You mustn't call me by my name, because he would be angry. I have to +do, you know, as he tells me. And I do so strive to do it! Through +it all I have an idea that if I do my duty it will be better for me. +There are things, you know, which a husband may tell you to do, but +you cannot do. If he tells me to rob, I am not to rob;--am I? And +now I think of it, you ought not to be here. He would be very much +displeased. But it has been so pleasant once more to see an old +friend." + +"I care nothing for his anger," said Arthur moodily. + +"Ah, but I do. I have to care for it." + +"Leave him! Why don't you leave him?" + +"What!" + +"You cannot deceive me. You do not try to deceive me. You know that +he is altogether unworthy of you." + +"I will hear nothing of the kind, sir." + +"How can I speak otherwise when you yourself tell me of your own +misery? Is it possible that I should not know what he is? Would you +have me pretend to think well of him?" + +"You can hold your tongue, Arthur." + +"No;--I cannot hold my tongue. Have I not held my tongue ever since +you married? And if I am to speak at all, must I not speak now?" + +"There is nothing to be said that can serve us at all." + +"Then it shall be said without serving. When I bid you leave him, it +is not that you may come to me. Though I love you better than all the +world put together, I do not mean that." + +"Oh, Arthur, Arthur!" + +"But let your father save you. Only tell him that you will stay with +him, and he will do it. Though I should never see you again, I could +hope to protect you. Of course, I know,--and you know. He is--a +scoundrel!" + +"I will not hear it," said she, rising from her seat on the sofa with +her hands up to her forehead, but still coming nearer to him as she +moved. + +"Does not your father say the same thing? I will advise nothing that +he does not advise. I would not say a word to you that he might not +hear. I do love you. I have always loved you. But do you think that I +would hurt you with my love?" + +"No;--no;--no!" + +"No, indeed;--but I would have you feel that those who loved you of +old are still anxious for your welfare. You said just now that you +had been neglected." + +"I spoke of papa and Everett. For myself,--of course I have separated +myself from everybody." + +"Never from me. You may be ten times his wife, but you cannot +separate yourself from me. Getting up in the morning and going to +bed at night I still tell myself that you are the one woman that I +love. Stay with us, and you shall be honoured,--as that man's wife of +course, but still as the dearest friend we have." + +"I cannot stay," she said. "He has told me that I am to go, and I am +in his hands. When you have a wife, Arthur, you will wish her to do +your bidding. I hope she will do it for your sake, without the pain I +have in doing his. Good-bye, dear friend." + +She put her hand out and he grasped it, and stood for a moment +looking at her. Then he seized her in his arms and kissed her brow +and her lips. "Oh, Emily, why were you not my wife? My darling, my +darling!" + +She had hardly extricated herself when the door opened, and Lopez +stood in the room. "Mr. Fletcher," he said, very calmly, "what is the +meaning of this?" + +"He has come to bid me farewell," said Emily. "When going on so long +a journey one likes to see one's old friends,--perhaps for the last +time." There was something of indifference to his anger in her tone, +and something also of scorn. + +Lopez looked from one to the other, affecting an air of great +displeasure. "You know, sir," he said, "that you cannot be welcome +here." + +"But he has been welcome," said his wife. + +"And I look upon your coming as a base act. You are here with the +intention of creating discord between me and my wife." + +"I am here to tell her that she has a friend to trust to if she ever +wants a friend," said Fletcher. + +"And you think that such trust as that would be safer than trust in +her husband? I cannot turn you out of this house, sir, because it +does not belong to me, but I desire you to leave at once the room +which is occupied by my wife." Fletcher paused a moment to say +good-bye to the poor woman, while Lopez continued with increased +indignation, "If you do not go at once you will force me to desire +her to retire. She shall not remain in the same room with you." + +"Good-bye, Mr. Fletcher," she said, again putting out her hand. + +But Lopez struck it up, not violently, so as to hurt her, but still +with eager roughness. "Not in my presence," he said. "Go, sir, when +I desire you." + +"God bless you, my friend," said Arthur Fletcher. "I pray that I may +live to see you back in the old country." + +"He was--kissing you," said Lopez, as soon as the door was shut. + +"He was," said Emily. + +"And you tell me so to my face, with such an air as that!" + +"What am I to tell you when you ask me? I did not bid him kiss me." + +"But afterwards you took his part as his friend." + +"Why not? I should lie to you if I pretended that I was angry with +him for what he did." + +"Perhaps you will tell me that you love him." + +"Of course I love him. There are different kinds of love, Ferdinand. +There is that which a woman gives to a man when she would fain mate +with him. It is the sweetest love of all, if it would only last. And +there is another love,--which is not given, but which is won, perhaps +through long years, by old friends. I have none older than Arthur +Fletcher, and none who are dearer to me." + +"And you think it right that he should take you in his arms and kiss +you?" + +"On such an occasion I could not blame him." + +"You were ready enough to receive it, perhaps." + +"Well; I was. He has loved me well, and I shall never see him again. +He is very dear to me, and I was parting from him for ever. It was +the first and the last, and I did not grudge it to him. You must +remember, Ferdinand, that you are taking me across the world from all +my friends." + +"Psha," he said, "that is all over. You are not going anywhere that +I know of,--unless it be out into the streets when your father shuts +his door on you." And so saying he left the room without another +word. + + + + +CHAPTER LX + +The Tenway Junction + + +And thus the knowledge was conveyed to Mrs. Lopez that her fate in +life was not to carry her to Guatemala. At the very moment in which +she had been summoned to meet Arthur Fletcher she had been busy with +her needle preparing that almost endless collection of garments +necessary for a journey of many days at sea. And now she was +informed, by a chance expression, by a word aside, as it were, that +the journey was not to be made. "That is all over," he had said,--and +then had left her, telling her nothing further. Of course she stayed +her needle. Whether the last word had been true or false, she could +not work again, at any rate till it had been contradicted. If it were +so, what was to be her fate? One thing was certain to her;--that she +could not remain under her father's roof. It was impossible that an +arrangement so utterly distasteful as the present one, both to her +father and to herself, should be continued. But where then should +they live,--and of what nature would her life be if she should be +separated from her father? + +That evening she saw her father, and he corroborated her husband's +statement. "It is all over now," he said,--"that scheme of his of +going to superintend the mines. The mines don't want him, and won't +have him. I can't say that I wonder at it." + +"What are we to do, papa?" + +"Ah;--that I cannot say. I suppose he will condescend still to honour +me with his company. I do not know why he should wish to go to +Guatemala or elsewhere. He has everything here that he can want." + +"You know, papa, that that is impossible." + +"I cannot say what with him is possible or impossible. He is bound by +none of the ordinary rules of mankind." + +That evening Lopez returned to his dinner in Manchester Square, which +was still regularly served for him and his wife, though the servants +who attended upon him did so under silent and oft-repeated protest. +He said not a word more as to Arthur Fletcher, nor did he seek any +ground of quarrel with his wife. But that her continued melancholy +and dejection made anything like good-humour impossible, even on his +part, he would have been good-humoured. When they were alone she +asked him as to their future destiny. "Papa tells me you are not +going," she began by saying. + +"Did I not tell you so this morning?" + +"Yes;--you said so. But I did not know you were earnest. Is it all +over?" + +"All over,--I suppose." + +"I should have thought that you would have told me with more--more +seriousness." + +"I don't know what you would have. I was serious enough. The fact +is, that your father has delayed so long the payment of the promised +money that the thing has fallen through of necessity. I do not know +that I can blame the Company." + +Then there was a pause. "And now," she said, "what do you mean to +do?" + +"Upon my word I cannot say. I am quite as much in the dark as you can +be." + +"That is nonsense, Ferdinand." + +"Thank you! Let it be nonsense if you will. It seems to me that there +is a great deal of nonsense going on in the world; but very little of +it as true as what I say now." + +"But it is your duty to know. Of course you cannot stay here." + +"Nor you, I suppose,--without me." + +"I am not speaking of myself. If you choose, I can remain here." + +"And--just throw me overboard altogether." + +"If you provide another home for me, I will go to it. However poor it +may be I will go to it, if you bid me. But for you,--of course you +cannot stay here." + +"Has your father told you to say so to me?" + +"No;--but I can say so without his telling me. You are banishing him +from his own house. He has put up with it while he thought that you +were going to this foreign country; but there must be an end of that +now. You must have some scheme of life?" + +"Upon my soul I have none." + +"You must have some intentions for the future?" + +"None in the least. I have had intentions, and they have +failed;--from want of that support which I had a right to expect. I +have struggled and I have failed, and now I have got no intentions. +What are yours?" + +"It is not my duty to have any purpose, as what I do must depend on +your commands." Then again there was a silence, during which he lit +a cigar, although he was sitting in the drawing-room. This was a +profanation of the room on which even he had never ventured before, +but at the present moment she was unable to notice it by any words. +"I must tell papa," she said after a while, "what our plans are." + +"You can tell him what you please. I have literally nothing to say to +him. If he will settle an adequate income on us, payable of course +to me, I will go and live elsewhere. If he turns me into the street +without provision, he must turn you too. That is all that I have got +to say. It will come better from you than from me. I am sorry, of +course, that things have gone wrong with me. When I found myself +the son-in-law of a very rich man I thought that I might spread my +wings a bit. But my rich father-in-law threw me over, and now I am +helpless. You are not very cheerful, my dear, and I think I'll go +down to the club." + +He went out of the house and did go down to the Progress. The +committee which was to be held with the view of judging whether he +was or was not a proper person to remain a member of that assemblage +had not yet been held, and there was nothing to impede his entrance +to the club, or the execution of the command which he gave for tea +and buttered toast. But no one spoke to him; nor, though he affected +a look of comfort, did he find himself much at his ease. Among the +members of the club there was a much divided opinion whether he +should be expelled or not. There was a strong party who declared that +his conduct socially, morally, and politically, had been so bad that +nothing short of expulsion would meet the case. But there were others +who said that no act had been proved against him which the club ought +to notice. He had, no doubt, shown himself to be a blackguard, a man +without a spark of honour or honesty. But then,--as they said who +thought his position in the club to be unassailable,--what had the +club to do with that? "If you turn out all the blackguards and all +the dishonourable men, where will the club be?" was a question asked +with a great deal of vigour by one middle-aged gentleman who was +supposed to know the club-world very thoroughly. He had committed no +offence which the law could recognise and punish, nor had he sinned +against the club rules. "He is not required to be a man of honour by +any regulation of which I am aware," said the middle-aged gentleman. +The general opinion seemed to be that he should be asked to go, and +that, if he declined, no one should speak to him. This penalty was +already inflicted on him, for on the evening in question no one did +speak to him. + +He drank his tea and ate his toast and read a magazine, striving to +look as comfortable and as much at his ease as men at their clubs +generally are. He was not a bad actor, and those who saw him and made +reports as to his conduct on the following day declared that he had +apparently been quite indifferent to the disagreeable incidents of +his position. But his indifference had been mere acting. His careless +manner with his wife had been all assumed. Selfish as he was, void as +he was of all principle, utterly unmanly and even unconscious of the +worth of manliness, still he was alive to the opinions of others. He +thought that the world was wrong to condemn him,--that the world did +not understand the facts of his case, and that the world generally +would have done as he had done in similar circumstances. He did not +know that there was such a quality as honesty, nor did he understand +what the word meant. But he did know that some men, an unfortunate +class, became subject to evil report from others who were more +successful, and he was aware that he had become one of those +unfortunates. Nor could he see any remedy for his position. It was +all blank and black before him. It may be doubted whether he got much +instruction or amusement from the pages of the magazine which he +turned. + +At about twelve o'clock he left the club and took his way homewards. +But he did not go straight home. It was a nasty cold March night, +with a catching wind, and occasional short showers of something +between snow and rain,--as disagreeable a night for a gentleman to +walk in as one could well conceive. But he went round by Trafalgar +Square, and along the Strand, and up some dirty streets by the +small theatres, and so on to Holborn and by Bloomsbury Square up to +Tottenham Court Road, then through some unused street into Portland +Place, along the Marylebone Road, and back to Manchester Square by +Baker Street. He had more than doubled the distance,--apparently +without any object. He had been spoken to frequently by unfortunates +of both sexes, but had answered a word to no one. He had trudged on +and on with his umbrella over his head, but almost unconscious of the +cold and wet. And yet he was a man sedulously attentive to his own +personal comfort and health, who had at any rate shown this virtue in +his mode of living, that he had never subjected himself to danger by +imprudence. But now the working of his mind kept him warm, and, if +not dry, at least indifferent to the damp. He had thrown aside with +affected nonchalance those questions which his wife had asked him, +but still it was necessary that he should answer them. He did not +suppose that he could continue to live in Manchester Square in his +present condition. Nor, if it was necessary that he should wander +forth into the world, could he force his wife to wander with him. If +he would consent to leave her, his father-in-law would probably give +him something,--some allowance on which he might exist. But then of +what sort would be his life? + +He did not fail to remind himself over and over again that he had +nearly succeeded. He had been the guest of the Prime Minister, and +had been the nominee chosen by a Duchess to represent her husband's +borough in Parliament. He had been intimate with Mills Happerton who +was fast becoming a millionaire. He had married much above himself in +every way. He had achieved a certain popularity and was conscious of +intellect. But at the present moment two or three sovereigns in his +pocket were the extent of his worldly wealth and his character was +utterly ruined. He regarded his fate as does a card-player who day +after day holds sixes and sevens when other men have the aces and +kings. Fate was against him. He saw no reason why he should not have +had the aces and kings continually, especially as fate had given him +perhaps more than his share of them at first. He had, however, lost +rubber after rubber,--not paying his stakes for some of the last +rubbers lost,--till the players would play with him no longer. The +misfortune might have happened to any man;--but it had happened to +him. There was no beginning again. A possible small allowance and +some very retired and solitary life, in which there would be no show +of honour, no flattery coming to him, was all that was left to him. + +He let himself in at the house, and found his wife still awake. "I am +wet to the skin," he said. "I made up my mind to walk, and I would do +it;--but I am a fool for my pains." She made him some feeble answer, +affecting to be half asleep, and merely turned in her bed. "I must +be out early in the morning. Mind you make them dry my things. They +never do anything for my telling." + +"You don't want them dried to-night?" + +"Not to-night, of course;--but after I am gone to-morrow. They'll +leave them there without putting a hand to them, if you don't speak. +I must be off before breakfast to-morrow." + +"Where are you going? Do you want anything packed?" + +"No; nothing. I shall be back to dinner. But I must go down to +Birmingham, to see a friend of Happerton's on business. I will +breakfast at the station. As you said to-day, something must be done. +If it's to sweep a crossing, I must sweep it." + +As she lay awake while he slept, she thought that those last words +were the best she had heard him speak since they were married. There +seemed to be some indication of a purpose in them. If he would +only sweep a crossing as a man should sweep it, she would stand +by him, and at any rate do her duty to him, in spite of all that +had happened. Alas! she was not old enough to have learned that a +dishonest man cannot begin even to sweep a crossing honestly till he +have in very truth repented of his former dishonesty. The lazy man +may become lazy no longer, but there must have been first a process +through his mind whereby laziness has become odious to him. And that +process can hardly be the immediate result of misfortune arising +from misconduct. Had Lopez found his crossing at Birmingham he would +hardly have swept it well. + +Early on the following morning he was up, and before he left his +room he kissed his wife. "Good-bye, old girl," he said; "don't be +down-hearted." + +"If you have anything before you to do, I will not be down-hearted," +she said. + +"I shall have something to do before night, I think. Tell your +father, when you see him, that I will not trouble him here much +longer. But tell him, also, that I have no thanks to give him for his +hospitality." + +"I will not tell him that, Ferdinand." + +"He shall know it, though. But I do not mean to be cross to you. +Good-bye, love." Then he stooped over her and kissed her again;--and +so he took his leave of her. + +It was raining hard, and when he got into the street he looked about +for a cab, but there was none to be found. In Baker Street he got an +omnibus which took him down to the underground railway, and by that +he went to Gower Street. Through the rain he walked up to the Euston +Station, and there he ordered breakfast. Could he have a mutton chop +and some tea? And he was very particular that the mutton chop should +be well cooked. He was a good-looking man, of fashionable appearance, +and the young lady who attended him noticed him and was courteous to +him. He condescended even to have a little light conversation with +her, and, on the whole, he seemed to enjoy his breakfast. "Upon my +word, I should like to breakfast here every day of my life," he said. +The young lady assured him that, as far as she could see, there was +no objection to such an arrangement. "Only it's a bore, you know, +coming out in the rain when there are no cabs," he said. Then there +were various little jokes between them, till the young lady was quite +impressed with the gentleman's pleasant affability. + +After a while he went back into the hall and took a first-class +return ticket, not for Birmingham, but for the Tenway Junction. It +is quite unnecessary to describe the Tenway Junction, as everybody +knows it. From this spot, some six or seven miles distant from +London, lines diverge east, west, and north, north-east, and +north-west, round the metropolis in every direction, and with direct +communication with every other line in and out of London. It is a +marvellous place, quite unintelligible to the uninitiated, and yet +daily used by thousands who only know that when they get there, +they are to do what some one tells them. The space occupied by the +convergent rails seems to be sufficient for a large farm. And these +rails always run one into another with sloping points, and cross +passages, and mysterious meandering sidings, till it seems to the +thoughtful stranger to be impossible that the best trained engine +should know its own line. Here and there and around there is ever a +wilderness of waggons, some loaded, some empty, some smoking with +close-packed oxen, and others furlongs in length black with coals, +which look as though they had been stranded there by chance, and were +never destined to get again into the right path of traffic. Not a +minute passes without a train going here or there, some rushing by +without noticing Tenway in the least, crashing through like flashes +of substantial lightning, and others stopping, disgorging and taking +up passengers by the hundreds. Men and women,--especially the men, +for the women knowing their ignorance are generally willing to trust +to the pundits of the place,--look doubtful, uneasy, and bewildered. +But they all do get properly placed and unplaced, so that the +spectator at last acknowledges that over all this apparent chaos +there is presiding a great genius of order. From dusky morn to dark +night, and indeed almost throughout the night, the air is loaded +with a succession of shrieks. The theory goes that each separate +shriek,--if there can be any separation where the sound is so nearly +continuous,--is a separate notice to separate ears of the coming or +going of a separate train. The stranger, as he speculates on these +pandemoniac noises, is able to realise the idea that were they +discontinued the excitement necessary for the minds of the pundits +might be lowered, and that activity might be lessened, and evil +results might follow. But he cannot bring himself to credit that +theory of individual notices. + +At Tenway Junction there are half-a-dozen long platforms, on which +men and women and luggage are crowded. On one of these for a while +Ferdinand Lopez walked backwards and forwards as though waiting for +the coming of some especial train. The crowd is ever so great that +a man might be supposed to walk there from morning to night without +exciting special notice. But the pundits are very clever, and have +much experience in men and women. A well-taught pundit, who has +exercised authority for a year or two at such a station as that of +Tenway, will know within a minute of the appearance of each stranger +what is his purpose there,--whether he be going or has just come, +whether he is himself on the way or waiting for others, whether he +should be treated with civility or with some curt command,--so that +if his purport be honest all necessary assistance may be rendered +him. As Lopez was walking up and down, with smiling face and +leisurely pace, now reading an advertisement and now watching the +contortions of some amazed passenger, a certain pundit asked him +his business. He was waiting, he said, for a train from Liverpool, +intending, when his friend arrived, to go with him to Dulwich by a +train which went round the west of London. It was all feasible, and +the pundit told him that the stopping train from Liverpool was due +there in six minutes, but that the express from the north would +pass first. Lopez thanked the pundit and gave him sixpence,--which +made the pundit suspicious. A pundit hopes to be paid when he +handles luggage, but has no such expectation when he merely gives +information. + +The pundit still had his eye on our friend when the shriek and the +whirr of the express from the north was heard. Lopez walked quickly +up towards the edge of the platform, when the pundit followed him, +telling him that this was not his train. Lopez then ran a few yards +along the platform, not noticing the man, reaching a spot that was +unoccupied;--and there he stood fixed. And as he stood the express +flashed by. "I am fond of seeing them pass like that," said Lopez to +the man who had followed him. + +"But you shouldn't do it, sir," said the suspicious pundit. "No one +isn't allowed to stand near like that. The very hair of it might take +you off your legs when you're not used to it." + +"All right, old fellow," said Lopez, retreating. The next train was +the Liverpool train; and it seemed that our friend's friend had not +come, for when the Liverpool passengers had cleared themselves off, +he was still walking up and down the platform. "He'll come by the +next," said Lopez to the pundit, who now followed him about and kept +an eye on him. + +"There ain't another from Liverpool stopping here till the 2.20," +said the pundit. "You had better come again if you mean to meet him +by that." + +"He has come on part of the way, and will reach this by some other +train," said Lopez. + +"There ain't nothing he can come by," said the pundit. "Gentlemen +can't wait here all day, sir. The horders is against waiting on the +platform." + +"All right," said Lopez, moving away as though to make his exit +through the station. + +Now Tenway Junction is so big a place, and so scattered, that it +is impossible that all the pundits should by any combined activity +maintain to the letter that order of which our special pundit had +spoken. Lopez, departing from the platform which he had hitherto +occupied, was soon to be seen on another, walking up and down, and +again waiting. But the old pundit had had his eye upon him, and had +followed him round. At that moment there came a shriek louder than +all the other shrieks, and the morning express down from Euston to +Inverness was seen coming round the curve at a thousand miles an +hour. Lopez turned round and looked at it, and again walked towards +the edge of the platform. But now it was not exactly the edge that he +neared, but a descent to a pathway,--an inclined plane leading down +to the level of the rails, and made there for certain purposes of +traffic. As he did so the pundit called to him, and then made a rush +at him,--for our friend's back was turned to the coming train. But +Lopez heeded not the call, and the rush was too late. With quick, +but still with gentle and apparently unhurried steps, he walked down +before the flying engine--and in a moment had been knocked into +bloody atoms. + + + + +CHAPTER LXI + +The Widow and Her Friends + + +The catastrophe described in the last chapter had taken place during +the first week in March. By the end of that month old Mr. Wharton +had probably reconciled himself to the tragedy, although in fact it +had affected him very deeply. In the first days after the news had +reached him he seemed to be bowed to the ground. Stone Buildings were +neglected, and the Eldon saw nothing of him. Indeed, he barely left +the house from which he had been so long banished by the presence of +his son-in-law. It seemed to Everett, who now came to live with him +and his sister, as though his father were overcome by the horror of +the affair. But after awhile he recovered himself, and appeared one +morning in court with his wig and gown, and argued a case,--which was +now unusual with him,--as though to show the world that a dreadful +episode in his life was passed, and should be thought of no more. At +this period, three or four weeks after the occurrence,--he rarely +spoke to his daughter about Lopez; but to Everett the man's name +would be often on his tongue. "I do not know that there could have +been any other deliverance," he said to his son one day. "I thought +it would have killed me when I first heard it, and it nearly killed +her. But, at any rate, now there is peace." + +But the widow seemed to feel it more as time went on. At first she +was stunned, and for a while absolutely senseless. It was not till +two days after the occurrence that the fact became known to her,--nor +known as a certainty to her father and brother. It seemed as though +the man had been careful to carry with him no record of identity, the +nature of which would permit it to outlive the crash of the train. +No card was found, no scrap of paper with his name; and it was +discovered at last that when he left the house on the fatal morning +he had been careful to dress himself in shirt and socks, with +handkerchief and collar that had been newly purchased for his +proposed journey and which bore no mark. The fragments of his body +set identity at defiance, and even his watch had been crumpled into +ashes. Of course the fact became certain with no great delay. The man +himself was missing, and was accurately described both by the young +lady from the refreshment room, and by the suspicious pundit who had +actually seen the thing done. There was first belief that it was so, +which was not communicated to Emily,--and then certainty. + +There was an inquest held of course,--well, we will say on the +body,--and, singularly enough, great difference of opinion as to the +manner, though of course none as to the immediate cause of the death. +Had it been accidental, or premeditated? The pundit, who in the +performance of his duties on the Tenway platforms was so efficient +and valuable, gave half-a-dozen opinions in half-a-dozen minutes when +subjected to the questions of the Coroner. In his own mind he had not +the least doubt in the world as to what had happened. But he was made +to believe that he was not to speak his own mind. The gentleman, he +said, certainly might have walked down by accident. The gentleman's +back was turned, and it was possible that the gentleman did not hear +the train. He was quite certain the gentleman knew of the train; but +yet he could not say. The gentleman walked down before the train o' +purpose; but perhaps he didn't mean to do himself an injury. There +was a deal of this, till the Coroner, putting all his wrath into +his brow, told the man that he was a disgrace to the service, and +expressed a hope that the Company would no longer employ a man +so evidently unfit for his position. But the man was in truth +a conscientious and useful railway pundit, with a large family, +and evident capabilities for his business. At last a verdict was +given,--that the man's name was Ferdinand Lopez, that he had been +crushed by an express train on the London and North Western Line, and +that there was no evidence to show how his presence on the line had +been occasioned. Of course Mr. Wharton had employed counsel, and of +course the counsel's object had been to avoid a verdict of felo de +se. Appended to the verdict was a recommendation from the jury that +the Railway Company should be advised to signalise their express +trains more clearly at the Tenway Junction Station. + +When these tidings were told to the widow she had already given +way to many fears. Lopez had gone, purporting,--as he said,--to be +back to dinner. He had not come then, nor on the following morning; +nor had he written. Then she remembered all that he had done and +said;--how he had kissed her, and left a parting malediction for her +father. She did not at first imagine that he had destroyed himself, +but that he had gone away, intending to vanish as other men before +now have vanished. As she thought of this something almost like love +came back upon her heart. Of course he was bad. Even in her sorrow, +even when alarmed as to his fate, she could not deny that. But her +oath to him had not been to love him only while he was good. She had +made herself a part of him, and was she not bound to be true to him, +whether good or bad? She implored her father and she implored her +brother to be ceaseless in their endeavours to trace him,--sometimes +seeming almost to fear that in this respect she could not fully +trust them. Then she discerned from their manner a doubt as to her +husband's fate. "Oh, papa, if you think anything, tell me what you +think," she said late on the evening of the second day. He was then +nearly sure that the man who had been killed at Tenway was Ferdinand +Lopez;--but he was not quite sure, and he would not tell her. But on +the following morning, somewhat before noon, having himself gone out +early to Euston Square, he came back to his own house,--and then he +told her all. For the first hour she did not shed a tear or lose her +consciousness of the horror of the thing;--but sat still and silent, +gazing at nothing, casting back her mind over the history of her +life, and the misery which she had brought on all who belonged to +her. Then at last she gave way, fell into tears, hysteric sobbings, +convulsions so violent as for a time to take the appearance of +epileptic fits, and was at last exhausted and, happily for herself, +unconscious. + +After that she was ill for many weeks,--so ill that at times both +her father and her brother thought that she would die. When the +first month or six weeks had passed by she would often speak of her +husband, especially to her father, and always speaking of him as +though she had brought him to his untimely fate. Nor could she endure +at this time that her father should say a word against him, even when +she obliged the old man to speak of one whose conduct had been so +infamous. It had all been her doing! Had she not married him there +would have been no misfortune! She did not say that he had been +noble, true, or honest,--but she asserted that all the evils which +had come upon him had been produced by herself. "My dear," her father +said to her one evening, "it is a matter which we cannot forget, but +on which it is well that we should be silent." + +"I shall always know what that silence means," she replied. + +"It will never mean condemnation of you by me," said he. + +"But I have destroyed your life,--and his. I know I ought not to have +married him, because you bade me not. And I know that I should have +been gentler with him, and more obedient, when I was his wife. I +sometimes wish that I were a Catholic, and that I could go into a +convent, and bury it all amidst sackcloths and ashes." + +"That would not bury it," said her father. + +"But I should at least be buried. If I were out of sight, you might +forget it all." + +She once stirred Everett up to speak more plainly than her father +ever dared to do, and then also she herself used language that was +very plain. "My darling," said her brother once, when she had been +trying to make out that her husband had been more sinned against than +sinning,--"he was a bad man. It is better that the truth should be +told." + +"And who is a good man?" she said, raising herself in her bed and +looking him full in the face with her deep-sunken eyes. "If there be +any truth in our religion, are we not all bad? Who is to tell the +shades of difference in badness? He was not a drunkard, or a gambler. +Through it all he was true to his wife." She, poor creature, was of +course ignorant of that little scene in the little street near May +Fair, in which Lopez had offered to carry Lizzie Eustace away with +him to Guatemala. "He was industrious. His ideas about money were +not the same as yours or papa's. How was he worse than others? It +happened that his faults were distasteful to you--and so, perhaps, +were his virtues." + +"His faults, such as they were, brought all these miseries." + +"He would have been successful now if he had never seen me. But why +should we talk of it? We shall never agree. And you, Everett, can +never understand all that has passed through my mind during the last +two years." + +There were two or three persons who attempted to see her at this +period, but she avoided them all. First came Mrs. Roby, who, as her +nearest neighbour, as her aunt, and as an aunt who had been so nearly +allied to her, had almost a right to demand admittance. But she would +not see Mrs. Roby. She sent down word to say that she was too ill. +And when Mrs. Roby wrote to her, she got her father to answer the +notes. "You had better let it drop," the old man said at last to his +sister-in-law. "Of course she remembers that it was you who brought +them together." + +"But I didn't bring them together, Mr. Wharton. How often am I to +tell you so? It was Everett who brought Mr. Lopez here." + +"The marriage was made up in your house, and it has destroyed me and +my child. I will not quarrel with my wife's sister if I can help +it, but at present you had better keep apart." Then he had left her +abruptly, and Mrs. Roby had not dared either to write or to call +again. + +At this time Arthur Fletcher saw both Everett and Mr. Wharton +frequently, but he did not go to the Square, contenting himself with +asking whether he might be allowed to do so. "Not yet, Arthur," said +the old man. "I am sure she thinks of you as one of her best friends, +but she could not see you yet." + +"She would have nothing to fear," said Arthur. "We knew each other +when we were children, and I should be now only as I was then." + +"Not yet, Arthur;--not yet," said the barrister. + +Then there came a letter, or rather two letters, from Mary +Wharton;--one to Mr. Wharton and the other to Emily. To tell the +truth as to these letters, they contained the combined wisdom and +tenderness of Wharton Hall and Longbarns. As soon as the fate of +Lopez had been ascertained and thoroughly discussed in Herefordshire, +there went forth an edict that Emily had suffered punishment +sufficient and was to be forgiven. Old Mrs. Fletcher did not come +to this at once,--having some deep-seated feeling which she did +not dare to express even to her son, though she muttered it to her +daughter-in-law, that Arthur would be disgraced for ever were he +to marry the widow of such a man as Ferdinand Lopez. But when this +question of receiving Emily back into family favour was mooted in +the Longbarns Parliament no one alluded to the possibility of such +a marriage. There was the fact that she whom they had all loved had +been freed by a great tragedy from the husband whom they had all +condemned,--and also the knowledge that the poor victim had suffered +greatly during the period of her married life. Mrs. Fletcher had +frowned, and shaken her head, and made a little speech about the +duties of women, and the necessarily fatal consequences when those +duties are neglected. There were present there, with the old lady, +John Fletcher and his wife, Sir Alured and Lady Wharton, and Mary +Wharton. Arthur was not in the county, nor could the discussion have +been held in his presence. "I can only say," said John, getting up +and looking away from his mother, "that she shall always find a home +at Longbarns when she chooses to come here, and I hope Sir Alured +will say the same as to Wharton Hall." After all, John Fletcher was +king in these parts, and Mrs. Fletcher, with many noddings and some +sobbing, had to give way to King John. The end of all this was that +Mary Wharton wrote her letters. In that to Mr. Wharton she asked +whether it would not be better that her cousin should change the +scene and come at once into the country. Let her come and stay a +month at Wharton, and then go on to Longbarns. She might be sure that +there would be no company in either house. In June the Fletchers +would go up to town for a week, and then Emily might return to +Wharton Hall. It was a long letter, and Mary gave many reasons why +the poor sufferer would be better in the country than in town. The +letter to Emily herself was shorter but full of affection. "Do, do, +do come. You know how we all love you. Let it be as it used to be. +You always liked the country. I will devote myself to try and comfort +you." But Emily could not as yet submit to receive devotion even from +her cousin Mary. Through it all, and under it all,--though she would +ever defend her husband because he was dead,--she knew that she +had disgraced the Whartons and brought a load of sorrow upon the +Fletchers, and she was too proud to be forgiven so quickly. + +Then she received another tender of affection from a quarter whence +she certainly did not expect it. The Duchess of Omnium wrote to her. +The Duchess, though she had lately been considerably restrained by +the condition of the Duke's mind, and by the effects of her own +political and social mistakes, still from time to time made renewed +efforts to keep together the Coalition by giving dinners, balls, and +garden parties, and by binding to herself the gratitude and worship +of young parliamentary aspirants. In carrying out her plans, she had +lately showered her courtesies upon Arthur Fletcher, who had been +made welcome even by the Duke as the sitting member for Silverbridge. +With Arthur she had of course discussed the conduct of Lopez as +to the election bills, and had been very loud in condemning him. +And from Arthur also she had heard something of the sorrows of +Emily Lopez. Arthur had been very desirous that the Duchess, who +had received them both at her house, should distinguish between +the husband and the wife. Then had come the tragedy, to which the +notoriety of the man's conduct of course gave additional interest. It +was believed that Lopez had destroyed himself because of the disgrace +which had fallen upon him from the Silverbridge affair. And for much +of that Silverbridge affair the Duchess herself was responsible. +She waited till a couple of months had gone by, and then, in the +beginning of May, sent to the widow what was intended to be, and +indeed was, a very kind note. The Duchess had heard the sad story +with the greatest grief. She hoped that Mrs. Lopez would permit her +to avail herself of a short acquaintance to express her sincere +sympathy. She would not venture to call as yet, but hoped that before +long she might be allowed to come to Manchester Square. + +This note touched the poor woman to whom it was written, not because +she herself was solicitous to be acquainted with the Duchess of +Omnium, but because the application seemed to her to contain +something like an acquittal, or at any rate a pardon, of her husband. +His sin in that measure of the Silverbridge election,--a sin which +her father had been loud in denouncing before the wretch had +destroyed himself,--had been especially against the Duke of Omnium. +And now the Duchess came forward to say that it should be forgiven +and forgotten. When she showed the letter to her father, and asked +him what she should say in answer to it, he only shook his head. "It +is meant for kindness, papa." + +"Yes;--I think it is. There are people who have no right to be kind +to me. If a man stopped me in the street and offered me half-a-crown +it might be kindness;--but I don't want the man's half-crown." + +"I don't think it is the same, papa. There is a reason here." + +"Perhaps so, my dear; but I do not see the reason." + +She became very red, but even to him she would not explain her ideas. +"I think I shall answer it." + +"Certainly answer it. Your compliments to the Duchess and thank her +for her kind inquiries." + +"But she says she will come here." + +"I should not notice that." + +"Very well, papa. If you think so, of course I will not. Perhaps it +would be an inconvenience, if she were really to come." On the next +day she did write a note, not quite so cold as that which her father +proposed, but still saying nothing as to the offered visit. She felt, +she said, very grateful for the Duchess's kind remembrance of her. +The Duchess would perhaps understand that at present her sorrow +overwhelmed her. + +And there was one other tender of kindness which was more surprising +than even that from the Duchess. The reader may perhaps remember that +Ferdinand Lopez and Lady Eustace had not parted when they last saw +each other on the pleasantest terms. He had been very affectionate, +but when he had proposed to devote his whole life to her and to carry +her off to Guatemala she had simply told him that he was--a fool. +Then he had escaped from her house and had never again seen Lizzie +Eustace. She had not thought very much about it. Had he returned to +her the next day with some more tempting proposition for making money +she would have listened to him,--and had he begged her pardon for +what had taken place on the former day she would have merely laughed. +She was not more offended than she would have been had he asked her +for half her fortune instead of her person and her honour. But, as it +was, he had escaped and had never again shown himself in the little +street near May Fair. Then she had the tidings of his death, first +seeing the account in a very sensational article from the pen of Mr. +Quintus Slide himself. She was immediately filled with an intense +interest which was infinitely increased by the fact that the man +had but a few days before declared himself to be her lover. It was +bringing her almost as near to the event as though she had seen it! +She was, perhaps, entitled to think that she had caused it! Nay;--in +one sense she had caused it, for he certainly would not have +destroyed himself had she consented to go with him to Guatemala or +elsewhere. And she knew his wife. An uninteresting, dowdy creature +she had called her. But, nevertheless, they had been in company +together more than once. So she presented her compliments, and +expressed her sorrow, and hoped that she might be allowed to call. +There had been no one for whom she had felt more sincere respect and +esteem than for her late friend Mr. Ferdinand Lopez. To this note +there was sent an answer written by Mr. Wharton himself. + + + MADAM, + + My daughter is too ill to see even her own friends. + + I am, Madam, + Your obedient servant, + + ABEL WHARTON. + + +After this, life went on in a very quiet way at Manchester Square +for many weeks. Gradually Mrs. Lopez recovered her capability of +attending to the duties of life. Gradually she became again able +to interest herself in her brother's pursuits and in her father's +comforts, and the house returned to its old form as it had been +before these terrible two years, in which the happiness of the +Wharton and Fletcher families had been marred, and scotched, and +almost destroyed for ever by the interference of Ferdinand Lopez. +But Mrs. Lopez never for a moment forgot that she had done the +mischief,--and that the black enduring cloud had been created solely +by her own perversity and self-will. Though she would still defend +her late husband if any attack were made upon his memory, not the +less did she feel that hers had been the fault, though the punishment +had come upon them all. + + + + +CHAPTER LXII + +Phineas Finn Has a Book to Read + + +The sensation created by the man's death was by no means confined +to Manchester Square, but was very general in the metropolis, and, +indeed, throughout the country. As the catastrophe became the subject +of general conversation, many people learned that the Silverbridge +affair had not, in truth, had much to do with it. The man had killed +himself, as many other men have done before him, because he had run +through his money and had no chance left of redeeming himself. But to +the world at large, the disgrace brought upon him by the explanation +given in Parliament was the apparent cause of his self-immolation, +and there were not wanting those who felt and expressed a sympathy +for a man who could feel so acutely the effect of his own +wrong-doing. No doubt he had done wrong in asking the Duke for the +money. But the request, though wrong, might almost be justified. +There could be no doubt, these apologists said, that he had been +ill-treated between the Duke and the Duchess. No doubt Phineas Finn, +who was now described by some opponents as the Duke's creature, had +been able to make out a story in the Duke's favour. But all the +world knew what was the worth and what was the truth of ministerial +explanations! The Coalition was very strong; and even the question +in the House, which should have been hostile, had been asked in a +friendly spirit. In this way there came to be a party who spoke and +wrote of Ferdinand Lopez as though he had been a martyr. + +Of course Mr. Quintus Slide was in the front rank of these accusers. +He may be said to have led the little army which made this matter +a pretext for a special attack upon the Ministry. Mr. Slide was +especially hostile to the Prime Minister, but he was not less hotly +the enemy of Phineas Finn. Against Phineas Finn he had old grudges, +which, however, age had never cooled. He could, therefore, write with +a most powerful pen when discussing the death of that unfortunate +man, the late candidate for Silverbridge, crushing his two foes in +the single grasp of his journalistic fist. Phineas had certainly +said some hard things against Lopez, though he had not mentioned +the man's name. He had congratulated the House that it had not been +contaminated by the presence of so base a creature, and he had said +that he would not pause to stigmatise the meanness of the application +for money which Lopez had made. Had Lopez continued to live and to +endure "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune," no one would +have ventured to say that these words would have inflicted too severe +a punishment. But death wipes out many faults, and a self-inflicted +death caused by remorse will, in the minds of many, wash a blackamoor +almost white. Thus it came to pass that some heavy weapons were +hurled at Phineas Finn, but none so heavy as those hurled by Quintus +Slide. Should not this Irish knight, who was so ready with his +lance in the defence of the Prime Minister, asked Mr. Slide, have +remembered the past events of his own rather peculiar life? Had not +he, too, been poor, and driven in his poverty to rather questionable +straits? Had not he been abject in his petition for office,--and in +what degree were such petitions less disgraceful than a request for +money which had been hopelessly expended on an impossible object, +attempted at the instance of the great Croesus who, when asked to +pay it, had at once acknowledged the necessity of doing so? Could +not Mr. Finn remember that he himself had stood in danger of his +life before a British jury, and that, though he had been, no doubt +properly, acquitted of the crime imputed to him, circumstances had +come out against him during the trial which, if not as criminal, were +at any rate almost as disgraceful? Could he not have had some mercy +on a broken political adventurer who, in his aspirations for public +life, had shown none of that greed by which Mr. Phineas Finn had +been characterised in all the relations of life? As for the Prime +Minister, "We," as Mr. Quintus Slide always described himself,--"We +do not wish to add to the agony which the fate of Mr. Lopez must +have brought upon him. He has hounded that poor man to his death +in revenge for the trifling sum of money which he was called on to +pay for him. It may be that the first blame lay not with the Prime +Minister himself, but with the Prime Minister's wife. With that we +have nothing to do. The whole thing lies in a nutshell. The bare +mention of the name of her Grace the Duchess in Parliament would have +saved the Duke, at any rate as effectually as he has been saved by +the services of his man-of-all-work, Phineas Finn, and would have +saved him without driving poor Ferdinand Lopez to insanity. But +rather than do this he allowed his servant to make statements about +mysterious agents, which we are justified in stigmatizing as untrue, +and to throw the whole blame where but least of the blame was due. We +all know the result. It was found in those gory shreds and tatters +of a poor human being with which the Tenway Railway Station was +bespattered." + +Of course such an article had considerable effect. It was apparent at +once that there was ample room for an action for libel against the +newspaper, on the part of Phineas Finn if not on that of the Duke. +But it was equally apparent that Mr. Quintus Slide must have been +very well aware of this when he wrote the article. Such an action, +even if successful, may bring with it to the man punished more of +good than of evil. Any pecuniary penalty might be more than recouped +by the largeness of the advertisement which such an action would +produce. Mr. Slide no doubt calculated that he would carry with him a +great body of public feeling by the mere fact that he had attacked a +Prime Minister and a Duke. If he could only get all the publicans in +London to take his paper because of his patriotic and bold conduct, +the fortune of the paper would be made. There is no better trade +than that of martyrdom, if the would-be martyr knows how far he may +judiciously go, and in what direction. All this Mr. Quintus Slide was +supposed to have considered very well. + +And Phineas Finn knew that his enemy had also considered the nature +of the matters which he would have been able to drag into Court if +there should be a trial. Allusions, very strong allusions, had been +made to former periods of Mr. Finn's life. And though there was +but little, if anything, in the past circumstances of which he was +ashamed,--but little, if anything, which he thought would subject him +personally to the odium of good men, could they be made accurately +known in all their details,--it would, he was well aware, be +impossible that such accuracy should be achieved. And the story if +told inaccurately would not suit him. And then, there was a reason +against any public proceeding much stronger even than this. Whether +the telling of the story would or would not suit him, it certainly +would not suit others. As has been before remarked, there are former +chronicles respecting Phineas Finn, and in them may be found adequate +cause for this conviction on his part. To no outsider was this +history known better than to Mr. Quintus Slide, and therefore Mr. +Quintus Slide could dare almost to defy the law. + +But not the less on this account were there many who told Phineas +that he ought to bring the action. Among these none were more eager +than his old friend Lord Chiltern, the Master of the Brake hounds, +a man who really loved Phineas, who also loved the abstract idea of +justice, and who could not endure the thought that a miscreant should +go unpunished. Hunting was over for the season in the Brake country, +and Lord Chiltern rushed up to London, having this object among +others of a very pressing nature on his mind. His saddler had to +be seen,--and threatened,--on a certain matter touching the horses' +backs. A draught of hounds were being sent down to a friend in +Scotland. And there was a Committee of Masters to sit on a moot +question concerning a neutral covert in the XXX country, of which +Committee he was one. But the desire to punish Slide was almost as +strong in his indignant mind as those other matters referring more +especially to the profession of his life. "Phineas," he said, "you +are bound to do it. If you will allow a fellow like that to say such +things of you, why, by heaven, any man may say anything of anybody." + +Now Phineas could hardly explain to Lord Chiltern his objection to +the proposed action. A lady was closely concerned, and that lady was +Lord Chiltern's sister. "I certainly shall not," said Phineas. + +"And why?" + +"Just because he wishes me to do it. I should be falling into the +little pit that he has dug for me." + +"He couldn't hurt you. What have you got to be afraid of? Ruat +coelum." + +"There are certain angels, Chiltern, living up in that heaven which +you wish me to pull about our ears, as to whom, if all their heart +and all their wishes and all their doings could be known, nothing but +praise could be spoken; but who would still be dragged with soiled +wings through the dirt if this man were empowered to bring witness +after witness into court. My wife would be named. For aught I know, +your wife." + +"By G----, he'd find himself wrong there." + +"Leave a chimney-sweep alone when you see him, Chiltern. Should +he run against you, then remember that it is one of the necessary +penalties of clean linen that it is apt to be soiled." + +"I'm d----d if I'd let him off." + +"Yes you would, old fellow. When you come to see clearly what you +would gain and what you would lose, you would not meddle with him." + +His wife was at first inclined to think that an action should be +taken, but she was more easily convinced than Lord Chiltern. "I had +not thought," she said, "of poor Lady Laura. But is it not horrible +that a man should be able to go on like that, and that there should +be no punishment?" In answer to this he only shrugged his shoulders. + +But the greatest pressure came upon him from another source. He did +not in truth suffer much himself from what was said in the "People's +Banner." He had become used to the "People's Banner" and had found +out that in no relation of life was he less pleasantly situated +because of the maledictions heaped upon him in the columns of that +newspaper. His position in public life did not seem to be weakened by +them. His personal friends did not fall off because of them. Those +who loved him did not love him less. It had not been so with him +always, but now, at last, he was hardened against Mr. Quintus Slide. +But the poor Duke was by no means equally strong. This attack upon +him, this denunciation of his cruelty, this assurance that he had +caused the death of Ferdinand Lopez, was very grievous to him. It +was not that he really felt himself to be guilty of the man's blood, +but that any one should say that he was guilty. It was of no use to +point out to him that other newspapers had sufficiently vindicated +his conduct in that respect, that it was already publicly known +that Lopez had received payment for those election expenses from +Mr. Wharton before the application had been made to him, and that +therefore the man's dishonesty was patent to all the world. It was +equally futile to explain to him that the man's last act had been in +no degree caused by what had been said in Parliament, but had been +the result of his continued failures in life and final absolute ruin. +He fretted and fumed and was very wretched,--and at last expressed +his opinion that legal steps should be taken to punish the "People's +Banner." Now it had been already acknowledged, on the dictum of no +less a man than Sir Gregory Grogram, the Attorney-General, that the +action for libel, if taken at all, must be taken, not on the part of +the Prime Minister, but on that of Phineas Finn. Sir Timothy Beeswax +had indeed doubted, but it had come to be understood by all the +members of the Coalition that Sir Timothy Beeswax always did doubt +whatever was said by Sir Gregory Grogram. "The Duke thinks that +something should be done," said Mr. Warburton, the Duke's private +Secretary, to Phineas Finn. + +"Not by me, I hope," said Phineas. + +"Nobody else can do it. That is to say it must be done in your name. +Of course it would be a Government matter, as far as expense goes, +and all that." + +"I am sorry the Duke should think so." + +"I don't see that it could hurt you." + +"I am sorry the Duke should think so," repeated Phineas,--"because +nothing can be done in my name. I have made up my mind about it. +I think the Duke is wrong in wishing it, and I believe that were +any action taken, we should only be playing into the hands of that +wretched fellow, Quintus Slide. I have long been conversant with +Mr. Quintus Slide, and have quite made up my mind that I will never +play upon his pipe. And you may tell the Duke that there are other +reasons. The man has referred to my past life, and in seeking to +justify those remarks he would be enabled to drag before the public +circumstances and stories, and perhaps persons, in a manner that I +personally should disregard, but which, for the sake of others, I am +bound to prevent. You will explain all this to the Duke?" + +"I am afraid you will find the Duke very urgent." + +"I must then express my great sorrow that I cannot oblige the Duke. I +trust I need hardly say that the Duke has no colleague more devoted +to his interest than I am. Were he to wish me to change my office, or +to abandon it, or to undertake any political duty within the compass +of my small powers, he would find me ready to obey his behests. But +in this matter others are concerned, and I cannot make my judgment +subordinate to his." The private Secretary looked very serious, and +simply said that he would do his best to explain these objections to +his Grace. + +That the Duke would take his refusal in bad part Phineas felt nearly +certain. He had been a little surprised at the coldness of the +Minister's manner to him after the statement he had made in the +house, and had mentioned the matter to his wife. "You hardly know +him," she had said, "as well as I do." + +"Certainly not. You ought to know him very intimately, and I have had +but little personal friendship with him. But it was a moment in which +the man might, for the moment, have been cordial." + +"It was not a moment for his cordiality. The Duchess says that if you +want to get a really genial smile from him you must talk to him about +cork soles. I know exactly what she means. He loves to be simple, but +he does not know how to show people that he likes it. Lady Rosina +found him out by accident." + +"Don't suppose that I am in the least aggrieved," he had said. And +now he spoke again to his wife in the same spirit. "Warburton clearly +thinks that he will be offended, and Warburton, I suppose, knows his +mind." + +"I don't see why he should. I have been reading it longer, and I +still find it very difficult. Lady Glen has been at the work for the +last fifteen years, and sometimes owns that there are passages she +has not mastered yet. I fancy Mr. Warburton is afraid of him, and is +a little given to fancy that everybody should bow down to him. Now if +there is anything certain about the Duke it is this,--that he doesn't +want any one to bow down to him. He hates all bowing down." + +"I don't think he loves those who oppose him." + +"It is not the opposition he hates, but the cause in the man's mind +which may produce it. When Sir Orlando opposed him, and he thought +that Sir Orlando's opposition was founded on jealousy, then he +despised Sir Orlando. But had he believed in Sir Orlando's belief in +the new ships, he would have been capable of pressing Sir Orlando to +his bosom, although he might have been forced to oppose Sir Orlando's +ships in the Cabinet." + +"He is a Sir Bayard to you," said Phineas, laughing. + +"Rather a Don Quixote, whom I take to have been the better man of the +two. I'll tell you what he is, Phineas, and how he is better than +all the real knights of whom I have ever read in story. He is a man +altogether without guile, and entirely devoted to his country. Do not +quarrel with him, if you can help it." + +Phineas had not the slightest desire to quarrel with his chief; but +he did think it to be not improbable that his chief would quarrel +with him. It was notorious to him as a member of the Cabinet,--as a +colleague living with other colleagues by whom the Prime Minister was +coddled, and especially as the husband of his wife, who lived almost +continually with the Prime Minister's wife,--that the Duke was cut +to the quick by the accusation that he had hounded Ferdinand Lopez +to his death. The Prime Minister had defended himself in the House +against the first charge by means of Phineas Finn, and now required +Phineas to defend him from the second charge in another way. This +he was obliged to refuse to do. And then the Minister's private +Secretary looked very grave, and left him with the impression that +the Duke would be much annoyed, if not offended. And already there +had grown up an idea that the Duke would have on the list of his +colleagues none who were personally disagreeable to himself. Though +he was by no means a strong Minister in regard to political measures, +or the proper dominion of his party, still men were afraid of him. +It was not that he would call upon them to resign, but that, if +aggrieved, he would resign himself. Sir Orlando Drought had rebelled +and had tried a fall with the Prime Minister,--and had greatly +failed. Phineas determined that if frowned upon he would resign, +but that he certainly would bring no action for libel against the +"People's Banner." + +A week passed after he had seen Warburton before he by chance found +himself alone with the Prime Minister. This occurred at the house +in Carlton Gardens, at which he was a frequent visitor,--and could +hardly have ceased to be so without being noticed, as his wife spent +half her time there. It was evident to him then that the occasion was +sought for by the Duke. "Mr. Finn," said the Duke, "I wanted to have +a word or two with you." + +"Certainly," said Phineas, arresting his steps. + +"Warburton spoke to you about that--that newspaper." + +"Yes, Duke. He seemed to think that there should be an action for +libel." + +"I thought so too. It was very bad, you know." + +"Yes;--it was bad. I have known the 'People's Banner' for some time, +and it is always bad." + +"No doubt;--no doubt. It is bad, very bad. Is it not sad that there +should be such dishonesty, and that nothing can be done to stop it? +Warburton says that you won't hear of an action in your name." + +"There are reasons, Duke." + +"No doubt;--no doubt. Well;--there's an end of it. I own I think the +man should be punished. I am not often vindictive, but I think that +he should be punished. However, I suppose it cannot be." + +"I don't see the way." + +"So be it. So be it. It must be entirely for you to judge. Are you +not longing to get into the country, Mr. Finn?" + +"Hardly yet," said Phineas, surprised. "It's only June, and we have +two months more of it. What is the use of longing yet?" + +"Two months more!" said the Duke. "Two months certainly. But even two +months will come to an end. We go down to Matching quietly,--very +quietly,--when the time does come. You must promise that you'll come +with us. Eh? I make a point of it, Mr. Finn." + +Phineas did promise, and thought that he had succeeded in mastering +one of the difficult passages in that book. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIII + +The Duchess and Her Friend + + +But the Duke, though he was by far too magnanimous to be angry with +Phineas Finn because Phineas would not fall into his views respecting +the proposed action, was not the less tormented and goaded by what +the newspaper said. The assertion that he had hounded Ferdinand Lopez +to his death, that by his defence of himself he had brought the man's +blood on his head, was made and repeated till those around him did +not dare to mention the name of Lopez in his hearing. Even his wife +was restrained and became fearful, and in her heart of hearts began +almost to wish for that retirement to which he had occasionally +alluded as a distant Elysium which he should never be allowed to +reach. He was beginning to have the worn look of an old man. His +scanty hair was turning grey, and his long thin cheeks longer and +thinner. Of what he did when sitting alone in his chamber, either at +home or at the Treasury Chamber, she knew less and less from day to +day, and she began to think that much of his sorrow arose from the +fact that among them they would allow him to do nothing. There was no +special subject now which stirred him to eagerness and brought upon +herself explanations which were tedious and unintelligible to her, +but evidently delightful to him. There were no quints or semi-tenths +now, no aspirations for decimal perfection, no delightfully fatiguing +hours spent in the manipulation of the multiplication table. And she +could not but observe that the old Duke now spoke to her much less +frequently of her husband's political position than had been his +habit. Through the first year and a half of the present ministerial +arrangement he had been constant in his advice to her, and had +always, even when things were difficult, been cheery and full of +hope. He still came frequently to the house, but did not often +see her. And when he did see her he seemed to avoid all allusion +either to the political successes or the political reverses of the +Coalition. And even her other special allies seemed to labour under +unusual restraint with her. Barrington Erle seldom told her any news. +Mr. Rattler never had a word for her. Warburton, who had ever been +discreet, became almost petrified by discretion. And even Phineas +Finn had grown to be solemn, silent, and uncommunicative. "Have you +heard who is the new Prime Minister?" she said to Mrs. Finn one day. + +"Has there been a change?" + +"I suppose so. Everything has become so quiet that I cannot imagine +that Plantagenet is still in office. Do you know what anybody is +doing?" + +"The world is going on very smoothly, I take it." + +"I hate smoothness. It always means treachery and danger. I feel sure +that there will be a great blow up before long. I smell it in the +air. Don't you tremble for your husband?" + +"Why should I? He likes being in office because it gives him +something to do; but he would never be an idle man. As long as he has +a seat in Parliament, I shall be contented." + +"To have been Prime Minister is something after all, and they can't +rob him of that," said the Duchess, recurring again to her own +husband. "I half fancy sometimes that the charm of the thing is +growing upon him." + +"Upon the Duke?" + +"Yes. He is always talking of the delight he will have in giving +it up. He is always Cincinnatus, going back to his peaches and his +ploughs. But I fear he is beginning to feel that the salt would be +gone out of his life if he ceased to be the first man in the kingdom. +He has never said so, but there is a nervousness about him when I +suggest to him the name of this or that man as his successor which +alarms me. And I think he is becoming a tyrant with his own men. He +spoke the other day of Lord Drummond almost as though he meant to +have him whipped. It isn't what one expected from him;--is it?" + +"The weight of the load on his mind makes him irritable." + +"Either that, or having no load. If he had really much to do he +wouldn't surely have time to think so much of that poor wretch who +destroyed himself. Such sensitiveness is simply a disease. One can +never punish any fault in the world if the sinner can revenge himself +upon us by rushing into eternity. Sometimes I see him shiver and +shudder, and then I know that he is thinking of Lopez." + +"I can understand all that, Lady Glen." + +"It isn't as it should be, though you can understand it. I'll bet you +a guinea that Sir Timothy Beeswax has to go out before the beginning +of next Session." + +"I've no objection. But why Sir Timothy?" + +"He mentioned Lopez' name the other day before Plantagenet. I heard +him. Plantagenet pulled that long face of his, looking as though he +meant to impose silence on the whole world for the next six weeks. +But Sir Timothy is brass itself, a sounding cymbal of brass that +nothing can silence. He went on to declare with that loud voice +of his that the death of Lopez was a good riddance of bad rubbish. +Plantagenet turned away and left the room and shut himself up. He +didn't declare to himself that he'd dismiss Sir Timothy, because +that's not the way of his mind. But you'll see that Sir Timothy will +have to go." + +"That, at any rate, will be a good riddance of bad rubbish," said +Mrs. Finn, who did not love Sir Timothy Beeswax. + +Soon after that the Duchess made up her mind that she would +interrogate the Duke of St. Bungay as to the present state of +affairs. It was then the end of June, and nearly one of those long +and tedious months had gone by of which the Duke spoke so feelingly +when he asked Phineas Finn to come down to Matching. Hope had been +expressed in more than one quarter that this would be a short +Session. Such hopes are much more common in June than in July, and, +though rarely verified, serve to keep up the drooping spirits of +languid senators. "I suppose we shall be early out of town, Duke," +she said one day. + +"I think so. I don't see what there is to keep us. It often happens +that ministers are a great deal better in the country than in London, +and I fancy it will be so this year." + +"You never think of the poor girls who haven't got their husbands +yet." + +"They should make better use of their time. Besides, they can get +their husbands in the country." + +"It's quite true that they never get to the end of their labours. +They are not like you members of Parliament who can shut up your +portfolios and go and shoot grouse. They have to keep at their work +spring and summer, autumn and winter,--year after year! How they must +hate the men they persecute!" + +"I don't think we can put off going for their sake." + +"Men are always selfish, I know. What do you think of Plantagenet +lately?" The question was put very abruptly, without a moment's +notice, and there was no avoiding it. + +"Think of him!" + +"Yes;--what do you think of his condition;--of his happiness, his +health, his capacity of endurance? Will he be able to go on much +longer? Now, my dear Duke, don't stare at me like that. You know, and +I know, that you haven't spoken a word to me for the last two months. +And you know, and I know, how many things there are of which we are +both thinking in common. You haven't quarrelled with Plantagenet?" + +"Quarrelled with him! Good heavens, no." + +"Of course I know you still call him your noble colleague, and your +noble friend, and make one of the same team with him and all that. +But it used to be so much more than that." + +"It is still more than that;--very much more." + +"It was you who made him Prime Minister." + +"No, no, no;--and again no. He made himself Prime Minister by +obtaining the confidence of the House of Commons. There is no other +possible way in which a man can become Prime Minister in this +country." + +"If I were not very serious at this moment, Duke, I should make an +allusion to the--Marines." No other human being could have said +this to the Duke of St. Bungay, except the young woman whom he had +petted all his life as Lady Glencora. "But I am very serious," she +continued, "and I may say not very happy. Of course the big wigs of +a party have to settle among themselves who shall be their leader, +and when this party was formed they settled, at your advice, that +Plantagenet should be the man." + +"My dear Lady Glen, I cannot allow that to pass without +contradiction." + +"Do not suppose that I am finding fault, or even that I am +ungrateful. No one rejoiced as I rejoiced. No one still feels so much +pride in it as I feel. I would have given ten years of my life to +make him Prime Minister, and now I would give five to keep him so. It +is like it was to be king, when men struggled among themselves who +should be king. Whatever he may be, I am ambitious. I love to think +that other men should look to him as being above them, and that +something of this should come down upon me as his wife. I do not know +whether it was not the happiest moment of my life when he told me +that the Queen had sent for him." + +"It was not so with him." + +"No, Duke,--no! He and I are very different. He only wants to be +useful. At any rate, that was all he did want." + +"He is still the same." + +"A man cannot always be carrying a huge load up a hill without having +his back bent." + +"I don't know that the load need be so heavy, Duchess." + +"Ah, but what is the load? It is not going to the Treasury Chambers +at eleven or twelve in the morning, and sitting four or five times a +week in the House of Lords till seven or eight o'clock. He was never +ill when he would remain in the House of Commons till two in the +morning, and not have a decent dinner above twice in the week. The +load I speak of isn't work." + +"What is it then?" said the Duke, who in truth understood it all +nearly as well as the Duchess herself. + +"It is hard to explain, but it is very heavy." + +"Responsibility, my dear, will always be heavy." + +"But it is hardly that;--certainly not that alone. It is the feeling +that so many people blame him for so many things, and the doubt in +his own mind whether he may not deserve it. And then he becomes +fretful, and conscious that such fretfulness is beneath him and +injurious to his honour. He condemns men in his mind, and condemns +himself for condescending to condemn them. He spends one quarter of +an hour in thinking that as he is Prime Minister he will be Prime +Minister down to his fingers' ends, and the next in resolving that he +never ought to have been Prime Minister at all." Here something like +a frown passed across the old man's brow, which was, however, no +indication, of anger. "Dear Duke," she said, "you must not be angry +with me. Who is there to whom I can speak but you?" + +"Angry, my dear! No, indeed!" + +"Because you looked as though you would scold me." At this he smiled. +"And of course all this tells upon his health." + +"Do you think he is ill?" + +"He never says so. There is no special illness. But he is thin and +wan and careworn. He does not eat and he does not sleep. Of course I +watch him." + +"Does his doctor see him?" + +"Never. When I asked him once to say a word to Sir James Thorax,--for +he was getting hoarse, you know,--he only shook his head and turned +on his heels. When he was in the other House, and speaking every +night, he would see Thorax constantly, and do just what he was told. +He used to like opening his mouth and having Sir James to look down +it. But now he won't let any one touch him." + +"What would you have me do, Lady Glen?" + +"I don't know." + +"Do you think that he is so far out of health that he ought to give +it up?" + +"I don't say that. I don't dare to say it. I don't dare to recommend +anything. No consideration of health would tell with him at all. If +he were to die to-morrow as the penalty of doing something useful +to-night, he wouldn't think twice about it. If you wanted to make +him stay where he is, the way to do it would be to tell him that his +health was failing him. I don't know that he does want to give up +now." + +"The autumn months will do everything for him;--only let him be +quiet." + +"You are coming to Matching, Duke?" + +"I suppose so,--if you ask me,--for a week or two." + +"You must come. I am quite nervous if you desert us. I think he +becomes more estranged every day from all the others. I know you +won't do a mischief by repeating what I say." + +"I hope not." + +"He seems to me to turn his nose up at everybody. He used to like Mr. +Monk; but he envies Mr. Monk, because Mr. Monk is Chancellor of the +Exchequer. I asked him whether we shouldn't have Lord Drummond at +Matching, and he told me angrily that I might ask all the Government +if I liked." + +"Drummond contradicted him the other day." + +"I knew there was something. He has got to be like a bear with a sore +head, Duke. You should have seen his face the other day, when Mr. +Rattler made some suggestion to him about the proper way of dividing +farms." + +"I don't think he ever liked Rattler." + +"What of that? Don't I have to smile upon men whom I hate like +poison;--and women too, which is worse? Do you think that I love old +Lady Ramsden, or Mrs. MacPherson? He used to be so fond of Lord +Cantrip." + +"I think he likes Lord Cantrip," said the Duke. + +"He asked his lordship to do something, and Lord Cantrip declined." + +"I know all about that," said the Duke. + +"And now he looks gloomy at Lord Cantrip. His friends won't stand +that kind of thing, you know, for ever." + +"He is always courteous to Finn," said the Duke. + +"Yes;--just now he is on good terms with Mr. Finn. He would never be +harsh to Mr. Finn, because he knows that Mrs. Finn is the one really +intimate female friend whom I have in the world. After all, Duke, +besides Plantagenet and the children, there are only two persons in +the world whom I really love. There are only you and she. She will +never desert me;--and you must not desert me either." Then he put his +hand behind her waist, and stooped over her and kissed her brow, and +swore to her that he would never desert her. + +But what was he to do? He knew, without being told by the Duchess, +that his colleague and chief was becoming, from day to day, more +difficult to manage. He had been right enough in laying it down as a +general rule that Prime Ministers are selected for that position by +the general confidence of the House of Commons;--but he was aware +at the same time that it had hardly been so in the present instance. +There had come to be a dead-lock in affairs, during which neither +of the two old and well-recognised leaders of parties could command +a sufficient following for the carrying on of the Government. With +unusual patience these two gentlemen had now for the greater part +of three Sessions sat by, offering but little opposition to the +Coalition, but of course biding their time. They, too, called +themselves,--perhaps thought themselves,--Cincinnatuses. But their +ploughs and peaches did not suffice to them, and they longed again to +be in every mouth, and to have, if not their deeds, then even their +omissions blazoned in every paragraph. The palate accustomed to +Cayenne pepper can hardly be gratified by simple salt. When that +dead-lock had come, politicians who were really anxious for the +country had been forced to look about for a Premier,--and in the +search the old Duke had been the foremost. The Duchess had hardly +said more than the truth when she declared that her husband's +promotion had been effected by their old friend. But it is sometimes +easier to make than to unmake. Perhaps the time had now in truth +come, in which it would be better for the country that the usual +state of things should again exist. Perhaps,--nay, the Duke now +thought that he saw that it was so,--Mr. Gresham might again have a +Liberal majority at his back if the Duke of Omnium could find some +graceful mode of retiring. But who was to tell all this to the Duke +of Omnium? There was only one man in all England to whom such a task +was possible, and that was the old Duke himself,--who during the last +two years had been constantly urgent with his friend not to retire! +How often since he had taken office had the conscientious and timid +Minister begged of his friend permission to abandon his high office! +But that permission had always been refused, and now, for the last +three months, the request had not been repeated. The Duchess probably +was right in saying that her husband "didn't want to give it up now." + +But he, the Duke of St. Bungay, had brought his friend into the +trouble, and it was certainly his duty to extricate him from it. The +admonition might come in the rude shape of repeated minorities in the +House of Commons. Hitherto the number of votes at the command of the +Ministry had not been very much impaired. A few always fall off as +time goes on. Aristides becomes too just, and the mind of man is +greedy of novelty. Sir Orlando, also, had taken with him a few, and +it may be that two or three had told themselves that there could not +be all that smoke raised by the "People's Banner" without some fire +below it. But there was a good working majority,--very much at Mr. +Monk's command,--and Mr. Monk was moved by none of that feeling of +rebellion which had urged Sir Orlando on to his destruction. It was +difficult to find a cause for resignation. And yet the Duke of St. +Bungay, who had watched the House of Commons closely for nearly half +a century, was aware that the Coalition which he had created had done +its work, and was almost convinced that it would not be permitted to +remain very much longer in power. He had seen symptoms of impatience +in Mr. Daubeny, and Mr. Gresham had snorted once or twice, as though +eager for the battle. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIV + +The New K.G. + + +Early in June had died the Marquis of Mount Fidgett. In all England +there was no older family than that of the Fichy Fidgetts, whose +baronial castle of Fichy Fellows is still kept up, the glory of +archaeologists and the charm of tourists. Some people declare it to +be the most perfect castle residence in the country. It is admitted +to have been completed in the time of Edward VI, and is thought to +have been commenced in the days of Edward I. It has always belonged +to the Fichy Fidgett family, who with a persistence that is becoming +rarer every day, has clung to every acre that it ever owned, and has +added acre to acre in every age. The consequence has been that the +existing Marquis of Mount Fidgett has always been possessed of great +territorial influence, and has been flattered, cajoled, and revered +by one Prime Minister after another. Now the late Marquis had been, +as was the custom with the Fichy Fidgetts, a man of pleasure. If the +truth may be spoken openly, it should be admitted that he had been +a man of sin. The duty of keeping together the family property he +had performed with a perfect zeal. It had always been acknowledged +on behalf of the existing Marquis, that in whatever manner he might +spend his money, however base might be the gullies into which his +wealth descended, he never spent more than he had to spend. Perhaps +there was but little praise in this, as he could hardly have +got beyond his enormous income unless he had thrown it away on +race-courses and roulette tables. But it had long been remarked of +the Mount Fidgett marquises that they were too wise to gamble. The +family had not been an honour to the country, but had nevertheless +been honoured by the country. The man who had just died had perhaps +been as selfish and as sensual a brute as had ever disgraced +humanity;--but nevertheless he had been a Knight of the Garter. He +had been possessed of considerable parliamentary interest, and the +Prime Minister of the day had not dared not to make him a Knight of +the Garter. All the Marquises of Mount Fidgett had for many years +past been Knights of the Garter. On the last occasion a good deal had +been said about it. A feeling had even then begun to prevail that +the highest personal honour in the gift of the Crown should not be +bestowed upon a man whose whole life was a disgrace, and who did +indeed seem to deserve every punishment which human or divine wrath +could inflict. He had a large family, but they were all illegitimate. +Wives generally he liked, but of his own wife he very soon broke +the heart. Of all the companies with which he consorted he was the +admitted king, but his subjects could do no man any honour. The +Castle of Fichy Fellows was visited by the world at large, but no +man or woman with a character to lose went into any house really +inhabited by the Marquis. And yet he had become a Knight of the +Garter, and was therefore, presumably, one of those noble Englishmen +to whom the majesty of the day was willing to confide the honour, +and glory, and safety of the Crown. There were many who disliked +this. That a base reprobate should become a Marquis and a peer of +Parliament was in accordance with the constitution of the country. +Marquises and peers are not as a rule reprobates, and the misfortune +was one which could not be avoided. He might have ill-used his own +wife and other wives' husbands without special remark, had he not +been made a Knight of the Garter. The Minister of the day, however, +had known the value of the man's support, and, being thick-skinned, +had lived through the reproaches uttered without much damage to +himself. Now the wicked Marquis was dead, and it was the privilege +and the duty of the Duke of Omnium to select another Knight. + +There was a good deal said about it at the time. There was a +rumour,--no doubt a false rumour,--that the Crown insisted in this +instance on dictating a choice to the Duke of Omnium. But even were +it so, the Duke could not have been very much aggrieved, as the +choice dictated was supposed to be that of himself. The late Duke +had been a Knight, and when he had died, it was thought that his +successor would succeed also to the ribbon. The new Duke had been at +that time in the Cabinet, and had remained there, but had accepted +an office inferior in rank to that which he had formerly filled. +The whole history of these things has been written, and may be read +by the curious. The Duchess, newly a duchess then and very keen in +reference to her husband's rank, had instigated him to demand the +ribbon as his right. This he had not only declined to do, but had +gone out of the way to say that he thought it should be bestowed +elsewhere. It had been bestowed elsewhere, and there had been a +very general feeling that he had been passed over because his easy +temperament in such matters had been seen and utilised. Now, whether +the Crown interfered or not,--a matter on which no one short of +a writer of newspaper articles dares to make a suggestion till +time shall have made mellow the doings of sovereigns and their +ministers,--the suggestion was made. The Duke of St. Bungay ventured +to say to his friend that no other selection was possible. + +"Recommend her Majesty to give it to myself!" said the Prime +Minister. + +"You will find it to be her Majesty's wish. It has been very common. +Sir Robert Walpole had it." + +"I am not Sir Robert Walpole." The Duke named other examples of Prime +Ministers who had been gartered by themselves. But our Prime Minister +declared it to be out of the question. No honour of that description +should be conferred upon him as long as he held his present position. +The old Duke was much in earnest, and there was a great deal said on +the subject,--but at last it became clear, not only to him, but to +the members of the Cabinet generally, and then to the outside world, +that the Prime Minister would not consent to accept the vacant +honour. + +For nearly a month after this the question subsided. A Minister is +not bound to bestow a Garter the day after it becomes vacant. There +are other Knights to guard the throne, and one may be spared for +a short interval. But during that interval many eyes were turned +towards the stall in St. George's Chapel. A good thing should be +given away like a clap of thunder if envy, hatred, and malice are +to be avoided. A broad blue ribbon across the chest is of all +decorations the most becoming, or, at any rate, the most desired. And +there was, I fear, an impression on the minds of some men that the +Duke in such matters was weak and might be persuaded. Then there came +to him an application in the form of a letter from the new Marquis +of Mount Fidgett,--a man whom he had never seen, and of whom he had +never heard. The new Marquis had hitherto resided in Italy, and +men only knew of him that he was odious to his uncle. But he had +inherited all the Fichy Fidgett estates, and was now possessed of +immense wealth and great honour. He ventured, he said, to represent +to the Prime Minister that for generations past the Marquises of +Mount Fidgett had been honoured by the Garter. His political status +in the country was exactly that enjoyed by his late uncle; but he +intended that his political career should be very different. He was +quite prepared to support the Coalition. "What is he that he should +expect to be made a Knight of the Garter?" said our Duke to the old +Duke. + +"He is the Marquis of Mount Fidgett, and next to yourself, perhaps, +the richest peer of Great Britain." + +"Have riches anything to do with it?" + +"Something certainly. You would not name a pauper peer." + +"Yes;--if he was a man whose career had been highly honourable to +the country. Such a man, of course, could not be a pauper, but I do +not think his want of wealth should stand in the way of his being +honoured by the Garter." + +"Wealth, rank, and territorial influence have been generally thought +to have something to do with it." + +"And character nothing!" + +"My dear Duke, I have not said so." + +"Something very much like it, my friend, if you advocate the claim of +the Marquis of Mount Fidgett. Did you approve of the selection of the +late Marquis?" + +"I was in the Cabinet at the time, and will therefore say nothing +against it. But I have never heard anything against this man's +character." + +"Nor in favour of it. To my thinking he has as much claim, and no +more, as that man who just opened the door. He was never seen in the +Lower House." + +"Surely that cannot signify." + +"You think, then, that he should have it?" + +"You know what I think," said the elder statesman thoughtfully. +"In my opinion there is no doubt that you would best consult the +honour of the country by allowing her Majesty to bestow this act of +grace upon a subject who has deserved so well from her Majesty as +yourself." + +"It is quite impossible." + +"It seems to me," said the Duke, not appearing to notice the refusal +of his friend, "that in this peculiar position you should allow +yourself to be persuaded to lay aside your own feeling. No man of +high character is desirous of securing to himself decorations which +he may bestow upon others." + +"Just so." + +"But here the decoration bestowed upon the chief whom we all follow, +would confer a wider honour upon many than it could do if given to +any one else." + +"The same may be said of any Prime Minister." + +"Not so. A commoner, without high permanent rank or large fortune, is +not lowered in the world's esteem by not being of the Order. You will +permit me to say--that a Duke of Omnium has not reached that position +which he ought to enjoy unless he be a Knight of the Garter." It +must be borne in mind that the old Duke, who used this argument, had +himself worn the ribbon for the last thirty years. "But if--" + +"Well;--well." + +"But if you are,--I must call it obstinate." + +"I am obstinate in that respect." + +"Then," said the Duke of St. Bungay, "I should recommend her Majesty +to give it to the Marquis." + +"Never," said the Prime Minister, with very unaccustomed energy. "I +will never sanction the payment of such a price for services which +should never be bought or sold." + +"It would give no offence." + +"That is not enough, my friend. Here is a man of whom I only know +that he has bought a great many marble statues. He has done nothing +for his country, and nothing for his sovereign." + +"If you are determined to look to what you call desert alone, I would +name Lord Drummond." The Prime Minister frowned and looked unhappy. +It was quite true that Lord Drummond had contradicted him, and that +he had felt the injury grievously. "Lord Drummond has been very true +to us." + +"Yes;--true to us! What is that?" + +"He is in every respect a man of character, and well looked upon +in the country. There would be some enmity and a good deal of +envy--which might be avoided by either of the courses I have +proposed; but those courses you will not take. I take it for granted +that you are anxious to secure the support of those who generally act +with Lord Drummond." + +"I don't know that I am." The old Duke shrugged his shoulders. "What +I mean is, that I do not think that we ought to pay an increased +price for their support. His lordship is very well as the Head of +an Office; but he is not nearly so great a man as my friend Lord +Cantrip." + +"Cantrip would not join us. There is no evil in politics so great +as that of seeming to buy the men who will not come without buying. +These rewards are fairly given for political support." + +"I had not, in truth, thought of Lord Cantrip." + +"He does not expect it any more than my butler." + +"I only named him as having a claim stronger than any that Lord +Drummond can put forward. I have a man in my mind to whom I think +such an honour is fairly due. What do you say to Lord Earlybird?" +The old Duke opened his mouth and lifted up his hands in unaffected +surprise. + +The Earl of Earlybird was an old man of a very peculiar character. He +had never opened his mouth in the House of Lords and had never sat +in the House of Commons. The political world knew him not at all. He +had a house in town, but very rarely lived there. Early Park, in the +parish of Bird, had been his residence since he first came to the +title forty years ago, and had been the scene of all his labours. +He was a nobleman possessed of a moderate fortune, and, as men said +of him, of a moderate intellect. He had married early in life and +was blessed with a large family. But he had certainly not been an +idle man. For nearly half a century he had devoted himself to the +improvement of the labouring classes, especially in reference to +their abodes and education, and had gradually, without any desire on +his own part, worked himself up into public notice. He was not an +eloquent man, but he would take the chair at meeting after meeting, +and sit with admirable patience for long hours to hear the eloquence +of others. He was a man very simple in his tastes, and had brought up +his family to follow his habits. He had therefore been able to do +munificent things with moderate means, and in the long course of +years had failed in hiding his munificence from the public. Lord +Earlybird, till after middle life, had not been much considered, but +gradually there had grown up a feeling that there were not very many +better men in the country. He was a fat, bald-headed old man, who was +always pulling his spectacles on and off, nearly blind, very awkward, +and altogether indifferent to appearance. Probably he had no more +idea of the Garter in his own mind than he had of a Cardinal's hat. +But he had grown into fame, and had not escaped the notice of the +Prime Minister. + +"Do you know anything against Lord Earlybird?" asked the Prime +Minister. + +"Certainly nothing against him, Duke." + +"Nor anything in his favour?" + +"I know him very well,--I think I may say intimately. There isn't a +better man breathing." + +"An honour to the peerage!" said the Prime Minister. + +"An honour to humanity rather," said the other, "as being of all men +the least selfish and most philanthropical." + +"What more can be said of a man?" + +"But according to my view he is not the sort of person whom one would +wish to see made a Knight of the Garter. If he had the ribbon he +would never wear it." + +"The honour surely does not consist in its outward sign. I am +entitled to wear some kind of coronet, but I do not walk about with +it on my head. He is a man of a great heart and of many virtues. +Surely the country, and her Majesty on behalf of the country, should +delight to honour such a man." + +"I really doubt whether you look at the matter in the right light," +said the ancient statesman, who was in truth frightened at what was +being proposed. "You must not be angry with me if I speak plainly." + +"My friend, I do not think that it is within your power to make me +angry." + +"Well then,--I will get you for a moment to listen to my view on +the matter. There are certain great prizes in the gift of the Crown +and of the Ministers of the Crown,--the greatest of which are now +traditionally at the disposal of the Prime Minister. These are always +given to party friends. I may perhaps agree with you that party +support should not be looked to alone. Let us acknowledge that +character and services should be taken into account. But the very +theory of our Government will be overset by a reversal of the rule +which I have attempted to describe. You will offend all your own +friends, and only incur the ridicule of your opponents. It is no +doubt desirable that the high seats of the country should be filled +by men of both parties. I would not wish to see every Lord-Lieutenant +of a county a Whig." In his enthusiasm the old Duke went back to his +old phraseology. "But I know that my opponents when their turn comes +will appoint their friends to the Lieutenancies, and that so the +balance will be maintained. If you or I appoint their friends, they +won't appoint ours. Lord Earlybird's proxy has been in the hands of +the Conservative Leader of the House of Lords ever since he succeeded +his father." Then the old man paused, but his friend waited to listen +whether the lecture were finished before he spoke, and the Duke of +St. Bungay continued. "And, moreover, though Lord Earlybird is a very +good man,--so much so that many of us may well envy him,--he is not +just the man fitted for this destination. A Knight of the Garter +should be a man prone to show himself, a public man, one whose work +in the country has brought him face to face with his fellows. There +is an aptness, a propriety, a fitness in these things which one can +understand perhaps better than explain." + +"Those fitnesses and aptnesses change, I think, from day to day. +There was a time when a knight should be a fighting man." + +"That has gone by." + +"And the aptnesses and fitnesses in accordance with which the +sovereign of the day was induced to grace with the Garter such a man +as the late Marquis of Mount Fidgett have, I hope, gone by. You will +admit that?" + +"There is no such man proposed." + +"And other fitnesses and aptnesses will go by, till the time will +come when the man to be selected as Lieutenant of a county will be +the man whose selection will be most beneficial to the county, and +Knights of the Garter will be chosen for their real virtues." + +"I think you are Quixotic. A Prime Minister is of all men bound to +follow the traditions of his country, or, when he leaves them, to +leave them with very gradual steps." + +"And if he break that law and throw over all that thraldom;--what +then?" + +"He will lose the confidence which has made him what he is." + +"It is well that I know the penalty. It is hardly heavy enough to +enforce strict obedience. As for the matter in dispute, it had better +stand over yet for a few days." When the Prime Minister said this the +old Duke knew very well that he intended to have his own way. + +And so it was. A week passed by, and then the younger Duke wrote +to the elder Duke saying that he had given to the matter all the +consideration in his power, and that he had at last resolved to +recommend her Majesty to bestow the ribbon on Lord Earlybird. He +would not, however, take any step for a few days so that his friend +might have an opportunity of making further remonstrance if he +pleased. No further remonstrance was made, and Lord Earlybird, much +to his own amazement, was