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diff --git a/old/4434.txt b/old/4434.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c3b9ee --- /dev/null +++ b/old/4434.txt @@ -0,0 +1,20926 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Evan Harrington, Complete, by George Meredith + +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: Evan Harrington, Complete + +Author: George Meredith + +Last Updated: March 7, 2009 +Release Date: October 13, 2006 [EBook #4434] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EVAN HARRINGTON, COMPLETE *** + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +EVAN HARRINGTON + +By George Meredith + + + + +CONTENTS: + + BOOK 1. + I. ABOVE BUTTONS + II. THE HERITAGE OR THE SOY + III. THE DAUGHTERS OR THE SHEARS + IV. ON BOARD THE JOCASTA + V. THE FAMILY AND THE FUNERAL + VI. MY GENTLEMAN ON THE ROAD + VII. MOTHER AND SON + + BOOK 2. + VIII. INTRODUCES AN ECCENTRIC + IX. THE COUNTESS IN LOW SOCIETY + X. MY GENTLEMAN ON THE ROAD AGAIN + XI. DOINGS AT AN INN + XII. IN WHICH ALE IS SHOWN TO HAVE ONE QUALITY OF WINE + XIII. THE MATCH OF FALLOWFIELD AGAINST BECKLEY + + BOOK 3. + XIV. THE COUNTESS DESCRIBES THE FIELD OF ACTION + XV. A CAPTURE + XVI. LEADS TO A SMALL SKIRMISH BETWEEN ROSE AND EVAN + XVII. IN WHICH EVAN WRITES HIMSELF TAILOR + XVIII. IN WHICH EVAN CALLS HIMSELF GENTLEMAN + + BOOK 4. + XIX. SECOND DESPATCH OF THE COUNTESS + XX. BREAK-NECK LEAP + XXI. TRIBULATIONS AND TACTICS OF THE COUNTESS + XXII. IN WHICH THE DAUGHTERS OF THE GREAT MEL HAVE TO + DIGEST HIM AT DINNER + XXIII. TREATS OF A HANDKERCHIEF + XXIV. THE COUNTESS MAKES HERSELF FELT + XXV. IN WHICH THE STREAM FLOWS MUDDY AND CLEAR + + BOOK 5. + XXVI. MRS. MEL MAKES A BED FOR HERSELF AND FAMILY + XXVII. EXHIBITS ROSE'S GENERALSHIP; EVAN'S PERFORMANCE ON THE SECOND + FIDDLE; AND THE WRETCHEDNESS OF THE COUNTESS + XXVIII. TOM COGGLESBY'S PROPOSITION + XXIX. PRELUDE TO AN ENGAGEMENT + XXX. THE BATTLE OF THE BULL-DOGS. PART I. + XXXI. THE BATTLE OF THE BULL-DOGS. PART II. + + BOOK 6. + XXXII. IN WHICH EVAN'S LIGHT BEGINS TO TWINKLE AGAIN + XXXIII. THE HERO TAKES HIS RANK IN THE ORCHESTRA + XXXIV. A PAGAN SACRIFICE + XXXV. ROSE WOUNDED + XXXVI. BEFORE BREAKFAST + XXXVII. THE RETREAT FROM BECKLEY + XXXVIII. IN WHICH WE HAVE TO SEE IN THE DARK + + BOOK 7. + XXXIX. IN THE DOMAIN OF TAILORDOM + XL. IN WHICH THE COUNTESS STILL SCENTS GAME + XLI. REVEALS AN ABOMINABLE PLOT OF THE BROTHERS COGGLESBY + XLII. JULIANA + XLIII. ROSE + XLIV. CONTAINS A WARNING TO ALL CONSPIRATORS + XLV. IN WHICH THE SHOP BECOMES THE CENTRE OF ATTRACTION + XLVI. A LOVER'S PARTING + XLVII. A YEAR LATER THE COUNTESS DE SALDAR DE SANCORVO TO HER + SISTER CAROLINE + + + + + +CHAPTER I. ABOVE BUTTONS + +Long after the hours when tradesmen are in the habit of +commencing business, the shutters of a certain shop in the town of +Lymport-on-the-Sea remained significantly closed, and it became known +that death had taken Mr. Melchisedec Harrington, and struck one off the +list of living tailors. The demise of a respectable member of this class +does not ordinarily create a profound sensation. He dies, and his equals +debate who is to be his successor: while the rest of them who have come +in contact with him, very probably hear nothing of his great launch and +final adieu till the winding up of cash-accounts; on which occasions we +may augur that he is not often blessed by one or other of the two great +parties who subdivide this universe. In the case of Mr. Melchisedec it +was otherwise. This had been a grand man, despite his calling, and +in the teeth of opprobrious epithets against his craft. To be both +generally blamed, and generally liked, evinces a peculiar construction +of mortal. Mr. Melchisedec, whom people in private called the great Mel, +had been at once the sad dog of Lymport, and the pride of the town. He +was a tailor, and he kept horses; he was a tailor, and he had gallant +adventures; he was a tailor, and he shook hands with his customers. +Finally, he was a tradesman, and he never was known to have sent in +a bill. Such a personage comes but once in a generation, and, when he +goes, men miss the man as well as their money. + +That he was dead, there could be no doubt. Kilne, the publican opposite, +had seen Sally, one of the domestic servants, come out of the house in +the early morning and rush up the street to the doctor's, tossing her +hands; and she, not disinclined to dilute her grief, had, on her return, +related that her master was then at his last gasp, and had refused, in +so many words, to swallow the doctor. + +'"I won't swallow the doctor!" he says, "I won't swallow the doctor!"' +Sally moaned. '"I never touched him," he says, "and I never will."' + +Kilne angrily declared, that in his opinion, a man who rejected medicine +in extremity, ought to have it forced down his throat: and considering +that the invalid was pretty deeply in Kilne's debt, it naturally assumed +the form of a dishonest act on his part; but Sally scornfully dared any +one to lay hand on her master, even for his own good. 'For,' said she, +'he's got his eyes awake, though he do lie so helpless. He marks ye!' + +'Ah! ah!' Kilne sniffed the air. Sally then rushed back to her duties. + +'Now, there 's a man!' Kilne stuck his hands in his pockets and began +his meditation: which, however, was cut short by the approach of his +neighbour Barnes, the butcher, to whom he confided what he had heard, +and who ejaculated professionally, 'Obstinate as a pig!' As they +stood together they beheld Sally, a figure of telegraph, at one of the +windows, implying that all was just over. + +'Amen!' said Barnes, as to a matter-of-fact affair. + +Some minutes after, the two were joined by Grossby, the confectioner, +who listened to the news, and observed: + +'Just like him! I'd have sworn he'd never take doctor's stuff'; and, +nodding at Kilne, 'liked his medicine best, eh?' + +'Had a-hem!--good lot of it,' muttered Kilne, with a suddenly serious +brow. + +'How does he stand on your books?' asked Barnes. + +Kilne shouldered round, crying: 'Who the deuce is to know?' + +'I don't,' Grossby sighed. 'In he comes with his "Good morning, Grossby, +fine day for the hunt, Grossby," and a ten-pound note. "Have the +kindness to put that down in my favour, Grossby." And just as I am +going to say, "Look here,--this won't do," he has me by the collar, and +there's one of the regiments going to give a supper party, which he's to +order; or the Admiral's wife wants the receipt for that pie; or in comes +my wife, and there's no talking of business then, though she may have +been bothering about his account all the night beforehand. Something or +other! and so we run on.' + +'What I want to know,' said Barnes, the butcher, 'is where he got his +tenners from?' + +Kilne shook a sagacious head: 'No knowing!' + +'I suppose we shall get something out of the fire?' Barnes suggested. + +'That depends!' answered the emphatic Kilne. + +'But, you know, if the widow carries on the business,' said Grossby, +'there's no reason why we shouldn't get it all, eh?' + +'There ain't two that can make clothes for nothing, and make a profit +out of it,' said Kilne. + +'That young chap in Portugal,' added Barnes, 'he won't take to tailoring +when he comes home. D' ye think he will?' + +Kilne muttered: 'Can't say!' and Grossby, a kindly creature in his way, +albeit a creditor, reverting to the first subject of their discourse, +ejaculated, 'But what a one he was!--eh?' + +'Fine!--to look on,' Kilne assented. + +'Well, he was like a Marquis,' said Barnes. + +Here the three regarded each other, and laughed, though not loudly. They +instantly checked that unseemliness, and Kilne, as one who rises from +the depths of a calculation with the sum in his head, spoke quite in a +different voice: + +'Well, what do you say, gentlemen? shall we adjourn? No use standing +here.' + +By the invitation to adjourn, it was well understood by the committee +Kilne addressed, that they were invited to pass his threshold, and +partake of a morning draught. Barnes, the butcher, had no objection +whatever, and if Grossby, a man of milder make, entertained any, the +occasion and common interests to be discussed, advised him to waive +them. In single file these mourners entered the publican's house, +where Kilne, after summoning them from behind the bar, on the important +question, what it should be? and receiving, first, perfect acquiescence +in his views as to what it should be, and then feeble suggestions of +the drink best befitting that early hour and the speaker's particular +constitution, poured out a toothful to each, and one to himself. + +'Here's to him, poor fellow!' said Kilne; and was deliberately echoed +twice. + +'Now, it wasn't that,' Kilne pursued, pointing to the bottle in +the midst of a smacking of lips, 'that wasn't what got him into +difficulties. It was expensive luckshries. It was being above his +condition. Horses! What's a tradesman got to do with horses? Unless +he's retired! Then he's a gentleman, and can do as he likes. It's no use +trying to be a gentleman if you can't pay for it. It always ends bad. +Why, there was he, consorting with gentlefolks--gay as a lark! Who has +to pay for it?' + +Kilne's fellow-victims maintained a rather doleful tributary silence. + +'I'm not saying anything against him now,' the publican further +observed. 'It 's too late. And there! I'm sorry he's gone, for one. He +was as kind a hearted a man as ever breathed. And there! perhaps it +was just as much my fault; I couldn't say "No" to him,--dash me, if I +could!' + +Lymport was a prosperous town, and in prosperity the much-despised +British tradesman is not a harsh, he is really a well-disposed, easy +soul, and requires but management, manner, occasional instalments--just +to freshen the account--and a surety that he who debits is on the spot, +to be a right royal king of credit. Only the account must never drivel. +'Stare aut crescere' appears to be his feeling on that point, and the +departed Mr. Melchisedec undoubtedly understood him there; for the +running on of the account looked deplorable and extraordinary now that +Mr. Melchisedec was no longer in a position to run on with it, and it +was precisely his doing so which had prevented it from being brought to +a summary close long before. Both Barnes, the butcher; and Grossby, the +confectioner, confessed that they, too, found it hard ever to say 'No' +to him, and, speaking broadly, never could. + +'Except once,'said Barnes, 'when he wanted me to let him have a ox to +roast whole out on the common, for the Battle of Waterloo. I stood +out against him on that. "No, no," says I, "I'll joint him for ye, Mr. +Harrington. You shall have him in joints, and eat him at home";-ha! ha!' + +'Just like him!' said Grossby, with true enjoyment of the princely +disposition that had dictated the patriotic order. + +'Oh!--there!' Kilne emphasized, pushing out his arm across the bar, as +much as to say, that in anything of such a kind, the great Mel never had +a rival. + +'That "Marquis" affair changed him a bit,' said Barnes. + +'Perhaps it did, for a time,' said Kilne. 'What's in the grain, you +know. He couldn't change. He would be a gentleman, and nothing 'd stop +him.' + +'And I shouldn't wonder but what that young chap out in Portugal 'll +want to be one, too; though he didn't bid fair to be so fine a man as +his father.' + +'More of a scholar,' remarked Kilne. 'That I call his worst +fault--shilly-shallying about that young chap. I mean his.' Kilne +stretched a finger toward the dead man's house. 'First, the young chap's +to be sent into the Navy; then it's the Army; then he's to be a judge, +and sit on criminals; then he goes out to his sister in Portugal; and +now there's nothing but a tailor open to him, as I see, if we're to get +our money.' + +'Ah! and he hasn't got too much spirit to work to pay his father's +debts,' added Barnes. 'There's a business there to make any man's +fortune-properly directed, I say. But, I suppose, like father like son, +he'll becoming the Marquis, too. He went to a gentleman's school, and +he's had foreign training. I don't know what to think about it. His +sisters over there--they were fine women.' + +'Oh! a fine family, every one of 'em! and married well!' exclaimed the +publican. + +'I never had the exact rights of that "Marquis" affair,' said Grossby; +and, remembering that he had previously laughed knowingly when it was +alluded to, pursued: 'Of course I heard of it at the time, but how did +he behave when he was blown upon?' + +Barnes undertook to explain; but Kilne, who relished the narrative quite +as well, and was readier, said: 'Look here! I 'll tell you. I had it +from his own mouth one night when he wasn't--not quite himself. He was +coming down King William Street, where he stabled his horse, you know, +and I met him. He'd been dining out-somewhere out over Fallow field, I +think it was; and he sings out to me, "Ah! Kilne, my good fellow!" and +I, wishing to be equal with him, says, "A fine night, my lord!" and he +draws himself up--he smelt of good company--says he, "Kilne! I'm not +a lord, as you know, and you have no excuse for mistaking me for one, +sir!" So I pretended I had mistaken him, and then he tucked his arm +under mine, and said, "You're no worse than your betters, Kilne. They +took me for one at Squire Uplift's to-night, but a man who wishes to +pass off for more than he is, Kilne, and impose upon people, he says, +"he's contemptible, Kilne! contemptible!" So that, you know, set me +thinking about "Bath" and the "Marquis," and I couldn't help smiling to +myself, and just let slip a question whether he had enlightened them a +bit. "Kilne," said he, "you're an honest man, and a neighbour, and I'll +tell you what happened. The Squire," he says, "likes my company, and +I like his table. Now the Squire 'd never do a dirty action, but the +Squire's nephew, Mr. George Uplift, he can't forget that I earn my +money, and once or twice I have had to correct him." And I'll wager Mel +did it, too! Well, he goes on: "There was Admiral Sir Jackson Racial and +his lady, at dinner, Squire Falco of Bursted, Lady Barrington, Admiral +Combleman--our admiral, that was; 'Mr. This and That', I forget their +names--and other ladies and gentlemen whose acquaintance I was not +honoured with." You know his way of talking. "And there was a goose on +the table," he says; and, looking stern at me, "Don't laugh yet!" says +he, like thunder. "Well, he goes on: Mr. George caught my eye across the +table, and said, so as not to be heard by his uncle, 'If that bird +was rampant, you would see your own arms, Marquis.'" And Mel replied, +quietly for him to hear, 'And as that bird is couchant, Mr. George, +you had better look to your sauce.' Couchant means squatting, you know. +That's heraldry! Well, that wasn't bad sparring of Mel's. But, bless +you! he was never taken aback, and the gentlefolks was glad enough to +get him to sit down amongst 'em. So, says Mr. George, "I know you're +a fire-eater, Marquis," and his dander was up, for he began marquising +Mel, and doing the mock polite at such a rate, that, by-and-by, one of +the ladies who didn't know Mel called him "my lord" and "his lordship." +"And," says Mel, "I merely bowed to her, and took no notice." So that +passed off: and there sits Mel telling his anecdotes, as grand as a +king. And, by and-by, young Mr. George, who hadn't forgiven Mel, and had +been pulling at the bottle pretty well, he sings out, "It 's Michaelmas! +the death of the goose! and I should like to drink the Marquis's +health!" and he drank it solemn. But, as far as I can make out, the +women part of the company was a little in the dark. So Mel waited till +there was a sort of a pause, and then speaks rather loud to the Admiral, +"By the way, Sir Jackson, may I ask you, has the title of Marquis +anything to do with tailoring?" Now Mel was a great favourite with the +Admiral, and with his lady, too, they say--and the Admiral played into +his hands, you see, and, says he, "I 'm not aware that it has, Mr. +Harrington." And he begged for to know why he asked the question--called +him, "Mister," you understand. So Mel said, and I can see him now, right +out from his chest he spoke, with his head up "When I was a younger man, +I had the good taste to be fond of good society, and the bad taste to +wish to appear different from what I was in it": that's Mel speaking; +everybody was listening; so he goes on: "I was in the habit of going +to Bath in the season, and consorting with the gentlemen I met there on +terms of equality; and for some reason that I am quite guiltless of," +says Mel, "the hotel people gave out that I was a Marquis in disguise; +and, upon my honour, ladies and gentlemen--I was young then, and a +fool--I could not help imagining I looked the thing. At all events, +I took upon myself to act the part, and with some success, and +considerable gratification; for, in my opinion," says Mel, "no real +Marquis ever enjoyed his title so much as I did. One day I was in my +shop--No. 193, Main Street, Lymport--and a gentleman came in to order +his outfit. I received his directions, when suddenly he started back, +stared at me, and exclaimed: + +'My dear Marquis! I trust you will pardon me for having addressed +you with so much familiarity.' I recognized in him one of my Bath +acquaintances. That circumstance, ladies and gentlemen, has been a +lesson to me. Since that time I have never allowed a false impression +with regard to my position to exist. I desire," says Mel, smiling, "to +have my exact measure taken everywhere; and if the Michaelmas bird is to +be associated with me, I am sure I have no objection; all I can say is, +that I cannot justify it by letters patent of nobility." That's how Mel +put it. Do you think they thought worse of him? I warrant you he came +out of it in flying colours. Gentlefolks like straight-forwardness in +their inferiors--that's what they do. Ah!' said Kilne, meditatively, +'I see him now, walking across the street in the moonlight, after he 'd +told me that. A fine figure of a man! and there ain't many Marquises to +match him.' + +To this Barnes and Grossby, not insensible to the merits of the recital +they had just given ear to, agreed. And with a common voice of praise in +the mouths of his creditors, the dead man's requiem was sounded. + + + + +CHAPTER II. THE HERITAGE OF THE SON + +Toward evening, a carriage drove up to the door of the muted house, and +the card of Lady Racial, bearing a hurried line in pencil, was handed to +the widow. + +It was when you looked upon her that you began to comprehend how great +was the personal splendour of the husband who could eclipse such a +woman. Mrs. Harrington was a tall and a stately dame. Dressed in the +high waists of the matrons of that period, with a light shawl drawn +close over her shoulders and bosom, she carried her head well; and her +pale firm features, with the cast of immediate affliction on them, had +much dignity: dignity of an unrelenting physical order, which need not +express any remarkable pride of spirit. The family gossips who, on both +sides, were vain of this rare couple, and would always descant on their +beauty, even when they had occasion to slander their characters, said, +to distinguish them, that Henrietta Maria had a Port, and Melchisedec a +Presence: and that the union of a Port and a Presence, and such a Port +and such a Presence, was so uncommon, that you might search England +through and you would not find another, not even in the highest ranks +of society. There lies some subtle distinction here; due to the minute +perceptions which compel the gossips of a family to coin phrases that +shall express the nicest shades of a domestic difference. By a Port, one +may understand them to indicate something unsympathetically impressive; +whereas a Presence would seem to be a thing that directs the most +affable appeal to our poor human weaknesses. His Majesty King George +IV., for instance, possessed a Port: Beau Brummel wielded a Presence. +Many, it is true, take a Presence to mean no more than a shirt-frill, +and interpret a Port as the art of walking erect. But this is to look +upon language too narrowly. + +On a more intimate acquaintance with the couple, you acknowledge the +aptness of the fine distinction. By birth Mrs. Harrington had claims to +rank as a gentlewoman. That is, her father was a lawyer of Lymport. The +lawyer, however, since we must descend the genealogical tree, was known +to have married his cook, who was the lady's mother. Now Mr. Melchisedec +was mysterious concerning his origin; and, in his cups, talked largely +and wisely of a great Welsh family, issuing from a line of princes; and +it is certain that he knew enough of their history to have instructed +them on particular points of it. He never could think that his wife had +done him any honour in espousing him; nor was she the woman to tell +him so. She had married him for love, rejecting various suitors, Squire +Uplift among them, in his favour. Subsequently she had committed +the profound connubial error of transferring her affections, or her +thoughts, from him to his business, which, indeed, was much in want of +a mate; and while he squandered the guineas, she patiently picked up the +pence. They had not lived unhappily. He was constantly courteous to +her. But to see the Port at that sordid work considerably ruffled the +Presence--put, as it were, the peculiar division between them; and +to behave toward her as the same woman who had attracted his youthful +ardours was a task for his magnificent mind, and may have ranked with +him as an indemnity for his general conduct, if his reflections ever +stretched so far. The townspeople of Lymport were correct in saying that +his wife, and his wife alone, had, as they termed it, kept him together. +Nevertheless, now that he was dead, and could no longer be kept +together, they entirely forgot their respect for her, in the outburst of +their secret admiration for the popular man. Such is the constitution +of the inhabitants of this dear Island of Britain, so falsely accused +by the Great Napoleon of being a nation of shopkeepers. Here let any one +proclaim himself Above Buttons, and act on the assumption, his fellows +with one accord hoist him on their heads, and bear him aloft, sweating, +and groaning, and cursing, but proud of him! And if he can contrive, or +has any good wife at home to help him, to die without going to the +dogs, they are, one may say, unanimous in crying out the same eulogistic +funeral oration as that commenced by Kilne, the publican, when he was +interrupted by Barnes, the butcher, 'Now, there's a man!--' + +Mrs. Harrington was sitting in her parlour with one of her married +nieces, Mrs. Fiske, and on reading Lady Racial's card she gave word for +her to be shown up into the drawing-room. It was customary among Mrs. +Harrington's female relatives, who one and all abused and adored the +great Mel, to attribute his shortcomings pointedly to the ladies; which +was as much as if their jealous generous hearts had said that he was +sinful, but that it was not his fault. Mrs. Fiske caught the card from +her aunt, read the superscription, and exclaimed: 'The idea! At least +she might have had the decency! She never set her foot in the house +before--and right enough too! What can she want now? I decidedly would +refuse to see her, aunt!' + +The widow's reply was simply, 'Don't be a fool, Ann!' + +Rising, she said: 'Here, take poor Jacko, and comfort him till I come +back.' + +Jacko was a middle-sized South American monkey, and had been a pet of +her husband's. He was supposed to be mourning now with the rest of the +family. Mrs. Fiske received him on a shrinking lap, and had found time +to correct one of his indiscretions before she could sigh and say, in +the rear of her aunt's retreating figure, 'I certainly never would let +myself, down so'; but Mrs. Harrington took her own counsel, and Jacko +was of her persuasion, for he quickly released himself from Mrs. Fiske's +dispassionate embrace, and was slinging his body up the balusters after +his mistress. + +'Mrs. Harrington,' said Lady Racial, very sweetly swimming to meet her +as she entered the room, 'I have intruded upon you, I fear, in venturing +to call upon you at such a time?' + +The widow bowed to her, and begged her to be seated. + +Lady Racial was an exquisitely silken dame, in whose face a winning +smile was cut, and she was still sufficiently youthful not to be accused +of wearing a flower too artificial. + +'It was so sudden! so sad!' she continued. 'We esteemed him so much. I +thought you might be in need of sympathy, and hoped I might--Dear Mrs. +Harrington! can you bear to speak of it?' + +'I can tell you anything you wish to hear, my lady,' the widow replied. +Lady Racial had expected to meet a woman much more like what she +conceived a tradesman's wife would be: and the grave reception of her +proffer of sympathy slightly confused her. She said: + +'I should not have come, at least not so early, but Sir Jackson, +my husband, thought, and indeed I imagined--You have a son, Mrs. +Harrington? I think his name is--' + +'Evan, my lady.' + +'Evan. It was of him we have been speaking. I imagined that is, we +thought, Sir Jackson might--you will be writing to him, and will let +him know we will use our best efforts to assist him in obtaining some +position worthy of his--superior to--something that will secure him from +the harassing embarrassments of an uncongenial employment.' + +The widow listened to this tender allusion to the shears without a smile +of gratitude. She replied: 'I hope my son will return in time to bury +his father, and he will thank you himself, my lady.' + +'He has no taste for--a--for anything in the shape of trade, has he, +Mrs. Harrington?' + +'I am afraid not, my lady.' + +'Any position--a situation--that of a clerk even--would be so much +better for him!' + +The widow remained impassive. + +'And many young gentlemen I know, who are clerks, and are enabled to +live comfortably, and make a modest appearance in society; and your son, +Mrs. Harrington, he would find it surely an improvement upon--many would +think it a step for him.' + +'I am bound to thank you for the interest you take in my son, my lady.' + +'Does it not quite suit your views, Mrs. Harrington?' Lady Racial was +surprised at the widow's manner. + +'If my son had only to think of himself, my lady.' + +'Oh! but of course,'--the lady understood her now--'of course! You +cannot suppose, Mrs. Harrington, but that I should anticipate he would +have you to live with him, and behave to you in every way as a dutiful +son, surely? + +'A clerk's income is not very large, my lady.' + +'No; but enough, as I have said, and with the management you would +bring, Mrs. Harrington, to produce a modest, respectable maintenance. My +respect for your husband, Mrs. Harrington, makes me anxious to press +my services upon you.' Lady Racial could not avoid feeling hurt at the +widow's want of common gratitude. + +'A clerk's income would not be more than L100 a year, my lady.' + +'To begin with--no; certainly not more.' The lady was growing brief. + +'If my son puts by the half of that yearly, he can hardly support +himself and his mother, my lady.' + +'Half of that yearly, Mrs. Harrington?' + +'He would have to do so, and be saddled till he dies, my lady.' + +'I really cannot see why.' + +Lady Racial had a notion of some excessive niggardly thrift in the +widow, which was arousing symptoms of disgust. + +Mrs. Harrington quietly said: 'There are his father's debts to pay, my +lady.' + +'His father's debts!' + +'Under L5000, but above L4000, my lady.' + +'Five thousand pounds! Mrs. Harrington!' The lady's delicately gloved +hand gently rose and fell. 'And this poor young man--'she pursued. + +'My son will have to pay it, my lady.' + +For a moment the lady had not a word to instance. Presently she +remarked: 'But, Mrs. Harrington, he is surely under no legal +obligation?' + +'He is only under the obligation not to cast disrespect on his father's +memory, my lady; and to be honest, while he can.' + +'But, Mrs. Harrington! surely! what can the poor young man do?' + +'He will pay it, my lady.' + +'But how, Mrs. Harrington?' + +'There is his father's business, my lady.' + +His father's business! Then must the young man become a tradesman in +order to show respect for his father? Preposterous! That was the lady's +natural inward exclamation. She said, rather shrewdly, for one who +knew nothing of such things: 'But a business which produces debts so +enormous, Mrs. Harrington!' + +The widow replied: 'My son will have to conduct it in a different way. +It would be a very good business, conducted properly, my lady.' + +'But if he has no taste for it, Mrs. Harrington? If he is altogether +superior to it?' + +For the first time during the interview, the widow's inflexible +countenance was mildly moved, though not to any mild expression. + +'My son will have not to consult his tastes,' she observed: and seeing +the lady, after a short silence, quit her seat, she rose likewise, and +touched the fingers of the hand held forth to her, bowing. + +'You will pardon the interest I take in your son,' said Lady Racial. 'I +hope, indeed, that his relatives and friends will procure him the means +of satisfying the demands made upon him.' + +'He would still have to pay them, my lady,' was the widow's answer. + +'Poor young man! indeed I pity him!' sighed her visitor. 'You have +hitherto used no efforts to persuade him to take such a step,--Mrs. +Harrington?' + +'I have written to Mr. Goren, who was my husband's fellow-apprentice +in London, my lady; and he is willing to instruct him in cutting, and +measuring, and keeping accounts.' + +Certain words in this speech were obnoxious to the fine ear of Lady +Racial, and she relinquished the subject. + +'Your husband, Mrs. Harrington--I should so much have wished!--he did +not pass away in--in pain!' + +'He died very calmly, my lady.' + +'It is so terrible, so disfiguring, sometimes. One dreads to see!--one +can hardly distinguish! I have known cases where death was dreadful! +But a peaceful death is very beautiful! There is nothing shocking to the +mind. It suggests heaven! It seems a fulfilment of our prayers!' + +'Would your ladyship like to look upon him?' said the widow. + +Lady Racial betrayed a sudden gleam at having her desire thus +intuitively fathomed. + +'For one moment, Mrs. Harrington! We esteemed him so much! May I?' + +The widow responded by opening the door, and leading her into the +chamber where the dead man lay. + +At that period, when threats of invasion had formerly stirred up the +military fire of us Islanders, the great Mel, as if to show the great +Napoleon what character of being a British shopkeeper really was, had, +by remarkable favour, obtained a lieutenancy of militia dragoons: in the +uniform of which he had revelled, and perhaps, for the only time in his +life, felt that circumstances had suited him with a perfect fit. However +that may be, his solemn final commands to his wife, Henrietta Maria, on +whom he could count for absolute obedience in such matters, had been, +that as soon as the breath had left his body, he should be taken from +his bed, washed, perfumed, powdered, and in that uniform dressed and +laid out; with directions that he should be so buried at the expiration +of three days, that havoc in his features might be hidden from men. In +this array Lady Racial beheld him. The curtains of the bed were drawn +aside. The beams of evening fell soft through the blinds of the room, +and cast a subdued light on the figure of the vanquished warrior. +The Presence, dumb now for evermore, was sadly illumined for its last +exhibition. But one who looked closely might have seen that Time had +somewhat spoiled that perfect fit which had aforetime been his pride; +and now that the lofty spirit had departed, there had been extreme +difficulty in persuading the sullen excess of clay to conform to the +dimensions of those garments. The upper part of the chest alone would +bear its buttons, and across one portion of the lower limbs an ancient +seam had started; recalling an incident to them who had known him in his +brief hour of glory. For one night, as he was riding home from Fallow +field, and just entering the gates of the town, a mounted trooper +spurred furiously past, and slashing out at him, gashed his thigh. Mrs. +Melchisedec found him lying at his door in a not unwonted way; carried +him up-stairs in her arms, as she had done many a time before, and +did not perceive his condition till she saw the blood on her gown. The +cowardly assailant was never discovered; but Mel was both gallant and +had, in his military career, the reputation of being a martinet. Hence, +divers causes were suspected. The wound failed not to mend, the trousers +were repaired: Peace about the same time was made, and the affair passed +over. + +Looking on the fine head and face, Lady Racial saw nothing of this. +She had not looked long before she found covert employment for her +handkerchief. The widow standing beside her did not weep, or reply to +her whispered excuses at emotion; gazing down on his mortal length with +a sort of benignant friendliness; aloof, as one whose duties to that +form of flesh were well-nigh done. At the feet of his master, Jacko, the +monkey, had jumped up, and was there squatted, with his legs crossed, +very like a tailor! The imitative wretch had got a towel, and as often +as Lady Racial's handkerchief travelled to her eyes, Jacko's peery face +was hidden, and you saw his lithe skinny body doing grief's convulsions +till, tired of this amusement, he obtained possession of the warrior's +helmet, from a small round table on one side of the bed; a calque of +the barbarous military-Georgian form, with a huge knob of horse-hair +projecting over the peak; and under this, trying to adapt it to his +rogue's head, the tricksy image of Death extinguished himself. + +All was very silent in the room. Then the widow quietly disengaged +Jacko, and taking him up, went to the door, and deposited him outside. +During her momentary absence, Lady Racial had time to touch the dead +man's forehead with her lips, unseen. + + + + +CHAPTER III. THE DAUGHTERS OF THE SHEARS + +Three daughters and a son were left to the world by Mr. Melchisedec. +Love, well endowed, had already claimed to provide for the daughters: +first in the shape of a lean Marine subaltern, whose days of obscuration +had now passed, and who had come to be a major of that corps: secondly, +presenting his addresses as a brewer of distinction: thirdly, and for a +climax, as a Portuguese Count: no other than the Senor Silva Diaz, Conde +de Saldar: and this match did seem a far more resplendent one than that +of the two elder sisters with Major Strike and Mr. Andrew Cogglesby. +But the rays of neither fell visibly on Lymport. These escaped Eurydices +never reappeared, after being once fairly caught away from the gloomy +realms of Dis, otherwise Trade. All three persons of singular beauty, a +certain refinement, some Port, and some Presence, hereditarily combined, +they feared the clutch of that fell king, and performed the widest +possible circles around him. Not one of them ever approached the +house of her parents. They were dutiful and loving children, and wrote +frequently; but of course they had to consider their new position, and +their husbands, and their husbands' families, and the world, and what +it would say, if to it the dreaded rumour should penetrate! Lymport +gossips, as numerous as in other parts, declared that the foreign +nobleman would rave in an extraordinary manner, and do things after the +outlandish fashion of his country: for from him, there was no doubt, the +shop had been most successfully veiled, and he knew not of Pluto's close +relationship to his lovely spouse. + +The marriages had happened in this way. Balls are given in country +towns, where the graces of tradesmen's daughters may be witnessed +and admired at leisure by other than tradesmen: by occasional country +gentlemen of the neighbourhood, with light minds: and also by small +officers: subalterns wishing to do tender execution upon man's fair +enemy, and to find a distraction for their legs. The classes of our +social fabric have, here and there, slight connecting links, and +provincial public balls are one of these. They are dangerous, for Cupid +is no respecter of class-prejudice; and if you are the son of a retired +tea-merchant, or of a village doctor, or of a half-pay captain, or of +anything superior, and visit one of them, you are as likely to receive +his shot as any shopboy. Even masquerading lords at such places, have +been known to be slain outright; and although Society allows to its +highest and dearest to save the honour of their families, and heal their +anguish, by indecorous compromise, you, if you are a trifle below that +mark, must not expect it. You must absolutely give yourself for what you +hope to get. Dreadful as it sounds to philosophic ears, you must marry. +This, having danced with Caroline Harrington, the gallant Lieutenant +Strike determined to do. Nor, when he became aware of her father's +occupation, did he shrink from his resolve. After a month's hard +courtship, he married her straight out of her father's house. That he +may have all the credit due to him, it must be admitted that he did +not once compare, or possibly permit himself to reflect on, the +dissimilarity in their respective ranks, and the step he had taken +downward, till they were man and wife: and then not in any great degree, +before Fortune had given him his majority; an advance the good soldier +frankly told his wife he did not owe to her. If we may be permitted +to suppose the colonel of a regiment on friendly terms with one of his +corporals, we have an estimate of the domestic life of Major and +Mrs. Strike. Among the garrison males, his comrades, he passed for a +disgustingly jealous brute. + +The ladies, in their pretty language, signalized him as a 'finick.' + +Now, having achieved so capital a marriage, Caroline, worthy creature, +was anxious that her sisters should not be less happy, and would have +them to visit her, in spite of her husband's protests. + +'There can be no danger,' she said, for she was in fresh quarters, far +from the nest of contagion. The lieutenant himself ungrudgingly declared +that, looking on the ladies, no one for an instant could suspect; and he +saw many young fellows ready to be as great fools as he had been another +voluntary confession he made to his wife; for the candour of which +she thanked him, and pointed out that it seemed to run in the family; +inasmuch as Mr. Andrew Cogglesby, his rich relative, had seen and had +proposed for Harriet. The lieutenant flatly said he would never allow +it. In fact he had hitherto concealed the non-presentable portion of his +folly very satisfactorily from all save the mess-room, and Mr. Andrew's +passion was a severe dilemma to him. It need scarcely be told that his +wife, fortified by the fervid brewer, defeated him utterly. What was +more, she induced him to be an accomplice in deception. For though the +lieutenant protested that he washed his hands of it, and that it was a +fraud and a snare, he certainly did not avow the condition of his wife's +parents to Mr. Andrew, but alluded to them in passing as 'the country +people.' He supposed 'the country people' must be asked, he said. The +brewer offered to go down to them. But the lieutenant drew an unpleasant +picture of the country people, and his wife became so grave at the +proposal, that Mr. Andrew said he wanted to marry the lady and not the +'country people,' and if she would have him, there he was. There he was, +behaving with a particular and sagacious kindness to the raw lieutenant +since Harriet's arrival. If the lieutenant sent her away, Mr. Andrew +would infallibly pursue her, and light on a discovery. Twice cursed +by Love, twice the victim of tailordom, our excellent Marine gave away +Harriet Harrington in marriage to Mr. Andrew Cogglesby. + +Thus Joy clapped hands a second time, and Horror deepened its shadows. + +From higher ground it was natural that the remaining sister should take +a bolder flight. Of the loves of the fair Louisa Harrington and the +foreign Count, and how she first encountered him in the brewer's +saloons, and how she, being a humorous person, laughed at his 'loaf' for +her, and wore the colours that pleased him, and kindled and soothed his +jealousy, little is known beyond the fact that she espoused the Count, +under the auspices of the affluent brewer, and engaged that her children +should be brought up in the faith of the Catholic Church: which Lymport +gossips called, paying the Devil for her pride. + +The three sisters, gloriously rescued by their own charms, had now to +think of their one young brother. How to make him a gentleman! That was +their problem. + +Preserve him from tailordom--from all contact with trade--they must; +otherwise they would be perpetually linked to the horrid thing they +hoped to outlive and bury. A cousin of Mr. Melchisedec's had risen to +be an Admiral and a knight for valiant action in the old war, when men +could rise. Him they besought to take charge of the youth, and make a +distinguished seaman of him. He courteously declined. They then attacked +the married Marine--Navy or Army being quite indifferent to them as long +as they could win for their brother the badge of one Service, 'When he +is a gentleman at once!' they said, like those who see the end of their +labours. Strike basely pretended to second them. It would have been +delightful to him, of course, to have the tailor's son messing at +the same table, and claiming him when he pleased with a familiar 'Ah, +brother!' and prating of their relationship everywhere. Strike had been +a fool: in revenge for it he laid out for himself a masterly career +of consequent wisdom. The brewer--uxorious Andrew Cogglesby--might and +would have bought the commission. Strike laughed at the idea of giving +money for what could be got for nothing. He told them to wait. + +In the meantime Evan, a lad of seventeen, spent the hours not devoted +to his positive profession--that of gentleman--in the offices of the +brewery, toying with big books and balances, which he despised with the +combined zeal of the sucking soldier and emancipated tailor. + +Two years passed in attendance on the astute brother-in-law, to whom +Fortune now beckoned to come to her and gather his laurels from the +pig-tails. About the same time the Countess sailed over from Lisbon on +a visit to her sister Harriet (in reality, it was whispered in the +Cogglesby saloons, on a diplomatic mission from the Court of Lisbon; but +that could not be made ostensible). The Countess narrowly examined Evan, +whose steady advance in his profession both her sisters praised. + +'Yes,' said the Countess, in a languid alien accent. 'He has something +of his father's carriage--something. Something of his delivery--his +readiness.' + +It was a remarkable thing that these ladies thought no man on earth +like their father, and always cited him as the example of a perfect +gentleman, and yet they buried him with one mind, and each mounted guard +over his sepulchre, to secure his ghost from an airing. + +'He can walk, my dears, certainly, and talk--a little. Tete-a-tete, I do +not say. I should think there he would be--a stick! All you English are. +But what sort of a bow has he got, I ask you? How does he enter a room? +And, then his smile! his laugh! He laughs like a horse--absolutely! +There's no music in his smile. Oh! you should see a Portuguese nobleman +smile. O mio Deus! honeyed, my dears! But Evan has it not. None of you +English have. You go so.' + +The Countess pressed a thumb and finger to the sides of her mouth, and +set her sisters laughing. + +'I assure you, no better! not a bit! I faint in your society. I ask +myself--Where am I? Among what boors have I fallen? But Evan is no worse +than the rest of you; I acknowledge that. If he knew how to dress his +shoulders properly, and to direct his eyes--Oh! the eyes! you should see +how a Portuguese nobleman can use his eyes! Soul! my dears, soul! Can +any of you look the unutterable without being absurd! You look so.' + +And the Countess hung her jaw under heavily vacuous orbits, something as +a sheep might yawn. + +'But I acknowledge that Evan is no worse than the rest of you,' she +repeated. 'If he understood at all the management of his eyes and mouth! +But that's what he cannot possibly learn in England--not possibly! As +for your poor husband, Harriet! one really has to remember his excellent +qualities to forgive him, poor man! And that stiff bandbox of a man of +yours, Caroline!' addressing the wife of the Marine, 'he looks as if he +were all angles and sections, and were taken to pieces every night and +put together in the morning. He may be a good soldier--good anything you +will--but, Diacho! to be married to that! He is not civilized. None of +you English are. You have no place in the drawing-room. You are like +so many intrusive oxen--absolutely! One of your men trod on my toe the +other night, and what do you think the creature did? Jerks back, then +the half of him forward--I thought he was going to break in two--then +grins, and grunts, "Oh! 'm sure, beg pardon, 'm sure!" I don't know +whether he didn't say, MARM!' + +The Countess lifted her hands, and fell away in laughing horror. When +her humour, or her feelings generally, were a little excited, she spoke +her vernacular as her sisters did, but immediately subsided into the +deliberate delicately-syllabled drawl. + +'Now that happened to me once at one of our great Balls,' she pursued. +'I had on one side of me the Duchesse Eugenia de Formosa de Fontandigua; +on the other sat the Countess de Pel, a widow. And we were talking of +the ices that evening. Eugenia, you must know, my dears, was in love +with the Count Belmarana. I was her sole confidante. The Countess +de Pel--a horrible creature! Oh! she was the Duchess's determined +enemy-would have stabbed her for Belmarana, one of the most beautiful +men! Adored by every woman! So we talked ices, Eugenic and myself, quite +comfortably, and that horrible De Pel had no idea in life! Eugenia +had just said, "This ice sickens me! I do not taste the flavour of the +vanille." I answered, "It is here! It must--it cannot but be here! You +love the flavour of the vanille?" With her exquisite smile, I see her +now saying, "Too well! it is necessary to me! I live on it!"--when up +he came. In his eagerness, his foot just effleured my robe. Oh! I never +shall forget! In an instant he was down on one knee it was so momentary +that none saw it but we three, and done with ineffable grace. "Pardon!" +he said, in his sweet Portuguese; "Pardon!" looking up--the handsomest +man I ever beheld; and when I think of that odious wretch the other +night, with his "Oh! 'm sure, beg pardon, 'm sure! 'pon my honour!" I +could have kicked him--I could, indeed!' + +Here the Countess laughed out, but relapsed into: + +'Alas! that Belmarana should have betrayed that beautiful trusting +creature to De Pel. Such scandal! a duel!--the Duke was wounded. For a +whole year Eugenia did not dare to appear at Court, but had to remain +immured in her country-house, where she heard that Belmarana had married +De Pel! It was for her money, of course. Rich as Croesus, and as wicked +as the black man below! as dear papa used to say. By the way, weren't we +talking of Evan? Ah,--yes!' + +And so forth. The Countess was immensely admired, and though her sisters +said that she was 'foreignized' overmuch, they clung to her desperately. +She seemed so entirely to have eclipsed tailordom, or 'Demogorgon,' +as the Countess was pleased to call it. Who could suppose this +grand-mannered lady, with her coroneted anecdotes and delicious +breeding, the daughter of that thing? It was not possible to suppose it. +It seemed to defy the fact itself. + +They congratulated her on her complete escape from Demogorgon. The +Countess smiled on them with a lovely sorrow. + +'Safe from the whisper, my dears; the ceaseless dread? If you knew what +I have to endure! I sometimes envy you. 'Pon my honour, I sometimes wish +I had married a fishmonger! Silva, indeed, is a most excellent husband. +Polished! such polish as you know not of in England. He has a way--a +wriggle with his shoulders in company--I cannot describe it to you; so +slight! so elegant! and he is all that a woman could desire. But who +could be safe in any part of the earth, my dears, while papa will go +about so, and behave so extraordinarily? I was at dinner at your English +embassy a month ago, and there was Admiral Combleman, then on the +station off Lisbon, Sir Jackson Racial's friend, who was the Admiral at +Lymport formerly. I knew him at once, and thought, oh! what shall I +do! My heart was like a lump of lead. I would have given worlds that we +might one of us have smothered the other! I had to sit beside him--it +always happens! Thank heaven! he did not identify me. And then he told +an anecdote of Papa. It was the dreadful old "Bath" story. I thought I +should have died. I could not but fancy the Admiral suspected. Was it +not natural? And what do you think I had the audacity to do? I asked him +coolly, whether the Mr. Harrington he mentioned was not the son of Sir +Abraham Harrington, of Torquay,--the gentleman who lost his yacht in +the Lisbon waters last year? I brought it on myself. 'Gentleman, +ma'am,--MA'AM!' says the horrid old creature, laughing, 'gentleman! he's +a ---- I cannot speak it: I choke!' And then he began praising Papa. +Diacho! what I suffered. But, you know, I can keep my countenance, if I +perish. I am a Harrington as much as any of us!' + +And the Countess looked superb in the pride with which she said she +was what she would have given her hand not to be. But few feelings are +single on this globe, and junction of sentiments need not imply unity in +our yeasty compositions. + +'After it was over--my supplice,' continued the Countess, 'I was +questioned by all the ladies--I mean our ladies--not your English. They +wanted to know how I could be so civil to that intolerable man. I gained +a deal of credit, my dears. I laid it all on--Diplomacy.' The Countess +laughed bitterly. 'Diplomacy bears the burden of it all. I pretended +that Combleman could be useful to Silva! Oh! what hypocrites we all are, +mio Deus!' + +The ladies listening could not gainsay this favourite claim of universal +brotherhood among the select who wear masks instead of faces. + +With regard to Evan, the Countess had far outstripped her sisters in +her views. A gentleman she had discovered must have one of two things--a +title or money. He might have all the breeding in the world; he might be +as good as an angel; but without a title or money he was under eclipse +almost total. On a gentleman the sun must shine. Now, Evan had no title, +no money. The clouds were thick above the youth. To gain a title he +would have to scale aged mountains. There was one break in his firmament +through which the radiant luminary might be assisted to cast its beams +on him still young. That divine portal was matrimony. If he could but +make a rich marriage he would blaze transfigured; all would be well! And +why should not Evan marry an heiress, as well as another? + +'I know a young creature who would exactly suit him,' said the Countess. +'She is related to the embassy, and is in Lisbon now. A charming +child--just sixteen! Dios! how the men rave about her! and she isn't a +beauty,--there's the wonder; and she is a little too gauche too English +in her habits and ways of thinking; likes to be admired, of course, but +doesn't know yet how to set about getting it. She rather scandalizes +our ladies, but when you know her!--She will have, they say, a hundred +'thousand pounds in her own right! Rose Jocelyn, the daughter of +Sir Franks, and that eccentric Lady Jocelyn. She is with her uncle, +Melville, the celebrated diplomate though, to tell you the truth, we +turn him round our fingers, and spin him as the boys used to do the +cockchafers. I cannot forget our old Fallow field school-life, you see, +my dears. Well, Rose Jocelyn would just suit Evan. She is just of an age +to receive an impression. And I would take care she did. Instance me a +case where I have failed? + +'Or there is the Portuguese widow, the Rostral. She's thirty, certainly; +but she possesses millions! Estates all over the kingdom, and the +sweetest creature. But, no. Evan would be out of the way there, +certainly. But--our women are very nice: they have the dearest, sweetest +ways: but I would rather Evan did not marry one of them. And then there +'s the religion!' + +This was a sore of the Countess's own, and she dropped a tear in coming +across it. + +'No, my dears, it shall be Rose Jocelyn!' she concluded: 'I will take +Evan over with me, and see that he has opportunities. It shall be Rose, +and then I can call her mine; for in verity I love the child.' + +It is not my part to dispute the Countess's love for Miss Jocelyn; and +I have only to add that Evan, unaware of the soft training he was +to undergo, and the brilliant chance in store for him, offered no +impediment to the proposition that he should journey to Portugal with +his sister (whose subtlest flattery was to tell him that she should not +be ashamed to own him there); and ultimately, furnished with cash for +the trip by the remonstrating brewer, went. + +So these Parcae, daughters of the shears, arranged and settled the young +man's fate. His task was to learn the management of his mouth, how to +dress his shoulders properly, and to direct his eyes--rare qualities in +man or woman, I assure you; the management of the mouth being especially +admirable, and correspondingly difficult. These achieved, he was to +place his battery in position, and win the heart and hand of an heiress. + +Our comedy opens with his return from Portugal, in company with Miss +Rose, the heiress; the Honourable Melville Jocelyn, the diplomate; and +the Count and Countess de Saldar, refugees out of that explosive little +kingdom. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. ON BOARD THE JOCASTA + +From the Tagus to the Thames the Government sloop-of-war, Jocasta, +had made a prosperous voyage, bearing that precious freight, a removed +diplomatist and his family; for whose uses let a sufficient vindication +be found in the exercise he affords our crews in the science of +seamanship. She entered our noble river somewhat early on a fine July +morning. Early as it was, two young people, who had nothing to do with +the trimming or guiding of the vessel, stood on deck, and watched the +double-shore, beginning to embrace them more and more closely as they +sailed onward. One, a young lady, very young in manner, wore a black +felt hat with a floating scarlet feather, and was clad about the +shoulders in a mantle of foreign style and pattern. The other you might +have taken for a wandering Don, were such an object ever known; so +simply he assumed the dusky sombrero and dangling cloak, of which one +fold was flung across his breast and drooped behind him. The line of an +adolescent dark moustache ran along his lip, and only at intervals could +you see that his eyes were blue and of the land he was nearing. For the +youth was meditative, and held his head much down. The young lady, +on the contrary, permitted an open inspection of her countenance, and +seemed, for the moment at least, to be neither caring nor thinking of +what kind of judgement would be passed on her. Her pretty nose was up, +sniffing the still salt breeze with vivacious delight. + +'Oh!' she cried, clapping her hands, 'there goes a dear old English +gull! How I have wished to see him! I haven't seen one for two years and +seven months. When I 'm at home, I 'll leave my window open all night, +just to hear the rooks, when they wake in the morning. There goes +another!' + +She tossed up her nose again, exclaiming: + +'I 'm sure I smell England nearer and nearer! I smell the fields, and +the cows in them. I'd have given anything to be a dairy-maid for half +an hour! I used to lie and pant in that stifling air among those stupid +people, and wonder why anybody ever left England. Aren't you glad to +come back?' + +This time the fair speaker lent her eyes to the question, and shut her +lips; sweet, cold, chaste lips she had: a mouth that had not yet dreamed +of kisses, and most honest eyes. + +The young man felt that they were not to be satisfied by his own, and +after seeking to fill them with a doleful look, which was immediately +succeeded by one of superhuman indifference, he answered: + +'Yes! We shall soon have to part!' and commenced tapping with his foot +the cheerful martyr's march. + +Speech that has to be hauled from the depths usually betrays the effort. +Listening an instant to catch the import of this cavernous gasp upon the +brink of sound, the girl said: + +'Part? what do you mean?' + +Apparently it required a yet vaster effort to pronounce an explanation. +The doleful look, the superhuman indifference, were repeated in due +order: sound, a little more distinct, uttered the words: + +'We cannot be as we have been, in England!' and then the cheerful martyr +took a few steps farther. + +'Why, you don't mean to say you're going to give me up, and not be +friends with me, because we've come back to England?' cried the girl in +a rapid breath, eyeing him seriously. + +Most conscientiously he did not mean it! but he replied with the +quietest negative. + +'No?' she mimicked him. 'Why do you say "No" like that? Why are you +so mysterious, Evan? Won't you promise me to come and stop with us for +weeks? Haven't you said we would ride, and hunt, and fish together, and +read books, and do all sorts of things?' + +He replied with the quietest affirmative. + +'Yes? What does "Yes!" mean?' She lifted her chest to shake out the +dead-alive monosyllable, as he had done. 'Why are you so singular this +morning, Evan? Have I offended you? You are so touchy!' + +The slur on his reputation for sensitiveness induced the young man to +attempt being more explicit. + +'I mean,' he said, hesitating; 'why, we must part. We shall not see each +other every day. Nothing more than that.' And away went the cheerful +martyr in sublimest mood. + +'Oh! and that makes you, sorry?' A shade of archness was in her voice. + +The girl waited as if to collect something in her mind, and was now a +patronizing woman. + +'Why, you dear sentimental boy! You don't suppose we could see each +other every day for ever?' + +It was perhaps the cruelest question that could have been addressed to +the sentimental boy from her mouth. But he was a cheerful martyr! + +'You dear Don Doloroso!' she resumed. 'I declare if you are not just +like those young Portugals this morning; and over there you were such a +dear English fellow; and that's why I liked you so much! Do change! +Do, please, be lively, and yourself again. Or mind; I'll call you +Don Doloroso, and that shall be your name in England. See +there!--that's--that's? what's the name of that place? Hoy! Mr. Skerne!' +She hailed the boatswain, passing, 'Do tell me the name of that place.' + +Mr. Skerne righted about to satisfy her minutely, and then coming up to +Evan, he touched his hat, and said: + +'I mayn't have another opportunity--we shall be busy up there--of +thankin' you again, sir, for what you did for my poor drunken brother +Bill, and you may take my word I won't forget it, sir, if he does; and +I suppose he'll be drowning his memory just as he was near drowning +himself.' + +Evan muttered something, grimaced civilly, and turned away. The girl's +observant brows were moved to a faintly critical frown, and nodding +intelligently to the boatswain's remark, that the young gentleman did +not seem quite himself, now that he was nearing home, she went up to +Evan, and said: + +'I'm going to give you a lesson in manners, to be quits with you. +Listen, sir. Why did you turn away so ungraciously from Mr. Skerne, +while he was thanking you for having saved his brother's life? Now +there's where you're too English. Can't you bear to be thanked?' + +'I don't want to be thanked because I can swim,' said Evan. + +'But it is not that. Oh, how you trifle!' she cried. 