nominated to the vacant Garter. + +The appointment was one certainly not popular with any of the Prime +Minister's friends. With some, such as Lord Drummond, it indicated +a determination on the part of the Duke to declare his freedom from +all those bonds which had hitherto been binding on the Heads of +Government. Had the Duke selected himself, certainly no offence would +have been given. Had the Marquis of Mount Fidgett been the happy +man, excuses would have been made. But it was unpardonable to Lord +Drummond that he should have been passed over and that the Garter +should have been given to Lord Earlybird. To the poor old Duke the +offence was of a different nature. He had intended to use a very +strong word when he told his friend that his proposed conduct would +be Quixotic. The Duke of Omnium would surely know that the Duke of +St. Bungay could not support a Quixotic Prime Minister. And yet the +younger Duke, the Telemachus of the last two years,--after hearing +that word,--had rebelled against his Mentor, and had obstinately +adhered to his Quixotism! The greed of power had fallen upon the +man,--so said the dear old Duke to himself,--and the man's fall was +certain. Alas, alas; had he been allowed to go before the poison had +entered his veins, how much less would have been his suffering! + + + + +CHAPTER LXV + +"There Must Be Time" + + +At the end of the third week in July, when the Session was still +sitting, and when no day had been absolutely as yet fixed for the +escape of members, Mr. Wharton received a letter from his friend +Arthur Fletcher which certainly surprised him very much, and which +left him for a day or two unable to decide what answer ought to be +given. It will be remembered that Ferdinand Lopez destroyed himself +in March, now three months since. The act had been more than a nine +days' wonder, having been kept in the memory of many men by the +sedulous efforts of Quintus Slide, and by the fact that the name of +so great a man as the Prime Minister was concerned in the matter. But +gradually the feeling about Ferdinand Lopez had died away, and his +fate, though it had outlived the nominal nine days, had sunk into +general oblivion before the end of the ninth week. The Prime Minister +had not forgotten the man, nor had Quintus Slide. The name was +still common in the columns of the "People's Banner," and was never +mentioned without being read by the unfortunate Duke. But others had +ceased to talk of Ferdinand Lopez. + +To the mind, however, of Arthur Fletcher the fact of the man's +death was always present. A dreadful incubus had come upon his life, +blighting all his prospects, obscuring all his sun by a great cloud, +covering up all his hopes, and changing for him all his outlook into +the world. It was not only that Emily Wharton should not have become +his wife, but that the woman whom he loved with so perfect a love +should have been sacrificed to so vile a creature as this man. He +never blamed her,--but looked upon his fate as Fate. Then on a sudden +he heard that the incubus was removed. The man who had made him and +her wretched had by a sudden stroke been taken away and annihilated. +There was nothing now between him and her,--but a memory. He could +certainly forgive, if she could forget. + +Of course he had felt at the first moment that time must pass by. He +had become certain that her mad love for the man had perished. He +had been made sure that she had repented her own deed in sackcloth +and ashes. It had been acknowledged to him by her father that she +had been anxious to be separated from her husband, if her husband +would consent to such a separation. And then, remembering as he did +his last interview with her, having in his mind as he did every +circumstance of that caress which he had given her,--down to the +very quiver of the fingers he had pressed,--he could not but flatter +himself that at last he had touched her heart. But there must be +time! The conventions of the world operate on all hearts, especially +on the female heart, and teach that new vows, too quickly given, are +disgraceful. The world has seemed to decide that a widow should take +two years before she can bestow herself on a second man without a +touch of scandal. But the two years is to include everything, the +courtship of the second as well as the burial of the first,--and +not only the courtship, but the preparation of the dresses and the +wedding itself. And then this case was different from all others. Of +course there must be time, but surely not here a full period of two +years! Why should the life of two young persons be so wasted, if it +were the case that they loved each other? There was horror here, +remorse, pity, perhaps pardon; but there was no love,--none of that +love which is always for a time increased in its fervour by the loss +of the loved object; none of that passionate devotion which must at +first make the very idea of another man's love intolerable. There +had been a great escape,--an escape which could not but be inwardly +acknowledged, however little prone the tongue might be to confess it. +Of course there must be time;--but how much time? He argued it in his +mind daily, and at each daily argument the time considered by him to +be appropriate was shortened. Three months had passed and he had not +yet seen her. He had resolved that he would not even attempt to see +her till her father should consent. But surely a period had passed +sufficient to justify him in applying for that permission. And then +he bethought himself that it would be best in applying for that +permission to tell everything to Mr. Wharton. He well knew that +he would be telling no secret. Mr. Wharton knew the state of his +feelings as well as he knew it himself. If ever there was a case in +which time might be abridged, this was one; and therefore he wrote +his letter,--as follows:-- + + + 3, ---- Court, Temple, 24th July, 187--. + + MY DEAR MR. WHARTON, + + It is a matter of great regret to me that we should see + so little of each other,--and especially of regret that I + should never now see Emily. + + I may as well rush into the matter at once. Of course this + letter will not be shown to her, and therefore I may write + as I would speak if I were with you. The wretched man whom + she married is gone, and my love for her is the same as + it was before she had ever seen him, and as it has always + been from that day to this. I could not address you + or even think of her as yet, did I not know that that + marriage had been unfortunate. But it has not altered her + to me in the least. It has been a dreadful trouble to us + all,--to her, to you, to me, and to all connected with us. + But it is over, and I think that it should be looked back + upon as a black chasm which we have bridged and got over, + and to which we need never cast back our eyes. + + I have no right to think that, though she might some day + love another man, she would, therefore, love me; but I + think that I have a right to try, and I know that I should + have your good-will. It is a question of time, but if I + let time go by, some one else may slip in. Who can tell? + I would not be thought to press indecently, but I do feel + that here the ordinary rules which govern men and women + are not to be followed. He made her unhappy almost from + the first day. She had made a mistake which you and she + and all acknowledged. She has been punished; and so have + I,--very severely I can assure you. Wouldn't it be a good + thing to bring all this to an end as soon as possible,--if + it can be brought to an end in the way I want? + + Pray tell me what you think. I would propose that you + should ask her to see me, and then say just as much as you + please. Of course I should not press her at first. You + might ask me to dinner, and all that kind of thing, and so + she would get used to me. It is not as though we had not + been very, very old friends. But I know you will do the + best. I have put off writing to you till I sometimes think + that I shall go mad over it if I sit still any longer. + + Your affectionate friend, + + ARTHUR FLETCHER. + + +When Mr. Wharton got this letter he was very much puzzled. Could he +have had his wish, he too would have left the chasm behind him as +proposed by his young friend, and have never cast an eye back upon +the frightful abyss. He would willingly have allowed the whole Lopez +incident to be passed over as an episode in their lives, which, if it +could not be forgotten, should at any rate never be mentioned. They +had all been severely punished, as Fletcher had said, and if the +matter could end there he would be well content to bear on his own +shoulders all that remained of that punishment, and to let everything +begin again. But he knew very well it could not be so with her. Even +yet it was impossible to induce Emily to think of her husband without +regret. It had been only too manifest during the last year of their +married life that she had felt horror rather than love towards him. +When there had been a question of his leaving her behind, should he +go to Central America, she had always expressed herself more than +willing to comply with such an arrangement. She would go with him +should he order her to do so, but would infinitely sooner remain +in England. And then, too, she had spoken of him while alive with +disdain and disgust, and had submitted to hear her father describe +him as infamous. Her life had been one long misery, under which she +had seemed gradually to be perishing. Now she was relieved, and her +health was re-established. A certain amount of unjoyous cheerfulness +was returning to her. It was impossible to doubt that she must have +known that a great burden had fallen from her back. And yet she would +never allow his name to be mentioned without giving some outward +sign of affection for his memory. If he was bad, so were others bad. +There were many worse than he. Such were the excuses she made for +her late husband. Old Mr. Wharton, who really thought that in all +his experience he had never known any one worse than his son-in-law, +would sometimes become testy, and at last resolved that he would +altogether hold his tongue. But he could hardly hold his tongue now. + +He, no doubt, had already formed his hopes in regard to Arthur +Fletcher. He had trusted that the man whom he had taught himself some +years since to regard as his wished-for son-in-law, might be constant +and strong enough in his love to forget all that was past, and to be +still willing to redeem his daughter from misery. But as days had +crept on since the scene at the Tenway Junction, he had become aware +that time must do much before such relief would be accepted. It +was, however, still possible that the presence of the man might do +something. Hitherto, since the deed had been done, no stranger had +dined in Manchester Square. She herself had seen no visitor. She +had hardly left the house except to go to church, and then had been +enveloped in the deepest crape. Once or twice she had allowed herself +to be driven out in a carriage, and, when she had done so, her +father had always accompanied her. No widow, since the seclusion +of widows was first ordained, had been more strict in maintaining +the restraints of widowhood as enjoined. How then could he bid +her receive a new lover,--or how suggest to her that a lover was +possible? And yet he did not like to answer Arthur Fletcher without +naming some period for the present mourning,--some time at which he +might at least show himself in Manchester Square. + +"I have had a letter from Arthur Fletcher," he said to his daughter a +day or two after he had received it. He was sitting after dinner, and +Everett was also in the room. + +"Is he in Herefordshire?" she asked. + +"No;--he is up in town, attending to the House of Commons, I suppose. +He had something to say to me, and as we are not in the way of +meeting he wrote. He wants to come and see you." + +"Not yet, papa." + +"He talked of coming and dining here." + +"Oh yes; pray let him come." + +"You would not mind that?" + +"I would dine early and be out of the way. I should be so glad if you +would have somebody sometimes. I shouldn't think then that I was such +a--such a restraint to you." + +But this was not what Mr. Wharton desired. "I shouldn't like that, my +dear. Of course he would know that you were in the house." + +"Upon my word, I think you might meet an old friend like that," said +Everett. + +She looked at her brother, and then at her father, and burst into +tears. "Of course you shall not be pressed if it would be irksome to +you," said her father. + +"It is the first plunge that hurts," said Everett. "If you could once +bring yourself to do it, you would find afterwards that you were more +comfortable." + +"Papa," she said slowly, "I know what it means. His goodness I shall +always remember. You may tell him I say so. But I cannot meet him +yet." Then they pressed her no further. Of course she had understood. +Her father could not even ask her to say a word which might give +comfort to Arthur as to some long distant time. + +He went down to the House of Commons the next day, and saw his young +friend there. Then they walked up and down Westminster Hall for +nearly an hour, talking over the matter with the most absolute +freedom. "It cannot be for the benefit of any one," said Arthur +Fletcher, "that she should immolate herself like an Indian +widow,--and for the sake of such a man as that! Of course I have no +right to dictate to you,--hardly, perhaps, to give an opinion." + +"Yes, yes, yes." + +"It does seem to me, then, that you ought to force her out of that +kind of thing. Why should she not go down to Herefordshire?" + +"In time, Arthur,--in time." + +"But people's lives are running away." + +"My dear fellow, if you were to see her you would know how vain it +would be to try to hurry her. There must be time." + + + + +CHAPTER LXVI + +The End of the Session + + +The Duke of St. Bungay had been very much disappointed. He had +contradicted with a repetition of noes the assertion of the Duchess +that he had been the Warwick who had placed the Prime Minister's +crown on the head of the Duke of Omnium, but no doubt he felt in his +heart that he had done so much towards it that his advice respecting +the vacant Garter, when given with so much weight, should have been +followed. He was an old man, and had known the secrets of Cabinet +Councils when his younger friend was a little boy. He had given +advice to Lord John, and had been one of the first to congratulate +Sir Robert Peel when that statesman became a free-trader. He had sat +in conclave with THE Duke, and had listened to the bold Liberalism +of old Earl Grey, both in the Lower and the Upper House. He had +been always great in council, never giving his advice unasked, nor +throwing his pearls before swine, and cautious at all times to avoid +excesses on this side or on that. He had never allowed himself a +hobby horse of his own to ride, had never been ambitious, had never +sought to be the ostensible leader of men. But he did now think that +when, with all his experience, he spoke very much in earnest, some +attention should be paid to what he said. When he had described a +certain line of conduct as Quixotic he had been very much in earnest. +He did not usually indulge in strong language, and Quixotic, when +applied to the conduct of a Prime Minister, was, to his ideas, very +strong. The thing described as Quixotic had now been done, and the +Duke of St. Bungay was a disappointed man. + +For an hour or two he thought that he must gently secede from all +private councils with the Prime Minister. To resign, or to put +impediments in the way of his own chief, did not belong to his +character. That line of strategy had come into fashion since he had +learnt his political rudiments, and was very odious to him. But in +all party compacts there must be inner parties, peculiar bonds, and +confidences stricter, stronger, and also sweeter than those which +bind together the twenty or thirty gentlemen who form a Government. +From those closer ties which had hitherto bound him to the Duke of +Omnium he thought, for a while, that he must divorce himself. Surely +on such a subject as the nomination of a Knight of the Garter his +advice might have been taken,--if only because it had come from him! +And so he kept himself apart for a day or two, and even in the House +of Lords ceased to whisper kindly, cheerful words into the ears of +his next neighbour. + +But various remembrances crowded in upon him by degrees, compelling +him to moderate and at last to abandon his purpose. Among these the +first was the memory of the kiss which he had given the Duchess. The +woman had told him that she loved him, that he was one of the very +few whom she did love,--and the word had gone straight into his old +heart. She had bade him not to desert her; and he had not only given +her his promise, but he had converted that promise to a sacred pledge +by a kiss. He had known well why she had exacted the promise. The +turmoil in her husband's mind, the agony which he sometimes endured +when people spoke ill of him, the aversion which he had at first +genuinely felt to an office for which he hardly thought himself fit, +and now the gradual love of power created by the exercise of power, +had all been seen by her, and had created that solicitude which had +induced her to ask for the promise. The old Duke had known them both +well, but had hardly as yet given the Duchess credit for so true a +devotion to her husband. It now seemed to him that though she had +failed to love the man, she had given her entire heart to the Prime +Minister. He sympathised with her altogether, and, at any rate could +not go back from his promise. + +And then he remembered, too, that if this man did anything amiss in +the high office which he had been made to fill, he who had induced +him to fill it was responsible. What right had he, the Duke of St. +Bungay, to be angry because his friend was not all-wise at all +points? Let the Droughts and the Drummonds and the Beeswaxes +quarrel among themselves or with their colleagues. He belonged to a +different school, in the teachings of which there was less perhaps +of excitement and more of long-suffering;--but surely, also, more +of nobility. He was, at any rate, too old to change, and he would +therefore be true to his friend through evil and through good. Having +thought this all out he again whispered some cheery word to the Prime +Minister, as they sat listening to the denunciations of Lord Fawn, a +Liberal lord, much used to business, but who had not been received +into the Coalition. The first whisper and the second whisper the +Prime Minister received very coldly. He had fully appreciated the +discontinuance of the whispers, and was aware of the cause. He had +made a selection on his own unassisted judgment in opposition to his +old friend's advice, and this was the result. Let it be so! All his +friends were turning away from him and he would have to stand alone. +If so, he would stand alone till the pendulum of the House of Commons +had told him that it was time for him to retire. But gradually the +determined good-humour of the old man prevailed. "He has a wonderful +gift of saying nothing with second-rate dignity," whispered the +repentant friend, speaking of Lord Fawn. + +"A very honest man," said the Prime Minister in return. + +"A sort of bastard honesty,--by precept out of stupidity. There is +no real conviction in it, begotten by thought." This little bit of +criticism, harsh as it was, had the effect, and the Prime Minister +became less miserable than he had been. + +But Lord Drummond forgave nothing. He still held his office, but more +than once he was seen in private conference with both Sir Orlando and +Mr. Boffin. He did not attempt to conceal his anger. Lord Earlybird! +An old woman! One whom no other man in England would have thought +of making a Knight of the Garter! It was not, he said, personal +disappointment in himself. There were half-a-dozen peers whom he +would willingly have seen so graced without the slightest chagrin. +But this must have been done simply to show the Duke's power, and to +let the world understand that he owed nothing and would pay nothing +to his supporters. It was almost a disgrace, said Lord Drummond, to +belong to a Government the Head of which could so commit himself! The +Session was nearly at an end, and Lord Drummond thought that no step +could be conveniently taken now. But it was quite clear to him that +this state of things could not be continued. It was observed that +Lord Drummond and the Prime Minister never spoke to each other in +the House, and that the Secretary of State for the Colonies,--that +being the office which he held,--never rose in his place after Lord +Earlybird's nomination, unless to say a word or two as to his own +peculiar duties. It was very soon known to all the world that there +was war to the knife between Lord Drummond and the Prime Minister. + +And, strange to say, there seemed to be some feeling of general +discontent on this very trifling subject. When Aristides has been +much too just the oyster-shells become numerous. It was said that the +Duke had been guilty of pretentious love of virtue in taking Lord +Earlybird out of his own path of life and forcing him to write K.G. +after his name. There came out an article, of course in the "People's +Banner," headed, "Our Prime Minister's Good Works," in which poor +Lord Earlybird was ridiculed in a very unbecoming manner, and in +which it was asserted that the thing was done as a counterpoise to +the iniquity displayed in "hounding Ferdinand Lopez to his death." +Whenever Ferdinand Lopez was mentioned he had always been hounded. +And then the article went on to declare that either the Prime +Minister had quarrelled with all his colleagues, or else that all his +colleagues had quarrelled with the Prime Minister. Mr. Slide did not +care which it might be, but, whichever it might be, the poor country +had to suffer when such a state of things was permitted. It was +notorious that neither the Duke of St. Bungay nor Lord Drummond would +now even speak to their own chief, so thoroughly were they disgusted +with his conduct. Indeed it seemed that the only ally the Prime +Minister had in his own Cabinet was the Irish adventurer, Mr. +Phineas Finn. Lord Earlybird never read a word of all this, and was +altogether undisturbed as he sat in his chair in Exeter Hall,--or +just at this time of the year more frequently in the provinces. But +the Duke of Omnium read it all. After what had passed he did not dare +to show it to his brother Duke. He did not dare to tell his friend +that it was said in the newspapers that they did not speak to each +other. But every word from Mr. Slide's pen settled on his own memory, +and added to his torments. It came to be a fixed idea in the Duke's +mind that Mr. Slide was a gadfly sent to the earth for the express +purpose of worrying him. + +And as a matter of course the Prime Minister in his own mind blamed +himself for what he had done. It is the chief torment of a person +constituted as he was that strong as may be the determination to do +a thing, fixed as may be the conviction that that thing ought to be +done, no sooner has it been perfected than the objections of others, +which before had been inefficacious, become suddenly endowed with +truth and force. He did not like being told by Mr. Slide that he +ought not to have set his Cabinet against him, but when he had in +fact done so, then he believed what Mr. Slide told him. As soon +almost as the irrevocable letter had been winged on its way to Lord +Earlybird, he saw the absurdity of sending it. Who was he that he +should venture to set aside all the traditions of office? A Pitt or +a Peel or a Palmerston might have done so, because they had been +abnormally strong. They had been Prime Ministers by the work of their +own hands, holding their powers against the whole world. But he,--he +told himself daily that he was only there by sufferance, because at +the moment no one else could be found to take it. In such a condition +should he not have been bound by the traditions of office, bound +by the advice of one so experienced and so true as the Duke of St. +Bungay? And for whom had he broken through these traditions and +thrown away this advice? For a man who had no power whatever to help +him or any other Minister of the Crown;--for one whose every pursuit +in life was at variance with the acquisition of such honours as that +now thrust upon him! He could see his own obstinacy, and could even +hate the pretentious love of virtue which he had himself displayed. + +"Have you seen Lord Earlybird with his ribbon?" his wife said to him. + +"I do not know Lord Earlybird by sight," he replied angrily. + +"Nor any one else either. But he would have come and shown himself to +you, if he had had a spark of gratitude in his composition. As far as +I can learn you have sacrificed the Ministry for his sake." + +"I did my duty as best I knew how to do it," said the Duke, almost +with ferocity, "and it little becomes you to taunt me with any +deficiency." + +"Plantagenet!" + +"I am driven," he said, "almost beyond myself, and it kills me when +you take part against me." + +"Take part against you! Surely there was very little in what I said." +And yet, as she spoke, she repented bitterly that she had at the +moment allowed herself to relapse into the sort of badinage which +had been usual with her before she had understood the extent of his +sufferings. "If I trouble you by what I say, I will certainly hold my +tongue." + +"Don't repeat to me what that man says in the newspaper." + +"You shouldn't regard the man, Plantagenet. You shouldn't allow the +paper to come into your hands." + +"Am I to be afraid of seeing what men say of me? Never! But you need +not repeat it, at any rate if it be false." She had not seen the +article in question or she certainly would not have repeated the +accusation which it contained. "I have quarrelled with no colleague. +If such a one as Lord Drummond chooses to think himself injured, am +I to stoop to him? Nothing strikes me so much in all this as the +ill-nature of the world at large. When they used to bait a bear tied +to a stake, every one around would cheer the dogs and help to torment +the helpless animal. It is much the same now, only they have a man +instead of a bear for their pleasure." + +"I will never help the dogs again," she said, coming up to him and +clinging within the embrace of his arm. + +He knew that he had been Quixotic, and he would sit in his chair +repeating the word to himself aloud, till he himself began to fear +that he would do it in company. But the thing had been done and +could not be undone. He had had the bestowal of one Garter, and he +had given it to Lord Earlybird! It was,--he told himself, but not +correctly,--the only thing that he had done on his own undivided +responsibility since he had been Prime Minister. + +The last days of July had passed, and it had been at last decided +that the Session should close on the 11th of August. Now the 11th +of August was thought to be a great deal too near the 12th to allow +of such an arrangement being considered satisfactory. A great many +members were very angry at the arrangement. It had been said all +through June and into July that it was to be an early Session, and +yet things had been so mismanaged that when the end came everything +could not be finished without keeping members of Parliament in town +up to the 11th of August! In the memory of present legislators there +had never been anything so awkward. The fault, if there was a fault, +was attributable to Mr. Monk. In all probability the delay was +unavoidable. A minister cannot control long-winded gentlemen, and +when gentlemen are very long-winded there must be delay. No doubt a +strong minister can exercise some control, and it is certain that +long-winded gentlemen find an unusual scope for their breath when the +reigning dynasty is weak. In that way Mr. Monk and the Duke may have +been responsible, but they were blamed as though they, for their own +special amusement, detained gentlemen in town. Indeed the gentlemen +were not detained. They grumbled and growled and then fled,--but +their grumblings and growlings were heard even after their departure. + +"Well;--what do you think of it all?" the Duke said one day to Mr. +Monk, at the Treasury, affecting an air of cheery good-humour. + +"I think," said Mr. Monk, "that the country is very prosperous. +I don't know that I ever remember trade to have been more evenly +satisfactory." + +"Ah, yes. That's very well for the country, and ought, I suppose, to +satisfy us." + +"It satisfies me," said Mr. Monk. + +"And me, in a way. But if you were walking about in a very tight pair +of boots, in an agony with your feet, would you be able just then to +relish the news that agricultural wages in that parish had gone up +sixpence a week?" + +"I'd take my boots off, and then try," said Mr. Monk. + +"That's just what I'm thinking of doing. If I had my boots off all +that prosperity would be so pleasant to me! But you see you can't +take your boots off in company. And it may be that you have a walk +before you, and that no boots will be worse for your feet even than +tight ones." + +"We'll have our boots off soon, Duke," said Mr. Monk, speaking of the +recess. + +"And when shall we be quit of them altogether? Joking apart, they +have to be worn if the country requires it." + +"Certainly, Duke." + +"And it may be that you and I think that upon the whole they may be +worn with advantage. What does the country say to that?" + +"The country has never said the reverse. We have not had a majority +against us this Session on any Government question." + +"But we have had narrowing majorities. What will the House do as +to the Lords' amendments on the Bankruptcy Bill?" There was a Bill +that had gone down from the House of Commons, but had not originated +with the Government. It had, however, been fostered by Ministers in +the House of Lords, and had been sent back with certain amendments +for which the Lord Chancellor had made himself responsible. It was +therefore now almost a Government measure. The manipulation of this +measure had been one of the causes of the prolonged sitting of the +Houses. + +"Grogram says they will take the amendments." + +"And if they don't?" + +"Why then," said Mr. Monk, "the Lords must take our rejection." + +"And we shall have been beaten," said the Duke. + +"Undoubtedly." + +"And beaten simply because the House desires to beat us. I am told +that Sir Timothy Beeswax intends to speak and vote against the +amendments." + +"What,--Sir Timothy on one side, and Sir Gregory on the other?" + +"So Lord Ramsden tells me," said the Duke. "If it be so, what are we +to do?" + +"Certainly not go out in August," said Mr. Monk. + +When the time came for the consideration of the Lords' amendments +in the House of Commons,--and it did not come till the 8th of +August,--the matter was exactly as the Duke had said. Sir Gregory +Grogram, with a great deal of earnestness, supported the Lords' +amendment,--as he was in honour bound to do. The amendment had come +from his chief, the Lord Chancellor, and had indeed been discussed +with Sir Gregory before it had been proposed. He was very much in +earnest;--but it was evident from Sir Gregory's earnestness that +he expected a violent opposition. Immediately after him rose Sir +Timothy. Now Sir Timothy was a pretentious man, who assumed to be not +only an advocate but a lawyer. And he assumed also to be a political +magnate. He went into the matter at great length. He began by saying +that it was not a party question. The Bill, which he had had the +honour of supporting before it went from their own House, had been +a private Bill. As such it had received a general support from the +Government. It had been materially altered in the other House under +the auspices of his noble friend on the woolsack, but from those +alterations he was obliged to dissent. Then he said some very heavy +things against the Lord Chancellor, and increased in acerbity as +he described what he called the altered mind of his honourable +and learned friend the Attorney-General. He then made some very +uncomplimentary allusions to the Prime Minister, whom he accused +of being more than ordinarily reserved with his subordinates. The +speech was manifestly arranged and delivered with the express view of +damaging the Coalition, of which at the time he himself made a part. +Men observed that things were very much altered when such a course as +that was taken in the House of Commons. But that was the course taken +on this occasion by Sir Timothy Beeswax, and was so far taken with +success that the Lords' amendments were rejected and the Government +was beaten in a thin House, by a large majority,--composed partly of +its own men. "What am I to do?" asked the Prime Minister of the old +Duke. + +The old Duke's answer was exactly the same as that given by Mr. Monk. +"We cannot resign in August." And then he went on. "We must wait +and see how things go at the beginning of next Session. The chief +question is whether Sir Timothy should not be asked to resign." + +Then the Session was at an end, and they who had been staunch to the +last got out of town as quick as the trains could carry them. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVII + +Mrs. Lopez Prepares to Move + + +The Duchess of Omnium was not the most discreet woman in the world. +That was admitted by her best friends, and was the great sin alleged +against her by her worst enemies. In her desire to say sharp things, +she would say the sharp thing in the wrong place, and in her wish to +be good-natured she was apt to run into offences. Just as she was +about to leave town, which did not take place for some days after +Parliament had risen, she made an indiscreet proposition to her +husband. "Should you mind my asking Mrs. Lopez down to Matching? We +shall only be a very small party." + +Now the very name of Lopez was terrible to the Duke's ears. Anything +which recalled the wretch and that wretched tragedy to the Duke's +mind gave him a stab. The Duchess ought to have felt that any +communication between her husband and even the man's widow was to be +avoided rather than sought. "Quite out of the question!" said the +Duke, drawing himself up. + +"Why out of the question?" + +"There are a thousand reasons. I could not have it." + +"Then I will say nothing more about it. But there is a romance +there,--something quite touching." + +"You don't mean that she has--a lover?" + +"Well;--yes." + +"And she lost her husband only the other day,--lost him in so +terrible a manner! If that is so, certainly I do not wish to see her +again." + +"Ah, that is because you don't know the story." + +"I don't wish to know it." + +"The man who now wants to marry her knew her long before she had +seen Lopez, and had offered to her ever so many times. He is a fine +fellow, and you know him." + +"I had rather not hear any more about it," said the Duke, walking +away. + +There was an end to the Duchess's scheme of getting Emily down to +Matching,--a scheme which could hardly have been successful even had +the Duke not objected to it. But yet the Duchess would not abandon +her project of befriending the widow. She had injured Lopez. She had +liked what she had seen of Mrs. Lopez. And she was now endeavouring +to take Arthur Fletcher by the hand. She called therefore at +Manchester Square on the day before she started for Matching, and +left a card and a note. This was on the 15th of August, when London +was as empty as it ever is. The streets at the West End were +deserted. The houses were shut up. The very sweepers of the crossings +seemed to have gone out of town. The public offices were manned by +one or two unfortunates each, who consoled themselves by reading +novels at their desks. Half the cab-drivers had gone apparently to +the seaside,--or to bed. The shops were still open, but all the +respectable shopkeepers were either in Switzerland or at their marine +villas. The travelling world had divided itself into Cookites and +Hookites;--those who escaped trouble under the auspices of Mr. Cook, +and those who boldly combated the extortions of foreign innkeepers +and the anti-Anglican tendencies of foreign railway officials "on +their own hooks." The Duchess of Omnium was nevertheless in town, and +the Duke might still be seen going in at the back entrance of the +Treasury Chambers every day at eleven o'clock. Mr. Warburton thought +it very hard, for he, too, could shoot grouse; but he would have +perished rather than have spoken a word. + +The Duchess did not ask to see Mrs. Lopez, but left her card and a +note. She had not liked, she said, to leave town without calling, +though she would not seek to be admitted. She hoped that Mrs. Lopez +was recovering her health, and trusted that on her return to town she +might be allowed to renew her acquaintance. The note was very simple, +and could not be taken as other than friendly. If she had been +simply Mrs. Palliser, and her husband had been a junior clerk in +the Treasury, such a visit would have been a courtesy; and it was +not less so because it was made by the Duchess of Omnium and by +the wife of the Prime Minister. But yet among all the poor widow's +acquaintances she was the only one who had ventured to call since +Lopez had destroyed himself. Mrs. Roby had been told not to come. +Lady Eustace had been sternly rejected. Even old Mrs. Fletcher when +she had been up in town had, after a very solemn meeting with Mr. +Wharton, contented herself with sending her love. It had come to pass +that the idea of being immured was growing to be natural to Emily +herself. The longer that it was continued the more did it seem to be +impossible to her that she should break from her seclusion. But yet +she was gratified by the note from the Duchess. + +"She means to be civil, papa." + +"Oh yes;--but there are people whose civility I don't want." + +"Certainly. I did not want the civility of that horrid Lady Eustace. +But I can understand this. She thinks that she did Ferdinand an +injury." + +"When you begin, my dear,--and I hope it will be soon,--to get back +to the world, you will find it more comfortable, I think, to find +yourself among your own people." + +"I don't want to go back," she said, sobbing bitterly. + +"But I want you to go back. All who know you want you to go back. +Only don't begin at that end." + +"You don't suppose, papa, that I wish to go to the Duchess?" + +"I wish you to go somewhere. It can't be good for you to remain here. +Indeed I shall think it wicked, or at any rate weak, if you continue +to seclude yourself." + +"Where shall I go?" she said, imploringly. + +"To Wharton. I certainly think you ought to go there first." + +"If you would go, papa, and leave me here,--just this once. Next year +I will go,--if they ask me." + +"When I may be dead, for aught that any of us know." + +"Do not say that, papa. Of course any one may die." + +"I certainly shall not go without you. You may take that as certain. +Is it likely that I should leave you alone in August and September in +this great gloomy house? If you stay, I shall stay." Now this meant +a great deal more than it had meant in former years. Since Lopez +had died Mr. Wharton had not once dined at the Eldon. He came home +regularly at six o'clock, sat with his daughter an hour before +dinner, and then remained with her all the evening. It seemed as +though he were determined to force her out of her solitude by her +natural consideration for him. She would implore him to go to his +club and have his rubber, but he would never give way. No;--he didn't +care for the Eldon, and disliked whist. So he said. Till at last he +spoke more plainly. "You are dull enough here all day, and I will not +leave you in the evenings." There was a pertinacious tenderness in +this which she had not expected from the antecedents of his life. +When, therefore, he told her that he would not go into the country +without her, she felt herself almost constrained to yield. + +And she would have yielded at once but for one fear. How could she +insure to herself that Arthur Fletcher should not be there? Of course +he would be at Longbarns, and how could she prevent his coming over +from Longbarns to Wharton? She could hardly bring herself to ask the +question of her father. But she felt an insuperable objection to +finding herself in Arthur's presence. Of course she loved him. Of +course in all the world he was of all the dearest to her. Of course +if she could wipe out the past as with a wet towel, if she could put +the crape off her mind as well as from her limbs, she would become +his wife with the greatest joy. But the very feeling that she loved +him was disgraceful to her in her own thoughts. She had allowed +his caress while Lopez was still her husband,--the husband who had +ill-used her and betrayed her, who had sought to drag her down to his +own depth of baseness. But now she could not endure to think that +that other man should even touch her. It was forbidden to her, she +believed, by all the canons of womanhood even to think of love again. +There ought to be nothing left for her but crape and weepers. She had +done it all by her own obstinacy, and she could make no compensation +either to her family, or to the world, or to her own feelings, but by +drinking the cup of her misery down to the very dregs. Even to think +of joy would in her be a treason. On that occasion she did not yield +to her father, conquering him as she had conquered him before by the +pleading of her looks rather than of her words. + +But a day or two afterwards he came to her with arguments of a very +different kind. He at any rate must go to Wharton immediately, in +reference to a letter of vital importance which he had received +from Sir Alured. The reader may perhaps remember that Sir Alured's +heir,--the heir to the title and property,--was a nephew for whom he +entertained no affection whatever. This Wharton had been discarded by +all the Whartons as a profligate drunkard. Some years ago Sir Alured +had endeavoured to reclaim the man, and had spent perhaps more money +than he had been justified in doing in the endeavour, seeing that, +as present occupier of the property, he was bound to provide for +his own daughters, and that at his death every acre must go to this +ne'er-do-well. The money had been allowed to flow like water for a +twelvemonth, and had done no good whatever. There had then been no +hope. The man was strong and likely to live,--and after a while +married a wife, some woman that he took from the very streets. This +had been his last known achievement, and from that moment not even +had his name been mentioned at Wharton. Now there came the tidings of +his death. It was said that he had perished in some attempt to cross +some glaciers in Switzerland;--but by degrees it appeared that the +glacier itself had been less dangerous than the brandy which he had +swallowed whilst on his journey. At any rate he was dead. As to that +Sir Alured's letter was certain. And he was equally certain that he +had left no son. + +These tidings were quite as important to Mr. Wharton as to Sir +Alured,--more important to Everett Wharton than to either of them, as +he would inherit all after the death of those two old men. At this +moment he was away yachting with a friend, and even his address was +unknown. Letters for him were to be sent to Oban, and might, or might +not, reach him in the course of a month. But in a man of Sir Alured's +feelings, this catastrophe produced a great change. The heir to his +title and property was one whom he was bound to regard with affection +and almost with reverence,--if it were only possible for him to do +so. With his late heir it had been impossible. But Everett Wharton he +had always liked. Everett had not been quite all that his father and +uncle had wished. But his faults had been exactly those which would +be cured,--or would almost be made virtues,--by the possession of +a title and property. Distaste for a profession and aptitude for +Parliament would become a young man who was heir not only to the +Wharton estates, but to half his father's money. + +Sir Alured in his letter expressed a hope that Everett might be +informed instantly. He would have written himself had he known +Everett's address. But he did know that his elder cousin was in town, +and he besought his elder cousin to come at once,--quite at once,--to +Wharton. Emily, he said, would of course accompany her father on such +an occasion. Then there were long letters from Mary Wharton, and even +from Lady Wharton, to Emily. The Whartons must have been very much +moved when Lady Wharton could be induced to write a long letter. The +Whartons were very much moved. They were in a state of enthusiasm +at these news, amounting almost to fury. It seemed as though they +thought that every tenant and labourer on the estate, and every +tenant and labourer's wife, would be in an abnormal condition and +unfit for the duties of life, till they should have seen Everett as +heir of the property. Lady Wharton went so far as to tell Emily which +bedroom was being prepared for Everett,--a bedroom very different in +honour from any by the occupation of which he had as yet been graced. +And there were twenty points as to new wills and new deeds as to +which the present baronet wanted the immediate advice of his cousin. +There were a score of things which could now be done which were +before impossible. Trees could be cut down, and buildings put up; +and a little bit of land sold, and a little bit of land bought;--the +doing of all which would give new life to Sir Alured. A life interest +in an estate is a much pleasanter thing when the heir is a friend +who can be walked about the property, than when he is an enemy who +must be kept at arm's length. All these delights could now be Sir +Alured's,--if the old heir would give him his counsel and the young +one his assistance. + +This change in affairs occasioned some flutter also in Manchester +Square. It could not make much difference personally to old Mr. +Wharton. He was, in fact, as old as the baronet, and did not pay much +regard to his own chance of succession. But the position was one +which would suit his son admirably, and he was now on good terms with +his son. He had convinced himself that Lopez had done all that he +could to separate them, and therefore found himself to be more bound +to his son than ever. "We must go at once," he said to his daughter, +speaking almost as though he had forgotten her misery for the moment. + +"I suppose you and Everett ought to be there." + +"Heaven knows where Everett is. I ought to be there, and I suppose +that on such an occasion as this you will condescend to go with me." + +"Condescend, papa;--what does that mean?" + +"You know I cannot go alone. It is out of the question that I should +leave you here." + +"Why, papa?" + +"And at such a time the family ought to come together. Of course they +will take it very much amiss if you refuse. What will Lady Wharton +think if you refuse after her writing such a letter as that? It is my +duty to tell you that you ought to go. You cannot think that it is +right to throw over every friend that you have in the world." + +There was a great deal more said in which it almost seemed that the +father's tenderness had been worn out. His words were much rougher +and more imperious than any that he had yet spoken since his daughter +had become a widow, but they were also more efficacious, and +therefore probably more salutary. After twenty-four hours of this +she found that she was obliged to yield, and a telegram was sent to +Wharton,--by no means the first telegram that had been sent since the +news had arrived,--saying that Emily would accompany her father. They +were to occupy themselves for two days further in preparations for +their journey. + +These preparations to Emily were so sad as almost to break her heart. +She had never as yet packed up her widow's weeds. She had never as +yet even contemplated the necessity of coming down to dinner in them +before other eyes than those of her father and brother. She had as +yet made none of those struggles with which widows seek to lessen +the deformity of their costume. It was incumbent on her now to get a +ribbon or two less ghastly than those weepers which had, for the last +five months, hung about her face and shoulders. And then how should +she look if he were to be there? It was not to be expected that the +Whartons should seclude themselves because of her grief. This very +change in the circumstances of the property would be sure, of itself, +to bring the Fletchers to Wharton,--and then how should she look at +him, how answer him, if he spoke to her tenderly? It is very hard for +a woman to tell a lie to a man when she loves him. She may speak the +words. She may be able to assure him that he is indifferent to her. +But when a woman really loves a man, as she loved this man, there is +a desire to touch him which quivers at her fingers' ends, a longing +to look at him which she cannot keep out of her eyes, an inclination +to be near him which affects every motion of her body. She cannot +refrain herself from excessive attention to his words. She has a god +to worship, and she cannot control her admiration. Of all this Emily +herself felt much,--but felt at the same time that she would never +pardon herself if she betrayed her love by a gleam of her eye, by +the tone of a word, or the movement of a finger. What,--should she +be known to love again after such a mistake as hers, after such a +catastrophe? + +The evening before they started who should bustle into the house but +Everett himself. It was then about six o'clock, and he was going to +leave London by the night mail. That he should be a little given +to bustle on such an occasion may perhaps be forgiven him. He +had heard the news down on the Scotch coast, and had flown up to +London, telegraphing as he did so backwards and forwards to Wharton. +Of course he felt that the destruction of his cousin among the +glaciers,--whether by brandy or ice he did not much care,--had made +him for the nonce one of the important people of the world. The young +man who would not so feel might be the better philosopher, but one +might doubt whether he would be the better young man. He quite agreed +with his father that it was his sister's duty to go to Wharton, and +he was now in a position to speak with authority as to the duties of +members of his family. He could not wait, even for one night, in +order that he might travel with them. Sir Alured was impatient. Sir +Alured wanted him in Herefordshire. Sir Alured had said that on +such an occasion he, the heir, ought to be on the property with the +shortest possible delay. His father smiled;--but with an approving +smile. Everett therefore started by the night mail, leaving his +father and sister to follow him on the morrow. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVIII + +The Prime Minister's Political Creed + + +The Duke, before he went to Matching, twice reminded Phineas Finn +that he was expected there in a day or two. "The Duchess says that +your wife is coming to-morrow," the Duke said on the day of his +departure. But Phineas could not go then. His services to his country +were required among the dockyards and ships, and he postponed his +visit till the end of September. Then he started for Matching, having +the double pleasure before him of meeting his wife and his noble host +and hostess. He found a small party there, but not so small as the +Duchess had once suggested to him. "Your wife will be there, of +course, Mr. Finn. She is too good to desert me in my troubles. And +there will probably be Lady Rosina De Courcy. Lady Rosina is to the +Duke what your wife is to me. I don't suppose there will be anybody +else,--except, perhaps, Mr. Warburton." But Lady Rosina was not +there. In place of Lady Rosina there were the Duke and Duchess of St. +Bungay, with their daughters, two or three Palliser offshoots, with +their wives, and Barrington Erle. There were, too, the Bishop of the +diocese with his wife, and three or four others, coming and going, so +that the party never seemed to be too small. "We asked Mr. Rattler," +said the Duchess in a whisper to Phineas, "but he declined, with a +string of florid compliments. When Mr. Rattler won't come to the +Prime Minister's house, you may depend that something is going to +happen. It is like pigs carrying straws in their mouths. Mr. Rattler +is my pig." Phineas only laughed and said that he did not believe +Rattler to be a better pig than any one else. + +It was soon apparent to Phineas that the Duke's manner to him was +entirely altered, so much so that he was compelled to acknowledge to +himself that he had not hitherto read the Duke's character aright. +Hitherto he had never found the Duke pleasant in conversation. +Looking back he could hardly remember that he had in truth ever +conversed with the Duke. The man had seemed to shut himself up as +soon as he had uttered certain words which the circumstances of the +moment had demanded. Whether it was arrogance or shyness Phineas +had not known. His wife had said that the Duke was shy. Had he been +arrogant the effect would have been the same. He was unbending, hard, +and lucid only when he spoke on some detail of business, or on some +point of policy. But now he smiled, and though hesitating a little at +first, very soon fell into the ways of a pleasant country host. "You +shoot," said the Duke. Phineas did shoot but cared very little about +it. "But you hunt." Phineas was very fond of riding to hounds. "I am +beginning to think," said the Duke, "that I have made a mistake in +not caring for such things. When I was very young I gave them up, +because it appeared that other men devoted too much time to them. One +might as well not eat because some men are gluttons." + +"Only that you would die if you did not eat." + +"Bread, I suppose, would keep me alive, but still one eats meat +without being a glutton. I very often regret the want of amusements, +and particularly of those which would throw me more among my +fellow-creatures. A man is alone when reading, alone when writing, +alone when thinking. Even sitting in Parliament he is very much +alone, though there be a crowd around him. Now a man can hardly be +thoroughly useful unless he knows his fellow-men, and how is he to +know them if he shuts himself up? If I had to begin again I think I +would cultivate the amusements of the time." + +Not long after this the Duke asked him whether he was going to join +the shooting men on that morning. Phineas declared that his hands +were too full of business for any amusement before lunch. "Then," +said the Duke, "will you walk with me in the afternoon? There is +nothing I really like so much as a walk. There are some very pretty +points where the river skirts the park. And I will show you the spot +on which Sir Guy de Palliser performed the feat for which the king +gave him this property. It was a grand time when a man could get +half-a-dozen parishes because he tickled the king's fancy." + +"But suppose he didn't tickle the king's fancy?" + +"Ah, then indeed, it might go otherwise with him. But I am glad to +say that Sir Guy was an accomplished courtier." + +The walk was taken, and the pretty bends of the river were seen; but +they were looked at without much earnestness, and Sir Guy's great +deed was not again mentioned. The conversation went away to other +matters. Of course it was not long before the Prime Minister was +deep in discussing the probabilities of the next Session. It was +soon apparent to Phineas that the Duke was no longer desirous of +resigning, though he spoke very freely of the probable necessity +there might be for him to do so. At the present moment he was in his +best humour. His feet were on his own property. He could see the +prosperity around him. The spot was the one which he loved best in +all the world. He liked his present companion, who was one to whom he +was entitled to speak with freedom. But there was still present to +him the sense of some injury from which he could not free himself. Of +course he did not know that he had been haughty to Sir Orlando, to +Sir Timothy, and others. But he did know that he had intended to be +true, and he thought that they had been treacherous. Twelve months +ago there had been a goal before him which he might attain, a +winning-post which was still within his reach. There was in store for +him the tranquillity of retirement which he would enjoy as soon as a +sense of duty would permit him to seize it. But now the prospect of +that happiness had gradually vanished from him. That retirement was +no longer a winning-post for him. The poison of place and power and +dignity had got into his blood. As he looked forward he feared rather +than sighed for retirement. "You think it will go against us," he +said. + +Phineas did think so. There was hardly a man high up in the party +who did not think so. When one branch of a Coalition has gradually +dropped off, the other branch will hardly flourish long. And then the +tints of a political Coalition are so neutral and unalluring that men +will only endure them when they feel that no more pronounced colours +are within their reach. "After all," said Phineas, "the innings has +not been a bad one. It has been of service to the country, and has +lasted longer than most men expected." + +"If it has been of service to the country, that is everything. It +should at least be everything. With the statesman to whom it is not +everything there must be something wrong." The Duke, as he said this, +was preaching to himself. He was telling himself that, though he saw +the better way, he was allowing himself to walk on in that which was +worse. For it was not only Phineas who could see the change,--or the +old Duke, or the Duchess. It was apparent to the man himself, though +he could not prevent it. "I sometimes think," he said, "that we whom +chance has led to be meddlers in the game of politics sometimes give +ourselves hardly time enough to think what we are about." + +"A man may have to work so hard," said Phineas, "that he has no time +for thinking." + +"Or more probably, may be so eager in party conflict that he will +hardly keep his mind cool enough for thought. It seems to me that +many men,--men whom you and I know,--embrace the profession of +politics not only without political convictions, but without seeing +that it is proper that they should entertain them. Chance brings a +young man under the guidance of this or that elder man. He has come +of a Whig family, as was my case,--or from some old Tory stock; and +loyalty keeps him true to the interests which have first pushed him +forward into the world. There is no conviction there." + +"Convictions grow." + +"Yes;--the conviction that it is the man's duty to be a staunch +Liberal, but not the reason why. Or a man sees his opening on this +side or on that,--as is the case with the lawyers. Or he has a body +of men at his back ready to support him on this side or on that, as +we see with commercial men. Or perhaps he has some vague idea that +aristocracy is pleasant, and he becomes a Conservative,--or that +democracy is prospering, and he becomes a Liberal. You are a Liberal, +Mr. Finn." + +"Certainly, Duke." + +"Why?" + +"Well;--after what you have said I will not boast of myself. +Experience, however, seems to show me that Liberalism is demanded by +the country." + +"So, perhaps, at certain epochs, may the Devil and all his works; but +you will hardly say that you will carry the Devil's colours because +the country may like the Devil. It is not sufficient, I think, to say +that Liberalism is demanded. You should first know what Liberalism +means, and then assure yourself that the thing itself is good. I dare +say you have done so; but I see some who never make the inquiry." + +"I will not claim to be better than my neighbours,--I mean my real +neighbours." + +"I understand; I understand," said the Duke laughing. "You prefer +some good Samaritan on the opposition benches to Sir Timothy and the +Pharisees. It is hard to come wounded out of the fight, and then to +see him who should be your friend not only walking by on the other +side, but flinging a stone at you as he goes. But I did not mean just +now to allude to the details of recent misfortunes, though there is +no one to whom I could do so more openly than to you. I was trying +yesterday to explain to myself why I have, all my life, sat on what +is called the Liberal side of the House to which I have belonged." + +"Did you succeed?" + +"I began life with the misfortune of a ready-made political creed. +There was a seat in the House for me when I was twenty-one. Nobody +took the trouble to ask me my opinions. It was a matter of course +that I should be a Liberal. My uncle, whom nothing could ever induce +to move in politics himself, took it for granted that I should run +straight,--as he would have said. It was a tradition of the family, +and was as inseparable from it as any of the titles which he had +inherited. The property might be sold or squandered,--but the +political creed was fixed as adamant. I don't know that I ever had +a wish to rebel, but I think that I took it at first very much as a +matter of course." + +"A man seldom inquires very deeply at twenty-one." + +"And if he does it is ten to one but he comes to a wrong conclusion. +But since then I have satisfied myself that chance put me into the +right course. It has been, I dare say, the same with you as with me. +We both went into office early, and the anxiety to do special duties +well probably deterred us both from thinking much of the great +question. When a man has to be on the alert to keep Ireland quiet, or +to prevent peculation in the dockyards, or to raise the revenue while +he lowers the taxes, he feels himself to be saved from the necessity +of investigating principles. In this way I sometimes think that +ministers, or they who have been ministers and who have to watch +ministers from the opposition benches, have less opportunity of +becoming real politicians than the men who sit in Parliament with +empty hands and with time at their own disposal. But when a man has +been placed by circumstances as I am now, he does begin to think." + +"And yet you have not empty hands." + +"They are not so full, perhaps, as you think. At any rate I cannot +content myself with a single branch of the public service as I used +to do in old days. Do not suppose that I claim to have made any grand +political invention, but I think that I have at least labelled my own +thoughts. I suppose what we all desire is to improve the condition of +the people by whom we are employed, and to advance our country, or at +any rate to save it from retrogression." + +"That of course." + +"So much is of course. I give credit to my opponents in Parliament +for that desire quite as readily as I do to my colleagues or to +myself. The idea that political virtue is all on one side is both +mischievous and absurd. We allow ourselves to talk in that way +because indignation, scorn, and sometimes, I fear, vituperation, are +the fuel with which the necessary heat of debate is maintained." + +"There are some men who are very fond of poking the fire," said +Phineas. + +"Well; I won't name any one at present," said the Duke, "but I have +seen gentlemen of your country very handy with the pokers." Phineas +laughed, knowing that he had been considered by some to have been +a little violent when defending the Duke. "But we put all that +aside when we really think, and can give the Conservative credit +for philanthropy and patriotism as readily as the Liberal. The +Conservative who has had any idea of the meaning of the name which +he carries, wishes, I suppose, to maintain the differences and the +distances which separate the highly placed from their lower brethren. +He thinks that God has divided the world as he finds it divided, and +that he may best do his duty by making the inferior man happy and +contented in his position, teaching him that the place which he holds +is his by God's ordinance." + +"And it is so." + +"Hardly in the sense that I mean. But that is the great Conservative +lesson. That lesson seems to me to be hardly compatible with +continual improvement in the condition of the lower man. But with +the Conservative all such improvement is to be based on the idea of +the maintenance of those distances. I as a Duke am to be kept as far +apart from the man who drives my horses as was my ancestor from the +man who drove his, or who rode after him to the wars,--and that is to +go on for ever. There is much to be said for such a scheme. Let the +lords be, all of them, men with loving hearts, and clear intellect, +and noble instincts, and it is possible that they should use their +powers so beneficently as to spread happiness over the earth. It is +one of the millenniums which the mind of man can conceive, and seems +to be that which the Conservative mind does conceive." + +"But the other men who are not lords don't want that kind of +happiness." + +"If such happiness were attainable it might be well to constrain +men to accept it. But the lords of this world are fallible men; and +though as units they ought to be and perhaps are better than those +others who have fewer advantages, they are much more likely as units +to go astray in opinion than the bodies of men whom they would seek +to govern. We know that power does corrupt, and that we cannot +trust kings to have loving hearts, and clear intellects, and noble +instincts. Men as they come to think about it and to look forward, +and to look back, will not believe in such a millennium as that." + +"Do they believe in any millennium?" + +"I think they do after a fashion, and I think that I do myself. That +is my idea of Conservatism. The doctrine of Liberalism is, of course, +the reverse. The Liberal, if he have any fixed idea at all, must, I +think, have conceived the idea of lessening distances,--of bringing +the coachman and the duke nearer together,--nearer and nearer, till a +millennium shall be reached by--" + +"By equality?" asked Phineas, eagerly interrupting the Prime +Minister, and showing his dissent by the tone of his voice. + +"I did not use the word, which is open to many objections. In the +first place the millennium, which I have perhaps rashly named, is +so distant that we need not even think of it as possible. Men's +intellects are at present so various that we cannot even realise the +idea of equality, and here in England we have been taught to hate the +word by the evil effects of those absurd attempts which have been +made elsewhere to proclaim it as a fact accomplished by the scratch +of a pen or by a chisel on a stone. We have been injured in that, +because a good word signifying a grand idea has been driven out of +the vocabulary of good men. Equality would be a heaven, if we could +attain it. How can we to whom so much has been given dare to think +otherwise? How can you look at the bowed back and bent legs and +abject face of that poor ploughman, who winter and summer has to drag +his rheumatic limbs to his work, while you go a-hunting or sit in +pride of place among the foremost few of your country, and say that +it all is as it ought to be? You are a Liberal because you know that +it is not all as it ought to be, and because you would still march on +to some nearer approach to equality; though the thing itself is so +great, so glorious, so godlike,--nay, so absolutely divine,--that you +have been disgusted by the very promise of it, because its perfection +is unattainable. Men have asserted a mock equality till the very idea +of equality stinks in men's nostrils." + +The Duke in his enthusiasm had thrown off his hat, and was sitting +on a wooden seat which they had reached, looking up among the clouds. +His left hand was clenched, and from time to time with his right +he rubbed the thin hairs on his brow. He had begun in a low voice, +with a somewhat slipshod enunciation of his words, but had gradually +become clear, resonant, and even eloquent. Phineas knew that there +were stories told of certain bursts of words which had come from +him in former days in the House of Commons. These had occasionally +surprised men and induced them to declare that Planty Pall,--as he +was then often called,--was a dark horse. But they had been few and +far between, and Phineas had never heard them. Now he gazed at his +companion in silence, wondering whether the speaker would go on with +his speech. But the face changed on a sudden, and the Duke with an +awkward motion snatched up his hat. "I hope you ain't cold," he said. + +"Not at all," said Phineas. + +"I came here because of that bend of the river. I am always very +fond of that bend. We don't go over the river. That is Mr. Upjohn's +property." + +"The member for the county?" + +"Yes; and a very good member he is too, though he doesn't support +us;--an old-school Tory, but a great friend of my uncle, who after +all had a good deal of the Tory about him. I wonder whether he is at +home. I must remind the Duchess to ask him to dinner. You know him, +of course." + +"Only by just seeing him in the House." + +"You'd like him very much. When in the country he always wears +knee-breeches and gaiters, which I think a very comfortable dress." + +"Troublesome, Duke; isn't it?" + +"I never tried it, and I shouldn't dare now. Goodness, me; it's past +five o'clock, and we've got two miles to get home. I haven't looked +at a letter, and Warburton will think that I've thrown myself into +the river because of Sir Timothy Beeswax." Then they started to go +home at a fast pace. + +"I shan't forget, Duke," said Phineas, "your definition of +Conservatives and Liberals." + +"I don't think I ventured on a definition;--only a few loose ideas +which had been troubling me lately. I say, Finn!" + +"Your Grace?" + +"Don't you go and tell Ramsden and Drummond that I have been +preaching equality, or we shall have a pretty mess. I don't know that +it would serve me with my dear friend, the Duke." + +"I will be discretion itself." + +"Equality is a dream. But sometimes one likes to dream,--especially +as there is no danger that Matching will fly from me in a dream. I +doubt whether I could bear the test that has been attempted in other +countries." + +"That poor ploughman would hardly get his share, Duke." + +"No;--that's where it is. We can only do a little and a little to +bring it nearer to us;--so little that it won't touch Matching in our +day. Here is her ladyship and the ponies. I don't think her ladyship +would like to lose her ponies by my doctrine." + +The two wives of the two men were in the pony carriage, and the +little Lady Glencora, the Duchess's eldest daughter, was sitting +between them. "Mr. Warburton has sent three messengers to demand your +presence," said the Duchess, "and, as I live by bread, I believe that +you and Mr. Finn have been amusing yourselves!" + +"We have been talking politics," said the Duke. + +"Of course. What other amusement was possible? But what business +have you to indulge in idle talk when Mr. Warburton wants you in the +library? There has come a box," she said, "big enough to contain +the resignations of all the traitors of the party." This was strong +language, and the Duke frowned;--but there was no one there to +hear it but Phineas Finn and his wife, and they, at least, were +trustworthy. The Duke suggested that he had better get back to the +house as soon as possible. There might be something to be done +requiring time before dinner. Mr. Warburton might, at any rate, want +to smoke a tranquil cigar after his day's work. The Duchess therefore +left the carriage, as did Mrs. Finn, and the Duke undertook to drive +the little girl back to the house. "He'll surely go against a tree," +said the Duchess. But,--as a fact,--the Duke did take himself and the +child home in safety. + +"And what do you think about it, Mr. Finn?" said her Grace. "I +suppose you and the Duke have been settling what is to be done." + +"We have certainly settled nothing." + +"Then you must have disagreed." + +"That we as certainly have not done. We have in truth not once been +out of cloud-land." + +"Ah;--then there is no hope. When once grown-up politicians get into +cloud-land it is because the realities of the world have no longer +any charm for them." + +The big box did not contain the resignations of any of the +objectionable members of the Coalition. Ministers do not often resign +in September,--nor would it be expedient that they should do so. Lord +Drummond and Sir Timothy were safe, at any rate, till next February, +and might live without any show either of obedience or mutiny. +The Duke remained in comparative quiet at Matching. There was not +very much to do, except to prepare the work for the next Session. +The great work of the coming year was to be the assimilation, or +something very near to the assimilation, of the county suffrages +with those of the boroughs. The measure was one which had now been +promised by statesmen for the last two years,--promised at first with +that half promise which would mean nothing, were it not that such +promises always lead to more defined assurances. The Duke of St. +Bungay, Lord Drummond, and other Ministers had wished to stave it +off. Mr. Monk was eager for its adoption, and was of course supported +by Phineas Finn. The Prime Minister had at first been inclined to be +led by the old Duke. There was no doubt to him but that the measure +was desirable and would come, but there might well be a question +as to the time at which it should be made to come. The old Duke +knew that the measure would come,--but believing it to be wholly +undesirable, thought that he was doing good work in postponing it +from year to year. But Mr. Monk had become urgent, and the old Duke +had admitted the necessity. There must surely have been a shade of +melancholy on that old man's mind as, year after year, he assisted +in pulling down institutions which he in truth regarded as the +safeguards of the nation;--but which he knew that, as a Liberal, he +was bound to assist in destroying! It must have occurred to him, from +time to time, that it would be well for him to depart and be at peace +before everything was gone. + +When he went from Matching Mr. Monk took his place, and Phineas Finn, +who had gone up to London for a while, returned; and then the three +between them, with assistance from Mr. Warburton and others, worked +out the proposed scheme of the new county franchise, with the new +divisions and the new constituencies. But it could hardly have been +hearty work, as they all of them felt that whatever might be their +first proposition they would be beat upon it in a House of Commons +which thought that this Aristides had been long enough at the +Treasury. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIX + +Mrs. Parker's Fate + + +Lopez had now been dead more than five months, and not a word had +been heard by his widow of Mrs. Parker and her children. Her own +sorrows had been so great that she had hardly thought of those of the +poor woman who had come to her but a few days before her husband's +death, telling her of ruin caused by her husband's treachery. But +late on the evening before her departure for Herefordshire,--very +shortly after Everett had left the house,--there was a ring at +the door, and a poorly-clad female asked to see Mrs. Lopez. The +poorly-clad female was Sexty Parker's wife. The servant, who did not +remember her, would not leave her alone in the hall, having an eye to +the coats and umbrellas, but called up one of the maids to carry the +message. The poor woman understood the insult and resented it in her +heart. But Mrs. Lopez recognised the name in a moment, and went down +to her in the parlour, leaving Mr. Wharton upstairs. Mrs. Parker, +smarting from her present grievance, had bent her mind on complaining +at once of the treatment she had received from the servant, but the +sight of the widow's weeds quelled her. Emily had never been much +given to fine clothes, either as a girl or as a married woman; but +it had always been her husband's pleasure that she should be well +dressed,--though he had never carried his trouble so far as to pay +the bills; and Mrs. Parker's remembrance of her friend at Dovercourt +had been that of a fine lady in bright apparel. Now a black +shade,--something almost like a dark ghost,--glided into the room, +and Mrs. Parker forgot her recent injury. Emily came forward and +offered her hand, and was the first to speak. "I have had a great +sorrow since we met," she said. + +"Yes, indeed, Mrs. Lopez. I don't think there is anything left in the +world now except sorrow." + +"I hope Mr. Parker is well. Will you not sit down, Mrs. Parker?" + +"Thank you, ma'am. Indeed, then, he is not well at all. How should he +be well? Everything,--everything has been taken away from him." Poor +Emily groaned as she heard this. "I wouldn't say a word against them +as is gone, Mrs. Lopez, if I could help it. I know it is bad to bear +when him who once loved you isn't no more. And perhaps it is all the +worse when things didn't go well with him, and it was, maybe, his own +fault. I wouldn't do it, Mrs. Lopez, if I could help it." + +"Let me hear what you have to say," said Emily, determined to suffer +everything patiently. + +"Well;--it is just this. He has left us that bare that there is +nothing left. And that, they say, isn't the worst of all,--though +what can be worse than doing that, how is a woman to think? Parker +was that soft, and he had that way with him of talking, that he has +talked me and mine out of the very linen on our backs." + +"What do you mean by saying that that is not the worst?" + +"They've come upon Sexty for a bill for four hundred and +fifty,--something to do with that stuff they call Bios,--and Sexty +says it isn't his name at all. But he's been in that state he don't +hardly know how to swear to anything. But he's sure he didn't sign +it. The bill was brought to him by Lopez, and there was words between +them, and he wouldn't have nothing to do with it. How is he to go to +law? And it don't make much difference neither, for they can't take +much more from him than they have taken." Emily as she heard all +this sat shivering, trying to repress her groans. "Only," continued +Mrs. Parker, "they hadn't sold the furniture, and I was thinking +they might let me stay in the house, and try to do with letting +lodgings,--and now they're seizing everything along of this bill. +Sexty is like a madman, swearing this and swearing that;--but what +can he do, Mrs. Lopez? It's as like his hand as two peas; but he was +clever at everything was--was--you know who I mean, ma'am." Then +Emily covered her face with her hands and burst into violent tears. +She had not determined whether she did or did not believe this +last accusation made against her husband. She had had hardly time +to realise the criminality of the offence imputed. But she did +believe that the woman before her had been ruined by her husband's +speculations. "It's very bad, ma'am; isn't it?" said Mrs. Parker, +crying for company. "It's bad all round. If you had five children as +hadn't bread you'd know how it is that I feel. I've got to go back +by the 10.15 to-night, and when I've paid for a third-class ticket I +shan't have but twopence left in the world." + +This utter depth of immediate poverty, this want of bread for the +morrow and the next day, Emily could relieve out of her own pocket. +And, thinking of this and remembering that her purse was not with her +at the moment, she started up with the idea of getting it. But it +occurred to her that that would not suffice; that her duty required +more of her than that. And yet, by her own power, she could do no +more. From month to month, almost from week to week, since her +husband's death, her father had been called upon to satisfy claims +for money which he would not resist, lest by doing so he should add +to her misery. She had felt that she ought to bind herself to the +strictest personal economy because of the miserable losses to which +she had subjected him by her ill-starred marriage. "What would you +wish me to do?" she said, resuming her seat. + +"You are rich," said Mrs. Parker. Emily shook her head. "They say +your papa is rich. I thought you would not like to see me in want +like this." + +"Indeed, indeed, it makes me very unhappy." + +"Wouldn't your papa do something? It wasn't Sexty's fault nigh +so much as it was his. I wouldn't say it to you if it wasn't for +starving. I wouldn't say it to you if it wasn't for the children. +I'd lie in the ditch and die if it was only myself, because--because +I know what your feelings is. But what wouldn't you do, and what +wouldn't you say, if you had five children at home as hadn't a loaf +of bread among 'em?" Hereupon Emily got up and left the room, bidding +her visitor wait for a few minutes. Presently the offensive butler +came in, who had wronged Mrs. Parker by watching his master's coats, +and brought a tray with meat and wine. Mr. Wharton, said the altered +man, hoped that Mrs. Parker would take a little refreshment, and he +would be down himself very soon. Mrs. Parker, knowing that strength +for her journey home would be necessary to her, remembering that she +would have to walk all through the city to the Bishopsgate Street +station, did take some refreshment, and permitted herself to drink +the glass of sherry that her late enemy had benignantly poured out +for her. + +Emily had been nearly half-an-hour with her father before Mr. +Wharton's heavy step was heard upon the stairs. And when he reached +the dining-room door he paused a moment before he ventured to turn +the lock. He had not told Emily what he would do, and had hardly as +yet made up his own mind. As every fresh call was made upon him, his +hatred for the memory of the man who had stepped in and disturbed his +whole life, and turned all the mellow satisfaction of his evening +into storm and gloom, was of course increased. The scoundrel's +name was so odious to him that he could hardly keep himself from +shuddering visibly before his daughter even when the servants called +her by it. But yet he had determined that he would devote himself to +save her from further suffering. It had been her fault, no doubt. But +she was expiating it in very sackcloth and ashes, and he would add +nothing to the burden on her back. He would pay, and pay, and pay, +merely remembering that what he paid must be deducted from her share +of his property. He had never intended to make what is called an +elder son of Everett, and now there was less necessity than ever +that he should do so, as Everett had become an elder son in another +direction. He could satisfy almost any demand that might be made +without material injury to himself. But these demands, one after +another, scalded him by their frequency, and by the baseness of the +man who had occasioned them. His daughter had now repeated to him +with sobbings and wailings the whole story as it had been told to her +by the woman downstairs. "Papa," she had said, "I don't know how to +tell you or how not." Then he had encouraged her, and had listened +without saying a word. He had endeavoured not even to shrink as the +charge of forgery was repeated to him by his own child,--the widow +of the guilty man. He endeavoured not to remember at the moment that +she had claimed this wretch as the chosen one of her maiden heart, in +opposition to all his wishes. It hardly occurred to him to disbelieve +the accusation. It was so probable! What was there to hinder the +man from forgery, if he could only make it believed that his victim +had signed the bill when intoxicated? He heard it all;--kissed his +daughter, and then went down to the dining-room. + +Mrs. Parker, when she saw him, got up, and curtsied low, and then sat +down again. Old Wharton looked at her from under his bushy eyebrows +before he spoke, and then sat opposite to her. "Madam," he said, +"this is a very sad story that I have heard." Mrs. Parker again rose, +again curtsied, and put her handkerchief to her face. "It is of no +use talking any more about it here." + +"No, sir," said Mrs. Parker. + +"I and my daughter leave town early to-morrow morning." + +"Indeed, sir. Mrs. Lopez didn't tell me." + +"My clerk will be in London, at No. 12, Stone Buildings, Lincoln's +Inn, till I come back. Do you think you can find the place? I have +written it there." + +"Yes, sir, I can find it," said Mrs. Parker, just raising herself +from her chair at every word she spoke. + +"I have written his name, you see. Mr. Crumpy." + +"Yes, sir." + +"If you will permit me, I will give you two sovereigns now." + +"Thank you, sir." + +"And if you can make it convenient to call on Mr. Crumpy every +Thursday morning about twelve, he will pay you two sovereigns a week +till I come back to town. Then I will see about it." + +"God Almighty bless you, sir!" + +"And as to the furniture, I will write to my attorney, Mr. Walker. +You need not trouble yourself by going to him." + +"No, sir." + +"If necessary, he will send to you, and he will see what can be done. +Good night, Mrs. Parker." Then he walked across the room with two +sovereigns which he dropped in her hand. Mrs. Parker, with many sobs, +bade him farewell, and Mr. Wharton stood in the hall immovable till +the front door had been closed behind her. "I have settled it," he +said to Emily. "I'll tell you to-morrow, or some day. Don't worry +yourself now, but go to bed." She looked wistfully,--so sadly, up +into his face, and then did as he bade her. + +But Mr. Wharton could not go to bed without further trouble. It was +incumbent on him to write full particulars that very night both to +Mr. Walker and to Mr. Crumpy. And the odious letters in the writing +became very long;--odious because he had to confess in them over and +over again that his daughter, the very apple of his eye, had been the +wife of a scoundrel. To Mr. Walker he had to tell the whole story of +the alleged forgery, and in doing so could not abstain from the use +of hard words. "I don't suppose that it can be proved, but there is +every reason to believe that it's true." And again--"I believe the +man to have been as vile a scoundrel as ever was made by the love +of money." Even to Mr. Crumpy he could not be reticent. "She is an +object of pity," he said. "Her husband was ruined by the infamous +speculations of Mr. Lopez." Then he betook himself to bed. Oh, how +happy would he be to pay the two pounds weekly,--even to add to that +the amount of the forged bill, if by doing so he might be saved from +ever again hearing the name of Lopez. + +The amount of the bill was ultimately lost by the bankers who had +advanced money on it. As for Mrs. Sexty Parker, from week to week, +and from month to month, and at last from year to year, she and +her children,--and probably her husband also,--were supported by +the weekly pension of two sovereigns which she always received on +Thursday morning from the hands of Mr. Crumpy himself. In a little +time the one excitement of her life was the weekly journey to Mr. +Crumpy, whom she came to regard as a man appointed by Providence +to supply her with 40s. on Thursday morning. As to poor Sexty +Parker,--it is to be feared that he never again became a prosperous +man. + +"You will tell me what you did for that poor woman, papa," said +Emily, leaning over her father in the train. + +"I have settled it, my dear." + +"You said you'd tell me." + +"Crumpy will pay her two pounds a week till we know more about it." +Emily pressed her father's hand and that was an end. No one ever did +know any more about it, and Crumpy continued to pay the money. + + + + +CHAPTER LXX + +At Wharton + + +When Mr. Wharton and his daughter reached Wharton Hall there were at +any rate no Fletchers there as yet. Emily, as she was driven from +the station to the house, had not dared to ask a question or even to +prompt her father to do so. He would probably have told her that on +such an occasion there was but little chance that she would find any +visitors, and none at all that she would find Arthur Fletcher. But +she was too confused and too ill at ease to think of probabilities, +and to the last was in trepidation, specially lest she should meet +her lover. She found, however, at Wharton Hall none but Whartons, +and she found also to her great relief that this change in the heir +relieved her of much of the attention which must otherwise have added +to her troubles. At the first glance her dress and demeanour struck +them so forcibly that they could not avoid showing their feeling. Of +course they had expected to see her in black,--had expected to see +her in widow's weeds. But, with her, her very face and limbs had so +adapted themselves to her crape, that she looked like a monument of +bereaved woe. Lady Wharton took the mourner up into her own room, and +there made her a little speech. "We have all wept for you," she said, +"and grieve for you still. But excessive grief is wicked, especially +in the young. We will do our best to make you happy, and hope we +shall succeed. All this about dear Everett ought to be a comfort to +you." Emily promised that she would do her best, not, however, taking +much immediate comfort from the prospects of dear Everett. Lady +Wharton certainly had never in her life spoken of dear Everett while +the wicked cousin was alive. Then Mary Wharton also made her little +speech. "Dear Emily, I will do all that I can. Pray try to believe in +me." But Everett was so much the hero of the hour, that there was not +much room for general attention to any one else. + +There was very much room for triumph in regard to Everett. It had +already been ascertained that the Wharton who was now dead had had +a child,--but that the child was a daughter. Oh,--what salvation or +destruction there may be to an English gentleman in the sex of an +infant! This poor baby was now little better than a beggar brat, +unless the relatives who were utterly disregardful of its fate, +should choose, in their charity, to make some small allowance for +its maintenance. Had it by chance been a boy, Everett Wharton would +have been nobody; and the child, rescued from the iniquities of his +parents, would have been nursed in the best bedroom of Wharton Hall, +and cherished with the warmest kisses, and would have been the centre +of all the hopes of all the Whartons. But the Wharton lawyer by use +of reckless telegrams had certified himself that the infant was a +girl, and Everett was the hero of the day. He found himself to be +possessed of a thousand graces, even in his father's eyesight. It +seemed to be taken as a mark of his special good fortune that he had +not clung to any business. To have been a banker immersed in the +making of money, or even a lawyer attached to his circuit and his +court, would have lessened his fitness, or at any rate his readiness, +for the duties which he would have to perform. He would never be a +very rich man, but he would have a command of ready money, and of +course he would go into Parliament. + +In his new position as,--not quite head of his family, but head +expectant,--it seemed to him to be his duty to lecture his sister. +It might be well that some one should lecture her with more severity +than her father used. Undoubtedly she was succumbing to the +wretchedness of her position in a manner that was repugnant to +humanity generally. There is no power so useful to man as that +capacity of recovering himself after a fall, which belongs especially +to those who possess a healthy mind in a healthy body. It is not rare +to see one,--generally a woman,--whom a sorrow gradually kills; and +there are those among us, who hardly perhaps envy, but certainly +admire, a spirit so delicate as to be snuffed out by a woe. But it +is the weakness of the heart rather than the strength of the feeling +which has in such cases most often produced the destruction. Some +endurance of fibre has been wanting, which power of endurance is a +noble attribute. Everett Wharton saw something of this, and being, +now, the heir apparent of the family, took his sister to task. +"Emily," he said, "you make us all unhappy when we look at you." + +"Do I?" she said. "I am sorry for that;--but why should you look at +me?" + +"Because you are one of us. Of course we cannot shake you +off. We would not if we could. We have all been very unhappy +because,--because of what has happened. But don't you think you ought +to make some sacrifice to us,--to our father, I mean, and to Sir +Alured and Lady Wharton? When you go on weeping, other people have to +weep too. I have an idea that people ought to be happy if it be only +for the sake of their neighbours." + +"What am I to do, Everett?" + +"Talk to people a little, and smile sometimes. Move about quicker. +Don't look when you come into a room as if you were consecrating it +to tears. And, if I may venture to say so, drop something of the +heaviness of your mourning." + +"Do you mean that I am a hypocrite?" + +"No;--I mean nothing of the kind. You know I don't. But you may exert +yourself for the benefit of others without being untrue to your own +memories. I am sure you know what I mean. Make a struggle and see if +you cannot do something." + +She did make a struggle, and she did do something. No one, not well +versed in the mysteries of feminine dress, could say very accurately +what it was that she had done; but every one felt that something of +the weight was reduced. At first, as her brother's words came upon +her ear, and as she felt the blows which they inflicted on her, she +accused him in her heart of cruelty. They were very hard to bear. +There was a moment in which she was almost tempted to turn upon him +and tell him that he knew nothing of her sorrows. But she restrained +herself, and when she was alone she acknowledged to herself that he +had spoken the truth. No one has a right to go about the world as +a Niobe, damping all joys with selfish tears. What did she not owe +to her father, who had warned her so often against the evil she had +contemplated, and had then, from the first moment after the fault was +done, forgiven her the doing of it? She had at any rate learned from +her misfortunes the infinite tenderness of his heart, which in the +days of their unalloyed prosperity he had never felt the necessity of +exposing to her. So she struggled and did do something. She pressed +Lady Wharton's hand, and kissed her cousin Mary, and throwing herself +into her father's arms when they were alone, whispered to him that +she would try. "What you told me, Everett, was quite right," she said +afterwards to her brother. + +"I didn't mean to be savage," he answered with a smile. + +"It was quite right, and I have thought of it, and I will do my best. +I will keep it to myself if I can. It is not quite, perhaps, what you +think it is, but I will keep it to myself." She fancied that they +did not understand her, and perhaps she was right. It was not only +that he had died and left her a young widow;--nor even that his end +had been so harsh a tragedy and so foul a disgrace! It was not only +that her love had been misbestowed,--not only that she had made so +grievous an error in the one great act of her life which she had +chosen to perform on her own judgment! Perhaps the most crushing +memory of all was that which told her that she, who had through all +her youth been regarded as a bright star in the family, had been the +one person to bring a reproach upon the name of all these people who +were so good to her. How shall a person conscious of disgrace, with +a mind capable of feeling the crushing weight of personal disgrace, +move and look and speak as though that disgrace had been washed away? +But she made the struggle, and did not altogether fail. + +As regarded Sir Alured, in spite of this poor widow's crape, he was +very happy at this time, and his joy did in some degree communicate +itself to the old barrister. Everett was taken round to every tenant +and introduced as the heir. Mr. Wharton had already declared his +purpose of abdicating any possible possession of the property. Should +he outlive Sir Alured he must be the baronet; but when that sad event +should take place, whether Mr. Wharton should then be alive or no, +Everett should at once be the possessor of Wharton Hall. Sir Alured, +under these circumstances, discussed his own death with extreme +satisfaction, and insisted on having it discussed by the others. +That he should have gone and left everything at the mercy of the +spendthrift had been terrible to his old heart;--but now, the man +coming to the property would have L60,000 with which to support and +foster Wharton, with which to mend, as it were, the crevices, and +stop up the holes of the estate. He seemed to be almost impatient for +Everett's ownership, giving many hints as to what should be done when +he himself was gone. He must surely have thought that he would return +to Wharton as a spirit, and take a ghostly share in the prosperity of +the farms. "You will find John Griffith a very good man," said the +baronet. John Griffith had been a tenant on the estate for the last +half-century, and was an older man than his landlord; but the baronet +spoke of all this as though he himself were about to leave Wharton +for ever in the course of the next week. "John Griffith has been a +good man, and if not always quite ready with his rent, has never been +much behind. You won't be hard on John Griffith?" + +"I hope I mayn't have the opportunity, sir." + +"Well;--well;--well; that's as may be. But I don't quite know what +to say about young John. The farm has gone from father to son, and +there's never been a word of a lease." + +"Is there anything wrong about the young man?" + +"He's a little given to poaching." + +"Oh dear!" + +"I've always got him off for his father's sake. They say he's going +to marry Sally Jones. That may take it out of him. I do like the +farms to go from father to son, Everett. It's the way that everything +should go. Of course there's no right." + +"Nothing of that kind, I suppose," said Everett, who was in his way a +reformer, and had Radical notions with which he would not for worlds +have disturbed the baronet at present. + +"No;--nothing of that kind. God in his mercy forbid that a landlord +in England should ever be robbed after that fashion." Sir Alured, +when he was uttering this prayer, was thinking of what he had heard +of an Irish Land Bill, the details of which, however, had been +altogether incomprehensible to him. "But I have a feeling about it, +Everett; and I hope you will share it. It is good that things should +go from father to son. I never make a promise; but the tenants know +what I think about it, and then the father works for the son. Why +should he work for a stranger? Sally Jones is a very good young +woman, and perhaps young John will do better." There was not a field +or a fence that he did not show to his heir;--hardly a tree which he +left without a word. "That bit of woodland coming in there,--they +call it Barnton Spinnies,--doesn't belong to the estate at all." This +he said in a melancholy tone. + +"Doesn't it, really?" + +"And it comes right in between Lane's farm and Puddock's. They've +always let me have the shooting as a compliment. Not that there's +ever anything in it. It's only seven acres. But I like the civility." + +"Who does it belong to?" + +"It belongs to Benet." + +"What; Corpus Christi?" + +"Yes, yes;--they've changed the name. It used to be Benet in my days. +Walker says the College would certainly sell, but you'd have to pay +for the land and the wood separately. I don't know that you'd get +much out of it; but it's very unsightly,--on the survey map, I mean." + +"We'll buy it, by all means," said Everett, who was already jingling +his L60,000 in his pocket. + +"I never had the money, but I think it should be bought." And Sir +Alured rejoiced in the idea that when his ghost should look at the +survey map, that hiatus of Barnton Spinnies would not trouble his +spectral eyes. + +In this way months ran on at Wharton. Our Whartons had come down +in the latter half of August, and at the beginning of September Mr. +Wharton returned to London. Everett, of course, remained, as he +was still learning the lesson of which he was in truth becoming a +little weary; and at last Emily had also been persuaded to stay in +Herefordshire. Her father promised to return, not mentioning any +precise time, but giving her to understand that he would come before +the winter. He went, and probably found that his taste for the Eldon +and for whist had returned to him. In the middle of November old Mrs. +Fletcher arrived. Emily was not aware of what was being done; but, +in truth, the Fletchers and Whartons combined were conspiring with +the view of bringing her back to her former self. Mrs. Fletcher had +not yielded without some difficulty,--for it was a part of this +conspiracy that Arthur was to be allowed to marry the widow. But John +had prevailed. "He'll do it any way, mother," he had said, "whether +you and I like it or not. And why on earth shouldn't he do as he +pleases?" + +"Think what the man was, John!" + +"It's more to the purpose to think what the woman is. Arthur has made +up his mind, and, if I know him, he's not the man to be talked out of +it." And so the old woman had given in, and had at last consented to +go forward as the advanced guard of the Fletchers, and lay siege to +the affections of the woman whom she had once so thoroughly discarded +from her heart. + +"My dear," she said, when they first met, "if there has been anything +wrong between you and me, let it be among the things that are past. +You always used to kiss me. Give me a kiss now." Of course Emily +kissed her; and after that Mrs. Fletcher patted her and petted her, +and gave her lozenges, which she declared in private to be "the +sovereignest thing on earth" for debilitated nerves. And then it came +out by degrees that John Fletcher and his wife and all the little +Fletchers were coming to Wharton for the Christmas weeks. Everett had +gone, but was also to be back for Christmas, and Mr. Wharton's visit +was also postponed. It was absolutely necessary that Everett should +be at Wharton for the Christmas festivities, and expedient that +Everett's father should be there to see them. In this way Emily had +no means of escape. Her father wrote telling her of his plans, saying +that he would bring her back after Christmas. Everett's heirship +had made these Christmas festivities,--which were, however, to be +confined to the two families,--quite a necessity. In all this not a +word was said about Arthur, nor did she dare to ask whether he was +expected. The younger Mrs. Fletcher, John's wife, opened her arms +to the widow in a manner that almost plainly said that she regarded +Emily as her future sister-in-law. John Fletcher talked to her about +Longbarns, and the children,--complete Fletcher talk,--as though she +were already one of them, never, however, mentioning Arthur's name. +The old lady got down a fresh supply of the lozenges from London +because those she had by her might perhaps be a little stale. And +then there was another sign which after a while became plain to +Emily. No one in either family ever mentioned her name. It was +not singular that none of them should call her Mrs. Lopez, as she +was Emily to all of them. But they never so described her even in +speaking to the servants. And the servants themselves, as far as was +possible, avoided the odious word. The thing was to be buried, if not +in oblivion, yet in some speechless grave. And it seemed that her +father was joined in this attempt. When writing to her he usually +made some excuse for writing also to Everett, or, in Everett's +absence, to the baronet,--so that the letter for his daughter might +be enclosed and addressed simply to "Emily". + +She understood it all, and though she was moved to continual solitary +tears by this ineffable tenderness, yet she rebelled against them. +They should never cheat her back into happiness by such wiles as +that! It was not fit that she should yield to them. As a woman +utterly disgraced it could not become her again to laugh and be +joyful, to give and take loving embraces, to sit and smile, perhaps +a happy mother, at another man's hearth. For their love she was +grateful. For his love she was more than grateful. How constant must +be his heart, how grand his nature, how more than manly his strength +of character, when he was thus true to her through all the evil she +had done! Love him! Yes;--she would pray for him, worship him, fill +the remainder of her days with thinking of him, hoping for him, and +making his interests her own. Should he ever be married,--and she +would pray that he might,--his wife, if possible, should be her +friend, his children should be her darlings; and he should always be +her hero. But they should not, with all their schemes, cheat her into +disgracing him by marrying him. + +At last her father came, and it was he who told her that Arthur +was expected on the day before Christmas. "Why did you not tell me +before, papa, so that I might have asked you to take me away?" + +"Because I thought, my dear, that it was better that you should be +constrained to meet him. You would not wish to live all your life in +terror of seeing Arthur Fletcher?" + +"Not all my life." + +"Take the plunge and it will be over. They have all been very good to +you." + +"Too good, papa. I didn't want it." + +"They are our oldest friends. There isn't a young man in England I +think so highly of as John Fletcher. When I am gone, where are you to +look for friends?" + +"I'm not ungrateful, papa." + +"You can't know them all, and yet keep yourself altogether separated +from Arthur. Think what it would be to me never to be able to ask him +to the house. He is the only one of the family that lives in London, +and now it seems that Everett will spend most of his time down here. +Of course it is better that you should meet him and have done with +it." There was no answer to be made to this, but still she was fixed +in her resolution that she would never meet him as her lover. + +Then came the morning of the day on which he was to arrive, and his +coming was for the first time spoken openly of at breakfast. "How is +Arthur to be brought from the station?" asked old Mrs. Fletcher. + +"I'm going to take the dog-cart," said Everett. "Giles will go for +the luggage with the pony. He is bringing down a lot of things;--a +new saddle, and a gun for me." It had all been arranged for her, this +question and answer, and Emily blushed as she felt that it was so. + +"We shall be so glad to see Arthur," said young Mrs. Fletcher to her. + +"Of course you will." + +"He has not been down since the Session was over, and he has got to +be quite a speaking man now. I do so hope he'll become something some +day." + +"I'm sure he will," said Emily. + +"Not a judge, however. I hate wigs. Perhaps he might be Lord +Chancellor in time." Mrs. Fletcher was not more ignorant than some +other ladies in being unaware of the Lord Chancellor's wig and exact +position. + +At last he came. The 9 A.M. express for Hereford,--express, at least, +for the first two or three hours out of London,--brought passengers +for Wharton to the nearest station at 3 P.M., and the distance was +not above five miles. Before four o'clock Arthur was standing before +the drawing-room fire, with a cup of tea in his hand, surrounded by +Fletchers and Whartons, and being made much of as the young family +member of Parliament. But Emily was not in the room. She had studied +her Bradshaw, and learned the hours of the trains, and was now in her +bedroom. He had looked around the moment he entered the room, but had +not dared to ask for her suddenly. He had said one word about her to +Everett in the cart, and that had been all. She was in the house, and +he must, at any rate, see her before dinner. + +Emily, in order that she might not seem to escape abruptly, had +retired early to her solitude. But she, too, knew that the meeting +could not be long postponed. She sat thinking of it all, and at +last heard the wheels of the vehicle before the door. She paused, +listening with all her ears, that she might recognise his voice, or +possibly his footstep. She stood near the window, behind the curtain, +with her hand pressed to her heart. She heard Everett's voice plainly +as he gave some direction to the groom, but from Arthur she heard +nothing. Yet she was sure that he was come. The very manner of the +approach and her brother's word made her certain that there had been +no disappointment. She stood thinking for a quarter of an hour, +making up her mind how best they might meet. Then suddenly, with slow +but certain step, she walked down into the drawing-room. + +No one expected her then, or something perhaps might have been done +to encourage her coming. It had been thought that she must meet him +before dinner, and her absence till then was to be excused. But now +she opened the door, and with much dignity of mien walked into the +middle of the room. Arthur at that moment was discussing the Duke's +chance for the next Session, and Sir Alured was asking with rapture +whether the old Conservative party would not come in. Arthur Fletcher +heard the step, turned round, and saw the woman he loved. He went at +once to meet her, very quickly, and put out both his hands. She gave +him hers, of course. There was no excuse for her refusal. He stood +for an instant pressing them, looking eagerly into her sad face, and +then he spoke. "God bless you, Emily!" he said, "God bless you!" He +had thought of no words, and at the moment nothing else occurred to +him to be said. The colour had covered all his face, and his heart +beat so strongly that he was hardly his own master. She let him hold +her two hands, perhaps for a minute, and then, bursting into tears, +tore herself from him, and, hurrying out of the room, made her way +again into her own chamber. "It will be better so," said old Mrs. +Fletcher. "It will be better so. Do not let any one follow her." + +On that day John Fletcher took her out to dinner, and Arthur did not +sit near her. In the evening he came to her as she was working close +to his mother, and seated himself on a low chair close to her knees. +"We are all so glad to see you; are we not, mother?" + +"Yes, indeed," said Mrs. Fletcher. Then, after a while, the old woman +got up to make a rubber at whist with the two old men and her eldest +son, leaving Arthur sitting at the widow's knee. She would willingly +have escaped, but it was impossible that she should move. + +"You need not be afraid of me," he said, not whispering, but in a +voice which no one else could hear. "Do not seem to avoid me, and I +will say nothing to trouble you. I think that you must wish that we +should be friends." + +"Oh, yes." + +"Come out, then, to-morrow, when we are walking. In that way we shall +get used to each other. You are troubled now, and I will go." Then +he left her, and she felt herself to be bound to him by infinite +gratitude. + +A week went on and she had become used to his company. A week passed +and he had spoken no word to her that a brother might not have +spoken. They had walked together when no one else had been within +hearing, and yet he had spared her. She had begun to think that he +would spare her altogether, and she was certainly grateful. Might +it not be that she had misunderstood him, and had misunderstood the +meaning of them all? Might it not be that she had troubled herself +with false anticipations? Surely it was so; for how could it be that +such a man should wish to make such a woman his wife? + +"Well, Arthur?" said his brother to him one day. + +"I have nothing to say about it," said Arthur. + +"You haven't changed your mind?" + +"Never! Upon my word, to me, in that dress, she is more beautiful +than ever." + +"I wish you would make her take it off." + +"I dare not ask her yet." + +"You know what they say about widows generally, my boy." + +"That is all very well when one talks about widows in general. It +is easy to chaff about women when one hasn't got any woman in one's +mind. But as it is now, having her here, loving her as I do,--by +heaven! I cannot hurry her. I don't dare to speak to her after that +fashion. I shall do it in time, I suppose;--but I must wait till the +time comes." + + + + +CHAPTER LXXI + +The Ladies at Longbarns Doubt + + +It came at last to be decided among them that when old Mr. Wharton +returned to town,--and he had now been at Wharton longer than he had +ever been known to remain there before,--Emily should still remain in +Herefordshire, and that at some period not then fixed she should go +for a month to Longbarns. There were various reasons which induced +her to consent to this change of plans. In the first place she found +herself to be infinitely more comfortable in the country than in +town. She could go out and move about and bestir herself, whereas in +Manchester Square she could only sit and mope at home. Her father had +assured her that he thought that it would be better that she should +be away from the reminiscences of the house in town. And then when +the first week of February was past Arthur would be up in town, and +she would be far away from him at Longbarns, whereas in London she +would be close within his reach. Many little schemes were laid and +struggles made both by herself and the others before at last their +plans were settled. Mr. Wharton was to return to London in the middle +of January. It was quite impossible that he could remain longer away +either from Stone Buildings or from the Eldon, and then at the same +time, or a day or two following, Mrs. Fletcher was to go back to +Longbarns. John Fletcher and his wife and children were already +gone,--and Arthur also had been at Longbarns. The two brothers and +Everett had been backwards and forwards. Emily was anxious to remain +at Wharton at any rate till Parliament should have met, so that she +might not be at home with Arthur in his own house. But matters would +not arrange themselves exactly as she wished. It was at last settled +that she should go to Longbarns with Mary Wharton under the charge +of John Fletcher in the first week in February. As arrangements were +already in progress for the purchase of Barnton Spinnies, Sir Alured +could not possibly leave his own house. Not to have walked through +the wood on the first day that it became a part of the Wharton +property would to him have been treason to the estate. His experience +ought to have told him that there was no chance of a lawyer and a +college dealing together with such rapidity; but in the present state +of things he could not bear to absent himself. Orders had already +been given for the cutting down of certain trees which could not have +been touched had the reprobate lived, and it was indispensable that +if a tree fell at Wharton he should see the fall. It thus came to +pass that there was a week during which Emily would be forced to live +under the roof of the Fletchers together with Arthur Fletcher. + +The week came and she was absolutely received by Arthur at the door +of Longbarns. She had not been at the house since it had first been +intimated to the Fletchers that she was disposed to receive with +favour the addresses of Ferdinand Lopez. As she remembered this it +seemed to her to be an age ago since that man had induced her to +believe that of all men she had ever met he was the nearest to a +hero. She never spoke of him now, but of course her thoughts of +him were never ending,--as also of herself in that she had allowed +herself to be so deceived. She would recall to her mind with bitter +inward sobbings all those lessons of iniquity which he had striven +to teach her, and which had first opened her eyes to his true +character,--how sedulously he had endeavoured to persuade her that +it was her duty to rob her father on his behalf, how continually he +had endeavoured to make her think that appearance in the world was +everything, and that, being in truth poor adventurers, it behoved +them to cheat the world into thinking them rich and respectable. +Every hint that had been so given had been a wound to her, and those +wounds were all now remembered. Though since his death she had never +allowed a word to be spoken in her presence against him, she could +not but hate his memory. How glorious was that other man in her +eyes, as he stood there at the door welcoming her to Longbarns, +fair-haired, open-eyed, with bronzed brow and cheek, and surely the +honestest face that a loving woman ever loved to gaze on. During the +various lessons she had learned in her married life, she had become +gradually but surely aware that the face of that other man had been +dishonest. She had learned the false meaning of every glance of his +eyes, the subtlety of his mouth, the counterfeit manoeuvres of +his body,--the deceit even of his dress. He had been all a lie from +head to foot; and he had thrown her love aside as useless when she +also would not be a liar. And here was this man,--spotless in her +estimation, compounded of all good qualities, which she could now see +and take at their proper value. She hated herself for the simplicity +with which she had been cheated by soft words and a false demeanour +into so great a sacrifice. + +Life at Longbarns was very quiet during the days which she passed +there before he left them. She was frequently alone with him, but he, +if he still loved her, did not speak of his love. He explained it +all one day to his mother. "If it is to be," said the old lady, "I +don't see the use of more delay. Of course the marriage ought not to +be till March twelvemonths. But if it is understood that it is to +be, she might alter her dress by degrees,--and alter her manner of +living. Those things should always be done by degrees. I think it had +better be settled, Arthur, if it is to be settled." + +"I am afraid, mother." + +"Dear me! I didn't think you were the man ever to be afraid of a +woman. What can she say to you?" + +"Refuse me." + +"Then you'd better know it at once. But I don't think she'll be fool +enough for that." + +"Perhaps you hardly understand her, mother." + +Mrs. Fletcher shook her head with a look of considerable annoyance. +"Perhaps not. But, to tell the truth, I don't like young women whom I +can't understand. Young women shouldn't be mysterious. I like people +of whom I can give a pretty good guess what they'll do. I'm sure I +never could have guessed that she would have married that man." + +"If you love me, mother, do not let that be mentioned between us +again. When I said that you did not understand her, I did not mean +that she was mysterious. I think that before he died, and since his +death, she learned of what sort that man was. I will not say that she +hates his memory, but she hates herself for what she has done." + +"So she ought," said Mrs. Fletcher. + +"She has not yet brought herself to think that her life should be +anything but one long period of mourning, not for him, but for her +own mistake. You may be quite sure that I am in earnest. It is not +because I doubt of myself that I put it off. But I fear that if once +she asserts to me her resolution to remain as she is, she will feel +herself bound to keep her word." + +"I suppose she is very much the same as other women, after all, my +dear," said Mrs. Fletcher, who was almost jealous of the peculiar +superiority of sentiment which her son seemed to attribute to this +woman. + +"Circumstances, mother, make people different," he replied. + +"So you are going without having anything fixed," his elder brother +said to him the day before he started. + +"Yes, old fellow. It seems to be rather slack;--doesn't it?" + +"I dare say you know best what you're about. But if you have set your +mind on it--" + +"You may take your oath on that." + +"Then I don't see why one word shouldn't put it all right. There +never is any place so good for that kind of thing as a country +house." + +"I don't think that with her it will make much difference where the +house is, or what the circumstances." + +"She knows what you mean as well as I do." + +"I dare say she does, John. She must have a very bad idea of me if +she doesn't. But she may know what I mean and not mean the same thing +herself." + +"How are you to know if you don't ask her?" + +"You may be sure that I shall ask her as soon as I can hope that my +doing so may give her more pleasure than pain. Remember, I have had +all this out with her father. I have determined that I will wait till +twelve months have passed since that wretched man perished." + +On that afternoon before dinner he was alone with her in the library +some minutes before they went up to dress for dinner. "I shall hardly +see you to-morrow," he said, "as I must leave this at half-past +eight. I breakfast at eight. I don't suppose any one will be down +except my mother." + +"I am generally as early as that. I will come down and see you +start." + +"I am so glad that you have been here, Emily." + +"So am I. Everybody has been so good to me." + +"It has been like old days,--almost." + +"It will never quite be like old days again, I think. But I have been +very glad to be here,--and at Wharton. I sometimes almost wish that I +were never going back to London again,--only for papa." + +"I like London myself." + +"You! Yes, of course you like London. You have everything in life +before you. You have things to do, and much to hope for. It is all +beginning for you, Arthur." + +"I am five years older than you are." + +"What does that matter? It seems to me that age does not go by years. +It is long since I have felt myself to be an old woman. But you are +quite young. Everybody is proud of you, and you ought to be happy." + +"I don't know," said he. "It is hard to say what makes a person +happy." He almost made up his mind to speak to her then; but he had +made up his mind before to put it off still for a little time, and he +would not allow himself to be changed on the spur of the moment. He +had thought of it much, and he had almost taught himself to think +that it would be better for herself that she should not accept +another man's love so soon. "I shall come and see you in town," he +said. + +"You must come and see papa. It seems that Everett is to be a great +deal at Wharton. I had better go up to dress now, or I shall be +keeping them waiting." He put out his hand to her, and wished her +good-bye, excusing himself by saying that they should not be alone +together again before he started. + +She saw him go on the next morning,--and then she almost felt herself +to be abandoned, almost deserted. It was a fine crisp winter day, dry +and fresh and clear, but with the frost still on the ground. After +breakfast she went out to walk by herself in the long shrubbery paths +which went round the house, and here she remained for above an hour. +She told herself that she was very thankful to him for not having +spoken to her on a subject so unfit for her ears as love. She +strengthened herself in her determination never again to listen to a +man willingly on that subject. She had made herself unfit to have any +dealings of that nature. It was not that she could not love. Oh, no! +She knew well enough that she did love,--love with all her heart. If +it were not that she were so torn to rags that she was not fit to be +worn again, she could now have thrown herself into his arms with a +whole heaven of joy before her. A woman, she told herself, had no +right to a second chance in life, after having made such a shipwreck +of herself in the first. But the danger of being seduced from her +judgment by Arthur Fletcher was all over. He had been near her for +the last week and had not spoken a word. He had been in the same +house with her for the last ten days and had been with her as a +brother might be with his sister. It was not only she who had +seen the propriety of this. He also had acknowledged it, and she +was--grateful to him. As she endeavoured in her solitude to express +her gratitude in spoken words the tears rolled down her cheeks. +She was glad, she told herself, very glad that it was so. How much +trouble and pain to both of them would thus be spared! And yet her +tears were bitter tears. It was better as it was;--and yet one word +of love would have been very sweet. She almost thought that she would +have liked to tell him that for his sake, for his dear sake, she +would refuse--that which now would never be offered to her. She was +quite clear as to the rectitude of her own judgment, clear as ever. +And yet her heart was heavy with disappointment. + +It was the end of March before she left Herefordshire for London, +having spent the greater part of the time at Longbarns. The ladies at +that place were moved by many doubts as to what would be the end of +all this. Mrs. Fletcher the elder at last almost taught herself to +believe that there would be no marriage, and having got back to that +belief, was again opposed to the idea of a marriage. Anything and +everything that Arthur wanted he ought to have. The old lady felt +no doubt as to that. When convinced that he did want to have this +widow,--this woman whose life had hitherto been so unfortunate,--she +had for his sake taken the woman again by the hand, and had assisted +in making her one of themselves. But how much better it would be that +Arthur should think better of it! It was the maddest constancy,--this +clinging to the widow of such a man as Ferdinand Lopez! If there were +any doubt, then she would be prepared to do all she could to prevent +the marriage. Emily had been forgiven, and the pardon bestowed must +of course be continued. But she might be pardoned without being made +Mrs. Arthur Fletcher. While Emily was still at Longbarns the old lady +almost talked over her daughter-in-law to this way of thinking,--till +John Fletcher put his foot upon it altogether. "I don't pretend to +say what she may do," he said. + +"Oh, John," said the mother, "to hear a man like you talk like that +is absurd. She'd jump at him if he looked at her with half an eye." + +"What she may do," he continued saying, without appearing to listen +to his mother, "I cannot say. But that he will ask her to be his wife +is as certain as that I stand here." + + + + +CHAPTER LXXII + +"He Thinks That Our Days Are Numbered" + + +All the details of the new County Suffrage Bill were settled at +Matching during the recess between Mr. Monk, Phineas Finn, and a +very experienced gentleman from the Treasury, one Mr. Prime, who was +supposed to know more about such things than any man living, and was +consequently called Constitution Charlie. He was an elderly man, over +sixty years of age, who remembered the first Reform Bill, and had +been engaged in the doctoring of constituencies ever since. The +Bill, if passed, would be mainly his Bill, and yet the world would +never hear his name as connected with it. Let us hope that he was +comfortable at Matching, and that he found his consolation in the +smiles of the Duchess. During this time the old Duke was away, and +even the Prime Minister was absent for some days. He would fain have +busied himself about the Bill himself, but was hardly allowed by his +colleagues to have any hand in framing it. The great points of the +measure had of course been arranged in the Cabinet,--where, however, +Mr. Monk's views had been adopted almost without a change. It may not +perhaps be too much to assume that one or two members of the Cabinet +did not quite understand the full scope of every suggested clause. +The effects which clauses will produce, the dangers which may be +expected from this or that change, the manner in which this or that +proposition will come out in the washing, do not strike even Cabinet +Ministers at a glance. A little study in a man's own cabinet, after +the reading perhaps of a few leading articles, and perhaps a short +conversation with an astute friend or two, will enable a statesman +to be strong at a given time for, or even, if necessary, against +a measure, who has listened in silence, and has perhaps given his +personal assent, to the original suggestion. I doubt whether Lord +Drummond, when he sat silent in the Cabinet, had realised those fears +which weighed upon him so strongly afterwards, or had then foreseen +that the adoption of a nearly similar franchise for the counties and +boroughs must inevitably lead to the American system of numerical +representation. But when time had been given him, and he and Sir +Timothy had talked it all over, the mind of no man was ever clearer +than that of Lord Drummond. + +The Prime Minister, with the diligence which belonged to him, had +mastered all the details of Mr. Monk's Bill before it was discussed +in the Cabinet, and yet he found that his assistance was hardly +needed in the absolute preparation. Had they allowed him he would +have done it all himself. But it was assumed that he would not +trouble himself with such work, and he perceived that he was not +wanted. Nothing of moment was settled without a reference to him. He +required that everything should be explained as it went on, down to +the extension of every borough boundary; but he knew that he was not +doing it himself, and that Mr. Monk and Constitution Charlie had the +prize between them. + +Nor did he dare to ask Mr. Monk what would be the fate of the Bill. +To devote all one's time and mind and industry to a measure which +one knows will fall to the ground must be sad. Work under such +circumstances must be very grievous. But such is often the fate of +statesmen. Whether Mr. Monk laboured under such a conviction the +Prime Minister did not know, though he saw his friend and colleague +almost daily. In truth no one dared to tell him exactly what he +thought. Even the old Duke had become partially reticent, and taken +himself off to his own woods at Long Royston. To Phineas Finn the +Prime Minister would sometimes say a word, but would say even +that timidly. On any abstract question, such as that which he had +discussed when they had been walking together, he could talk freely +enough. But on the matter of the day, those affairs which were of +infinite importance to himself, and on which one would suppose he +would take delight in speaking to a trusted colleague, he could not +bring himself to be open. "It must be a long Bill, I suppose?" he +said to Phineas one day. + +"I'm afraid so, Duke. It will run, I fear, to over a hundred +clauses." + +"It will take you the best part of the Session to get through it?" + +"If we can have the second reading early in March, we hope to send it +up to you in the first week in June. That will give us ample time." + +"Yes;--yes. I suppose so." But he did not dare to ask Phineas Finn +whether he thought that the House of Commons would assent to the +second reading. It was known at this time that the Prime Minister was +painfully anxious as to the fate of the Ministry. It seemed to be but +the other day that everybody connected with the Government was living +in fear lest he should resign. His threats in that direction had +always been made to his old friend the Duke of St. Bungay; but a +great man cannot whisper his thoughts without having them carried in +the air. In all the clubs it had been declared that that was the rock +by which the Coalition would probably be wrecked. The newspapers had +repeated the story, and the "People's Banner" had assured the world +that if it were so the Duke of Omnium would thus do for his country +the only good service which it was possible that he should render it. +That was at the time when Sir Orlando was mutinous and when Lopez had +destroyed himself. But now no such threat came from the Duke, and +the "People's Banner" was already accusing him of clinging to power +with pertinacious and unconstitutional tenacity. Had not Sir Orlando +deserted him? Was it not well known that Lord Drummond and Sir +Timothy Beeswax were only restrained from doing so by a mistaken +loyalty? + +Everybody came up to town, Mr. Monk having his Bill in his pocket, +and the Queen's speech was read, promising the County Suffrage Bill. +The address was voted with a very few words from either side. The +battle was not to be fought then. Indeed, the state of things was +so abnormal that there could hardly be said to be any sides in the +House. A stranger in the gallery, not knowing the condition of +affairs, would have thought that no minister had for many years +commanded so large a majority, as the crowd of members was always on +the Government side of the House; but the opposition which Mr. Monk +expected would, he knew, come from those who sat around him, behind +him, and even at his very elbow. About a week after Parliament met +the Bill was read for the first time, and the second reading was +appointed for an early day in March. + +The Duke had suggested to Mr. Monk the expedience of some further +delay, giving as his reason the necessity of getting through certain +routine work, should the rejection of the Bill create the confusion +of a resignation. No one who knew the Duke could ever suspect him of +giving a false reason. But it seemed that in this the Prime Minister +was allowing himself to be harassed by fears of the future. Mr. Monk +thought that any delay would be injurious and open to suspicion +after what had been said and done, and was urgent in his arguments. +The Duke gave way, but he did so almost sullenly, signifying his +acquiescence with haughty silence. "I am sorry," said Mr. Monk, +"to differ from your Grace, but my opinion in the matter is so +strong that I do not dare to abstain from expressing it." The Duke +bowed again and smiled. He had intended that the smile should be +acquiescent, but it had been as cold as steel. He knew that he was +misbehaving, but was not sufficiently master of his own manner to be +gracious. He told himself on the spot,--though he was quite wrong in +so telling himself,--that he had now made an enemy also of Mr. Monk, +and through Mr. Monk of Phineas Finn. And now he felt that he had no +friend left in whom to trust,--for the old Duke had become cold and +indifferent. The old Duke, he thought, was tired of his work and +anxious for rest. It was the old Duke who had brought him into this +hornets' nest; had fixed upon his back the unwilling load; had +compelled him to assume the place which now to lose would be a +disgrace,--and the old Duke was now deserting him! He was sore +all over, angry with every one, ungracious even with his private +Secretary and his wife,--and especially miserable because he was +thoroughly aware of his own faults. And yet, through it all, there +was present to him a desire to fight on to the very last. Let his +colleagues do what they might, and say what they might, he would +remain Prime Minister of England as long as he was supported by a +majority of the House of Commons. + +"I do not know any greater step than this," Phineas said to him +pleasantly one day, speaking of their new measure, "towards that +millennium of which we were talking at Matching, if we can only +accomplish it." + +"Those moral speculations, Mr. Finn," he said, "will hardly bear the +wear and tear of real life." The words of the answer, combined with +the manner in which they were spoken, were stern and almost uncivil. +Phineas, at any rate, had done nothing to offend him. The Duke +paused, trying to find some expression by which he might correct the +injury he had done; but, not finding any, passed on without further +speech. Phineas shrugged his shoulders and went his way, telling +himself that he had received one further injunction not to put his +trust in princes. + +"We shall be beaten, certainly," said Mr. Monk to Phineas, not long +afterwards. + +"What makes you so sure?" + +"I smell it in the air. I see it in men's faces." + +"And yet it's a moderate Bill. They'll have to pass something +stronger before long if they throw it out now." + +"It's not the Bill that they'll reject, but us. We have served our +turn, and we ought to go." + +"The House is tired of the Duke?" + +"The Duke is so good a man that I hardly like to admit even +that;--but I fear it is so. He is fretful and he makes enemies." + +"I sometimes think that he is ill." + +"He is ill at ease and sick at heart. He cannot hide his chagrin, and +then is doubly wretched because he has betrayed it. I do not know +that I ever respected and, at the same time, pitied a man more +thoroughly." + +"He snubbed me awfully yesterday," said Phineas, laughing. + +"He cannot help himself. He snubs me at every word that he speaks, +and yet I believe that he is most anxious to be civil to me. His +ministry has been of great service to the country. For myself, I +shall never regret having joined it. But I think that to him it has +been a continual sorrow." + +The system on which the Duchess had commenced her career as wife of +the Prime Minister had now been completely abandoned. In the first +place, she had herself become so weary of it that she had been unable +to continue the exertion. She had, too, become in some degree ashamed +of her failures. The names of Major Pountney and Mr. Lopez were not +now pleasant to her ears, nor did she look back with satisfaction on +the courtesies she had lavished on Sir Orlando or the smiles she had +given to Sir Timothy Beeswax. "I've known a good many vulgar people +in my time," she said one day to Mrs. Finn, "but none ever so vulgar +as our ministerial supporters. You don't remember Mr. Bott, my dear. +He was before your time;--one of the arithmetical men, and a great +friend of Plantagenet's. He was very bad, but there have come up +worse since him. Sometimes, I think, I like a little vulgarity for a +change; but, upon my honour, when we get rid of all this it will be a +pleasure to go back to ladies and gentlemen." This the Duchess said +in her extreme bitterness. + +"It seems to me that you have pretty well got rid of 'all this' +already." + +"But I haven't got anybody else in their place. I have almost made up +my mind not to ask any one into the house for the next twelve months. +I used to think that nothing would ever knock me up, but now I feel +that I'm almost done for. I hardly dare open my mouth to Plantagenet. +The Duke of St. Bungay has cut me. Mr. Monk looks as ominous as an +owl; and your husband hasn't a word to say left. Barrington Erle +hides his face and passes by when he sees me. Mr. Rattler did try to +comfort me the other day by saying that everything was at sixes and +sevens, and I really took it almost as a compliment to be spoken to. +Don't you think Plantagenet is ill?" + +"He is careworn." + +"A man may be worn by care till there comes to be nothing left of +him. But he never speaks of giving up now. The old Bishop of St. +Austell talks of resigning, and he has already made up his mind who +is to have the see. He used to consult the Duke about all these +things, but I don't think he ever consults any one now. He never +forgave the Duke about Lord Earlybird. Certainly, if a man wants to +quarrel with all his friends, and to double the hatred of all his +enemies, he had better become Prime Minister." + +"Are you really sorry that such was his fate, Lady Glen?" + +"Ah,--I sometimes ask myself that question, but I never get at an +answer. I should have thought him a poltroon if he had declined. It +is to be the greatest man in the greatest country in the world. Do +ever so little and the men who write history must write about you. +And no man has ever tried to be nobler than he till,--till--." + +"Make no exception. If he be careworn and ill and weary, his manners +cannot be the same as they were, but his purity is the same as ever." + +"I don't know that it would remain so. I believe in him, Marie, more +than in any man,--but I believe in none thoroughly. There is a devil +creeps in upon them when their hands are strengthened. I do not know +what I would have wished. Whenever I do wish, I always wish wrong. +Ah, me; when I think of all those people I had down at Gatherum,--of +the trouble I took, and of the glorious anticipations in which I +revelled, I do feel ashamed of myself. Do you remember when I was +determined that that wretch should be member for Silverbridge?" + +"You haven't seen her since, Duchess?" + +"No; but I mean to see her. I couldn't make her first husband member, +and therefore the man who is member is to be her second husband. But +I'm almost sick of schemes. Oh, dear, I wish I knew something that +was really pleasant to do. I have never really enjoyed anything since +I was in love, and I only liked that because it was wicked." + +The Duchess was wrong in saying that the Duke of St. Bungay had cut +them. The old man still remembered the kiss and still remembered +the pledge. But he had found it very difficult to maintain his old +relations with his friend. It was his opinion that the Coalition had +done all that was wanted from it, and that now had come the time +when they might retire gracefully. It is, no doubt, hard for a Prime +Minister to find an excuse for going. But if the Duke of Omnium would +have been content to acknowledge that he was not the man to alter +the County Suffrage, an excuse might have been found that would have +been injurious to no one. Mr. Monk and Mr. Gresham might have joined, +and the present Prime Minister might have resigned, explaining that +he had done all that he had been appointed to accomplish. He had, +however, yielded at once to Mr. Monk, and now it was to be feared +that the House of Commons would not accept the Bill from his hands. +In such a state of things,--especially after that disagreement about +Lord Earlybird,--it was difficult for the old Duke to tender his +advice. He was at every Cabinet Council; he always came when his +presence was required; he was invariably good-humoured;--but it +seemed to him that his work was done. He could hardly volunteer to +tell his chief and his colleague that he would certainly be beaten in +the House of Commons, and that therefore there was little more now +to be done than to arrange the circumstances of their retirement. +Nevertheless, as the period for the second reading of the Bill came +on, he resolved that he would discuss the matter with his friend. He +owed it to himself to do so, and he also owed it to the man whom he +had certainly placed in his present position. On himself politics had +imposed a burden very much lighter than that which they had inflicted +on his more energetic and much less practical colleague. Through his +long life he had either been in office, or in such a position that +men were sure that he would soon return to it. He had taken it, when +it had come, willingly, and had always left it without a regret. As +a man cuts in and out at a whist table, and enjoys both the game +and the rest from the game, so had the Duke of St. Bungay been well +pleased in either position. He was patriotic, but his patriotism did +not disturb his digestion. He had been ambitious,--but moderately +ambitious, and his ambition had been gratified. It never occurred to +him to be unhappy because he or his party were beaten on a measure. +When President of the Council, he could do his duty and enjoy London +life. When in opposition, he could linger in Italy till May and +devote his leisure to his trees and his bullocks. He was always +esteemed, always self-satisfied, and always Duke of St. Bungay. But +with our Duke it was very different. Patriotism with him was a fever, +and the public service an exacting mistress. As long as this had been +all he had still been happy. Not trusting much in himself, he had +never aspired to great power. But now, now at last, ambition had laid +hold of him,--and the feeling, not perhaps uncommon with such men, +that personal dishonour would be attached to political failure. What +would his future life be if he had so carried himself in his great +office as to have shown himself to be unfit to resume it? Hitherto +any office had sufficed him in which he might be useful;--but now he +must either be Prime Minister, or a silent, obscure, and humbled man! + + + DEAR DUKE, + + I will be with you to-morrow morning at 11 A.M., if you + can give me half-an-hour. + + Yours affectionately, + + ST. B. + + +The Prime Minister received this note one afternoon, a day or two +before that appointed for the second reading, and meeting his friend +within an hour in the House of Lords, confirmed the appointment. +"Shall I not rather come to you?" he said. But the old Duke, who +lived in St. James's Square, declared that Carlton Terrace would be +in his way to Downing Street; and so the matter was settled. Exactly +at eleven the two Ministers met. "I don't like troubling you," said +the old man, "when I know that you have so much to think of." + +"On the contrary, I have but little to think of,--and my thoughts +must be very much engaged, indeed, when they shall be too full to +admit of my seeing you." + +"Of course we are all anxious about this Bill." The Prime Minister +smiled. Anxious! Yes, indeed. His anxiety was of such a nature that +it kept him awake all night, and never for a moment left his mind +free by day. "And of course we must be prepared as to what shall be +done either in the event of success or of failure." + +"You might as well read that," said the other. "It only reached me +this morning, or I should have told you of it." The letter was a +communication from the Solicitor-General containing his resignation. +He had now studied the County Suffrage Bill closely, and regretted +to say that he could not give it a conscientious support. It was a +matter of sincerest sorrow to him that relations so pleasant should +be broken, but he must resign his place, unless, indeed, the clauses +as to redistribution could be withdrawn. Of course he did not say +this as expecting that any such concession would be made to his +opinion, but merely as indicating the matter on which his objection +was so strong as to over-rule all other considerations. All this he +explained at great length. + +"The pleasantness of the relations must have been on one side," said +the veteran. "He ought to have gone long since." + +"And Lord Drummond has already as good as said that unless we will +abandon the same clauses, he must oppose the Bill in the Lords." + +"And resign, of course." + +"He meant that, I presume. Lord Ramsden has not spoken to me." + +"The clauses will not stick in his throat. Nor ought they. If the +lawyers have their own way about law they should be contented." + +"The question is, whether in these circumstances we should postpone +the second reading?" asked the Prime Minister. + +"Certainly not," said the other Duke. "As to the Solicitor-General +you will have no difficulty. Sir Timothy was only placed there as a +concession to his party. Drummond will no doubt continue to hold his +office till we see what is done in the Lower House. If the second +reading be lost there,--why then his lordship can go with the rest of +us." + +"Rattler says we shall have a majority. He and Roby are quite agreed +about it. Between them they must know," said the Prime Minister, +unintentionally pleading for himself. + +"They ought to know, if any men do;--but the crisis is exceptional. +I suppose you think that if the second reading is lost we should +resign?" + +"Oh,--certainly." + +"Or, after that, if the Bill be much mutilated in Committee? I don't +know that I shall personally break my own heart about the Bill. The +existing difference in the suffrages is rather in accordance with my +prejudices. But the country desires the measure, and I suppose we +cannot consent to any such material alteration as these men suggest." +As he spoke he laid his hand on Sir Timothy's letter. + +"Mr. Monk would not hear of it," said the Prime Minister. + +"Of course not. And you and I in this measure must stick to Mr. Monk. +My great, indeed my only strong desire in the matter, is to act in +strict unison with you." + +"You are always good and true, Duke." + +"For my own part I shall not in the least regret to find in all this +an opportunity of resigning. We have done our work, and if, as I +believe, a majority of the House would again support either Gresham +or Monk as the head of the entire Liberal party, I think that that +arrangement would be for the welfare of the country." + +"Why should it make any difference to you? Why should you not return +to the Council?" + +"I should not do so;--certainly not at once; probably never. But +you,--who are in the very prime of your life--" + +The Prime Minister did not smile now. He knit his brows and a dark +shadow came across his face. "I don't think I could do that," he +said. "Caesar could hardly have led a legion under Pompey." + +"It has been done, greatly to the service of the country, and without +the slightest loss of honour or character in him who did it." + +"We need hardly talk of that, Duke. You think then that we shall +fail;--fail, I mean, in the House of Commons. I do not know that +failure in our House should be regarded as fatal." + +"In three cases we should fail. The loss of any material clause in +Committee would be as bad as the loss of the Bill." + +"Oh, yes." + +"And then, in spite of Messrs. Rattler and Roby,--who have been wrong +before and may be wrong now,--we may lose the second reading." + +"And the third chance against us?" + +"You would not probably try to carry on the Bill with a very small +majority." + +"Not with three or four." + +"Nor, I think, with six or seven. It would be useless. My own belief +is that we shall never carry the Bill into Committee." + +"I have always known you to be right, Duke." + +"I think that general opinion has set in that direction, and general +opinion is generally right. Having come to that conclusion I thought +it best to tell you, in order that we might have our house in order." +The Duke of Omnium, who with all his haughtiness and all his reserve, +was the simplest man in the world and the least apt to pretend to be +that which he was not, sighed deeply when he heard this. "For my own +part," continued his elder, "I feel no regret that it should be so." + +"It is the first large measure that we have tried to carry." + +"We did not come in to carry large measures, my friend. Look back and +see how many large measures Pitt carried,--but he took the country +safely through its most dangerous crisis." + +"What have we done?" + +"Carried on the Queen's Government prosperously for three years. Is +that nothing for a minister to do? I have never been a friend of +great measures, knowing that when they come fast, one after another, +more is broken in the rattle than is repaired by the reform. We have +done what Parliament and the country expected us to do, and to my +poor judgment we have done it well." + +"I do not feel much self-satisfaction, Duke. Well;--we must see it +out, and if it is as you anticipate, I shall be ready. Of course I +have prepared myself for it. And if, of late, my mind has been less +turned to retirement than it used to be, it has only been because I +have become wedded to this measure, and have wished that it should be +carried under our auspices." Then the old Duke took his leave, and +the Prime Minister was left alone to consider the announcement that +had been made to him. + +He had said that he had prepared himself, but, in so saying, he had +hardly known himself. Hitherto, though he had been troubled by many +doubts, he had still hoped. The report made to him by Mr. Rattler, +backed as it had been by Mr. Roby's assurances, had almost sufficed +to give him confidence. But Mr. Rattler and Mr. Roby combined were as +nothing to the Duke of St. Bungay. The Prime Minister knew now,--he +felt that he knew, that his days were numbered. The resignation of +that lingering old bishop was not completed, and the person in whom +he believed would not have the see. He had meditated the making of +a peer or two, having hitherto been very cautious in that respect, +but he would do nothing of the kind if called upon by the House of +Commons to resign with an uncompleted measure. But his thoughts soon +ran away from the present to the future. What was now to come of +himself? How should he use his future life,--he who as yet had not +passed his forty-seventh year? He regretted much having made that +apparently pretentious speech about Caesar, though he knew his old +friend well enough to be sure that it would never be used against +him. Who was he that he should class himself among the big ones of +the world? A man may indeed measure small things by great, but the +measurer should be careful to declare his own littleness when he +illustrates his position by that of the topping ones of the earth. +But the thing said had been true. Let the Pompey be who he might, he, +the little Caesar of the day, could never now command another legion. + +He had once told Phineas Finn that he regretted that he had abstained +from the ordinary amusements of English gentlemen. But he had +abstained also from their ordinary occupations,--except so far as +politics is one of them. He cared nothing for oxen or for furrows. +In regard to his own land he hardly knew whether the farms were large +or small. He had been a scholar, and after a certain fitful fashion +he had maintained his scholarship, but the literature to which he +had been really attached had been that of blue-books and newspapers. +What was he to do with himself when called upon to resign? And he +understood,--or thought that he understood,--his position too well to +expect that after a while, with the usual interval, he might return +to power. He had been Prime Minister, not as the leading politician +on either side, not as the king of a party, but,--so he told +himself,--as a stop-gap. There could be nothing for him now till the +insipidity of life should gradually fade away into the grave. + +After a while he got up and went off to his wife's apartment, the +room in which she used to prepare her triumphs and where now she +contemplated her disappointments. "I have had the Duke with me," he +said. + +"What;--at last?" + +"I do not know that he could have done any good by coming sooner." + +"And what does his Grace say?" + +"He thinks that our days are numbered." + +"Psha!