'There's nothing +vexes me so much as that way you have. Wouldn't my eyes have sparkled if +anybody had come up to me to thank me for such a thing? I would let +them know how glad I was to have done such a thing! Doesn't it make them +happier, dear Evan?' + +'My dear Miss Jocelyn!' + +'What?' + +The honest grey eyes fixed on him, narrowed their enlarged lids. She +gazed before her on the deck, saying: + +'I'm sure I can't understand you. I suppose it's because I'm a girl, and +I never shall till I'm a woman. Heigho!' + +A youth who is engaged in the occupation of eating his heart, cannot +shine to advantage, and is as much a burden to himself as he is an +enigma to others. Evan felt this; but he could do nothing and say +nothing; so he retired deeper into the folds of the Don, and remained +picturesque and scarcely pleasant. + +They were relieved by a summons to breakfast from below. + +She brightened and laughed. 'Now, what will you wager me, Evan, that the +Countess doesn't begin: + +"Sweet child! how does she this morning? blooming?" when she kisses me?' + +Her capital imitation of his sister's manner constrained him to join in +her laugh, and he said: + +'I'll back against that, I get three fingers from your uncle, and +"Morrow, young sir!"' + +Down they ran together, laughing; and, sure enough, the identical words +of the respective greetings were employed, which they had to enjoy with +all the discretion they could muster. + +Rose went round the table to her little cousin Alec, aged seven, kissed +his reluctant cheek, and sat beside him, announcing a sea appetite +and great capabilities, while Evan silently broke bread. The Count +de Saldar, a diminutive tawny man, just a head and neck above the +tablecloth, sat sipping chocolate and fingering dry toast, which +he would now and then dip in jelly, and suck with placidity, in the +intervals of a curt exchange of French with the wife of the Hon. +Melville, a ringleted English lady, or of Portuguese with the Countess; +who likewise sipped chocolate and fingered dry toast, and was mournfully +melodious. The Hon. Melville, as became a tall islander, carved +beef, and ate of it, like a ruler of men. Beautiful to see was the +compassionate sympathy of the Countess's face when Rose offered her +plate for a portion of the world-subjugating viand, as who should say: +'Sweet child! thou knowest not yet of sorrows, thou canst ballast thy +stomach with beef!' In any other than an heiress, she would probably +have thought: 'This is indeed a disgusting little animal, and most +unfeminine conduct!' + +Rose, unconscious of praise or blame, rivalled her uncle in enjoyment +of the fare, and talked of her delight in seeing England again, and +anything that belonged to her native land. Mrs. Melville perceived that +it pained the refugee Countess, and gave her the glance intelligible; +but the Countess never missed glances, or failed to interpret them. She +said: + +'Let her. I love to hear the sweet child's prattle.' + +'It was fortunate' (she addressed the diplomatist) 'that we touched at +Southampton and procured fresh provision!' + +'Very lucky for US!' said he, glaring shrewdly between a mouthful. + +The Count heard the word 'Southampton,' and wished to know how it was +comprised. A passage of Portuguese ensued, and then the Countess said: + +'Silva, you know, desired to relinquish the vessel at Southampton. He +does not comprehend the word "expense," but' (she shook a dumb Alas!) 'I +must think of that for him now!' + +'Oh! always avoid expense,' said the Hon. Melville, accustomed to be +paid for by his country. + +'At what time shall we arrive, may I ask, do you think?' the Countess +gently inquired. + +The watch of a man who had his eye on Time was pulled out, and she +was told it might be two hours before dark. Another reckoning, keenly +balanced, informed the company that the day's papers could be expected +on board somewhere about three o'clock in the afternoon. + +'And then,' said the Hon. Melville, nodding general gratulation, 'we +shall know how the world wags.' + +How it had been wagging the Countess's straining eyes under closed +eyelids were eloquent of. + +'Too late, I fear me, to wait upon Lord Livelyston to-night?' she +suggested. + +'To-night?' The Hon. Melville gazed blank astonishment at the notion. +'Oh! certainly, too late tonight. A-hum! I think, madam, you had better +not be in too great a hurry to see him. Repose a little. Recover your +fatigue.' + +'Oh!' exclaimed the Countess, with a beam of utter confidence in him, 'I +shall be too happy to place myself in your hands--believe me.' + +This was scarcely more to the taste of the diplomatist. He put up his +mouth, and said, blandly: + +'I fear--you know, madam, I must warn you beforehand--I, personally, +am but an insignificant unit over here, you know; I, personally, can't +guarantee much assistance to you--not positive. What I can do--of +course, very happy!' And he fell to again upon the beef. + +'Not so very insignificant!' said the Countess, smiling, as at a softly +radiant conception of him. + +'Have to bob and bow like the rest of them over here,' he added, proof +against the flattery. + +'But that you will not forsake Silva, I am convinced,' said the +Countess; and, paying little heed to his brief 'Oh! what I can do,' +continued: 'For over here, in England, we are almost friendless. My +relations--such as are left of them--are not in high place.' She turned +to Mrs. Melville, and renewed the confession with a proud humility. +'Truly, I have not a distant cousin in the Cabinet!' + +Mrs. Melville met her sad smile, and returned it, as one who understood +its entire import. + +'My brother-in-law-my sister, I think, you know--married a--a brewer! He +is rich; but, well! such was her taste! My brother-in-law is indeed in +Parliament, and he--' + +'Very little use, seeing he votes with the opposite party,' the +diplomatist interrupted her. + +'Ah! but he will not,' said the Countess, serenely. 'I can trust with +confidence that, if it is for Silva's interest, he will assuredly so +dispose of his influence as to suit the desiderations of his family, and +not in any way oppose his opinions to the powers that would willingly +stoop to serve us!' + +It was impossible for the Hon. Melville to withhold a slight grimace at +his beef, when he heard this extremely alienized idea of the nature of +a member of the Parliament of Great Britain. He allowed her to enjoy her +delusion, as she pursued: + +'No. So much we could offer in repayment. It is little! But this, in +verity, is a case. Silva's wrongs have only to be known in England, and +I am most assured that the English people will not permit it. In the +days of his prosperity, Silva was a friend to England, and England +should not--should not--forget it now. Had we money! But of that arm our +enemies have deprived us: and, I fear, without it we cannot hope to have +the justice of our cause pleaded in the English papers. Mr. Redner, you +know, the correspondent in Lisbon, is a sworn foe to Silva. And why but +because I would not procure him an invitation to Court! The man was so +horridly vulgar; his gloves were never clean; I had to hold a bouquet to +my nose when I talked to him. That, you say, was my fault! Truly so. But +what woman can be civil to a low-bred, pretentious, offensive man?' + +Mrs. Melville, again appealed to, smiled perfect sympathy, and said, to +account for his character: + +'Yes. He is the son of a small shopkeeper of some kind, in Southampton, +I hear.' + +'A very good fellow in his way,' said her husband. + +'Oh! I can't bear that class of people,' Rose exclaimed. 'I always keep +out of their way. You can always tell them.' + +The Countess smiled considerate approbation of her exclusiveness and +discernment. So sweet a smile! + +'You were on deck early, my dear?' she asked Evan, rather abruptly. + +Master Alec answered for him: 'Yes, he was, and so was Rose. They made +an appointment, just as they used to do under the oranges.' + +'Children!' the Countess smiled to Mrs. Melville. + +'They always whisper when I'm by,' Alec appended. + +'Children!' the Countess's sweetened visage entreated Mrs. Melville to +re-echo; but that lady thought it best for the moment to direct Rose to +look to her packing, now that she had done breakfast. + +'And I will take a walk with my brother on deck,' said the Countess. +'Silva is too harassed for converse.' + +The parties were thus divided. The silent Count was left to meditate +on his wrongs in the saloon; and the diplomatist, alone with his lady, +thought fit to say to her, shortly: 'Perhaps it would be as well to draw +away from these people a little. We 've done as much as we could for +them, in bringing them over here. They may be trying to compromise us. +That woman's absurd. She 's ashamed of the brewer, and yet she wants +to sell him--or wants us to buy him. Ha! I think she wants us to send +a couple of frigates, and threaten bombardment of the capital, if they +don't take her husband back, and receive him with honours.' + +'Perhaps it would be as well,' said Mrs. Melville. 'Rose's invitation to +him goes for nothing.' + +'Rose? inviting the Count? down to Hampshire?' The diplomatist's brows +were lifted. + +'No, I mean the other,' said the diplomatist's wife. + +'Oh! the young fellow! very good young fellow. Gentlemanly. No harm in +him.' + +'Perhaps not,' said the diplomatist's wife. + +'You don't suppose he expects us to keep him on, or provide for him over +here--eh?' + +The diplomatist's wife informed him that such was not her thought, that +he did not understand, and that it did not matter; and as soon as the +Hon. Melville saw that she was brooding something essentially feminine, +and which had no relationship to the great game of public life, +curiosity was extinguished in him. + +On deck the Countess paced with Evan, and was for a time pleasantly +diverted by the admiration she could, without looking, perceive that her +sorrow-subdued graces had aroused in the breast of a susceptible naval +lieutenant. At last she spoke: + +'My dear! remember this. Your last word to Mr. Jocelyn will be: "I will +do myself the honour to call upon my benefactor early." To Rose you +will say: "Be assured, Miss Jocelyn 'Miss Jocelyn--' I shall not fail +in hastening to pay my respects to your family in Hampshire." You will +remember to do it, in the exact form I speak it.' + +Evan laughed: 'What! call him benefactor to his face? I couldn't do it.' + +'Ah! my child!' + +'Besides, he isn't a benefactor at all. His private secretary died, and +I stepped in to fill the post, because nobody else was handy.' + +'And tell me of her who pushed you forward, Evan?' + +'My dear sister, I'm sure I'm not ungrateful.' + +'No; but headstrong: opinionated. Now these people will endeavour--Oh! +I have seen it in a thousand little things--they wish to shake us off. +Now, if you will but do as I indicate! Put your faith in an older +head, Evan. It is your only chance of society in England. For your +brother-in-law--I ask you, what sort of people will you meet at the +Cogglesbys? Now and then a nobleman, very much out of his element. In +short, you have fed upon a diet which will make you to distinguish, and +painfully to know the difference! Indeed! Yes, you are looking about for +Rose. It depends upon your behaviour now, whether you are to see her +at all in England. Do you forget? You wished once to inform her of your +origin. Think of her words at the breakfast this morning!' + +The Countess imagined she had produced an impression. Evan said: 'Yes, +and I should have liked to have told her this morning that I'm myself +nothing more than the son of a--' + +'Stop! cried his sister, glancing about in horror. The admiring +lieutenant met her eye. Blandishingly she smiled on him: 'Most beautiful +weather for a welcome to dear England?' and passed with majesty. + +'Boy!' she resumed, 'are you mad?' + +'I hate being such a hypocrite, madam.' + +'Then you do not love her, Evan?' + +This may have been dubious logic, but it resulted from a clear sequence +of ideas in the lady's head. Evan did not contest it. + +'And assuredly you will lose her, Evan. Think of my troubles! I have to +intrigue for Silva; I look to your future; I smile, Oh heaven! how do I +not smile when things are spoken that pierce my heart! This morning at +the breakfast!' + +Evan took her hand, and patted it. + +'What is your pity?' she sighed. + +'If it had not been for you, my dear sister, I should never have held my +tongue.' + +'You are not a Harrington! You are a Dawley!' she exclaimed, +indignantly. + +Evan received the accusation of possessing more of his mother's spirit +than his father's in silence. + +'You would not have held your tongue,' she said, with fervid severity: +'and you would have betrayed yourself! and you would have said you were +that! and you in that costume! Why, goodness gracious! could you bear to +appear so ridiculous?' + +The poor young man involuntarily surveyed his person. The pains of an +impostor seized him. The deplorable image of the Don making confession +became present to his mind. It was a clever stroke of this female +intriguer. She saw him redden grievously, and blink his eyes; and not +wishing to probe him so that he would feel intolerable disgust at his +imprisonment in the Don, she continued: + +'But you have the sense to see your duties, Evan. You have an excellent +sense, in the main. No one would dream--to see you. You did not, I must +say, you did not make enough of your gallantry. A Portuguese who had +saved a man's life, Evan, would he have been so boorish? You behaved as +if it was a matter of course that you should go overboard after anybody, +in your clothes, on a dark night. So, then, the Jocelyns took it. I +barely heard one compliment to you. And Rose--what an effect it should +have had on her! But, owing to your manner, I do believe the girl thinks +it nothing but your ordinary business to go overboard after anybody, in +your clothes, on a dark night. 'Pon my honour, I believe she expects +to see you always dripping!' The Countess uttered a burst of hysterical +humour. 'So you miss your credit. That inebriated sailor should really +have been gold to you. Be not so young and thoughtless.' + +The Countess then proceeded to tell him how foolishly he had let slip +his great opportunity. A Portuguese would have fixed the young lady +long before. By tender moonlight, in captivating language, beneath the +umbrageous orange-groves, a Portuguese would have accurately calculated +the effect of the perfume of the blossom on her sensitive nostrils, and +know the exact moment when to kneel, and declare his passion sonorously. + +'Yes,' said Evan, 'one of them did. She told me.' + +'She told you? And you--what did you do?' + +'Laughed at him with her, to be sure.' + +'Laughed at him! She told you, and you helped her to laugh at love! Have +you no perceptions? Why did she tell you?' + +'Because she thought him such a fool, I suppose.' + +'You never will know a woman,' said the Countess, with contempt. + +Much of his worldly sister at a time was more than Evan could bear. +Accustomed to the symptoms of restiveness, she finished her discourse, +enjoyed a quiet parade up and down under the gaze of the lieutenant, +and could find leisure to note whether she at all struck the inferior +seamen, even while her mind was absorbed by the multiform troubles and +anxieties for which she took such innocent indemnification. + +The appearance of the Hon. Melville Jocelyn on deck, and without +his wife, recalled her to business. It is a peculiarity of female +diplomatists that they fear none save their own sex. Men they regard +as their natural prey: in women they see rival hunters using their own +weapons. The Countess smiled a slowly-kindling smile up to him, set her +brother adrift, and delicately linked herself to Evan's benefactor. + +'I have been thinking,' she said, 'knowing your kind and most +considerate attentions, that we may compromise you in England.' + +He at once assured her he hoped not, he thought not at all. + +'The idea is due to my brother,' she went on; 'for I--women know so +little!--and most guiltlessly should we have done so. My brother perhaps +does not think of us foremost; but his argument I can distinguish. I +can see, that were you openly to plead Silva's cause, you might bring +yourself into odium, Mr. Jocelyn; and heaven knows I would not that! May +I then ask, that in England we may be simply upon the same footing of +private friendship?' + +The diplomatist looked into her uplifted visage, that had all the sugary +sparkles of a crystallized preserved fruit of the Portugal clime, and +observed, confidentially, that, with every willingness in the world to +serve her, he did think it would possibly be better, for a time, to be +upon that footing, apart from political considerations. + +'I was very sure my brother would apprehend your views,' said the +Countess. 'He, poor boy! his career is closed. He must sink into a +different sphere. He will greatly miss the intercourse with you and your +sweet family.' + +Further relieved, the diplomatist delivered a high opinion of the young +gentleman, his abilities, and his conduct, and trusted he should see him +frequently. + +By an apparent sacrifice, the lady thus obtained what she wanted. + +Near the hour speculated on by the diplomatist, the papers came on +board, and he, unaware how he had been manoeuvred for lack of a wife at +his elbow, was quickly engaged in appeasing the great British hunger +for news; second only to that for beef, it seems, and equally acceptable +salted when it cannot be had fresh. + +Leaving the devotee of statecraft with his legs crossed, and his face +wearing the cognizant air of one whose head is above the waters of +events, to enjoy the mighty meal of fresh and salted at discretion, the +Countess dived below. + +Meantime the Jocasta, as smoothly as before she was ignorant of how the +world wagged, slipped up the river with the tide; and the sun hung red +behind the forest of masts, burnishing a broad length of the serpentine +haven of the nations of the earth. A young Englishman returning home can +hardly look on this scene without some pride of kinship. Evan stood at +the fore part of the vessel. Rose, in quiet English attire, had escaped +from her aunt to join him, singing in his ears, to spur his senses: +'Isn't it beautiful? Isn't it beautiful? Dear old England!' + +'What do you find so beautiful?' he asked. + +'Oh, you dull fellow! Why the ships, and the houses, and the smoke, to +be sure.' + +'The ships? Why, I thought you despised trade, mademoiselle?' + +'And so I do. That is, not trade, but tradesmen. Of course, I mean +shopkeepers.' + +'It's they who send the ships to and fro, and make the picture that +pleases you, nevertheless.' + +'Do they?' said she, indifferently, and then with a sort of fervour, +'Why do you always grow so cold to me whenever we get on this subject?' + +'I cold?' Evan responded. The incessant fears of his diplomatic sister +had succeeded in making him painfully jealous of this subject. He turned +it off. 'Why, our feelings are just the same. Do you know what I was +thinking when you came up? I was thinking that I hoped I might never +disgrace the name of an Englishman.' + +'Now, that's noble!' cried the girl. 'And I'm sure you never will. Of an +English gentleman, Evan. I like that better.' + +'Would your rather be called a true English lady than a true English +woman, Rose?' + +'Don't think I would, my dear,' she answered, pertly; 'but "gentleman" +always means more than "man" to me.' + +'And what's a gentleman, mademoiselle?' + +'Can't tell you, Don Doloroso. Something you are, sir,' she added, +surveying him. + +Evan sucked the bitter and the sweet of her explanation. His sister in +her anxiety to put him on his guard, had not beguiled him to forget his +real state. + +His sister, the diplomatist and his lady, the refugee Count, with +ladies' maids, servants, and luggage, were now on the main-deck, and +Master Alec, who was as good as a newspaper correspondent for private +conversations, put an end to the colloquy of the young people. They +were all assembled in a circle when the vessel came to her moorings. +The diplomatist glutted with news, and thirsting for confirmations; the +Count dumb, courteous, and quick-eyed; the honourable lady complacent +in the consciousness of boxes well packed; the Countess breathing +mellifluous long-drawn adieux that should provoke invitations. Evan and +Rose regarded each other. + +The boat to convey them on shore was being lowered, and they were +preparing to move forward. Just then the vessel was boarded by a +stranger. + +'Is that one of the creatures of your Customs? I did imagine we were +safe from them,' exclaimed the Countess. + +The diplomatist laughingly requested her to save herself anxiety on +that score, while under his wing. But she had drawn attention to the +intruder, who was seen addressing one of the midshipmen. He was a man in +a long brown coat and loose white neckcloth, spectacles on nose, which +he wore considerably below the bridge and peered over, as if their main +use were to sight his eye; a beaver hat, with broadish brim, on his +head. A man of no station, it was evident to the ladies at once, and +they would have taken no further notice of him had he not been seen +stepping toward them in the rear of the young midshipman. + +The latter came to Evan, and said: 'A fellow of the name of Goren wants +you. Says there's something the matter at home.' + +Evan advanced, and bowed stiffly. + +Mr. Goren held out his hand. 'You don't remember me, young man? I cut +out your first suit for you when you were breeched, though! Yes-ah! Your +poor father wouldn't put his hand to it. Goren!' + +Embarrassed, and not quite alive to the chapter of facts this name +should have opened to him, Evan bowed again. + +'Goren!' continued the possessor of the name. He had a cracked voice, +that when he spoke a word of two syllables, commenced with a lugubrious +crow, and ended in what one might have taken for a curious question. + +'It is a bad business brings me, young man. I 'm not the best messenger +for such tidings. It's a black suit, young man! It's your father!' + +The diplomatist and his lady gradually edged back but Rose remained +beside the Countess, who breathed quick, and seemed to have lost her +self-command. + +Thinking he was apprehended, Mr. Goren said: 'I 'm going down to-night +to take care of the shop. He 's to be buried in his old uniform. You +had better come with me by the night-coach, if you would see the last of +him, young man.' + +Breaking an odd pause that had fallen, the Countess cried aloud, +suddenly: + +'In his uniform!' + +Mr. Goren felt his arm seized and his legs hurrying him some paces into +isolation. 'Thanks! thanks!' was murmured in his ear. 'Not a word more. +Evan cannot bear it. Oh! you are good to have come, and we are grateful. +My father! my father!' + +She had to tighten her hand and wrist against her bosom to keep herself +up. She had to reckon in a glance how much Rose had heard, or divined. +She had to mark whether the Count had understood a syllable. She had to +whisper to Evan to hasten away with the horrible man. + +She had to enliven his stunned senses, and calm her own. And with +mournful images of her father in her brain, the female Spartan had to +turn to Rose, and speculate on the girl's reflective brows, while she +said, as over a distant relative, sadly, but without distraction: 'A +death in the family!' and preserved herself from weeping her heart out, +that none might guess the thing who did not positively know it. Evan +touched the hand of Rose without meeting her eyes. He was soon cast off +in Mr. Goren's boat. Then the Countess murmured final adieux; twilight +under her lids, but yet a smile, stately, affectionate, almost genial. +Rose, her sweet Rose, she must kiss. She could have slapped Rose for +appearing so reserved and cold. She hugged Rose, as to hug oblivion of +the last few minutes into her. The girl leant her cheek, and bore the +embrace, looking on her with a kind of wonder. + +Only when alone with the Count, in the brewer's carriage awaiting her +on shore, did the lady give a natural course to her grief; well knowing +that her Silva would attribute it to the darkness of their common +exile. She wept: but in the excess of her misery, two words of strangely +opposite signification, pronounced by Mr. Goren; two words that were at +once poison and antidote, sang in her brain; two words that painted her +dead father from head to foot, his nature and his fortune: these were +the Shop, and the Uniform. + +Oh! what would she not have given to have-seen and bestowed on her +beloved father one last kiss! Oh! how she hoped that her inspired echo +of Uniform, on board the Jocasta, had drowned the memory, eclipsed the +meaning, of that fatal utterance of Shop! + + + + +CHAPTER V. THE FAMILY AND THE FUNERAL + +It was the evening of the second day since the arrival of the black +letter in London from Lymport, and the wife of the brewer and the wife +of the Major sat dropping tears into one another's laps, in expectation +of their sister the Countess. Mr. Andrew Cogglesby had not yet returned +from his office. The gallant Major had gone forth to dine with General +Sir George Frebuter, the head of the Marines of his time. It would have +been difficult for the Major, he informed his wife, to send in an excuse +to the General for non-attendance, without entering into particulars; +and that he should tell the General he could not dine with him, because +of the sudden decease of a tailor, was, as he let his wife understand, +and requested her to perceive, quite out of the question. So he dressed +himself carefully, and though peremptory with his wife concerning his +linen, and requiring natural services from her in the button department, +and a casual expression of contentment as to his ultimate make-up, he +left her that day without any final injunctions to occupy her mind, and +she was at liberty to weep if she pleased, a privilege she did not enjoy +undisturbed when he was present; for the warrior hated that weakness, +and did not care to hide his contempt for it. + +Of the three sisters, the wife of the Major was, oddly enough, the one +who was least inveterately solicitous of concealing the fact of her +parentage. Reticence, of course, she had to study with the rest; the +Major was a walking book of reticence and the observances; he professed, +also, in company with herself alone, to have had much trouble in +drilling her to mark and properly preserve them. She had no desire to +speak of her birthplace. But, for some reason or other, she did not +share her hero's rather petulant anxiety to keep the curtain nailed down +on that part of her life which preceded her entry into the ranks of the +Royal Marines. Some might have thought that those fair large blue eyes +of hers wandered now and then in pleasant unambitious walks behind +the curtain, and toyed with little flowers of palest memory. Utterly +tasteless, totally wanting in discernment, not to say gratitude, the +Major could not presume her to be; and yet his wits perceived that +her answers and the conduct she shaped in accordance with his repeated +protests and long-reaching apprehensions of what he called danger, +betrayed acquiescent obedience more than the connubial sympathy due to +him. Danger on the field the Major knew not of; he did not scruple to +name the word in relation to his wife. For, as he told her, should he, +some day, as in the chapter of accidents might occur, sally into the +street a Knight Companion of the Bath and become known to men as Sir +Maxwell Strike, it would be decidedly disagreeable for him to be blown +upon by a wind from Lymport. Moreover she was the mother of a son. The +Major pointed out to her the duty she owed her offspring. Certainly the +protecting aegis of his rank and title would be over the lad, but she +might depend upon it any indiscretion of hers would damage him in his +future career, the Major assured her. Young Maxwell must be considered. + +For all this, the mother and wife, when the black letter found them in +the morning at breakfast, had burst into a fit of grief, and faltered +that she wept for a father. Mrs. Andrew, to whom the letter was +addressed, had simply held the letter to her in a trembling hand. The +Major compared their behaviour, with marked encomiums of Mrs. Andrew. +Now this lady and her husband were in obverse relative positions. The +brewer had no will but his Harriet's. His esteem for her combined the +constitutional feelings of an insignificantly-built little man for a +majestic woman, and those of a worthy soul for the wife of his bosom. +Possessing, or possessed by her, the good brewer was perfectly happy. +She, it might be thought, under these circumstances, would not have +minded much his hearing what he might hear. It happened, however, that +she was as jealous of the winds of Lymport as the Major himself; +as vigilant in debarring them from access to the brewery as now the +Countess could have been. We are not dissecting human nature suffice +it, therefore, from a mere glance at the surface, to say, that just as +moneyed men are careful of their coin, women who have all the advantages +in a conjunction, are miserly in keeping them, and shudder to think that +one thing remains hidden, which the world they move in might put down +pityingly in favour of their spouse, even though to the little man +'twere naught. She assumed that a revelation would diminish her moral +stature; and certainly it would not increase that of her husband. So +no good could come of it. Besides, Andrew knew, his whole conduct was a +tacit admission, that she had condescended in giving him her hand. The +features of their union might not be changed altogether by a revelation, +but it would be a shock to her. + +Consequently, Harriet tenderly rebuked Caroline, for her outcry at +the breakfast-table; and Caroline, the elder sister, who had not since +marriage grown in so free an air, excused herself humbly, and the two +were weeping when the Countess joined them and related what she had just +undergone. + +Hearing of Caroline's misdemeanour, however, Louisa's eyes rolled +aloft in a paroxysm of tribulation. It was nothing to Caroline; it was +comparatively nothing to Harriet; but the Count knew not Louisa had a +father: believed that her parents had long ago been wiped out. And the +Count was by nature inquisitive: and if he once cherished a suspicion +he was restless; he was pointed in his inquiries: he was pertinacious in +following out a clue: there never would be peace with him! And then, as +they were secure in their privacy, Louisa cried aloud for her father, +her beloved father! Harriet wept silently. Caroline alone expressed +regret that she had not set eyes on him from the day she became a wife. + +'How could we, dear?' the Countess pathetically asked, under drowning +lids. + +'Papa did not wish it,' sobbed Mrs. Andrew. + +'I never shall forgive myself!' said the wife of the Major, drying +her cheeks. Perhaps it was not herself whom she felt she never could +forgive. + +Ah! the man their father was! Incomparable Melchisedec! he might well be +called. So generous! so lordly! When the rain of tears would subside for +a moment, one would relate an anecdote or childish reminiscence of him, +and provoke a more violent outburst. + +'Never, among the nobles of any land, never have I seen one like him!' +exclaimed the Countess, and immediately requested Harriet to tell her +how it would be possible to stop Andrew's tongue in Silva's presence. + +'At present, you know, my dear, they may talk as much as they like--they +can't understand one another one bit.' + +Mrs. Cogglesby comforted her by the assurance that Andrew had received +an intimation of her wish for silence everywhere and toward everybody; +and that he might be reckoned upon to respect it, without demanding +a reason for the restriction. In other days Caroline and Louisa had a +little looked down on Harriet's alliance with a dumpy man--a brewer--and +had always kind Christian compassion for him if his name were mentioned. +They seemed now, by their silence, to have a happier estimate of +Andrew's qualities. + +While the three sisters sat mingling their sorrows and alarms, their +young brother was making his way to the house. As he knocked at the +door he heard his name pronounced behind him, and had no difficulty in +recognizing the worthy brewer. + +'What, Van, my boy! how are you? Quite a foreigner! By George, what a +hat!' + +Mr. Andrew bounced back two or three steps to regard the dusky sombrero. + +'How do you do, sir?' said Evan. + +'Sir to you!' Mr. Andrew briskly replied. 'Don't they teach you to give +your fist in Portugal, eh? I'll "sir" you. Wait till I'm Sir Andrew, and +then "sir" away. You do speak English still, Van, eh? Quite jolly, my +boy?' + +Mr. Andrew rubbed his hands to express that state in himself. Suddenly +he stopped, blinked queerly at Evan, grew pensive, and said, 'Bless my +soul! I forgot.' + +The door opened, Mr. Andrew took Evan's arm, murmured a 'hush!' and trod +gently along the passage to his library. + +'We're safe here,' he said. 'There--there's something the matter +up-stairs. The women are upset about something. Harriet--' Mr. Andrew +hesitated, and branched off: 'You 've heard we 've got a new baby?' + +Evan congratulated him; but another inquiry was in Mr. Andrew's aspect, +and Evan's calm, sad manner answered it. + +'Yes,'--Mr. Andrew shook his head dolefully--'a splendid little chap! a +rare little chap! a we can't help these things, Van! They will happen. +Sit down, my boy.' + +Mr. Andrew again interrogated Evan with his eyes. + +'My father is dead,' said Evan. + +'Yes!' Mr. Andrew nodded, and glanced quickly at the ceiling, as if to +make sure that none listened overhead. 'My parliamentary duties +will soon be over for the season,' he added, aloud; pursuing, in an +under-breath: + +'Going down to-night, Van?' + +'He is to be buried to-morrow,' said Evan. + +'Then, of course, you go. Yes: quite right. Love your father and mother! +always love your father and mother! Old Tom and I never knew ours. Tom's +quite well-same as ever. I'll,' he rang the bell, 'have my chop in here +with you. You must try and eat a bit, Van. Here we are, and there we go. +Old Tom's wandering for one of his weeks. You'll see him some day. He +ain't like me. No dinner to-day, I suppose, Charles?' + +This was addressed to the footman. He announced: + +'Dinner to-day at half-past six, as usual, sir,' bowed, and retired. + +Mr. Andrew pored on the floor, and rubbed his hair back on his head. 'An +odd world!' was his remark. + +Evan lifted up his face to sigh: 'I 'm almost sick of it!' + +'Damn appearances!' cried Mr. Andrew, jumping on his legs. + +The action cooled him. + +'I 'm sorry I swore,' he said. 'Bad habit! The Major's here--you know +that?' and he assumed the Major's voice, and strutted in imitation of +the stalwart marine. 'Major--a--Strike! of the Royal Marines! returned +from China! covered with glory!--a hero, Van! We can't expect him to be +much of a mourner. And we shan't have him to dine with us to-day--that's +something.' He sank his voice: 'I hope the widow 'll bear it.' + +'I hope to God my mother is well!' Evan groaned. + +'That'll do,' said Mr. Andrew. 'Don't say any more.' + +As he spoke, he clapped Evan kindly on the back. + +A message was brought from the ladies, requiring Evan to wait on them. +He returned after some minutes. + +'How do you think Harriet's looking?' asked Mr. Andrew. And, not waiting +for an answer, whispered, + +'Are they going down to the funeral, my boy?' + +Evan's brow was dark, as he replied: 'They are not decided.' + +'Won't Harriet go?' + +'She is not going--she thinks not.' + +'And the Countess--Louisa's upstairs, eh?--will she go?' + +'She cannot leave the Count--she thinks not.' + +'Won't Caroline go? Caroline can go. She--he--I mean--Caroline can go?' + +'The Major objects. She wishes to.' + +Mr. Andrew struck out his arm, and uttered, 'the Major!'--a compromise +for a loud anathema. But the compromise was vain, for he sinned again in +an explosion against appearances. + +'I'm a brewer, Van. Do you think I'm ashamed of it? Not while I brew +good beer, my boy!--not while I brew good beer! They don't think worse +of me in the House for it. It isn't ungentlemanly to brew good beer, +Van. But what's the use of talking?' + +Mr. Andrew sat down, and murmured, 'Poor girl! poor girl!' + +The allusion was to his wife; for presently he said: 'I can't see why +Harriet can't go. What's to prevent her?' + +Evan gazed at him steadily. Death's levelling influence was in Evan's +mind. He was ready to say why, and fully. + +Mr. Andrew arrested him with a sharp 'Never mind! Harriet does as she +likes. I'm accustomed to--hem! what she does is best, after all. She +doesn't interfere with my business, nor I with hers. Man and wife.' + +Pausing a moment or so, Mr. Andrew intimated that they had better be +dressing for dinner. With his hand on the door, which he kept closed, he +said, in a businesslike way, 'You know, Van, as for me, I should be very +willing--only too happy--to go down and pay all the respect I could.' He +became confused, and shot his head from side to side, looking anywhere +but at Evan. 'Happy now and to-morrow, to do anything in my power, if +Harriet--follow the funeral--one of the family--anything I could do: +but--a--we 'd better be dressing for dinner.' And out the enigmatic +little man went. + +Evan partly divined him then. But at dinner his behaviour was +perplexing. He was too cheerful. He pledged the Count. He would have the +Portuguese for this and that, and make Anglican efforts to repeat it, +and laugh at his failures. He would not see that there was a father +dead. At a table of actors, Mr. Andrew overdid his part, and was the +worst. His wife could not help thinking him a heartless little man. + +The poor show had its term. The ladies fled to the boudoir sacred +to grief. Evan was whispered that he was to join them when he might, +without seeming mysterious to the Count. Before he reached them, +they had talked tearfully over the clothes he should wear at Lymport, +agreeing that his present foreign apparel, being black, would be +suitable, and would serve almost as disguise, to the inhabitants at +large; and as Evan had no English wear, and there was no time to procure +any for him, that was well. They arranged exactly how long he should +stay at Lymport, whom he should visit, the manner he should adopt toward +the different inhabitants. By all means he was to avoid the approach of +the gentry. For hours Evan, in a trance, half stupefied, had to listen +to the Countess's directions how he was to comport himself in Lymport. + +'Show that you have descended among them, dear Van, but are not of them. +Our beautiful noble English poet expresses it so. You have come to pay +the last mortal duties, which they will respect, if they are not brutes, +and attempt no familiarities. Allow none: gently, but firmly. Imitate +Silva. You remember, at Dona Risbonda's ball? When he met the Comte +de Dartigues, and knew he was to be in disgrace with his Court on the +morrow? Oh! the exquisite shade of difference in Silva's behaviour +towards the Comte. So finely, delicately perceptible to the Comte, and +not a soul saw it but that wretched Frenchman! He came to me: "Madame," +he said, "is a question permitted?" I replied, "As-many as you please, +M. le Comte, but no answers promised." He said: "May I ask if the +Courier has yet come in?"--"Nay, M. le Comte," I replied, "this is +diplomacy. Inquire of me, or better, give me an opinion on the new glace +silk from Paris."--"Madame," said he, bowing, "I hope Paris may send me +aught so good, or that I shall grace half so well." I smiled, "You shall +not be single in your hopes, M. le Comte. The gift would be base that +you did not embellish." He lifted his hands, French-fashion: "Madame, +it is that I have received the gift."--"Indeed! M. le Comte."--"Even now +from the Count de Saldar, your husband." I looked most innocently, "From +my husband, M. le Comte?"--"From him, Madame. A portrait. An Ambassador +without his coat! The portrait was a finished performance." I said: "And +may one beg the permission to inspect it?"--"Mais," said he, laughing: +"were it you alone, it would be a privilege to me." I had to check him. +"Believe me, M. le Comte, that when I look upon it, my praise of the +artist will be extinguished by my pity for the subject." He should have +stopped there; but you cannot have the last word with a Frenchman--not +even a woman. Fortunately the Queen just then made her entry into +the saloon, and his mot on the charity of our sex was lost. We bowed +mutually, and were separated.' (The Countess employed her handkerchief.) +'Yes, dear Van! that is how you should behave. Imply things. With +dearest Mama, of course, you are the dutiful son. Alas! you must stand +for son and daughters. Mama has so much sense! She will understand how +sadly we are placed. But in a week I will come to her for a day, and +bring you back.' + +So much his sister Louisa. His sister Harriet offered him her house for +a home in London, thence to project his new career. His sister Caroline +sought a word with him in private, but only to weep bitterly in his +arms, and utter a faint moan of regret at marriages in general. He loved +this beautiful creature the best of his three sisters (partly, it may +be, because he despised her superior officer), and tried with a few +smothered words to induce her to accompany him: but she only shook her +fair locks and moaned afresh. Mr. Andrew, in the farewell squeeze of the +hand at the street-door, asked him if he wanted anything. He negatived +the requirement of anything whatever, with an air of careless decision, +though he was aware that his purse barely contained more than would take +him the distance, but the instincts of this amateur gentleman were very +fine and sensitive on questions of money. His family had never known him +beg for a shilling, or admit his necessity for a penny: nor could he be +made to accept money unless it was thrust into his pocket. Somehow his +sisters had forgotten this peculiarity of his. Harriet only remembered +it when too late. + +'But I dare say Andrew has supplied him,' she said. + +Andrew being interrogated, informed her what had passed between them. + +'And you think a Harrington would confess he wanted money!' was her +scornful exclamation. 'Evan would walk--he would die rather. It was +treating him like a mendicant.' + +Andrew had to shrink in his brewer's skin. + +By some fatality all who were doomed to sit and listen to the Countess +de Saldar, were sure to be behindhand in an appointment. + +When the young man arrived at the coach-office, he was politely informed +that the vehicle, in which a seat had been secured for him, was in close +alliance with time and tide, and being under the same rigid laws, could +not possibly have waited for him, albeit it had stretched a point to the +extent of a pair of minutes, at the urgent solicitation of a passenger. + +'A gentleman who speaks so, sir,' said a volunteer mimic of the office, +crowing and questioning from his throat in Goren's manner. 'Yok! yok! +That was how he spoke, sir.' + +Evan reddened, for it brought the scene on board the Jocasta vividly to +his mind. The heavier business obliterated it. He took counsel with the +clerks of the office, and eventually the volunteer mimic conducted him +to certain livery stables, where Evan, like one accustomed to command, +ordered a chariot to pursue the coach, received a touch of the hat for a +lordly fee, and was soon rolling out of London. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. MY GENTLEMAN ON THE ROAD + +The postillion had every reason to believe that he carried a real +gentleman behind him; in other words, a purse long and liberal. He +judged by all the points he knew of: a firm voice, a brief commanding +style, an apparent indifference to expense, and the inexplicable minor +characteristics, such as polished boots, and a striking wristband, and +so forth, which will show a creature accustomed to step over the heads +of men. He had, therefore, no particular anxiety to part company, and +jogged easily on the white highway, beneath a moon that walked high and +small over marble clouds. + +Evan reclined in the chariot, revolving his sensations. In another mood +he would have called, them thoughts, perhaps, and marvelled at their +immensity. The theme was Love and Death. One might have supposed, from +his occasional mutterings at the pace regulated by the postillion, that +he was burning with anxiety to catch the flying coach. He had forgotten +it: forgotten that he was giving chase to anything. A pair of wondering +feminine eyes pursued him, and made him fret for the miles to throw +a thicker veil between him and them. The serious level brows of Rose +haunted the poor youth; and reflecting whither he was tending, and to +what sight, he had shadowy touches of the holiness there is in death, +from which came a conflict between the imaged phantoms of his father +and of Rose, and he sided against his love with some bitterness. His +sisters, weeping for their father and holding aloof from his ashes, +Evan swept from his mind. He called up the man his father was: the +kindliness, the readiness, the gallant gaiety of the great Mel. Youths +are fascinated by the barbarian virtues; and to Evan, under present +influences, his father was a pattern of manhood. He asked himself: Was +it infamous to earn one's bread? and answered it very strongly in his +father's favour. The great Mel's creditors were not by to show him +another feature of the case. + +Hitherto, in passive obedience to the indoctrination of the Countess, +Evan had looked on tailors as the proscribed race of modern society. +He had pitied his father as a man superior to his fate; but despite the +fitfully honest promptings with Rose (tempting to him because of the +wondrous chivalry they argued, and at bottom false probably as the +hypocrisy they affected to combat), he had been by no means sorry that +the world saw not the spot on himself. Other sensations beset him now. +Since such a man was banned by the world, which was to be despised? + +The clear result of Evan's solitary musing was to cast a sort of halo +over Tailordom. Death stood over the pale dead man, his father, and +dared the world to sneer at him. By a singular caprice of fancy, Evan +had no sooner grasped this image, than it was suggested that he might as +well inspect his purse, and see how much money he was master of. + +Are you impatient with this young man? He has little character for the +moment. Most youths are like Pope's women; they have no character at +all. And indeed a character that does not wait for circumstances to +shape it, is of small worth in the race that must be run. To be set too +early, is to take the work out of the hands of the Sculptor who fashions +men. Happily a youth is always at school, and if he was shut up and +without mark two or three hours ago, he will have something to show you +now: as I have seen blooming seaflowers and other graduated organisms, +when left undisturbed to their own action. Where the Fates have designed +that he shall present his figure in a story, this is sure to happen. + +To the postillion Evan was indebted for one of his first lessons. + +About an hour after midnight pastoral stillness and the moon begat in +the postillion desire for a pipe. Daylight prohibits the dream of it +to mounted postillions. At night the question is more human, and allows +appeal. The moon smiles assentingly, and smokers know that she really +lends herself to the enjoyment of tobacco. + +The postillion could remember gentlemen who did not object: who had even +given him cigars. Turning round to see if haply the present inmate +of the chariot might be smoking, he observed a head extended from the +window. + +'How far are we?' was inquired. + +The postillion numbered the milestones passed. + +'Do you see anything of the coach?' + +'Can't say as I do, sir.' + +He was commanded to stop. Evan jumped out. + +'I don't think I'll take you any farther,' he said. + +The postillion laughed to scorn the notion of his caring how far he +went. With a pipe in his mouth, he insinuatingly remarked, he could jog +on all night, and throw sleep to the dogs. Fresh horses at Hillford; +fresh at Fallow field: and the gentleman himself would reach Lymport +fresh in the morning. + +'No, no; I won't take you any farther,' Evan repeated. + +'But what do it matter, sir?' urged the postillion. + +'I'd rather go on as I am. I--a--made no arrangement to take you the +whole way.' + +'Oh!' cried the postillion, 'don't you go troublin' yourself about that, +sir. Master knows it 's touch-and-go about catchin' the coach. I'm all +right.' + +So infatuated was the fellow in the belief that he was dealing with a +perfect gentleman--an easy pocket! + +Now you would not suppose that one who presumes he has sufficient, would +find a difficulty in asking how much he has to pay. With an effort, +indifferently masked, Evan blurted: + +'By the way, tell me--how much--what is the charge for the distance +we've come?' + +There are gentlemen-screws: there are conscientious gentlemen. They +calculate, and remonstrating or not, they pay. The postillion would +rather have had to do with the gentleman royal, who is above base +computation; but he knew the humanity in the class he served, and with +his conception of Evan only partially dimmed, he remarked: + +'Oh-h-h! that won't hurt you, sir. Jump along in,--settle that +by-and-by.' + +But when my gentleman stood fast, and renewed the demand to know +the exact charge for the distance already traversed, the postillion +dismounted, glanced him over, and speculated with his fingers tipping +up his hat. Meantime Evan drew out his purse, a long one, certainly, +but limp. Out of this drowned-looking wretch the last spark of life was +taken by the sum the postillion ventured to name; and if paying your +utmost farthing without examination of the charge, and cheerfully +stepping out to walk fifty miles, penniless, constituted a postillion's +gentleman, Evan would have passed the test. The sight of poverty, +however, provokes familiar feelings in poor men, if you have not had +occasion to show them you possess particular qualities. The postillion's +eye was more on the purse than on the sum it surrendered. + +'There,' said Evan, 'I shall walk. Good night.' And he flung his cloak +to step forward. + +'Stop a bit, sir!' arrested him. + +The postillion rallied up sideways, with an assumption of genial +respect. 'I didn't calc'late myself in that there amount.' + +Were these words, think you, of a character to strike a young man hard +on the breast, send the blood to his head, and set up in his heart a +derisive chorus? My gentleman could pay his money, and keep his footing +gallantly; but to be asked for a penny beyond what he possessed; to +be seen beggared, and to be claimed a debtor-aleck! Pride was the one +developed faculty of Evan's nature. The Fates who mould us, always work +from the main-spring. I will not say that the postillion stripped off +the mask for him, at that instant completely; but he gave him the +first true glimpse of his condition. From the vague sense of being an +impostor, Evan awoke to the clear fact that he was likewise a fool. + +It was impossible for him to deny the man's claim, and he would not +have done it, if he could. Acceding tacitly, he squeezed the ends of his +purse in his pocket, and with a 'Let me see,' tried his waistcoat. Not +too impetuously; for he was careful of betraying the horrid emptiness +till he was certain that the powers who wait on gentlemen had utterly +forsaken him. They had not. He discovered a small coin, under ordinary +circumstances not contemptible; but he did not stay to reflect, and was +guilty of the error of offering it to the postillion. + +The latter peered at it in the centre of his palm; gazed queerly in the +gentleman's face, and then lifting the spit of silver for the disdain of +his mistress, the moon, he drew a long breath of regret at the original +mistake he had committed, and said: + +'That's what you're goin' to give me for my night's work?' + +The powers who wait on gentlemen had only helped the pretending youth to +try him. A rejection of the demand would have been infinitely wiser and +better than this paltry compromise. The postillion would have fought it: +he would not have despised his fare. + +How much it cost the poor pretender to reply, 'It 's the last farthing I +have, my man,' the postillion could not know. + +'A scabby sixpence?' The postillion continued his question. + +'You heard what I said,' Evan remarked. + +The postillion drew another deep breath, and holding out the coin at +arm's length: + +'Well, sir!' he observed, as one whom mental conflict has brought to +the philosophy of the case, 'now, was we to change places, I couldn't a' +done it! I couldn't a' done it!' he reiterated, pausing emphatically. + +'Take it, sir!' he magnanimously resumed; 'take it! You rides when +you can, and you walks when you must. Lord forbid I should rob such a +gentleman as you!' + +One who feels a death, is for the hour lifted above the satire of +postillions. A good genius prompted Evan to avoid the silly squabble +that might have ensued and made him ridiculous. He took the money, +quietly saying, 'Thank you.' + +Not to lose his vantage, the postillion, though a little staggered by +the move, rejoined: 'Don't mention it.' + +Evan then said: 'Good night, my man. I won't wish, for your sake, that +we changed places. You would have to walk fifty miles to be in time for +your father's funeral. Good night.' + +'You are it to look at!' was the postillion's comment, seeing my +gentleman depart with great strides. He did not speak offensively; +rather, it seemed, to appease his conscience for the original mistake he +had committed, for subsequently came, 'My oath on it, I don't get took +in again by a squash hat in a hurry!' + +Unaware of the ban he had, by a sixpenny stamp, put upon an unoffending +class, Evan went ahead, hearing the wheels of the chariot still dragging +the road in his rear. The postillion was in a dissatisfied state of +mind. He had asked and received more than his due. But in the matter of +his sweet self, he had been choused, as he termed it. And my gentleman +had baffled him, he could not quite tell how; but he had been got the +better of; his sarcasms had not stuck, and returned to rankle in the +bosom of their author. As a Jew, therefore, may eye an erewhile bondsman +who has paid the bill, but stands out against excess of interest on +legal grounds, the postillion regarded Evan, of whom he was now abreast, +eager for a controversy. + +'Fine night,' said the postillion, to begin, and was answered by a short +assent. 'Lateish for a poor man to be out--don't you think sir, eh?' + +'I ought to think so,' said Evan, mastering the shrewd unpleasantness he +felt in the colloquy forced on him. + +'Oh, you! you're a gentleman!' the postillion ejaculated. + +'You see I have no money.' + +'Feel it, too, sir.' + +'I am sorry you should be the victim.' + +'Victim!' the postillion seized on an objectionable word. 'I ain't no +victim, unless you was up to a joke with me, sir, just now. Was that the +game?' + +Evan informed him that he never played jokes with money, or on men. + +'Cause it looks like it, sir, to go to offer a poor chap sixpence.' The +postillion laughed hollow from the end of his lungs. 'Sixpence for a +night's work! It is a joke, if you don't mean it for one. Why, do you +know, sir, I could go--there, I don't care where it is!--I could go +before any magistrate livin', and he'd make ye pay. It's a charge, +as custom is, and he'd make ye pay. Or p'rhaps you're a goin' on my +generosity, and 'll say, he gev back that sixpence! Well! I shouldn't +a' thought a gentleman'd make that his defence before a magistrate. But +there, my man! if it makes ye happy, keep it. But you take my advice, +sir. When you hires a chariot, see you've got the shiners. And don't +you go never again offerin' a sixpence to a poor man for a night's work. +They don't like it. It hurts their feelin's. Don't you forget that, sir. +Lay that up in your mind.' + +Now the postillion having thus relieved himself, jeeringly asked +permission to smoke a pipe. To which Evan said, 'Pray, smoke, if it +pleases you.' And the postillion, hardly mollified, added, 'The baccy's +paid for,' and smoked. + +As will sometimes happen, the feelings of the man who had spoken out and +behaved doubtfully, grew gentle and Christian, whereas those of the +man whose bearing under the trial had been irreproachable were much the +reverse. The postillion smoked--he was a lord on his horse; he beheld my +gentleman trudging in the dust. Awhile he enjoyed the contrast, dividing +his attention between the footfarer and moon. To have had the last +word is always a great thing; and to have given my gentleman a lecture, +because he shunned a dispute, also counts. And then there was the poor +young fellow trudging to his father's funeral! The postillion chose +to remember that now. In reality, he allowed, he had not very much to +complain of, and my gentleman's courteous avoidance of provocation +(the apparent fact that he, the postillion, had humbled him and got the +better of him, equally, it may be), acted on his fine English spirit. +I should not like to leave out the tobacco in this good change that was +wrought in him. However, he presently astonished Evan by pulling up his +horses, and crying that he was on his way to Hillford to bait, and saw +no reason why he should not take a lift that part of the road, at all +events. Evan thanked him briefly, but declined, and paced on with his +head bent. + +'It won't cost you nothing-not a sixpence!' the postillion sang out, +pursuing him. 'Come, sir! be a man! I ain't a hintin' at anything--jump +in.' + +Evan again declined, and looked out for a side path to escape the +fellow, whose bounty was worse to him than his abuse, and whose mention +of the sixpence was unlucky. + +'Dash it!' cried the postillion, 'you're going down to a funeral--I +think you said your father's, sir--you may as well try and get there +respectable--as far as I go. It's one to me whether you're in or out; +the horses won't feel it, and I do wish you'd take a lift and welcome. +It's because you're too much of a gentleman to be beholden to a poor +man, I suppose!' + +Evan's young pride may have had a little of that base mixture in it, and +certainly he would have preferred that the invitation had not been made +to him; but he was capable of appreciating what the rejection of a piece +of friendliness involved, and as he saw that the man was sincere, he did +violence to himself, and said: 'Very well; then I'll jump in.' + +The postillion was off his horse in a twinkling, and trotted his bandy +legs to undo the door, as to a gentleman who paid. This act of service +Evan valued. + +'Suppose I were to ask you to take the sixpence now?' he said, turning +round, with one foot on the step. + +'Well, sir,' the postillion sent his hat aside to answer. 'I don't want +it--I'd rather not have it; but there! I'll take it--dash the sixpence! +and we'll cry quits.' + +Evan, surprised and pleased with him, dropped the bit of money in his +hand, saying: 'It will fill a pipe for you. While you 're smoking it, +think of me as in your debt. You're the only man I ever owed a penny +to.' + +The postillion put it in a side pocket apart, and observed: 'A sixpence +kindly meant is worth any crown-piece that's grudged--that it is! In you +jump, sir. It's a jolly night!' + +Thus may one, not a conscious sage, play the right tune on this human +nature of ours: by forbearance, put it in the wrong; and then, by not +refusing the burden of an obligation, confer something better. The +instrument is simpler than we are taught to fancy. But it was doubtless +owing to a strong emotion in his soul, as well as to the stuff he was +made of, that the youth behaved as he did. We are now and then above our +own actions; seldom on a level with them. Evan, I dare say, was long in +learning to draw any gratification from the fact that he had achieved +without money the unparalleled conquest of a man. Perhaps he never knew +what immediate influence on his fortune this episode effected. + +At Hillford they went their different ways. The postillion wished him +good speed, and Evan shook his hand. He did so rather abruptly, for the +postillion was fumbling at his pocket, and evidently rounding about a +proposal in his mind. + +My gentleman has now the road to himself. Money is the clothing of a +gentleman: he may wear it well or ill. Some, you will mark, carry great +quantities of it gracefully: some, with a stinted supply, present a +decent appearance: very few, I imagine, will bear inspection, who are +absolutely stripped of it. All, save the shameless, are toiling to +escape that trial. My gentleman, treading the white highway across +the solitary heaths, that swell far and wide to the moon, is, by the +postillion, who has seen him, pronounced no sham. Nor do I think the +opinion of any man worthless, who has had the postillion's authority +for speaking. But it is, I am told, a finer test to embellish much +gentleman-apparel, than to walk with dignity totally unadorned. This +simply tries the soundness of our faculties: that tempts them in erratic +directions. It is the difference between active and passive excellence. +As there is hardly any situation, however, so interesting to reflect +upon as that of a man without a penny in his pocket, and a gizzard full +of pride, we will leave Mr. Evan Harrington to what fresh adventures +may befall him, walking toward the funeral plumes of the firs, under the +soft midsummer flush, westward, where his father lies. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. MOTHER AND SON + +Rare as epic song is the man who is thorough in what he does. And +happily so; for in life he subjugates us, and he makes us bondsmen to +his ashes. It was in the order of things that the great Mel should be +borne to his final resting-place by a troop of creditors. You have seen +(since the occasion demands a pompous simile) clouds that all day cling +about the sun, and, in seeking to obscure him, are compelled to blaze +in his livery at fall of night they break from him illumined, hang +mournfully above him, and wear his natural glories long after he is +gone. Thus, then, these worthy fellows, faithful to him to the dust, +fulfilled Mel's triumphant passage amongst them, and closed his career. + +To regale them when they returned, Mrs. Mel, whose mind was not intent +on greatness, was occupied in spreading meat and wine. Mrs. Fiske +assisted her, as well as she could, seeing that one hand was entirely +engaged by her handkerchief. She had already stumbled, and dropped a +glass, which had brought on her sharp condemnation from her aunt, who +bade her sit down, or go upstairs to have her cry out, and then return +to be serviceable. + +'Oh! I can't help it!' sobbed Mrs. Fiske. 'That he should be carried +away, and none of his children to see him the last time! I can +understand Louisa--and Harriet, too, perhaps? But why could not +Caroline? And that they should be too fine ladies to let their brother +come and bury his father. Oh! it does seem----' + +Mrs. Fiske fell into a chair, and surrendered to grief. + +'Where is the cold tongue?' said Mrs. Mel to Sally, the maid, in a brief +under-voice. + +'Please mum, Jacko----!' + +'He must be whipped. You are a careless slut.' + +'Please, I can't think of everybody and everything, and poor master----' + +Sally plumped on a seat, and took sanctuary under her apron. Mrs. Mel +glanced at the pair, continuing her labour. + +'Oh, aunt, aunt!' cried Mrs. Fiske, 'why didn't you put it off for +another day, to give Evan a chance?' + +'Master 'd have kept another two days, he would!' whimpered Sally. + +'Oh, aunt! to think!' cried Mrs. Fiske. + +'And his coffin not bearin' of his spurs!' whimpered Sally. + +Mrs. Mel interrupted them by commanding Sally to go to the drawing-room, +and ask a lady there, of the name of Mrs. Wishaw, whether she would +like to have some lunch sent up to her. Mrs. Fiske was requested to put +towels in Evan's bedroom. + +'Yes, aunt, if you're not infatuated!' said Mrs. Fiske, as she prepared +to obey; while Sally, seeing that her public exhibition of sorrow and +sympathy could be indulged but an instant longer, unwound herself for a +violent paroxysm, blurting between stops: + +'If he'd ony've gone to his last bed comfortable!... If he'd ony 've +been that decent as not for to go to his last bed with his clothes on! +... If he'd ony've had a comfortable sheet!... It makes a woman feel +cold to think of him full dressed there, as if he was goin' to be a +soldier on the Day o' Judgement!' + +To let people speak was a maxim of Mrs. Mel's, and a wise one for +any form of society when emotions are very much on the surface. She +continued her arrangements quietly, and, having counted the number of +plates and glasses, and told off the guests on her fingers, she, sat +down to await them. + +The first one who entered the room was her son. + +'You have come,' said Mrs. Mel, flushing slightly, but otherwise +outwardly calm. + +'You didn't suppose I should stay away from you, mother?' + +Evan kissed her cheek. + +'I knew you would not.' + +Mrs. Mel examined him with those eyes of hers that compassed objects in +a single glance. She drew her finger on each side of her upper lip, and +half smiled, saying: + +'That won't do here.' + +'What?' asked Evan, and proceeded immediately to make inquiries about +her health, which she satisfied with a nod. + +'You saw him lowered, Van?' + +'Yes, mother.' + +'Then go and wash yourself, for you are dirty, and then come and take +your place at the head of the table.' + +'Must I sit here, mother?' + +'Without a doubt--you must. You know your room. Quick!' + +In this manner their first interview passed. + +Mrs. Fiske rushed in to exclaim: + +'So, you were right, aunt--he has come. I met him on the stairs. Oh! +how like dear uncle Mel he looks, in the militia, with that moustache. I +just remember him as a child; and, oh, what a gentleman he is!' + +At the end of the sentence Mrs. Mel's face suddenly darkened: she said, +in a deep voice: + +'Don't dare to talk that nonsense before him, Ann.' + +Mrs. Fiske looked astonished. + +'What have I done, aunt?' + +'He shan't be ruined by a parcel of fools,' said Mrs. Mel. 'There, go! +Women have no place here.' + +'How the wretches can force themselves to touch a morsel, after this +morning!' Mrs. Fiske exclaimed, glancing at the table. + +'Men must eat,' said Mrs. Mel. + +The mourners were heard gathering outside the door. Mrs. Fiske escaped +into the kitchen. Mrs. Mel admitted them into the parlour, bowing much +above the level of many of the heads that passed her. + +Assembled were Messrs. Barnes, Kilne, and Grossby, whom we know; Mr. +Doubleday, the ironmonger; Mr. Joyce, the grocer; Mr. Perkins, commonly +called Lawyer Perkins; Mr. Welbeck, the pier-master of Lymport; +Bartholomew Fiske; Mr. Coxwell, a Fallow field maltster, brewer, and +farmer; creditors of various dimensions, all of them. Mr. Goren coming +last, behind his spectacles. + +'My son will be with you directly, to preside,' said Mrs. Mel. 'Accept +my thanks for the respect you have shown my husband. I wish you good +morning.' + +'Morning, ma'am,' answered several voices, and Mrs. Mel retired. + +The mourners then set to work to relieve their hats of the appendages of +crape. An undertaker's man took possession of the long black cloaks. The +gloves were generally pocketed. + +'That's my second black pair this year,' said Joyce. + +'They'll last a time to come. I don't need to buy gloves while +neighbours pop off.' + +'Undertakers' gloves seem to me as if they're made for mutton fists,' +remarked Welbeck; upon which Kilne nudged Barnes, the butcher, with a +sharp 'Aha!' and Barnes observed: + +'Oh! I never wear 'em--they does for my boys on Sundays. I smoke a pipe +at home.' + +The Fallow field farmer held his length of crape aloft and inquired: +'What shall do with this?' + +'Oh, you keep it,' said one or two. + +Coxwell rubbed his chin. 'Don't like to rob the widder.' + +'What's left goes to the undertaker?' asked Grossby. + +'To be sure,' said Barnes; and Kilne added: 'It's a job': Lawyer Perkins +ejaculating confidently, 'Perquisites of office, gentlemen; perquisites +of office!' which settled the dispute and appeased every conscience. + +A survey of the table ensued. The mourners felt hunger, or else thirst; +but had not, it appeared, amalgamated the two appetites as yet. Thirst +was the predominant declaration; and Grossby, after an examination of +the decanters, unctuously deduced the fact, which he announced, that +port and sherry were present. + +'Try the port,' said Kilne. + +'Good?' Barnes inquired. + +A very intelligent 'I ought to know,' with a reserve of regret at the +extension of his intimacy with the particular vintage under that roof, +was winked by Kilne. + +Lawyer Perkins touched the arm of a mourner about to be experimental on +Kilne's port-- + +'I think we had better wait till young Mr. Harrington takes the table, +don't you see?' + +'Yes,-ah!' croaked Goren. 'The head of the family, as the saying goes!' + +'I suppose we shan't go into business to-day?' Joyce carelessly +observed. + +Lawyer Perkins answered: + +'No. You can't expect it. Mr. Harrington has led me to anticipate that +he will appoint a day. Don't you see?' + +'Oh! I see,' returned Joyce. 'I ain't in such a hurry. What's he doing?' + +Doubleday, whose propensities were waggish, suggested 'shaving,' but +half ashamed of it, since the joke missed, fell to as if he were soaping +his face, and had some trouble to contract his jaw. + +The delay in Evan's attendance on the guests of the house was caused by +the fact that Mrs. Mel had lain in wait for him descending, to warn him +that he must treat them with no supercilious civility, and to tell him +partly the reason why. On hearing the potential relations in which +they stood toward the estate of his father, Evan hastily and with the +assurance of a son of fortune, said they should be paid. + +'That's what they would like to hear,' said Mrs. Mel. 'You may just +mention it when they're going to leave. Say you will fix a day to meet +them.' + +'Every farthing!' pursued Evan, on whom the tidings were beginning to +operate. 'What! debts? my poor father!' + +'And a thumping sum, Van. You will open your eyes wider.' + +'But it shall be paid, mother,--it shall be paid. Debts? I hate them. +I'd slave night and day to pay them.' + +Mrs. Mel spoke in a more positive tense: 'And so will I, Van. Now, go.' + +It mattered little to her what sort of effect on his demeanour her +revelation produced, so long as the resolve she sought to bring him to +was nailed in his mind; and she was a woman to knock and knock again, +till it was firmly fixed there. With a strong purpose, and no plans, +there were few who could resist what, in her circle, she willed; not +even a youth who would gaily have marched to the scaffold rather than +stand behind a counter. A purpose wedded to plans may easily suffer +shipwreck; but an unfettered purpose that moulds circumstances as they +arise, masters us, and is terrible. Character melts to it, like metal +in the steady furnace. The projector of plots is but a miserable gambler +and votary of chances. Of a far higher quality is the will that can +subdue itself to wait, and lay no petty traps for opportunity. Poets may +fable of such a will, that it makes the very heavens conform to it; or, +I may add, what is almost equal thereto, one who would be a gentleman, +to consent to be a tailor. The only person who ever held in his course +against Mrs. Mel, was Mel,--her husband; but, with him, she was under +the physical fascination of her youth, and it never left her. In +her heart she barely blamed him. What he did, she took among other +inevitable matters. + +The door closed upon Evan, and waiting at the foot, of the stairs a +minute to hear how he was received, Mrs. Mel went to the kitchen and +called the name of Dandy, which brought out an ill-built, low-browed, +small man, in a baggy suit of black, who hopped up to her with a surly +salute. Dandy was a bird Mrs. Mel had herself brought down, and she had +for him something of a sportsman's regard for his victim. Dandy was the +cleaner of boots and runner of errands in the household of Melchisedec, +having originally entered it on a dark night by the cellar. Mrs. Mel, +on that occasion, was sleeping in her dressing-gown, to be ready to give +the gallant night-hawk, her husband, the service he might require on +his return to the nest. Hearing a suspicious noise below, she rose, and +deliberately loaded a pair of horse-pistols, weapons Mel had worn in his +holsters in the heroic days gone; and with these she stepped downstairs +straight to the cellar, carrying a lantern at her girdle. She could not +only load, but present and fire. Dandy was foremost in stating that +she called him forth steadily, three times, before the pistol was +discharged. He admitted that he was frightened, and incapable of speech, +at the apparition of the tall, terrific woman. After the third time of +asking he had the ball lodged in his leg and fell. Mrs. Mel was in +the habit of bearing heavier weights than Dandy. She made no ado about +lugging him to a chamber, where, with her own hands (for this woman had +some slight knowledge of surgery, and was great in herbs and drugs) she +dressed his wound, and put him to bed; crying contempt (ever present +in Dandy's memory) at such a poor creature undertaking the work of +housebreaker. Taught that he really was a poor creature for the work, +Dandy, his nursing over, begged to be allowed to stop and wait on Mrs. +Mel; and she who had, like many strong natures, a share of pity for the +objects she despised, did not cast him out. A jerk in his gait, owing to +the bit of lead Mrs. Mel had dropped into him, and a little, perhaps, to +her self-satisfied essay in surgical science on his person, earned him +the name he went by. + +When her neighbours remonstrated with her for housing a reprobate, Mrs. +Mel would say: 'Dandy is well-fed and well-physicked: there's no harm in +Dandy'; by which she may have meant that the food won his gratitude, and +the physic reduced his humours. She had observed human nature. At any +rate, Dandy was her creature; and the great Mel himself rallied her +about her squire. + +'When were you drunk last?' was Mrs. Mel's address to Dandy, as he stood +waiting for orders. + +He replied to it in an altogether injured way: + +'There, now; you've been and called me away from my dinner to ask me +that. Why, when I had the last chance, to be sure.' + +'And you were at dinner in your new black suit?' + +'Well,' growled Dandy, 'I borrowed Sally's apron. Seems I can't please +ye.' + +Mrs. Mel neither enjoined nor cared for outward forms of respect, where +she was sure of complete subserviency. If Dandy went beyond the limits, +she gave him an extra dose. Up to the limits he might talk as he +pleased, in accordance with Mrs. Mel's maxim, that it was a necessary +relief to all talking creatures. + +'Now, take off your apron,' she said, 'and wash your hands, dirty pig, +and go and wait at table in there'; she pointed to the parlour-door: +'Come straight to me when everybody has left.' + +'Well, there I am with the bottles again,' returned Dandy. 'It 's your +fault this time, mind! I'll come as straight as I can.' + +Dandy turned away to perform her bidding, and Mrs. Mel ascended to the +drawing-room to sit with Mrs. Wishaw, who was, as she told all who chose +to hear, an old flame of Mel's, and was besides, what Mrs. Mel thought +more of, the wife of Mel's principal creditor, a wholesale dealer in +cloth, resident in London. + +The conviviality of the mourners did not disturb the house. Still, men +who are not accustomed to see the colour of wine every day, will sit and +enjoy it, even upon solemn occasions, and the longer they sit the more +they forget the matter that has brought them together. Pleading their +wives and shops, however, they released Evan from his miserable office +late in the afternoon. + +His mother came down to him,--and saying, 'I see how you did the +journey--you walked it,' told him to follow her. + +'Yes, mother,' Evan yawned, 'I walked part of the way. I met a fellow +in a gig about ten miles out of Fallow field, and he gave me a lift to +Flatsham. I just reached Lymport in time, thank Heaven! I wouldn't have +missed that! By the way, I've satisfied these men.' + +'Oh!' said Mrs. Mel. + +'They wanted--one or two of them--what a penance it is to have to sit +among those people an hour!--they wanted to ask me about the business, +but I silenced them. I told them to meet me here this day week.' + +Mrs. Mel again said 'Oh!' and, pushing into one of the upper rooms, +'Here's your bedroom, Van, just as you left it.' + +'Ah, so it is,' muttered Evan, eyeing a print. 'The Douglas and the +Percy: "he took the dead man by the hand." What an age it seems since +I last saw that. There's Sir Hugh Montgomery on horseback--he +hasn't moved. Don't you remember my father calling it the Battle of +Tit-for-Tat? Gallant Percy! I know he wished he had lived in those days +of knights and battles.' + +'It does not much signify whom one has to make clothes for,' observed +Mrs. Mel. Her son happily did not mark her. + +'I think we neither of us were made for the days of pence and pounds,' +he continued. 'Now, mother, sit down, and talk to me about him. Did he +mention me? Did he give me his blessing? I hope he did not suffer. I'd +have given anything to press his hand,' and looking wistfully at the +Percy lifting the hand of Douglas dead, Evan's eyes filled with big +tears. + +'He suffered very little,' returned Mrs. Mel, 'and his last words were +about you.' + +'What were they?' Evan burst out. + +'I will tell you another time. Now undress, and go to bed. When I talk +to you, Van, I want a cool head to listen. You do nothing but yawn +yard-measures.' + +The mouth of the weary youth instinctively snapped short the abhorred +emblem. + +'Here, I will help you, Van.' + +In spite of his remonstrances and petitions for talk, she took off his +coat and waistcoat, contemptuously criticizing the cloth of foreign +tailors and their absurd cut. + +'Have you heard from Louisa?' asked Evan. + +'Yes, yes--about your sisters by-and-by. Now, be good, and go to bed.' + +She still treated him like a boy, whom she was going to force to the +resolution of a man. + +Dandy's sleeping-room was on the same floor as Evan's. Thither, when she +had quitted her son, she directed her steps. She had heard Dandy tumble +up-stairs the moment his duties were over, and knew what to expect when +the bottles had been in his way; for drink made Dandy savage, and a +terror to himself. It was her command to him that, when he happened to +come across liquor, he should immediately seek his bedroom and bolt the +door, and Dandy had got the habit of obeying her. On this occasion he +was vindictive against her, seeing that she had delivered him over to +his enemy with malice prepense. A good deal of knocking, and summoning +of Dandy by name, was required before she was admitted, and the sight of +her did not delight him, as he testified. + +'I 'm drunk!' he bawled. 'Will that do for ye?' + +Mrs. Mel stood with her two hands crossed above her apron-string, noting +his sullen lurking eye with the calm of a tamer of beasts. + +'You go out of the room; I'm drunk!' Dandy repeated, and pitched forward +on the bed-post, in the middle of an oath. + +She understood that it was pure kindness on Dandy's part to bid her go +and be out of his reach; and therefore, on his becoming so abusive as +to be menacing, she, without a shade of anger, and in the most unruffled +manner, administered to him the remedy she had reserved, in the shape of +a smart box on the ear, which sent him flat to the floor. He rose, after +two or three efforts, quite subdued. + +'Now, Dandy, sit on the edge of the bed.' + +Dandy sat on the extreme edge, and Mrs. Mel pursued: + +'Now, Dandy, tell me what your master said at the table.' + +'Talked at 'em like a lord, he did,' said Dandy, stupidly consoling the +boxed ear. + +'What were his words?' + +Dandy's peculiarity was, that he never remembered anything save +when drunk, and Mrs. Mel's dose had rather sobered him. By degrees, +scratching at his head haltingly, he gave the context. + +"'Gentlemen, I hear for the first time, you've claims against my poor +father. Nobody shall ever say he died, and any man was the worse for +it. I'll meet you next week, and I'll bind myself by law. Here's Lawyer +Perkins. No; Mr. Perkins. I'll pay off every penny. Gentlemen, look upon +me as your debtor, and not my father."' + +Delivering this with tolerable steadiness, Dandy asked, 'Will that do?' + +'That will do,' said Mrs. Mel. 'I'll send you up some tea presently. Lie +down, Dandy.' + +The house was dark and silent when Evan, refreshed by his rest, +descended to seek his mother. She was sitting alone in the parlour. With +a tenderness which Mrs. Mel permitted rather than encouraged, Evan put +his arm round her neck, and kissed her many times. One of the symptoms +of heavy sorrow, a longing for the signs of love, made Evan fondle his +mother, and bend over her yearningly. Mrs. Mel said once: 'Dear Van; +good boy!' and quietly sat through his caresses. + +'Sitting up for me, mother?' he whispered. + +'Yes, Van; we may as well have our talk out.' + +'Ah!' he took a chair close by her side, 'tell me my father's last +words.' + +'He said he hoped you would never be a tailor.' + +Evan's forehead wrinkled up. 'There's not much fear of that, then!' + +His mother turned her face on him, and examined him with a rigorous +placidity; all her features seeming to bear down on him. Evan did not +like the look. + +'You object to trade, Van?' + +'Yes, decidedly, mother-hate it; but that's not what I want to talk to +you about. Didn't my father speak of me much?' + +'He desired that you should wear his militia sword, if you got a +commission.' + +'I have rather given up hope of the Army,' said Evan. + +Mrs. Mel requested him to tell her what a colonel's full pay amounted +to; and again, the number of years it required, on a rough calculation, +to attain that grade. In reply to his statement she observed: 'A tailor +might realize twice the sum in a quarter of the time.' + +'What if he does-double, or treble?' cried Evan, impetuously; and to +avoid the theme, and cast off the bad impression it produced on him, he +rubbed his hands, and said: 'I want to talk to you about my prospects, +mother.' + +'What are they?' Mrs. Mel inquired. + +The severity of her mien and sceptical coldness of her speech caused him +to inspect them suddenly, as if she had lent him her eyes. He put them +by, till the gold should recover its natural shine, saying: 'By the way, +mother, I 've written the half of a History of Portugal.' + +'Have you?' said Mrs. Mel. 'For Louisa?' + +'No, mother, of course not: to sell it. Albuquerque! what a splendid +fellow he was!' + +Informing him that he knew she abominated foreign names, she said: 'And +your prospects are, writing Histories of Portugal?' + +'No, mother. I was going to tell you, I expect a Government appointment. +Mr. Jocelyn likes my work--I think he likes me. You know, I was his +private secretary for ten months.' + +'You write a good hand,' his mother interposed. + +'And I'm certain I was born for diplomacy.' + +'For an easy chair, and an ink-dish before you, and lacqueys behind. +What's to be your income, Van?' + +Evan carelessly remarked that he must wait and see. + +'A very proper thing to do,' said Mrs. Mel; for now that she had fixed +him to some explanation of his prospects, she could condescend in her +stiff way to banter. + +Slightly touched by it, Evan pursued, half laughing, as men do who wish +to propitiate common sense on behalf of what seems tolerably absurd: +'It 's not the immediate income, you know, mother: one thinks of one's +future. In the diplomatic service, as Louisa says, you come to be known +to Ministers gradually, I mean. That is, they hear of you; and if you +show you have some capacity--Louisa wants me to throw it up in time, and +stand for Parliament. Andrew, she thinks, would be glad to help me to +his seat. Once in Parliament, and known to Ministers, you--your career +is open to you.' + +In justice to Mr. Evan Harrington, it must be said, he built up this +extraordinary card-castle to dazzle his mother's mind: he had lost his +right grasp of her character for the moment, because of an undefined +suspicion of something she intended, and which sent him himself to take +refuge in those flimsy structures; while the very altitude he reached +beguiled his imagination, and made him hope to impress hers. + +Mrs. Mel dealt it one fillip. 'And in the meantime how are you to live, +and pay the creditors?' + +Though Evan answered cheerfully, 'Oh, they will wait, and I can live on +anything,' he was nevertheless floundering on the ground amid the ruins +of the superb edifice; and his mother, upright and rigid, continuing, +'You can live on anything, and they will wait, and call your father a +rogue,' he started, grievously bitten by one of the serpents of earth. + +'Good heaven, mother! what are you saying?' + +'That they will call your father a rogue, and will have a right to,' +said the relentless woman. + +'Not while I live!' Evan exclaimed. + +'You may stop one mouth with your fist, but you won't stop a dozen, +Van.' + +Evan jumped up and walked the room. + +'What am I to do?' he cried. 'I will pay everything. I will bind myself +to pay every farthing. What more can I possibly do?' + +'Make the money,' said Mrs. Mel's deep voice. + +Evan faced her: 'My dear mother, you are very unjust and inconsiderate. +I have been working and doing my best. I promise--what do the debts +amount to?' + +'Something like L5000 in all, Van.' + +'Very well.' Youth is not alarmed by the sound of big sums. 'Very +well--I will pay it.' + +Evan looked as proud as if he had just clapped down the full amount on +the table. + +'Out of the History of Portugal, half written, and the prospect of a +Government appointment?' + +Mrs. Mel raised her eyelids to him. + +'In time-in time, mother!' + +'Mention your proposal to the creditors when you meet them this day +week,' she said. + +Neither of them spoke for several minutes. Then Evan came close to her, +saying: + +'What is it you want of me, mother?' + +'I want nothing, Van--I can support myself.' + +'But what would you have me do, mother?' + +'Be honest; do your duty, and don't be a fool about it.' + +'I will try,' he rejoined. 'You tell me to make the money. Where and how +can I make it? I am perfectly willing to work.' + +'In this house,' said Mrs. Mel; and, as this was pretty clear speaking, +she stood up to lend her figure to it. + +'Here?' faltered Evan. 'What! be a ----' + +'Tailor!' The word did not sting her tongue. + +'I? Oh, that's quite impossible!' said Evan. And visions of leprosy, and +Rose shrinking her skirts from contact with him, shadowed out and away +in his mind. + +'Understand your choice!' Mrs. Mel imperiously spoke. 'What are brains +given you for? To be played the fool with by idiots and women? You have +L5000 to pay to save your father from being called a rogue. You can only +make the money in one way, which is open to you. This business might +produce a thousand pounds a-year and more. In seven or eight years you +may clear your father's name, and live better all the time than many of +your bankrupt gentlemen. You have told the creditors you will pay them. +Do you think they're gaping fools, to be satisfied by a History of +Portugal? If you refuse to take the business at once, they will sell me +up, and quite right too. Understand your choice. There's Mr. Goren has +promised to have you in London a couple of months, and teach you what +he can. He is a kind friend. Would any of your gentlemen acquaintance do +the like for you? Understand your choice. You will be a beggar--the son +of a rogue--or an honest man who has cleared his father's name!' + +During this strenuously uttered allocution, Mrs. Mel, though her chest +heaved but faintly against her crossed hands, showed by the dilatation +of her eyes, and the light in them, that she felt her words. There is +that in the aspect of a fine frame breathing hard facts, which, to +a youth who has been tumbled headlong from his card-castles and airy +fabrics, is masterful, and like the pressure of a Fate. Evan drooped his +head. + +'Now,' said Mrs. Mel, 'you shall have some supper.' + +Evan told her he could not eat. + +'I insist upon your eating,' said Mrs. Mel; 'empty stomachs are foul +counsellors.' + +'Mother! do you want to drive me mad?' cried Evan. + +She looked at him to see whether the string she held him by would bear +the slight additional strain: decided not to press a small point. + +'Then go to bed and sleep on it,' she said--sure of him--and gave her +cheek for his kiss, for she never performed the operation, but kept +her mouth, as she remarked, for food and speech, and not for slobbering +mummeries. + +Evan returned to his solitary room. He sat on the bed and tried to +think, oppressed by horrible sensations of self-contempt, that caused +whatever he touched to sicken him. + +There were the Douglas and the Percy on the wall. It was a happy and a +glorious time, was it not, when men lent each other blows that killed +outright; when to be brave and cherish noble feelings brought honour; +when strength of arm and steadiness of heart won fortune; when the fair +stars of earth--sweet women--wakened and warmed the love of squires of +low degree. This legacy of the dead man's hand! Evan would have paid it +with his blood; but to be in bondage all his days to it; through it +to lose all that was dear to him; to wear the length of a loathed +existence!--we should pardon a young man's wretchedness at the prospect, +for it was in a time before our joyful era of universal equality. Yet he +never cast a shade of blame upon his father. + +The hours moved on, and he found himself staring at his small candle, +which struggled more and more faintly with the morning light, like his +own flickering ambition against the facts of life. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. INTRODUCES AN ECCENTRIC + +At the Aurora--one of those rare antiquated taverns, smelling of +comfortable time and solid English fare, that had sprung up in the great +coffee days, when taverns were clubs, and had since subsisted on the +attachment of steady bachelor Templars there had been dismay, and even +sorrow, for a month. The most constant patron of the establishment--an +old gentleman who had dined there for seven-and-twenty years, four days +in the week, off dishes dedicated to the particular days, and had +grown grey with the landlady, the cook, and the head-waiter--this old +gentleman had abruptly withheld his presence. Though his name, his +residence, his occupation, were things only to be speculated on at the +Aurora, he was very well known there, and as men are best to be known: +that is to say, by their habits. Some affection for him also was felt. +The landlady looked on him as a part of the house. The cook and the +waiter were accustomed to receive acceptable compliments from him +monthly. His precise words, his regular ancient jokes, his pint of +Madeira and after-pint of Port, his antique bow to the landlady, passing +out and in, his method of spreading his table-napkin on his lap and +looking up at the ceiling ere he fell to, and how he talked to himself +during the repast, and indulged in short chuckles, and the one look of +perfect felicity that played over his features when he had taken his +first sip of Port--these were matters it pained them at the Aurora to +have to remember. + +For three weeks the resolution not to regard him as of the past was +general. The Aurora was the old gentleman's home. Men do not play +truant from home at sixty years of age. He must, therefore, be seriously +indisposed. The kind heart of the landlady fretted to think he might +have no soul to nurse and care for him; but she kept his corner near the +fire-place vacant, and took care that his pint of Madeira was there. +The belief was gaining ground that he had gone, and that nothing but +his ghost would ever sit there again. Still the melancholy ceremony +continued: for the landlady was not without a secret hope, that in spite +of his reserve and the mystery surrounding him, he would have sent her +a last word. The cook and head-waiter, interrogated as to their dealings +with the old gentleman, testified solemnly to the fact of their having +performed their duty by him. They would not go against their interests +so much as to forget one of his ways, they said-taking oath, as it were, +by their lower nature, in order to be credited: an instinct men have +of one another. The landlady could not contradict them, for the old +gentleman had made no complaint; but then she called to memory that +fifteen years back, in such and such a year, Wednesday's, dish had been, +by shameful oversight, furnished him for Tuesday's, and he had eaten it +quietly, but refused his Port; which pathetic event had caused alarm +and inquiry, when the error was discovered, and apologized for, the old +gentleman merely saying, 'Don't let it happen again.' Next day he drank +his Port, as usual, and the wheels of the Aurora went smoothly. The +landlady was thus justified in averring that something had been done by +somebody, albeit unable to point to anything specific. Women, who are +almost as deeply bound to habit as old gentlemen, possess more of its +spiritual element, and are warned by dreams, omens, creepings of the +flesh, unwonted chills, suicide of china, and other shadowing signs, +when a break is to be anticipated, or, has occurred. The landlady of +the Aurora tavern was visited by none of these, and with that beautiful +trust which habit gives, and which boastful love or vainer earthly +qualities would fail in effecting, she ordered that the pint of Madeira +should stand from six o'clock in the evening till seven--a small +monument of confidence in him who was at one instant the 'poor old +dear'; at another, the 'naughty old gad-about'; further, the 'faithless +old-good-for-nothing'; and again, the 'blessed pet' of the landlady's +parlour, alternately and indiscriminately apostrophized by herself, her +sister, and daughter. + +On the last day of the month a step was heard coming up the long alley +which led from the riotous scrambling street to the plentiful cheerful +heart of the Aurora. The landlady knew the step. She checked the natural +flutterings of her ribbons, toned down the strong simper that was on +her lips, rose, pushed aside her daughter, and, as the step approached, +curtsied composedly. Old Habit lifted his hat, and passed. With the same +touching confidence in the Aurora that the Aurora had in him, he went +straight to his corner, expressed no surprise at his welcome by the +Madeira, and thereby apparently indicated that his appearance should +enjoy a similar immunity. + +As of old, he called 'Jonathan!' and was not to be disturbed till he +did so. Seeing that Jonathan smirked and twiddled his napkin, the old +gentleman added, 'Thursday!' + +But Jonathan, a man, had not his mistress's keen intuition of the +deportment necessitated by the case, or was incapable of putting the +screw upon weak excited nature, for he continued to smirk, and was +remarking how glad he was, he was sure, and something he had dared to +think and almost to fear, when the old gentleman called to him, as if +he were at the other end of the room, 'Will you order Thursday, or not, +sir?' Whereat Jonathan flew, and two or three cosy diners glanced up +from their plates, or the paper, smiled, and pursued their capital +occupation. + +'Glad to see me!' the old gentleman muttered, querulously. 'Of course, +glad to see a customer! Why do you tell me that? Talk! tattle! might as +well have a woman to wait--just!' + +He wiped his forehead largely with his handkerchief; as one whom +Calamity hunted a little too hard in summer weather. + +'No tumbling-room for the wine, too!' + +That was his next grievance. He changed the pint of Madeira from +his left side to his right, and went under his handkerchief again, +feverishly. The world was severe with this old gentleman. + +'Ah! clock wrong now!' + +He leaned back like a man who can no longer carry his burdens, informing +Jonathan, on his coming up to place the roll of bread and firm butter, +that he was forty seconds too fast, as if it were a capital offence, and +he deserved to step into Eternity for outstripping Time. + +'But, I daresay, you don't understand the importance of a minute,' said +the old gentleman, bitterly. 'Not you, or any of you. Better if we had +run a little ahead of your minute, perhaps--and the rest of you! Do +you think you can cancel the mischief that's done in the world in that +minute, sir, by hurrying ahead like that? Tell me!' + +Rather at a loss, Jonathan scanned the clock seriously, and observed +that it was not quite a minute too fast. + +The old gentleman pulled out his watch. He grunted that a lying clock +was hateful to him; subsequently sinking into contemplation of his +thumbs,--a sign known to Jonathan as indicative of the old gentleman's +system having resolved, in spite of external outrages, to be fortified +with calm to meet the repast. + +It is not fair to go behind an eccentric; but the fact was, this +old gentleman was slightly ashamed of his month's vagrancy and cruel +conduct, and cloaked his behaviour toward the Aurora, in all the charges +he could muster against it. He was very human, albeit an odd form of the +race. + +Happily for his digestion of Thursday, the cook, warned by Jonathan, +kept the old gentleman's time, not the Aurora's: and the dinner was +correct; the dinner was eaten in peace; he began to address his plate +vigorously, poured out his Madeira, and chuckled, as the familiar ideas +engendered by good wine were revived in him. Jonathan reported at the +bar that the old gentleman was all right again. + +One would like here to pause, while our worthy ancient feeds, and +indulge in a short essay on Habit, to show what a sacred and admirable +thing it is that makes flimsy Time substantial, and consolidates his +triple life. It is proof that we have come to the end of dreams and +Time's delusions, and are determined to sit down at Life's feast and +carve for ourselves. Its day is the child of yesterday, and has a claim +on to-morrow. Whereas those who have no such plan of existence and sum +of their wisdom to show, the winds blow them as they list. Consider, +then, mercifully the wrath of him on whom carelessness or forgetfulness +has brought a snap in the links of Habit. You incline to scorn him +because, his slippers misplaced, or asparagus not on his table the first +day of a particular Spring month, he gazes blankly and sighs as one who +saw the End. To you it may appear small. You call to him to be a man. He +is: but he is also an immortal, and his confidence in unceasing orderly +progression is rudely dashed. + +But the old gentleman has finished his dinner and his Madeira, and says: +'Now, Jonathan, "thock" the Port!'--his joke when matters have gone +well: meant to express the sound of the uncorking, probably. The habit +of making good jokes is rare, as you know: old gentlemen have not yet +attained to it: nevertheless Jonathan enjoys this one, which has seen +a generation in and out, for he knows its purport to be, 'My heart is +open.' + +And now is a great time with this old gentleman. He sips, and in his +eyes the world grows rosy, and he exchanges mute or monosyllable salutes +here and there. His habit is to avoid converse; but he will let a light +remark season meditation. + +He says to Jonathan: 'The bill for the month.' + +'Yes, sir,' Jonathan replies. 'Would you not prefer, sir, to have the +items added on to the month ensuing?' + +'I asked you for the bill of the month,' said the old gentleman, with an +irritated voice and a twinkle in his eye. + +Jonathan bowed; but his aspect betrayed perplexity, and that perplexity +was soon shared by the landlady for Jonathan said, he was convinced the +old gentleman intended to pay for sixteen days, and the landlady could +not bring her hand to charge him for more than two. Here was the dilemma +foreseen by the old gentleman, and it added vastly to the flavour of the +Port. + +Pleasantly tickled, he sat gazing at his glass, and let the minutes fly. +He knew the part he would act in his little farce. If charged for the +whole month, he would peruse the bill deliberately, and perhaps cry out +'Hulloa?' and then snap at Jonathan for the interposition of a remark. +But if charged for two days, he would wish to be told whether they +were demented, those people outside, and scornfully return the bill to +Jonathan. + +A slap on the shoulder, and a voice: 'Found you at last, Tom!' violently +shattered the excellent plot, and made the old gentleman start. He +beheld Mr. Andrew Cogglesby. + +'Drinking Port, Tom?' said Mr. Andrew. 'I 'll join you': and he sat down +opposite to him, rubbing his hands and pushing back his hair. + +Jonathan entering briskly with the bill, fell back a step, in alarm. The +old gentleman, whose inviolacy was thus rudely assailed, sat staring at +the intruder, his mouth compressed, and three fingers round his glass, +which it' was doubtful whether he was not going to hurl at him. + +'Waiter!' Mr. Andrew carelessly hailed, 'a pint of this Port, if you +please.' + +Jonathan sought the countenance of the old gentleman. + +'Do you hear, sir?' cried the latter, turning his wrath on him. 'Another +pint!' He added: 'Take back the bill'; and away went Jonathan to relate +fresh marvels to his mistress. + +Mr. Andrew then addressed the old gentleman in the most audacious +manner. + +'Astonished to see me here, Tom? Dare say you are. I knew you came +somewhere in this neighbourhood, and, as I wanted to speak to you very +particularly, and you wouldn't be visible till Monday, why, I spied into +two or three places, and here I am.' + +You might see they were brothers. They had the same bushy eyebrows, the +same healthy colour in their cheeks, the same thick shoulders, and brisk +way of speaking, and clear, sharp, though kindly, eyes; only Tom +was cast in larger proportions than Andrew, and had gotten the grey +furniture of Time for his natural wear. Perhaps, too, a cross in early +life had a little twisted him, and set his mouth in a rueful bunch, out +of which occasionally came biting things. Mr. Andrew carried his head +up, and eyed every man living with the benevolence of a patriarch, +dashed with the impudence of a London sparrow. Tom had a nagging air, +and a trifle of acridity on his broad features. Still, any one at a +glance could have sworn they were brothers, and Jonathan unhesitatingly +proclaimed it at the Aurora bar. + +Mr. Andrew's hands were working together, and at them, and at his face, +the old gentleman continued to look with a firmly interrogating air. + +'Want to know what brings me, Tom? I'll tell you presently. Hot,--isn't +it?' + +'What the deuce are you taking exercise for?' the old gentleman burst +out, and having unlocked his mouth, he began to puff and alter his +posture. + +'There you are, thawed in a minute!' said Mr. Andrew. 'What's an +eccentric? a child grown grey. It isn't mine; I read it somewhere. Ah, +here's the Port! good, I'll warrant.' + +Jonathan deferentially uncorked, excessive composure on his visage. He +arranged the table-cloth to a nicety, fixed the bottle with exactness, +and was only sent scudding by the old gentleman's muttering of: +'Eavesdropping pie!' followed by a short, 'Go!' and even then he must +delay to sweep off a particular crumb. + +'Good it is!' said Mr. Andrew, rolling the flavour on his lips, as he +put down his glass. 'I follow you in Port, Tom. Elder brother!' + +The old gentleman also drank, and was mollified enough to reply: 'Shan't +follow you in Parliament.' + +'Haven't forgiven that yet, Tom?' + +'No great harm done when you're silent.' + +'Capital Port!' said Mr. Andrew, replenishing the glasses. 'I ought to +have inquired where they kept the best Port. I might have known you'd +stick by it. By the way, talking of Parliament, there's talk of a new +election for Fallow field. You have a vote there. Will you give it to +Jocelyn? There's talk of his standing. + +'If he'll wear petticoats, I'll give him my vote.' + +'There you go, Tom!' + +'I hate masquerades. You're penny trumpets of the women. That tattle +comes from the bed-curtains. When a petticoat steps forward I give it my +vote, or else I button it up in my pocket.' + +This was probably one of the longest speeches he had ever delivered at +the Aurora. There was extra Port in it. Jonathan, who from his place of +observation noted the length of time it occupied, though he was unable +to gather the context, glanced at Mr. Andrew with a sly satisfaction. +Mr. Andrew, laughing, signalled for another pint. + +'So you've come here for my vote, have you?' said Mr. Tom. + +'Why, no; not exactly that,' Mr. Andrew answered, blinking and passing +it by. + +Jonathan brought the fresh pint, and Tom filled for himself, drank, and +said emphatically, and with a confounding voice: + +'Your women have been setting you on me, sir!' + +Andrew protested that he was entirely mistaken. + +'You're the puppet of your women!' + +'Well, Tom, not in this instance. Here's to the bachelors, and brother +Tom at their head!' + +It seemed to be Andrew's object to help his companion to carry a certain +quantity of Port, as if he knew a virtue it had to subdue him, and +to have fixed on a particular measure that he should hold before he +addressed him specially. Arrived at this, he said: + +'Look here, Tom. I know your ways. I shouldn't have bothered you here; +I never have before; but we couldn't very well talk it over in business +hours; and besides you're never at the Brewery till Monday, and the +matter's rather urgent.' + +'Why don't you speak like that in Parliament?' the old man interposed. + +'Because Parliament isn't my brother,' replied Mr. Andrew. 'You know, +Tom, you never quite took to my wife's family.' + +'I'm not a match for fine ladies, Nan.' + +'Well, Harriet would have taken to you, Tom, and will now, if you 'll +let her. Of course, it 's a pity if she 's ashamed of--hem! You found +it out about the Lymport people, Tom, and, you've kept the secret and +respected her feelings, and I thank you for it. Women are odd in those +things, you know. She mustn't imagine I 've heard a whisper. I believe +it would kill her.' + +The old gentleman shook silently. + +'Do you want me to travel over the kingdom, hawking her for the daughter +of a marquis?' + +'Now, don't joke, Tom. I'm serious. Are you not a Radical at heart? Why +do you make such a set against the poor women? What do we spring from?' + +'I take off my hat, Nan, when I see a cobbler's stall.' + +'And I, Tom, don't care a rush who knows it. Homo--something; but we +never had much schooling. We 've thriven, and should help those we can. +We've got on in the world...' + +'Wife come back from Lymport?' sneered Tom. + +Andrew hurriedly, and with some confusion, explained that she had not +been able to go, on account of the child. + +'Account of the child!' his brother repeated, working his chin +contemptuously. 'Sisters gone?' + +'They're stopping with us,' said Andrew, reddening. + +'So the tailor was left to the kites and the crows. Ah! hum!' and Tom +chuckled. + +'You're angry with me, Tom, for coming here,' said Andrew. 'I see what +it is. Thought how it would be! You're offended, old Tom.' + +'Come where you like,' returned Tom, 'the place is open. It's a fool +that hopes for peace anywhere. They sent a woman here to wait on me, +this day month.' + +'That's a shame!' said Mr. Andrew, propitiatingly. 'Well, never mind, +Tom: the women are sometimes in the way.--Evan went down to bury his +father. He's there now. You wouldn't see him when he was at the Brewery, +Tom. He's--upon my honour! he's a good young fellow.' + +'A fine young gentleman, I've no doubt, Nan.' + +'A really good lad, Tom. No nonsense. I've come here to speak to you +about him.' + +Mr. Andrew drew a letter from his pocket, pursuing: 'Just throw aside +your prejudices, and read this. It's a letter I had from him this +morning. But first I must tell you how the case stands.' + +'Know more than you can tell me, Nan,' said Tom, turning over the +flavour of a gulp of his wine. + +'Well, then, just let me repeat it. He has been capitally educated; he +has always been used to good society: well, we mustn't sneer at it: good +society's better than bad, you'll allow. He has refined tastes: well, +you wouldn't like to live among crossing-sweepers, Tom. He 's clever and +accomplished, can speak and write in three languages: I wish I had his +abilities. He has good manners: well, Tom, you know you like them as +well as anybody. And now--but read for yourself.' + +'Yah!' went old Tom. 'The women have been playing the fool with him +since he was a baby. I read his rigmarole? No.' + +Mr. Andrew shrugged his shoulders, and opened the letter, saying: 'Well, +listen'; and then he coughed, and rapidly skimmed the introductory part. +'Excuses himself for addressing me formally--poor boy! Circumstances +have altered his position towards the world found his father's affairs +in a bad state: only chance of paying off father's debts to undertake +management of business, and bind himself to so much a year. But there, +Tom, if you won't read it, you miss the poor young fellow's character. +He says that he has forgotten his station: fancied he was superior to +trade, but hates debt; and will not allow anybody to throw dirt at his +father's name, while he can work to clear it; and will sacrifice his +pride. Come, Tom, that's manly, isn't it? I call it touching, poor lad!' + +Manly it may have been, but the touching part of it was a feature missed +in Mr. Andrew's hands. At any rate, it did not appear favourably +to impress Tom, whose chin had gathered its ominous puckers, as he +inquired: + +'What's the trade? he don't say.' + +Andrew added, with a wave of the hand: 'Out of a sort of feeling for his +sisters--I like him for it. Now what I want to ask you, Tom, is, whether +we can't assist him in some way! Why couldn't we take him into our +office, and fix him there, eh? If he works well--we're both getting old, +and my brats are chicks--we might, by-and-by, give him a share.' + +'Make a brewer of him? Ha! there'd be another mighty sacrifice for his +pride!' + +'Come, come, Tom,' said Andrew, 'he's my wife's brother, and I'm yours; +and--there, you know what women are. They like to preserve appearances: +we ought to consider them.' + +'Preserve appearances!' echoed Tom: 'ha! who'll do that for them better +than a tailor?' + +Andrew was an impatient little man, fitter for a kind action than to +plead a cause. Jeering jarred on him; and from the moment his brother +began it, he was of small service to Evan. He flung back against the +partition of the compound, rattling it to the disturbance of many a +quiet digestion. + +'Tom,' he cried, 'I believe you're a screw!' + +'Never said I wasn't,' rejoined Tom, as he finished his glass. 'I 'm a +bachelor, and a person--you're married, and an object. I won't have the +tailor's family at my coat-tails.' + +Do you mean to say, Tom, you don't like the young fellow? The +Countess says he's half engaged to an heiress; and he has a chance of +appointments--of course, nothing may come of them. But do you mean to +say, you don't like him for what he has done?' + +Tom made his jaw disagreeably prominent. ''Fraid I'm guilty of that +crime.' + +'And you that swear at people pretending to be above their station!' +exclaimed Andrew. 'I shall get in a passion. I can't stand this. Here, +waiter! what have I to pay?' + +'Go,' cried the time-honoured guest of the Aurora to Jonathan advancing. + +Andrew pressed the very roots of his hair back from his red forehead, +and sat upright and resolute, glancing at Tom. And now ensued a curious +scene of family blood. For no sooner did elderly Tom observe this +bantam-like demeanour of his brother, than he ruffled his feathers +likewise, and looked down on him, agitating his wig over a prodigious +frown. Whereof came the following sharp colloquy; Andrew beginning: + +I 'll pay off the debts out of my own pocket.' + +'You can make a greater fool of yourself, then?' + +'He shan't be a tailor!' + +'He shan't be a brewer!' + +'I say he shall live like a gentleman!' + +'I say he shall squat like a Turk!' + +Bang went Andrew's hand on the table: 'I 've pledged my word, mind!' + +Tom made a counter demonstration: 'And I'll have my way!' + +'Hang it! I can be as eccentric as you,' said Andrew. + +'And I as much a donkey as you, if I try hard,' said Tom. + +Something of the cobbler's stall followed this; till waxing furious, Tom +sung out to Jonathan, hovering around them in watchful timidity, 'More +Port!' and the words immediately fell oily on the wrath of the brothers; +both commenced wiping their heads with their handkerchiefs the faces of +both emerged and met, with a half-laugh: and, severally determined to +keep to what they had spoken, there was a tacit accord between them to +drop the subject. + +Like sunshine after smart rain, the Port shone on these brothers. Like +a voice from the pastures after the bellowing of the thunder, Andrew's +voice asked: 'Got rid of that twinge of the gout, Tom? Did you rub in +that ointment?' while Tom replied: 'Ay. How about that rheumatism of +yours? Have you tried that Indy oil?' receiving a like assurance. + +The remainder of the Port ebbed in meditation and chance remarks. The +bit of storm had done them both good; and Tom especially--the cynical, +carping, grim old gentleman--was much improved by the nearer resemblance +of his manner to Andrew's. + +Behind this unaffected fraternal concord, however, the fact that they +were pledged to a race in eccentricity, was present. They had been +rivals before; and anterior to the date of his marriage, Andrew had done +odd eclipsing things. But Andrew required prompting to it; he required +to be put upon his mettle. Whereas, it was more nature with Tom: nature +and the absence of a wife, gave him advantages over Andrew. Besides, +he had his character to maintain. He had said the word: and the first +vanity of your born eccentric is, that he shall be taken for infallible. + +Presently Andrew ducked his head to mark the evening clouds flushing +over the court-yard of the Aurora. + +'Time to be off, Tom,' he said: 'wife at home.' + +'Ah!' Tom answered. 'Well, I haven't got to go to bed so early.' + +'What an old rogue you are, Tom!' Andrew pushed his elbows forward +on the table amiably. 'Gad, we haven't drunk wine together since--by +George! we'll have another pint.' + +'Many as you like,' said Tom. + +Over the succeeding pint, Andrew, in whose veins the Port was merry, +favoured his brother with an imitation of Major Strike, and indicated +his dislike to that officer. Tom informed him that Major Strike was +speculating. + +'The ass eats at my table, and treats me with contempt.' + +'Just tell him that you're putting by the bones for him. He 'll want +'em.' + +Then Andrew with another glance at the clouds, now violet on a grey sky, +said he must really be off. Upon which Tom observed: 'Don't come here +again.' + +'You old rascal, Tom!' cried Andrew, swinging over the table: 'it's +quite jolly for us to be hob-a-nobbing together once more. 'Gad!--no, we +won't though! I promised--Harriet. Eh? What say, Tom?' + +'Nother pint, Nan?' + +Tom shook his head in a roguishly-cosy, irresistible way. Andrew, from +a shake of denial and resolve, fell into the same; and there sat the two +brothers--a jolly picture. + +The hour was ten, when Andrew Cogglesby, comforted by Tom's remark, that +he, Tom, had a wig, and that he, Andrew, would have a wigging, left the +Aurora; and he left it singing a song. Tom Cogglesby still sat at his +table, holding before him Evan's letter, of which he had got possession; +and knocking it round and round with a stroke of the forefinger, to +the tune of, 'Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, 'pothecary, ploughboy, +thief'; each profession being sounded as a corner presented itself to +the point of his nail. After indulging in this species of incantation +for some length of time, Tom Cogglesby read the letter from beginning to +end, and called peremptorily for pen, ink, and paper. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. THE COUNTESS IN LOW SOCIETY + +By dint of stratagems worthy of a Court intrigue, the Countess de Saldar +contrived to traverse the streets of Lymport, and enter the house where +she was born, unsuspected and unseen, under cover of a profusion of +lace and veil and mantilla, which only her heroic resolve to keep +her beauties hidden from the profane townspeople could have rendered +endurable beneath the fervid summer sun. Dress in a foreign style she +must, as without it she lost that sense of superiority, which was the +only comfort to her in her tribulations. The period of her arrival was +ten days subsequent to the burial of her father. She had come in the +coach, like any common mortal, and the coachman, upon her request, had +put her down at the Governor's house, and the guard had knocked at the +door, and the servant had informed her that General Hucklebridge was not +the governor of Lymport, nor did Admiral Combleman then reside in the +town; which tidings, the coach then being out of sight, it did not +disconcert the Countess to hear; and she reached her mother, having, at +least, cut off communication with the object of conveyance. + +The Countess kissed her mother, kissed Mrs. Fiske, and asked sharply for +Evan. Mrs. Fiske let her know that Evan was in the house. + +'Where?' inquired the Countess. 'I have news of the utmost importance +for him. I must see him.' + +'Where is he, aunt?' said Mrs. Fiske. 'In the shop, I think; I wonder he +did not see you passing, Louisa.' + +The Countess went bolt down into a chair. + +'Go to him, Jane,' said Mrs. Mel. 'Tell him Louisa is here, and don't +return.' + +Mrs. Fiske departed, and the Countess smiled. + +'Thank you, Mama! you know I never could bear that odious, vulgar little +woman. Oh, the heat! You talk of Portugal! And, oh! poor dear Papa! what +I have suffered!' + +Flapping her laces for air, and wiping her eyes for sorrow, the Countess +poured a flood of sympathy into her mother's ears and then said: + +'But you have made a great mistake, Mama, in allowing Evan to put his +foot into that place. He--beloved of an heiress! Why, if an enemy should +hear of it, it would ruin him--positively blast him--for ever. And that +she loves him I have proof positive. Yes; with all her frankness, the +little thing cannot conceal that from me now. She loves him! And I +desire you to guess, Mama, whether rivals will not abound? And what +enemy so much to be dreaded as a rival? And what revelation so awful as +that he has stood in a--in a--boutique?' + +Mrs. Mel maintained her usual attitude for listening. It had occurred +to her that it might do no good to tell the grand lady, her daughter; of +Evan's resolution, so she simply said, 'It is discipline for him,' and +left her to speak a private word with the youth. + +Timidly the Countess inspected the furniture of the apartment, taking +chills at the dingy articles she saw, in the midst of her heat. That she +should have sprung from this! The thought was painful; still she could +forgive Providence so much. But should it ever be known she had sprung +from this! Alas! she felt she never could pardon such a dire betrayal. +She had come in good spirits, but the mention of Evan's backsliding had +troubled her extremely, and though she did not say to herself, What +was the benefit resulting from her father's dying, if Evan would be so +base-minded? she thought the thing indefinitely, and was forming the +words on her mouth, One Harrington in a shop is equal to all! when Evan +appeared alone. + +'Why, goodness gracious! where's your moustache?' cried the Countess. + +'Gone the way of hair!' said Evan, coldly stooping to her forehead. + +'Such a distinction!' the Countess continued, reproachfully. 