--is that all? I could have told him that ever so long ago. It +was hardly necessary that he should disturb himself at last to come +and tell us such well-ventilated news. There isn't a porter at one of +the clubs who doesn't know it." + +"Then there will be the less surprise,--and to those who are +concerned perhaps the less mortification." + +"Did he tell you who was to succeed you?" asked the Duchess. + +"Not precisely." + +"He ought to have done that, as I am sure he knows. Everybody knows +except you, Plantagenet." + +"If you know, you can tell me." + +"Of course, I can. It will be Mr. Monk." + +"With all my heart, Glencora. Mr. Monk is a very good man." + +"I wonder whether he'll do anything for us. Think how destitute we +shall be! What if I were to ask him for a place! Would he not give it +us?" + +"Will it make you unhappy, Cora?" + +"What;--your going?" + +"Yes;--the change altogether." + +She looked him in the face for a moment before she answered, with a +peculiar smile in her eyes to which he was well used,--a smile half +ludicrous and half pathetic,--having in it also a dash of sarcasm. +"I can dare to tell the truth," she said, "which you can't. I can be +honest and straightforward. Yes, it will make me unhappy. And you?" + +"Do you think that I cannot be honest too,--at any rate to you? It +does fret me. I do not like to think that I shall be without work." + +"Yes;--Othello's occupation will be gone,--for awhile; for awhile." +Then she came up to him and put both her hands on his breast. "But +yet, Othello, I shall not be all unhappy." + +"Where will be your contentment?" + +"In you. It was making you ill. Rough people, whom the tenderness of +your nature could not well endure, trod upon you, and worried you +with their teeth and wounded you everywhere. I could have turned at +them again with my teeth, and given them worry for worry;--but you +could not. Now you will be saved from them, and so I shall not be +discontented." All this she said looking up into his face, still with +that smile which was half pathetic and half ludicrous. + +"Then I will be contented too," he said as he kissed her. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXIII + +Only the Duke of Omnium + + +The night of the debate arrived, but before the debate was commenced +Sir Timothy Beeswax got up to make a personal explanation. He thought +it right to state to the House how it came to pass that he found +himself bound to leave the Ministry at so important a crisis in its +existence. Then an observation was made by an honourable member of +the Government,--presumably in a whisper, but still loud enough to +catch the sharp ears of Sir Timothy, who now sat just below the +gangway. It was said afterwards that the gentleman who made the +observation,--an Irish gentleman named Fitzgibbon, conspicuous rather +for his loyalty to his party than his steadiness,--had purposely +taken the place in which he then sat, that Sir Timothy might hear +the whisper. The whisper suggested that falling houses were often +left by certain animals. It was certainly a very loud whisper,--but, +if gentlemen are to be allowed to whisper at all, it is almost +impossible to restrain the volume of the voice. To restrain Mr. +Fitzgibbon had always been found difficult. Sir Timothy, who did not +lack pluck, turned at once upon his assailant, and declared that +words had been used with reference to himself which the honourable +member did not dare to get upon his legs and repeat. Larry +Fitzgibbon, as the gentleman was called, looked him full in the +face, but did not move his hat from his head or stir a limb. It +was a pleasant little episode in the evening's work, and afforded +satisfaction to the House generally. Then Sir Timothy went on with +his explanation. The details of this measure, as soon as they were +made known to him, appeared to him, he said, to be fraught with +the gravest and most pernicious consequences. He was sure that the +members of her Majesty's Government, who were hurrying on this +measure with what he thought was indecent haste,--ministers are +always either indecent in their haste or treacherous in their +delay,--had not considered what they were doing, or, if they had +considered, were blind as to its results. He then attempted to +discuss the details of the measure, but was called to order. A +personal explanation could not be allowed to give him an opportunity +of anticipating the debate. He contrived, however, before he sat +down, to say some very heavy things against his late chief, and +especially to congratulate the Duke on the services of the honourable +gentleman, the member for Mayo,--meaning thereby Mr. Laurence +Fitzgibbon. + +It would perhaps have been well for everybody if the measure could +have been withdrawn and the Ministry could have resigned without the +debate,--as everybody was convinced what would be the end of it. Let +the second reading go as it might, the Bill could not be carried. +There are measures which require the hopeful heartiness of a new +Ministry, and the thorough-going energy of a young Parliament,--and +this was one of them. The House was as fully agreed that this change +was necessary, as it ever is agreed on any subject,--but still the +thing could not be done. Even Mr. Monk, who was the most earnest of +men, felt the general slackness of all around him. The commotion +and excitement which would be caused by a change of Ministry might +restore its proper tone to the House, but in its present condition it +was unfit for the work. Nevertheless Mr. Monk made his speech, and +put all his arguments into lucid order. He knew it was for nothing, +but nevertheless it must be done. For hour after hour he went +on,--for it was necessary to give every detail of his contemplated +proposition. He went through it as sedulously as though he had +expected to succeed, and sat down about nine o'clock in the evening. +Then Sir Orlando moved the adjournment of the House till the morrow, +giving as his reason for doing so the expedience of considering the +details he had heard. To this no opposition was made, and the House +was adjourned. + +On the following day the clubs were all alive with rumours as to the +coming debate. It was known that a strong party had been formed under +the auspices of Sir Orlando, and that with him Sir Timothy and other +politicians were in close council. It was of course necessary that +they should impart to many the secrets of their conclave, so that it +was known early in the afternoon that it was the intention of the +Opposition not to discuss the Bill, but to move that it be read a +second time that day six months. The Ministry had hardly expected +this, as the Bill was undoubtedly popular both in the House and the +country; and if the Opposition should be beaten in such a course, +that defeat would tend greatly to strengthen the hands of the +Government. But if the foe could succeed in carrying a positive +veto on the second reading, it would under all the circumstances be +tantamount to a vote of want of confidence. "I'm afraid they know +almost more than we do as to the feeling of members," said Mr. Roby +to Mr. Rattler. + +"There isn't a man in the House whose feeling in the matter I don't +know," said Rattler, "but I'm not quite so sure of their principles. +On our own side, in our old party, there are a score of men who +detest the Duke, though they would fain be true to the Government. +They have voted with him through thick and thin, and he has not +spoken a word to one of them since he became Prime Minister. What are +you to do with such a man? How are you to act with him?" + +"Lupton wrote to him the other day about something," answered the +other, "I forget what, and he got a note back from Warburton as +cold as ice,--an absolute slap in the face. Fancy treating a man +like Lupton in that way,--one of the most popular men in the House, +related to half the peerage, and a man who thinks so much of himself! +I shouldn't wonder if he were to vote against us;--I shouldn't +indeed." + +"It has all been the old Duke's doing," said Rattler, "and no doubt +it was intended for the best; but the thing has been a failure from +the beginning to the end. I knew it would be so. I don't think there +has been a single man who has understood what a Ministerial Coalition +really means except you and I. From the very beginning all your men +were averse to it in spirit." + +"Look how they were treated!" said Mr. Roby. "Was it likely that they +should be very staunch when Mr. Monk became Leader of the House?" + +There was a Cabinet Council that day which lasted but a few minutes, +and it may easily be presumed that the Ministers decided that they +would all resign at once if Sir Orlando should carry his amendment. +It is not unlikely that they were agreed to do the same if he should +nearly carry it,--leaving probably the Prime Minister to judge what +narrow majority would constitute nearness. On this occasion all the +gentlemen assembled were jocund in their manner, and apparently +well satisfied,--as though they saw before them an end to all their +troubles. The Spartan boy did not even make a grimace when the wolf +bit him beneath his frock, and these were all Spartan boys. Even the +Prime Minister, who had fortified himself for the occasion, and who +never wept in any company but that of his wife and his old friend, +was pleasant in his manner and almost affable. "We shan't make this +step towards the millennium just at present," he said to Phineas Finn +as they left the room together,--referring to words which Phineas had +spoken on a former occasion, and which then had not been very well +taken. + +"But we shall have made a step towards the step," said Phineas, "and +in getting to a millennium even that is something." + +"I suppose we are all too anxious," said the Duke, "to see some great +effects come from our own little doings. Good-day. We shall know all +about it tolerably early. Monk seems to think that it will be an +attack on the Ministry and not on the Bill, and that it will be best +to get a vote with as little delay as possible." + +"I'll bet an even five-pound note," said Mr. Lupton at the Carlton, +"that the present Ministry is out to-morrow, and another that no one +names five members of the next Cabinet." + +"You can help to win your first bet," said Mr. Beauchamp, a very +old member, who, like many other Conservatives, had supported the +Coalition. + +"I shall not do that," said Lupton, "though I think I ought. I won't +vote against the man in his misfortunes, though, upon my soul, I +don't love him very dearly. I shall vote neither way, but I hope that +Sir Orlando may succeed." + +"If he do, who is to come in?" said the other. "I suppose you don't +want to serve under Sir Orlando?" + +"Nor certainly under the Duke of Omnium. We shall not want a Prime +Minister as long as there are as good fish in the sea as have been +caught out of it." + +There had lately been formed a new Liberal club, established on a +broader basis than the Progress, and perhaps with a greater amount of +aristocratic support. This had come up since the Duke had been Prime +Minister. Certain busy men had never been quite contented with the +existing state of things, and had thought that the Liberal party, +with such assistance as such a club could give it, would be strong +enough to rule alone. That the great Liberal party should be impeded +in its work and its triumph by such men as Sir Orlando Drought and +Sir Timothy Beeswax was odious to the club. All the Pallisers had, +from time immemorial, run straight as Liberals, and therefore the +club had been unwilling to oppose the Duke personally, though he was +the chief of the Coalition. And certain members of the Government, +Phineas Finn, for instance, Barrington Erle, and Mr. Rattler were on +the committee of the club. But the club, as a club, was not averse +to a discontinuance of the present state of things. Mr. Gresham +might again become Prime Minister, if he would condescend so far, +or Mr. Monk. It might be possible that the great Liberal triumph +contemplated by the club might not be achieved by the present +House;--but the present House must go shortly, and then, with +that assistance from a well-organised club, which had lately been +so terribly wanting,--the lack of which had made the Coalition +necessary,--no doubt the British constituencies would do their duty, +and a Liberal Prime Minister, pure and simple, might reign,--almost +for ever. With this great future before it, the club was very +lukewarm in its support of the present Bill. "I shall go down and +vote for them of course," said Mr. O'Mahony, "just for the look of +the thing." In saying this Mr. O'Mahony expressed the feeling of +the club, and the feeling of the Liberal party generally. There was +something due to the Duke, but not enough to make it incumbent on his +friends to maintain him in his position as Prime Minister. + +It was a great day for Sir Orlando. At half-past four the House was +full,--not from any desire to hear Sir Orlando's arguments against +the Bill, but because it was felt that a good deal of personal +interest would be attached to the debate. If one were asked in these +days what gift should a Prime Minister ask first from the fairies, +one would name the power of attracting personal friends. Eloquence, +if it be too easy, may become almost a curse. Patriotism is +suspected, and sometimes sinks almost to pedantry. A Jove-born +intellect is hardly wanted, and clashes with the inferiorities. +Industry is exacting. Honesty is unpractical. Truth is easily +offended. Dignity will not bend. But the man who can be all things to +all men, who has ever a kind word to speak, a pleasant joke to crack, +who can forgive all sins, who is ever prepared for friend or foe but +never very bitter to the latter, who forgets not men's names, and is +always ready with little words,--he is the man who will be supported +at a crisis such as this that was now in the course of passing. It is +for him that men will struggle, and talk, and, if needs be, fight, as +though the very existence of the country depended on his political +security. The present man would receive no such defence;--but still +the violent deposition of a Prime Minister is always a memorable +occasion. + +Sir Orlando made his speech, and, as had been anticipated, it had +very little to do with the Bill, and was almost exclusively an attack +upon his late chief. He thought, he said, that this was an occasion +on which they had better come to a direct issue with as little delay +as possible. If he rightly read the feeling of the House, no Bill of +this magnitude coming from the present Ministry would be likely to +be passed in an efficient condition. The Duke had frittered away his +support in that House, and as a Minister had lost that confidence +which a majority of the House had once been willing to place in him. +We need not follow Sir Orlando through his speech. He alluded to +his own services, and declared that he was obliged to withdraw them +because the Duke would not trust him with the management of his +own office. He had reason to believe that other gentlemen who had +attached themselves to the Duke's Ministry had found themselves +equally crippled by this passion for autocratic rule. Hereupon a loud +chorus of disapprobation came from the Treasury bench, which was +fully answered by opposing noises from the other side of the House. +Sir Orlando declared that he need only point to the fact that the +Ministry had been already shivered by the secession of various +gentlemen. "Only two," said a voice. Sir Orlando was turning round to +contradict the voice when he was greeted by another. "And those the +weakest," said the other voice, which was indubitably that of Larry +Fitzgibbon. "I will not speak of myself," said Sir Orlando pompously; +"but I am authorised to tell the House that the noble lord who is now +Secretary of State for the Colonies only holds his office till this +crisis shall have passed." + +After that there was some sparring of a very bitter kind between Sir +Timothy and Phineas Finn, till at last it seemed that the debate was +to degenerate into a war of man against man. Phineas, and Erle, and +Laurence Fitzgibbon allowed themselves to be lashed into anger, and, +as far as words went, had the best of it. But of what use could it +be? Every man there had come into the House prepared to vote for or +against the Duke of Omnium,--or resolved, like Mr. Lupton, not to +vote at all; and it was hardly on the cards that a single vote should +be turned this way or that by any violence of speaking. "Let it +pass," said Mr. Monk in a whisper to Phineas. "The fire is not worth +the fuel." + +"I know the Duke's faults," said Phineas; "but these men know nothing +of his virtues, and when I hear them abuse him I cannot stand it." + +Early in the night,--before twelve o'clock,--the House divided, and +even at the moment of the division no one quite knew how it would go. +There would be many who would of course vote against the amendment +as being simply desirous of recording their opinion in favour of the +Bill generally. And there were some who thought that Sir Orlando and +his followers had been too forward, and too confident of their own +standing in the House, in trying so violent a mode of opposition. It +would have been better, these men thought, to have insured success +by a gradual and persistent opposition to the Bill itself. But they +hardly knew how thoroughly men may be alienated by silence and a cold +demeanour. Sir Orlando on the division was beaten, but was beaten +only by nine. "He can't go on with his Bill," said Rattler in one of +the lobbies of the House. "I defy him. The House wouldn't stand it, +you know." "No minister," said Roby, "could carry a measure like that +with a majority of nine on a vote of confidence!" The House was of +course adjourned, and Mr. Monk went at once to Carlton Terrace. + +"I wish it had only been three or four," said the Duke, laughing. + +"Why so?" + +"Because there would have been less doubt." + +"Is there any at present?" + +"Less possibility for doubt, I will say. You would not wish to make +the attempt with such a majority?" + +"I could not do it, Duke!" + +"I quite agree with you. But there will be those who will say that +the attempt might be made,--who will accuse us of being faint-hearted +because we do not make it." + +"They will be men who understand nothing of the temper of the House." + +"Very likely. But still, I wish the majority had only been two or +three. There is little more to be said, I suppose." + +"Very little, your Grace." + +"We had better meet to-morrow at two, and, if possible, I will see +her Majesty in the afternoon. Good night, Mr. Monk." + +"Good night, Duke." + +"My reign is ended. You are a good deal an older man than I, and +yet probably yours has yet to begin." Mr. Monk smiled and shook his +head as he left the room, not trusting himself to discuss so large a +subject at so late an hour of the night. + +Without waiting a moment after his colleague's departure, the Prime +Minister,--for he was still Prime Minister,--went into his wife's +room, knowing that she was waiting up till she should hear the result +of the division, and there he found Mrs. Finn with her. "Is it over?" +asked the Duchess. + +"Yes;--there has been a division. Mr. Monk has just been with me." + +"Well!" + +"We have beaten them, of course, as we always do," said the Duke, +attempting to be pleasant. "You didn't suppose there was anything to +fear? Your husband has always bid you keep up your courage;--has he +not, Mrs. Finn?" + +"My husband has lost his senses, I think," she said. "He has taken to +such storming and raving about his political enemies that I hardly +dare to open my mouth." + +"Tell me what has been done, Plantagenet," ejaculated the Duchess. + +"Don't you be as unreasonable as Mrs. Finn, Cora. The House has voted +against Sir Orlando's amendment by a majority of nine." + +"Only nine!" + +"And I shall cease to be Prime Minister to-morrow." + +"You don't mean to say that it's settled?" + +"Quite settled. The play has been played, and the curtain has fallen, +and the lights are being put out, and the poor weary actors may go +home to bed." + +"But on such an amendment surely any majority would have done." + +"No, my dear. I will not name a number, but nine certainly would not +do." + +"And it is all over?" + +"My Ministry is all over, if you mean that." + +"Then everything is over for me. I shall settle down in the country +and build cottages, and mix draughts. You, Marie, will still be +going up the tree. If Mr. Finn manages well he may come to be Prime +Minister some day." + +"He has hardly such ambition, Lady Glen." + +"The ambition will come fast enough;--will it not, Plantagenet? Let +him once begin to dream of it as possible, and the desire will soon +be strong enough. How should you feel if it were so?" + +"It is quite impossible," said Mrs. Finn, gravely. + +"I don't see why anything is impossible. Sir Orlando will be Prime +Minister now, and Sir Timothy Beeswax Lord Chancellor. After that +anybody may hope to be anything. Well,--I suppose we may go to bed. +Is your carriage here, my dear?" + +"I hope so." + +"Ring the bell, Plantagenet, for somebody to see her down. Come to +lunch to-morrow because I shall have so many groans to utter. What +beasts, what brutes, what ungrateful wretches men are!--worse than +women when they get together in numbers enough to be bold. Why have +they deserted you? What have we not done for them? Think of all the +new bedroom furniture that we sent to Gatherum merely to keep the +party together. There were thousands of yards of linen, and it has +all been of no use. Don't you feel like Wolsey, Plantagenet?" + +"Not in the least, my dear. No one will take anything away from me +that is my own." + +"For me, I am almost as much divorced as Catherine, and have had my +head cut off as completely as Anne Bullen and the rest of them. Go +away, Marie, because I am going to have a cry by myself." + +The Duke himself on that night put Mrs. Finn into her carriage; and +as he walked with her downstairs he asked her whether she believed +the Duchess to be in earnest in her sorrow. "She so mixes up her +mirth and woe together," said the Duke, "that I myself sometimes can +hardly understand her." + +"I think she does regret it, Duke." + +"She told me but the other day that she would be contented." + +"A few weeks will make her so. As for your Grace, I hope I may +congratulate you." + +"Oh yes;--I think so. We none of us like to be beaten when we have +taken a thing in hand. There is always a little disappointment at +first. But, upon the whole, it is better as it is. I hope it will not +make your husband unhappy." + +"Not for his own sake. He will go again into the middle of the +scramble and fight on one side or the other. For my own part I think +opposition the pleasantest. Good night, Duke. I am so sorry that I +should have troubled you." + +Then he went alone to his own room, and sat there without moving for +a couple of hours. Surely it was a great thing to have been Prime +Minister of England for three years,--a prize of which nothing now +could rob him. He ought not to be unhappy; and yet he knew himself +to be wretched and disappointed. It had never occurred to him to be +proud of being a duke, or to think of his wealth otherwise than a +chance incident of his life, advantageous indeed, but by no means +a source of honour. And he had been aware that he had owed his +first seat in Parliament to his birth, and probably also his first +introduction to official life. An heir to a dukedom, if he will only +work hard, may almost with certainty find himself received into one +or the other regiment in Downing Street. It had not in his early days +been with him as it had with his friends Mr. Monk and Phineas Finn, +who had worked their way from the very ranks. But even a duke cannot +become Prime Minister by favour. Surely he had done something of +which he might be proud. And so he tried to console himself. + +But to have done something was nothing to him,--nothing to his +personal happiness,--unless there was also something left for him to +do. How should it be with him now,--how for the future? Would men +ever listen to him again, or allow him again to work in their behoof, +as he used to do in his happy days in the House of Commons? He feared +that it was all over for him, and that for the rest of his days he +must simply be the Duke of Omnium. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXIV + +"I Am Disgraced and Shamed" + + +Soon after the commencement of the Session Arthur Fletcher became a +constant visitor in Manchester Square, dining with the old barrister +almost constantly on Sundays, and not unfrequently on other days when +the House and his general engagements would permit it. Between him +and Emily's father there was no secret and no misunderstanding. Mr. +Wharton quite understood that the young member of Parliament was +earnestly purposed to marry his daughter, and Fletcher was sure of +all the assistance and support which Mr. Wharton could give him. The +name of Lopez was very rarely used between them. It had been tacitly +agreed that there was no need that it should be mentioned. The man +had come like a destroying angel between them and their fondest +hopes. Neither could ever be what he would have been had that man +never appeared to destroy their happiness. But the man had gone away, +not without a tragedy that was appalling;--and each thought that, as +regarded him, he and the tragedy might be, if not forgotten at least +put aside, if only that other person in whom they were interested +could be taught to seem to forget him. "It is not love," said the +father, "but a feeling of shame." Arthur Fletcher shook his head, +not quite agreeing with this. It was not that he feared that she +loved the memory of her late husband. Such love was, he thought, +impossible. But there was, he believed, something more than the +feeling which her father described as shame. There was pride also;--a +determination in her own bosom not to confess the fault she had made +in giving herself to him whom she must now think to have been so much +the least worthy of her two suitors. "Her fortune will not be what I +once promised you," said the old man plaintively. + +"I do not remember that I ever asked you as to her fortune," Arthur +replied. + +"Certainly not. If you had I should not have told you. But as I +named a sum, it is right that I should explain to you that that man +succeeded in lessening it by six or seven thousand pounds." + +"If that were all!" + +"And I have promised Sir Alured that Everett, as his heir, should +have the use of a considerable portion of his share without waiting +for my death. It is odd that the one of my children from whom I +certainly expected the greater trouble should have fallen so entirely +on his feet; and that the other--; well, let us hope for the best. +Everett seems to have taken up with Wharton as though it belonged +to him already. And Emily--! Well, my dear boy, let us hope that it +may come right yet. You are not drinking your wine. Yes,--pass the +bottle; I'll have another glass before I go upstairs." + +In this way the time went by till Emily returned to town. The +Ministry had just then resigned, but I think that "this great +reactionary success," as it was called by the writer in the "People's +Banner," affected one member of the Lower House much less than the +return to London of Mrs. Lopez. Arthur Fletcher had determined that +he would renew his suit as soon as a year should have expired since +the tragedy which had made his love a widow,--and that year had now +passed away. He had known the day well,--as had she, when she passed +the morning weeping in her own room at Wharton. Now he questioned +himself whether a year would suffice,--whether both in mercy to her +and with the view of realizing his own hopes he should give her some +longer time for recovery. But he had told himself that it should be +done at the end of a year, and as he had allowed no one to talk him +out of his word, so neither would he be untrue to it himself. But +it became with him a deep matter of business, a question of great +difficulty, how he should arrange the necessary interview,--whether +he should plead his case with her at their first meeting, or whether +he had better allow her to become accustomed to his presence in the +house. His mother had attempted to ridicule him, because he was, as +she said, afraid of a woman. He well remembered that he had never +been afraid of Emily Wharton when they had been quite young,--little +more than a boy and girl together. Then he had told her of his love +over and over again, and had found almost a comfortable luxury in +urging her to say a word, which she had never indeed said, but +which probably in those days he still hoped that she would say. And +occasionally he had feigned to be angry with her, and had tempted her +on to little quarrels with a boyish idea that quick reconciliation +would perhaps throw her into his arms. But now it seemed to him that +an age had passed since those days. His love had certainly not faded. +There had never been a moment when that had been on the wing. But now +the azure plumage of his love had become grey as the wings of a dove, +and the gorgeousness of his dreams had sobered into hopes and fears +which were a constant burden to his heart. There was time enough, +still time enough for happiness if she would yield;--and time enough +for the dull pressure of unsatisfied aspirations should she persist +in her refusal. + +At last he saw her, almost by accident, and that meeting certainly +was not fit for the purpose of his suit. He called at Stone Buildings +the day after her arrival, and found her at her father's chambers. +She had come there keeping some appointment with him, and certainly +had not expected to meet her lover. He was confused and hardly able +to say a word to account for his presence, but she greeted him with +almost sisterly affection, saying some word of Longbarns and his +family, telling him how Everett, to Sir Alured's great delight, had +been sworn in as a magistrate for the County, and how at the last +hunt meeting John Fletcher had been asked to take the County hounds, +because old Lord Weobly at seventy-five had declared himself to +be unable any longer to ride as a master of hounds ought to ride. +All these things Arthur had of course heard, such news being too +important to be kept long from him; but on none of these subjects +had he much to say. He stuttered and stammered, and quickly went +away;--not, however, before he had promised to come and dine as usual +on the next Sunday, and not without observing that the anniversary of +that fatal day of release had done something to lighten the sombre +load of mourning which the widow had hitherto worn. + +Yes;--he would dine there on the Sunday, but how would it be with him +then? Mr. Wharton never went out of the house on a Sunday evening, +and could hardly be expected to leave his own drawing-room for the +sake of giving a lover an opportunity. No;--he must wait till that +evening should have passed, and then make the occasion for himself as +best he might. The Sunday came and the dinner was eaten, and after +dinner there was the single bottle of port and the single bottle of +claret. "How do you think she is looking?" asked the father. "She was +as pale as death before we got her down into the country." + +"Upon my word, sir," said he, "I've hardly looked at her. It is not a +matter of looks now, as it used to be. It has got beyond that. It is +not that I am indifferent to seeing a pretty face, or that I have no +longer an opinion of my own about a woman's figure. But there grows +up, I think, a longing which almost kills that consideration." + +"To me she is as beautiful as ever," said the father proudly. + +Fletcher did manage, when in the drawing-room, to talk for a while +about John and the hounds, and then went away, having resolved that +he would come again on the very next day. Surely she would not give +an order that he should be denied admittance. She had been too calm, +too even, too confident in herself for that. Yes;--he would come and +tell her plainly what he had to say. He would tell it with all the +solemnity of which he was capable, with a few words, and those the +strongest which he could use. Should she refuse him,--as he almost +knew that she would at first,--then he would tell her of her father +and of the wishes of all their joint friends. "Nothing," he would say +to her, "nothing but personal dislike can justify you in refusing +to heal so many wounds." As he fixed on these words he failed to +remember how little probable it is that a lover should ever be able +to use the phrases he arranges. + +On Monday he came, and asked for Mrs. Lopez, slurring over the word +as best he could. The butler said his mistress was at home. Since the +death of the man he had so thoroughly despised, the old servant had +never called her Mrs. Lopez. Arthur was shown upstairs, and found the +lady he sought,--but he found Mrs. Roby also. It may be remembered +that Mrs. Roby, after the tragedy, had been refused admittance into +Mr. Wharton's house. Since that there had been some correspondence, +and a feeling had prevailed that the woman was not to be quarrelled +with for ever. "I did not do it, papa, because of her," Emily had +said with some scorn, and that scorn had procured Mrs. Roby's pardon. +She was now making a morning call, and suiting her conversation to +the black dress of her niece. Arthur was horrified at seeing her. +Mrs. Roby had always been to him odious, not only as a personal enemy +but as a vulgar woman. He, at any rate, attributed to her a great +part of the evil that had been done, feeling sure that had there been +no house round the corner, Emily Wharton would never have become Mrs. +Lopez. As it was he was forced to shake hands with her, and forced to +listen to the funereal tone in which Mrs. Roby asked him if he did +not think that Mrs. Lopez looked much improved by her sojourn in +Herefordshire. He shrank at the sound, and then, in order that it +might not be repeated, took occasion to show that he was allowed to +call his early playmate by her Christian name. Mrs. Roby, thinking +that she ought to check him, remarked that Mrs. Lopez's return was +a great thing for Mr. Wharton. Thereupon Arthur Fletcher seized his +hat off the ground, wished them both good-bye, and hurried out of +the room. "What a very odd manner he has taken up since he became a +member of Parliament," said Mrs. Roby. + +Emily was silent for a moment, and then with an effort,--with intense +pain,--she said a word or two which she thought had better be at once +spoken. "He went because he does not like to hear that name." + +"Good gracious!" + +"And papa does not like it. Don't say a word about it, aunt; pray +don't;--but call me Emily." + +"Are you going to be ashamed of your name?" + +"Never mind, aunt. If you think it wrong you must stay away;--but I +will not have papa wounded." + +"Oh;--if Mr. Wharton wishes it;--of course." That evening Mrs. Roby +told Dick Roby, her husband, what an old fool Mr. Wharton was. + +The next day, quite early, Fletcher was again at the house and was +again admitted upstairs. The butler, no doubt, knew well enough why +he came, and also knew that the purport of his coming had at any rate +the sanction of Mr. Wharton. The room was empty when he was shown +into it, but she came to him very soon. "I went away yesterday rather +abruptly," he said. "I hope you did not think me rude." + +"Oh no." + +"Your aunt was here, and I had something I wished to say but could +not say very well before her." + +"I knew that she had driven you away. You and Aunt Harriet were never +great friends." + +"Never;--but I will forgive her everything. I will forgive all the +injuries that have been done me if you now will do as I ask you." + +Of course she knew what it was that he was about to ask. When he had +left her at Longbarns without saying a word of his love, without +giving her any hint whereby she might allow herself to think that +he intended to renew his suit, then she had wept because it was so. +Though her resolution had been quite firm as to the duty which was +incumbent on her of remaining in her desolate condition of almost +nameless widowhood, yet she had been unable to refrain from bitter +tears because he also had seemed to see that such was her duty. But +now again, knowing that the request was coming, feeling once more +confident of the constancy of his love, she was urgent with herself +as to that heavy duty. She would be unwomanly, dead to all shame, +almost inhuman, were she to allow herself again to indulge in love +after all the havoc she had made. She had been little more than a +bride when that husband, for whom she had so often been forced to +blush, had been driven by the weight of his misfortunes and disgraces +to destroy himself! By the marriage she had made she had overwhelmed +her whole family with dishonour. She had done it with a persistency +of perverse self-will which she herself could not now look back upon +without wonder and horror. She, too, should have died as well as +he,--only that death had not been within the compass of her powers as +of his. How then could she forget it all, and wipe it away from her +mind, as she would figures from a slate with a wet towel? How could +it be fit that she should again be a bride with such a spectre of a +husband haunting her memory? She had known that the request was to be +made when he had come so quickly, and had not doubted it for a moment +when he took his sudden departure. She had known it well, when just +now the servant told her that Mr. Fletcher was in the drawing-room +below. But she was quite certain of the answer she must make. "I +should be sorry you should ask me anything I cannot do," she said in +a very low voice. + +"I will ask you for nothing for which I have not your father's +sanction." + +"The time has gone by, Arthur, in which I might well have been guided +by my father. There comes a time when personal feelings must be +stronger than a father's authority. Papa cannot see me with my own +eyes; he cannot understand what I feel. It is simply this,--that +he would have me to be other than I am. But I am what I have made +myself." + +"You have not heard me as yet. You will hear me?" + +"Oh, yes." + +"I have loved you ever since I was a boy." He paused as though he +expected that she would make some answer to this; but of course there +was nothing that she could say. "I have been true to you since we +were together almost as children." + +"It is your nature to be true." + +"In this matter, at any rate, I shall never change. I never for +a moment had a doubt about my love. There never has been any one +else whom I have ventured to compare with you. Then came that great +trouble. Emily, you must let me speak freely this once, as so much, +to me at least, depends on it." + +"Say what you will, Arthur. Do not wound me more than you can help." + +"God knows how willingly I would heal every wound without a word +if it could be done. I don't know whether you ever thought what I +suffered when he came among us and robbed me,--well, I will not say +robbed me of your love, because it was not mine--but took away with +him that which I had been trying to win." + +"I did not think a man would feel it like that." + +"Why shouldn't a man feel as well as a woman? I had set my heart on +having you for my wife. Can any desire be dearer to a man than that? +Then he came. Well, dearest; surely I may say that he was not worthy +of you." + +"We were neither of us worthy," she said. + +"I need not tell you that we all grieved. It seemed to us down in +Herefordshire as though a black cloud had come upon us. We could not +speak of you, nor yet could we be altogether silent." + +"Of course you condemned me,--as an outcast." + +"Did I write to you as though you were an outcast? Did I treat you +when I saw you as an outcast? When I come to you to-day, is that +proof that I think you to be an outcast? I have never deceived you, +Emily." + +"Never." + +"Then you will believe me when I say that through it all not one word +of reproach or contumely has ever passed my lips in regard to you. +That you should have given yourself to one whom I could not think to +be worthy of you was, of course, a great sorrow. Had he been a prince +of men it would, of course, have been a sorrow to me. How it went +with you during your married life I will not ask." + +"I was unhappy. I would tell you everything if I could. I was very +unhappy." + +"Then came--the end." She was now weeping, with her face buried in +her handkerchief. "I would spare you if I knew how, but there are +some things which must be said." + +"No;--no. I will bear it all--from you." + +"Well! His success had not lessened my love. Though then I could have +no hope,--though you were utterly removed from me,--all that could +not change me. There it was,--as though my arm or my leg had been +taken from me. It was bad to live without an arm or leg, but there +was no help. I went on with my life and tried not to look like a +whipped cur;--though John from time to time would tell me that I +failed. But now;--now that it has again all changed,--what would you +have me do now? It may be that after all my limb may be restored +to me, that I may be again as other men are, whole, and sound, and +happy;--so happy! When it may possibly be within my reach am I not to +look for my happiness?" He paused, but she wept on without speaking a +word. "There are those who will say that I should wait till all these +signs of woe have been laid aside. But why should I wait? There has +come a great blot upon your life, and is it not well that it should +be covered as quickly as possible?" + +"It can never be covered." + +"You mean that it can never be forgotten. No doubt there are +passages in our life which we cannot forget, though we bury them +in the deepest silence. All this can never be driven out of your +memory,--nor from mine. But it need not therefore blacken all our +lives. In such a condition we should not be ruled by what the world +thinks." + +"Not at all. I care nothing for what the world thinks. I am below all +that. It is what I think: I myself,--of myself." + +"Will you think of no one else? Are any of your thoughts for me,--or +for your father?" + +"Oh, yes;--for my father." + +"I need hardly tell you what he wishes. You must know how you can +best give him back the comfort he has lost." + +"But, Arthur, even for him I cannot do everything." + +"There is one question to be asked," he said, rising from her feet +and standing before her;--"but one; and what you do should depend +entirely on the answer which you may be able truly to make to that." + +This he said so solemnly that he startled her. + +"What question, Arthur?" + +"Do you love me?" To this question at the moment she could make no +reply. "Of course I know that you did not love me when you married +him." + +"Love is not all of one kind." + +"You know what love I mean. You did not love me then. You could +not have loved me,--though, perhaps, I thought I had deserved your +love. But love will change, and memory will sometimes bring back old +fancies when the world has been stern and hard. When we were very +young I think you loved me. Do you remember seven years ago at +Longbarns, when they parted us and sent me away, because--because we +were so young? They did not tell us then, but I think you knew. I +know that I knew, and went nigh to swear that I would drown myself. +You loved me then, Emily." + +"I was a child then." + +"Now you are not a child. Do you love me now,--to-day? If so, give me +your hand, and let the past be buried in silence. All this has come, +and gone, and has nearly made us old. But there is life before us +yet, and if you are to me as I am to you it is better that our lives +should be lived together." Then he stood before her with his hand +stretched out. + +"I cannot do it," she said. + +"And why?" + +"I cannot be other than the wretched thing I have made myself." + +"But do you love me?" + +"I cannot analyse my heart. Love you;--yes! I have always loved you. +Everything about you is dear to me. I can triumph in your triumphs, +rejoice at your joy, weep at your sorrows, be ever anxious that all +good things may come to you;--but, Arthur, I cannot be your wife." + +"Not though it would make us happy,--Fletchers and Whartons all +alike?" + +"Do you think I have not thought it over? Do you think that I have +forgotten your first letter? Knowing your heart, as I do know it, +do you imagine that I have spent a day, an hour, for months past, +without asking myself what answer I should make to you if the sweet +constancy of your nature should bring you again to me? I have +trembled when I have heard your voice. My heart has beat at the sound +of your footstep as though it would burst! Do you think I have never +told myself what I had thrown away? But it is gone, and it is not now +within my reach." + +"It is; it is," he said, throwing himself on his knees, and twining +his arms round her. + +"No;--no;--no;--never. I am disgraced and shamed. I have lain among +the pots till I am foul and blackened. Take your arms away. They +shall not be defiled," she said as she sprang to her feet. "You shall +not have the thing that he has left." + +"Emily,--it is the only thing in the world that I crave." + +"Be a man and conquer your love,--as I will. Get it under your feet +and press it to death. Tell yourself that it is shameful and must be +abandoned. That you, Arthur Fletcher, should marry the widow of that +man,--the woman that he had thrust so far into the mire that she can +never again be clean;--you, the chosen one, the bright star among +us all;--you, whose wife should be the fairest, the purest, the +tenderest of us all, a flower that has yet been hardly breathed on! +While I-- Arthur," she said, "I know my duty better than that. I will +not seek an escape from my punishment in that way,--nor will I allow +you to destroy yourself. You have my word as a woman that it shall +not be so. Now I do not mind your knowing whether I love you or no." +He stood silent before her, not able for the moment to go on with his +prayer. "And now, go," she said. "God bless you, and give you some +day a fair and happy wife. And, Arthur, do not come again to me. If +you will let it be so, I shall have a delight in seeing you;--but not +if you come as you have come now. And, Arthur, spare me with papa. Do +not let him think that it is all my fault that I cannot do the thing +which he wishes." Then she left the room before he could say another +word to her. + +But it was all her fault. No;--in that direction he could not spare +her. It must be told to her father, though he doubted his own power +of describing all that had been said. "Do not come again to me," she +had said. At the moment he had been left speechless; but if there was +one thing fixed in his mind, it was the determination to come again. +He was sure now, not only of love that might have sufficed,--but +of hot, passionate love. She had told him that her heart had beat +at his footsteps, and that she had trembled as she listened to his +voice;--and yet she expected that he would not come again! But there +was a violence of decision about the woman which made him dread that +he might still come in vain. She was so warped from herself by the +conviction of her great mistake, so prone to take shame to herself +for her own error, so keenly alive to the degradation to which she +had been submitted, that it might yet be impossible to teach her +that, though her husband had been vile and she mistaken, yet she had +not been soiled by his baseness. + +He went at once to the old barrister's chambers and told him the +result of the meeting. "She is still a fool," said the father, not +understanding at second-hand the depths of his daughter's feeling. + +"No, sir,--not that. She feels herself degraded by his degradation. +If it be possible we must save her from that." + +"She did degrade herself." + +"Not as she means it. She is not degraded in my eyes." + +"Why should she not take the only means in her power of rescuing +herself and rescuing us all from the evil that she did? She owes it +to you, to me, and to her brother." + +"I would hardly wish her to come to me in payment of such a debt." + +"There is no room left," said Mr. Wharton angrily, "for soft +sentimentality. Well;--she must take her bed as she makes it. It +is very hard on me, I know. Considering what she used to be, it is +marvellous to me that she should have so little idea left of doing +her duty to others." + +Arthur Fletcher found that the barrister was at the moment too angry +to hear reason, or to be made to understand anything of the feelings +of mixed love and admiration with which he himself was animated at +the moment. He was obliged therefore to content himself with assuring +the father that he did not intend to give up the pursuit of his +daughter. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXV + +The Great Wharton Alliance + + +When Mr. Wharton got home on that day he said not a word to Emily as +to Arthur Fletcher. He had resolved to take various courses,--first +to tell her roundly that she was neglecting her duty to herself and +to her family, and that he would no longer take her part and be +her good friend unless she would consent to marry the man whom she +had confessed that she loved. But as he thought of this he became +aware,--first that he could not carry out such a threat, and then +that he would lack even the firmness to make it. There was something +in her face, something even in her dress, something in her whole +manner to himself, which softened him and reduced him to vassalage +directly he saw her. Then he determined to throw himself on her +compassion and to implore her to put an end to all this misery by +making herself happy. But as he drew near home he found himself +unable to do even this. How is a father to beseech his widowed +daughter to give herself away in a second marriage? And therefore +when he entered the house and found her waiting for him, he said +nothing. At first she looked at him wistfully,--anxious to learn by +his face whether her lover had been with him. But when he spoke not a +word, simply kissing her in his usual quiet way, she became cheerful +in manner and communicative. "Papa," she said, "I have had a letter +from Mary." + +"Well, my dear." + +"Just a nice chatty letter,--full of Everett, of course." + +"Everett is a great man now." + +"I am sure that you are very glad that he is what he is. Will you see +Mary's letter?" Mr. Wharton was not specially given to reading young +ladies' correspondence, and did not know why this particular letter +should be offered to him. "You don't suspect anything at Wharton, do +you?" she asked. + +"Suspect anything! No; I don't suspect anything." But now, having had +his curiosity aroused, he took the letter which was offered to him +and read it. The letter was as follows:-- + + + Wharton, Thursday. + + DEAREST EMILY,-- + + We all hope that you had a pleasant journey up to London, + and that Mr. Wharton is quite well. Your brother Everett + came over to Longbarns the day after you started and drove + me back to Wharton in the dog-cart. It was such a pleasant + journey, though, now I remember, it rained all the way. + But Everett has always so much to say that I didn't mind + the rain. I think it will end in John taking the hounds. + He says he won't, because he does not wish to be the slave + of the whole county;--but he says it in that sort of way + that we all think he means to do it. Everett tells him + that he ought, because he is the only hunting man on this + side of the county who can afford to do it without feeling + it much; and of course what Everett says will go a long + way with him. Sarah [Sarah was John Fletcher's wife] is + rather against it. But if he makes up his mind she'll be + sure to turn round. Of course it makes us all very anxious + at present to know how it is to end, for the Master of the + Hounds always is the leading man in our part of the world. + Papa went to the bench at Ross yesterday and took Everett + with him. It was the first time that Everett had sat + there. He says I am to tell his father he has not hung + anybody as yet. + + They have already begun to cut down, or what they call + stubb up, Barnton Spinnies. Everett said that it is no + good keeping it as a wood, and papa agreed. So it is to go + into the home farm, and Griffiths is to pay rent for it. I + don't like having it cut down as the boys always used to + get nuts there, but Everett says it won't do to keep woods + for little boys to get nuts. + + Mary Stocking has been very ill since you went, and I'm + afraid she won't last long. When they get to be so very + bad with rheumatism I almost think it's wrong to pray for + them, because they are in so much pain. We thought at one + time that mamma's ointment had done her good, but when we + came to inquire, we found she had swallowed it. Wasn't it + dreadful? But it didn't seem to do her any harm. Everett + says that it wouldn't make any difference which she did. + + Papa is beginning to be afraid that Everett is a + Radical. But I'm sure he's not. He says he is as good a + Conservative as there is in all Herefordshire, only that + he likes to know what is to be conserved. Papa said after + dinner yesterday that everything English ought to be + maintained. Everett said that according to that we should + have kept the Star Chamber. "Of course I would," said + papa. Then they went at it, hammer and tongs. Everett had + the best of it. At any rate he talked the longest. But I + do hope he is not a Radical. No country gentleman ought to + be a Radical. Ought he, dear? + + Mrs. Fletcher says you are to get the lozenges at Squire's + in Oxford Street, and be sure to ask for the Vade mecum + lozenges. She is all in a flutter about the hounds. She + says she hopes John will do nothing of the kind because of + the expense; but we all know that she would like him to + have them. The subscription is not very good, only L1500, + and it would cost him ever so much a year. But everybody + says that he is very rich and that he ought to do it. If + you see Arthur give him our love. Of course a member of + Parliament is too busy to write letters. But I don't think + Arthur ever was good at writing. Everett says that men + never ought to write letters. Give my love to Mr. Wharton. + + I am, dearest Emily, + Your most affectionate Cousin, + + MARY WHARTON. + + +"Everett is a fool," said Mr. Wharton as soon as he had read the +letter. + +"Why is he a fool, papa?" + +"Because he will quarrel with Sir Alured about politics before he +knows where he is. What business has a young fellow like that to have +an opinion either one side or the other, before his betters?" + +"But Everett always had strong opinions." + +"It didn't matter as long as he only talked nonsense at a club in +London, but now he'll break that old man's heart." + +"But, papa, don't you see anything else?" + +"I see that John Fletcher is going to make an ass of himself and +spend a thousand a year in keeping up a pack of hounds for other +people to ride after." + +"I think I see something else besides that." + +"What do you see?" + +"Would it annoy you if Everett were to become engaged to Mary?" + +Then Mr. Wharton whistled. "To be sure she does put his name into +every line of her letter. No; it wouldn't annoy me. I don't see why +he shouldn't marry his second cousin if he likes. Only if he is +engaged to her, I think it odd that he shouldn't write and tell us." + +"I'm sure he's not engaged to her yet. She wouldn't write at all in +that way if they were engaged. Everybody would be told at once, and +Sir Alured would never be able to keep it a secret. Why should there +be a secret? But I'm sure she is very fond of him. Mary would never +write about any man in that way unless she were beginning to be +attached to him." + +About ten days after this there came two letters from Wharton Hall to +Manchester Square, the shortest of which shall be given first. It ran +as follows:-- + + + MY DEAR FATHER,-- + + I have proposed to my cousin Mary, and she has accepted + me. Everybody here seems to like the idea. I hope it will + not displease you. Of course you and Emily will come down. + I will tell you when the day is fixed. + + Your affectionate son, + + EVERETT WHARTON. + + +This the old man read as he sat at breakfast with his daughter +opposite to him, while Emily was reading a very much longer letter +from the same house. "So it's going to be just as you guessed," he +said. + +"I was quite sure of it, papa. Is that from Everett? Is he very +happy?" + +"Upon my word, I can't say whether he's happy or not. If he had got a +new horse he would have written at much greater length about it. It +seems, however, to be quite fixed." + +"Oh, yes. This is from Mary. She is happy at any rate. I suppose men +never say so much about these things as women." + +"May I see Mary's letter?" + +"I don't think it would be quite fair, papa. It's only a girl's +rhapsody about the man she loves,--very nice and womanly, but not +intended for any one but me. It does not seem that they mean to wait +very long." + +"Why should they wait? Is any day fixed?" + +"Mary says that Everett talks about the middle of May. Of course you +will go down." + +"We must both go." + +"You will at any rate. Don't promise for me just at present. It must +make Sir Alured very happy. It is almost the same as finding himself +at last with a son of his own. I suppose they will live at Wharton +altogether now,--unless Everett gets into Parliament." + +But the reader may see the young lady's letter, though her future +father-in-law was not permitted to do so, and will perceive that +there was a paragraph at the close of it which perhaps was more +conducive to Emily's secrecy than her feelings as to the sacred +obligations of female correspondence. + + + Monday, Wharton. + + DEAREST EMILY,-- + + I wonder whether you will be much surprised at the news + I have to tell you. You cannot be more so than I am at + having to write it. It has all been so very sudden that + I almost feel ashamed of myself. Everett has proposed + to me, and I have accepted him. There;--now you know it + all. Though you never can know how very dearly I love him + and how thoroughly I admire him. I do think that he is + everything that a man ought to be, and that I am the most + fortunate young woman in the world. Only isn't it odd + that I should always have to live all my life in the same + house, and never change my name,--just like a man, or an + old maid? But I don't mind that because I do love him so + dearly and because he is so good. I hope he will write + to you and tell you that he likes me. He has written to + Mr. Wharton, I know. I was sitting by him and his letter + didn't take him a minute. But he says that long letters + about such things only give trouble. I hope you won't + think my letter troublesome. He is not sitting by me now + but has gone over to Longbarns to help to settle about + the hounds. John is going to have them after all. I wish + it hadn't happened just at this time because all the + gentlemen do think so much about it. Of course Everett is + one of the committee. + + Papa and mamma are both very, very glad of it. Of course + it is nice for them as it will keep Everett and me here. + If I had married anybody else,--though I am sure I never + should,--she would have been very lonely. And of course + papa likes to think that Everett is already one of us. + I hope they never will quarrel about politics; but, as + Everett says, the world does change as it goes on, and + young men and old men never will think quite the same + about things. Everett told papa the other day that if he + could be put back a century he would be a Radical. Then + there were ever so many words. But Everett always laughs, + and at last papa comes round. + + I can't tell you, my dear, what a fuss we are in already + about it all. Everett wants to have our marriage early in + May, so that we may have two months in Switzerland before + London is what he calls turned loose. And papa says that + there is no use in delaying, because he gets older every + day. Of course that is true of everybody. So that we are + all in a flutter about getting things. Mamma did talk of + going up to town, but I believe they have things now quite + as good at Hereford. Sarah, when she was married, had all + her things from London, but they say that there has been a + great change since that. I am sure that I think that you + may get anything you want at Muddocks and Cramble's. But + mamma says I am to have my veil from Howell and James's. + + Of course you and Mr. Wharton will come. I shan't think it + any marriage without. Papa and mamma talk of it as quite + of course. You know how fond papa is of the bishop. I + think he will marry us. I own I should like to be married + by a bishop. It would make it so sweet and so solemn. Mr. + Higgenbottom could of course assist;--but he is such an + odd old man, with his snuff and his spectacles always + tumbling off, that I shouldn't like to have no one else. I + have often thought that if it were only for marrying + people we ought to have a nicer rector at Wharton. + + Almost all the tenants have been to wish me joy. They are + very fond of Everett already, and now they feel that there + will never be any very great change. I do think it is the + very best thing that could be done, even if it were not + that I am so thoroughly in love with him. I didn't think I + should ever be able to own that I was in love with a man; + but now I feel quite proud of it. I don't mind telling you + because he is your brother, and I think that you will be + glad of it. + + He talks very often about you. Of course you know what + it is that we all wish. I love Arthur Fletcher almost + as much as if he were my brother. He is my sister's + brother-in-law, and if he could become my husband's + brother-in-law too, I should be so happy. Of course we all + know that he wishes it. Write immediately to wish me joy. + Perhaps you could go to Howell and James's about the veil. + And promise to come to us in May. Sarah says the veil + ought to cost about thirty pounds. + + Dearest, dearest Emily, + I shall so soon be your most affectionate sister, + + MARY WHARTON. + + +Emily's answer was full of warm, affectionate congratulations. She +had much to say in favour of Everett. She promised to use all her +little skill at Howell and James's. She expressed a hope that the +overtures to be made in regard to the bishop might be successful. And +she made kind remarks even as to Muddocks and Cramble. But she would +not promise that she herself would be at Wharton on the happy day. +"Dear Mary," she said, "remember what I have suffered, and that +I cannot be quite as other people are. I could not stand at your +marriage in black clothes,--nor should I have the courage even if I +had the will to dress myself in others." None of the Whartons had +come to her wedding. There was no feeling of anger now left as to +that. She was quite aware that they had done right to stay away. But +the very fact that it had been right that they should stay away would +make it wrong that the widow of Ferdinand Lopez should now assist at +the marriage of one Wharton to another. This was all that a marriage +ought to be; whereas that had been--all that a marriage ought not to +be. In answer to the paragraph about Arthur Fletcher Emily Lopez had +not a word to say. + +Soon after this, early in April, Everett came up to town. Though his +bride might be content to get her bridal clothes in Hereford, none +but a London tailor could decorate him properly for such an occasion. +During these last weeks Arthur Fletcher had not been seen in +Manchester Square; nor had his name been mentioned there by Mr. +Wharton. Of anything that may have passed between them Emily was +altogether ignorant. She observed, or thought that she observed, that +her father was more silent with her,--perhaps less tender than he had +been since the day on which her husband had perished. His manner of +life was the same. He almost always dined at home in order that she +might not be alone, and made no complaint as to her conduct. But she +could see that he was unhappy, and she knew the cause of his grief. +"I think, papa," she said one day, "that it would be better that I +should go away." This was on the day before Everett's arrival,--of +which, however, he had given no notice. + +"Go away! Where would you go to?" + +"It does not matter. I do not make you happy." + +"What do you mean? Who says that I am not happy? Why do you talk like +that?" + +"Do not be angry with me. Nobody says so. I can see it well enough. I +know how good you are to me, but I am making your life wretched. I am +a wet blanket to you, and yet I cannot help myself. If I could only +go somewhere, where I could be of use." + +"I don't know what you mean. This is your proper home." + +"No;--it is not my home. I ought to have forfeited it. I ought to go +where I could work and be of some use in the world." + +"You might be of use if you chose, my dear. Your proper career is +before you if you would condescend to accept it. It is not for me +to persuade you, but I can see and feel the truth. Till you bring +yourself to do that, your days will be blighted,--and so will mine. +You have made one great mistake in life. Stop a moment. I do not +speak often, but I wish you to listen to me now. Such mistakes do +generally produce misery and ruin to all who are concerned. With you +it chances that it may be otherwise. You can put your foot again upon +the firm ground and recover everything. Of course there must be a +struggle. One person has to struggle with circumstances, another +with his foes, and a third with his own feelings. I can understand +that there should be such a struggle with you; but it ought to be +made. You ought to be brave enough and strong enough to conquer your +regrets, and to begin again. In no other way can you do anything +for me or for yourself. To talk of going away is childish nonsense. +Whither would you go? I shall not urge you any more, but I would not +have you talk to me in that way." Then he got up and left the room +and the house, and went down to his club,--in order that she might +think of what he had said in solitude. + +And she did think of it;--but still continually with an assurance to +herself that her father did not understand her feelings. The career +of which he spoke was no doubt open to her, but she could not regard +it as that which it was proper that she should fulfil, as he did. +When she told her lover that she had lain among the pots till she +was black and defiled, she expressed in the strongest language that +which was her real conviction. He did not think her to have been +defiled,--or at any rate thought that she might again bear the wings +of a dove; but she felt it, and therefore knew herself to be unfit. +She had said it all to her lover in the strongest words she could +find, but she could not repeat them to her father. The next morning +when he came into the parlour where she was already sitting, she +looked up at him almost reproachfully. Did he think that a woman was +a piece of furniture which you can mend, and revarnish, and fit out +with new ornaments, and then send out for use, second-hand indeed, +but for all purposes as good as new? + +Then, while she was in this frame of mind, Everett came in upon her +unawares, and with his almost boisterous happiness succeeded for a +while in changing the current of her thoughts. He was of course now +uppermost in his own thoughts. The last few months had made so much +of him that he might be excused for being unable to sink himself in +the presence of others. He was the heir to the baronetcy,--and to the +double fortunes of the two old men. And he was going to be married in +a manner as every one told him to increase the glory and stability of +the family. "It's all nonsense about your not coming down," he said. +She smiled and shook her head. "I can only tell you that it will give +the greatest offence to every one. If you knew how much they talk +about you down there I don't think you would like to hurt them." + +"Of course I would not like to hurt them." + +"And considering that you have no other brother--" + +"Oh, Everett!" + +"I think more about it, perhaps, than you do. I think you owe it me +to come down. You will never probably have another chance of being +present at your brother's marriage." This he said in a tone that was +almost lachrymose. + +"A wedding, Everett, should be merry." + +"I don't know about that. It is a very serious sort of thing to my +way of thinking. When Mary got your letter it nearly broke her heart. +I think I have a right to expect it, and if you don't come I shall +feel myself injured. I don't see what is the use of having a family +if the members of it do not stick together. What would you think if I +were to desert you?" + +"Desert you, Everett?" + +"Well, yes;--it is something of the kind. I have made my request, and +you can comply with it or not as you please." + +"I will go," she said very slowly. Then she left him and went to her +own room to think in what description of garment she could appear at +a wedding with the least violence to the conditions of her life. + +"I have got her to say she'll come," he said to his father that +evening. "If you leave her to me, I'll bring her round." + +Soon after that,--within a day or two,--there came out a paragraph in +one of the fashionable newspapers of the day, saying that an alliance +had been arranged between the heir to the Wharton title and property +and the daughter of the present baronet. I think that this had +probably originated in the club gossip. I trust it did not spring +directly from the activity or ambition of Everett himself. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXVI + +Who Will It Be? + + +For the first day or two after the resignation of the Ministry +the Duchess appeared to take no further notice of the matter. An +ungrateful world had repudiated her and her husband, and he had +foolishly assisted and given way to the repudiation. All her grand +aspirations were at an end. All her triumphs were over. And worse +than that, there was present to her a conviction that she never had +really triumphed. There never had come the happy moment in which she +had felt herself to be dominant over other women. She had toiled and +struggled, she had battled and occasionally submitted; and yet there +was present to her a feeling that she had stood higher in public +estimation as Lady Glencora Palliser,--whose position had been all +her own and had not depended on her husband,--than now she had done +as Duchess of Omnium, and wife of the Prime Minister of England. She +had meant to be something, she knew not what, greater than had been +the wives of other Prime Ministers and other Dukes; and now she +felt that in her failure she had been almost ridiculous. And the +failure, she thought, had been his,--or hers,--rather than that of +circumstances. If he had been less scrupulous and more persistent +it might have been different,--or if she had been more discreet. +Sometimes she felt her own failing so violently as to acquit him +almost entirely. At other times she was almost beside herself with +anger because all her losses seemed to have arisen from want of +stubbornness on his part. When he had told her that he and his +followers had determined to resign because they had beaten their foes +by a majority only of nine, she took it into her head that he was in +fault. Why should he go while his supporters were more numerous than +his opponents? It was useless to bid him think it over again. Though +she was far from understanding all the circumstances of the game, +she did know that he could not remain after having arranged with +his colleagues that he would go. So she became cross and sullen; +and while he was going to Windsor and back and setting his house +in order, and preparing the way for his successor,--whoever that +successor might be,--she was moody and silent, dreaming over some +impossible condition of things in accordance with which he might have +remained Prime Minister--almost for ever. + +On the Sunday after the fatal division,--the division which the +Duchess would not allow to have been fatal,--she came across him +somewhere in the house. She had hardly spoken to him since he had +come into her room that night and told her that all was over. She had +said that she was unwell and had kept out of sight; and he had been +here and there, between Windsor and the Treasury Chambers, and had +been glad to escape from her ill-humour. But she could not endure +any longer the annoyance of having to get all her news through Mrs. +Finn,--second hand, or third hand, and now found herself driven to +capitulate. "Well," she said; "how is it all going to be? I suppose +you do not know or you would have told me?" + +"There is very little to tell." + +"Mr. Monk is to be Prime Minister?" she asked. + +"I did not say so. But it is not impossible." + +"Has the Queen sent for him?" + +"Not as yet. Her Majesty has seen both Mr. Gresham and Mr. Daubeny as +well as myself. It does not seem a very easy thing to make a Ministry +just at present." + +"Why should not you go back?" + +"I do not think that is on the cards." + +"Why not? Ever so many men have done it, after going out,--and why +not you? I remember Mr. Mildmay doing it twice. It is always the +thing when the man who has been sent for makes a mess of it, for the +old minister to have another chance." + +"But what if the old minister will not take the chance?" + +"Then it is the old minister's fault. Why shouldn't you take the +chance as well as another? It isn't many days ago since you were +quite anxious to remain in. I thought you were going to break your +heart because people even talked of your going." + +"I was going to break my heart, as you call it," he said, smiling, +"not because people talked of my ceasing to be minister, but because +the feeling of the House of Commons justified people in so saying. I +hope you see the difference." + +"No, I don't. And there is no difference. The people we are talking +about are the members,--and they have supported you. You could go on +if you chose. I'm sure Mr. Monk wouldn't leave you." + +"It is just what Mr. Monk would do, and ought to do. No one is less +likely than Mr. Monk to behave badly in such an emergency. The more I +see of Mr. Monk, the higher I think of him." + +"He has his own game to play as well as others." + +"I think he has no game to play but that of his country. It is no use +our discussing it, Cora." + +"Of course I understand nothing, because I'm a woman." + +"You understand a great deal,--but not quite all. You may at any rate +understand this,--that our troubles are at an end. You were saying +but the other day that the labours of being a Prime Minister's wife +had been almost too many for you." + +"I never said so. As long as you didn't give way no labour was +too much for me. I would have done anything,--slaved morning and +night,--so that we might have succeeded. I hate being beat. I'd +sooner be cut in pieces." + +"There is no help for it now, Cora. The Lord Mayor, you know, is only +Lord Mayor for one year, and must then go back to private life." + +"But men have been Prime Ministers for ten years at a time. If you +have made up your mind, I suppose we may as well give up. I shall +always think it your own fault." He still smiled. "I shall," she +said. + +"Oh, Cora!" + +"I can only speak as I feel." + +"I don't think you would speak as you do, if you knew how much your +words hurt me. In such a matter as this I should not be justified in +allowing your opinions to have weight with me. But your sympathy +would be so much to me!" + +"When I thought it was making you ill, I wished that you might be +spared." + +"My illness would be nothing, but my honour is everything. I, too, +have something to bear as well as you, and if you cannot approve of +what I do, at any rate be silent." + +"Yes;--I can be silent." Then he slowly left her. As he went she was +almost tempted to yield, and to throw herself into his arms, and to +promise that she would be soft to him, and to say that she was sure +that all he did was for the best. But she could not bring herself as +yet to be good-humoured. If he had only been a little stronger, a +little thicker-skinned, made of clay a little coarser, a little other +than he was, it might all have been so different! + +Early on that Sunday afternoon she had herself driven to Mrs. Finn's +house in Park Lane, instead of waiting for her friend. Latterly she +had but seldom done this, finding that her presence at home was much +wanted. She had been filled with, perhaps, foolish ideas of the +necessity of doing something,--of adding something to the strength of +her husband's position,--and had certainly been diligent in her work. +But now she might run about like any other woman. "This is an honour, +Duchess," said Mrs. Finn. + +"Don't be sarcastic, Marie. We have nothing further to do with the +bestowal of honours. Why didn't he make everybody a peer or a baronet +while he was about it? Lord Finn! I don't see why he shouldn't have +been Lord Finn. I'm sure he deserved it for the way in which he +attacked Sir Timothy Beeswax." + +"I don't think he'd like it." + +"They all say so, but I suppose they do like it, or they wouldn't +take it. And I'd have made Locock a knight;--Sir James Locock. He'd +make a more knightly knight than Sir Timothy. When a man has power +he ought to use it. It makes people respect him. Mr. Daubeny made a +duke, and people think more of that than anything he did. Is Mr. Finn +going to join the new ministry?" + +"If you can tell me, Duchess, who is to be the new minister, I can +give a guess." + +"Mr. Monk." + +"Then he certainly will." + +"Or Mr. Daubeny." + +"Then he certainly won't." + +"Or Mr. Gresham." + +"That I could not answer." + +"Or the Duke of Omnium." + +"That would depend upon his Grace, If the Duke came back, Mr. Finn's +services would be at his disposal, whether in or out of office." + +"Very prettily said, my dear. I never look round this room without +thinking of the first time I came here. Do you remember, when I found +the old man sitting there?" The old man alluded to was the late Duke. + +"I am not likely to forget it, Duchess." + +"How I hated you when I saw you! What a fright I thought you were! I +pictured you to myself as a sort of ogre, willing to eat up everybody +for the gratification of your own vanity." + +"I was very vain, but there was a little pride with it." + +"And now it has come to pass that I can't very well live without you. +How he did love you!" + +"His Grace was very good to me." + +"It would have done no great harm, after all, if he had made you +Duchess of Omnium." + +"Very great harm to me, Lady Glen. As it is I got a friend that I +loved dearly, and a husband that I love dearly too. In the other case +I should have had neither. Perhaps I may say, that in that other +case my life would not have been brightened by the affection of the +present Duchess." + +"One can't tell how it would have gone, but I well remember the +state I was in then." The door was opened and Phineas Finn entered +the room. "What, Mr. Finn, are you at home? I thought everybody +was crowding down at the clubs, to know who is to be what. We are +settled. We are quiet. We have nothing to do to disturb ourselves. +But you ought to be in all the flutter of renewed expectation." + +"I am waiting my destiny in calm seclusion. I hope the Duke is well?" + +"As well as can be expected. He doesn't walk about his room with a +poniard in his hand,--ready for himself or Sir Orlando; nor is he +sitting crowned like Bacchus, drinking the health of the new Ministry +with Lord Drummond and Sir Timothy. He is probably sipping a cup of +coffee over a blue-book in dignified retirement. You should go and +see him." + +"I should be unwilling to trouble him when he is so much occupied." + +"That is just what has done him all the harm in the world. Everybody +presumes that he has so much to think of that nobody goes near him. +Then he is left to boody over everything by himself till he becomes +a sort of political hermit, or ministerial Lama, whom human eyes are +not to look upon. It doesn't matter now; does it?" Visitor after +visitor came in, and the Duchess chatted to them all, leaving the +impression on everybody that heard her that she at least was not +sorry to be relieved from the troubles attending her husband's late +position. + +She sat there over an hour, and as she was taking her leave she had a +few words to whisper to Mrs. Finn. "When this is all over," she said, +"I mean to call on that Mrs. Lopez." + +"I thought you did go there." + +"That was soon after the poor man had killed himself,--when she was +going away. Of course I only left a card. But I shall see her now if +I can. We want to get her out of her melancholy if possible. I have a +sort of feeling, you know, that among us we made the train run over +him." + +"I don't think that." + +"He got so horribly abused for what he did at Silverbridge; and I +really don't see why he wasn't to have his money. It was I that made +him spend it." + +"He was, I fancy, a thoroughly bad man." + +"But a wife doesn't always want to be made a widow even if her +husband be bad. I think I owe her something, and I would pay my debt +if I knew how. I shall go and see her, and if she will marry this +other man we'll take her by the hand. Good-bye, dear. You'd better +come to me early to-morrow, as I suppose we shall know something by +eleven o'clock." + +In the course of that evening the Duke of St. Bungay came to Carlton +Terrace and was closeted for some time with the late Prime Minister. +He had been engaged during that and the last two previous days in +lending his aid to various political manoeuvres and ministerial +attempts, from which our Duke had kept himself altogether aloof. He +did not go to Windsor, but as each successive competitor journeyed +thither and returned, some one either sent for the old Duke or went +to seek his counsel. He was the Nestor of the occasion, and strove +heartily to compose all quarrels, and so to arrange matters that a +wholesome, moderately Liberal Ministry might be again installed for +the good of the country and the comfort of all true Whigs. In such +moments he almost ascended to the grand heights of patriotism, being +always indifferent as to himself. Now he came to his late chief with +a new project. Mr. Gresham would attempt to form a Ministry if the +Duke of Omnium would join him. + +"It is impossible," said the younger politician, folding his hands +together and throwing himself back in his chair. + +"Listen to me before you answer me with such certainty. There are +three or four gentlemen who, after the work of the last three +years, bearing in mind the manner in which our defeat has just been +accomplished, feel themselves disinclined to join Mr. Gresham unless +you will do so also. I may specially name Mr. Monk and Mr. Finn. I +might perhaps add myself, were it not that I had hoped that in any +event I might at length regard myself as exempt from further service. +The old horse should be left to graze out his last days, Ne peccet ad +extremum ridendus. But you can't consider yourself absolved on that +score." + +"There are other reasons." + +"But the Queen's service should count before everything. Gresham and +Cantrip with their own friends can hardly make a Ministry as things +are now unless Mr. Monk will join them. I do not think that any other +Chancellor of the Exchequer is at present possible." + +"I will beseech Mr. Monk not to let any feeling as to me stand in his +way. Why should it?" + +"It is not only what you may think and he may think,--but what others +will think and say. The Coalition will have done all that ought +to have been expected from it if our party in it can now join Mr. +Gresham." + +"By all means. But I could give them no strength. They may be sure at +any rate of what little I can do for them out of office." + +"Mr. Gresham has made his acceptance of office,--well, I will not +say strictly conditional on your joining him. That would hardly be +correct. But he has expressed himself quite willing to make the +attempt with your aid, and doubtful whether he can succeed without +it. He suggests that you should join him as President of the +Council." + +"And you?" + +"If I were wanted at all I should take the Privy Seal." + +"Certainly not, my friend. If there were any question of my return +we would reverse the offices. But I think I may say that my mind is +fixed. If you wish it I will see Mr. Monk, and do all that I can to +get him to go with you. But for myself,--I feel that it would be +useless." + +At last, at the Duke's pressing request, he agreed to take +twenty-four hours before he gave his final answer to the proposition. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXVII + +The Duchess in Manchester Square + + +The Duke said not a word to his wife as to this new proposition, and +when she asked him what tidings their old friend had brought as to +the state of affairs, he almost told a fib in his anxiety to escape +from her persecution. "He is in some doubt what he means to do +himself," said the Duke. The Duchess asked many questions, but got no +satisfactory reply to any of them. Nor did Mrs. Finn learn anything +from her husband, whom, however, she did not interrogate very +closely. She would be contented to know when the proper time might +come for ladies to be informed. The Duke, however, was determined +to take his twenty-four hours all alone,--or at any rate not to be +driven to his decision by feminine interference. + +In the meantime the Duchess went to Manchester Square intent on +performing certain good offices on behalf of the poor widow. It may +be doubted whether she had clearly made up her mind what it was that +she could do, though she was clear that some debt was due by her to +Mrs. Lopez. And she knew too in what direction assistance might be +serviceable, if only it could in this case be given. She had heard +that the present member for Silverbridge had been the lady's lover +long before Mr. Lopez had come upon the scene, and with those +feminine wiles of which she was a perfect mistress she had extracted +from him a confession that his mind was unaltered. She liked Arthur +Fletcher,--as indeed she had for a time liked Ferdinand Lopez,--and +felt that her conscience would be easier if she could assist in this +good work. She built castles in the air as to the presence of the +bride and bridegroom at Matching, thinking how she might thus repair +the evil she had done. But her heart misgave her a little as she +drew near to the house, and remembered how very slight was her +acquaintance and how extremely delicate the mission on which she had +come. But she was not the woman to turn back when she had once put +her foot to any work; and she was driven up to the door in Manchester +Square without any expressed hesitation on her own part. "Yes,--his +mistress was at home," said the butler, still shrinking at the sound +of the name which he hated. The Duchess was then shown upstairs, and +was left alone for some minutes in the drawing-room. It was a large +handsome apartment, hung round with valuable pictures, and having +signs of considerable wealth. Since she had first invited Lopez to +stand for Silverbridge she had heard much about him, and had wondered +how he had gained possession of such a girl as Emily Wharton. And +now, as she looked about, her wonder was increased. She knew enough +of such people as the Whartons and the Fletchers to be aware that +as a class they are more impregnable, more closely guarded by their +feelings and prejudices against strangers than any other. None keep +their daughters to themselves with greater care, or are less willing +to see their rules of life changed or abolished. And yet this man, +half foreigner half Jew,--and as it now appeared, whole pauper,--had +stepped in and carried off a prize for which such a one as Arthur +Fletcher was contending! The Duchess had never seen Emily but +once,--so as to observe her well,--and had then thought her to be a +very handsome woman. It had been at the garden party at Richmond, +and Lopez had then insisted that his wife should be well dressed. It +would perhaps have been impossible in the whole of that assembly to +find a more beautiful woman than Mrs. Lopez then was,--or one who +carried herself with a finer air. Now when she entered the room in +her deep mourning it would have been difficult to recognise her. Her +face was much thinner, her eyes apparently larger, and her colour +faded. And there had come a settled seriousness on her face which +seemed to rob her of her youth. Arthur Fletcher had declared that as +he saw her now she was more beautiful than ever. But Arthur Fletcher, +in looking at her, saw more than her mere features. To his eyes there +was a tenderness added by her sorrow which had its own attraction +for him. And he was so well versed in every line of her countenance, +that he could see there the old loveliness behind the sorrow; the +loveliness which would come forth again, as bright as ever, if the +sorrow could be removed. But the Duchess, though she remembered the +woman's beauty as she might that of any other lady, now saw nothing +but a thing of woe wrapped in customary widow's weeds. "I hope," she +said, "I am not intruding in coming to you; but I have been anxious +to renew our acquaintance for reasons which I am sure you will +understand." + +Emily at the moment hardly knew how to address her august visitor. +Though her father had lived all his life in what is called good +society, he had not consorted much with dukes and duchesses. She +herself had indeed on one occasion been for an hour or two the guest +of this grand lady, but on that occasion she had hardly been called +upon to talk to her. Now she doubted how to name the Duchess, and +with some show of hesitation decided at last upon not naming her at +all. "It is very good of you to come," she said in a faltering voice. + +"I told you that I would when I wrote, you know. That is many months +ago, but I have not forgotten it. You have been in the country since +that, I think?" + +"Yes, in Herefordshire. Herefordshire is our county." + +"I know all about it," said the Duchess, smiling. She generally did +contrive to learn "all about" the people whom she chose to take by +the hand. "We have a Herefordshire gentleman sitting for,--I must +not say our borough of Silverbridge." She was anxious to make some +allusion to Arthur Fletcher; but it was difficult to travel on that +Silverbridge ground, as Lopez had been her chosen candidate when she +still wished to claim the borough as an appanage of the Palliser +family. Emily, however, kept her countenance and did not show by any +sign that her thoughts were running in that direction. "And though we +don't presume to regard Mr. Fletcher," continued the Duchess, "as in +any way connected with our local interests, he has always supported +the Duke, and I hope has become a friend of ours. I think he is a +neighbour of yours in the country." + +"Oh, yes. My cousin is married to his brother." + +"I knew there was something of that kind. He told me that there was +some close alliance." The Duchess as she looked at the woman to whom +she wanted to be kind did not as yet dare to express a wish that +there might at some not very distant time be a closer alliance. She +had come there intending to do so; and had still some hope that she +might do it before the interview was over. But at any rate she would +not do it yet. "Have I not heard," she said, "something of another +marriage?" + +"My brother is going to marry his cousin, Sir Alured Wharton's +daughter." + +"Ah;--I thought it had been one of the Fletchers. It was our member +who told me, and he spoke as though they were all his very dear +friends." + +"They are dear friends,--very." Poor Emily still didn't know whether +to call her Duchess, my Lady, or your Grace,--and yet felt the need +of calling her by some special name. + +"Exactly. I supposed it was so. They tell me Mr. Fletcher will become +quite a favourite in the House. At this present moment nobody knows +on which side anybody is going to sit to-morrow. It may be that Mr. +Fletcher will become the dire enemy of all the Duke's friends." + +"I hope not." + +"Of course I'm speaking of political enemies. Political enemies are +often the best friends in the world; and I can assure you from my own +experience that political friends are often the bitterest enemies. +I never hated any people so much as some of our supporters." The +Duchess made a grimace, and Emily could not refrain from smiling. +"Yes, indeed. There's an old saying that misfortune makes strange +bedfellows, but political friendship makes stranger alliances than +misfortune. Perhaps you never met Sir Timothy Beeswax." + +"Never." + +"Well;--don't. But, as I was saying, there is no knowing who may +support whom now. If I were asked who would be Prime Minister +to-morrow, I should take half-a-dozen names and shake them in a bag." + +"It is not settled then?" + +"Settled! No, indeed. Nothing is settled." At that moment indeed +everything was settled, though the Duchess did not know it. "And so +we none of us can tell how Mr. Fletcher may stand with us when things +are arranged. I suppose he calls himself a Conservative?" + +"Oh, yes!" + +"All the Whartons, I suppose, are Conservatives,--and all the +Fletchers." + +"Very nearly. Papa calls himself a Tory." + +"A very much better name, to my thinking. We are all Whigs, of +course. A Palliser who was not a Whig would be held to have disgraced +himself for ever. Are not politics odd? A few years ago I only barely +knew what the word meant, and that not correctly. Lately I have been +so eager about it, that there hardly seems to be anything else left +worth living for. I suppose it's wrong, but a state of pugnacity +seems to me the greatest bliss which we can reach here on earth." + +"I shouldn't like to be always fighting." + +"That's because you haven't known Sir Timothy Beeswax and two or +three other gentlemen whom I could name. The day will come, I dare +say, when you will care for politics." + +Emily was about to answer, hardly knowing what to say, when the +door was opened and Mrs. Roby came into the room. The lady was not +announced, and Emily had heard no knock at the door. She was forced +to go through some ceremony of introduction. "This is my aunt, Mrs. +Roby," she said. "Aunt Harriet, the Duchess of Omnium." Mrs. Roby was +beside herself,--not all with joy. That feeling would come afterwards +as she would boast to her friends of her new acquaintance. At present +there was the embarrassment of not quite knowing how to behave +herself. The Duchess bowed from her seat, and smiled sweetly,--as +she had learned to smile since her husband had become Prime Minister. +Mrs. Roby curtsied, and then remembered that in these days only +housemaids ought to curtsey. + +"Anything to our Mr. Roby?" said the Duchess, continuing her +smile,--"ours as he was till yesterday at least." This she said in an +absurd wail of mock sorrow. + +"My brother-in-law, your Grace," said Mrs. Roby, delighted. + +"Oh indeed. And what does Mr. Roby think about it, I wonder? But I +dare say you have found, Mrs. Roby, that when a crisis comes,--a real +crisis,--the ladies are told nothing. I have." + +"I don't think, your Grace, that Mr. Roby ever divulges political +secrets." + +"Doesn't he indeed! What a dull man your brother-in-law must be to +live with,--that is as a politician! Good-bye, Mrs. Lopez. You must +come and see me and let me come to you again. I hope, you know,--I +hope the time may come when things may once more be bright with you." +These last words she murmured almost in a whisper, as she held the +hand of the woman she wished to befriend. Then she bowed to Mrs. +Roby, and left the room. + +"What was it she said to you?" asked Mrs. Roby. + +"Nothing in particular, Aunt Harriet." + +"She seems to be very friendly. What made her come?" + +"She wrote some time ago to say she would call." + +"But why?" + +"I cannot tell you. I don't know. Don't ask me, aunt, about things +that are passed. You cannot do it without wounding me." + +"I don't want to wound you, Emily, but I really think that that is +nonsense. She is a very nice woman;--though I don't think she ought +to have said that Mr. Roby is dull. Did Mr. Wharton know that she was +coming?" + +"He knew that she said she would come," replied Emily very sternly, +so that Mrs. Roby found herself compelled to pass on to some other +subject. Mrs. Roby had heard the wish expressed that something "once +more might be bright," and when she got home told her husband that +she was sure that Emily Lopez was going to marry Arthur Fletcher. +"And why the d---- shouldn't she?" said Dick. "And that poor man +destroying himself not much more than twelve months ago! I couldn't +do it," said Mrs. Roby. "I don't mean to give you the chance," said +Dick. + +The Duchess when she went away suffered under a sense of failure. She +had intended to bring about some crisis of female tenderness in which +she might have rushed into future hopes and joyous anticipations, and +with the freedom which will come from ebullitions of feeling, have +told the widow that the peculiar circumstances of her position would +not only justify her in marrying this other man but absolutely called +upon her to do it. Unfortunately she had failed in her attempt to +bring the interview to a condition in which this would have been +possible, and while she was still making the attempt that odious +aunt had come in. "I have been on my mission," she said to Mrs. Finn +afterwards. + +"Have you done any good?" + +"I don't think I've done any harm. Women, you know, are so very +different! There are some who would delight to have an opportunity +of opening their hearts to a Duchess, and who might almost be talked +into anything in an ecstasy." + +"Hardly women of the best sort, Lady Glen." + +"Not of the best sort. But then one doesn't come across the very +best, very often. But that kind of thing does have an effect; and as +I only wanted to do good, I wish she had been one of the sort for the +occasion." + +"Was she--offended?" + +"Oh dear, no. You don't suppose I attacked her with a husband at the +first word. Indeed, I didn't attack her at all. She didn't give me an +opportunity. Such a Niobe you never saw." + +"Was she weeping?" + +"Not actual tears. But her gown, and her cap, and her strings were +weeping. Her voice wept, and her hair, and her nose, and her mouth. +Don't you know that look of subdued mourning? And yet they say that +that man is dying for love. How beautiful it is to see that there is +such a thing as constancy left in the world." + +When she got home she found that her husband had just returned from +the old Duke's house, where he had met Mr. Monk, Mr. Gresham, and +Lord Cantrip. "It's all settled at last," he said cheerfully. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXVIII + +The New Ministry + + +When the ex-Prime Minister was left by himself after the departure of +his old friend his first feeling had been one of regret that he had +been weak enough to doubt at all. He had long since made up his mind +that after all that had passed he could not return to office as a +subordinate. That feeling as to the impropriety of Caesar descending +to serve under others which he had been foolish enough to express, +had been strong with him from the very commencement of his Ministry. +When first asked to take the place which he had filled the reason +strong against it had been the conviction that it would probably +exclude him from political work during the latter half of his life. +The man who has written Q.C. after his name must abandon his practice +behind the bar. As he then was, although he had already been driven +by the unhappy circumstance of his peerage from the House of Commons +which he loved so well, there were still open to him many fields of +political work. But if he should once consent to stand on the top +rung of the ladder, he could not, he thought, take a lower place +without degradation. Till he should have been placed quite at the top +no shifting his place from this higher to that lower office would +injure him in his own estimation. The exigencies of the service and +not defeat would produce such changes as that. But he could not go +down from being Prime Minister and serve under some other chief +without acknowledging himself to have been unfit for the place he +had filled. Of all that he had quite assured himself. And yet he had +allowed the old Duke to talk him into a doubt! + +As he sat considering the question he acknowledged that there might +have been room for doubt, though in the present emergency there +certainly was none. He could imagine circumstances in which the +experience of an individual in some special branch of his country's +service might be of such paramount importance to the country as to +make it incumbent on a man to sacrifice all personal feeling. But it +was not so with him. There was nothing now which he could do, which +another might not do as well. That blessed task of introducing +decimals into all the commercial relations of British life, which +had once kept him aloft in the air, floating as upon eagle's wings, +had been denied him. If ever done it must be done from the House of +Commons; and the people of the country had become deaf to the charms +of that great reform. Othello's occupation was, in truth, altogether +gone, and there was no reason by which he could justify to himself +the step down in the world which the old Duke had proposed to him. + +Early on the following morning he left Carlton Terrace on foot and +walked as far as Mr. Monk's house, which was close to St. James's +Street. Here at eleven o'clock he found his late Chancellor of the +Exchequer in that state of tedious agitation in which a man is kept +who does not yet know whether he is or is not to be one of the actors +in the play just about to be performed. The Duke had never before +been in Mr. Monk's very humble abode, and now caused some surprise. +Mr. Monk knew that he might probably be sent for, but had not +expected that any of the ex-Prime Ministers of the day would come +to him. People had said that not improbably he himself might be +the man,--but he himself had indulged in no such dream. Office had +had no great charms for him;--and if there was one man of the late +Government who could lay it down without a personal regret, it was +Mr. Monk. "I wish you to come with me to the Duke's house in St. +James's Square," said the late Prime Minister. "I think we shall find +him at home." + +"Certainly. I will come this moment." Then there was not a word +spoken till the two men were in the street together. "Of course I +am a little anxious," said Mr. Monk. "Have you anything to tell me +before we get there?" + +"You of course must return to office, Mr. Monk." + +"With your Grace--I certainly will do so." + +"And without, if there be the need. They who are wanted should be +forthcoming. But perhaps you will let me postpone what I have to say +till we see the Duke. What a charming morning;--is it not? How sweet +it would be down in the country." March had gone out like a lamb, and +even in London the early April days were sweet,--to be followed, no +doubt, by the usual nipping inclemency of May. "I never can get over +the feeling," continued the Duke, "that Parliament should sit for the +six winter months, instead of in summer. If we met on the first of +October, how glorious it would be to get away for the early spring!" + +"Nothing less strong than grouse could break up Parliament," said Mr. +Monk; "and then what would the pheasants and the foxes say?" + +"It is giving up almost too much to our amusements. I used to think +that I should like to move for a return of the number of hunting and +shooting gentlemen in both Houses. I believe it would be a small +minority." + +"But their sons shoot, and their daughters hunt, and all their +hangers-on would be against it." + +"Custom is against us, Mr. Monk; that is it. Here we are. I hope my +friend will not be out, looking up young Lords of the Treasury." The +Duke of St. Bungay was not in search of cadets for the Government, +but was at this very moment closeted with Mr. Gresham, and Mr. +Gresham's especial friend Lord Cantrip. He had been at this +work so long and so constantly that his very servants had their +ministerial-crisis manners and felt and enjoyed the importance of the +occasion. The two newcomers were soon allowed to enter the august +conclave, and the five great senators greeted each other cordially. +"I hope we have not come inopportunely," said the Duke of Omnium. Mr. +Gresham assured him almost with hilarity that nothing could be less +inopportune;--and then the Duke was sure that Mr. Gresham was to +be the new Prime Minister, whoever might join him or whoever might +refuse to do so. "I told my friend here," continued our Duke, laying +his hand upon the old man's arm, "that I would give him his answer to +a proposition he made me within twenty-four hours. But I find that I +can do so without that delay." + +"I trust your Grace's answer may be favourable to us," said Mr. +Gresham,--who indeed did not doubt much that it would be so, seeing +that Mr. Monk had accompanied him. + +"I do not think that it will be unfavourable, though I cannot do as +my friend has proposed." + +"Any practicable arrangement--" began Mr. Gresham, with a frown, +however, on his brow. + +"The most practicable arrangement, I am sure, will be for you to +form your Government without hampering yourself with a beaten +predecessor." + +"Not beaten," said Lord Cantrip. + +"Certainly not," said the other Duke. + +"It is because of your success that I ask your services," said Mr. +Gresham. + +"I have none to give,--none that I cannot better bestow out of office +than in. I must ask you, gentlemen, to believe that I am quite fixed. +Coming here with my friend Mr. Monk, I did not state my purpose to +him; but I begged him to accompany me, fearing lest in my absence he +should feel it incumbent on himself to sail in the same boat with his +late colleague." + +"I should prefer to do so," said Mr. Monk. + +"Of course it is not for me to say what may be Mr. Gresham's ideas; +but as my friend here suggested to me that, were I to return to +office, Mr. Monk would do so also, I cannot be wrong in surmising +that his services are desired." Mr. Gresham bowed assent. "I shall +therefore take the liberty of telling Mr. Monk that I think he is +bound to give his aid in the present emergency. Were I as happily +placed as he is in being the possessor of a seat in the House of +Commons, I too should hope that I might do something." + +The four gentlemen, with eager pressure, begged the Duke to +reconsider his decision. He could take this office and do nothing in +it,--there being, as we all know, offices the holders of which are +not called upon for work,--or he could take that place which would +require him to labour like a galley slave. Would he be Privy Seal? +Would he undertake the India Board? But the Duke of Omnium was at +last resolute. Of this administration he would not at any rate be +a member. Whether Caesar might or might not at some future time +condescend to command a legion, he could not do so when the purple +had been but that moment stripped from his shoulders. He soon +afterwards left the house with a repeated request to Mr. Monk that +he would not follow his late chief's example. + +"I regret it greatly," said Mr. Gresham when he was gone. + +"There is no man," said Lord Cantrip, "whom all who know him more +thoroughly respect." + +"He has been worried," said the old Duke, "and must take time +to recover himself. He has but one fault,--he is a little too +conscientious, a little too scrupulous." Mr. Monk, of course, did +join them, making one or two stipulations as he did so. He required +that his friend Phineas Finn should be included in the Government. +Mr. Gresham yielded, though poor Phineas was not among the most +favoured friends of that statesman. And so the Government was formed, +and the crisis was again over, and the lists which all the newspapers +had been publishing for the last three days were republished in an +amended and nearly correct condition. The triumph of the "People's +Banner," as to the omission of the Duke, was of course complete. The +editor had no hesitation in declaring that he, by his own sagacity +and persistency, had made certain the exclusion of that very unfit +and very pressing candidate for office. + +The list was filled up after the usual fashion. For a while the +dilettanti politicians of the clubs, and the strong-minded women who +take an interest in such things, and the writers in newspapers, had +almost doubted whether, in the emergency which had been supposed to +be so peculiar, any Government could be formed. There had been,--so +they had said,--peculiarities so peculiar that it might be that the +much-dreaded deadlock had come at last. A Coalition had been possible +and, though antagonistic to British feelings generally, had carried +on the Government. But what might succeed the Coalition, nobody had +known. The Radicals and Liberals together would be too strong for Mr. +Daubeny and Sir Orlando. Mr. Gresham had no longer a party of his own +at his back, and a second Coalition would be generally spurned. In +this way there had been much political excitement, and a fair amount +of consequent enjoyment. But after a few days the old men had rattled +into their old places,--or, generally, old men into new places,--and +it was understood that Mr. Gresham would be again supported by a +majority. + +As we grow old it is a matter of interest to watch how the natural +gaps are filled in the two ranks of parliamentary workmen by whom the +Government is carried on, either in the one interest or the other. Of +course there must be gaps. Some men become too old,--though that is +rarely the case. A Peel may perish, or even a Palmerston must die. +Some men, though long supported by interest, family connection, or +the loyalty of colleagues, are weighed down at last by their own +incapacity and sink into peerages. Now and again a man cannot bear +the bondage of office, and flies into rebellion and independence +which would have been more respectable had it not been the result of +discontent. Then the gaps must be filled. Whether on this side or on +that, the candidates are first looked for among the sons of Earls and +Dukes,--and not unnaturally, as the sons of Earls and Dukes may be +educated for such work almost from their infancy. A few rise by the +slow process of acknowledged fitness,--men who probably at first have +not thought of office but are chosen because they are wanted, and +whose careers are grudged them, not by their opponents or rivals, but +by the Browns and Joneses of the world who cannot bear to see a Smith +or a Walker become something so different to themselves. These men +have a great weight to carry, and cannot always shake off the burden +of their origin and live among begotten statesmen as though they +too had been born to the manner. But perhaps the most wonderful +ministerial phenomenon,--though now almost too common to be longer +called a phenomenon,--is he who rises high in power and place +by having made himself thoroughly detested and also,--alas for +parliamentary cowardice!--thoroughly feared. Given sufficient +audacity, a thick skin, and power to bear for a few years the evil +looks and cold shoulders of his comrades, and that is the man most +sure to make his way to some high seat. But the skin must be thicker +than that of any animal known, and the audacity must be complete. To +the man who will once shrink at the idea of being looked at askance +for treachery, or hated for his ill condition, the career is +impossible. But let him be obdurate, and the bid will come. "Not +because I want him, do I ask for him," says some groaning chief +of a party,--to himself, and also sufficiently aloud for others' +ears,--"but because he stings me and goads me, and will drive me +to madness as a foe." Then the pachydermatous one enters into the +other's heaven, probably with the resolution already formed of +ousting that unhappy angel. And so it was in the present instance. +When Mr. Gresham's completed list was published to the world, the +world was astonished to find that Sir Timothy was to be Mr. Gresham's +Attorney-General. Sir Gregory Grogram became Lord Chancellor, and the +Liberal chief was content to borrow his senior law adviser from the +Conservative side of the late Coalition. It could not be that Mr. +Gresham was very fond of Sir Timothy;--but Sir Timothy in the late +debates had shown himself to be a man of whom a minister might well +be afraid. + +Immediately on leaving the old Duke's house, the late Premier went +home to his wife, and, finding that she was out, waited for her +return. Now that he had put his own decision beyond his own power he +was anxious to let her know how it was to be with them. "I think it +is settled at last," he said. + +"And you are coming back?" + +"Certainly not that. I believe I may say that Mr. Gresham is Prime +Minister." + +"Then he oughtn't to be," said the Duchess crossly. + +"I am sorry that I must differ from you, my dear, because I think he +is the fittest man in England for the place." + +"And you?" + +"I am a private gentleman who will now be able to devote more of his +time to his wife and children than has hitherto been possible with +him." + +"How very nice! Do you mean to say that you like it?" + +"I am sure that I ought to like it. At the present moment I am +thinking more of what you will like." + +"If you ask me, Plantagenet, you know I shall tell the truth." + +"Then tell the truth." + +"After drinking brandy so long I hardly think that 12s. claret will +agree with my stomach. You ask for the truth, and there it is,--very +plainly." + +"Plain enough!" + +"You asked, you know." + +"And I am glad to have been told, even though that which you tell +me is not pleasant hearing. When a man has been drinking too much +brandy, it may be well that he should be put on a course of 12s. +claret." + +"He won't like it; and then,--it's kill or cure." + +"I don't think you're gone so far, Cora, that we need fear that the +remedy will be fatal." + +"I am thinking of you rather than myself. I can make myself generally +disagreeable, and get excitement in that way. But what will you do? +It's all very well to talk of me and the children, but you can't +bring in a Bill for reforming us. You can't make us go by decimals. +You can't increase our consumption by lowering our taxation. I wish +you had gone back to some Board." This she said looking up into his +face with an anxiety which was half real and half burlesque. + +"I had made up my mind to go back to no Board,--for the present. I +was thinking that we could spend some months in Italy, Cora." + +"What; for the summer;--so as to be in Rome in July! After that we +could utilise the winter by visiting Norway." + +"We might take Norway first." + +"And be eaten up by mosquitoes! I've got to be too old to like +travelling." + +"What do you like, dear?" + +"Nothing;--except being the Prime Minister's wife; and upon my word +there were times when I didn't like that very much. I don't know +anything else that I'm fit for. I wonder whether Mr. Gresham would +let me go to him as housekeeper? Only we should have to lend him +Gatherum, or there would be no room for the display of my abilities. +Is Mr. Monk in?" + +"He keeps his old office." + +"And Mr. Finn?" + +"I believe so; but in what place I don't know." + +"And who else?" + +"Our old friend the Duke, and Lord Cantrip, and Mr. Wilson,--and Sir +Gregory will be Lord Chancellor." + +"Just the old stupid Liberal team. Put their names in a bag and shake +them, and you can always get a ministry. Well, Plantagenet;--I'll go +anywhere you like to take me. I'll have something for the malaria at +Rome, and something for the mosquitoes in Norway, and will make the +best of it. But I don't see why you should run away in the middle of +the Session. I would stay and pitch into them, all round, like a true +ex-minister and independent member of Parliament." Then as he was +leaving her she fired a last shot. "I hope you made Sir Orlando and +Sir Timothy peers before you gave up." + +It was not till two days after this that she read in one of the daily +papers that Sir Timothy Beeswax was to be Attorney-General, and then +her patience almost deserted her. To tell the truth, her husband had +not dared to mention the appointment when he first saw her after +hearing it. Her explosion first fell on the head of Phineas Finn, +whom she found at home with his wife, deploring the necessity which +had fallen upon him of filling the faineant office of Chancellor of +the Duchy of Lancaster. "Mr. Finn," she said, "I congratulate you on +your colleagues." + +"Your Grace is very good. I was at any rate introduced to many of +them under the Duke's auspices." + +"And ought, I think, to have seen enough of them to be ashamed of +them. Such a regiment to march through Coventry with!" + +"I do not doubt that we shall be good enough men for any enemies we +may meet." + +"It cannot but be that you should conquer all the world with such a +hero among you as Sir Timothy Beeswax. The idea of Sir Timothy coming +back again! What do you feel about it?" + +"Very indifferent, Duchess. He won't interfere much with me, as I +have an Attorney-General of my own. You see I'm especially safe." + +"I do believe men would do anything," said the Duchess, turning to +Mrs. Finn. "Of course I mean in the way of politics! But I did not +think it possible that the Duke of St. Bungay should again be in the +same Government with Sir Timothy Beeswax." + + + + +CHAPTER LXXIX + +The Wharton Wedding + + +It was at last settled that the Wharton marriage should take place +during the second week in June. There were various reasons for +the postponement. In the first place Mary Wharton, after a few +preliminary inquiries, found herself forced to declare that Messrs. +Muddocks and Cramble could not send her forth equipped as she ought +to be equipped for such a husband in so short a time. "Perhaps they +do it quicker in London," she said to Everett with a soft regret, +remembering the metropolitan glories of her sister's wedding. +And then Arthur Fletcher could be present during the Whitsuntide +holidays; and the presence of Arthur Fletcher was essential. And it +was not only his presence at the altar that was needed;--Parliament +was not so exacting but that he might have given that;--but it was +considered by the united families to be highly desirable that he +should on this occasion remain some days in the country. Emily had +promised to attend the wedding, and would of course be at Wharton +for at least a week. As soon as Everett had succeeded in wresting a +promise from his sister, the tidings were conveyed to Fletcher. It +was a great step gained. When in London she was her own mistress; but +surrounded as she would be down in Herefordshire by Fletchers and +Whartons, she must be stubborn indeed if she should still refuse to +be taken back into the flock, and be made once more happy by marrying +the man whom she confessed that she loved with her whole heart. The +letter to Arthur Fletcher containing the news was from his brother +John, and was written in a very business-like fashion. "We have put +off Mary's marriage a few days, so that you and she should be down +here together. If you mean to go on with it, now is your time." +Arthur, in answer to this, merely said he would spend the Whitsuntide +holidays at Longbarns. + +It is probable that Emily herself had some idea in her own mind of +what was being done to entrap her. Her brother's words to her had +been so strong, and the occasion of his marriage was itself so sacred +to her, that she had not been able to refuse his request. But from +the moment that she had made the promise, she felt that she had +greatly added to her own difficulties. That she could yield to +Arthur never occurred to her. She was certain of her own persistency. +Whatever might be the wishes of others, the fitness of things +required that Arthur Fletcher's wife should not have been the widow +of Ferdinand Lopez,--and required also that the woman who had married +Ferdinand Lopez should bear the results of her own folly. Though +since his death she had never spoken a syllable against him,--if +those passionate words be excepted which Arthur himself had drawn +from her,--still she had not refrained from acknowledging the truth +to herself. He had been a man disgraced,--and she as his wife, having +become his wife in opposition to the wishes of all her friends, was +disgraced also. Let them do what they will with her, she would not +soil Arthur Fletcher's name with this infamy. Such was still her +steadfast resolution; but she knew that it would be, not endangered, +but increased in difficulty by this visit to Herefordshire. + +And then there were other troubles. "Papa," she said, "I must get a +dress for Everett's marriage." + +"Why not?" + +"I can't bear, after all that I have cost you, putting you to such +useless expense." + +"It is not useless, and such expenses as that I can surely afford +without groaning. Do it handsomely and you will please me best." + +Then she went forth and chose her dress,--a grey silk, light enough +not to throw quite a gloom on the brightness of the day, and yet dark +enough to declare that she was not as other women are. The very act +of purchasing this, almost blushing at her own request as she sat at +the counter in her widow's weeds, was a pain to her. But she had no +one whom she could employ. On such an occasion she could not ask her +aunt Harriet to act for her, as her aunt was distrusted and disliked. +And then there was the fitting on of the dress,--very grievous to +her, as it was the first time since the heavy black mourning came +home that she had clothed herself in other garments. + +The day before that fixed for the marriage she and her father went +down to Herefordshire together, the conversation on the way being +all in respect to Everett. Where was he to live? What was he to do? +What income would he require till he should inherit the good things +which destiny had in store for him? The old man seemed to feel that +Providence, having been so very good to his son in killing that other +heir, had put rather a heavy burden on himself. "He'll want a house +of his own, of course," he said, in a somewhat lachrymose tone. + +"I suppose he'll spend a good deal of his time at Wharton." + +"He won't be content to live in another man's house altogether, my +dear; and Sir Alured can allow him nothing. It means, of course, that +I must give him a thousand a year. It seems very natural to him, I +dare say, but he might have asked the question before he took a wife +to himself." + +"You won't be angry with him, papa!" + +"It's no good being angry. No;--I'm not angry. Only it seems that +everybody is uncommonly well pleased without thinking who has to pay +for the piper." + +On that evening, at Wharton, Emily still wore her mourning dress. No +one, indeed, dared to speak to her on the subject, and Mary was even +afraid lest she might appear in black on the following day. We all +know in what condition is a house on the eve of a marriage,--how +the bride feels that all the world is going to be changed, and that +therefore everything is for the moment disjointed; and how the rest +of the household, including the servants, are led to share the +feeling. Everett was of course away. He was over at Longbarns with +the Fletchers, and was to be brought to Wharton Church on the +following morning. Old Mrs. Fletcher was at Wharton Hall,--and the +bishop, whose services had been happily secured. He was formally +introduced to Mrs. Lopez, the use of the name for the occasion being +absolutely necessary, and with all the smiling urbanity which as a +bishop he was bound to possess, he was hardly able not to be funereal +as he looked at her and remembered her story. Before the evening was +over Mrs. Fletcher did venture to give a hint. "We are so glad you +have come, my dear." + +"I could not stay away when Everett said he wished it." + +"It would have been wrong; yes, my dear,--wrong. It is your duty, and +the duty of us all, to subordinate our feelings to those of others. +Even sorrow may be selfish." Poor Emily listened but could make no +reply. "It is sometimes harder for us to be mindful of others in our +grief than in our joy. You should remember, dear, that there are some +who will never be light-hearted again till they see you smile." + +"Do not say that, Mrs. Fletcher." + +"It is quite true;--and right that you should think of it. It will +be particularly necessary that you should think of it to-morrow. You +will have to wear a light dress, and--" + +"I have come provided," said the widow. + +"Try then to make your heart as light as your frock. You will be +doing it for Everett's sake, and for your father's, and for Mary's +sake--and Arthur's. You will be doing it for the sake of all of us on +a day that should be joyous." She could not make any promise in reply +to this homily, but in her heart of hearts she acknowledged that it +was true, and declared to herself that she would make the effort +required of her. + +On the following morning the house was of course in confusion. There +was to be a breakfast after the service, and after the breakfast the +bride was to be taken away in a carriage and four as far as Hereford +on her route to Paris;--but before the great breakfast there was +of course a subsidiary breakfast,--or how could bishop, bride, or +bridesmaids have sustained the ceremony? At this meal Emily did not +appear, having begged for a cup of tea in her own room. The carriages +to take the party to the church, which was but the other side of the +park, were ordered at eleven, and at a quarter before eleven she +appeared for the first time in her grey silk dress, and without a +widow's cap. Everything was very plain, but the alteration was so +great that it was impossible not to look at her. Even her father +had not seen the change before. Not a word was said, though old Mrs. +Fletcher's thanks were implied by the graciousness of her smile. As +there were four bridesmaids and four other ladies besides the bride +herself, in a few minutes she became obscured by the brightness of +the others;--and then they were all packed in their carriages and +taken to the church. The eyes which she most dreaded did not meet +hers till they were all standing round the altar. It was only then +that she saw Arthur Fletcher, who was there as her brother's best +man, and it was then that he took her hand and held it for half a +minute as though he never meant to part with it, hidden behind the +wide-spread glories of the bridesmaids' finery. + +The marriage was as sweet and solemn as a kind-hearted bishop could +make it, and all the ladies looked particularly well. The veil from +London,--with the orange wreath, also metropolitan,--was perfect, and +as for the dress, I doubt whether any woman would have known it to be +provincial. Everett looked the rising baronet, every inch of him, and +the old barrister smiled and seemed, at least, to be well pleased. +Then came the breakfast, and the speech-making, in which Arthur +Fletcher shone triumphantly. It was a very nice wedding, and Mary +Wharton,--as she had been and still was,--felt herself for a moment +to be a heroine. But, through it all, there was present to the hearts +of most of them a feeling that much more was to be effected, if +possible, than this simple and cosy marriage, and that the fate of +Mary Wharton was hardly so important to them as that of Emily Lopez. + +When the carriage and four was gone there came upon the household the +difficulty usual on such occasions of getting through the rest of the +day. The bridesmaids retired and repacked their splendours so that +they might come out fresh for other second-rate needs, and with the +bridesmaids went the widow. Arthur Fletcher remained at Wharton with +all the other Fletchers for the night, and was prepared to renew his +suit on that very day, if an opportunity were given him; but Emily +did not again show herself till a few minutes before dinner, and +then she came down with all the appurtenances of mourning which she +usually wore. The grey silk had been put on for the marriage ceremony +and for that only. "You should have kept your dress at any rate for +the day," said Mrs. Fletcher. She replied that she had changed it for +Everett, and that as Everett was gone there was no further need for +her to wear clothes unfitted to her position. Arthur would have cared +very little for the clothes could he have had his way with the woman +who wore them,--could he have had his way even so far as to have +found himself alone with her for half-an-hour. But no such chance was +his. She retreated from the party early, and did not show herself on +the following morning till after he had started for Longbarns. + +All the Fletchers went back,--not, however, with any intention on the +part of Arthur to abandon his immediate attempt. The distance between +the houses was not so great but that he could drive himself over at +any time. "I shall go now," he said to Mr. Wharton, "because I have +promised John to fish with him to-morrow, but I shall come over +on Monday or Tuesday, and stay till I go back to town. I hope she +will at any rate let me speak to her." The father said he would do +his best, but that that obstinate resumption of her weeds on her +brother's very wedding day had nearly broken his heart. + +When the Fletchers were back at Longbarns, the two ladies were very +severe on her. "It was downright obstinacy," said the squire's wife, +"and it almost makes me think it would serve her right to leave her +as she is." + +"It's pride," said the old lady. "She won't give way. I said ever so +much to her,--but it's no use. I feel it the more because we have all +gone so much out of the way to be good to her after she had made such +a fool of herself. If it goes on much longer, I shall never forgive +her again." + +"You'll have to forgive her, mother," said her eldest son, "let her +sins be what they may,--or else you'll have to quarrel with Arthur." + +"I do think it's very hard," said the old lady, taking herself out of +the room. And it was hard. The offence in the first instance had been +very great, and the forgiveness very difficult. But Mrs. Fletcher had +lived long enough to know that when sons are thoroughly respectable a +widowed mother has to do their bidding. + +Emily, through the whole wedding day, and the next day, and day after +day, remembered Mrs. Fletcher's words. "There are some who will +never be light-hearted again till they see you smile." And the old +woman had named her dearest friends, and had ended by naming Arthur +Fletcher. She had then acknowledged to herself that it was her duty +to smile in order that others might smile also. But how is one to +smile with a heavy heart? Should one smile and lie? And how long and +to what good purpose can such forced contentment last? She had marred +her whole life. In former days she had been proud of all her virgin +glories,--proud of her intellect, proud of her beauty, proud of that +obeisance which beauty, birth, and intellect combined, exact from all +comers. She had been ambitious as to her future life;--had intended +to be careful not to surrender herself to some empty fool;--had +thought herself well qualified to pick her own steps. And this had +come of it! They told her that she might still make everything right, +annul the past and begin the world again as fresh as ever,--if she +would only smile and study to forget! Do it for the sake of others, +they said, and then it will be done for yourself also. But she could +not conquer the past. The fire and water of repentance, adequate as +they may be for eternity, cannot burn out or wash away the remorse +of this life. They scorch and choke;--and unless it be so there is +no repentance. So she told herself,--and yet it was her duty to be +light-hearted that others around her might not be made miserable by +her sorrow! If she could be in truth light-hearted, then would she +know herself to be unfeeling and worthless. + +On the third day after the marriage Arthur Fletcher came back to +Wharton with the declared intention of remaining there till the end +of the holidays. She could make no objection to such an arrangement, +nor could she hasten her own return to London. That had been fixed +before her departure and was to be made together with her father. +She felt that she was being attacked with unfair weapons, and that +undue advantage was taken of the sacrifice which she had made for +her brother's sake. And yet,--yet how good to her they all were! +How wonderful was it that after the thing she had done, after the +disgrace she had brought on herself and them, after the destruction +of all that pride which had once been hers, they should still +wish to have her among them! As for him,--of whom she was always +thinking,--of what nature must be his love, when he was willing to +take to himself as his wife such a thing as she had made herself! +But, thinking of this, she would only tell herself that as he would +not protect himself, she was bound to be his protector. Yes;--she +would protect him, though she could dream of a world of joy that +might be hers if she could dare to do as he would ask her. + +He caught her at last and forced her to come out with him into the +grounds. He could tell his tale better as he walked by her side than +sitting restlessly on a chair or moving awkwardly about the room +as on such an occasion he would be sure to do. Within four walls +she would have some advantage over him. She could sit still and be +dignified in her stillness. But in the open air, when they would +both be on their legs, she might not be so powerful with him, and he +perhaps might be stronger with her. She could not refuse him when he +asked her to walk with him. And why should she refuse him? Of course +he must be allowed to utter his prayer,--and then she must be allowed +to make her answer. "I think the marriage went off very well," he +said. + +"Very well. Everett ought to be a happy man." + +"No doubt he will be,--when he settles down to something. Everything +will come right for him. With some people things seem to go smooth; +don't they? They have not hitherto gone smoothly with you and me, +Emily." + +"You are prosperous. You have everything before you that a man can +wish, if only you will allow yourself to think so. Your profession is +successful, and you are in Parliament, and everyone likes you." + +"It is all nothing." + +"That is the general discontent of the world." + +"It is all nothing,--unless I have you too. Remember that I had said +so long before I was successful, when I did not dream of Parliament; +before we had heard of the name of the man who came between me and +my happiness. I think I am entitled to be believed when I say so. +I think I know my own mind. There are many men who would have been +changed by the episode of such a marriage." + +"You ought to have been changed by it,--and by its result." + +"It had no such effect. Here I am, after it all, telling you as +I used to tell you before, that I have to look to you for my +happiness." + +"You should be ashamed to confess it, Arthur." + +"Never;--not to you, nor to all the world. I know what it has been. +I know you are not now as you were then. You have been his wife, and +are now his widow." + +"That should be enough." + +"But, such as you are, my happiness is in your hands. If it were not +so, do you think that all my family as well as yours would join in +wishing that you may become my wife? There is nothing to conceal. +When you married that man you know what my mother thought of it; +and what John thought of it, and his wife. They had wanted you to +be my wife; and they want it now,--because they are anxious for +my happiness. And your father wishes it, and your brother wishes +it,--because they trust me, and think that I should be a good husband +to you." + +"Good!" she exclaimed, hardly knowing what she meant by repeating the +word. + +"After that you have no right to set yourself up to judge what may +be best for my happiness. They who know how to judge are all united. +Whatever you may have been, they believe that it will be good for me +that you should now be my wife. After that you must talk about me no +longer, unless you will talk of my wishes." + +"Do you think I am not anxious for your happiness?" + +"I do not know;--but I shall find out in time. That is what I have to +say about myself. And as to you, is it not much the same? I know you +love me. Whatever the feeling was that overcame you as to that other +man,--it has gone. I cannot now stop to be tender and soft in my +words. The thing to be said is too serious to me. And every friend +you have wants you to marry the man you love and to put an end to the +desolation which you have brought on yourself. There is not one among +us all, Fletchers and Whartons, whose comfort does not more or less +depend on your sacrificing the luxury of your own woe." + +"Luxury!" + +"Yes; luxury. No man ever had a right to say more positively to a +woman that it was her duty to marry him, than I have to you. And I +do say it. I say it on behalf of all of us, that it is your duty. I +won't talk of my own love now, because you know it. You cannot doubt +it. I won't even talk of yours, because I am sure of it. But I say +that it is your duty to give up drowning us all in tears, burying us +in desolation. You are one of us, and should do as all of us wish +you. If, indeed, you could not love me it would be different. There! +I have said what I've got to say. You are crying, and I will not take +your answer now. I will come to you again to-morrow, and then you +shall answer me. But, remember when you do so that the happiness of +many people depends on what you say." Then he left her very suddenly +and hurried back to the house by himself. + +He had been very rough with her,--had not once attempted to touch her +hand or even her arm, had spoken no soft word to her, speaking of +his own love as a thing too certain to need further words; and he +had declared himself to be so assured of her love that there was no +favour for him now to ask, nothing for which he was bound to pray as +a lover. All that was past. He had simply declared it to be her duty +to marry him, and had told her so with much sternness. He had walked +fast, compelling her to accompany him, had frowned at her, and had +more than once stamped his foot upon the ground. During the whole +interview she had been so near to weeping that she could hardly +speak. Once or twice she had almost thought him to be cruel;--but he +had forced her to acknowledge to herself that all that he had said +was true and unanswerable. Had he pressed her for an answer at the +moment she would not have known in what words to couch a refusal. And +yet as she made her way alone back to the house she assured herself +that she would have refused. + +He had given her four-and-twenty hours, and at the end of that time +she would be bound to give him her answer,--an answer which must then +be final. And as she said this to herself she found that she was +admitting a doubt. She hardly knew how not to doubt, knowing, as she +did, that all whom she loved were on one side, while on the other +was nothing but the stubbornness of her own convictions. But still +the conviction was left to her. Over and over again she declared to +herself that it was not fit, meaning thereby to assure herself that +a higher duty even than that which she owed to her friends, demanded +from her that she should be true to her convictions. She met him that +day at dinner, but he hardly spoke to her. They sat together in the +same room during the evening, but she hardly once heard his voice. +It seemed to her that he avoided even looking at her. When they +separated for the night he parted from her almost as though they +had been strangers. Surely he was angry with her because she was +stubborn,--thought evil of her because she would not do as others +wished her! She lay awake during the long night thinking of it all. +If it might be so! Oh;--if it might be so! If it might be done +without utter ruin to her own self-respect as a woman! + +In the morning she was down early,--not having anything to say, +with no clear purpose as yet before her,--but still with a feeling +that perhaps that morning might alter all things for her. He was +the latest of the party, not coming in for prayers as did all the +others, but taking his seat when the others had half finished their +breakfast. As he sat down he gave a general half-uttered greeting to +them all, but spoke no special word to any of them. It chanced that +his seat was next to hers, but to her he did not address himself at +all. Then the meal was over, and the chairs were withdrawn, and the +party grouped itself about with vague, uncertain movements, as men +and women do before they leave the breakfast table for the work of +the day. She meditated her escape, but felt that she could not leave +the room before Lady Wharton or Mrs. Fletcher,--who had remained +at Wharton to keep her mother company for a while. At last they +went;--but then, just as she was escaping, he put his hand upon her +and reminded her of her appointment. "I shall be in the hall in a +quarter of an hour," he said. "Will you meet me there?" Then she +bowed her head to him and passed on. + +She was there at the time named and found him standing by the hall +door, waiting for her. His hat was already on his head and his back +was almost turned to her. He opened the door, and, allowing her to +pass out first, led the way to the shrubbery. He did not speak to her +till he had closed behind her the little iron gate which separated +the walk from the garden, and then he turned upon her with one word. +"Well?" he said. She was silent for a moment, and then he repeated +his eager question: "Well;--well?" + +"I should disgrace you," she said, not firmly as before, but +whispering the words. + +He waited for no other assent. The form of the words told him that he +had won the day. In a moment his arms were round her, and her veil +was off, and his lips were pressed to hers;--and when she could see +his countenance the whole form of his face was altered to her. It was +bright as it used to be bright in old days, and he was smiling on her +as he used to smile. "My own," he said;--"my wife--my own!" And she +had no longer the power to deny him. "Not yet, Arthur; not yet," was +all that she could say. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXX + +The Last Meeting at Matching + + +The ex-Prime Minister did not carry out his purpose of leaving London +in the middle of the season and travelling either to Italy or Norway. +He was away from London at Whitsuntide longer perhaps than he might +have been if still in office, and during this period regarded himself +as a man from whose hands all work had been taken,--as one who had +been found unfit to carry any longer a burden serviceably; but before +June was over he and the Duchess were back in London, and gradually +he allowed himself to open his mouth on this or that subject in the +House of Lords,--not pitching into everybody all round, as his wife +had recommended, but expressing an opinion now and again, generally +in support of his friends, with the dignity which should belong to a +retired Prime Minister. The Duchess too recovered much of her good +temper,--as far at least as the outward show went. One or two who +knew her, especially Mrs. Finn, were aware that her hatred and her +ideas of revenge were not laid aside; but she went on from day to day +anathematizing her special enemies and abstained from reproaching +her husband for his pusillanimity. Then came the question as to +the autumn. "Let's have everybody down at Gatherum, just as we had +before," said the Duchess. + +The proposition almost took away the Duke's breath. "Why do you want +a crowd, like that?" + +"Just to show them that we are not beaten because we are turned out." + +"But, inasmuch as we were turned out, we were beaten. And what has +a gathering of people at my private house to do with a political +manoeuvre? Do you especially want to go to Gatherum?" + +"I hate the place. You know I do." + +"Then why should you propose to go there?" He hardly yet knew his +wife well enough to understand that the suggestion had been a joke. +"If you don't wish to go abroad--" + +"I hate going abroad." + +"Then we'll remain at Matching. You don't hate Matching." + +"Ah dear! There are memories there too. But you like it." + +"My books are there." + +"Blue-books," said the Duchess. + +"And there is plenty of room if you wish to have friends." + +"I suppose we must have somebody. You can't live without your +Mentor." + +"You can ask whom you please," he said almost fretfully. + +"Lady Rosina, of course," suggested the Duchess. Then he turned to +the papers before him and wouldn't say another word. The matter ended +in a party much as usual being collected at Matching about the middle +of October,--Telemachus having spent the early part of the autumn +with Mentor at Long Royston. There might perhaps be a dozen guests +in the house, and among them of course were Phineas Finn and his +wife. And Mr. Grey was there, having come back from his eastern +mission,--whose unfortunate abandonment of his seat at Silverbridge +had caused so many troubles,--and Mrs. Grey, who in days now long +passed had been almost as necessary to Lady Glencora as was now her +later friend Mrs. Finn,--and the Cantrips, and for a short time the +St. Bungays. But Lady Rosina De Courcy on this occasion was not +present. There were few there whom my patient readers have not seen +at Matching before; but among those few was Arthur Fletcher. + +"So it is to be," said the Duchess to the member for Silverbridge one +morning. She had by this time become intimate with "her member," as +she would sometimes call him in joke, and had concerned herself much +as to his matrimonial prospects. + +"Yes, Duchess; it is to be,--unless some unforeseen circumstance +should arise." + +"What circumstance?" + +"Ladies and gentlemen sometimes do change their minds;--but in this +case I do not think it likely." + +"And why ain't you being married now, Mr. Fletcher?" + +"We have agreed to postpone it till next year;--so that we may be +quite sure of our own minds." + +"I know you are laughing at me; but nevertheless I am very glad that +it is settled. Pray tell her from me that I shall call again as soon +as ever she is Mrs. Fletcher, though I don't think she repaid either +of the last two visits I made her." + +"You must make excuses for her, Duchess." + +"Of course. I know. After all she is a most fortunate woman. And as +for you,--I regard you as a hero among lovers." + +"I'm getting used to it," she said one day to Mrs. Finn. + +"Of course you'll get used to it. We get used to anything that chance +sends us in a marvellously short time." + +"What I mean is that I can go to bed, and sleep, and get up and eat +my meals without missing the sound of the trumpets so much as I did +at first. I remember hearing of people who lived in a mill, and +couldn't sleep when the mill stopped. It was like that with me when +our mill stopped at first. I had got myself so used to the excitement +of it, that I could hardly live without it." + +"You might have all the excitement still, if you pleased. You need +not be dead to politics because your husband is not Prime Minister." + +"No; never again,--unless he should come back. If any one had told me +ten years ago that I should have taken an interest in this or that +man being in the Government, I should have laughed him to scorn. It +did not seem possible to me then that I should care what became of +such men as Sir Timothy Beeswax and Mr. Roby. But I did get to be +anxious about it when Plantagenet was shifted from one office to +another." + +"Of course you did. Do you think I am not anxious about Phineas?" + +"But when he became Prime Minister, I gave myself up to it +altogether. I shall never forget what I felt when he came to me and +told me that perhaps it might be so;--but told me also that he would +escape from it if it were possible. I was the Lady Macbeth of the +occasion all over;--whereas he was so scrupulous, so burdened with +conscience! As for me, I would have taken it by any means. Then it +was that the old Duke played the part of the three witches to a +nicety. Well, there hasn't been any absolute murder, and I haven't +quite gone mad." + +"Nor need you be afraid, though all the woods of Gatherum should come +to Matching." + +"God forbid! I will never see anything of Gatherum again. What annoys +me most is, and always was, that he wouldn't understand what I felt +about it;--how proud I was that he should be Prime Minister, how +anxious that he should be great and noble in his office;--how I +worked for him, and not at all for any pleasure of my own." + +"I think he did feel it." + +"No;--not as I did. At last he liked the power,--or rather feared the +disgrace of losing it. But he had no idea of the personal grandeur of +the place. He never understood that to be Prime Minister in England +is as much as to be an Emperor in France, and much more than being +President in America. Oh, how I did labour for him,--and how he did +scold me for it with those quiet little stinging words of his! I was +vulgar!" + +"Is that a quiet word?" + +"Yes;--as he used it;--and indiscreet, and ignorant, and stupid. I +bore it all, though sometimes I was dying with vexation. Now it's all +over, and here we are as humdrum as any one else. And the Beeswaxes, +and the Robys, and the Droughts, and the Pountneys, and the Lopezes, +have all passed over the scene! Do you remember that Pountney affair, +and how he turned the poor man out of the house?" + +"It served him right." + +"It would have served them all right to be turned out,--only they +were there for a purpose. I did like it in a way, and it makes me sad +to think that the feeling can never come again. Even if they should +have him back again, it would be a very lame affair to me then. I can +never again rouse myself to the effort of preparing food and lodging +for half the Parliament and their wives. I shall never again think +that I can help to rule England by coaxing unpleasant men. It is done +and gone, and can never come back again." + +Not long after this the Duke took Mr. Monk, who had come down to +Matching for a few days, out to the very spot on which he had sat +when he indulged himself in lecturing Phineas Finn on Conservatism +and Liberalism generally, and then asked the Chancellor of the +Exchequer what he thought of the present state of public affairs. He +himself had supported Mr. Gresham's government, and did not belong +to it because he could not at present reconcile himself to filling +any office. Mr. Monk did not scruple to say that in his opinion +the present legitimate division of parties was preferable to +the Coalition which had existed for three years. "In such an +arrangement," said Mr. Monk, "there must always be a certain amount +of distrust, and such a feeling is fatal to any great work." + +"I think I distrusted no one till separation came,--and when it did +come it was not caused by me." + +"I am not blaming any one now," said the other; "but men who have +been brought up with opinions altogether different, even with +different instincts as to politics, who from their mother's milk have +been nourished on codes of thought altogether opposed to each other, +cannot work together with confidence even though they may desire the +same thing. The very ideas which are sweet as honey to the one are +bitter as gall to the other." + +"You think, then, that we made a great mistake?" + +"I will not say that," said Mr. Monk. "There was a difficulty at the +time, and that difficulty was overcome. The Government was carried +on, and was on the whole respected. History will give you credit for +patriotism, patience, and courage. No man could have done it better +than you did;--probably no other man of the day so well." + +"But it was not a great part to play?" The Duke in his nervousness, +as he said this, could not avoid the use of that questioning tone +which requires an answer. + +"Great enough to satisfy the heart of a man who has fortified himself +against the evil side of ambition. After all, what is it that the +Prime Minister of such a country as this should chiefly regard? Is it +not the prosperity of the country? It is not often that we want great +measures, or new arrangements that shall be vital to the country. +Politicians now look for grievances, not because the grievances are +heavy, but trusting that the honour of abolishing them may be great. +It is the old story of the needy knife-grinder who, if left to +himself, would have no grievance of which to complain." + +"But there are grievances," said the Duke. "Look at monetary +denominations. Look at our weights and measures." + +"Well; yes. I will not say that everything has as yet been reduced to +divine order. But when we took office three years ago we certainly +did not intend to settle those difficulties." + +"No, indeed," said the Duke, sadly. + +"But we did do all that we meant to do. For my own part, there is +only one thing in it that I regret, and one only which you should +regret also till you have resolved to remedy it." + +"What thing is that?" + +"Your own retirement from official life. If the country is to lose +your services for the long course of years during which you will +probably sit in Parliament, then I shall think that the country has +lost more than it has gained by the Coalition." + +The Duke sat for a while silent, looking at the view, and, before +answering Mr. Monk,--while arranging his answer,--once or twice in a +half-absent way, called his companion's attention to the scene before +him. But during this time he was going through an act of painful +repentance. He was condemning himself for a word or two that had been +ill-spoken by himself, and which, since the moment of its utterance, +he had never ceased to remember with shame. He told himself now, +after his own secret fashion, that he must do penance for these words +by the humiliation of a direct contradiction of them. He must declare +that Caesar would at some future time be prepared to serve under +Pompey. Then he made his answer. "Mr. Monk," he said, "I should be +false if I were to deny that it pleases me to hear you say so. I have +thought much of all that for the last two or three months. You may +probably have seen that I am not a man endowed with that fortitude +which enables many to bear vexations with an easy spirit. I am given +to fretting, and I am inclined to think that a popular minister in +a free country should be so constituted as to be free from that +infirmity. I shall certainly never desire to be at the head of a +Government again. For a few years I would prefer to remain out of +office. But I will endeavour to look forward to a time when I may +again perhaps be of some humble use." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRIME MINISTER*** + + +******* This file should be named 2158.txt or 2158.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/1/5/2158 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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