'Why, +mon Dieu! one could hardly tell you; as you look now, from the very +commonest tradesman--if you were not rather handsome and something of a +figure. It's a disguise, Evan--do you know that?' + +'And I 've parted with it--that 's all,' said Evan. 'No more disguises +for me!' + +The Countess immediately took his arm, and walked with him to a window. +His face was certainly changed. Murmuring that the air of Lymport was +bad for him, and that he must leave it instantly, she bade him sit and +attend to what she was about to say. + +While you have been here, degenerating, Evan, day by day--as you always +do out of my sight--degenerating! no less a word!--I have been +slaving in your interests. Yes; I have forced the Jocelyns socially +to acknowledge us. I have not slept; I have eaten bare morsels. Do +abstinence and vigils clear the wits? I know not! but indeed they have +enabled me to do more in a week than would suffice for a lifetime. Hark +to me. I have discovered Rose's secret. Si! It is so! Rose loves you. +You blush; you blush like a girl. She loves you, and you have let +yourself be seen in a shop! Contrast me the two things. Oh! in verity, +dreadful as it is, one could almost laugh. But the moment I lose sight +of you, my instructions vanish as quickly as that hair on your superior +lip, which took such time to perfect. Alas! you must grow it again +immediately. Use any perfumer's contrivance. Rowland! I have great faith +in Rowland. Without him, I believe, there would have been many bald +women committing suicide! You remember the bottle I gave to the Count +de Villa Flor? "Countess," he said to me, "you have saved this egg-shell +from a crack by helping to cover it"--for so he called his head--the +top, you know, was beginning to shine like an egg. And I do fear me he +would have done it. Ah! you do not conceive what the dread of baldness +is! To a woman death--death is preferable to baldness! Baldness is +death! And a wig--a wig! Oh, horror! total extinction is better than to +rise again in a wig! But you are young, and play with hair. But I was +saying, I went to see the Jocelyns. I was introduced to Sir Franks and +his lady and the wealthy grandmother. And I have an invitation for you, +Evan--you unmannered boy, that you do not bow! A gentle incline forward +of the shoulders, and the eyes fixed softly, your upper lids drooping +triflingly, as if you thanked with gentle sincerity, but were +indifferent. Well, well, if you will not! An invitation for you to spend +part of the autumn at Beckley Court, the ancestral domain, where there +will be company the nobles of the land! Consider that. You say it was +bold in me to face them after that horrible man committed us on board +the vessel? A Harrington is anything but a coward. I did go and because +I am devoted to your interests. That very morning, I saw announced in +the paper, just beneath poor Andrew's hand, as he held it up at the +breakfast-table, reading it, I saw among the deaths, Sir Abraham +Harrington, of Torquay, Baronet, of quinsy! Twice that good man has come +to my rescue! Oh! I welcomed him as a piece of Providence! I turned and +said to Harriet, "I see they have put poor Papa in the paper." Harriet +was staggered. I took the paper from Andrew, and pointed it to her. +She has no readiness. She has had no foreign training. She could not +comprehend, and Andrew stood on tiptoe, and peeped. He has a bad cough, +and coughed himself black in the face. I attribute it to excessive bad +manners and his cold feelings. He left the room. I reproached Harriet. +But, oh! the singularity of the excellent fortune of such an event at +such a time! It showed that our Harrington-luck had not forsaken us. +I hurried to the Jocelyns instantly. Of course, it cleared away any +suspicions aroused in them by that horrible man on board the vessel. +And the tears I wept for Sir Abraham, Evan, in verity they were tears of +deep and sincere gratitude! What is your mouth knitting the corners at? +Are you laughing?' + +Evan hastily composed his visage to the melancholy that was no +counterfeit in him just then. + +'Yes,' continued the Countess, easily reassured, 'I shall ever feel a +debt to Sir Abraham Harrington, of Torquay. I dare say we are related +to him. At least he has done us more service than many a rich and titled +relative. No one supposes he would acknowledge poor Papa. I can forgive +him that, Evan!' The Countess pointed out her finger with mournful and +impressive majesty, 'As we look down on that monkey, people of rank and +consideration in society look on what poor dear Papa was.' + +This was partly true, for Jacko sat on a chair, in his favourite +attitude, copied accurately from the workmen of the establishment at +their labour with needle and thread. Growing cognizant of the infamy of +his posture, the Countess begged Evan to drive him out of her sight, and +took a sniff at her smelling-bottle. + +She went on: 'Now, dear Van, you would hear of your sweet Rose?' + +'Not a word!' Evan hastily answered. + +'Why, what does this indicate? Whims! Then you do love?' + +'I tell you, Louisa, I don't want to hear a word of any of them,' said +Evan, with an angry gleam in his eyes. 'They are nothing to me, nor I to +them. I--my walk in life is not theirs.' + +'Faint heart! faint heart!' the Countess lifted a proverbial forefinger. + +'Thank heaven, I shall have the consolation of not going about, and +bowing and smirking like an impostor!' Evan exclaimed. + +There was a wider intelligence in the Countess's arrested gaze than she +chose to fashion into speech. + +'I knew,' she said, 'I knew how the air of this horrible Lymport would +act on you. But while I live, Evan, you shall not sink in the +sludge. You, with all the pains I have lavished on you! and with your +presence!--for you have a presence, so rare among young men in this +England! You, who have been to a Court, and interchanged bows with +duchesses, and I know not what besides--nay, I do not accuse you; but +if you had not been a mere boy, and an English boy-poor Eugenia +herself confessed to me that you had a look--a tender cleaving of the +underlids--that made her catch her hand to her heart sometimes: it +reminded her so acutely of false Belmarafa. Could you have had a greater +compliment than that? You shall not stop here another day!' + +'True,' said Evan, 'for I'm going to London to-night.' + +'Not to London,' the Countess returned, with a conquering glance, 'but +to Beckley Court-and with me.' + +'To London, Louisa, with Mr. Goren.' + +Again the Countess eyed him largely; but took, as it were, a side-path +from her broad thought, saying: 'Yes, fortunes are made in London, if +you would they should be rapid.' + +She meditated. At that moment Dandy knocked at the door, and called +outside: 'Please, master, Mr. Goren says there's a gentleman in the +shop-wants to see you.' + +'Very well,' replied Evan, moving. He was swung violently round. + +The Countess had clutched him by the arm. A fearful expression was on +her face. + +'Whither do you go?' she said. + +'To the shop, Louisa.' + +Too late to arrest the villanous word, she pulled at him. 'Are you quite +insane? Consent to be seen by a gentleman there? What has come to you? +You must be lunatic! Are we all to be utterly ruined--disgraced?' + +'Is my mother to starve?' said Evan. + +'Absurd rejoinder! No! You should have sold everything here before this. +She can live with Harriet--she--once out of this horrible element--she +would not show it. But, Evan, you are getting away from me: you are not +going?--speak!' + +'I am going,' said Evan. + +The Countess clung to him, exclaiming: 'Never, while I have the power +to detain you!' but as he was firm and strong, she had recourse to her +woman's aids, and burst into a storm of sobs on his shoulder--a scene of +which Mrs. Mel was, for some seconds, a composed spectator. + +'What 's the matter now?' said Mrs. Mel. + +Evan impatiently explained the case. Mrs. Mel desired her daughter to +avoid being ridiculous, and making two fools in her family; and at +the same time that she told Evan there was no occasion for him to go, +contrived, with a look, to make the advice a command. He, in that state +of mind when one takes bitter delight in doing an abhorred duty, was +hardly willing to be submissive; but the despair of the Countess reduced +him, and for her sake he consented to forego the sacrifice of his pride +which was now his sad, sole pleasure. Feeling him linger, the Countess +relaxed her grasp. Hers were tears that dried as soon as they had served +their end; and, to give him the full benefit of his conduct, she said: +'I knew Evan would be persuaded by me.' + +Evan pitifully pressed her hand, and sighed. + +'Tea is on the table down-stairs,' said Mrs. Mel. 'I have cooked +something for you, Louisa. Do you sleep here to-night?' + +'Can I tell you, Mama?' murmured the Countess. 'I am dependent on our +Evan.' + +'Oh! well, we will eat first,' said Mrs. Mel, and they went to the table +below, the Countess begging her mother to drop titles in designating her +to the servants, which caused Mrs. Mel to say: + +'There is but one. I do the cooking'; and the Countess, ever disposed to +flatter and be suave, even when stung by a fact or a phrase, added: + +'And a beautiful cook you used to be, dear Mama!' + +At the table, awaiting them, sat Mrs. Wishaw, Mrs. Fiske, and Mr. Goren, +who soon found themselves enveloped in the Countess's graciousness. Mr. +Goren would talk of trade, and compare Lymport business with London, and +the Countess, loftily interested in his remarks, drew him out to disgust +her brother. Mrs. Wishaw, in whom the Countess at once discovered a +frivolous pretentious woman of the moneyed trading class, she treated as +one who was alive to society, and surveyed matters from a station in +the world, leading her to think that she tolerated Mr. Goren, as a +lady-Christian of the highest rank should tolerate the insects that toil +for us. Mrs. Fiske was not so tractable, for Mrs. Fiske was hostile and +armed. Mrs. Fiske adored the great Mel, and she had never loved Louisa. +Hence, she scorned Louisa on account of her late behaviour toward her +dead parent. The Countess saw through her, and laboured to be friendly +with her, while she rendered her disagreeable in the eyes of Mrs. +Wishaw, and let Mrs. Wishaw perceive that sympathy was possible between +them; manoeuvring a trifle too delicate, perhaps, for the people +present, but sufficient to blind its keen-witted author to the something +that was being concealed from herself, of which something, nevertheless, +her senses apprehensively warned her: and they might have spoken to +her wits, but that mortals cannot, unaided, guess, or will not, unless +struck in the face by the fact, credit, what is to their minds the last +horror. + +'I came down in the coach, quite accidental, with this gentleman,' said +Mrs. Wishaw, fanning a cheek and nodding at Mr. Goren. 'I'm an old flame +of dear Mel's. I knew him when he was an apprentice in London. Now, +wasn't it odd? Your mother--I suppose I must call you "my lady"?' + +The Countess breathed a tender 'Spare me,' with a smile that added, +'among friends!' + +Mrs. Wishaw resumed: 'Your mother was an old flame of this gentleman's, +I found out. So there were two old flames, and I couldn't help thinking! +But I was so glad to have seen dear Mel once more: + +'Ah!' sighed the Countess. + +'He was always a martial-looking man, and laid out, he was quite +imposing. I declare, I cried so, as it reminded me of when I couldn't +have him, for he had nothing but his legs and arms--and I married +Wishaw. But it's a comfort to think I have been of some service to dear, +dear Mel! for Wishaw 's a man of accounts and payments; and I knew Mel +had cloth from him, and, the lady suggested bills delayed, with two or +three nods, 'you know! and I'll do my best for his son.' + +'You are kind,' said the Countess, smiling internally at the vulgar +creature's misconception of Evan's requirements. + +'Did he ever talk much about Mary Fence?' asked Mrs. Wishaw. '"Polly +Fence," he used to say, "sweet Polly Fence!"' + +'Oh! I think so. Frequently,' observed the Countess. + +Mrs. Fiske primmed her mouth. She had never heard the great Mel allude +to the name of Fence. + +The Goren-croak was heard + +'Painters have painted out "Melchisedec" this afternoon. Yes,--ah! In +and out-as the saying goes.' + +Here was an opportunity to mortify the Countess. + +Mrs. Fiske placidly remarked: 'Have we the other put up in its stead? It +'s shorter.' + +A twinge of weakness had made Evan request that the name of Evan +Harrington should not decorate the shopfront till he had turned his back +on it, for a time. Mrs. Mel crushed her venomous niece. + +'What have you to do with such things? Shine in your own affairs first, +Ann, before you meddle with others.' + +Relieved at hearing that 'Melchisedec' was painted out, and unsuspicious +of the announcement that should replace it, the Countess asked Mrs. +Wishaw if she thought Evan like her dear Papa. + +'So like,' returned the lady, 'that I would not be alone with him yet, +for worlds. I should expect him to be making love to me: for, you know, +my dear--I must be familiar--Mel never could be alone with you, without! +It was his nature. I speak of him before marriage. But, if I can trust +myself with him, I shall take charge of Mr. Evan, and show him some +London society.' + +'That is indeed kind,' said the Countess, glad of a thick veil for +the utterance of her contempt. 'Evan, though--I fear--will be +rather engaged. His friends, the Jocelyns of Beckley Court, will--I +fear--hardly dispense with him and Lady Splenders--you know her? the +Marchioness of Splenders? No?--by repute, at least: a most beautiful and +most fascinating woman; report of him alone has induced her to say that +Evan must and shall form a part of her autumnal gathering at Splenders +Castle. And how he is to get out of it, I cannot tell. But I am sure +his multitudinous engagements will not prevent his paying due court to +Mistress Wishaw.' + +As the Countess intended, Mistress Wishaw's vanity was reproved, and +her ambition excited: a pretty doublestroke, only possible to dexterous +players. + +The lady rejoined that she hoped so, she was sure; and forthwith +(because she suddenly seemed to possess him more than his son), launched +upon Mel's incomparable personal attractions. This caused the Countess +to enlarge upon Evan's vast personal prospects. They talked across each +other a little, till the Countess remembered her breeding, allowed Mrs. +Wishaw to run to an end in hollow exclamations, and put a finish to the +undeclared controversy, by a traverse of speech, as if she were taking +up the most important subject of their late colloquy. 'But Evan is not +in his own hands--he is in the hands of a lovely young woman, I must +tell you. He belongs to her, and not to us. You have heard of Rose +Jocelyn, the celebrated heiress?' + +'Engaged?' Mrs. Wishaw whispered aloud. + +The Countess, an adept in the lie implied--practised by her, that she +might not subject herself to future punishment (in which she was so +devout a believer, that she condemned whole hosts to it)--deeply smiled. + +'Really!' said Mrs. Wishaw, and was about to inquire why Evan, with +these brilliant expectations, could think of trade and tailoring, when +the young man, whose forehead had been growing black, jumped up, +and quitted them; thus breaking the harmony of the table; and as the +Countess had said enough, she turned the conversation to the always +welcome theme of low society. She broached death and corpses; and became +extremely interesting, and very sympathetic: the only difference between +the ghostly anecdotes she related, and those of the other ladies, being +that her ghosts were all of them titled, and walked mostly under the +burden of a coronet. For instance, there was the Portuguese Marquis +de Col. He had married a Spanish wife, whose end was mysterious. +Undressing, on the night of the anniversary of her death, and on the +point of getting into bed, he beheld the dead woman lying on her back +before him. All night long he had to sleep with this freezing phantom! +Regularly, every fresh anniversary, he had to endure the same penance, +no matter where he might be, or in what strange bed. On one occasion, +when he took the live for the dead, a curious thing occurred, which the +Countess scrupled less to relate than would men to hint at. Ghosts were +the one childish enjoyment Mrs. Mel allowed herself, and she listened +to her daughter intently, ready to cap any narrative; but Mrs. Fiske +stopped the flood. + +'You have improved on Peter Smithers, Louisa,' she said. + +The Countess turned to her mildly. + +'You are certainly thinking of Peter Smithers,' Mrs. Fiske continued, +bracing her shoulders. 'Surely, you remember poor Peter, Louisa? An +old flame of your own! He was going to kill himself, but married a +Devonshire woman, and they had disagreeables, and SHE died, and he was +undressing, and saw her there in the bed, and wouldn't get into it, and +had the mattress, and the curtains, and the counterpanes, and everything +burnt. He told us it himself. You must remember it, Louisa?' + +The Countess remembered nothing of the sort. No doubt could exist of its +having been the Portuguese Marquis de Col, because he had confided to +her the whole affair, and indeed come to her, as his habit was, to ask +her what he could possibly do, under the circumstances. If Mrs. Fiske's +friend, who married the Devonshire person, had seen the same thing, the +coincidence was yet more extraordinary than the case. Mrs. Fiske said it +assuredly was, and glanced at her aunt, who, as the Countess now rose, +declaring she must speak to Evan, chid Mrs. Fiske, and wished her and +Peter Smithers at the bottom of the sea. + +'No, no, Mama,' said the Countess, laughing, 'that would hardly be +proper,' and before Mrs. Fiske could reply, escaped to complain to Evan +of the vulgarity of those women. + +She was not prepared for the burst of wrath with which Evan met her. +'Louisa,' said he, taking her wrist sternly, 'you have done a thing +I can't forgive. I find it hard to bear disgrace myself: I will not +consent to bring it upon others. Why did you dare to couple Miss +Jocelyn's name with mine?' + +The Countess gave him out her arm's length. 'Speak on, Van,' she said, +admiring him with a bright gaze. + +'Answer me, Louisa; and don't take me for a fool any more,' he pursued. +'You have coupled Miss Jocelyn's name with mine, in company, and I +insist now upon your giving me your promise to abstain from doing it +anywhere, before anybody.' + +'If she saw you at this instant, Van,' returned the incorrigible +Countess, 'would she desire it, think you? Oh! I must make you angry +before her, I see that! You have your father's frown. You surpass him, +for your delivery is more correct, and equally fluent. And if a woman +is momentarily melted by softness in a man, she is for ever subdued by +boldness and bravery of mien.' + +Evan dropped her hand. 'Miss Jocelyn has done me the honour to call me +her friend. That was in other days.' His lip quivered. 'I shall not see +Miss Jocelyn again. Yes; I would lay down my life for her; but that's +idle talk. No such chance will ever come to me. But I can save her from +being spoken of in alliance with me, and what I am, and I tell you, +Louisa, I will not have it.' Saying which, and while he looked harshly +at her, wounded pride bled through his eyes. + +She was touched. 'Sit down, dear; I must explain to you, and make you +happy against your will,' she said, in another voice, and an English +accent. 'The mischief is done, Van. If you do not want Rose Jocelyn to +love you, you must undo it in your own way. I am not easily deceived. On +the morning I went to her house in town, she took me aside, and spoke to +me. Not a confession in words. The blood in her cheeks, when I mentioned +you, did that for her. Everything about you she must know--how you bore +your grief, and all. And not in her usual free manner, but timidly, as +if she feared a surprise, or feared to be wakened to the secret in +her bosom she half suspects--"Tell him!" she said, "I hope he will not +forget me."' + +The Countess was interrupted by a great sob; for the picture of frank +Rose Jocelyn changed, and soft, and, as it were, shadowed under a +veil of bashful regard for him, so filled the young man with sorrowful +tenderness, that he trembled, and was as a child. + +Marking the impression she had produced on him, and having worn off that +which he had produced on her, the Countess resumed the art in her style +of speech, easier to her than nature. + +'So the sweetest of Roses may be yours, dear Van; and you have her in +a gold setting, to wear on your heart. Are you not enviable? I will +not--no, I will not tell you she is perfect. I must fashion the sweet +young creature. Though I am very ready to admit that she is much +improved by this--shall I call it, desired consummation?' + +Evan could listen no more. Such a struggle was rising in his breast: the +effort to quench what the Countess had so shrewdly kindled; passionate +desire to look on Rose but for one lightning flash: desire to look on +her, and muffled sense of shame twin-born with it: wild love and leaden +misery mixed: dead hopelessness and vivid hope. Up to the neck in +Purgatory, but his soul saturated with visions of Bliss! The fair orb of +Love was all that was wanted to complete his planetary state, and aloft +it sprang, showing many faint, fair tracts to him, and piling huge +darknesses. + +As if in search of something, he suddenly went from the room. + +'I have intoxicated the poor boy,' said the Countess, and consulted an +attitude by the evening light in a mirror. Approving the result, she +rang for her mother, and sat with her till dark; telling her she could +not and would not leave her dear Mama that night. At the supper-table +Evan did not appear, and Mr. Goren, after taking counsel of Mrs. Mel, +dispersed the news that Evan was off to London. On the road again, +with a purse just as ill-furnished, and in his breast the light that +sometimes leads gentlemen, as well as ladies, astray. + + + + +CHAPTER X. MY GENTLEMAN ON THE ROAD AGAIN + +Near a milestone, under the moonlight, crouched the figure of a woman, +huddled with her head against her knees, and careless hair falling +to the summer's dust. Evan came upon this sight within a few miles +of Fallowfield. At first he was rather startled, for he had inherited +superstitious emotions from his mother, and the road was lone, the +moon full. He went up to her and spoke a gentle word, which provoked no +reply. He ventured to put his hand on her shoulder, continuing softly to +address her. She was flesh and blood. Evan stooped his head to catch a +whisper from her mouth, but nothing save a heavier fall of the breath +she took, as of one painfully waking, was heard. + +A misery beyond our own is a wholesome picture for youth, and though we +may not for the moment compare the deep with the lower deep, we, if we +have a heart for outer sorrows, can forget ourselves in it. Evan had +just been accusing the heavens of conspiracy to disgrace him. Those +patient heavens had listened, as is their wont. They had viewed and had +not been disordered by his mental frenzies. It is certainly hard that +they do not come down to us, and condescend to tell us what they mean, +and be dumb-foundered by the perspicuity of our arguments the argument, +for instance, that they have not fashioned us for the science of the +shears, and do yet impel us to wield them. Nevertheless, they to whom +mortal life has ceased to be a long matter perceive that our appeals for +conviction are answered, now and then very closely upon the call. When +we have cast off the scales of hope and fancy, and surrender our claims +on mad chance, it is given us to see that some plan is working out: +that the heavens, icy as they are to the pangs of our blood, have been +throughout speaking to our souls; and, according to the strength there +existing, we learn to comprehend them. But their language is an element +of Time, whom primarily we have to know. + +Evan Harrington was young. He wished not to clothe the generation. What +was to the remainder of the exiled sons of Adam simply the brand of +expulsion from Paradise, was to him hell. In his agony, anything less +than an angel, soft-voiced in his path, would not have satisfied the +poor boy, and here was this wretched outcast, and instead of being +relieved, he was to act the reliever! + +Striving to rouse the desolate creature, he shook her slightly. She now +raised her head with a slow, gradual motion, like that of a wax-work, +showing a white young face, tearless,-dreadfully drawn at the lips. +After gazing at him, she turned her head mechanically to her shoulder, +as to ask him why he touched her. He withdrew his hand, saying: + +'Why are you here? Pardon me; I want, if possible, to help you.' + +A light sprang in her eyes. She jumped from the stone, and ran forward a +step or two, with a gasp: + +'Oh, my God! I want to go and drown myself.' + +Evan lingered behind her till he saw her body sway, and in a fit of +trembling she half fell on his outstretched arm. He led her to the +stone, not knowing what on earth to do with her. There was no sign of a +house near; they were quite solitary; to all his questions she gave an +unintelligible moan. He had not the heart to leave her, so, taking +a sharp seat on a heap of flints, thus possibly furnishing future +occupation for one of his craftsmen, he waited, and amused himself by +marking out diagrams with his stick in the thick dust. + +His thoughts were far away, when he heard, faintly uttered: + +'Why do you stop here?' + +'To help you.' + +'Please don't. Let me be. I can't be helped.' + +'My good creature,' said Evan, 'it 's quite impossible that I should +leave you in this state. Tell me where you were going when your illness +seized you?' + +'I was going,' she commenced vacantly, 'to the sea--the water,' she +added, with a shivering lip. + +The foolish youth asked her if she could be cold on such a night. + +'No, I'm not cold,' she replied, drawing closer over her lap the ends +of a shawl which would in that period have been thought rather gaudy for +her station. + +'You were going to Lymport?' + +'Yes,--Lymport's nearest, I think.' + +'And why were you out travelling at this hour?' + +She dropped her head, and began rocking to right and left. + +While they talked the noise of waggon-wheels was heard approaching. Evan +went into the middle of the road, and beheld a covered waggon, and a +fellow whom he advanced to meet, plodding a little to the rear of the +horses. He proved kindly. He was a farmer's man, he said, and was at +that moment employed in removing the furniture of the farmer's son, who +had failed as a corn-chandler in Lymport, to Hillford, which he expected +to reach about morn. He answered Evan's request that he would afford the +young woman conveyance as far as Fallowfield: + +'Tak' her in? That I will. + +'She won't hurt the harses,' he pursued, pointing his whip at the +vehicle: 'there's my mate, Gearge Stoakes, he's in there, snorin' his +turn. Can't you hear 'n asnorin' thraugh the wheels? I can; I've been +laughin'! He do snore that loud-Gearge do!' + +Proceeding to inform Evan how George Stokes had snored in that +characteristic manner from boyhood, ever since he and George had +slept in a hayloft together; and how he, kept wakeful and driven to +distraction by George Stokes' nose, had been occasionally compelled, in +sheer self-defence, madly to start up and hold that pertinacious alarum +in tight compression between thumb and forefinger; and how George +Stokes, thus severely handled, had burst his hold with a tremendous +snort, as big as a bull, and had invariably uttered the exclamation, +'Hulloa!--same to you, my lad!' and rolled over to snore as fresh as +ever;--all this with singular rustic comparisons, racy of the soil, +and in raw Hampshire dialect, the waggoner came to a halt opposite the +stone, and, while Evan strode to assist the girl, addressed himself to +the great task of arousing the sturdy sleeper and quieting his trumpet, +heard by all ears now that the accompaniment of the wheels was at an +end. + +George, violently awakened, complained that it was before his time, to +which he was true; and was for going off again with exalted contentment, +though his heels had been tugged, and were dangling some length out of +the machine; but his comrade, with a determined blow of the lungs, gave +another valiant pull, and George Stokes was on his legs, marvelling at +the world and man. Evan had less difficulty with the girl. She rose to +meet him, put up her arms for him to clasp her waist, whispering sharply +in an inward breath: 'What are you going to do with me?' and indifferent +to his verbal response, trustingly yielded her limbs to his guidance. +He could see blood on her bitten underlip; as, with the help of the +waggoner, he lifted her on the mattress, backed by a portly bundle, +which the sagacity of Mr. Stokes had selected for his couch. + +The waggoner cracked his whip, laughing at George Stokes, who yawned +and settled into a composed ploughswing, without asking questions; +apparently resolved to finish his nap on his legs. + +'Warn't he like that Myzepper chap, I see at the circus, bound athert +gray mare!' chuckled the waggoner. 'So he 'd 'a gone on, had ye 'a let +'n. No wulves waddn't wake Gearge till he 'd slept it out. Then he 'd +say, "marnin'!" to 'm. Are ye 'wake now, Gearge?' + +The admirable sleeper preferred to be a quiet butt, and the waggoner +leisurely exhausted the fun that was to be had out of him; returning to +it with a persistency that evinced more concentration than variety in +his mind. At last Evan said: 'Your pace is rather slow. They'll be +shut up in Fallowfield. I 'll go on ahead. You'll find me at one of the +inns-the Green Dragon.' + +In return for this speech, the waggoner favoured him with a stare, +followed by the exclamation: + +'Oh, no! dang that!' + +'Why, what's the matter?' quoth Evan. + +'You en't goin' to be off, for to leave me and Gearge in the lurch +there, with that ther' young woman, in that ther' pickle!' returned the +waggoner. + +Evan made an appeal to his reason, but finding that impregnable, he +pulled out his scanty purse to guarantee his sincerity with an offer of +pledgemoney. The waggoner waved it aside. He wanted no money, he said. + +'Look heer,' he went on; 'if you're for a start, I tells ye plain, I +chucks that ther' young woman int' the road.' + +Evan bade him not to be a brute. + +'Nark and crop!' the waggoner doggedly ejaculated. + +Very much surprised that a fellow who appeared sound at heart, should +threaten to behave so basely, Evan asked an explanation: upon which the +waggoner demanded to know what he had eyes for: and as this query failed +to enlighten the youth, he let him understand that he was a man of +family experience, and that it was easy to tell at a glance that the +complaint the young woman laboured under was one common to the daughters +of Eve. He added that, should an emergency arise, he, though a family +man, would be useless: that he always vacated the premises while those +incidental scenes were being enacted at home; and that for him and +George Stokes to be left alone with the young woman, why they would be +of no more service to her than a couple of babies newborn themselves. +He, for his part, he assured Evan, should take to his heels, and +relinquish waggon, and horses, and all; while George probably would +stand and gape; and the end of it would be, they would all be had up +for murder. He diverged from the alarming prospect, by a renewal of the +foregoing alternative to the gentleman who had constituted himself the +young woman's protector. If he parted company with them, they would +immediately part company with the young woman, whose condition was +evident. + +'Why, couldn't you tall that?' said the waggoner, as Evan, tingling at +the ears, remained silent. + +'I know nothing of such things,' he answered, hastily, like one hurt. + +I have to repeat the statement, that he was a youth, and a modest one. +He felt unaccountably, unreasonably, but horridly, ashamed. The thought +of his actual position swamped the sickening disgust at tailordom. +Worse, then, might happen to us in this extraordinary world! There was +something more abhorrent than sitting with one's legs crossed, publicly +stitching, and scoffed at! He called vehemently to the waggoner to whip +the horses, and hurry ahead into Fallowfield; but that worthy, whatever +might be his dire alarms, had a regular pace, that was conscious of +no spur: the reply of 'All right!' satisfied him at least; and Evan's +chaste sighs for the appearance of an assistant petticoat round a turn +of the road, were offered up duly, to the measure of the waggoner's +steps. + +Suddenly the waggoner came to a halt, and said 'Blest if that Gearge +bain't a snorin' on his pins!' + +Evan lingered by him with some curiosity, while the waggoner thumped his +thigh to, 'Yes he be! no he bain't!' several times, in eager hesitation. + +'It's a fellow calling from the downs,' said Evan. + +'Ay, so!' responded the waggoner. 'Dang'd if I didn't think 'twere that +Gearge of our'n. Hark awhile.' + +At a repetition of the call, the waggoner stopped his team. After a few +minutes, a man appeared panting on the bank above them, down which he +ran precipitately, knocked against Evan, apologized with the little +breath that remained to him, and then held his hand as to entreat a +hearing. Evan thought him half-mad; the waggoner was about to imagine +him the victim of a midnight assault. He undeceived them by requesting, +in rather flowery terms, conveyance on the road and rest for his limbs. +It being explained to him that the waggon was already occupied, he +comforted himself aloud with the reflection that it was something to be +on the road again for one who had been belated, lost, and wandering over +the downs for the last six hours. + +'Walcome to git in, when young woman gits out,' said the waggoner. 'I'll +gi' ye my sleep on t' Hillford.' + +'Thanks, worthy friend,' returned the new comer. 'The state of the case +is this--I'm happy to take from humankind whatsoever I can get. If this +gentleman will accept of my company, and my legs hold out, all will yet +be well.' + +Though he did not wear a petticoat, Evan was not sorry to have him. Next +to the interposition of the Gods, we pray for human fellowship when we +are in a mess. So he mumbled politely, dropped with him a little to the +rear, and they all stepped out to the crack of the waggoner's whip. + +'Rather a slow pace,' said Evan, feeling bound to converse. + +'Six hours on the downs makes it extremely suitable to me,' rejoined the +stranger. + +'You lost your way?' + +'I did, sir. Yes; one does not court those desolate regions wittingly. +I am for life and society. The embraces of Diana do not agree with my +constitution. If classics there be who differ from me, I beg them to +take six hours on the downs alone with the moon, and the last prospect +of bread and cheese, and a chaste bed, seemingly utterly extinguished. I +am cured of my romance. Of course, when I say bread and cheese, I speak +figuratively. Food is implied.' + +Evan stole a glance at his companion. + +'Besides,' the other continued, with an inflexion of grandeur, 'for a +man accustomed to his hunters, it is, you will confess, unpleasant--I +speak' hypothetically--to be reduced to his legs to that extent that it +strikes him shrewdly he will run them into stumps.' + +The stranger laughed. + +The fair lady of the night illumined his face, like one who recognized +a subject. Evan thought he knew the voice. A curious struggle therein +between native facetiousness and an attempt at dignity, appeared to Evan +not unfamiliar; and the egregious failure of ambition and triumph of the +instinct, helped him to join, the stranger in his mirth. + +'Jack Raikes?' he said: 'surely?' + +'The man!' it was answered to him. 'But you? and near our old +school--Viscount Harrington? These marvels occur, you see--we meet again +by night.' + +Evan, with little gratification at the meeting, fell into their former +comradeship; tickled by a recollection of his old schoolfellow's +India-rubber mind. + +Mr. Raikes stood about a head under him. He had extremely mobile +features; thick, flexible eyebrows; a loose, voluble mouth; a ridiculous +figure on a dandified foot. He represented to you one who was rehearsing +a part he wished to act before the world, and was not aware that he took +the world into his confidence. + +How he had come there his elastic tongue explained in tropes and puns +and lines of dramatic verse. His patrimony spent, he at once believed +himself an actor, and he was hissed off the stage of a provincial +theatre. + +'Ruined, the last ignominy endured, I fled from the gay vistas of the +Bench--for they live who would thither lead me! and determined, the day +before the yesterday--what think'st thou? why to go boldly, and offer +myself as Adlatus to blessed old Cudford! Yes! a little Latin is all +that remains to me, and I resolved, like the man I am, to turn, hic, +hac, hoc, into bread and cheese, and beer: Impute nought foreign to me, +in the matter of pride.' + +'Usher in our old school--poor old Jack!' exclaimed Evan. + +'Lieutenant in the Cudford Academy!' the latter rejoined. 'I walked the +distance from London. I had my interview with the respected principal. +He gave me of mutton nearest the bone, which, they say, is sweetest; and +on sweet things you should not regale in excess. Endymion watched the +sheep that bred that mutton! He gave me the thin beer of our boyhood, +that I might the more soberly state my mission. That beer, my friend, +was brewed by one who wished to form a study for pantomimic masks. He +listened with the gravity which is all his own to the recital of my +career; he pleasantly compared me to Phaethon, congratulated the river +Thames at my not setting it on fire in my rapid descent, and extended to +me the three fingers of affectionate farewell. "You an usher, a rearer +of youth, Mr. Raikes? Oh, no! Oh, no!" That was all I could get out of +him. 'Gad! he might have seen that I didn't joke with the mutton-bone. +If I winced at the beer it was imperceptible. Now a man who can do that +is what I call a man in earnest.' + +'You've just come from Cudford?' said Evan. + +'Short is the tale, though long the way, friend Harrington. From Bodley +is ten miles to Beckley. I walked them. From Beckley is fifteen miles to +Fallowfield. Them I was traversing, when, lo! near sweet eventide a fair +horsewoman riding with her groom at her horse's heels. "Lady," says I, +addressing her, as much out of the style of the needy as possible, "will +you condescend to direct me to Fallowfield?"--"Are you going to the +match?" says she. I answered boldly that I was. "Beckley's in," says +she, "and you'll be in time to see them out, if you cut across the downs +there." I lifted my hat--a desperate measure, for the brim won't bear +much--but honour to women though we perish. She bowed: I cut across the +downs. In fine, Harrington, old boy, I've been wandering among those +downs for the last seven or eight hours. I was on the point of turning +my back on the road for the twentieth time, I believe when I heard your +welcome vehicular music, and hailed you; and I ask you, isn't it luck +for a fellow who hasn't got a penny in his pocket, and is as hungry as +five hundred hunters, to drop on an old friend like this?' + +Evan answered with the question: + +'Where was it you said you met the young lady?' + +'In the first place, O Amadis! I never said she was young. You're on the +scent, I see.' + +Nursing the fresh image of his darling in his heart's recesses, Evan, as +they entered Fallowfield, laid the state of his purse before Jack, and +earned anew the epithet of Amadis, when it came to be told that the +occupant of the waggon was likewise one of its pensioners. + +Sleep had long held its reign in Fallowfield. Nevertheless, Mr. Raikes, +though blind windows alone looked on him, and nought foreign was to be +imputed to him in the matter of pride, had become exceedingly solicitous +concerning his presentation to the inhabitants of that quiet little +country town; and while Evan and--the waggoner consulted the former with +regard to the chances of procuring beds and supper, the latter as to +his prospect of beer and a comfortable riddance of the feminine burden +weighing on them all--Mr. Raikes was engaged in persuading his hat to +assume something of the gentlemanly polish of its youth, and might have +been observed now and then furtively catching up a leg to be dusted. Ere +the wheels of the waggon stopped he had gained that ease of mind which +the knowledge that you have done all a man may do and circumstances +warrant, establishes. Capacities conscious of their limits may repose +even proudly when they reach them; and, if Mr. Raikes had not quite the +air of one come out of a bandbox, he at least proved to the discerning +intelligence that he knew what sort of manner befitted that happy +occasion, and was enabled by the pains he had taken to glance with a +challenge at the sign of the hostelry, under which they were now ranked, +and from which, though the hour was late, and Fallowfield a singularly +somnolent little town, there issued signs of life approaching to +festivity. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. DOINGS AT AN INN + +What every traveller sighs to find, was palatably furnished by the Green +Dragon of Fallowfield--a famous inn, and a constellation for wandering +coachmen. There pleasant smiles seasoned plenty, and the bill was gilded +in a manner unknown to our days. Whoso drank of the ale of the Green +Dragon kept in his memory a place apart for it. The secret, that to give +a warm welcome is the breath of life to an inn, was one the Green Dragon +boasted, even then, not to share with many Red Lions, or Cocks of the +Morning, or Kings' Heads, or other fabulous monsters; and as if to show +that when you are in the right track you are sure to be seconded, there +was a friend of the Green Dragon, who, on a particular night of the +year, caused its renown to enlarge to the dimensions of a miracle. But +that, for the moment, is my secret. + +Evan and Jack were met in the passage by a chambermaid. Before either of +them could speak, she had turned and fled, with the words: + +'More coming!' which, with the addition of 'My goodness me!' were +echoed by the hostess in her recess. Hurried directions seemed to be +consequent, and then the hostess sallied out, and said, with a curtsey: + +'Please to step in, gentlemen. This is the room, tonight.' + +Evan lifted his hat; and bowing, requested to know whether they could +have a supper and beds. + +'Beds, Sir!' cried the hostess. 'What am I to do for beds! Yes, beds +indeed you may have, but bed-rooms--if you ask for them, it really is +more than I can supply you with. I have given up my own. I sleep with my +maid Jane to-night.' + +'Anything will do for us, madam,' replied Evan, renewing his foreign +courtesy. 'But there is a poor young woman outside.' + +'Another!' The hostess instantly smiled down her inhospitable outcry. + +'She,' said Evan, 'must have a room to herself. She is ill.' + +'Must is must, sir,' returned the gracious hostess. 'But I really +haven't the means.' + +'You have bed-rooms, madam?' + +'Every one of them engaged, sir.' + +'By ladies, madam?' + +'Lord forbid, Sir!' she exclaimed with the honest energy of a woman who +knew her sex. + +Evan bade Jack go and assist the waggoner to bring in the girl. Jack, +who had been all the time pulling at his wristbands, and settling his +coat-collar by the dim reflection of a window of the bar, departed, +after, on his own authority, assuring the hostess that fever was not the +young woman's malady, as she protested against admitting fever into her +house, seeing that she had to consider her guests. + +'We're open to all the world to-night, except fever,' said the hostess. +'Yes,' she rejoined to Evan's order that the waggoner and his mate +should be supplied with ale, 'they shall have as much as they can +drink,' which is not a speech usual at inns, when one man gives an order +for others, but Evan passed it by, and politely begged to be shown in to +one of the gentlemen who had engaged bedrooms. + +'Oh! if you can persuade any of them, sir, I'm sure I've nothing to +say,' observed the hostess. 'Pray, don't ask me to stand by and back it, +that's all.' + +Had Evan been familiar with the Green Dragon, he would have noticed that +the landlady, its presiding genius, was stiffer than usual; the rosy +smile was more constrained, as if a great host had to be embraced, and +were trying it to the utmost stretch. There was, however, no asperity +about her, and when she had led him to the door he was to enter to +prefer his suit, and she had asked whether the young woman was quite +common, and he had replied that he had picked her up on the road, and +that she was certainly poor, the hostess said: + +'I 'm sure you're a very good gentleman, sir, and if I could spare your +asking at all, I would.' + +With that she went back to encounter Mr. Raikes and his charge, and +prime the waggoner and his mate. + +A noise of laughter and talk was stilled gradually, as Evan made his bow +into a spacious room, wherein, as the tops of pines are seen swimming +on the morning mist, about a couple of dozen guests of divers conditions +sat partially revealed through wavy clouds of tobacco-smoke. By their +postures, which Evan's appearance by no means disconcerted, you read +in a glance men who had been at ease for so many hours that they had no +troubles in the world save the two ultimate perplexities of the British +Sybarite, whose bed of roses is harassed by the pair of problems: +first, what to do with his legs; secondly, how to imbibe liquor with the +slightest possible derangement of those members subordinate to his +upper structure. Of old the Sybarite complained. Not so our self-helpful +islanders. Since they could not, now that work was done and jollity the +game, take off their legs, they got away from them as far as they might, +in fashions original or imitative: some by thrusting them out at full +length; some by cramping them under their chairs: while some, taking +refuge in a mental effort, forgot them, a process to be recommended +if it did not involve occasional pangs of consciousness to the legs of +their neighbours. We see in our cousins West of the great water, who are +said to exaggerate our peculiarities, beings labouring under the same +difficulty, and intent on its solution. As to the second problem: that +of drinking without discomposure to the subservient limbs: the company +present worked out this republican principle ingeniously, but in a +manner beneath the attention of the Muse. Let Clio record that mugs +and glasses, tobacco and pipes, were strewn upon the table. But if the +guests had arrived at that stage when to reach the arm, or arrange the +person, for a sip of good stuff, causes moral debates, and presents to +the mind impediments equal to what would be raised in active men by +the prospect of a great excursion, it is not to be wondered at that the +presence of a stranger produced no immediate commotion. Two or three +heads were half turned; such as faced him imperceptibly lifted their +eyelids. + +'Good evening, sir,' said one who sat as chairman, with a decisive nod. + +'Good night, ain't it?' a jolly-looking old fellow queried of the +speaker, in an under-voice. + +'Gad, you don't expect me to be wishing the gentleman good-bye, do you?' +retorted the former. + +'Ha! ha! No, to be sure,' answered the old boy; and the remark was +variously uttered, that 'Good night,' by a caprice of our language, did +sound like it. + +'Good evening's "How d' ye do?"--"How are ye?" Good night's "Be off, and +be blowed to you,"' observed an interpreter with a positive mind; and +another, whose intelligence was not so clear, but whose perceptions had +seized the point, exclaimed: 'I never says it when I hails a chap; but, +dash my buttons, if I mightn't 'a done, one day or another! Queer!' + +The chairman, warmed by his joke, added, with a sharp wink: 'Ay; it +would be queer, if you hailed "Good night" in the middle of the day!' +and this among a company soaked in ripe ale, could not fail to run the +electric circle, and persuaded several to change their positions; in +the rumble of which, Evan's reply, if he had made any, was lost. Few, +however, were there who could think of him, and ponder on that glimpse +of fun, at the same time; and he would have been passed over, had not +the chairman said: 'Take a seat, sir; make yourself comfortable.' + +'Before I have that pleasure,' replied Evan, 'I--' + +'I see where 'tis,' burst out the old boy who had previously +superinduced a diversion: 'he's going to ax if he can't have a bed!' + +A roar of laughter, and 'Don't you remember this day last year?' +followed the cunning guess. For awhile explication was impossible; and +Evan coloured, and smiled, and waited for them. + +'I was going to ask--' + +'Said so!' shouted the old boy, gleefully. + +'--one of the gentlemen who has engaged a bed-room to do me the extreme +favour to step aside with me, and allow me a moment's speech with him.' + +Long faces were drawn, and odd stares were directed toward him, in +reply. + +'I see where 'tis'; the old boy thumped his knee. 'Ain't it now? Speak +up, sir! There's a lady in the case?' + +'I may tell you thus much,' answered Evan, 'that it is an unfortunate +young woman, very ill, who needs rest and quiet.' + +'Didn't I say so?' shouted the old boy. + +But this time, though his jolly red jowl turned all round to demand a +confirmation, it was not generally considered that he had divined so +correctly. Between a lady and an unfortunate young woman, there seemed +to be a strong distinction, in the minds of the company. + +The chairman was the most affected by the communication. His bushy +eyebrows frowned at Evan, and he began tugging at the brass buttons of +his coat, like one preparing to arm for a conflict. + +'Speak out, sir, if you please,' he said. 'Above board--no asides--no +taking advantages. You want me to give up my bed-room for the use of +your young woman, sir?' + +Evan replied quietly: 'She is a stranger to me; and if you could see +her, sir, and know her situation, I think she would move your pity.' + +'I don't doubt it, sir--I don't doubt it,' returned the chairman. 'They +all move our pity. That's how they get over us. She has diddled you, +and she would diddle me, and diddle us all-diddle the devil, I dare say, +when her time comes. I don't doubt it, sir.' + +To confront a vehement old gentleman, sitting as president in an +assembly of satellites, requires command of countenance, and Evan was +not browbeaten: he held him, and the whole room, from where he stood, +under a serene and serious eye, for his feelings were too deeply stirred +on behalf of the girl to let him think of himself. That question of +hers, 'What are you going to do with me?' implying such helplessness and +trust, was still sharp on his nerves. + +'Gentlemen,' he said, 'I humbly beg your pardon for disturbing you as I +do.' + +But with a sudden idea that a general address on behalf of a particular +demand must necessarily fail, he let his eyes rest on one there, whose +face was neither stupid nor repellent, and who, though he did not look +up, had an attentive, thoughtful cast about the mouth. + +'May I entreat a word apart with you, sir?' + +Evan was not mistaken in the index he had perused. The gentleman seemed +to feel that he was selected from the company, and slightly raising +his head, carelessly replied: 'My bed is entirely at your disposal,' +resuming his contemplative pose. + +On the point of thanking him, Evan advanced a step, when up started the +irascible chairman. + +'I don't permit it! I won't allow it!' And before Evan could ask his +reasons, he had rung the bell, muttering: 'They follow us to our inns, +now, the baggages! They must harry us at our inns! We can't have peace +and quiet at our inns!--' + +In a state of combustion, he cried out to the waiter: + +'Here, Mark, this gentleman has brought in a dirty wench: pack her up to +my bed-room, and lock her in lock her in, and bring down the key.' + +Agreeably deceived in the old gentleman's intentions, Evan could not +refrain from joining the murmured hilarity created by the conclusion of +his order. The latter glared at him, and added: 'Now, sir, you've done +your worst. Sit down, and be merry.' + +Replying that he had a friend outside, and would not fail to accept the +invitation, Evan retired. He was met by the hostess with the +reproachful declaration on her lips, that she was a widow woman, wise in +appearances, and that he had brought into her house that night work she +did not expect, or bargain for. Rather (since I must speak truth of my +gentleman) to silence her on the subject, and save his ears, than +to propitiate her favour towards the girl, Evan drew out his +constitutionally lean purse, and dropped it in her hand, praying her to +put every expense incurred to his charge. She exclaimed: + +'If Dr. Pillie has his full sleep this night, I shall be astonished'; +and Evan hastily led Jack into the passage to impart to him, that +the extent of his resources was reduced to the smallest of sums in +shillings. + +'I can beat my friend at that reckoning,' said Mr. Raikes; and they +entered the room. + +Eyes were on him. This had ever the effect of causing him to swell +to monstrous proportions in the histrionic line. Asking the waiter +carelessly for some light supper dish, he suggested the various French, +with 'not that?' and the affable naming of another. 'Nor that? Dear me, +we shall have to sup on chops, I believe!' + +Evan saw the chairman scrutinizing Raikes, much as he himself might have +done, and he said: 'Bread and cheese for me.' + +Raikes exclaimed: 'Really? Well, my lord, you lead, and your taste is +mine!' + +A second waiter scudded past, and stopped before the chairman to say: +'If you please, sir, the gentlemen upstairs send their compliments, and +will be happy to accept.' + +'Ha!' was the answer. 'Thought better of it, have they! Lay for three +more, then. Five more, I guess.' He glanced at the pair of intruders. + +Among a portion of the guests there had been a return to common talk, +and one had observed that he could not get that 'Good Evening,' and +'Good Night,' out of his head which had caused a friend to explain +the meaning of these terms of salutation to him: while another, of a +philosophic turn, pursued the theme: 'You see, when we meets, we makes +a night of it. So, when we parts, it's Good Night--natural! ain't it?' A +proposition assented to, and considerably dilated on; but whether he was +laughing at that, or what had aroused the fit, the chairman did not say. + +Gentle chuckles had succeeded his laughter by the time the bread and +cheese appeared. + +In the rear of the provision came three young gentlemen, of whom the +foremost lumped in, singing to one behind him, 'And you shall have +little Rosey!' + +They were clad in cricketing costume, and exhibited the health and +manners of youthful Englishmen of station. Frolicsome young bulls +bursting on an assemblage of sheep, they might be compared to. The +chairman welcomed them a trifle snubbingly. The colour mounted to the +cheeks of Mr. Raikes as he made incision in the cheese, under their +eyes, knitting his brows fearfully, as if at hard work. + +The chairman entreated Evan to desist from the cheese; and, pulling out +his watch, thundered: 'Time!' + +The company generally jumped on their legs; and, in the midst of a hum +of talk and laughter, he informed Evan and Jack, that he invited them +cordially to a supper up-stairs, and would be pleased if they would +partake of it, and in a great rage if they would not. + +Raikes was for condescending to accept. + +Evan sprang up and cried: 'Gladly, sir,' and gladly would he have cast +his cockney schoolmate to the winds, in the presence of these young +cricketers; for he had a prognostication. + +The door was open, and the company of jolly yeomen, tradesmen, farmers, +and the like, had become intent on observing all the ceremonies of +precedence: not one would broaden his back on the other; and there was +bowing, and scraping, and grimacing, till Farmer Broadmead was hailed +aloud, and the old boy stepped forth, and was summarily pushed through: +the chairman calling from the rear, 'Hulloa! no names to-night!' to +which was answered lustily: 'All right, Mr. Tom!' and the speaker was +reproved with, 'There you go! at it again!' and out and up they hustled. + +The chairman said quietly to Evan, as they were ascending the stairs: +'We don't have names to-night; may as well drop titles.' Which presented +no peculiar meaning to Evan's mind, and he smiled the usual smile. + +To Raikes, at the door of the supper-room, the chairman repeated the +same; and with extreme affability and alacrity of abnegation, the other +rejoined, 'Oh, certainly!' + +No wonder that he rubbed his hands with more delight than aristocrats +and people with gentlemanly connections are in the habit of betraying +at the prospect of refection, for the release from bread and cheese was +rendered overpoweringly glorious, in his eyes, by the bountiful contrast +exhibited on the board before him. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. IN WHICH ALE IS SHOWN TO HAVE ONE QUALITY OF WINE + +To proclaim that yon ribs of beef and yonder ruddy Britons have met, is +to furnish matter for an hour's comfortable meditation. + +Digest the fact. Here the Fates have put their seal to something Nature +clearly devised. It was intended; and it has come to pass. A thing has +come to pass which we feel to be right! The machinery of the world, +then, is not entirely dislocated: there is harmony, on one point, among +the mysterious powers who have to do with us. + +Apart from its eloquent and consoling philosophy, the picture is +pleasant. You see two rows of shoulders resolutely set for action: +heads in divers degrees of proximity to their plates: eyes variously +twinkling, or hypocritically composed: chaps in vigorous exercise. Now +leans a fellow right back with his whole face to the firmament: Ale is +his adoration. He sighs not till he sees the end of the mug. Now from +one a laugh is sprung; but, as if too early tapped, he turns off the +cock, and primes himself anew. Occupied by their own requirements, these +Britons allow that their neighbours have rights: no cursing at waste of +time is heard when plates have to be passed: disagreeable, it is still +duty. Field-Marshal Duty, the Briton's chief star, shines here. If one +usurps more than his allowance of elbow-room, bring your charge against +them that fashioned him: work away to arrive at some compass yourself. + +Now the mustard ceases to travel, and the salt: the guests have leisure +to contemplate their achievements. Laughs are more prolonged, and come +from the depths. + +Now Ale, which is to Beef what Eve was to Adam, threatens to take +possession of the field. Happy they who, following Nature's direction, +admitted not bright ale into their Paradise till their manhood was +strengthened with beef. Some, impatient, had thirsted; had satisfied +their thirst; and the ale, the light though lovely spirit, with nothing +to hold it down, had mounted to their heads; just as Eve will do when +Adam is not mature: just as she did--Alas! + +Now, the ruins of the feast being removed, and a clear course left for +the flow of ale, Farmer Broadmead, facing the chairman, rises. He stands +in an attitude of midway. He speaks: + +'Gentlemen! 'Taint fust time you and I be met here, to salbrate this +here occasion. I say, not fust time, not by many a time, 'taint. Well, +gentlemen, I ain't much of a speaker, gentlemen, as you know. Howsever, +here I be. No denyin' that. I'm on my legs. This here's a strange enough +world, and a man 's a gentleman, I say, we ought for to be glad when we +got 'm. You know: I'm coming to it shortly. I ain't much of a speaker, +and if you wants somethin' new, you must ax elsewhere: but what I say +is--Bang it! here's good health and long life to Mr. Tom, up there!' + +'No names!' shouts the chairman, in the midst of a tremendous clatter. + +Farmer Broadmead moderately disengages his breadth from the seat. He +humbly axes pardon, which is accorded him with a blunt nod. + +Ale (to Beef what Eve was to Adam) circulates beneath a dazzling foam, +fair as the first woman. + +Mr. Tom (for the breach of the rules in mentioning whose name on a +night when identities are merged, we offer sincere apologies every other +minute), Mr. Tom is toasted. His parents, who selected that day sixty +years ago, for his bow to be made to the world, are alluded to with +encomiums, and float down to posterity on floods of liquid amber. + +But to see all the subtle merits that now begin to bud out from Mr. Tom, +the chairman and giver of the feast; and also rightly to appreciate the +speeches, we require to be enormously charged with Ale. Mr. Raikes +did his best to keep his head above the surface of the rapid flood. He +conceived the chairman in brilliant colours, and probably owing to the +energy called for by his brain, the legs of the young man failed him +twice, as he tried them. Attention was demanded. Mr. Raikes addressed +the meeting. + +The three young gentlemen-cricketers had hitherto behaved with a certain +propriety. It did not offend Mr. Raikes to see them conduct themselves +as if they were at a play, and the rest of the company paid actors. He +had likewise taken a position, and had been the first to laugh aloud +at a particular slip of grammar; while his shrugs at the aspirates +transposed and the pronunciation prevalent, had almost established +a free-masonry between him and one of the three young +gentlemen-cricketers--a fair-haired youth, with a handsome, reckless +face, who leaned on the table, humorously eyeing the several speakers, +and exchanging by-words and laughs with his friends on each side of him. + +But Mr. Raikes had the disadvantage of having come to the table empty +in stomach--thirsty exceedingly; and, I repeat, that as, without +experience, you are the victim of divinely given Eve, so, with no +foundation to receive it upon, are you the victim of good sound Ale. +He very soon lost his head. He would otherwise have seen that he must +produce a wonderfully-telling speech if he was to keep the position he +had taken, and had better not attempt one. The three young cricketers +were hostile from the beginning. All of them leant forward, calling +attention loudly laughing for the fun to come. + +'Gentlemen!' he said: and said it twice. The gap was wide, and he said, +'Gentlemen!' again. + +This commencement of a speech proves that you have made the plunge, +but not that you can swim. At a repetition of 'Gentlemen!' expectancy +resolved into cynicism. + +'Gie'n a help,' sang out a son of the plough to a neighbour of the +orator. + +'Hang it!' murmured another, 'we ain't such gentlemen as that comes to.' + +Mr. Raikes was politely requested to 'tune his pipe.' + +With a gloomy curiosity as to the results of Jack's adventurous +undertaking, and a touch of anger at the three whose bearing throughout +had displeased him, Evan regarded his friend. He, too, had drunk, and +upon emptiness. Bright ale had mounted to his brain. A hero should be +held as sacred as the Grand Llama: so let no more be said than that he +drank still, nor marked the replenishing of his glass. + +Raikes cleared his throat for a final assault: he had got an image, and +was dashing off; but, unhappily, as if to make the start seem fair, he +was guilty of his reiteration, 'Gentlemen.' + +Everybody knew that it was a real start this time, and indeed he had +made an advance, and had run straight through half a sentence. It was +therefore manifestly unfair, inimical, contemptuous, overbearing, and +base, for one of the three young cricketers at this period to fling back +weariedly and exclaim: 'By the Lord; too many gentlemen here!' + +Evan heard him across the table. Lacking the key of the speaker's +previous conduct, the words might have passed. As it was, they, to the +ale-invaded head of a young hero, feeling himself the world's equal, and +condemned nevertheless to bear through life the insignia of Tailordom, +not unnaturally struck with peculiar offence. There was arrogance, too, +in the young man who had interposed. He was long in the body, and, +when he was not refreshing his sight by a careless contemplation of his +finger-nails, looked down on his company at table, as one may do who +comes from loftier studies. He had what is popularly known as the nose +of our aristocracy: a nose that much culture of the external graces, and +affectation of suavity, are required to soften. Thereto were joined +thin lips and arched brows. Birth it was possible he could boast, hardly +brains. He sat to the right of the fair-haired youth, who, with his +remaining comrade, a quiet smiling fellow, appeared to be better liked +by the guests, and had been hailed once or twice, under correction of +the chairman, as Mr. Harry. The three had distinguished one there by a +few friendly passages; and this was he who had offered his bed to Evan +for the service of the girl. The recognition they extended to him did +not affect him deeply. He was called Drummond, and had his place near +the chairmen, whose humours he seemed to relish. + +The ears of Mr. Raikes were less keen at the moment than Evan's, but his +openness to ridicule was that of a man on his legs solus, amid a company +sitting, and his sense of the same--when he saw himself the victim +of it--acute. His face was rather comic, and, under the shadow of +embarrassment, twitching and working for ideas--might excuse a want of +steadiness and absolute gravity in the countenances of others. + +The chairman's neighbour, Drummond, whispered him 'Laxley will get up a +row with that fellow.' + +'It 's young Jocelyn egging him on,' said the chairman. + +'Um!' added Drummond: 'it's the friend of that talkative rascal that 's +dangerous, if it comes to anything.' + +Mr. Raikes perceived that his host desired him to conclude. So, lifting +his voice and swinging his arm, he ended: 'Allow me to propose to +you the Fly in Amber. In other words, our excellent host embalmed in +brilliant ale! Drink him! and so let him live in our memories for ever!' + +He sat down very well contented with himself, very little comprehended, +and applauded loudly. + +'The Flyin' Number!' echoed Farmer Broadmead, confidently and with +clamour; adding to a friend, when both had drunk the toast to the dregs, +'But what number that be, or how many 'tis of 'em, dishes me! But that +'s ne'ther here nor there.' + +The chairman and host of the evening stood up to reply, welcomed by +thunders--'There ye be, Mr. Tom! glad I lives to see ye!' and 'No +names!' and 'Long life to him!' + +This having subsided, the chairman spoke, first nodding. 'You don't want +many words, and if you do, you won't get 'em from me.' + +Cries of 'Got something better!' took up the blunt address. + +'You've been true to it, most of you. I like men not to forget a +custom.' + +'Good reason so to be,' and 'A jolly good custom,' replied to both +sentences. + +'As to the beef, I hope you didn't find it tough: as to the ale--I know +all about THAT!' + +'Aha! good!' rang the verdict. + +'All I can say is, that this day next year it will be on the table, +and I hope that every one of you will meet Tom--will meet me here +punctually. I'm not a Parliament man, so that 'll do.' + +The chairman's breach of his own rules drowned the termination of his +speech in an uproar. + +Re-seating himself, he lifted his glass, and proposed: 'The +Antediluvians!' + +Farmer Broadmead echoed: 'The Antediloovians!' appending, as a private +sentiment, 'And dam rum chaps they were!' + +The Antediluvians, undoubtedly the toast of the evening, were +enthusiastically drunk, and in an ale of treble brew. + +When they had quite gone down, Mr. Raikes ventured to ask for the reason +of their receiving such honour from a posterity they had so little to do +with. He put the question mildly, but was impetuously snapped at by the +chairman. + +'You respect men for their luck, sir, don't you? Don't be a hypocrite, +and say you don't--you do. Very well: so do I. That's why I drink "The +Antediluvians"!' + +'Our worthy host here' (Drummond, gravely smiling, undertook to +elucidate the case) 'has a theory that the constitutions of the +Postdiluvians have been deranged, and their lives shortened, by the +miasmas of the Deluge. I believe he carries it so far as to say that +Noah, in the light of a progenitor, is inferior to Adam, owing to the +shaking he had to endure in the ark, and which he conceives to have +damaged the patriarch and the nervous systems of his sons. It's a +theory, you know.' + +'They lived close on a thousand years, hale, hearty--and no water!' said +the chairman. + +'Well!' exclaimed one, some way down the table, a young farmer, red as +a cock's comb: 'no fools they, eh, master? Where there's ale, would you +drink water, my hearty?' and back he leaned to enjoy the tribute to his +wit; a wit not remarkable, but nevertheless sufficient in the noise it +created to excite the envy of Mr. Raikes, who, inveterately silly when +not engaged in a contest, now began to play on the names of the sons of +Noah. + +The chairman lanced a keen light at him from beneath his bushy eyebrows. + +Before long he had again to call two parties to order. To Raikes, +Laxley was a puppy: to Laxley, Mr. Raikes was a snob. The antagonism was +natural: ale did but put the match to the magazine. But previous to an +explosion, Laxley, who had observed Evan's disgust at Jack's exhibition +of himself, and had been led to think, by his conduct and clothes in +conjunction, that Evan was his own equal; a gentleman condescending +to the society of a low-born acquaintance;--had sought with sundry +propitiations, intelligent glances, light shrugs, and such like, +to divide Evan from Jack. He did this, doubtless, because he partly +sympathized with Evan, and to assure him that he took a separate view +of him. Probably Evan was already offended, or he held to Jack, as +a comrade should, or else it was that Tailordom and the pride of his +accepted humiliation bellowed in his ears, every fresh minute: 'Nothing +assume!' I incline to think that the more ale he drank the fiercer rebel +he grew against conventional ideas of rank, and those class-barriers +which we scorn so vehemently when we find ourselves kicking at them. +Whatsoever the reason that prompted him, he did not respond to Laxley's +advances; and Laxley, disregarding him, dealt with Raikes alone. + +In a tone plainly directed at him, he said: 'Well, Harry, tired of this? +The agriculturals are good fun, but I can't stand much of the small +cockney. A blackguard who tries to make jokes out of the Scriptures +ought to be kicked!' + +Harry rejoined, with wet lips: 'Wopping stuff, this ale! Who's that you +want to kick?' + +'Somebody who objects to his bray, I suppose,' Mr. Raikes struck in, +across the table, negligently thrusting out his elbow to support his +head. + +'Did you allude to me, sir?' Laxley inquired. + +'I alluded to a donkey, sir.' Raikes lifted his eyelids to the same +level as Laxley's: 'a passing remark on that interesting animal.' + +His friend Harry now came into the ring to try a fall. + +'Are you an usher in a school?' he asked, meaning by his looks what men +of science in fisticuffs call business. + +Mr. Raikes started in amazement. He recovered as quickly. + +'No, sir, not quite; but I have no doubt I should be able to instruct +you upon a point or two.' + +'Good manners, for instance?' remarked the third young cricketer, +without disturbing his habitual smile. + +'Or what comes from not observing them,' said Evan, unwilling to have +Jack over-matched. + +'Perhaps you'll give me a lesson now?' Harry indicated a readiness to +rise for either of them. + +At this juncture the chairman interposed. + +'Harmony, my lads!--harmony to-night.' + +Farmer Broadmead, imagining it to be the signal for a song, returned: + +'All right, Mr.--- Mr. Chair! but we an't got pipes in yet. Pipes before +harmony, you know, to-night.' + +The pipes were summoned forthwith. System appeared to regulate the +proceedings of this particular night at the Green Dragon. The pipes +charged, and those of the guests who smoked, well fixed behind them, +celestial Harmony was invoked through the slowly curling clouds. In +Britain the Goddess is coy. She demands pressure to appear, and great +gulps of ale. Vastly does she swell the chests of her island children, +but with the modesty of a maid at the commencement. Precedence again +disturbed the minds of the company. At last the red-faced young farmer +led off with 'The Rose and the Thorn.' In that day Chloe still lived; +nor were the amorous transports of Strephon quenched. Mountainous +inflation--mouse-like issue characterized the young farmer's first +verse. Encouraged by manifest approbation he now told Chloe that he 'by +Heaven! never would plant in that bosom a thorn,' with such a volume of +sound as did indeed show how a lover's oath should be uttered in the ear +of a British damsel to subdue her. + +'Good!' cried Mr. Raikes, anxious to be convivial. + +Subsiding into impertinence, he asked Laxley, 'Could you tip us a +Strephonade, sir? Rejoiced to listen to you, I'm sure! Promise you my +applause beforehand.' + +Harry replied hotly: 'Will you step out of the room with me a minute?' + +'Have you a confession to make?' quoth Jack, unmoved. 'Have you planted +a thorn in the feminine flower-garden? Make a clean breast of it at the +table. Confess openly and be absolved.' + +While Evan spoke a word of angry reproof to Raikes, Harry had to be +restrained by his two friends. The rest of the company looked on with +curiosity; the mouth of the chairman was bunched. Drummond had his eyes +on Evan, who was gazing steadily at the three. Suddenly 'The fellow +isn't a gentleman!' struck the attention of Mr. Raikes with alarming +force. + +Raikes--and it may be because he knew he could do more than Evan in this +respect--vociferated: 'I'm the son of a gentleman!' + +Drummond, from the head of the table, saw that a diversion was +imperative. He leaned forward, and with a look of great interest said: + +'Are you? Pray, never disgrace your origin, then.' + +'If the choice were offered me, I think I would rather have known his +father,' said the smiling fellow, yawning, and rocking on his chair. + +'You would, possibly, have been exceedingly intimate--with his right +foot,' said Raikes. + +The other merely remarked: 'Oh! that is the language of the son of a +gentleman.' + +The tumult of irony, abuse, and retort, went on despite the efforts of +Drummond and the chairman. It was odd; for at Farmer Broadmead's end +of the table, friendship had grown maudlin: two were seen in a drowsy +embrace, with crossed pipes; and others were vowing deep amity, and +offering to fight the man that might desire it. + +'Are ye a friend? or are ye a foe?' was heard repeatedly, and +consequences to the career of the respondent, on his choice of +affirmatives to either of these two interrogations, emphatically +detailed. + +It was likewise asked, in reference to the row at the gentlemen's end: +'Why doan' they stand up and have 't out?' + +'They talks, they speechifies--why doan' they fight for 't, and then be +friendly?' + +'Where's the yarmony, Mr. Chair, I axes--so please ye?' sang out Farmer +Broadmead. + +'Ay, ay! Silence!' the chairman called. + +Mr. Raikes begged permission to pronounce his excuses, but lapsed into +a lamentation for the squandering of property bequeathed to him by +his respected uncle, and for which--as far as he was intelligible--he +persisted in calling the three offensive young cricketers opposite to +account. + +Before he could desist, Harmony, no longer coy, burst on the assembly +from three different sources. 'A Man who is given to Liquor,' soared +aloft with 'The Maid of sweet Seventeen,' who participated in the +adventures of 'Young Molly and the Kicking Cow'; while the guests +selected the chorus of the song that first demanded it. + +Evan probably thought that Harmony was herself only when she came +single, or he was wearied of his fellows, and wished to gaze a moment on +the skies whose arms were over and around his young beloved. He went to +the window and threw it up, and feasted his sight on the moon standing +on the downs. He could have wept at the bitter ignominy that severed him +from Rose. And again he gathered his pride as a cloak, and defied the +world, and gloried in the sacrifice that degraded him. The beauty of the +night touched him, and mixed these feelings with mournfulness. He quite +forgot the bellow and clatter behind. The beauty of the night, and +heaven knows what treacherous hope in the depths of his soul, coloured +existence warmly. + +He was roused from his reverie by an altercation unmistakeably fierce. + +Raikes had been touched on a tender point. In reply to a bantering +remark of his, Laxley had hummed over bits of his oration, amid the +chuckles of his comrades. Unfortunately at a loss for a biting retort, +Raikes was reduced to that plain confession of a lack of wit; he offered +combat. + +'I 'll tell you what,' said Laxley, 'I never soil my hands with a +blackguard; and a fellow who tries to make fun of Scripture, in my +opinion is one. A blackguard--do you hear? But, if you'll give me +satisfactory proofs that you really are what I have some difficulty +in believing the son of a gentleman--I 'll meet you when and where you +please.' + +'Fight him, anyhow,' said Harry. 'I 'll take him myself after we finish +the match to-morrow.' + +Laxley rejoined that Mr. Raikes must be left to him. + +'Then I'll take the other,' said Harry. 'Where is he?' + +Evan walked round to his place. + +'I am here,' he answered, 'and at your service.' + +'Will you fight?' cried Harry. + +There was a disdainful smile on Evan's mouth, as he replied: 'I must +first enlighten you. I have no pretensions to your blue blood, or +yellow. If, sir, you will deign to challenge a man who is not the son +of a gentleman, and consider the expression of his thorough contempt +for your conduct sufficient to enable you to overlook that fact, you may +dispose of me. My friend here has, it seems, reason to be proud of his +connections. That you may not subsequently bring the charge against +me of having led you to "soil your hands"--as your friend there terms +it--I, with all the willingness in the world to chastise you or him +for your impertinence, must first give you a fair chance of escape, by +telling you that my father was a tailor.' + +The countenance of Mr. Raikes at the conclusion of this speech was a +painful picture. He knocked the table passionately, exclaiming: + +'Who'd have thought it?' + +Yet he had known it. But he could not have thought it possible for a man +to own it publicly. + +Indeed, Evan could not have mentioned it, but for hot fury and the ale. +It was the ale in him expelling truth; and certainly, to look at him, +none would have thought it. + +'That will do,' said Laxley, lacking the magnanimity to despise the +advantage given him, 'you have chosen the very best means of saving your +skins.' + +'We 'll come to you when our supply of clothes runs short,' added Harry. +'A snip!' + +'Pardon me!' said Evan, with his eyes slightly widening, 'but if you +come to me, I shall no longer give you a choice of behaviour. I wish +you good-night, gentlemen. I shall be in this house, and am to be +found here, till ten o'clock to-morrow morning. Sir,' he addressed +the chairman, 'I must apologize to you for this interruption to your +kindness, for which I thank you very sincerely. It 's "good-night," now, +sir,' he pursued, bowing, and holding out his hand, with a smile. + +The chairman grasped it: 'You're a hot-headed young fool, sir: you're +an ill-tempered ferocious young ass. Can't you see another young donkey +without joining company in kicks-eh? Sit down, and don't dare to spoil +the fun any more. You a tailor! Who'll believe it? You're a nobleman in +disguise. Didn't your friend say so?--ha! ha! Sit down.' He pulled out +his watch, and proclaiming that he was born into this world at the hour +about to strike, called for a bumper all round. + +While such of the company as had yet legs and eyes unvanquished by +the potency of the ale, stood up to drink and cheer, Mark, the waiter, +scurried into the room, and, to the immense stupefaction of the +chairman, and amusement of his guests, spread the news of the immediate +birth of a little stranger on the premises, who was declared by Dr. +Pillie to be a lusty boy, and for whom the kindly landlady solicited +good luck to be drunk. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. THE MATCH OF FALLOW FIELD AGAINST BECKLEY + +The dramatic proportions to which ale will exalt the sentiments within +us, and our delivery of them, are apt to dwindle and shrink even below +the natural elevation when we look back on them from the hither shore of +the river of sleep--in other words, wake in the morning: and it was with +no very self-satisfied emotions that Evan, dressing by the full light of +day, reviewed his share in the events of the preceding night. Why, since +he had accepted his fate, should he pretend to judge the conduct of +people his superiors in rank? And where was the necessity for him +to thrust the fact of his being that abhorred social pariah down the +throats of an assembly of worthy good fellows? The answer was, that +he had not accepted his fate: that he considered himself as good a +gentleman as any man living, and was in absolute hostility with +the prejudices of society. That was the state of the case: but the +evaporation of ale in his brain caused him to view his actions from the +humble extreme of that delightful liquor, of which the spirit had flown +and the corpse remained. + +Having revived his system with soda-water, and finding no sign of his +antagonist below, Mr. Raikes, to disperse the sceptical dimples on his +friend's face, alluded during breakfast to a determination he had formed +to go forth and show on the cricket-field. + +'For, you know,' he observed, 'they can't have any objection to fight +one.' + +Evan, slightly colouring, answered: 'Why, you said up-stairs, you +thought fighting duels disgraceful folly.' + +'So it is, so it is; everybody knows that,' returned Jack; 'but what can +a gentleman do?' + +'Be a disgraceful fool, I suppose,' said Evan: and Raikes went on with +his breakfast, as if to be such occasionally was the distinguished fate +of a gentleman, of which others, not so happy in their birth, might well +be envious. + +He could not help betraying that he bore in mind the main incidents of +the festival over-night; for when he had inquired who it might be that +had reduced his friend to wear mourning, and heard that it was his +father (spoken by Evan with a quiet sigh), Mr. Raikes tapped an egg, and +his flexible brows exhibited a whole Bar of contending arguments within. +More than for the love of pleasure, he had spent his money to be taken +for a gentleman. He naturally thought highly of the position, having +bought it. But Raikes appreciated a capital fellow, and felt warmly to +Evan, who, moreover, was feeding him. + +If not born a gentleman, this Harrington had the look of one, and was +pleasing in female eyes, as the landlady, now present, bore witness, +wishing them good morning, and hoping they had slept well. She handed +to Evan his purse, telling him she had taken it last night, thinking +it safer for the time being in her pocket; and that the chairman of the +feast paid for all in the Green Dragon up to twelve that day, he having +been born between the hours, and liking to make certain: and that every +year he did the same; and was a seemingly rough old gentleman, but as +soft-hearted as a chicken. His name must positively not be inquired, she +said; to be thankful to him was to depart, asking no questions. + +'And with a dart in the bosom from those eyes--those eyes!' cried Jack, +shaking his head at the landlady's resistless charms. + +'I hope you was not one of the gentlemen who came and disturbed us last +night, Sir?' she turned on him sharply. + +Jack dallied with the imputation, but denied his guilt. + +'No; it wasn't your voice,' continued the landlady. 'A parcel of young +puppies calling themselves gentlemen! I know him. It's that young Mr. +Laxley: and he the nephew of a Bishop, and one of the Honourables! and +then the poor gals get the blame. I call it a shame, I do. There's that +poor young creature up-stairs-somebody's victim she is: and nobody's to +suffer but herself, the little fool!' + +'Yes,' said Raikes. 'Ah! we regret these things in after life!' and +he looked as if he had many gentlemanly burdens of the kind on his +conscience. + +'It 's a wonder, to my mind,' remarked the landlady, when she had +placidly surveyed Mr. Raikes, 'how young gals can let some of you +men-folk mislead 'em.' + +She turned from him huffily, and addressed Evan: + +'The old gentleman is gone, sir. He slept on a chair, breakfasted, +and was off before eight. He left word, as the child was born on his +birthright, he'd provide for it, and pay the mother's bill, unless you +claimed the right. I'm afraid he suspected--what I never, never-no! but +by what I've seen of you--never will believe. For you, I'd say, must +be a gentleman, whatever your company. She asks one favour of you, +sir:--for you to go and let her speak to you once before you go away +for good. She's asleep now, and mustn't be disturbed. Will you do it, +by-and-by? Please to comfort the poor creature, sir.' + +Evan consented. I am afraid also it was the landlady's flattering speech +made him, without reckoning his means, add that the young mother and her +child must be considered under his care, and their expenses charged to +him. The landlady was obliged to think him a wealthy as well as a noble +youth, and admiringly curtsied. + +Mr. John Raikes and Mr. Evan Harrington then strolled into the air, and +through a long courtyard, with brewhouse and dairy on each side, and a +pleasant smell of baking bread, and dogs winking in the sun, cats at the +corners of doors, satisfied with life, and turkeys parading, and fowls, +strutting cocks, that overset the dignity of Mr. Raikes by awakening his +imitative propensities. Certain white-capped women, who were washing +in a tub, laughed, and one observed: 'He's for all the world like the +little bantam cock stickin' 'self up in a crow against the Spaniar'.' +And this, and the landlady's marked deference to Evan, induced Mr. +Raikes contemptuously to glance at our national blindness to the true +diamond, and worship of the mere plumes in which a person is dressed. + +They passed a pretty flower-garden, and entering a smooth-shorn meadow, +beheld the downs beautifully clear under sunlight and slowly-sailing +images of cloud. At the foot of the downs, on a plain of grass, stood a +white booth topped by a flag, which signalled that on that spot Fallow +field and Beckley were contending. + +'A singular old gentleman! A very singular old gentleman, that!' Raikes +observed, following an idea that had been occupying him. 'We did wrong +to miss him. We ought to have waylaid him in the morning. Never miss a +chance, Harrington.' + +'What chance?' Evan inquired. + +'Those old gentlemen are very odd,' Jack pursued, 'very strange. He +wouldn't have judged me by my attire. Admetus' flocks I guard, yet am a +God! Dress is nothing to those old cocks. He's an eccentric. I know +it; I can see it. He 's a corrective of Cudford, who is abhorrent to my +soul. To give you an instance, now, of what those old boys will do--I +remember my father taking me, when I was quite a youngster, to a tavern +he frequented, and we met one night just such an old fellow as this; +and the waiter told us afterwards that he noticed me particularly. +He thought me a very remarkable boy--predicted great things. For some +reason or other my father never took me there again. I remember our +having a Welsh rarebit there for supper, and when the waiter last night +mentioned a rarebit, 'gad he started up before me. I gave chase into +my early youth. However, my father never took me to meet the old fellow +again. I believe it lost me a fortune.' + +Evan's thoughts were leaping to the cricket-field, or he would have +condoled with Mr. Raikes for a loss that evidently afflicted him still. + +Now, it must be told that the lady's-maid of Mrs. Andrew Cogglesby, +borrowed temporarily by the Countess de Saldar for service at Beckley +Court, had slept in charge of the Countess's boxes at the Green Dragon: +the Countess having told her, with the candour of high-born dames to +their attendants, that it would save expense; and that, besides, +Admiral Combleman, whom she was going to see, or Sir Perkins Ripley (her +father's old friend), whom she should visit if Admiral Combleman was not +at his mansion-both were likely to have full houses, and she could not +take them by storm. An arrangement which left her upwards of twelve +hours' liberty, seemed highly proper to Maria Conning, this lady's-maid, +a very demure young person. She was at her bed-room window, as Evan +passed up the courtyard of the inn, and recognized him immediately. 'Can +it be him they mean that's the low tradesman?' was Maria's mysterious +exclamation. She examined the pair, and added: 'Oh, no. It must be the +tall one they mistook for the small one. But Mr. Harrington ought not to +demean himself by keeping company with such, and my lady should know of +it.' + +My lady, alighting from the Lymport coach, did know of it, within a few +minutes after Evan had quitted the Green Dragon, and turned pale, as +high-born dames naturally do when they hear of a relative's disregard of +the company he keeps. + +'A tailor, my lady!' said scornful Maria; and the Countess jumped and +complained of a pin. + +'How did you hear of this, Conning?' she presently asked with composure. + +'Oh, my lady, he was tipsy last night, and kept swearing out loud he was +a gentleman.' + +'Tipsy!' the Countess murmured in terror. She had heard of inaccessible +truths brought to light by the magic wand of alcohol. Was Evan +intoxicated, and his dreadful secret unlocked last night? + +'And who may have told you of this, Conning?' she asked. + +Maria plunged into one of the boxes, and was understood to say that +nobody in particular had told her, but that among other flying matters +it had come to her ears. + +'My brother is Charity itself,' sighed the Countess. 'He welcomes high +or low.' + +'Yes, but, my lady, a tailor!' Maria repeated, and the Countess, +agreeing with her scorn as she did, could have killed her. At least she +would have liked to run a bodkin into her, and make her scream. In +her position she could not always be Charity itself: nor is this the +required character for a high-born dame: so she rarely affected it. + +'Order a fly: discover the direction Mr. Harrington has taken; spare me +further remarks,' she said; and Maria humbly flitted from her presence. + +When she was gone, the Countess covered her face with her hands. 'Even +this creature would despise us!' she exclaimed. + +The young lady encountered by Mr. Raikes on the road to Fallow field, +was wrong in saying that Beckley would be seen out before the shades of +evening caught up the ball. Not one, but two men of Beckley--the last +two--carried out their bats, cheered handsomely by both parties. The +wickets pitched in the morning, they carried them in again, and plaudits +renewed proved that their fame had not slumbered. To stand before a +field, thoroughly aware that every successful stroke you make is adding +to the hoards of applause in store for you is a joy to your friends, an +exasperation to your foes; I call this an exciting situation, and one +as proud as a man may desire. Then, again, the two last men of an +eleven are twins: they hold one life between them; so that he who dies +extinguishes the other. Your faculties are stirred to their depths. You +become engaged in the noblest of rivalries: in defending your own, you +fight for your comrade's existence. You are assured that the dread of +shame, if not emulation, is making him equally wary and alert. + +Behold, then, the two bold men of Beckley fighting to preserve one life. +Under the shadow of the downs they stand, beneath a glorious day, and +before a gallant company. For there are ladies in carriages here, +there are cavaliers; good county names may be pointed out. The sons of +first-rate families are in the two elevens, mingled with the yeomen +and whoever can best do the business. Fallow field and Beckley, without +regard to rank, have drawn upon their muscle and science. One of the +bold men of Beckley at the wickets is Nick Frim, son of the gamekeeper +at Beckley Court; the other is young Tom Copping, son of Squire Copping, +of Dox Hall, in the parish of Beckley. Last year, you must know, Fallow +field beat. That is why Nick Frim, a renowned out-hitter, good to finish +a score brilliantly with a pair of threes, has taken to blocking, and +Mr. Tom cuts with caution, though he loves to steal his runs, and is +usually dismissed by his remarkable cunning. + +The field was ringing at a stroke of Nick Frim's, who had lashed out in +his old familiar style at last, and the heavens heard of it, when Evan +came into the circle of spectators. Nick and Tom were stretching from +post to post, might and main. A splendid four was scored. The field took +breath with the heroes; and presume not to doubt that heroes they are. +It is good to win glory for your country; it is also good to win glory +for your village. A Member of Parliament, Sir George Lowton, notes this +emphatically, from the statesman's eminence, to a group of gentlemen on +horseback round a carriage wherein a couple of fair ladies reclined. + +'They didn't shout more at the news of the Battle of Waterloo. Now this +is our peculiarity, this absence of extreme centralization. It must be +encouraged. Local jealousies, local rivalries, local triumphs--these are +the strength of the kingdom.' + +'If you mean to say that cricket's a ----' the old squire speaking +(Squire Uplift of Fallow field) remembered the saving presences, and +coughed--'good thing, I'm one with ye, Sir George. Encouraged, egad! +They don't want much of that here. Give some of your lean London +straws a strip o' clean grass and a bit o' liberty, and you'll do 'em a +service.' + +'What a beautiful hit!' exclaimed one of the ladies, languidly watching +the ascent of the ball. + +'Beautiful, d' ye call it?' muttered the squire. + +The ball, indeed, was dropping straight into the hands of the +long-hit-off. Instantly a thunder rolled. But it was Beckley that +took the joyful treble--Fallow field the deeply--cursing bass. The +long-hit-off, he who never was known to miss a catch-butter-fingered +beast!--he has let the ball slip through his fingers. + +Are there Gods in the air? Fred Linnington, the unfortunate of Fallow +field, with a whole year of unhappy recollection haunting him in +prospect, ere he can retrieve his character--Fred, if he does not accuse +the powers of the sky, protests that he cannot understand it, which +means the same. + +Fallow field's defeat--should such be the result of the contest--he +knows now will be laid at his door. Five men who have bowled at the +indomitable Beckleyans think the same. Albeit they are Britons, it +abashes them. They are not the men they were. Their bowling is as the +bowling of babies; and see! Nick, who gave the catch, and pretends he +did it out of commiseration for Fallow field, the ball has flown from +his bat sheer over the booth. If they don't add six to the score, it +will be the fault of their legs. But no: they rest content with a fiver +and cherish their wind. + +Yet more they mean to do, Success does not turn the heads of these +Britons, as it would of your frivolous foreigners. + +And now small boys (who represent the Press here) spread out from the +marking-booth, announcing foremost, and in larger type, as it were, +quite in Press style, their opinion--which is, that Fallow field will +get a jolly good hiding; and vociferating that Beckley is seventy-nine +ahead, and that Nick Frim, the favourite of the field, has scored +fifty-one to his own cheek. The boys are boys of both villages: but they +are British boys--they adore prowess. The Fallow field boys wish that +Nick Frim would come and live on their side; the boys of Beckley rejoice +in possessing him. Nick is the wicketkeeper of the Beckley eleven; +long-limbed, wiry, keen of eye. His fault as a batsman is, that he will +be a slashing hitter. He is too sensible of the joys of a grand spanking +hit. A short life and a merry one, has hitherto been his motto. + +But there were reasons for Nick's rare display of skill. That woman may +have the credit due to her (and, as there never was a contest of which +she did not sit at the springs, so is she the source of all superhuman +efforts exhibited by men), be it told that Polly Wheedle is on the +field; Polly, one of the upper housemaids of Beckley Court; Polly, +eagerly courted by Fred Linnington, humbly desired by Nick Frim--a +pert and blooming maiden--who, while her suitors combat hotly for an +undivided smile, improves her holiday by instilling similar unselfish +aspirations into the breasts of others. + +Between his enjoyment of society and the melancholy it engendered in his +mind by reflecting on him the age and decrepitude of his hat, Mr. John +Raikes was doubtful of his happiness for some time. But as his taste +for happiness was sharp, he, with a great instinct amounting almost to +genius in its pursuit, resolved to extinguish his suspicion by acting +the perfectly happy man. To do this, it was necessary that he should +have listeners: Evan was not enough, and was besides unsympathetic; he +had not responded to Jack's cordial assurances of his friendship 'in +spite of anything,' uttered before they came into the field. + +Heat and lustre were now poured from the sky, on whose soft blue a fleet +of clouds sailed heavily. Nick Frim was very wonderful, no doubt. He +deserved that the Gods should recline on those gold-edged cushions +above, and lean over to observe him. Nevertheless, the ladies were +beginning to ask when Nick Frim would be out. The small boys alone +preserved their enthusiasm for Nick. As usual, the men took a middle +position. Theirs was the pleasure of critics, which, being founded on +the judgement, lasts long, and is without disappointment at the close. +It was sufficient that the ladies should lend the inspiration of their +bonnets to this fine match. Their presence on the field is another +beautiful instance of the generous yielding of the sex simply to grace +our amusement, and their acute perception of the part they have to play. + +Mr. Raikes was rather shy of them at first. But his acting rarely +failing to deceive himself, he began to feel himself the perfectly happy +man he impersonated, and where there were ladies he went, and talked of +days when he had creditably handled a bat, and of a renown in the annals +of Cricket cut short by mysterious calamity. The foolish fellow did +not know that they care not a straw for cricketing fame. His +gaiety presently forsook him as quickly as it had come. Instead of +remonstrating at Evan's restlessness, it was he who now dragged Evan +from spot to spot. He spoke low and nervously. + +'We're watched!' + +There was indeed a man lurking near and moving as they moved, with a +speculative air. Writs were out against Raikes. He slipped from his +friend, saying: + +'Never mind me. That old amphitryon's birthday hangs on till the +meridian; you understand. His table invites. He is not unlikely to enjoy +my conversation. What mayn't that lead to? Seek me there.' + +Evan strolled on, relieved by the voluntary departure of the weariful +funny friend he would not shake off, but could not well link with. + +A long success is better when seen at a distance of time, and Nick Frim +was beginning to suffer from the monotony of his luck. Fallow field +could do nothing with him. He no longer blocked. He lashed out at every +ball, and far flew every ball that was bowled. The critics saw, in this +return to his old practices, promise of Nick's approaching extinction. +The ladies were growing hot and weary. The little boys gasped on the +grass, but like cunning circulators of excitement, spread a report to +keep it up, that Nick, on going to his wickets the previous day, had +sworn an oath that he would not lay down his bat till he had scored a +hundred. + +So they had still matter to agitate their youthful breasts, and Nick's +gradual building up of tens, and prophecies and speculations as to his +chances of completing the hundred, were still vehemently confided to the +field, amid a general mopping of faces. + +Evan did become aware that a man was following him. The man had not the +look of a dreaded official. His countenance was sun-burnt and open, and +he was dressed in a countryman's holiday suit. When Evan met his eyes, +they showed perplexity. Evan felt he was being examined from head to +heel, but by one unaccustomed to his part, and without the courage to +decide what he ought consequently to do while a doubt remained, though +his inspection was verging towards a certainty in his mind. + +At last, somewhat annoyed that the man should continue to dog him +wherever he moved, he turned on him and asked him what he wanted? + +'Be you a Muster Eav'n Harrington, Esquire?' the man drawled out in the +rustic music of inquiry. + +'That is my name,' said Evan. + +'Ay,' returned the man, 'it's somebody lookin' like a lord, and has a +small friend wi' shockin' old hat, and I see ye come out o' the Green +Drag'n this mornin'--I don't reck'n there's e'er a mistaak, but I likes +to make cock sure. Be you been to Poortigal, sir?' + +'Yes,' answered Evan, 'I have been to Poortigal.' + +'What's the name o' the capital o' Portugal, sir?' The man looked +immensely shrewd, and nodding his consent at the laughing reply, added: + +'And there you was born, sir? You'll excuse my boldness, but I only does +what's necessary.' + +Evan said he was not born there. + +'No, not born there. That's good. Now, sir, did you happen to be born +anywheres within smell o' salt water?' + +'Yes,' answered Evan, 'I was born by the sea.' + +'Not far beyond fifty mile from Fall'field here, sir?' + +'Something less.' + +'All right. Now I'm cock sure,' said the man. 'Now, if you'll have the +kindness just to oblige me by--'he sped the words and the instrument +jointly at Evan, takin' that there letter, I'll say good-bye, sir, and +my work's done for the day.' + +Saying which, he left Evan with the letter in his hands. Evan turned it +over curiously. It was addressed to 'Evan Harrington, Esquire, T---- of +Lymport.' + +A voice paralyzed his fingers: the clear ringing voice of a young +horsewoman, accompanied by a little maid on a pony, who galloped up +to the carriage upon which Squire Uplift, Sir George Lowton, Hamilton +Jocelyn, and other cavaliers, were in attendance. + +'Here I am at last, and Beckley's in still! How d' ye do, Lady Racial? +How d' ye do, Sir George. How d' ye do, everybody. Your servant, Squire! +We shall beat you. Harry says we shall soon be a hundred a-head of you. +Fancy those boys! they would sleep at Fallow field last night. How I +wish you had made a bet with me, Squire.' + +'Well, my lass, it's not too late,' said the Squire, detaining her hand. + +'Oh, but it wouldn't be fair now. And I'm not going to be kissed on the +field, if you please, Squire. Here, Dorry will do instead. Dorry! come +and be kissed by the Squire.' + +It was Rose, living and glowing; Rose, who was the brilliant young +Amazon, smoothing the neck of a mettlesome gray cob. Evan's heart +bounded up to her, but his limbs were motionless. + +The Squire caught her smaller companion in his arms, and sounded a kiss +upon both her cheeks; then settled her in the saddle, and she went to +answer some questions of the ladies. She had the same lively eyes as +Rose; quick saucy lips, red, and open for prattle. Rolls of auburn hair +fell down her back, for being a child she was allowed privileges. To +talk as her thoughts came, as well as to wear her hair as it grew, was a +special privilege of this young person, on horseback or elsewhere. + +'Now, I know what you want to ask me, Aunt Shorne. Isn't it about my +Papa? He's not come, and he won't be able to come for a week.--Glad to +be with Cousin Rosey? I should think I am! She's the nicest girl I ever +could suppose. She isn't a bit spoiled by Portugal; only browned; and +she doesn't care for that; no more do I. I rather like the sun when it +doesn't freckle you. I can't bear freckles, and I don't believe in milk +for them. People who have them are such a figure. Drummond Forth has +them, but he's a man, and it doesn't matter for a man to have freckles. +How's my uncle Mel? Oh, he's quite well. I mean he has the gout in one +of his fingers, and it's swollen so, it's just like a great fat fir +cone! He can't write a bit, and rests his hand on a table. He wants to +have me made to write with my left hand as well as my right. As if I was +ever going to have the gout in one of my fingers!' + +Sir George Lowton observed to Hamilton Jocelyn, that Melville must take +to his tongue now. + +'I fancy he will,' said Hamilton. 'My father won't give up his +nominee; so I fancy he'll try Fallow field. Of course, we go in for +the agricultural interest; but there's a cantankerous old ruffian down +here--a brewer, or something--he's got half the votes at his bidding. We +shall see.' + +'Dorothy, my dear child, are you not tired?' said Lady Racial. 'You are +very hot.' + +'Yes, that's because Rose would tear along the road to get here in time, +after we had left those tiresome Copping people, where she had to make a +call. "What a slow little beast your pony is, Dorry!"--she said that at +least twenty times.' + +'Oh, you naughty puss!' cried Rose. 'Wasn't it, "Rosey, Rosey, I'm sure +we shall be too late, and shan't see a thing: do come along as hard as +you can"?' + +'I 'm sure it was not,' Miss Dorothy retorted, with the large eyes of +innocence. 'You said you wanted to see Nick Frim keeping the wicket, +and Ferdinand Laxley bowl. And, oh! you know something you said about +Drummond Forth.' + +'Now, shall I tell upon you?' said Rose. + +'No, don't!' hastily replied the little woman, blushing. And the +cavaliers laughed out, and the ladies smiled, and Dorothy added: 'It +isn't much, after all.' + +'Then, come; let's have it, or I shall be jealous,' said the Squire. + +'Shall I tell?' Rose asked slily. + +'It 's unfair to betray one of your sex, Rose,' remarked the +sweetly-smiling lady. + +'Yes, Lady Racial--mayn't a woman have secrets?' Dorothy put it with +great natural earnestness, and they all laughed aloud. 'But I know a +secret of Rosey's,' continued Miss Dorothy, 'and if she tells upon me, I +shall tell upon her.' + +'They're out!' cried Rose, pointing her whip at the wickets. 'Good night +to Beckley! Tom Copping 's run out.' + +Questions as to how it was done passed from mouth to mouth. Questions +as to whether it was fair sprang from Tom's friends, and that a doubt +existed was certain: the whole field was seen converging toward the two +umpires. + +Farmer Broadmead for Fallow field, Master Nat Hodges for Beckley. + +It really is a mercy there's some change in the game,' said Mrs. Shorne, +waving her parasol. 'It 's a charming game, but it wants variety a +little. When do you return, Rose?' + +'Not for some time,' said Rose, primly. 'I like variety very well, but I +don't seek it by running away the moment I've come.' + +'No, but, my dear,' Mrs. Shorne negligently fanned her face, 'you will +have to come with us, I fear, when we go. Your uncle accompanies us. I +really think the Squire will, too; and Mr. Forth is no chaperon. Even +you understand that.' + +'Oh, I can get an old man--don't be afraid, said Rose. 'Or must I have +and old woman, aunt?' + +The lady raised her eyelids slowly on Rose, and thought: 'If you were +soundly whipped, my little madam, what a good thing it would be for +you.' And that good thing Mrs. Shorne was willing to do for Rose. She +turned aside, and received the salute of an unmistakable curate on foot. + +'Ah, Mr. Parsley, you lend your countenance to the game, then?' + +The curate observed that sound Churchmen unanimously supported the game. + +'Bravo!' cried Rose. 'How I like to hear you talk like that, Mr. +Parsley. I didn't think you had so much sense. You and I will have a +game together--single wicket. We must play for something--what shall it +be?' + +'Oh--for nothing,' the curate vacuously remarked. + +'That's for love, you rogue!' exclaimed the Squire. 'Come, come, none o' +that, sir--ha! ha!' + +'Oh, very well; we'll play for love,' said Rose. + +'And I'll hold the stakes, my dear--eh?' + +'You dear old naughty Squire!--what do you mean?' + +Rose laughed. But she had all the men surrounding her, and Mrs. Shorne +talked of departing. + +Why did not Evan bravely march away? Why, he asked himself, had he come +on this cricket-field to be made thus miserable? What right had such as +he to look on Rose? Consider, however, the young man's excuses. He could +not possibly imagine that a damsel who rode one day to a match, would +return on the following day to see it finished: or absolutely know that +unseen damsel to be Rose Jocelyn. And if he waited, it was only to hear +her sweet voice once again, and go for ever. As far as he could fathom +his hopes, they were that Rose would not see him: but the hopes of youth +are deep. + +Just then a toddling small rustic stopped in front of Evan, and set up +a howl for his 'fayther.' Evan lifted him high to look over people's +heads, and discover his wandering parent. The urchin, when he had +settled to his novel position, surveyed the field, and shouting, +'Fayther, fayther! here I bes on top of a gentleman!' made lusty signs, +which attracted not his father alone. Rose sang out, 'Who can lend me a +penny?' Instantly the curate and the squire had a race in their pockets. +The curate was first, but Rose favoured the squire, took his money with +a nod and a smile, and rode at the little lad, to whom she was saying: +'Here, bonny boy, this will buy you--' + +She stopped and coloured. + +'Evan!' + +The child descended rapidly to the ground. + +A bow and a few murmured words replied to her. + +'Isn't this just like you, my dear Evan? Shouldn't I know that whenever +I met you, you would be doing something kind? How did you come here? You +were on your way to Beckley!' + +'To London,' said Evan. + +'To London! and not coming over to see me--us?' + +Here the little fellow's father intervened to claim his offspring, and +thank the lady and the gentleman: and, with his penny firmly grasped, +he who had brought the lady and the gentleman together, was borne off a +wealthy human creature. + +Before much further could be said between them, the Countess de Saldar +drove up. + +'My dearest Rose!' and 'My dear Countess!' and 'Not Louisa, then?' +and, 'I am very glad to see you!' without attempting the endearing +'Louisa'--passed. + +The Countess de Saldar then admitted the presence of her brother. + +'Think!' said Rose. 'He talks of going on straight from here to London.' + +'That pretty pout will alone suffice to make him deviate, then,' said +the Countess, with her sweetest open slyness. 'I am now on the point +of accepting your most kind invitation. Our foreign habits allow us to +visit thus early! He will come with me.' + +Evan tried to look firm, and speak as he was trying to look. Rose fell +to entreaty, and from entreaty rose to command; and in both was utterly +fascinating to the poor youth. Luxuriously--while he hesitated and dwelt +on this and that faint objection--his spirit drank the delicious changes +of her face. To have her face before him but one day seemed so rich a +boon to deny himself, that he was beginning to wonder at his constancy +in refusal; and now that she spoke to him so pressingly, devoting her +guileless eyes to him alone, he forgot a certain envious feeling that +had possessed him while she was rattling among the other males--a doubt +whether she ever cast a thought on Mr. Evan Harrington. + +'Yes; he will come,' cried Rose; 'and he shall ride home with me and my +friend Drummond; and he shall have my groom's horse, if he doesn't mind. +Bob can ride home in the cart with Polly, my maid; and he'll like that, +because Polly's always good fun--when they're not in love with her. +Then, of course, she torments them.' + +'Naturally,' said the Countess. + +Mr. Evan Harrington's final objection, based on his not having clothes, +and so forth, was met by his foreseeing sister. + +'I have your portmanteau packed, in with me, my dear brother; Conning +has her feet on it. I divined that I should overtake you.' + +Evan felt he was in the toils. After a struggle or two he yielded; and, +having yielded, did it with grace. In a moment, and with a power of +self-compression equal to that of the adept Countess, he threw off his +moodiness as easily as if it had been his Spanish mantle, and assumed a +gaiety that made the Countess's eyes beam rapturously upon him, and was +pleasing to Rose, apart from the lead in admiration the Countess had +given her--not for the first time. We mortals, the best of us, may be +silly sheep in our likes and dislikes: where there is no premeditated +or instinctive antagonism, we can be led into warm acknowledgement of +merits we have not sounded. This the Countess de Saldar knew right well. + +Rose now intimated her wish to perform the ceremony of introduction +between her aunt and uncle present, and the visitors to Beckley Court. +The Countess smiled, and in the few paces that separated the two groups, +whispered to her brother: 'Miss Jocelyn, my dear.' + +The eye-glasses of the Beckley group were dropped with one accord. The +ceremony was gone through. The softly-shadowed differences of a grand +manner addressed to ladies, and to males, were exquisitely accomplished +by the Countess de Saldar. + +'Harrington? Harrington?' her quick ear caught on the mouth of Squire +Uplift, scanning Evan. + +Her accent was very foreign, as she said aloud: 'We are entirely +strangers to your game--your creecket. My brother and myself are +scarcely English. Nothing save diplomacy are we adepts in!' + +'You must be excessively dangerous, madam,' said Sir George, hat in air. + +'Even in that, I fear, we are babes and sucklings, and might take many +a lesson from you. Will you instruct me in your creecket? What are they +doing now? It seems very unintelligible--indistinct--is it not?' + +Inasmuch as Farmer Broadmead and Master Nat Hodges were surrounded by +a clamorous mob, shouting both sides of the case, as if the loudest and +longest-winded were sure to wrest a favourable judgement from those +two infallible authorities on the laws of cricket, the noble game was +certainly in a state of indistinctness. + +The squire came forward to explain, piteously entreated not to expect +too much from a woman's inapprehensive wits, which he plainly promised +(under eyes that had melted harder men) he would not. His forbearance +and bucolic gallantry were needed, for he had the Countess's radiant +full visage alone. Her senses were dancing in her right ear, which had +heard the name of Lady Racial pronounced, and a voice respond to it from +the carriage. + +Into what a pit had she suddenly plunged! You ask why she did not drive +away as fast as the horses would carry her, and fly the veiled head +of Demogorgon obscuring valley and hill and the shining firmament, and +threatening to glare destruction on her? You do not know an intriguer. +She relinquishes the joys of life for the joys of intrigue. This is her +element. The Countess did feel that the heavens were hard on her. She +resolved none the less to fight her way to her object; for where so much +had conspired to favour her--the decease of the generous Sir Abraham +Harrington, of Torquay, and the invitation to Beckley Court--could she +believe the heavens in league against her? Did she not nightly pray to +them, in all humbleness of body, for the safe issue of her cherished +schemes? And in this, how unlike she was to the rest of mankind! She +thought so; she relied on her devout observances; they gave her +sweet confidence, and the sense of being specially shielded even when +specially menaced. Moreover, tell a woman to put back, when she is once +clearly launched! Timid as she may be, her light bark bounds to meet the +tempest. I speak of women who do launch: they are not numerous, but, to +the wise, the minorities are the representatives. + +'Indeed, it is an intricate game!' said the Countess, at the conclusion +of the squire's explanation, and leaned over to Mrs. Shorne to ask her +if she thoroughly understood it. + +'Yes, I suppose I do,' was the reply; 'it--rather than the amusement +they find in it.' This lady had recovered Mr. Parsley from Rose, but had +only succeeded in making the curate unhappy, without satisfying herself. + +The Countess gave her the shrug of secret sympathy. + +'We must not say so,' she observed aloud--most artlessly, and fixed the +squire with a bewitching smile, under which her heart beat thickly. As +her eyes travelled from Mrs. Shorne to the squire, she had marked Lady +Racial looking singularly at Evan, who was mounting the horse of Bob the +groom. + +'Fine young fellow, that,' said the squire to Lady Racial, as Evan rode +off with Rose. + +'An extremely handsome, well-bred young man,' she answered. Her eyes met +the Countess's, and the Countess, after resting on their surface with an +ephemeral pause, murmured: 'I must not praise my brother,' and smiled +a smile which was meant to mean: 'I think with you, and thank you, and +love you for admiring him.' + +Had Lady Racial joined the smile and spoken with animation afterwards, +the Countess would have shuddered and had chills of dread. As it was, +she was passably content. Lady Racial slightly dimpled her cheek, for +courtesy's sake, and then looked gravely on the ground. This was no +promise; it was even an indication (as the Countess read her), of +something beyond suspicion in the lady's mind; but it was a sign of +delicacy, and a sign that her feelings had been touched, from which a +truce might be reckoned on, and no betrayal feared. + +She heard it said that the match was for honour and glory. A match of +two days' duration under a broiling sun, all for honour and glory! Was +it not enough to make her despise the games of men? For something better +she played. Her game was for one hundred thousand pounds, the happiness +of her brother, and the concealment of a horror. To win a game like that +was worth the trouble. Whether she would have continued her efforts, +had she known that the name of Evan Harrington was then blazing on a +shop-front in Lymport, I cannot tell. The possessor of the name was in +love, and did not reflect. + +Smiling adieu to the ladies, bowing to the gentlemen, and apprehending +all the homage they would pour out to her condescending beauty when she +had left them, the Countess's graceful hand gave the signal for Beckley. + +She stopped the coachman ere the wheels had rolled off the muffling +turf, to enjoy one glimpse of Evan and Rose riding together, with the +little maid on her pony in the rear. How suitable they seemed! how +happy! She had brought them together after many difficulties--might it +not be? It was surely a thing to be hoped for! + +Rose, galloping freshly, was saying to Evan: 'Why did you cut off your +moustache?' + +He, neck and neck with her, replied: 'You complained of it in Portugal.' + +And she: 'Portugal's old times now to me--and I always love old times. +I'm sorry! And, oh, Evan! did you really do it for me?' + +And really, just then, flying through the air, close to the darling of +his heart, he had not the courage to spoil that delicious question, but +dallying with the lie, he looked in her eyes lingeringly. + +This picture the Countess contemplated. Close to her carriage two young +gentlemen-cricketers were strolling, while Fallow field gained breath to +decide which men to send in first to the wickets. + +One of these stood suddenly on tiptoe, and pointing to the pair on +horseback, cried, with the vivacity of astonishment: + +'Look there! do you see that? What the deuce is little Rosey doing with +the tailor-fellow?' + +The Countess, though her cheeks were blanched, gazed calmly in +Demogorgon's face, took a mental impression of the speaker, and again +signalled for Beckley. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. THE COUNTESS DESCRIBES THE FIELD OF ACTION + +Now, to clear up a point or two: You may think the Comic Muse is +straining human nature rather toughly in making the Countess de Saldar +rush open-eyed into the jaws of Demogorgon, dreadful to her. She has +seen her brother pointed out unmistakeably as the tailor-fellow. There +is yet time to cast him off or fly with him. Is it her extraordinary +heroism impelling her onward, or infatuated rashness? or is it her mere +animal love of conflict? + +The Countess de Saldar, like other adventurers, has her star. They +who possess nothing on earth, have a right to claim a portion of the +heavens. In resolute hands, much may be done with a star. As it has +empires in its gift, so may it have heiresses. The Countess's star had +not blinked balefully at her. That was one reason why she went straight +on to Beckley. + +Again: the Countess was a born general. With her star above, with +certain advantages secured, with battalions of lies disciplined and +zealous, and with one clear prize in view, besides other undeveloped +benefits dimly shadowing forth, the Countess threw herself headlong into +the enemy's country. + +But, that you may not think too highly of this lady, I must add that +the trivial reason was the exciting cause--as in many great enterprises. +This was nothing more than the simple desire to be located, if but for +a day or two, on the footing of her present rank, in the English +country-house of an offshoot of our aristocracy. She who had moved +in the first society of a foreign capital--who had married a Count, a +minister of his sovereign, had enjoyed delicious high-bred badinage with +refulgent ambassadors, could boast the friendship of duchesses, and +had been the amiable receptacle of their pardonable follies; she who, +moreover, heartily despised things English:--this lady experienced +thrills of proud pleasure at the prospect of being welcomed at a +third-rate English mansion. But then, that mansion was Beckley Court. We +return to our first ambitions, as to our first loves not that they +are dearer to us,--quit that delusion: our ripened loves and mature +ambitions are probably closest to our hearts, as they deserve to be--but +we return to them because our youth has a hold on us which it asserts +whenever a disappointment knocks us down. Our old loves (with the bad +natures I know in them) are always lurking to avenge themselves on the +new by tempting us to a little retrograde infidelity. A schoolgirl in +Fallow field, the tailor's daughter, had sighed for the bliss of Beckley +Court. Beckley Court was her Elysium ere the ardent feminine brain +conceived a loftier summit. Fallen from that attained eminence, she +sighed anew for Beckley Court. Nor was this mere spiritual longing; it +had its material side. At Beckley Court she could feel her foreign rank. +Moving with our nobility as an equal, she could feel that the short +dazzling glitter of her career was not illusory, and had left her +something solid; not coin of the realm exactly, but yet gold. She +could not feel this in the Cogglesby saloons, among pitiable +bourgeoises--middle-class people daily soiled by the touch of tradesmen. +They dragged her down. Their very homage was a mockery. + +Let the Countess have due credit for still allowing Evan to visit +Beckley Court to follow up his chance. If Demogorgon betrayed her there, +the Count was her protector: a woman rises to her husband. But a man +is what he is, and must stand upon that. She was positive Evan had +committed himself in some manner. As it did not suit her to think so, +she at once encouraged an imaginary conversation, in which she took the +argument that it was quite impossible Evan could have been so mad, and +others instanced his youth, his wrongheaded perversity, his ungenerous +disregard for his devoted sister, and his known weakness: she replying, +that undoubtedly they were right so far: but that he could not have said +he himself was that horrible thing, because he was nothing of the sort: +which faith in Evan's stedfast adherence to facts, ultimately silenced +the phantom opposition, and gained the day. + +With admiration let us behold the Countess de Saldar alighting on the +gravel sweep of Beckley Court, the footman and butler of the enemy +bowing obsequious welcome to the most potent visitor Beckley Court has +ever yet embraced. + +The despatches of a general being usually acknowledged to be the safest +sources from which the historian of a campaign can draw, I proceed to +set forth a letter of the Countess de Saldar, forwarded to her sister, +Harriet Cogglesby, three mornings after her arrival at Beckley +Court; and which, if it should prove false in a few particulars, does +nevertheless let us into the state of the Countess's mind, and gives the +result of that general's first inspection of the field of action. The +Countess's epistolary English does small credit to her Fallow field +education; but it is feminine, and flows more than her ordinary speech. +Besides, leaders of men have always notoriously been above the honours +of grammar. 'MY DEAREST HARRIET, + +'Your note awaited me. No sooner my name announced, than servitors in +yellow livery, with powder and buckles started before me, and bowing one +presented it on a salver. A venerable butler--most impressive! led the +way. In future, my dear, let it be de Saldar de Sancorvo. That is our +title by rights, and it may as well be so in England. English Countess +is certainly best. Always put the de. But let us be systematic, as my +poor Silva says. He would be in the way here, and had better not come +till I see something he can do. Silva has great reliance upon me. The +farther he is from Lymport, my dear!--and imagine me, Harriet, driving +through Fallow field to Beckley Court! I gave one peep at Dubbins's, as +I passed. The school still goes on. I saw three little girls skipping, +and the old swing-pole. SEMINARY FOR YOUNG LADIES as bright as ever! I +should have liked to have kissed the children and given them bonbons and +a holiday. + +'How sparing you English are of your crests and arms! I fully expected +to see the Jocelyns' over my bed; but no--four posts totally without +ornament! Sleep, indeed, must be the result of dire fatigue in such a +bed. The Jocelyn crest is a hawk in jesses. The Elburne arms are, Or, +three falcons on a field, vert. How heraldry reminds me of poor Papa! +the evenings we used to spend with him, when he stayed at home, studying +it so diligently under his directions! We never shall again! Sir +Franks Jocelyn is the third son of Lord Elburne, made a Baronet for his +patriotic support of the Ministry in a time of great trouble. The people +are sometimes grateful, my dear. Lord Elburne is the fourteenth of his +line--originally simple country squires. They talk of the Roses, but we +need not go so very far back as that. I do not quite understand why a +Lord's son should condescend to a Baronetcy. Precedence of some sort for +his lady, I suppose. I have yet to learn whether she ranks by his birth, +or his present title. If so, a young Baronetcy cannot possibly be a +gain. One thing is certain. She cares very little about it. She is most +eccentric. But remember what I have told you. It will be serviceable +when you are speaking of the family. + +'The dinner-hour, six. It would no doubt be full seven in Town. I am +convinced you are half-an-hour too early. I had the post of honour +to the right of Sir Franks. Evan to the right of Lady Jocelyn. Most +fortunately he was in the best of spirits--quite brilliant. I saw the +eyes of that sweet Rose glisten. On the other side of me sat my +pet diplomatist, and I gave him one or two political secrets which +astonished him. Of course, my dear, I was wheedled out of them. His +contempt for our weak intellects is ineffable. But a woman must now and +then ingratiate herself at the expense of her sex. This is perfectly +legitimate. Tory policy at the table. The Opposition, as Andrew says, +not represented. So to show that we were human beings, we differed +among ourselves, and it soon became clear to me that Lady Jocelyn is the +rankest of Radicals. My secret suspicion is, that she is a person of no +birth whatever, wherever her money came from. A fine woman--yes; still +to be admired, I suppose, by some kind of men; but totally wanting in +the essentially feminine attractions. + +'There was no party, so to say. I will describe the people present, +beginning with the insignifacants. + +'First, Mr. Parsley, the curate of Beckley. He eats everything at table, +and agrees with everything. A most excellent orthodox young clergyman. +Except that he was nearly choked by a fish-bone, and could not quite +conceal his distress--and really Rose should have repressed her desire +to laugh till the time for our retirement--he made no sensation. I saw +her eyes watering, and she is not clever in turning it off. In that +nobody ever equalled dear Papa. I attribute the attack almost entirely +to the tightness of the white neck-cloths the young clergymen of the +Established Church wear. But, my dear, I have lived too long away from +them to wish for an instant the slightest change in anything they think, +say, or do. The mere sight of this young man was most refreshing to my +spirit. He may be the shepherd of a flock, this poor Mr. Parsley, but he +is a sheep to one young person. + +'Mr. Drummond Forth. A great favourite of Lady Jocelyn's; an old friend. +He went with them to the East. Nothing improper. She is too cold for +that. He is fair, with regular features, very self-possessed, and +ready--your English notions of gentlemanly. But none of your men treat a +woman as a woman. We are either angels, or good fellows, or heaven knows +what that is bad. No exquisite delicacy, no insinuating softness, mixed +with respect, none of that hovering over the border, as Papa used to +say, none of that happy indefiniteness of manner which seems to declare +"I would love you if I might," or "I do, but I dare not tell," even when +engaged in the most trivial attentions--handing a footstool, remarking +on the soup, etc. You none of you know how to meet a woman's smile, +or to engage her eyes without boldness--to slide off them, as it were, +gracefully. Evan alone can look between the eyelids of a woman. I have +had to correct him, for to me he quite exposes the state of his heart +towards dearest Rose. She listens to Mr. Forth with evident esteem. In +Portugal we do not understand young ladies having male friends. + +'Hamilton Jocelyn--all politics. The stiff Englishman. Not a shade of +manners. He invited me to drink wine. Before I had finished my bow his +glass was empty--the man was telling an anecdote of Lord Livelyston! You +may be sure, my dear, I did not say I had seen his lordship. + +'Seymour Jocelyn, Colonel of Hussars. He did nothing but sigh for the +cold weather, and hunting. All I envied him was his moustache for Evan. +Will you believe that the ridiculous boy has shaved! + +'Then there is Melville, my dear diplomatist; and here is another +instance of our Harrington luck. He has the gout in his right hand; +he can only just hold knife and fork, and is interdicted Port-wine and +penmanship. The dinner was not concluded before I had arranged that Evan +should resume (gratuitously, you know) his post of secretary to him. So +here is Evan fixed at Beckley Court as long as Melville stays. Talking +of him, I am horrified suddenly. They call him the great Mel! 'Sir +Franks is most estimable, I am sure, as a man, and redolent of excellent +qualities--a beautiful disposition, very handsome. He has just as much +and no more of the English polish one ordinarily meets. When he has +given me soup or fish, bowed to me over wine, and asked a conventional +question, he has done with me. I should imagine his opinions to be +extremely good, for they are not a multitude. + +'Then his lady-but I have not grappled with her yet. Now for the women, +for I quite class her with the opposite sex. + +'You must know that before I retired for the night, I induced Conning +to think she had a bad head-ache, and Rose lent me her lady's-maid--they +call the creature Polly. A terrible talker. She would tell all about the +family. Rose has been speaking of Evan. It would have looked better had +she been quiet--but then she is so English!' + +Here the Countess breaks off to say, that from where she is writing, +she can see Rose and Evan walking out to the cypress avenue, and that no +eyes are on them; great praise being given to the absence of suspicion +in the Jocelyn nature. + +The communication is resumed the night of the same day. + +'Two days at Beckley Court are over, and that strange sensation I had +of being an intruder escaped from Dubbins's, and expecting every instant +the old schoolmistress to call for me, and expose me, and take me to +the dark room, is quite vanished, and I feel quite at home, quite happy. +Evan is behaving well. Quite the young nobleman. With the women I had +no fear of him; he is really admirable with the men--easy, and talks of +sport and politics, and makes the proper use of Portugal. He has quite +won the heart of his sister. Heaven smiles on us, dearest Harriet! + +'We must be favoured, my dear, for Evan is very +troublesome--distressingly inconsiderate! I left him for a day-remaining +to comfort poor Mama--and on the road he picked up an object he had +known at school, and this creature, in shameful garments, is seen in the +field where Rose and Evan are riding--in a dreadful hat--Rose might well +laugh at it!--he is seen running away from an old apple woman, whose +fruit he had consumed without means to liquidate; but, of course, +he rushes bolt up to Evan before all his grand company, and claims +acquaintance, and Evan was base enough to acknowledge him! He disengaged +himself so far well by tossing his purse to the wretch, but if he knows +not how to--cut, I assure him it will be his ruin. Resolutely he must +cast the dust off his shoes, or he will be dragged down to their level. +By the way, as to hands and feet, comparing him with the Jocelyn men, he +has every mark of better blood. Not a question about it. As Papa would +say--We have Nature's proof. + +'Looking out on a beautiful lawn, and the moon, and all sorts of trees, +I must now tell you about the ladies here. + +'Conning undid me to-night. While Conning remains unattached, Conning +is likely to be serviceable. If Evan, would only give her a crumb, she +would be his most faithful dog. I fear he cannot be induced, and Conning +will be snapped up by somebody else. You know how susceptible she is +behind her primness--she will be of no use on earth, and I shall find +excuse to send her back immediately. After all, her appearance here was +all that was wanted. + +'Mrs. Melville and her dreadful juvenile are here, as you may +imagine--the complete Englishwoman. I smile on her, but I could laugh. +To see the crow's-feet under her eyes on her white skin, and those +ringlets, is really too ridiculous. Then there is a Miss Carrington, +Lady Jocelyn's cousin, aged thirty-two--if she has not tampered with the +register of her birth. I should think her equal to it. Between dark and +fair. Always in love with some man, Conning tells me she hears. Rose's +maid, Polly, hinted the same. She has a little money. + +'But my sympathies have been excited by a little cripple--a niece of +Lady Jocelyn's and the favourite grand-daughter of the rich old Mrs. +Bonner--also here--Juliana Bonner. Her age must be twenty. You would +take her for ten. In spite of her immense expectations, the Jocelyns +hate her. They can hardly be civil to her. It is the poor child's +temper. She has already begun to watch dear Evan--certainly the +handsomest of the men here as yet, though I grant you, they are +well-grown men, these Jocelyns, for an untravelled Englishwoman. I fear, +dear Harriet, we have been dreadfully deceived about Rose. The poor +child has not, in her own right, much more than a tenth part of what +we supposed, I fear. It was that Mrs. Melville. I have had occasion to +notice her quiet boasts here. She said this morning, "when Mel is in +the Ministry"--he is not yet in Parliament! I feel quite angry with the +woman, and she is not so cordial as she might be. I have her profile +very frequently while I am conversing with her. + +'With Grandmama Bonner I am excellent good friends,--venerable silver +hair, high caps, etc. More of this most interesting Juliana Bonner +by-and-by. It is clear to me that Rose's fortune is calculated upon the +dear invalid's death! Is not that harrowing? It shocks me to think of +it. + +'Then there is Mrs. Shorne. She is a Jocelyn--and such a history! She +married a wealthy manufacturer--bartered her blood for his money, and he +failed, and here she resides, a bankrupt widow, petitioning any man that +may be willing for his love AND a decent home. AND--I say in charity. + +'Mrs. Shorne comes here to-morrow. She is at present with--guess, my +dear!--with Lady Racial. Do not be alarmed. I have met Lady Racial. She +heard Evan's name, and by that and the likeness I saw she knew at once, +and I saw a truce in her eyes. She gave me a tacit assurance of it--she +was engaged to dine here yesterday, and put it off--probably to grant us +time for composure. If she comes I do not fear her. Besides, has she not +reasons? Providence may have designed her for a staunch ally--I will not +say, confederate. + +'Would that Providence had fixed this beautiful mansion five hundred +miles from L-----, though it were in a desolate region! And that reminds +me of the Madre. She is in health. She always will be overbearingly +robust till the day we are bereft of her. There was some secret in +the house when I was there, which I did not trouble to penetrate. That +little Jane F----was there--not improved. + +'Pray, be firm about Torquay. Estates mortgaged, but hopes of saving a +remnant of the property. Third son! Don't commit yourself there. We dare +not baronetize him. You need not speak it--imply. More can be done that +way. + +'And remember, dear Harriet, that you must manage Andrew so that we +may positively promise his vote to the Ministry on all questions when +Parliament next assembles. I understood from Lord Livelyston, that +Andrew's vote would be thought much of. A most amusing nobleman! +He pledged himself to nothing! But we are above such a thing as a +commercial transaction. He must countenance Silva. Women, my dear, have +sent out armies--why not fleets? Do not spare me your utmost aid in my +extremity, my dearest sister. + +'As for Strike, I refuse to speak of him. He is insufferable and next +to useless. How can one talk with any confidence of relationship with +a Major of Marines? When I reflect on what he is, and his conduct to +Caroline, I have inscrutable longings to slap his face. Tell dear +Carry her husband's friend--the chairman or something of that wonderful +company of Strike's--you know--the Duke of Belfield is coming here. He +is a blood-relation of the Elburnes, therefore of the Jocelyns. It +will not matter at all. Breweries, I find, are quite in esteem in your +England. It was highly commendable in his Grace to visit you. Did he +come to see the Major of Marines? Caroline is certainly the loveliest +woman I ever beheld, and I forgive her now the pangs of jealousy she +used to make me feel. + +'Andrew, I hope, has received the most kind invitations of the Jocelyns. +He must come. Melville must talk with him about the votes of his +abominable brother in Fallow field. We must elect Melville and have the +family indebted to us. But pray be careful that Andrew speaks not a word +to his odious brother about our location here. It would set him dead +against these hospitable Jocelyns. It will perhaps be as well, dear +Harriet, if you do not accompany Andrew. You would not be able to +account for him quite thoroughly. Do as you like--I do but advise, and +you know I may be trusted--for our sakes, dear one! I am working +for Carry to come with Andrew. Beautiful women always welcome. A +prodigy!--if they wish to astonish the Duke. Adieu! Heaven bless your +babes!' + +The night passes, and the Countess pursues: + +'Awakened by your fresh note from a dream of Evan on horseback, and a +multitude hailing him Count Jocelyn for Fallow field! A morning dream. +They might desire that he should change his name; but "Count" is +preposterous, though it may conceal something. + +'You say Andrew will come, and talk of his bringing Caroline. Anything +to give our poor darling a respite from her brute. You deserve great +credit for your managing of that dear little good-natured piece of +obstinate man. I will at once see to prepare dear Caroline's welcome, +and trust her stay may be prolonged in the interest of common humanity. +They have her story here already. + +'Conning has come in, and says that young Mr. Harry Jocelyn will be here +this morning from Fallow field, where he has been cricketing. The family +have not spoken of him in my hearing. He is not, I think, in good +odour at home--a scapegrace. Rose's maid, Polly, quite flew out when I +happened to mention him, and broke one of my laces. These English maids +are domesticated savage animals. + +'My chocolate is sent up, exquisitely concocted, in plate of the purest +quality--lovely little silver cups! I have already quite set the fashion +for the ladies to have chocolate in bed. The men, I hear, complain that +there is no lady at the breakfast-table. They have Miss Carrington to +superintend. I read, in the subdued satisfaction of her eyes (completely +without colour), how much she thanks me and the institution of chocolate +in bed. Poor Miss Carrington is no match for her opportunities. One may +give them to her without dread. + +'It is ten on the Sabbath morn. The sweet churchbells are ringing. It +seems like a dream. There is nothing but the religion attaches me to +England; but that--is not that everything? How I used to sigh on Sundays +to hear them in Portugal! + +'I have an idea of instituting toilette-receptions. They will not please +Miss Carrington so well. + +'Now to the peaceful village church, and divine worship. Adieu, my dear. +I kiss my fingers to Silva. Make no effort to amuse him. He is always +occupied. Bread!--he asks no more. Adieu! Carry will be invited with +your little man.... You unhappily unable.... She, the sister I pine +to see, to show her worthy of my praises. Expectation and excitement! +Adieu!' + +Filled with pleasing emotions at the thought of the service in the quiet +village church, and worshipping in the principal pew, under the blazonry +of the Jocelyn arms, the Countess sealed her letter and addressed it, +and then examined the name of Cogglesby; which plebeian name, it struck +her, would not sound well to the menials of Beckley Court. While she +was deliberating what to do to conceal it, she heard, through her open +window, the voices of some young men laughing. She beheld her brother +pass these young men, and bow to them. She beheld them stare at him +without at all returning his salute, and then one of them--the same who +had filled her ears with venom at Fallow field--turned to the others and +laughed outrageously, crying-- + +'By Jove! this comes it strong. Fancy the snipocracy here--eh?' + +What the others said the Countess did not wait to hear. She put on her +bonnet hastily, tried the effect of a peculiar smile in the mirror, and +lightly ran down-stairs. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. A CAPTURE + +The three youths were standing in the portico when the Countess appeared +among them. She singled out him who was specially obnoxious to her, and +sweetly inquired the direction to the village post. With the renowned +gallantry of his nation, he offered to accompany her, but presently, +with a different exhibition of the same, proposed that they should spare +themselves the trouble by dropping the letter she held prominently, in +the bag. + +'Thanks,' murmured the Countess, 'I will go.' Upon which his eager air +subsided, and he fell into an awkward silent march at her side, looking +so like the victim he was to be, that the Countess could have emulated +his power of laughter. + +'And you are Mr. Harry Jocelyn, the very famous cricketer?' + +He answered, glancing back at his friends, that he was, but did not know +about the 'famous.' + +'Oh! but I saw you--I saw you hit the ball most beautifully, and dearly +wished my brother had an equal ability. Brought up in the Court of +Portugal, he is barely English. There they have no manly sports. You saw +him pass you?' + +'Him! Who?' asked Harry. + +'My brother, on the lawn, this moment. Your sweet sister's friend. Your +uncle Melville's secretary.' + +'What's his name?' said Harry, in blunt perplexity. + +The Countess repeated his name, which in her pronunciation was +'Hawington,' adding, 'That was my brother. I am his sister. Have you +heard of the Countess de Saldar?' + +'Countess!' muttered Harry. 'Dash it! here's a mistake.' + +She continued, with elegant fan-like motion of her gloved fingers: 'They +say there is a likeness between us. The dear Queen of Portugal often +remarked it, and in her it was a compliment to me, for she thought my +brother a model! You I should have known from your extreme resemblance +to your lovely young sister.' + +Coarse food, but then Harry was a youthful Englishman; and the Countess +dieted the vanity according to the nationality. With good wine to wash +it down, one can swallow anything. The Countess lent him her eyes for +that purpose; eyes that had a liquid glow under the dove--like drooping +lids. It was a principle of hers, pampering our poor sex with swinish +solids or the lightest ambrosia, never to let the accompanying cordial +be other than of the finest quality. She knew that clowns, even more +than aristocrats, are flattered by the inebriation of delicate celestial +liquors. + +'Now,' she said, after Harry had gulped as much of the dose as she chose +to administer direct from the founts, 'you must accord me the favour +to tell me all about yourself, for I have heard much of you, Mr. Harry +Jocelyn, and you have excited my woman's interest. Of me you know +nothing.' + +'Haven't I?' cried Harry, speaking to the pitch of his new warmth. 'My +uncle Melville goes on about you tremendously--makes his wife as jealous +as fire. How could I tell that was your brother?' + +'Your uncle has deigned to allude to me?' said the Countess, +meditatively. 'But not of him--of you, Mr. Harry! What does he say?' + +'Says you're so clever you ought to be a man.' + +'Ah! generous!' exclaimed the Countess. 'The idea, I think, is novel to +him. Is it not?' + +'Well, I believe, from what I hear, he didn't back you for much over in +Lisbon,' said veracious Harry. + +'I fear he is deceived in me now. I fear I am but a woman--I am not to +be "backed." But you are not talking of yourself.' + +'Oh! never mind me,' was Harry's modest answer. + +'But I do. Try to imagine me as clever as a man, and talk to me of your +doings. Indeed I will endeavour to comprehend you.' + +Thus humble, the Countess bade him give her his arm. He stuck it out +with abrupt eagerness. + +'Not against my cheek.' She laughed forgivingly. 'And you need not start +back half-a-mile,' she pursued with plain humour: 'and please do not +look irresolute and awkward--It is not necessary,' she added. 'There!'; +and she settled her fingers on him, 'I am glad I can find one or two +things to instruct you in. Begin. You are a great cricketer. What else?' + +Ay! what else? Harry might well say he had no wish to talk of himself. +He did not know even how to give his arm to a lady! The first flattery +and the subsequent chiding clashed in his elated soul, and caused him to +deem himself one of the blest suddenly overhauled by an inspecting angel +and found wanting: or, in his own more accurate style of reflection, +'What a rattling fine woman this is, and what a deuce of a fool she must +think me!' + +The Countess leaned on his arm with dainty languor. + +'You walk well,' she said. + +Harry's backbone straightened immediately. + +'No, no; I do not want you to be a drill-sergeant. Can you not be told +you are perfect without seeking to improve, vain boy? You can cricket, +and you can walk, and will very soon learn how to give your arm to a +lady. I have hopes of you. Of your friends, from whom I have ruthlessly +dragged you, I have not much. Am I personally offensive to them, Mr. +Harry? I saw them let my brother pass without returning his bow, +and they in no way acknowledged my presence as I passed. Are they +gentlemen?' + +'Yes,' said Harry, stupefied by the question. 'One 's Ferdinand Laxley, +Lord Laxley's son, heir to the title; the other's William Harvey, son of +the Chief Justice--both friends of mine.' + +'But not of your manners,' interposed the Countess. 'I have not so much +compunction as I ought to have in divorcing you from your associates +for a few minutes. I think I shall make a scholar of you in one or two +essentials. You do want polish. Have I not a right to take you in hand? +I have defended you already.' + +'Me?' cried Harry. + +'None other than Mr. Harry Jocelyn. Will he vouchsafe to me his pardon? +It has been whispered in my ears that his ambition is to be the Don Juan +of a country district, and I have said for him, that however grovelling +his undirected tastes, he is too truly noble to plume himself upon the +reputation they have procured him. Why did I defend you? Women, you +know, do not shrink from Don Juans--even provincial Don Juans--as they +should, perhaps, for their own sakes! You are all of you dangerous, if a +woman is not strictly on her guard. But you will respect your champion, +will you not?' + +Harry was about to reply with wonderful briskness. He stopped, and +murmured boorishly that he was sure he was very much obliged. + +Command of countenance the Countess possessed in common with her sex. +Those faces on which we make them depend entirely, women can entirely +control. Keenly sensible to humour as the Countess was, her face sidled +up to his immovably sweet. Harry looked, and looked away, and looked +again. The poor fellow was so profoundly aware of his foolishness that +he even doubted whether he was admired. + +The Countess trifled with his English nature; quietly watched him bob +between tugging humility and airy conceit, and went on: + +'Yes! I will trust you, and that is saying very much, for what +protection is a brother? I am alone here--defenceless!' + +Men, of course, grow virtuously zealous in an instant on behalf of the +lovely dame who tells them bewitchingly, she is alone and defenceless, +with pitiful dimples round the dewy mouth that entreats their +guardianship and mercy! + +The provincial Don Juan found words--a sign of clearer sensations +within. He said: + +'Upon my honour, I'd look after you better than fifty brothers!' + +The Countess eyed him softly, and then allowed herself the luxury of a +laugh. + +'No, no! it is not the sheep, it is the wolf I fear.' + +And she went through a bit of the concluding portion of the drama of +Little Red Riding Hood very prettily, and tickled him so that he became +somewhat less afraid of her. + +'Are you truly so bad as report would have you to be, Mr. Harry?' she +asked, not at all in the voice of a censor. + +'Pray don't think me--a--anything you wouldn't have me,' the youth +stumbled into an apt response. + +'We shall see,' said the Countess, and varied her admiration for the +noble creature beside her with gentle ejaculations on the beauty of +the deer that ranged the park of Beckley Court, the grand old oaks +and beeches, the clumps of flowering laurel, and the rich air swarming +Summer. + +She swept out her arm. 'And this most magnificent estate will be yours? +How happy will she be who is led hither to reside by you, Mr. Harry!' + +'Mine? No; there's the bother,' he answered, with unfeigned chagrin. +'Beckley isn't Elburne property, you know. It belongs to old Mrs. +Bonner, Rose's grandmama.' + +'Oh!' interjected the Countess, indifferently. + +'I shall never get it--no chance,' Harry pursued. 'Lost my luck with the +old lady long ago.' He waxed excited on a subject that drew him from his +shamefacedness. 'It goes to Juley Bonner, or to Rosey; it's a toss-up +which. If I'd stuck up to Juley, I might have had a pretty fair chance. +They wanted me to, that's why I scout the premises. But fancy Juley +Bonner!' + +'You couldn't, upon your honour!' rhymed the Countess. (And Harry +let loose a delighted 'Ha! ha!' as at a fine stroke of wit.) 'Are we +enamoured of a beautiful maiden, Senor Harry?' + +'Not a bit,' he assured her eagerly. 'I don't know any girl. I don't +care for 'em. I don't, really.' + +The Countess impressively declared to him that he must be guided by her; +and that she might the better act his monitress, she desired to hear the +pedigree of the estate, and the exact relations in which it at present +stood toward the Elburne family. + +Glad of any theme he could speak on, Harry informed her that Beckley +Court was bought by his grandfather Bonner from the proceeds of a +successful oil speculation. + +'So we ain't much on that side,' he said. + +'Oil!' was the Countess's weary exclamation. 'I imagined Beckley Court +to be your ancestral mansion. Oil!' + +Harry deprecatingly remarked that oil was money. + +'Yes,' she replied; 'but you are not one to mix oil with your Elburne +blood. Let me see--oil! That, I conceive, is grocery. So, you are +grocers on one side!' + +'Oh, come! hang it!' cried Harry, turning red. + +'Am I leaning on the grocer's side, or on the lord's?' + +Harry felt dreadfully taken down. 'One ranks with one's father,' he +said. + +'Yes,' observed the Countess; 'but you should ever be careful not to +expose the grocer. When I beheld my brother bow to you, and that your +only return was to stare at him in that singular way, I was not aware of +this, and could not account for it.' + +I declare I'm very sorry,' said Harry, with a nettled air. 'Do just let +me tell you how it happened. We were at an inn, where there was an +odd old fellow gave a supper; and there was your brother, and another +fellow--as thorough an upstart as I ever met, and infernally impudent. +He got drinking, and wanted to fight us. Now I see it! Your brother, to +save his friend's bones, said he was a tailor! Of course no gentleman +could fight a tailor; and it blew over with my saying we'd order our +clothes of him.' + +'Said he was a--!' exclaimed the Countess, gazing blankly. + +'I don't wonder at your feeling annoyed,' returned Harry. 'I saw him +with Rosey next day, and began to smell a rat then, but Laxley won't +give up the tailor. He's as proud as Lucifer. He wanted to order a suit +of your brother to-day; but I said--not while he's in the house, however +he came here.' + +The Countess had partially recovered. They were now in the village +street, and Harry pointed out the post-office. + +'Your divination with regard to my brother's most eccentric behaviour +was doubtless correct,' she said. 'He wished to succour his wretched +companion. Anywhere--it matters not to him what!--he allies himself with +miserable mortals. He is the modern Samaritan. You should thank him for +saving you an encounter with some low creature.' + +Swaying the letter to and fro, she pursued archly: 'I can read your +thoughts. You are dying to know to whom this dear letter is addressed!' + +Instantly Harry, whose eyes had previously been quite empty of +expression, glanced at the letter wistfully. + +Shall I tell you?' + +'Yes, do.' + +'It's to somebody I love.' + +'Are you in love then?' was his disconcerted rejoinder. + +'Am I not married?' + +'Yes; but every woman that's married isn't in love with her husband, you +know.' + +'Oh! Don Juan of the provinces!' she cried, holding the seal of the +letter before him in playful reproof. 'Fie!' + +'Come! who is it?' Harry burst out. + +'I am not, surely, obliged to confess my correspondence to you? +Remember!' she laughed lightly. 'He already assumes the airs of a lord +and master! You are rapid, Mr. Harry.' + +'Won't you really tell me?' he pleaded. + +She put a corner of the letter in the box. 'Must I?' + +All was done with the archest elegance: the bewildering condescension of +a Goddess to a boor. + +'I don't say you must, you know: but I should like to see it,' returned +Harry. + +'There!' She showed him a glimpse of 'Mrs.,' cleverly concealing +plebeian 'Cogglesby,' and the letter slid into darkness. 'Are you +satisfied?' + +'Yes,' said Harry, wondering why he felt a relief at the sight of 'Mrs.' +written on a letter by a lady he had only known half an hour. + +'And now,' said she, 'I shall demand a boon of you, Mr. Harry. Will it +be accorded?' + +She was hurriedly told that she might count upon him for whatever she +chose to ask; and after much trifling and many exaggerations of the boon +in question, he heard that she had selected him as her cavalier for the +day, and that he was to consent to accompany her to the village church. + +'Is it so great a request, the desire that you should sit beside a +solitary lady for so short a space?' she asked, noting his rueful +visage. + +Harry assured her he would be very happy, but hinted at the bother of +having to sit and listen to that fool of a Parsley: again assuring her, +and with real earnestness, which the lady now affected to doubt, that he +would be extremely happy. + +'You know, I haven't been there for ages,' he explained. + +'I hear it!' she sighed, aware of the credit his escort would bring her +in Beckley, and especially with Harry's grandmama Bonner. + +They went together to the village church. The Countess took care to be +late, so that all eyes beheld her stately march up the aisle, with her +captive beside her. + +Nor was her captive less happy than he professed he would be. Charming +comic side-play, at the expense of Mr. Parsley, she mingled with +exceeding devoutness, and a serious attention to Mr. Parsley's +discourse. In her heart this lady really thought her confessed daily +sins forgiven her by the recovery of the lost sheep to Mr. Parsley's +fold. The results of this small passage of arms were, that Evan's +disclosure at Fallow field was annulled in the mind of Harry Jocelyn, +and the latter gentleman became the happy slave of the Countess de +Saldar. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. LEADS TO A SMALL SKIRMISH BETWEEN ROSE AND EVAN + +Lady Jocelyn belonged properly to that order which the Sultans and the +Roxalanas of earth combine to exclude from their little games, under the +designation of blues, or strong-minded women: a kind, if genuine, the +least dangerous and staunchest of the sex, as poor fellows learn when +the flippant and the frail fair have made mummies of them. She had the +frankness of her daughter, the same direct eyes and firm step: a face +without shadows, though no longer bright with youth. It may be charged +to her as one of the errors of her strong mind, that she believed +friendship practicable between men and women, young or old. She knew the +world pretty well, and was not amazed by extraordinary accidents; but as +she herself continued to be an example of her faith: we must presume it +natural that her delusion should cling to her. She welcomed Evan as her +daughter's friend, walked half-way across the room to meet him on his +introduction to her, and with the simple words, 'I have heard of you,' +let him see that he stood upon his merits in her house. The young man's +spirit caught something of hers even in their first interview, and at +once mounted to that level. Unconsciously he felt that she took, and +would take him, for what he was, and he rose to his worth in the society +she presided over. A youth like Evan could not perceive, that in loving +this lady's daughter, and accepting the place she offered him, he was +guilty of a breach of confidence; or reflect, that her entire absence of +suspicion imposed upon him a corresponding honesty toward her. He fell +into a blindness. Without dreaming for a moment that she designed to +encourage his passion for Rose, he yet beheld himself in the light she +had cast on him; and, received as her daughter's friend, it seemed to +him not so utterly monstrous that he might be her daughter's lover. A +haughty, a grand, or a too familiar manner, would have kept his eyes +clearer on his true condition. Lady Jocelyn spoke to his secret nature, +and eclipsed in his mind the outward aspects with which it was warring. +To her he was a gallant young man, a fit companion for Rose, and when +she and Sir Franks said, and showed him, that they were glad to know +him, his heart swam in a flood of happiness they little suspected. + +This was another of the many forms of intoxication to which +circumstances subjected the poor lover. In Fallow field, among +impertinent young men, Evan's pride proclaimed him a tailor. At Beckley +Court, acted on by one genuine soul, he forgot it, and felt elate in +his manhood. The shades of Tailordom dispersed like fog before the full +South-west breeze. When I say he forgot it, the fact was present enough +to him, but it became an outward fact: he had ceased to feel it within +him. It was not a portion of his being, hard as Mrs. Mel had struck to +fix it. Consequently, though he was in a far worse plight than when he +parted with Rose on board the Jocasta, he felt much less of an impostor +now. This may have been partly because he had endured his struggle with +the Demogorgon the Countess painted to him in such frightful colours, +and found him human after all; but it was mainly owing to the hearty +welcome Lady Jocelyn had extended to him as the friend of Rose. + +Loving Rose, he nevertheless allowed his love no tender liberties. The +eyes of a lover are not his own; but his hands and lips are, till such +time as they are claimed. The sun must smile on us with peculiar warmth +to woo us forth utterly-pluck our hearts out. Rose smiled on many. She +smiled on Drummond Forth, Ferdinand Laxley, William Harvey, and her +brother Harry; and she had the same eyes for all ages. Once, previous to +the arrival of the latter three, there was a change in her look, or Evan +fancied it. They were going to ride out together, and Evan, coming to +his horse on the gravel walk, saw her talking with Drummond Forth. He +mounted, awaiting her, and either from a slight twinge of jealousy, or +to mark her dainty tread with her riding-habit drawn above her heels, he +could not help turning his head occasionally. She listened to Drummond +with attention, but presently broke from him, crying: 'It's an +absurdity. Speak to them yourself--I shall not.' + +On the ride that day, she began prattling of this and that with the +careless glee that became her well, and then sank into a reverie. +Between-whiles her eyes had raised tumults in Evan's breast by dropping +on him in a sort of questioning way, as if she wished him to speak, or +wished to fathom something she would rather have unspoken. Ere they had +finished their ride, she tossed off what burden may have been on her +mind as lightly as a stray lock from her shoulders. He thought that the +singular look recurred. It charmed him too much for him to speculate on +it. + +The Countess's opportune ally, the gout, which had reduced the Hon. +Melville Jocelyn's right hand to a state of uselessness, served her +with her brother equally: for, having volunteered his services to the +invalided diplomatist, it excused his stay at Beckley Court to himself, +and was a mask to his intimacy with Rose, besides earning him the thanks +of the family. Harry Jocelyn, released from the wing of the Countess, +came straight to him, and in a rough kind of way begged Evan to overlook +his rudeness. + +'You took us all in at Fallow field, except Drummond,' he said. +'Drummond would have it you were joking. I see it now. And you're +a confoundedly clever fellow into the bargain, or you wouldn't be +quill-driving for Uncle Mel. Don't be uppish about it--will you?' + +'You have nothing to fear on that point,' said Evan. With which promise +the peace was signed between them. Drummond and William Harvey were +cordial, and just laughed over the incident. Laxley, however, held +aloof. His retention of ideas once formed befitted his rank and station. +Some trifling qualms attended Evan's labours with the diplomatist; but +these were merely occasioned by the iteration of a particular phrase. +Mr. Goren, an enthusiastic tailor, had now and then thrown out to Evan +stirring hints of an invention he claimed: the discovery of a Balance +in Breeches: apparently the philosopher's stone of the tailor craft, +a secret that should ensure harmony of outline to the person and an +indubitable accommodation to the most difficult legs. + +Since Adam's expulsion, it seemed, the tailors of this wilderness had +been in search of it. But like the doctors of this wilderness, their +science knew no specific: like the Babylonian workmen smitten with +confusion of tongues, they had but one word in common, and that word was +'cut.' Mr. Goren contended that to cut was not the key of the science: +but to find a Balance was. An artistic admirer of the frame of man, Mr. +Goren was not wanting in veneration for the individual who had arisen to +do it justice. He spoke of his Balance with supreme self-appreciation. +Nor less so the Honourable Melville, who professed to have discovered +the Balance of Power, at home and abroad. It was a capital Balance, but +inferior to Mr. Goren's. The latter gentleman guaranteed a Balance with +motion: whereas one step not only upset the Honourable Melville's, but +shattered the limbs of Europe. Let us admit, that it is easier to fit a +man's legs than to compress expansive empires. + +Evan enjoyed the doctoring of kingdoms quite as well as the diplomatist. +It suited the latent grandeur of soul inherited by him from the great +Mel. He liked to prop Austria and arrest the Czar, and keep a watchful +eye on France; but the Honourable Melville's deep-mouthed phrase +conjured up to him a pair of colossal legs imperiously demanding their +Balance likewise. At first the image scared him. In time he was enabled +to smile it into phantom vagueness. The diplomatist diplomatically +informed him, it might happen that the labours he had undertaken might +be neither more nor less than education for a profession he might have +to follow. Out of this, an ardent imagination, with the Countess de +Saldar for an interpreter, might construe a promise of some sort. Evan +soon had high hopes. What though his name blazed on a shop-front? The +sun might yet illumine him to honour! + +Where a young man is getting into delicate relations with a young woman, +the more of his sex the better--they serve as a blind; and the Countess +hailed fresh arrivals warmly. There was Sir John Loring, Dorothy's +father, who had married the eldest of the daughters of Lord Elburne. +A widower, handsome, and a flirt, he capitulated to the Countess +instantly, and was played off against the provincial Don Juan, who had +reached that point with her when youths of his description make bashful +confidences of their successes, and receive delicious chidings for their +naughtiness--rebukes which give immeasurable rebounds. Then came Mr. +Gordon Graine, with his daughter, Miss Jenny Graine, an early friend of +Rose's, and numerous others. For the present, Miss Isabella Current need +only be chronicled among the visitors--a sprightly maid fifty years old, +without a wrinkle to show for it--the Aunt Bel of fifty houses where +there were young women and little boys. Aunt Bel had quick wit and +capital anecdotes, and tripped them out aptly on a sparkling tongue with +exquisite instinct for climax and when to strike for a laugh. No sooner +had she entered the hall than she announced the proximate arrival of the +Duke of Belfield at her heels, and it was known that his Grace was +as sure to follow as her little dog, who was far better paid for his +devotion. + +The dinners at Beckley Court had hitherto been rather languid to those +who were not intriguing or mixing young love with the repast. Miss +Current was an admirable neutral, sent, as the Countess fervently +believed, by Providence. Till now the Countess had drawn upon her own +resources to amuse the company, and she had been obliged to restrain +herself from doing it with that unctuous feeling for rank which warmed +her Portuguese sketches in low society and among her sisters. She +retired before Miss Current and formed audience, glad of a relief to her +inventive labour. While Miss Current and her ephemerals lightly skimmed +the surface of human life, the Countess worked in the depths. Vanities, +passions, prejudices beneath the surface, gave her full employment. How +naturally poor Juliana Bonner was moved to mistake Evan's compassion +for a stronger sentiment! The Countess eagerly assisted Providence to +shuffle the company into their proper places. Harry Jocelyn was moodily +happy, but good; greatly improved in the eyes of his grandmama Bonner, +who attributed the change to the Countess, and partly forgave her the +sinful consent to the conditions of her love-match with the foreign +Count, which his penitent wife had privately confessed to that strict +Churchwoman. + +'Thank Heaven that you have no children,' Mrs. Bonner had said; and the +Countess humbly replied: + +'It is indeed my remorseful consolation!' + +'Who knows that it is not your punishment?' added Mrs. Bonner; the +Countess weeping. + +She went and attended morning prayers in Mrs. Bonner's apartments, alone +with the old lady. 'To make up for lost time in Catholic Portugal!' she +explained it to the household. + +On the morning after Miss Current had come to shape the party, most of +the inmates of Beckley Court being at breakfast, Rose gave a lead to the +conversation. + +'Aunt Bel! I want to ask you something. We've been making bets about +you. Now, answer honestly, we're all friends. Why did you refuse all +your offers?' + +'Quite simple, child,' replied the unabashed ex-beauty. + +'A matter of taste. I liked twenty shillings better than a sovereign.' + +Rose looked puzzled, but the men laughed, and Rose exclaimed: + +'Now I see! How stupid I am! You mean, you may have friends when you are +not married. Well, I think that's the wisest, after all. You don't lose +them, do you? Pray, Mr. Evan, are you thinking Aunt Bel might still +alter her mind for somebody, if she knew his value?' + +'I was presuming to hope there might be a place vacant among the +twenty,' said Evan, slightly bowing to both. 'Am I pardoned?' + +'I like you!' returned Aunt Bel, nodding at him. 'Where do you come +from? A young man who'll let himself go for small coin's a jewel worth +knowing.' + +'Where do I come from?' drawled Laxley, who had been tapping an egg with +a dreary expression. + +'Aunt Bel spoke to Mr. Harrington,' said Rose, pettishly. + +'Asked him where he came from,' Laxley continued his drawl. 'He didn't +answer, so I thought it polite for another of the twenty to strike in.' + +'I must thank you expressly,' said Evan, and achieved a cordial bow. + +Rose gave Evan one of her bright looks, and then called the attention +of Ferdinand Laxley to the fact that he had lost a particular bet made +among them. + +'What bet?' asked Laxley. 'About the profession?' + +A stream of colour shot over Rose's face. Her eyes flew nervously from +Laxley to Evan, and then to Drummond. Laxley appeared pleased as a man +who has made a witty sally: Evan was outwardly calm, while Drummond +replied to the mute appeal of Rose, by saying: + +'Yes; we've all lost. But who could hit it? The lady admits no sovereign +in our sex.' + +'So you've been betting about me?' said Aunt Bel. 'I 'll settle the +dispute. Let him who guessed "Latin" pocket the stakes, and, if I guess +him, let him hand them over to me.' + +'Excellent!' cried Rose. 'One did guess "Latin," Aunt Bel! Now, tell us +which one it was.' + +'Not you, my dear. You guessed "temper."' + +'No! you dreadful Aunt Bel!' + +'Let me see,' said Aunt Bel, seriously. 'A young man would not marry +a woman with Latin, but would not guess it the impediment. Gentlemen +moderately aged are mad enough to slip their heads under any yoke, but +see the obstruction. It was a man of forty guessed "Latin." I request +the Hon. Hamilton Everard Jocelyn to confirm it.' + +Amid laughter and exclamations Hamilton confessed himself the man who +had guessed Latin to be the cause of Miss Current's remaining an old +maid; Rose, crying: + +'You really are too clever, Aunt Bel!' + +A divergence to other themes ensued, and then Miss Jenny Graine said: +'Isn't Juley learning Latin? I should like to join her while I'm here.' + +'And so should I,' responded Rose. 'My friend Evan is teaching her +during the intervals of his arduous diplomatic labours. Will you take us +into your class, Evan?' + +'Don't be silly, girls,' interposed Aunt Bel. 'Do you want to graduate +for my state with your eyes open?' + +Evan objected his poor qualifications as a tutor, and Aunt Bel remarked, +that if Juley learnt Latin at all, she should have regular instruction. + +'I am quite satisfied,' said Juley, quietly. + +'Of course you are,' Rose snubbed her cousin. 'So would anybody be. But +Mama really was talking of a tutor for Juley, if she could find one. +There's a school at Bodley; but that's too far for one of the men to +come over.' + +A school at Bodley! thought Evan, and his probationary years at the +Cudford Establishment rose before him; and therewith, for the first time +since his residence at Beckley, the figure of John Raikes. + +'There's a friend of mine,' he said, aloud, 'I think if Lady Jocelyn +does wish Miss Bonner to learn Latin thoroughly, he would do very well +for the groundwork and would be glad of the employment. He is very +poor.' + +'If he's poor, and a friend of yours, Evan, we'll have him,' said Rose: +'we'll ride and fetch him.' + +'Yes,' added Miss Carrington, 'that must be quite sufficient +qualification.' + +Juliana was not gazing gratefully at Evan for his proposal. + +Rose asked the name of Evan's friend. 'His name is Raikes,' answered +Evan. 'I don't know where he is now. He may be at Fallow field. If Lady +Jocelyn pleases, I will ride over to-day and see.' + +'My dear Evan!' cried Rose, 'you don't mean that absurd figure we saw +on the cricket-field?' She burst out laughing. 'Oh! what fun it will be! +Let us have him here by all means.' + +'I shall not bring him to be laughed at,' said Evan. + +'I will remember he is your friend,' Rose returned demurely; and again +laughed, as she related to Jenny Graine the comic appearance Mr. Raikes +had presented. + +Laxley waited for a pause, and then said: 'I have met this Mr. Raikes. +As a friend of the family, I should protest against his admission here +in any office whatever into the upper part of the house, at least. He is +not a gentleman.' + +We don't want teachers to be gentlemen,' observed Rose. + +'This fellow is the reverse,' Laxley pronounced, and desired Harry to +confirm it; but Harry took a gulp of coffee. + +'Oblige me by recollecting that I have called him a friend of mine,' +said Evan. + +Rose murmured to him: 'Pray forgive me! I forgot.' Laxley hummed +something about 'taste.' Aunt Bel led from the theme by a lively +anecdote. + +After breakfast the party broke into knots, and canvassed Laxley's +behaviour to Evan, which was generally condemned. Rose met the young men +strolling on the lawn; and, with her usual bluntness, accused Laxley of +wishing to insult her friend. + +'I speak to him--do I not?' said Laxley. 'What would you have more? I +admit the obligation of speaking to him when I meet him in your house. +Out of it--that 's another matter.' + +'But what is the cause for your conduct to him, Ferdinand?' + +'By Jove!' cried Harry, 'I wonder he puts up with it I wouldn't. I'd +have a shot with you, my boy.' + +'Extremely honoured,' said Laxley. 'But neither you nor I care to fight +tailors.' + +'Tailors!' exclaimed Rose. There was a sharp twitch in her body, as if +she had been stung or struck. + +'Look here, Rose,' said Laxley; 'I meet him, he insults me, and to get +out of the consequences tells me he's the son of a tailor, and a tailor +himself; knowing that it ties my hands. Very well, he puts himself hors +de combat to save his bones. Let him unsay it, and choose whether he +'ll apologize or not, and I'll treat him accordingly. At present I'm +not bound to do more than respect the house I find he has somehow got +admission to.' + +'It's clear it was that other fellow,' said Harry, casting a side-glance +up at the Countess's window. + +Rose looked straight at Laxley, and abruptly turned on her heel. + +In the afternoon, Lady Jocelyn sent a message to Evan that she wished to +see him. Rose was with her mother. Lady Jocelyn had only to say, that +if he thought his friend a suitable tutor for Miss Bonner, they would +be happy to give him the office at Beckley Court. Glad to befriend poor +Jack, Evan gave the needful assurances, and was requested to go and +fetch him forthwith. When he left the room, Rose marched out silently +beside him. + +'Will you ride over with me, Rose?' he said, though scarcely anxious +that she should see Mr. Raikes immediately. + +The singular sharpness of her refusal astonished him none the less. + +'Thank you, no; I would rather not.' + +A lover is ever ready to suspect that water has been thrown on the fire +that burns for him in the bosom of his darling. Sudden as the change +was, it was very decided. His sensitive ears were pained by the absence +of his Christian name, which her lips had lavishly made sweet to him. He +stopped in his walk. + +'You spoke of riding to Fallow field. Is it possible you don't want me +to bring my friend here? There's time to prevent it.' + +Judged by the Countess de Saldar, the behaviour of this well-born +English maid was anything but well-bred. She absolutely shrugged her +shoulders and marched a-head of him into the conservatory, where she +began smelling at flowers and plucking off sere leaves. + +In such cases a young man always follows; as her womanly instinct must +have told her, for she expressed no surprise when she heard his voice +two minutes after. + +'Rose! what have I done?' + +'Nothing at all,' she said, sweeping her eyes over his a moment, and +resting them on the plants. + +'I must have uttered something that has displeased you.' + +'No.' + +Brief negatives are not re-assuring to a lover's uneasy mind. + +'I beg you--Be frank with me, Rose!' + +A flame of the vanished fire shone in her face, but subsided, and she +shook her head darkly. + +'Have you any objection to my friend?' + +Her fingers grew petulant with an orange leaf. Eyeing a spot on it, she +said, hesitatingly: + +'Any friend of yours I am sure I should like to help. But--but I wish +you wouldn't associate with that--that kind of friend. It gives people +all sorts of suspicions.' + +Evan drew a sharp breath. + +The voices of Master Alec and Miss Dorothy were heard shouting on the +lawn. Alec gave Dorothy the slip and approached the conservatory on +tip-toe, holding his hand out behind him to enjoin silence and secrecy. +The pair could witness the scene through the glass before Evan spoke. + +'What suspicions?' he asked. + +Rose looked up, as if the harshness of his tone pleased her. + +'Do you like red roses best, or white?' was her answer, moving to a +couple of trees in pots. + +'Can't make up your mind?' she continued, and plucked both a white and +red rose, saying: 'There! choose your colour by-and-by,' and ask Juley +to sew the one you choose in your button-hole.' + +She laid the roses in his hand, and walked away. She must have known +that there was a burden of speech on his tongue. She saw him move to +follow her, but this time she did not linger, and it may be inferred +that she wished to hear no more. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. IN WHICH EVAN WRITES HIMSELF TAILOR + +The only philosophic method of discovering what a young woman means, +and what is in her mind, is that zigzag process of inquiry conducted by +following her actions, for she can tell you nothing, and if she does +not want to know a particular matter, it must be a strong beam from the +central system of facts that shall penetrate her. Clearly there was +a disturbance in the bosom of Rose Jocelyn, and one might fancy that +amiable mirror as being wilfully ruffled to confuse a thing it was asked +by the heavens to reflect: a good fight fought by all young people at +a certain period, and now and then by an old fool or two. The young it +seasons and strengthens; the old it happily kills off; and thus, what +is, is made to work harmoniously with what we would have be. + +After quitting Evan, Rose hied to her friend Jenny Graine, and in the +midst of sweet millinery talk, darted the odd question, whether baronets +or knights ever were tradesmen: to which Scottish Jenny, entirely +putting aside the shades of beatified aldermen and the illustrious list +of mayors that have welcomed royalty, replied that it was a thing quite +impossible. Rose then wished to know if tailors were thought worse of +than other tradesmen. Jenny, premising that she was no authority, stated +she imagined she had heard that they were. + +'Why?' said Rose, no doubt because she was desirous of seeing justice +dealt to that class. But Jenny's bosom was a smooth reflector of facts +alone. + +Rose pondered, and said with compressed eagerness, 'Jenny, do you think +you could ever bring yourself to consent to care at all for anybody ever +talked of as belonging to them? Tell me.' + +Now Jenny had come to Beckley Court to meet William Harvey: she was +therefore sufficiently soft to think she could care for him whatever his +origin were, and composed in the knowledge that no natal stigma was upon +him to try the strength of her affection. Designing to generalize, as +women do (and seem tempted to do most when they are secretly speaking +from their own emotions), she said, shyly moving her shoulders, with a +forefinger laying down the principle: + +'You know, my dear, if one esteemed such a person very very much, and +were quite sure, without any doubt, that he liked you in return--that +is, completely liked you, and was quite devoted, and made no +concealment--I mean, if he was very superior, and like other men--you +know what I mean--and had none of the cringing ways some of them have--I +mean; supposing him gay and handsome, taking--' + +'Just like William,' Rose cut her short; and we may guess her to have +had some one in her head for her to conceive that Jenny must be speaking +of any one in particular. + +A young lady who can have male friends, as well as friends of her own +sex, is not usually pressing and secret in her confidences, possibly +because such a young lady is not always nursing baby-passions, and does +not require her sex's coddling and posseting to keep them alive. With +Rose love will be full grown when it is once avowed, and will know where +to go to be nourished. + +'Merely an idea I had,' she said to Jenny, who betrayed her mental +pre-occupation by putting the question for the questions last. + +Her Uncle Melville next received a visit from the restless young woman. +To him she spoke not a word of the inferior classes, but as a special +favourite of the diplomatist's, begged a gift of him for her proximate +birthday. Pushed to explain what it was, she said, 'It's something I +want you to do for a friend of mine, Uncle Mel.' + +The diplomatist instanced a few of the modest requests little maids +prefer to people they presume to have power to grant. + +'No, it's nothing nonsensical,' said Rose; 'I want you to get my friend +Evan an appointment. You can if you like, you know, Uncle Mel, and it's +a shame to make him lose his time when he's young and does his work so +well--that you can't deny! Now, please, be positive, Uncle Mel. You know +I hate--I have no faith in your 'nous verrons'. Say you will, and at +once.' + +The diplomatist pretended to have his weather-eye awakened. + +'You seem very anxious about feathering the young fellow's nest, Rosey?' + +'There,' cried Rose, with the maiden's mature experience of us, +'isn't that just like men? They never can believe you can be entirely +disinterested!' + +'Hulloa!' the diplomatist sung out, 'I didn't say anything, Rosey.' + +She reddened at her hastiness, but retrieved it by saying: + +'No, but you listen to your wife; you know you do, Uncle Mel; and now +there's Aunt Shorne and the other women, who make you think just what +they like about me, because they hate Mama.' + +'Don't use strong words, my dear.' + +'But it's abominable!' cried Rose. 'They asked Mama yesterday what +Evan's being here meant? Why, of course, he's your secretary, and my +friend, and Mama very properly stopped them, and so will I! As for me, I +intend to stay at Beckley, I can tell you, dear old boy.' Uncle Mel had +a soft arm round his neck, and was being fondled. 'And I 'm not going to +be bred up to go into a harem, you may be sure.' + +The diplomatist whistled, 'You talk your mother with a vengeance, +Rosey.' + +'And she's the only sensible woman I know,' said Rose. 'Now promise +me--in earnest. Don't let them mislead you, for you know you're quite a +child, out of your politics, and I shall take you in hand myself. Why, +now, think, Uncle Mel! wouldn't any girl, as silly as they make me out, +hold her tongue--not talk of him, as I do; and because I really do feel +for him as a friend. See the difference between me and Juley!' + +It was a sad sign if Rose was growing a bit of a hypocrite, but this +instance of Juliana's different manner of showing her feelings toward +Evan would have quieted suspicion in shrewder men, for Juliana watched +Evan's shadow, and it was thought by two or three at Beckley Court, +that Evan would be conferring a benefit on all by carrying off the +romantically-inclined but little presentable young lady. + +The diplomatist, with a placid 'Well, well!' ultimately promised to do +his best for Rose's friend, and then Rose said, 'Now I leave you to +the Countess,' and went and sat with her mother and Drummond Forth. +The latter was strange in his conduct to Evan. While blaming Laxley's +unmannered behaviour, he seemed to think Laxley had grounds for it, and +treated Evan with a sort of cynical deference that had, for the last +couple of days, exasperated Rose. + +'Mama, you must speak to Ferdinand,' she burst upon the conversation, +'Drummond is afraid to--he can stand by and see my friend insulted. +Ferdinand is insufferable with his pride--he's jealous of everybody who +has manners, and Drummond approves him, and I will not bear it.' + +Lady Jocelyn hated household worries, and quietly remarked that the +young men must fight it out together. + +'No, but it's your duty to interfere, Mama,' said Rose; 'and I know +you will when I tell you that Ferdinand declares my friend Evan is a +tradesman--beneath his notice. Why, it insults me!' + +Lady Jocelyn looked out from a lofty window on such veritable squabbles +of boys and girls as Rose revealed. + +'Can't you help them to run on smoothly while they're here?' she said to +Drummond, and he related the scene at the Green Dragon. + +'I think I heard he was the son of Sir Something Harrington, Devonshire +people,' said Lady Jocelyn. + +'Yes, he is,' cried Rose, 'or closely related. I'm sure I understood the +Countess that it was so. She brought the paper with the death in it to +us in London, and shed tears over it.' + +'She showed it in the paper, and shed tears over it?' said Drummond, +repressing an inclination to laugh. 'Was her father's title given in +full?' + +'Sir Abraham Harrington, replied Rose. 'I think she said father, if the +word wasn't too common-place for her.' + +'You can ask old Tom when he comes, if you are anxious to know,' said +Drummond to her ladyship. 'His brother married one of the sisters. By +the way, he's coming, too. He ought to clear up the mystery.' + +'Now you're sneering, Drummond,' said Rose: 'for you know there 's no +mystery to clear up.' + +Drummond and Lady Jocelyn began talking of old Tom Cogglesby, whom, it +appeared, the former knew intimately, and the latter had known. + +'The Cogglesbys are sons of a cobbler, Rose,' said Lady Jocelyn. 'You +must try and be civil to them.' + +'Of course I shall, Mama,' Rose answered seriously. + +'And help the poor Countess to bear their presence as well as +possible,' said Drummond. 'The Harringtons have had to mourn a dreadful +mesalliance. Pity the Countess!' + +'Oh! the Countess! the Countess!' exclaimed Rose to Drummond's pathetic +shake of the head. She and Drummond were fully agreed about the +Countess; Drummond mimicking the lady: 'In verity, she is most +mellifluous!' while Rose sugared her lips and leaned gracefully +forward with 'De Saldar, let me petition you--since we must endure +our title--since it is not to be your Louisa?' and her eyes sought the +ceiling, and her hand slowly melted into her drapery, as the Countess +was wont to effect it. + +Lady Jocelyn laughed, but said: 'You're too hard upon the Countess. The +female euphuist is not to be met with every day. It's a different kind +from the Precieuse. She is not a Precieuse. She has made a capital +selection of her vocabulary from Johnson, and does not work it badly, +if we may judge by Harry and Melville. Euphuism--[affectation D.W.]--in +"woman" is the popular ideal of a Duchess. She has it by nature, or she +has studied it: and if so, you must respect her abilities.' + +'Yes--Harry!' said Rose, who was angry at a loss of influence over her +rough brother, 'any one could manage Harry! and Uncle Mel 's a goose. +You should see what a "female euphuist" Dorry is getting. She says in +the Countess's hearing: "Rose! I should in verity wish to play, if it +were pleasing to my sweet cousin?" I'm ready to die with laughing. I +don't do it, Mama.' + +The Countess, thus being discussed, was closeted with old Mrs. Bonner: +not idle. Like Hannibal in Italy, she had crossed her Alps in attaining +Beckley Court, and here in the enemy's country the wary general found +herself under the necessity of throwing up entrenchments to fly to in +case of defeat. Sir Abraham Harrington of Torquay, who had helped her to +cross the Alps, became a formidable barrier against her return. + +Meantime Evan was riding over to Fallow field, and as he rode under +black visions between the hedgeways crowned with their hop-garlands, a +fragrance of roses saluted his nostril, and he called to mind the red +and the white the peerless representative of the two had given him, and +which he had thrust sullenly in his breast-pocket and he drew them out +to look at them reproachfully and sigh farewell to all the roses of +life, when in company with them he found in his hand the forgotten +letter delivered to him on the cricket-field the day of the memorable +match. He smelt at the roses, and turned the letter this way and that. +His name was correctly worded on the outside. With an odd reluctance +to open it, he kept trifling over the flowers, and then broke the broad +seal, and these are the words that met his eyes: + +'Mr. EVAN HARRINGTON. + +'You have made up your mind to be a tailor, instead of a Tomnoddy. +You're right. Not too many men in the world--plenty of nincompoops. + +'Don't be made a weathercock of by a parcel of women. I want to find a +man worth something. If you go on with it, you shall end by riding in +your carriage, and cutting it as fine as any of them. I 'll take care +your belly is not punished while you're about it. + +'From the time your name is over your shop, I give you L300 per annum. + +'Or stop. There's nine of you. They shall have L40. per annum apiece, 9 +times 40, eh? That's better than L300., if you know how to reckon. Don't +you wish it was ninety-nine tailors to a man! I could do that too, and +it would not break me; so don't be a proud young ass, or I 'll throw +my money to the geese. Lots of them in the world. How many geese to a +tailor? + +'Go on for five years, and I double it. + +'Give it up, and I give you up. + +'No question about me. The first tailor can be paid his L40 in advance, +by applying at the offices of Messrs. Grist, Gray's Inn Square, Gray's +Inn. Let him say he is tailor No. 1, and show this letter, signed +Agreed, with your name in full at bottom. This will do--money will be +paid--no questions one side or other. So on--the whole nine. The end of +the year they can give a dinner to their acquaintance. Send in bill to +Messrs. Grist. + +'The advice to you to take the cash according to terms mentioned is +advice of + +'A FRIEND. + +'P.S. You shall have your wine. Consult among yourselves, and carry it +by majority what wine it's to be. Five carries it. Dozen and half per +tailor, per annum--that's the limit.' + +It was certainly a very hot day. The pores of his skin were prickling, +and his face was fiery; and yet he increased his pace, and broke into a +wild gallop for a mile or so; then suddenly turned his horse's head back +for Beckley. The secret of which evolution was, that he had caught the +idea of a plotted insult of Laxley's in the letter, for when the +blood is up we are drawn the way the tide sets strongest, and Evan was +prepared to swear that Laxley had written the letter, because he was +burning to chastise the man who had injured him with Rose. + +Sure that he was about to confirm his suspicion, he read it again, gazed +upon Beckley Court in the sultry light, and turned for Fallow field once +more, devising to consult Mr. John Raikes on the subject. + +The letter had a smack of crabbed age hardly counterfeit. The savour +of an old eccentric's sour generosity was there. Evan fell into bitter +laughter at the idea of Rose glancing over his shoulder and asking him +what nine of him to a man meant. He heard her clear voice pursuing him. +He could not get away from the mocking sound of Rose beseeching him to +instruct her on that point. How if the letter were genuine? He began to +abhor the sight and touch of the paper, for it struck division cold as +death between him and his darling. He saw now the immeasurable hopes his +residence at Beckley had lured him to. Rose had slightly awakened him: +this letter was blank day to his soul. He saw the squalid shop, the +good, stern, barren-spirited mother, the changeless drudgery, the +existence which seemed indeed no better than what the ninth of a man +was fit for. The influence of his mother came on him once more. Dared +he reject the gift if true? No spark of gratitude could he feel, but +chained, dragged at the heels of his fate, he submitted to think it +true; resolving the next moment that it was a fabrication and a trap: +but he flung away the roses. + +As idle as a painted cavalier upon a painted drop-scene, the figure of +Mr. John Raikes was to be observed leaning with crossed legs against +a shady pillar of the Green Dragon; eyeing alternately, with an +indifference he did not care to conceal, the assiduous pecking in the +dust of some cocks and hens that had strayed from the yard of the inn, +and the sleepy blinking in the sun of an old dog at his feet: nor did +Evan's appearance discompose the sad sedateness of his demeanour. + +'Yes; I am here still,' he answered Evan's greeting, with a flaccid +gesture. 'Don't excite me too much. A little at a time. I can't bear +it!' + +'How now? What is it now, Jack?' said Evan. + +Mr. Raikes pointed at the dog. 'I've made a bet with myself he won't +wag his tail within the next ten minutes. I beg of you, Harrington, to +remain silent for both our sakes.' + +Evan was induced to look at the dog, and the dog looked at him, and +gently moved his tail. + +'I 've lost!' cried Raikes, in languid anguish. 'He 's getting excited. +He'll go mad. We're not accustomed to this in Fallow field.' + +Evan dismounted, and was going to tell him the news he had for him, when +his attention was distracted by the sight of Rose's maid, Polly Wheedle, +splendidly bonneted, who slipped past them into the inn, after repulsing +Jack's careless attempt to caress her chin; which caused him to tell +Evan that he could not get on without the society of intellectual women. + +Evan called a boy to hold the horse. + +'Have you seen her before, Jack?' + +Jack replied: 'Once. Your pensioner up-stairs she comes to visit. I do +suspect there kinship is betwixt them. Ay! one might swear them sisters. +She's a relief to the monotony of the petrified street--the old man with +the brown-gaitered legs and the doubled-up old woman with the crutch. I +heard the London horn this morning.' + +Evan thrust the letter in his hands, telling him to read and form an +opinion on it, and went in the track of Miss Wheedle. + +Mr. Raikes resumed his station against the pillar, and held the letter +out on a level with his thigh. Acting (as it was his nature to do off +the stage), he had not exaggerated his profound melancholy. Of a light +soil and with a tropical temperament, he had exhausted all lively +recollection of his brilliant career, and, in the short time since Evan +had parted with him, sunk abjectly down into the belief that he was +fixed in Fallow field for life. His spirit pitied for agitation and +events. The horn of the London coach had sounded distant metropolitan +glories in the ears of the exile in rustic parts. + +Sighing heavily, Raikes opened the letter, in simple obedience to the +wishes of his friend; for he would have preferred to stand contemplating +his own state of hopeless stagnation. The sceptical expression he put on +when he had read the letter through must not deceive us. John Raikes +had dreamed of a beneficent eccentric old gentleman for many years: one +against whom, haply, he had bumped in a crowded thoroughfare, and +had with cordial politeness begged pardon of; had then picked up +his walking-stick; restored it, venturing a witty remark; retired, +accidentally dropping his card-case; subsequently, to his astonishment +and gratification, receiving a pregnant missive from that old +gentleman's lawyer. Or it so happened that Mr. Raikes met the old +gentleman at a tavern, and, by the exercise of a signal dexterity, +relieved him from a bone in his throat, and reluctantly imparted his +address on issuing from the said tavern. Or perhaps it was a lonely +highway where the old gentleman walked, and John Raikes had his name in +the papers for a deed of heroism, nor was man ungrateful. Since he had +eaten up his uncle, this old gentleman of his dreams walked in town +and country-only, and alas! Mr. Raikes could never encounter him in +the flesh. The muscles of his face, therefore, are no index to the real +feelings of the youth when he had thoroughly mastered the contents of +the letter, and reflected that the dream of his luck--his angelic old +gentleman--had gone and wantonly bestowed himself upon Evan Harrington, +instead of the expectant and far worthier John Raikes. Worthier inasmuch +as he gave him credence for existing long ere he knew of him and beheld +him manifest. + +Raikes retreated to the vacant parlour of the Green Dragon, and there +Evan found him staring at the unfolded letter, his head between his +cramped fists, with a contraction of his mouth. Evan was troubled by +what he had seen up-stairs, and did not speak till Jack looked up and +said, 'Oh, there you are.' + +'Well, what do you think, Jack?' + +'Yes--it's all right,' Raikes rejoined in most matter-of-course tone, +and then he stepped to the window, and puffed a very deep breath indeed, +and glanced from the straight line of the street to the heavens, with +whom, injured as he was, he felt more at home now that he knew them +capable of miracles. + +'Is it a bad joke played upon me?' said Evan. + +Raikes upset a chair. 'It's quite childish. You're made a gentleman +for life, and you ask if it's a joke played upon you! It's maddening! +There--there goes my hat!' + +With a vehement kick, Mr. Raikes despatched his ancient head-gear to the +other end of the room, saying that he must have some wine, and would; +and disdainful was his look at Evan, when the latter attempted to reason +him into economy. He ordered the wine; drank a glass, which coloured a +new mood in him; and affecting a practical manner, said: + +'I confess I have been a little hurt with you, Harrington. You left me +stranded on the desert isle. I thought myself abandoned. I thought I +should never see anything but the lengthening of an endless bill on my +landlady's face--my sole planet. I was resigned till I heard my friend +"to-lool!" this morning. He kindled recollection. But, this is a tidy +Port, and that was a delectable sort of young lady that you were riding +with when we parted last! She laughs like the true metal. I suppose you +know it 's the identical damsel I met the day before, and owe it to for +my run on the downs--I 've a compliment ready made for her.' + +'You think that letter written in good faith?' said Evan. + +'Look here.' Mr. Raikes put on a calmness. 'You got up the other night, +and said you were a tailor--a devotee of the cabbage and the goose. Why +the notion didn't strike me is extraordinary--I ought to have known my +man. However, the old gentleman who gave the supper--he's evidently one +of your beastly rich old ruffianly republicans--spent part of his time +in America, I dare say. Put two and two together.' + +But as Harrington desired plain, prose, Mr. Raikes tamed his imagination +to deliver it. He pointed distinctly at the old gentleman who gave the +supper as the writer of the letter. Evan, in return, confided to him +his history and present position, and Mr. Raikes, without cooling to his +fortunate friend, became a trifle patronizing. + +'You said your father--I think I remember at old Cudford's--was a +cavalry officer, a bold dragoon?' + +'I did,' replied Evan. 'I told a lie.' + +'We knew it; but we feared your prowess, Harrington.' + +Then they talked over the singular letter uninterruptedly, and Evan, +weak among his perplexities of position and sentiment: wanting money +for the girl up-stairs, for this distasteful comrade's bill at the Green +Dragon, and for his own immediate requirements, and with the bee buzzing +of Rose in his ears: 'She despises you,' consented in a desperation +ultimately to sign his name to it, and despatch Jack forthwith to +Messrs. Grist. + +'You'll find it's an imposition,' he said, beginning less to think it +so, now that his name was put to the hated monstrous thing; which also +now fell to pricking at curiosity. For he was in the early steps of +his career, and if his lady, holding to pride, despised him--as, he was +tortured into the hypocrisy of confessing, she justly might, why, then, +unless he was the sport of a farceur, here seemed a gilding of the path +of duty: he could be serviceable to friends. His claim on fair young +Rose's love had grown in the short while so prodigiously asinine that it +was a minor matter to constitute himself an old eccentric's puppet. + +'No more an imposition than it's 50 of Virgil,' quoth the rejected +usher. + +'It smells of a plot,' said Evan. + +'It 's the best joke that will be made in my time,' said Mr. Raikes, +rubbing his hands. + +'And now listen to your luck,' said Evan; 'I wish mine were like it!' +and Jack heard of Lady Jocelyn's offer. He heard also that the young +lady he was to instruct was an heiress, and immediately inspected his +garments, and showed the sacred necessity there was for him to refit +in London, under the hands of scientific tailors. Evan wrote him an +introduction to Mr. Goren, counted out the contents of his purse (which +Jack had reduced in his study of the pastoral game of skittles, he +confessed), and calculated in a niggardly way, how far it would go +to supply the fellow's wants; sighing, as he did it, to think of Jack +installed at Beckley Court, while Jack, comparing his luck with Evan's, +had discovered it to be dismally inferior. + +'Oh, confound those bellows you keep blowing!' he exclaimed. 'I wish to +be decently polite, Harrington, but you annoy me. Excuse me, pray, but +the most unexampled case of a lucky beggar that ever was known--and to +hear him panting and ready to whimper!--it's outrageous. You've only to +put up your name, and there you are--an independent gentleman! By Jove! +this isn't such a dull world. John Raikes! thou livest in times. I +feel warm in the sun of your prosperity, Harrington. Now listen to me. +Propound thou no inquiries anywhere about the old fellow who gave the +supper. Humour his whim--he won't have it. All Fallow field is paid to +keep him secret; I know it for a fact. I plied my rustic friends every +night. "Eat you yer victuals, and drink yer beer, and none o' yer +pryin's and peerin's among we!" That's my rebuff from Farmer Broadmead. +And that old boy knows more than he will tell. I saw his cunning old eye +on-cock. Be silent, Harrington. Let discretion be the seal of thy luck.' + +'You can reckon on my silence,' said Evan. 'I believe in no such folly. +Men don't do these things.' + +'Ha!' went Mr. Raikes contemptuously. + +Of the two he was the foolisher fellow; but quacks have cured +incomprehensible maladies, and foolish fellows have an instinct for +eccentric actions. + +Telling Jack to finish the wine, Evan rose to go. + +'Did you order the horse to be fed?' + +'Did I order the feeding of the horse?' said Jack, rising and yawning. +'No, I forgot him. Who can think of horses now?' + +'Poor brute!' muttered Evan, and went out to see to him. + +The ostler had required no instructions to give the horse a feed of +corn. Evan mounted, and rode out of the yard to where Jack was standing, +bare-headed, in his old posture against the pillar, of which the shade +had rounded, and the evening sun shone full on him over a black cloud. +He now looked calmly gay. + +'I 'm laughing at the agricultural Broadmead!' he said: "'None o' yer +pryin's and peerin's!" He thought my powers of amusing prodigious. "Dang +'un, he do maak a chap laugh!" Well, Harrington, that sort of homage +isn't much, I admit.' + +Raikes pursued: 'There's something in a pastoral life, after all.' + +'Pastoral!' muttered Evan. 'I was speaking of you at Beckley, and hope +when you're there you won't make me regret my introduction of you. Keep +your mind on old Cudford's mutton-bone.' + +'I perfectly understood you,' said Jack. 'I 'm Presumed to be in luck. +Ingratitude is not my fault--I'm afraid ambition is!' + +'Console yourself with it or what you can get till we meet--here or in +London. But the Dragon shall be the address for both of us,' Evan said, +and nodded, trotting off. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. IN WHICH EVAN CALLS HIMSELF GENTLEMAN + +The young cavalier perused that letter again in memory. Genuine, or a +joke of the enemy, it spoke wakening facts to him. He leapt from the +spell Rose had encircled him with. Strange that he should have rushed +into his dream with eyes open! But he was fully awake now. He would +speak his last farewell to her, and so end the earthly happiness he paid +for in deep humiliation, and depart into that gray cold mist where his +duty lay. It is thus that young men occasionally design to burst from +the circle of the passions, and think that they have done it, when +indeed they are but making the circle more swiftly. Here was Evan +mouthing his farewell to Rose, using phrases so profoundly humble, that +a listener would have taken them for bitter irony. He said adieu to +her,--pronouncing it with a pathos to melt scornful princesses. He tried +to be honest, and was as much so as his disease permitted. + +The black cloud had swallowed the sun; and turning off to the short +cut across the downs, Evan soon rode between the wind and the storm. +He could see the heavy burden breasting the beacon-point, round which +curled leaden arms, and a low internal growl saluted him advancing. The +horse laid back his ears. A last gust from the opposing quarter shook +the furzes and the clumps of long pale grass, and straight fell columns +of rattling white rain, and in a minute he was closed in by a hissing +ring. Men thus pelted abandon without protest the hope of retaining +a dry particle of clothing on their persons. Completely drenched, the +track lost, everything in dense gloom beyond the white enclosure that +moved with him, Evan flung the reins to the horse, and curiously +watched him footing on; for physical discomfort balanced his mental +perturbation, and he who had just been chafing was now quite calm. + +Was that a shepherd crouched under the thorn? The place betokened a +shepherd, but it really looked like a bundle of the opposite sex; and +it proved to be a woman gathered up with her gown over her head. +Apparently, Mr. Evan Harrington was destined for these encounters. The +thunder rolled as he stopped by her side and called out to her. She +heard him, for she made a movement, but without sufficiently disengaging +her head of its covering to show him a part of her face. + +Bellowing against the thunder, Evan bade her throw back her garment, +and stand and give him up her arms, that he might lift her on the horse +behind him. + +There came a muffled answer, on a big sob, as it seemed. And as if +heaven paused to hear, the storm was mute. + +Could he have heard correctly? The words he fancied he had heard sobbed +were: + +'Best bonnet.' + +The elements hereupon crashed deep and long from end to end, like a +table of Titans passing a jest. + +Rain-drops, hard as hail, were spattering a pool on her head. Evan +stooped his shoulder, seized the soaked garment, and pulled it back, +revealing the features of Polly Wheedle, and the splendid bonnet in +ruins--all limp and stained. + +Polly blinked at him penitentially. + +'Oh, Mr. Harrington; oh, ain't I punished!' she whimpered. + +In truth, the maid resembled a well-watered poppy. + +Evan told her to stand up close to the horse, and Polly stood up close, +looking like a creature that expected a whipping. She was suffering, +poor thing, from that abject sense of the lack of a circumference, +which takes the pride out of women more than anything. Note, that in +all material fashions, as in all moral observances, women demand a +circumference, and enlarge it more and more as civilization advances. +Respect the mighty instinct, however mysterious it seem. + +'Oh, Mr. Harrington, don't laugh at me,' said Polly. + +Evan assured her that he was seriously examining her bonnet. + +'It 's the bonnet of a draggletail,' said Polly, giving up her arms, and +biting her under-lip for the lift. + +With some display of strength, Evan got the lean creature up behind +him, and Polly settled there, and squeezed him tightly with her arms, +excusing the liberty she took. + +They mounted the beacon, and rode along the ridge whence the West became +visible, and a washed edge of red over Beckley Church spire and the +woods of Beckley Court. + +'And what have you been doing to be punished? What brought you here?' +said Evan. + +'Somebody drove me to Fallow field to see my poor sister Susan,' +returned Polly, half crying. + +'Well, did he bring you here and leave you? + +'No: he wasn't true to his appointment the moment I wanted to go back; +and I, to pay him out, I determined I'd walk it where he shouldn't +overtake me, and on came the storm... And my gown spoilt, and such a +bonnet!' + +'Who was the somebody?' + +'He's a Mr. Nicholas Frim, sir.' + +'Mr. Nicholas Frim will be very unhappy, I should think.' + +'Yes, that's one comfort,' said Polly ruefully, drying her eyes. + +Closely surrounding a young man as a young woman must be when both are +on the same horse, they, as a rule, talk confidentially together in a +very short time. His 'Are you cold?' when Polly shivered, and her 'Oh, +no; not very,' and a slight screwing of her body up to him, as she +spoke, to assure him and herself of it, soon made them intimate. + +'I think Mr. Nicholas Frim mustn't see us riding into Beckley,' said +Evan. + +'Oh, my gracious! Ought I to get down, sir?' Polly made no move, +however. + +'Is he jealous?' + +'Only when I make him, he is.' + +'That's very naughty of you.' + +'Yes, I know it is--all the Wheedles are. Mother says, we never go right +till we 've once got in a pickle.' + +'You ought to go right from this hour,' said Evan. + +'It's 'dizenzy--[?? D.W.]--does it,' said Polly. 'And then we're ashamed +to show it. My poor Susan went to stay with her aunt at Bodley, and then +at our cousin's at Hillford, and then she was off to Lymport to drown +her poor self, I do believe, when you met her. And all because we can't +bear to be seen when we 're in any of our pickles. I wish you wouldn't +look at me, Mr. Harrington.' + +'You look very pretty.' + +'It 's quite impossible I can now,' said Polly, with a wretched effort +to spread open her collar. 'I can see myself a fright, like my Miss Rose +did, making a face in the looking-glass when I was undressing her +last night. But, do you know, I would much rather Nicholas saw us than +somebody! + +'Who's that?' + +'Miss Bonner. She'd never forgive me.' + +'Is she so strict?' + +'She only uses servants for spies,' said Polly. 'And since my Miss Rose +come--though I'm up a step--I'm still a servant, and Miss Bonner 'd +be in a fury to see my--though I'm sure we're quite respectable, Mr. +Harrington--my having hold of you as I'm obliged to, and can't help +myself. But she'd say I ought to tumble off rather than touch her +engaged with a little finger.' + +'Her engaged?' cried Evan. + +'Ain't you, sir?' quoth Polly. 'I understand you were going to be, from +my lady, the Countess. We all think so at Beckley. Why, look how Miss +Bonner looks at you, and she's sure to have plenty of money.' + +This was Polly's innocent way of bringing out a word about her own young +mistress. + +Evan controlled any denial of his pretensions to the hand of Miss +Bonner. He said: 'Is it your mistress's habit to make faces in the +looking-glass?' + +'I'll tell you how it happened,' said Polly. 'But I'm afraid I'm in your +way, sir. Shall I get off now?' + +'Not by any means,' said Evan. 'Make your arm tighter.' + +'Will that do?' asked Polly. + +Evan looked round and met her appealing face, over which the damp locks +of hair straggled. The maid was fair: it was fortunate that he was +thinking of the mistress. + +'Speak on,' said Evan, but Polly put the question whether her face did +not want washing, and so earnestly that he had to regard it again, and +compromised the case by saying that it wanted kissing by Nicholas Frim, +which set Polly's lips in a pout. + +'I 'm sure it wants kissing by nobody,' she said, adding with a spasm of +passion: 'Oh! I know the colours of my bonnet are all smeared over it, +and I'm a dreadful fright.' + +Evan failed to adopt the proper measures to make Miss Wheedle's mind +easy with regard to her appearance, and she commenced her story rather +languidly. + +'My Miss Rose--what was it I was going to tell? Oh!--my Miss Rose. You +must know, Mr. Harrington, she's very fond of managing; I can see that, +though I haven't known her long before she gave up short frocks; and she +said to Mr. Laxley, who's going to marry her some day, "She didn't like +my lady, the Countess, taking Mr. Harry to herself like that." I can't +a-bear to speak his name, but I suppose he's not a bit more selfish than +the rest of men. So Mr. Laxley said--just like the jealousy of men--they +needn't talk of women! I'm sure nobody can tell what we have to put up +with. We mustn't look out of this eye, or out of the other, but they're +up and--oh, dear me! there's such a to-do as never was known--all for +nothing!' + +'My good girl!' said Evan, recalling her to the subject-matter with all +the patience he could command. + +'Where was I?' Polly travelled meditatively back. 'I do feel a little +cold.' + +'Come closer,' said Evan. 'Take this handkerchief--it 's the only dry +thing I have--cover your chest with it.' + +'The shoulders feel wettest,' Polly replied, 'and they can't be helped. +I'll tie it round my neck, if you'll stop, sir. There, now I'm warmer.' + +To show how concisely women can narrate when they feel warmer, Polly +started off: + +'So, you know, Mr. Harrington, Mr. Laxley said--he said to Miss Rose, +"You have taken her brother, and she has taken yours." And Miss Rose +said, "That was her own business, and nobody else's." And Mr. Laxley +said, "He was glad she thought it a fair exchange." I heard it all! +And then Miss Rose said--for she can be in a passion about some +things"--What do you mean, Ferdinand," was her words, "I insist upon +your speaking out." Miss Rose always will call gentlemen by their +Christian names when she likes them; that's always a sign with her. And +he wouldn't tell her. And Miss Rose got awful angry, and she's clever, +is my Miss Rose, for what does she do, Mr. Harrington, but begins +praising you up so that she knew it must make him mad, only because +men can't abide praise of another man when it's a woman that says +it--meaning, young lady; for my Miss Rose has my respect, however +familiar she lets herself be to us that she likes. The others may go and +drown themselves. Are you took ill, sir?' + +'No,' said Evan, 'I was only breathing.' + +'The doctors say it's bad to take such long breaths,' remarked artless +Polly. 'Perhaps my arms are pressing you?' + +It 's the best thing they can do,' murmured Evan, dejectedly. + +'What, sir?' + +'Go and drown themselves.' + +Polly screwed her lips, as if she had a pin between them, and continued: +'Miss Rose was quite sensible when she praised you as her friend; she +meant it--every word; and then sudden what does Mr. Laxley do, but say +you was something else besides friend--worse or better; and she was +silent, which made him savage, I could hear by his voice. And he said, +Mr. Harrington, "You meant it if she did not." "No," says she, "I know +better; he's as honest as the day." Out he flew and said such things: +he said, Mr. Harrington, you wasn't fit to be Miss Rose's friend, even. +Then she said, she heard he had told lies about you to her Mama, and her +aunts; but her Mama, my lady, laughed at him, and she at her aunts. Then +he said you--oh, abominable of him!' + +'What did he say?' asked Evan, waking up. + +'Why, if I were to tell my Miss Rose some things of him,' Polly went on, +'she'd never so much as speak to him another instant.' + +'What did he say?' Evan repeated. + +'I hate him!' cried Polly. 'It's Mr. Laxley that misleads Mr. Harry, who +has got his good nature, and means no more harm than he can help. Oh, +I didn't hear what he said of you, sir. Only I know it was abominable, +because Miss Rose was so vexed, and you were her dearest friend.' + +'Well, and about the looking-glass?' + +'That was at night, Mr. Harrington, when I was undressing of her. Miss +Rose has a beautiful figure, and no need of lacing. But I'd better get +down now.' + +'For heaven's sake, stay where you are.' + +'I tell her she stands as if she'd been drilled for a soldier,' Polly +quietly continued. 'You're squeezing my arm with your elbow, Mr. +Harrington. It didn't hurt me. So when I had her nearly undressed, we +were talking about this and that, and you amongst 'em--and I, you know, +rather like you, sir, if you'll not think me too bold--she started off +by asking me what was the nickname people gave to tailors. It was one of +her whims. I told her they were called snips--I'm off!' + +Polly gave a shriek. The horse had reared as if violently stung. + +'Go on,' said Evan. 'Hold hard, and go on.' + +'Snips--Oh! and I told her they were called snips. It is a word that +seems to make you hate the idea. I shouldn't like to hear my intended +called snip. Oh, he's going to gallop!' + +And off in a gallop Polly was borne. + +'Well,' said Evan, 'well?' + +'I can't, Mr. Harrington; I have to press you so,' cried Polly; 'and I'm +bounced so--I shall bite my tongue.' + +After a sharp stretch, the horse fell to a canter, and then trotted +slowly, and allowed Polly to finish. + +'So Miss Rose was standing sideways to the glass, and she turned her +neck, and just as I'd said "snip," I saw her saying it in the glass; and +you never saw anything so funny. It was enough to make anybody laugh; +but Miss Rose, she seemed as if she couldn't forget how ugly it had made +her look. She covered her face with her hands, and she shuddered! It is +a word-snip! that makes you seem to despise yourself.' + +Beckley was now in sight from the edge of the downs, lying in its +foliage dark under the grey sky backed by motionless mounds of vapour. +Miss Wheedle to her great surprise was suddenly though safely dropped; +and on her return to the ground the damsel instantly 'knew her place,' +and curtseyed becoming gratitude for his kindness; but he was off in a +fiery gallop, the gall of Demogorgon in his soul. + +What 's that the leaves of the proud old trees of Beckley Court hiss +as he sweeps beneath them? What has suddenly cut him short? Is he +diminished in stature? Are the lackeys sneering? The storm that has +passed has marvellously chilled the air. + +His sister, the Countess, once explained to him what Demogorgon was, in +the sensation it entailed. 'You are skinned alive!' said the Countess. +Evan was skinned alive. Fly, wretched young man! Summon your pride, and +fly! Fly, noble youth, for whom storms specially travel to tell you that +your mistress makes faces in the looking-glass! Fly where human lips and +noses are not scornfully distorted, and get thee a new skin, and grow +and attain to thy natural height in a more genial sphere! You, ladies +and gentlemen, who may have had a matter to conceal, and find that it +is oozing out: you, whose skeleton is seen stalking beside you, you know +what it is to be breathed upon: you, too, are skinned alive: but this +miserable youth is not only flayed, he is doomed calmly to contemplate +the hideous image of himself burning on the face of her he loves; making +beauty ghastly. In vain--for he is two hours behind the dinner-bell--Mr. +Burley, the butler, bows and offers him viands and wine. How can he eat, +with the phantom of Rose there, covering her head, shuddering, loathing +him? But he must appear in company: he has a coat, if he has not a skin. +Let him button it, and march boldly. Our comedies are frequently youth's +tragedies. We will smile reservedly as we mark Mr. Evan Harrington step +into the midst of the fair society of the drawing-room. Rose is at the +piano. Near her reclines the Countess de Saldar, fanning the languors +from her cheeks, with a word for the diplomatist on one side, a whisper +for Sir John Loring on the other, and a very quiet pair of eyes for +everybody. Providence, she is sure, is keeping watch to shield her +sensitive cuticle; and she is besides exquisitely happy, albeit +outwardly composed: for, in the room sits his Grace the Duke of +Belfield, newly arrived. He is talking to her sister, Mrs. Strike, +masked by Miss Current. The wife of the Major has come this afternoon, +and Andrew Cogglesby, who brought her, chats with Lady Jocelyn like an +old acquaintance. + +Evan shakes the hands of his relatives. Who shall turn over the leaves +of the fair singer's music-book? The young men are in the billiard-room: +Drummond is engaged in converse with a lovely person with Giorgione +hair, which the Countess intensely admires, and asks the diplomatist +whether he can see a soupcon of red in it. The diplomatist's taste is +for dark beauties: the Countess is dark. + +Evan must do duty by Rose. And now occurred a phenomenon in him. Instead +of shunning her, as he had rejoiced in doing after the Jocasta scene, +ere she had wounded him, he had a curious desire to compare her with the +phantom that had dispossessed her in his fancy. Unconsciously when he +saw her, he transferred the shame that devoured him, from him to +her, and gazed coldly at the face that could twist to that despicable +contortion. + +He was in love, and subtle love will not be shamed and smothered. Love +sits, we must remember, mostly in two hearts at the same time, and the +one that is first stirred by any of the passions to wakefulness, may +know more of the other than its owner. Why had Rose covered her head and +shuddered? Would the girl feel that for a friend? If his pride suffered, +love was not so downcast; but to avenge him for the cold she had cast on +him, it could be critical, and Evan made his bearing to her a blank. + +This somehow favoured him with Rose. Sheep's eyes are a dainty dish for +little maids, and we know how largely they indulge in it; but when they +are just a bit doubtful of the quality of the sheep, let the good animal +shut his lids forthwith, for a time. Had she not been a little unkind +to him in the morning? She had since tried to help him, and that had +appeased her conscience, for in truth he was a good young man. Those +very words she mentally pronounced, while he was thinking, 'Would she +feel it for a friend?' We dare but guess at the puzzle young women +present now and then, but I should say that Evan was nearer the mark, +and that the 'good young man' was a sop she threw to that within her +which wanted quieting, and was thereby passably quieted. Perhaps the +good young man is offended? Let us assure him of our disinterested +graciousness. + +'Is your friend coming?' she asked, and to his reply said, 'I'm glad'; +and pitched upon a new song-one that, by hazard, did not demand his +attentions, and he surveyed the company to find a vacant seat with a +neighbour. Juley Bonner was curled up on the sofa, looking like a damsel +who has lost the third volume of an exciting novel, and is divining the +climax. He chose to avoid Miss Bonner. Drummond was leaving the side of +the Giorgione lady. Evan passed leisurely, and Drummond said 'You know +Mrs. Evremonde? Let me introduce you.' + +He was soon in conversation with the glorious-haired dame. + +'Excellently done, my brother!' thinks the Countess de Saldar. + +Rose sees the matter coolly. What is it to her? But she had finished +with song. Jenny takes her place at the piano; and, as Rose does +not care for instrumental music, she naturally talks and laughs with +Drummond, and Jenny does not altogether like it, even though she is +not playing to the ear of William Harvey, for whom billiards have such +attractions; but, at the close of the performance, Rose is quiet enough, +and the Countess observes her sitting, alone, pulling the petals of a +flower in her lap, on which her eyes are fixed. Is the doe wounded? +The damsel of the disinterested graciousness is assuredly restless. She +starts up and goes out upon the balcony to breathe the night-air, mayhap +regard the moon, and no one follows her. + +Had Rose been guiltless of offence, Evan might have left Beckley Court +the next day, to cherish his outraged self-love. Love of woman is +strongly distinguished from pure egoism when it has got a wound: for +it will not go into a corner complaining, it will fight its duel on +the field or die. Did the young lady know his origin, and scorn him? He +resolved to stay and teach her that the presumption she had imputed to +him was her own mistake. And from this Evan graduated naturally enough +the finer stages of self-deception downward. + +A lover must have his delusions, just as a man must have a skin. But +here was another singular change in Evan. After his ale-prompted speech +in Fallow field, he was nerved to face the truth in the eyes of all save +Rose. Now that the truth had enmeshed his beloved, he turned to battle +with it; he was prepared to deny it at any moment; his burnt flesh was +as sensitive as the Countess's. + +Let Rose accuse him, and he would say, 'This is true, Miss Jocelyn--what +then?' and behold Rose confused and dumb! Let not another dare suspect +it. For the fire that had scorched him was in some sort healing, +though horribly painful; but contact with the general air was not to +be endured--was death! This, I believe, is common in cases of injury +by fire. So it befell that Evan, meeting Rose the next morning was +playfully asked by her what choice he had made between the white and the +red; and he, dropping on her the shallow eyes of a conventional smile, +replied, that unable to decide and form a choice, he had thrown both +away; at which Miss Jocelyn gave him a look in the centre of his brows, +let her head slightly droop, and walked off. + +'She can look serious as well as grimace,' was all that Evan allowed +himself to think, and he strolled out on the lawn with the careless +serenity of lovers when they fancy themselves heart-free. + +Rose, whipping the piano in the drawing-room, could see him go to sit by +Mrs. Evremonde, till they were joined by Drummond, when he left her +and walked with Harry, and apparently shadowed the young gentleman's +unreflective face; after which Harry was drawn away by the appearance +of that dark star, the Countess de Saldar, whom Rose was beginning to +detest. Jenny glided by William Harvey's side, far off. Rose, the young +Queen of Friendship, was left deserted on her music-stool for a throne, +and when she ceased to hammer the notes she was insulted by a voice that +cried from below: + +'Go on, Rose, it's nice in the sun to hear you,' causing her to close +her performances and the instrument vigorously. + +Rose was much behind her age: she could not tell what was the matter +with her. In these little torments young people have to pass through +they gain a rapid maturity. Let a girl talk with her own heart an hour, +and she is almost a woman. Rose came down-stairs dressed for riding. +Laxley was doing her the service of smoking one of her rose-trees. Evan +stood disengaged, prepared for her summons. She did not notice him, but +beckoned to Laxley drooping over a bud, while the curled smoke floated +from his lips. + +'The very gracefullest of chimney-pots-is he not?' says the Countess to +Harry, whose immense guffaw fails not to apprise Laxley that something +has been said of him, for in his dim state of consciousness absence +of the power of retort is the prominent feature, and when he has the +suspicion of malicious tongues at their work, all he can do is silently +to resent it. Probably this explains his conduct to Evan. Some youths +have an acute memory for things that have shut their mouths. + +The Countess observed to Harry that his dear friend Mr. Laxley appeared, +by the cast of his face, to be biting a sour apple. + +'Grapes, you mean?' laughed Harry. 'Never mind! she'll bite at him when +he comes in for the title.' + +'Anything crude will do,' rejoined the Countess. 'Why are you not +courting Mrs. Evremonde, naughty Don?' + +'Oh! she's occupied--castle's in possession. Besides--!' and Harry tried +hard to look sly. + +'Come and tell me about her,' said the Countess. + +Rose, Laxley, and Evan were standing close together. + +'You really are going alone, Rose?' said Laxley. + +'Didn't I say so?--unless you wish to join us?' She turned upon Evan. + +'I am at your disposal,' said Evan. + +Rose nodded briefly. + +'I think I'll smoke the trees,' said Laxley, perceptibly huffing. + +'You won't come, Ferdinand?' + +'I only offered to fill up the gap. One does as well as another.' + +Rose flicked her whip, and then declared she would not ride at all, and, +gathering up her skirts, hurried back to the house. + +As Laxley turned away, Evan stood before him. + +The unhappy fellow was precipitated by the devil of his false position. + +'I think one of us two must quit the field; if I go I will wait for +you,' he said. + +'Oh; I understand,' said Laxley. 'But if it 's what I suppose you to +mean, I must decline.' + +'I beg to know your grounds.' + +'You have tied my hands.' + +'You would escape under cover of superior station?' + +'Escape! You have only to unsay--tell me you have a right to demand it.' + +The battle of the sophist victorious within him was done in a flash, as +Evan measured his qualities beside this young man's, and without a sense +of lying, said: 'I have.' + +He spoke firmly. He looked the thing he called himself now. The +Countess, too, was a dazzling shield to her brother. The beautiful +Mrs. Strike was a completer vindicator of him; though he had queer +associates, and talked oddly of his family that night in Fallow field. + +'Very well, sir: I admit you manage to annoy me,' said Laxley. 'I can +give you a lesson as well as another, if you want it.' + +Presently the two youths were seen bowing in the stiff curt style +of those cavaliers who defer a passage of temper for an appointed +settlement. Harry rushed off to them with a shout, and they separated; +Laxley speaking a word to Drummond, Evan--most judiciously, the Countess +thought--joining his fair sister Caroline, whom the Duke held in +converse. + +Drummond returned laughing to the side of Mrs. Evremonde, nearing whom, +the Countess, while one ear was being filled by Harry's eulogy of her +brother's recent handling of Laxley, and while her intense gratification +at the success of her patient management of her most difficult subject +made her smiles no mask, heard, 'Is it not impossible to suppose such a +thing?' A hush ensued--the Countess passed. + +In the afternoon, the Jocelyns, William Harvey, and Drummond met +together to consult about arranging the dispute; and deputations went +to Laxley and to Evan. The former demanded an apology for certain +expressions that day; and an equivalent to an admission that Mr. +Harrington had said, in Fallow field, that he was not a gentleman, +in order to escape the consequences. All the Jocelyns laughed at his +tenacity, and 'gentleman' began to be bandied about in ridicule of the +arrogant lean-headed adolescent. Evan was placable enough, but dogged; +he declined to make any admission, though within himself he admitted +that his antagonist was not in the position of an impostor; which he for +one honest word among them would be exposed as being, and which a +simple exercise of resolution to fly the place would save him from being +further. + +Lady Jocelyn enjoyed the fun, and still more the serious way in which +her relatives regarded it. + +'This comes of Rose having friends, Emily,' said Mrs. Shorne. + +There would have been a dispute to arrange between Lady Jocelyn and +Mrs. Shorne, had not her ladyship been so firmly established in her +phlegmatic philosophy. She said: 'Quelle enfantillage! I dare say Rose +was at the bottom of it: she can settle it best. Defer the encounter +between the boys until they see they are in the form of donkeys. +They will; and then they'll run on together, as long as their goddess +permits.' + +'Indeed, Emily,' said Mrs. Shorne, 'I desire you, by all possible means, +to keep the occurrence secret from Rose. She ought not to hear of it.' + +'No; I dare say she ought not,' returned Lady Jocelyn; 'but I wager +you she does. You can teach her to pretend not to, if you like. Ecce +signum.' + +Her ladyship pointed through the library window at Rose, who was walking +with Laxley, and showing him her pearly teeth in return for one of his +jokes: an exchange so manifestly unfair, that Lady Jocelyn's womanhood, +indifferent as she was, could not but feel that Rose had an object in +view; which was true, for she was flattering Laxley into a consent to +meet Evan half way. + +The ladies murmured and hummed of these proceedings, and of Rose's +familiarity with Mr. Harrington; and the Countess in trepidation took +Evan to herself, and spoke to him seriously; a thing she had not done +since her residence in Beckley. She let him see that he must be on +a friendly footing with everybody in the house, or go which latter +alternative Evan told her he had decided on. 'Yes,' said the Countess, +'and then you give people full warrant to say it was jealousy drove you +hence; and you do but extinguish yourself to implicate dear Rose. In +love, Evan, when you run away, you don't live to fight another day.' + +She was commanded not to speak of love. + +'Whatever it may be, my dear,' said the Countess, 'Mr. Laxley has used +you ill. It may be that you put yourself at his feet'; and his sister +looked at him, sighing a great sigh. She had, with violence, stayed her +mouth concerning what she knew of the Fallow field business, dreading +to alarm his sensitiveness; but she could not avoid giving him a little +slap. It was only to make him remember by the smart that he must always +suffer when he would not be guided by her. + +Evan professed to the Jocelyns that he was willing to apologize to +Laxley for certain expressions; determining to leave the house when he +had done it. The Countess heard and nodded. The young men, sounded on +both sides, were accordingly lured to the billiard-room, and pushed +together: and when he had succeeded in thrusting the idea of Rose from +the dispute, it did seem such folly to Evan's common sense, that he +spoke with pleasant bonhommie about it. That done, he entered into +his acted part, and towered in his conceit considerably above these +aristocratic boors, who were speechless and graceless, but tigers for +their privileges and advantages. + +It will not be thought that the Countess intended to permit her +brother's departure. To have toiled, and yet more, to have lied and +fretted her conscience, for nothing, was as little her principle, as to +quit the field of action till she is forcibly driven from it is that of +any woman. + +'Going, my dear,' she said coolly. 'To-morrow? Oh! very well. You are +the judge. And this creature--the insolvent to the apple-woman, who +is coming, whom you would push here--will expose us, without a soul to +guide his conduct, for I shall not remain. And Carry will not remain. +Carry---!' The Countess gave a semisob. 'Carry must return to her +brute--' meaning the gallant Marine, her possessor. + +And the Countess, knowing that Evan loved his sister Caroline, +incidentally related to him an episode in the domestic life of Major and +Mrs. Strike. + +'Greatly redounding to the credit of the noble martinet for the +discipline he upholds,' the Countess said, smiling at the stunned youth. + +'I would advise you to give her time to recover from one bruise,' she +added. 'You will do as it pleases you.' + +Evan was sent rushing from the Countess to Caroline, with whom the +Countess was content to leave him. + +The young man was daintily managed. Caroline asked him to stay, as she +did not see him often, and (she brought it in at the close) her home +was not very happy. She did not entreat him, but looking resigned, her +lovely face conjured up the Major to Evan, and he thought, 'Can I drive +her back to her tyrant?' For so he juggled with himself to have but +another day in the sunshine of Rose. + +Andrew, too, threw out genial hints about the Brewery. Old Tom intended +to retire, he said, and then they would see what they would see! He +silenced every word about Lymport; called him a brewer already, and made +absurd jokes, that were serviceable stuff nevertheless to the Countess, +who deplored to this one and to that the chance existing that Evan +might, by the urgent solicitations of his brother-in-law, give up +diplomacy and its honours for a brewery and lucre! + +Of course Evan knew that he was managed. The memoirs of a managed man +have yet to be written; but if he be sincere he will tell you that +he knew it all the time. He longed for the sugar-plum; he knew it was +naughty to take it: he dared not for fear of the devil, and he shut +his eyes while somebody else popped it into his mouth, and assumed his +responsibility. Being man-driven or chicaned, is different from being +managed. Being managed implies being led the way this other person +thinks you should go: altogether for your own benefit, mind: you are to +see with her eyes, that you may not disappoint your own appetites: which +does not hurt the flesh, certainly; but does damage the conscience; and +from the moment you have once succumbed, that function ceases to perform +its office of moral strainer so well. + +After all, was he not happier when he wrote himself tailor, than when he +declared himself gentleman? + +So he now imagined, till Rose, wishing him 'Good night' on the balcony, +and abandoning her hand with a steady sweet voice and gaze, said: 'How +generous of you to forgive my friend, dear Evan!' And the ravishing +little glimpse of womanly softness in her, set his heart beating. If he +thought at all, it was that he would have sacrificed body and soul for +her. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. SECOND DESPATCH OF THE COUNTESS + +We do not advance very far in this second despatch, and it will be found +chiefly serviceable for the indications it affords of our General's +skill in mining, and addiction to that branch of military science. For +the moment I must beg that a little indulgence be granted to her. + +'Purely business. Great haste. Something has happened. An event? I know +not; but events may flow from it. + +'A lady is here who has run away from the conjugal abode, and Lady +Jocelyn shelters her, and is hospitable to another, who is more +concerned in this lady's sad fate than he should be. This may be morals, +my dear: but please do not talk of Portugal now. A fineish woman with +a great deal of hair worn as if her maid had given it one comb straight +down and then rolled it up in a hurry round one finger. Malice would say +carrots. It is called gold. Mr. Forth is in a glass house, and is wrong +to cast his sneers at perfectly inoffensive people. + +'Perfectly impossible we can remain at Beckley Court together--if not +dangerous. Any means that Providence may designate, I would employ. It +will be like exorcising a demon. Always excuseable. I only ask a little +more time for stupid Evan. He might have little Bonner now. I should not +object; but her family is not so good. + +'Now, do attend. At once obtain a copy of Strike's Company people. You +understand--prospectuses. Tell me instantly if the Captain Evremonde +in it is Captain Lawson Evremonde. Pump Strike. Excuse vulgar words. +Whether he is not Lord Laxley's half-brother. Strike shall be of use to +us. Whether he is not mad. Captain E----'s address. Oh! when I think of +Strike--brute! and poor beautiful uncomplaining Carry and her shoulder! +But let us indeed most fervently hope that his Grace may be balm to it. +We must not pray for vengeance. It is sinful. Providence will inflict +that. Always know that Providence is quite sure to. It comforts +exceedingly. + +'Oh, that Strike were altogether in the past tense! No knowing what the +Duke might do--a widower and completely subjugated. It makes my bosom +bound. The man tempts me to the wickedest Frenchy ideas. There! + +We progress with dear venerable Mrs. Bonner. Truly pious--interested in +your Louisa. She dreads that my husband will try to convert me to his +creed. I can but weep and say--never! + +'I need not say I have my circle. To hear this ridiculous boy Harry +Jocelyn grunt under my nose when he has led me unsuspectingly away from +company--Harriet! dearest! He thinks it a sigh! But there is no time for +laughing. + +'My maxim in any house is--never to despise the good opinion of the +nonentities. They are the majority. I think they all look up to me. But +then of course you must fix that by seducing the stars. My diplomatist +praises my abilities--Sir John Loring my style--the rest follow and I do +not withhold my smiles, and they are happy, and I should be but that +for ungrateful Evan's sake I sacrificed my peace by binding myself to a +dreadful sort of half-story. I know I did not quite say it. It seems +as if Sir A.'s ghost were going to haunt me. And then I have the most +dreadful fears that what I have done has disturbed him in the other +world. Can it be so? It is not money or estates we took at all, dearest! +And these excellent young curates--I almost wish it was Protestant to +speak a word behind a board to them and imbibe comfort. For after all it +is nothing: and a word even from this poor thin mopy Mr. Parsley might +be relief to a poor soul in trouble. Catholics tell you that what you +do in a good cause is redeemable if not exactly right. And you know the +Catholic is the oldest Religion of the two. I would listen to the Pope, +staunch Protestant as I am, in preference to King Henry the Eighth. +Though, as a woman, I bear him no rancour, for his wives were--fools, +point blank. No man was ever so manageable. My diplomatist is getting +liker and liker to him every day. Leaner, of course, and does not +habitually straddle. Whiskers and morals, I mean. We must be silent +before our prudish sister. Not a prude? We talk diplomacy, dearest. He +complains of the exclusiveness of the port of Oporto, and would have +strict alliance between Portugal and England, with mutual privileges. +I wish the alliance, and think it better to maintain the exclusiveness. +Very trifling; but what is life! + +'Adieu. One word to leave you laughing. Imagine her situation! This +stupid Miss Carrington has offended me. She has tried to pump Conning, +who, I do not doubt, gave her as much truth as I chose she should +have in her well. But the quandary of the wretched creature! She takes +Conning into her confidence--a horrible malady just covered by +high-neck dress! Skin! and impossible that she can tell her engaged--who +is--guess--Mr. George Up------! Her name is Louisa Carrington. There was +a Louisa Harrington once. Similarity of names perhaps. Of course I could +not let her come to the house; and of course Miss C. is in a state of +wonderment and bad passions, I fear. I went straight to Lady Racial, my +dear. There was nothing else for it but to go and speak. She is truly +a noble woman--serves us in every way. As she should!--much affected +by sight of Evan, and keeps aloof from Beckley Court. The finger of +Providence is in all. Adieu! but do pray think of Miss Carrington! It +was foolish of her to offend me. Drives and walks-the Duke attentive. +Description of him when I embrace you. I give amiable Sir Franks +Portuguese dishes. Ah, my dear, if we had none but men to contend +against, and only women for our tools! But this is asking for the world, +and nothing less. + +'Open again,' she pursues. 'Dear Carry just come in. There are fairies, +I think, where there are dukes! Where could it have come from? Could +any human being have sent messengers post to London, ordered, and had it +despatched here within this short time? You shall not be mystified! I do +not think I even hinted; but the afternoon walk I had with his Grace, on +the first day of his arrival, I did shadow it very delicately how much +it was to be feared our poor Carry could not, that she dared not, betray +her liege lord in an evening dress. Nothing more, upon my veracity! And +Carry has this moment received the most beautiful green box, containing +two of the most heavenly old lace shawls that you ever beheld. We divine +it is to hide poor Carry's matrimonial blue mark! We know nothing. Will +you imagine Carry is for not accepting it! Priority of birth does not +imply superior wits, dear--no allusion to you. I have undertaken all. +Arch looks, but nothing pointed. His Grace will understand the exquisite +expression of feminine gratitude. It is so sweet to deal with true +nobility. Carry has only to look as she always does. One sees Strike +sitting on her. Her very pliability has rescued her from being utterly +squashed long ere this! The man makes one vulgar. It would have been not +the slightest use asking me to be a Christian had I wedded Strike. But +think of the fairy presents! It has determined me not to be expelled by +Mr. Forth--quite. Tell Silva he is not forgotten. But, my dear, between +us alone, men are so selfish, that it is too evident they do not care +for private conversations to turn upon a lady's husband: not to be +risked, only now and then. + +'I hear that the young ladies and the young gentlemen have been out +riding a race. The poor little Bonner girl cannot ride, and she says +to Carry that Rose wishes to break our brother's neck. The child hardly +wishes that, but she is feelingless. If Evan could care for Miss Bonner, +he might have B. C.! Oh, it is not so very long a shot, my dear. I am +on the spot, remember. Old Mrs. Bonner is a most just-minded spirit. +Juliana is a cripple, and her grandmother wishes to be sure that when +she departs to her Lord the poor cripple may not be chased from this +home of hers. Rose cannot calculate--Harry is in disgrace--there is +really no knowing. This is how I have reckoned; L10,000 extra to Rose; +perhaps L1000 or nothing to H.; all the rest of ready-money--a large +sum--no use guessing--to Lady Jocelyn; and B. C. to little Bonner--it is +worth L40,000 Then she sells, or stops--permanent resident. It might be +so soon, for I can see worthy Mrs. Bonner to be breaking visibly. But +young men will not see with wiser eyes than their own. Here is Evan +risking his neck for an indifferent--there's some word for "not soft." +In short, Rose is the cold-blooded novice, as I have always said, the +most selfish of the creatures on two legs. + +'Adieu! Would you have dreamed that Major Nightmare's gallantry to his +wife would have called forth a gallantry so truly touching and delicate? +Can you not see Providence there? Out of Evil--the Catholics again! + +'Address. If Lord Lax---'s half-brother. If wrong in noddle. This I know +you will attend to scrupulously. Ridiculous words are sometimes the most +expressive. Once more, may Heaven bless you all! I thought of you in +church last Sunday. + +'I may tell you this: young Mr. Laxley is here. He--but it was Evan's +utter madness was the cause, and I have not ventured a word to him. He +compelled Evan to assert his rank, and Mr. Forth's face has been +one concentrated sneer since THEN. He must know the origin of the +Cogglesbys, or something. Now you will understand the importance. I +cannot be more explicit. Only--the man must go. + +'P.S. I have just ascertained that Lady Jocelyn is quite familiar with +Andrew's origin!! She must think my poor Harriet an eccentric woman. Of +course I have not pretended to rank here, merely gentry. It is gentry +in reality, for had poor Papa been legitimized, he would have been a +nobleman. You know that; and between the two we may certainly claim +gentry. I twiddle your little good Andrew to assert it for us twenty +times a day. Of all the dear little manageable men! It does you infinite +credit that you respect him as you do. What would have become of me I do +not know. + +'P.S. I said two shawls--a black and a white. The black not so +costly--very well. And so delicate of him to think of the mourning! But +the white, my dear, must be family--must! Old English point. Exquisitely +chaste. So different from that Brussels poor Andrew surprised you +with. I know it cost money, but this is a question of taste. The Duke +reconciles me to England and all my troubles! He is more like poor Papa +than any one of the men I have yet seen. The perfect gentleman! I do +praise myself for managing an invitation to our Carry. She has been a +triumph.' + +Admire the concluding stroke. The Countess calls this letter a purely +business communication. Commercial men might hardly think so; but +perhaps ladies will perceive it. She rambles concentrically, if I may +so expound her. Full of luxurious enjoyment of her position, her mind is +active, and you see her at one moment marking a plot, the next, with +a light exclamation, appeasing her conscience, proud that she has +one; again she calls up rival forms of faith, that she may show the +Protestant its little shortcomings, and that it is slightly in debt to +her (like Providence) for her constancy, notwithstanding. The Protestant +you see, does not confess, and she has to absolve herself, and must be +doing it internally while she is directing outer matters. Hence her slap +at King Henry VIII. In fact, there is much more business in this letter +than I dare to indicate; but as it is both impertinent and unpopular to +dive for any length of time beneath the surface (especially when there +are few pearls to show for it), we will discontinue our examination. + +The Countess, when she had dropped the letter in the bag, returned to +her chamber, and deputed Dorothy Loring, whom she met on the stairs, +to run and request Rose to lend her her album to beguile the afternoon +with; and Dorothy dances to Rose, saying, 'The Countess de Lispy-Lispy +would be delighted to look at your album all the afternoon.' + +'Oh what a woman that is!' says Rose. 'Countess de Lazy-Lazy, I think.' + +The Countess, had she been listening, would have cared little for +accusations on that head. Idlesse was fashionable: exquisite languors +were a sign of breeding; and she always had an idea that she looked +more interesting at dinner after reclining on a couch the whole of the +afternoon. The great Mel and his mate had given her robust health, +and she was able to play the high-born invalid without damage to +her constitution. Anything amused her; Rose's album even, and the +compositions of W. H., E. H., D. F., and F. L. The initials F. L. were +diminutive, and not unlike her own hand, she thought. They were appended +to a piece of facetiousness that would not have disgraced the abilities +of Mr. John Raikes; but we know that very stiff young gentlemen betray +monkey-minds when sweet young ladies compel them to disport. On the +whole, it was not a lazy afternoon that the Countess passed, and it was +not against her wish that others should think it was. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. BREAK-NECK LEAP + +The August sun was in mid-sky, when a troop of ladies and cavaliers +issued from the gates of Beckley Court, and winding through the +hopgardens, emerged on the cultivated slopes bordering the downs. +Foremost, on her grey cob, was Rose, having on her right her uncle +Seymour, and on her left Ferdinand Laxley. Behind came Mrs. Evremonde, +flanked by Drummond and Evan. Then followed Jenny Graine, supported by +Harry and William Harvey. In the rear came an open carriage, in which +Miss Carrington and the Countess de Saldar were borne, attended by Lady +Jocelyn and Andrew Cogglesby on horseback. The expedition had for its +object the selection of a run of ground for an amateur steeple-chase: +the idea of which had sprung from Laxley's boasts of his horsemanship: +and Rose, quick as fire, had backed herself, and Drummond and Evan, to +beat him. The mention of the latter was quite enough for Laxley. + +'If he follows me, let him take care of his neck,' said that youth. + +'Why, Ferdinand, he can beat you in anything!' exclaimed Rose, +imprudently. + +But the truth was, she was now more restless than ever. She was not +distant with Evan, but she had a feverish manner, and seemed to thirst +to make him show his qualities, and excel, and shine. Billiards, or +jumping, or classical acquirements, it mattered not--Evan must come +first. He had crossed the foils with Laxley, and disarmed him; for Mel +his father had seen him trained for a military career. Rose made a noise +about the encounter, and Laxley was eager for his opportunity, which he +saw in the proposed mad gallop. + +Now Mr. George Uplift, who usually rode in buckskins whether he was +after the fox or fresh air, was out on this particular morning; and +it happened that, as the cavalcade wound beneath the down, Mr. George +trotted along the ridge. He was a fat-faced, rotund young squire--a +bully where he might be, and an obedient creature enough where he must +be--good-humoured when not interfered with; fond of the table, and +brimful of all the jokes of the county, the accent of which +just seasoned his speech. He had somehow plunged into a sort of +half-engagement with Miss Carrington. At his age, and to ladies of Miss +Carrington's age, men unhappily do not plunge head-foremost, or Miss +Carrington would have had him long before. But he was at least in for it +half a leg; and a desperate maiden, on the criminal side of thirty, may +make much of that. Previous to the visit of the Countess de Saldar, Mr. +George had been in the habit of trotting over to Beckley three or four +times a week. Miss Carrington had a little money: Mr. George was heir to +his uncle. Miss Carrington was lean and blue-eyed. + +Mr. George was black-eyed and obese. By everybody, except Mr. George, +the match was made: but that exception goes for little in the country, +where half the population are talked into marriage, and gossips entirely +devote themselves to continuing the species. Mr. George was certain that +he had not been fighting shy of the fair Carrington of late, nor had +he been unfaithful. He had only been in an extraordinary state of +occupation. Messages for Lady Racial had to be delivered, and he +had become her cavalier and escort suddenly. The young squire was +bewildered; but as he was only one leg in love--if the sentiment may be +thus spoken of figuratively--his vanity in his present office kept him +from remorse or uneasiness. + +He rode at an easy pace within sight of the home of his treasure, and +his back turned to it. Presently there rose a cry from below. Mr. George +looked about. The party of horsemen hallooed: Mr. George yoicked. Rose +set her horse to gallop up; Seymour Jocelyn cried 'fox,' and gave +the view; hearing which Mr. George shouted, and seemed inclined to +surrender; but the fun seized him, and, standing up in his stirrups, he +gathered his coat-tails in a bunch, and waggled them with a jolly laugh, +which was taken up below, and the clamp of hoofs resounded on the turf +as Mr. George led off, after once more, with a jocose twist in his seat, +showing them the brush mockingly. Away went fox, and a mad chase began. +Seymour acted as master of the hunt. Rose, Evan, Drummond, and Mrs. +Evremonde and Dorothy, skirted to the right, all laughing, and full of +excitement. Harry bellowed the direction from above. The ladies in the +carriage, with Lady Jocelyn and Andrew, watched them till they flowed +one and all over the shoulder of the down. + +'And who may the poor hunted animal be?' inquired the Countess. + +'George Uplift,' said Lady Jocelyn, pulling out her watch. 'I give him +twenty minutes.' + +'Providence speed him!' breathed the Countess, with secret fervour. + +'Oh, he hasn't a chance,' said Lady Jocelyn. 'The squire keeps wretched +beasts.' + +'Is there not an attraction that will account for his hasty capture?' +said the Countess, looking tenderly at Miss Carrington, who sat a little +straighter, and the Countess, hating manifestations of stiff-backedness, +could not forbear adding: 'I am at war with my sympathies, which should +be with the poor brute flying from his persecutors.' + +She was in a bitter state of trepidation, or she would have thought +twice before she touched a nerve of the enamoured lady, as she knew she +did in calling her swain a poor brute, and did again by pertinaciously +pursuing: + +'Does he then shun his captivity?' + +'Touching a nerve' is one of those unforgivable small offences which, in +our civilized state, produce the social vendettas and dramas that, with +savage nations, spring from the spilling of blood. Instead of an eye for +an eye, a tooth for a tooth, we demand a nerve for a nerve. 'Thou hast +touched me where I am tender thee, too, will I touch.' + +Miss Carrington had been alarmed and hurt at the strange evasion of +Mr. George; nor could she see the fun of his mimicry of the fox and his +flight away from instead of into her neighbourhood. She had also, or +she now thought it, remarked that when Mr. George had been spoken of +casually, the Countess had not looked a natural look. Perhaps it was her +present inflamed fancy. At any rate the Countess was offensive now. She +was positively vulgar, in consequence, to the mind of Miss Carrington, +and Miss Carrington was drawn to think of a certain thing Ferdinand +Laxley had said he had heard from the mouth of this lady's brother when +ale was in him. Alas! how one seed of a piece of folly will lurk and +sprout to confound us; though, like the cock in the eastern tale, we +peck up zealously all but that one! + +The carriage rolled over the turf, attended by Andrew, and Lady Jocelyn, +and the hunt was seen; Mr. George some forty paces a-head; Seymour +gaining on him, Rose next. + +'Who's that breasting Rose?' said Lady Jocelyn, lifting her glass. + +'My brother-in-law, Harrington,' returned Andrew. + +'He doesn't ride badly,' said Lady Jocelyn. 'A little too military. He +must have been set up in England.' + +'Oh, Evan can do anything,' said Andrew enthusiastically. 'His father +was a capital horseman, and taught him fencing, riding, and every +accomplishment. You won't find such a young fellow, my lady--' + +'The brother like him at all?' asked Lady Jocelyn, still eyeing the +chase. + +'Brother? He hasn't got a brother,' said Andrew. + +Lady Jocelyn continued: 'I mean the present baronet.' + +She was occupied with her glass, and did not observe the flush that took +hold of Andrew's ingenuous cheeks, and his hurried glance at and off the +quiet eye of the Countess. Miss Carrington did observe it. + +Mr. Andrew dashed his face under the palm of his hand, and murmured: + +'Oh-yes! His brother-in-law isn't much like him--ha! ha!' + +And then the poor little man rubbed his hands, unconscious of the +indignant pity for his wretched abilities in the gaze of the Countess; +and he must have been exposed--there was a fear that the ghost of Sir +Abraham would have darkened this day, for Miss Carrington was about to +speak, when Lady Jocelyn cried: 'There's a purl! Somebody's down.' + +The Countess was unaware of the nature of a purl, but she could have +sworn it to be a piece of Providence. + +'Just by old Nat Hodges' farm, on Squire Copping's ground,' cried +Andrew, much relieved by the particular individual's misfortune. 'Dear +me, my lady! how old Tom and I used to jump the brook there, to be sure! +and when you were no bigger than little Miss Loring--do you remember old +Tom? We're all fools one time in our lives!' + +'Who can it be?' said Lady Jocelyn, spying at the discomfited horseman. +'I'm afraid it's poor Ferdinand.' + +They drove on to an eminence from which the plain was entirely laid +open. + +'I hope my brother will enjoy his ride this day,' sighed the Countess. +'It will be his limit of enjoyment for a lengthened period!' + +She perceived that Mr. George's capture was inevitable, and her heart +sank; for she was sure he would recognize her, and at the moment she +misdoubted her powers. She dreamed of flight. + +'You're not going to leave us?' said Lady Jocelyn. 'My dear Countess, +what will the future member do without you? We have your promise to stay +till the election is over.' + +'Thanks for your extreme kind courtesy, Lady Jocelyn,' murmured the +Countess: 'but my husband--the Count.' + +'The favour is yours,' returned her ladyship. 'And if the Count cannot +come, you at least are at liberty?' + +'You are most kind,' said the Countess. + +'Andrew and his wife I should not dare to separate for more than +a week,' said Lady Jocelyn. 'He is the great British husband. The +proprietor! "My wife" is his unanswerable excuse.' + +'Yes,' Andrew replied cheerily. 'I don't like division between man and +wife, I must say.' + +The Countess dared no longer instance the Count, her husband. She was +heard to murmur that citizen feelings were not hers: + +'You suggested Fallow field to Melville, did you not?' asked Lady +Jocelyn. + +'It was the merest suggestion,' said the Countess, smiling. + +'Then you must really stay to see us through it,' said her ladyship. +'Where are they now? They must be making straight for break-neck fence. +They'll have him there. George hasn't pluck for that.' + +'Hasn't what?' + +It was the Countess who requested to know the name of this other piece +of Providence Mr. George Uplift was deficient in. + +'Pluck-go,' said her ladyship hastily, and telling the coachman to drive +to a certain spot, trotted on with Andrew, saying to him: 'I'm afraid we +are thought vulgar by the Countess.' + +Andrew considered it best to reassure her gravely. + +'The young man, her brother, is well-bred,' said Lady Jocelyn, and +Andrew was very ready to praise Evan. + +Lady Jocelyn, herself in slimmer days a spirited horsewoman, had +correctly estimated Mr. George's pluck. He was captured by Harry and +Evan close on the leap, in the act of shaking his head at it; and many +who inspected the leap would have deemed it a sign that wisdom weighted +the head that would shake long at it; for it consisted of a post and +rails, with a double ditch. + +Seymour Jocelyn, Mrs. Evremonde, Drummond, Jenny Graine, and William +Harvey, rode with Mr. George in quest of the carriage, and the captive +was duly delivered over. + +'But where's the brush?' said Lady Jocelyn, laughing, and introducing +him to the Countess, who dropped her head, and with it her veil. + +'Oh! they leave that on for my next run,' said Mr. George, bowing +civilly. + +'You are going to run again?' + +Miss Carrington severely asked this question; and Mr. George protested. + +'Secure him, Louisa,' said Lady Jocelyn. 'See here: what's the matter +with poor Dorothy?' + +Dorothy came slowly trotting up to them along the green lane, and thus +expressed her grief, between sobs: + +'Isn't it a shame? Rose is such a tyrant. They're going to ride a race +and a jump down in the field, and it's break-neck leap, and Rose won't +allow me to stop and see it, though she knows I'm just as fond of Evan +as she is; and if he's killed I declare it will be her fault; and it's +all for her stupid, dirty old pocket handkerchief!' + +'Break-neck fence!' said Lady Jocelyn; 'that's rather mad.' + +'Do let's go and see it, darling Aunty Joey,' pleaded the little maid. +Lady Jocelyn rode on, saying to herself: 'That girl has a great deal of +devil in her.' The lady's thoughts were of Rose. + +'Black Lymport'd take the leap,' said Mr. George, following her with the +rest of the troop. 'Who's that fellow on him?' + +'His name's Harrington,' quoth Drummond. + +'Oh, Harrington!' Mr. George responded; but immediately +laughed--'Harrington? 'Gad, if he takes the leap it'll be odd--another +of the name. That's where old Mel had his spill.' + +'Who?' Drummond inquired. + +'Old Mel Harrington--the Lymport wonder. Old Marquis Mel,' said Mr. +George. 'Haven't ye heard of him?' + +'What! the gorgeous tailor!' exclaimed Lady Jocelyn. 'How I regret never +meeting that magnificent snob! that efflorescence of sublime imposture! +I've seen the Regent; but one's life doesn't seem complete without +having seen his twin-brother. You must give us warning when you have him +down at Croftlands again, Mr. George.' + +'Gad, he'll have to come a long distance--poor old Mel!' said Mr. +George; and was going on, when Seymour Jocelyn stroked his moustache to +cry, 'Look! Rosey 's starting 'em, by Jove!' + +The leap, which did not appear formidable from where they stood, was +four fields distant from the point where Rose, with a handkerchief in +her hand, was at that moment giving the signal to Laxley and Evan. + +Miss Carrington and the Countess begged Lady Jocelyn to order a shout +to be raised to arrest them, but her ladyship marked her good sense by +saying: 'Let them go, now they're about it'; for she saw that to make +a fuss now matters had proceeded so far, was to be uncivil to the +inevitable. + +The start was given, and off they flew. Harry Jocelyn, behind them, was +evidently caught by the demon, and clapped spurs to his horse to have +his fling as well, for the fun of the thing; but Rose, farther down the +field, rode from her post straight across him, to the imminent peril of +a mutual overset; and the party on the height could see Harry fuming, +and Rose coolly looking him down, and letting him understand what her +will was; and her mother, and Drummond, and Seymour who beheld this, had +a common sentiment of admiration for the gallant girl. But away went the +rivals. Black Lymport was the favourite, though none of the men thought +he would be put at the fence. The excitement became contagious. The +Countess threw up her veil. Lady Jocelyn, and Seymour, and Drummond, +galloped down the lane, and Mr. George was for accompanying them, till +the line of Miss Carrington's back gave him her unmistakeable opinion +of such a course of conduct, and he had to dally and fret by her side. +Andrew's arm was tightly grasped by the Countess. The rivals were +crossing the second field, Laxley a little a-head. + +'He 's holding in the black mare--that fellow!' said Mr. George. 'Gad, +it looks like going at the fence. Fancy Harrington!' + +They were now in the fourth field, a smooth shorn meadow. Laxley was +two clear lengths in advance, but seemed riding, as Mr. George remarked, +more for pace than to take the jump. The ladies kept plying random +queries and suggestions: the Countess wishing to know whether they could +not be stopped by a countryman before they encountered any danger. In +the midst of their chatter, Mr. George rose in his stirrups, crying: + +'Bravo, the black mare!' + +'Has he done it?' said Andrew, wiping his poll. + +'He? No, the mare!' shouted Mr. George, and bolted off, no longer to be +restrained. + +The Countess, doubly relieved, threw herself back in the carriage, +and Andrew drew a breath, saying: 'Evan has beat him--I saw that! The +other's horse swerved right round.' + +'I fear,' said Mrs. Evremonde, 'Mr. Harrington has had a fall. Don't be +alarmed--it may not be much.' + +'A fall!' exclaimed the Countess, equally divided between alarms of +sisterly affection and a keen sense of the romance of the thing. + +Miss Carrington ordered the carriage to be driven round. They had not +gone far when they were met by Harry Jocelyn riding in hot haste, and he +bellowed to the coachman to drive as hard as he could, and stop opposite +Brook's farm. + +The scene on the other side of the fence would have been a sweet one to +the central figure in it had his eyes then been open. Surrounded by Lady +Jocelyn, Drummond, Seymour, and the rest, Evan's dust-stained body was +stretched along the road, and his head was lying in the lap of Rose, +who, pale, heedless of anything spoken by those around her, and with her +lips set and her eyes turning wildly from one to the other, held a gory +handkerchief to his temple with one hand, and with the other felt for +the motion of his heart. + +But heroes don't die, you know. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. TRIBULATIONS AND TACTICS OF THE COUNTESS + +'You have murdered my brother, Rose Jocelyn!' + +'Don't say so now.' + +Such was the interchange between the two that loved the senseless youth, +as he was being lifted into the carriage. + +Lady Jocelyn sat upright in her saddle, giving directions about what was +to be done with Evan and the mare, impartially. + +'Stunned, and a good deal shaken, I suppose; Lymport's knees are +terribly cut,' she said to Drummond, who merely nodded. And Seymour +remarked, 'Fifty guineas knocked off her value!' One added, 'Nothing +worse, I should think'; and another, 'A little damage inside, perhaps.' +Difficult to say whether they spoke of Evan or the brute. + +No violent outcries; no reproaches cast on the cold-blooded coquette; no +exclamations on the heroism of her brother! They could absolutely spare +a thought for the animal! And Evan had risked his life for this, and +might die unpitied. The Countess diversified her grief with a deadly +bitterness against the heartless Jocelyns. + +Oh, if Evan dies! will it punish Rose sufficiently? + +Andrew expressed emotion, but not of a kind the Countess liked a +relative to be seen exhibiting; for in emotion worthy Andrew betrayed to +her his origin offensively. + +'Go away and puke, if you must,' she said, clipping poor Andrew's word +about his 'dear boy.' She could not help speaking in that way--he was so +vulgar. A word of sympathy from Lady Jocelyn might have saved her from +the sourness into which her many conflicting passions were resolving; +and might also have saved her ladyship from the rancour she had sown +in the daughter of the great Mel by her selection of epithets to +characterize him. + +Will it punish Rose at all, if Evan dies? + +Rose saw that she was looked at. How could the Countess tell that Rose +envied her the joy of holding Evan in the carriage there? Rose, to judge +by her face, was as calm as glass. Not so well seen through, however. +Mrs. Evremonde rode beside her, whose fingers she caught, and twined her +own with them tightly once for a fleeting instant. Mrs. Evremonde wanted +no further confession of her state. + +Then Rose said to her mother, 'Mama, may I ride to have the doctor +ready?' + +Ordinarily, Rose would have clapped heel to horse the moment the thought +came. She waited for the permission, and flew off at a gallop, waving +back Laxley, who was for joining her. + +'Franks will be a little rusty about the mare,' the Countess heard Lady +Jocelyn say; and Harry just then stooped his head to the carriage, and +said, in his blunt fashion, 'After all, it won't show much.' + +'We are not cattle!' exclaimed the frenzied Countess, within her bosom. +Alas! it was almost a democratic outcry they made her guilty of; but she +was driven past patience. And as a further provocation, Evan would open +his eyes. She laid her handkerchief over them with loving delicacy, +remembering in a flash that her own face had been all the while exposed +to Mr. George Uplift; and then the terrors of his presence at Beckley +Court came upon her, and the fact that she had not for the last ten +minutes been the serene Countess de Saldar; and she quite hated Andrew, +for vulgarity in others evoked vulgarity in her, which was the +reason why she ranked vulgarity as the chief of the deadly sins. Her +countenance for Harry and all the others save poor Andrew was soon the +placid heaven-confiding sister's again; not before Lady Jocelyn had +found cause to observe to Drummond: + +'Your Countess doesn't ruffle well.' + +But a lady who is at war with two or three of the facts of Providence, +and yet will have Providence for her ally, can hardly ruffle well. Do +not imagine that the Countess's love for her brother was hollow. She was +assured when she came up to the spot where he fell, that there was +no danger; he had but dislocated his shoulder, and bruised his head a +little. Hearing this, she rose out of her clamorous heart, and seized +the opportunity for a small burst of melodrama. Unhappily, Lady Jocelyn, +who gave the tone to the rest, was a Spartan in matters of this sort; +and as she would have seen those dearest to her bear the luck of the +field, she could see others. When the call for active help reached her, +you beheld a different woman. + +The demonstrativeness the Countess thirsted for was afforded her by +Juley Bonner, and in a measure by her sister Caroline, who loved Evan +passionately. The latter was in riding attire, about to mount to ride +and meet them, accompanied by the Duke. Caroline had hastily tied up her +hair; a rich golden brown lump of it hung round her cheek; her limpid +eyes and anxiously-nerved brows impressed the Countess wonderfully as +she ran down the steps and bent her fine well-filled bust forward to ask +the first hurried question. + +The Countess patted her shoulder. 'Safe, dear,' she said aloud, as one +who would not make much of it. And in a whisper, 'You look superb.' + +I must charge it to Caroline's beauty under the ducal radiance, that a +stream of sweet feelings entering into the Countess made her forget to +tell her sister that George Uplift was by. Caroline had not been abroad, +and her skin was not olive-hued; she was a beauty, and a majestic +figure, little altered since the day when the wooden marine marched her +out of Lymport. + +The Countess stepped from the carriage to go and cherish Juliana's +petulant distress; for that unhealthy little body was stamping with +impatience to have the story told to her, to burst into fits of pathos; +and while Seymour and Harry assisted Evan to descend, trying to laugh +off the pain he endured, Caroline stood by, soothing him with words and +tender looks. + +Lady Jocelyn passed him, and took his hand, saying, 'Not killed this +time!' + +'At your ladyship's service to-morrow,' he replied, and his hand was +kindly squeezed. + +'My darling Evan, you will not ride again?' Caroline cried, kissing +him on the steps; and the Duke watched the operation, and the Countess +observed the Duke. + +That Providence should select her sweetest moments to deal her wounds, +was cruel; but the Countess just then distinctly heard Mr. George Uplift +ask Miss Carrington. + +'Is that lady a Harrington?' + +'You perceive a likeness?' was the answer. + +Mr. George went 'Whew!--tit-tit-tit!' with the profound expression of a +very slow mind. + +The scene was quickly over. There was barely an hour for the ladies +to dress for dinner. Leaving Evan in the doctor's hand, and telling +Caroline to dress in her room, the Countess met Rose, and gratified her +vindictiveness, while she furthered her projects, by saying: + +'Not till my brother is quite convalescent will it be adviseable that +you should visit him. I am compelled to think of him entirely now. In +his present state he is not fit to be, played with.' + +Rose, stedfastly eyeing her, seemed to swallow down something in her +throat, and said: + +'I will obey you, Countess. I hoped you would allow me to nurse him.' + +'Quiet above all things, Rose Jocelyn!' returned the Countess, with the +suavity of a governess, who must be civil in her sourness. 'If you would +not complete this morning's achievement--stay away.' + +The Countess declined to see that Rose's lip quivered. She saw an +unpleasantness in the bottom of her eyes; and now that her brother's +decease was not even remotely to be apprehended, she herself determined +to punish the cold, unimpressionable coquette of a girl. Before +returning to Caroline, she had five minutes' conversation with. Juliana, +which fully determined her to continue the campaign at Beckley Court, +commence decisive movements, and not to retreat, though fifty George +Uplofts menaced her. Consequently, having dismissed Conning on a message +to Harry Jocelyn, to ask him for a list of the names of the new people +they were to meet that day at dinner, she said to Caroline: + +'My dear, I think it will be incumbent on us to depart very quickly.' + +Much to the Countess's chagrin and astonishment, Caroline replied: + +'I shall hardly be sorry.' + +'Not sorry? Why, what now, dear one? Is it true, then, that a +flagellated female kisses the rod? Are you so eager for a repetition of +Strike?' + +Caroline, with some hesitation, related to her more than the Countess +had ventured to petition for in her prayers. + +'Oh! how exceedingly generous!' the latter exclaimed. How very +refreshing to think that there are nobles in your England as romantic, +as courteous, as delicate as our own foreign ones! But his Grace is +quite an exceptional nobleman. Are you not touched, dearest Carry?' + +Caroline pensively glanced at the reflection of her beautiful arm in the +glass, and sighed, pushing back the hair from her temples. + +'But, for mercy's sake!' resumed the Countess, in alarm at the sigh, +'do not be too--too touched. Do, pray, preserve your wits. You weep! +Caroline, Caroline! O my goodness; it is just five-and-twenty minutes to +the first dinner-bell, and you are crying! For God's sake, think of your +face! Are you going to be a Gorgon? And you show the marks twice as long +as any other, you fair women. Squinnying like this! Caroline, for your +Louisa's sake, do not!' + +Hissing which, half angrily and half with entreaty, the Countess dropped +on her knees. Caroline's fit of tears subsided. The eldest of the +sisters, she was the kindest, the fairest, the weakest. + +'Not,' said the blandishing Countess, when Caroline's face was clearer, +'not that my best of Carrys does not look delicious in her shower. Cry, +with your hair down, and you would subdue any male creature on two legs. +And that reminds me of that most audacious Marquis de Remilla. He saw a +dirty drab of a fruit-girl crying in Lisbon streets one day, as he was +riding in the carriage of the Duchesse de Col da Rosta, and her husband +and duena, and he had a letter for her--the Duchesse. They loved! How +deliver the letter? "Save me!" he cried to the Duchesse, catching her +hand, and pressing his heart, as if very sick. The Duchesse felt the +paper--turned her hand over on her knee, and he withdrew his. What does +my Carry think was the excuse he tendered the Duke? This--and this gives +you some idea of the wonderful audacity of those dear Portuguese--that +he--he must precipitate himself and marry any woman he saw weep, and be +her slave for the term of his natural life, unless another woman's hand +at the same moment restrained him! There!' and the Countess's eyes shone +brightly. + +'How excessively imbecile!' Caroline remarked, hitherto a passive +listener to these Lusitanian contes. + +It was the first sign she had yet given of her late intercourse with +a positive Duke, and the Countess felt it, and drew back. No more +anecdotes for Caroline, to whom she quietly said: + +'You are very English, dear!' + +'But now, the Duke--his Grace,' she went on, 'how did he inaugurate?' + +'I spoke to him of Evan's position. God forgive me!--I said that was the +cause of my looks being sad.' + +'You could have thought of nothing better,' interposed the Countess. +'Yes?' + +'He said, if he might clear them he should be happy! + +'In exquisite language, Carry, of course.' + +'No; just as others talk.' + +'Hum!' went the Countess, and issued again brightly from a cloud +of reflection, with the remark: 'It was to seem business-like--the +commerciality of the English mind. To the point--I know. Well, you +perceive, my sweetest, that Evan's interests are in your hands. You dare +not quit the field. In one week, I fondly trust, he will be secure. What +more did his Grace say? May we not be the repository of such delicious +secresies?' + +Caroline gave tremulous indications about the lips, and the Countess +jumped to the bell and rang it, for they were too near dinner for the +trace of a single tear to be permitted. The bell and the appearance of +Conning effectually checked the flood. + +While speaking to her sister, the Countess had hesitated to mention +George Uplift's name, hoping that, as he had no dinner-suit, he would +not stop to dinner that day, and would fall to the charge of Lady Racial +once more. Conning, however, brought in a sheet of paper on which the +names of the guests were written out by Harry, a daily piece of service +he performed for the captivating dame, and George Uplift's name was in +the list. + +'We will do the rest, Conning-retire,' she said, and then folding +Caroline in her arms, murmured, the moment they were alone, 'Will my +Carry dress her hair plain to-day, for the love of her Louisa?' + +'Goodness! what a request!' exclaimed Caroline, throwing back her head +to see if her Louisa could be serious. + +'Most inexplicable--is it not? Will she do it?' + +'Flat, dear? It makes a fright of me.' + +'Possibly. May I beg it?' + +'But why, dearest, why? If I only knew why!' + +'For the love of your Louy.' + +'Plain along the temples?' + +'And a knot behind.' + +'And a band along the forehead?' + +'Gems, if they meet your favour.' + +'But my cheek-bones, Louisa?' + +'They are not too prominent, Carry.' + +'Curls relieve them.' + +'The change will relieve the curls, dear one.' + +Caroline looked in the glass, at the Countess, as polished a reflector, +and fell into a chair. Her hair was accustomed to roll across her +shoulders in heavy curls. The Duke would find a change of the sort +singular. She should not at all know herself with her hair done +differently: and for a lovely woman to be transformed to a fright is +hard to bear in solitude, or in imagination. + +'Really!' she petitioned. + +'Really--yes, or no?' added the Countess. + +'So unaccountable a whim!' Caroline looked in the glass dolefully, +and pulled up her thick locks from one cheek, letting them fall on the +instant. + +'She will?' breathed the Countess. + +'I really cannot,' said Caroline, with vehemence. + +The Countess burst into laughter, replying: 'My poor child! it is not my +whim--it is your obligation. George Uplift dines here to-day. Now do you +divine it? Disguise is imperative for you.' + +Mrs. Strike, gazing in her sister's face, answered slowly, 'George? But +how will you meet him?' she hurriedly asked. + +'I have met him,' rejoined the Countess, boldly. 'I defy him to know me. +I brazen him! You with your hair in my style are equally safe. You see +there is no choice. Pooh! contemptible puppy!' + +'But I never,'--Caroline was going to say she never could face him. 'I +will not dine. I will nurse Evan.' + +'You have faced him, my dear,' said the Countess, 'and you are to change +your head-dress simply to throw him off his scent.' + +As she spoke the Countess tripped about, nodding her head like a girl. +Triumph in the sense of her power over all she came in contact with, +rather elated the lady. + +Do you see why she worked her sister in this roundabout fashion? She +would not tell her George Uplift was in the house till she was sure he +intended to stay, for fear of frightening her. When the necessity became +apparent, she put it under the pretext of a whim in order to see how far +Caroline, whose weak compliance she could count on, and whose reticence +concerning the Duke annoyed her, would submit to it to please her +sister; and if she rebelled positively, why to be sure it was the Duke +she dreaded to shock: and, therefore, the Duke had a peculiar hold on +her: and, therefore, the Countess might reckon that she would do more +than she pleased to confess to remain with the Duke, and was manageable +in that quarter. All this she learnt without asking. I need not add, +that Caroline sighingly did her bidding. + +'We must all be victims in our turn, Carry,' said the Countess. 'Evan's +prospects--it may be, Silva's restoration--depend upon your hair being +dressed plain to-day. Reflect on that!' + +Poor Caroline obeyed; but she was capable of reflecting only that her +face was unnaturally lean and strange to her. + +The sisters tended and arranged one another, taking care to push their +mourning a month or two ahead and the Countess animadverted on the +vulgar mind of Lady Jocelyn, who would allow a 'gentleman to sit down +at a gentlewoman's table, in full company, in pronounced undress': and +Caroline, utterly miserable, would pretend that she wore a mask and kept +grimacing as they do who are not accustomed to paint on the cheeks, +till the Countess checked her by telling her she should ask her for that +before the Duke. + +After a visit to Evan, the sisters sailed together into the +drawing-room. + +'Uniformity is sometimes a gain,' murmured the Countess, as they were +parting in the middle of the room. She saw that their fine figures, and +profiles, and resemblance in contrast, produced an effect. The Duke wore +one of those calmly intent looks by which men show they are aware of +change in the heavens they study, and are too devout worshippers to +presume to disapprove. Mr. George was standing by Miss Carrington, +and he also watched Mrs. Strike. To bewilder him yet more the Countess +persisted in fixing her eyes upon his heterodox apparel, and Mr. George +became conscious and uneasy. Miss Carrington had to address her question +to him twice before he heard. Melville Jocelyn, Sir John Loring, Sir +Franks, and Hamilton surrounded the Countess, and told her what they had +decided on with regard to the election during the day; for Melville +was warm in his assertion that they would not talk to the Countess five +minutes without getting a hint worth having. + +'Call to us that man who is habited like a groom,' said the Countess, +indicating Mr. George. 'I presume he is in his right place up here?' + +'Whew--take care, Countess--our best man. He's good for a dozen,' said +Hamilton. + +Mr. George was brought over and introduced to the Countess de Saldar. + +'So the oldest Tory in the county is a fox?' she said, in allusion to +the hunt. Never did Caroline Strike admire her sister's fearful genius +more than at that moment. + +Mr. George ducked and rolled his hand over his chin, with 'ah-um!' and +the like, ended by a dry laugh. + +'Are you our supporter, Mr. Uplift?' + +'Tory interest, ma--um--my lady.' + +'And are you staunch and may be trusted?' + +''Pon my honour, I think I have that reputation.' + +'And you would not betray us if we give you any secrets? Say "'Pon my +honour," again. You launch it out so courageously.' + +The men laughed, though they could not see what the Countess was +driving at. She had for two minutes spoken as she spoke when a girl, and +George--entirely off his guard and unsuspicious--looked unenlightened. +If he knew, there were hints enough for him in her words. + +If he remained blind, they might pass as air. The appearance of the +butler cut short his protestation as to his powers of secresy. + +The Countess dismissed him. + +'You will be taken into our confidence when we require you.' And she +resumed her foreign air in a most elaborate and overwhelming bow. + +She was now perfectly satisfied that she was safe from Mr. George, and, +as she thoroughly detested the youthful squire, she chose to propagate +a laugh at him by saying with the utmost languor and clearness of voice, +as they descended the stairs: + +'After all, a very clever fox may be a very dull dog--don't you think?' + +Gentlemen in front of her, and behind, heard it, and at Mr. George's +expense her reputation rose. + +Thus the genius of this born general prompted her to adopt the principle +in tactics--boldly to strike when you are in the dark as to your enemy's +movements. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. IN WHICH THE DAUGHTERS OF THE GREAT MEL HAVE TO DIGEST HIM +AT DINNER + +You must know, if you would form an estimate of the Countess's heroic +impudence, that a rumour was current in Lymport that the fair and +well-developed Louisa Harrington, in her sixteenth year, did advisedly, +and with the intention of rendering the term indefinite, entrust her +guileless person to Mr. George Uplift's honourable charge. The rumour, +unflavoured by absolute malignity, was such; and it went on to say, +that the sublime Mel, alive to the honour of his family, followed the +fugitives with a pistol, and with a horsewhip, that he might chastise +the offender according to the degree of his offence. It was certain that +he had not used the pistol: it was said that he had used the whip. The +details of the interview between Mel and Mr. George were numerous, but +at the same time various. Some declared that he put a pistol to Mr. +George's ear, and under pressure of that persuader got him into the +presence of a clergyman, when he turned sulky; and when the pistol was +again produced, the ceremony would have been performed, had not the +outraged Church cried out for help. Some vowed that Mr. George had +referred all questions implying a difference between himself and Mel to +their mutual fists for decision. At any rate, Mr. George turned up in +Fallow field subsequently; the fair Louisa, unhurt and with a quiet +mind, in Lymport; and this amount of truth the rumours can be reduced +to--that Louisa and Mr. George had been acquainted. Rumour and gossip +know how to build: they always have some solid foundation, however +small. Upwards of twelve years had run since Louisa went to the wife of +the brewer--a period quite long enough for Mr. George to forget any one +in; and she was altogether a different creature; and, as it was true +that Mr. George was a dull one, she was, after the test she had put +him to, justified in hoping that Mel's progeny might pass unchallenged +anywhere out of Lymport. So, with Mr. George facing her at table, the +Countess sat down, determined to eat and be happy. + +A man with the education and tastes of a young country squire is not +likely to know much of the character of women; and of the marvellous +power they have of throwing a veil of oblivion between themselves and +what they don't want to remember, few men know much. Mr. George had +thought, when he saw Mrs. Strike leaning to Evan, and heard she was +a Harrington, that she was rather like the Lymport family; but the +reappearance of Mrs. Strike, the attention of the Duke of Belfield to +her, and the splendid tactics of the Countess, which had extinguished +every thought in the thought of himself, drove Lymport out of his mind. + +There were some dinner guests at the table-people of Fallow field, +Beckley, and Bodley. The Countess had the diplomatist on one side, the +Duke on the other. Caroline was under the charge of Sir Franks. The +Countess, almost revelling in her position opposite Mr. George, was +ambitious to lead the conversation, and commenced, smiling at Melville: + +'We are to be spared politics to-day? I think politics and cookery do +not assimilate.' + +'I'm afraid you won't teach the true Briton to agree with you,' said +Melville, shaking his head over the sums involved by this British +propensity. + +'No,' said Seymour. 'Election dinners are a part of the Constitution': +and Andrew laughed: 'They make Radicals pay as well as Tories, so it's +pretty square.' + +The topic was taken up, flagged, fell, and was taken up again. And then +Harry Jocelyn said: + +'I say, have you worked the flags yet? The great Mel must have his +flags.' + +The flags were in the hands of ladies, and ladies would look to the +rosettes, he was told. + +Then a lady of the name of Barrington laughed lightly, and said: + +'Only, pray, my dear Harry, don't call your uncle the "Great Mel" at the +election.' + +'Oh! very well,' quoth Harry: 'why not?' + +'You 'll get him laughed at--that 's all.' + +'Oh! well, then, I won't,' said Harry, whose wits were attracted by the +Countess's visage. + +Mrs. Barrington turned to Seymour, her neighbour, and resumed: + +'He really would be laughed at. There was a tailor--he was called the +Great Mel--and he tried to stand for Fallow field once. I believe he had +the support of Squire Uplift--George's uncle--and others. They must have +done it for fun! Of course he did not get so far as the hustings; but +I believe he had flags, and principles, and all sorts of things worked +ready. He certainly canvassed.' + +'A tailor--canvassed--for Parliament?' remarked an old Dowager, the +mother of Squire Copping. 'My what are we coming to next?' + +'He deserved to get in,' quoth Aunt Bel: 'After having his principles +worked ready, to eject the man was infamous.' + +Amazed at the mine she had sprung, the Countess sat through it, +lamenting the misery of owning a notorious father. Happily Evan was +absent, on his peaceful blessed bed! + +Bowing over wine with the Duke, she tried another theme, while still, +like a pertinacious cracker, the Great Mel kept banging up and down the +table. + +'We are to have a feast in the open air, I hear. What you call pic-nic.' + +The Duke believed there was a project of the sort. + +'How exquisitely they do those things in Portugal! I suppose there +would be no scandal in my telling something now. At least we are out of +Court-jurisdiction.' + +'Scandal of the Court!' exclaimed his Grace, in mock horror. + +'The option is yours to listen. The Queen, when young, was sweetly +pretty; a divine complexion; and a habit of smiling on everybody. I +presume that the young Habral, son of the first magistrate of Lisbon, +was also smiled on. Most innocently, I would swear! But it operated +on the wretched youth! He spent all his fortune in the purchase and +decoration of a fairy villa, bordering on the Val das Rosas, where +the Court enjoyed its rustic festivities, and one day a storm! all the +ladies hurried their young mistress to the house where the young Habral +had been awaiting her for ages. None so polished as he! Musicians +started up, the floors were ready, and torches beneath them!--there was +a feast of exquisite wines and viands sparkling. Quite enchantment. The +girl-Queen was in ecstasies. She deigned a dance with the young Habral, +and then all sat down to supper; and in the middle of it came the cry +of Fire! The Queen shrieked; the flames were seen all around; and if the +arms of the young Habral were opened to save her, or perish, could she +cast a thought on Royalty, and refuse? The Queen was saved the villa was +burnt; the young Habral was ruined, but, if I know a Portuguese, he was +happy till he died, and well remunerated! For he had held a Queen to his +heart! So that was a pic-nic!' + +The Duke slightly inclined his head. + +'Vrai Portughez derrendo,' he said. 'They tell a similar story in Spain, +of one of the Queens--I forget her name. The difference between us and +your Peninsular cavaliers is, that we would do as much for uncrowned +ladies.' + +'Ah! your Grace!' The Countess swam in the pleasure of a nobleman's +compliment. + +'What's the story?' interposed Aunt Bel. + +An outline of it was given her. Thank heaven, the table was now rid of +the Great Mel. For how could he have any, the remotest relation with +Queens and Peninsular pic-nics? You shall hear. + +Lady Jocelyn happened to catch a word or two of the story. + +'Why,' said she, 'that's English! Franks, you remember the ballet +divertissement they improvised at the Bodley race-ball, when the +magnificent footman fired a curtain and caught up Lady Racial, and +carried her--' + +'Heaven knows where!' cried Sir Franks. 'I remember it perfectly. It +was said that the magnificent footman did it on purpose to have that +pleasure.' + +'Ay, of course,' Hamilton took him up. 'They talked of prosecuting the +magnificent footman.' + +'Ay,' followed Seymour, 'and nobody could tell where the magnificent +footman bolted. He vanished into thin air.' + +'Ay, of course,' Melville struck in; 'and the magic enveloped the lady +for some time.' + +At this point Mr. George Uplift gave a horse-laugh. He jerked in his +seat excitedly. + +'Bodley race-ball!' he cried; and looking at Lady Jocelyn: 'Was your +ladyship there, then? Why--ha! ha! why, you have seen the Great Mel, +then! That tremendous footman was old Mel himself!' + +Lady Jocelyn struck both her hands on the table, and rested her large +grey eyes, full of humorous surprise, on Mr. George. + +There was a pause, and then the ladies and gentlemen laughed. + +'Yes,' Mr. George went on, 'that was old Mel. I'll swear to him.' + +'And that's how it began?' murmured Lady Jocelyn. + +Mr. George nodded at his plate discreetly. + +'Well,' said Lady Jocelyn, leaning back, and lifting her face upward in +the discursive fulness of her fancy, 'I feel I am not robbed. 'Il y a +des miracles, et j'en ai vu'. One's life seems more perfect when one +has seen what nature can do. The fellow was stupendous! I conceive him +present. Who'll fire a house for me? Is it my deficiency of attraction, +or a total dearth of gallant snobs?' + +The Countess was drowned. The muscles of her smiles were horribly stiff +and painful. Caroline was getting pale. Could it be accident that thus +resuscitated Mel, their father, and would not let the dead man die? +Was not malice at the bottom of it? The Countess, though she hated Mr. +George infinitely, was clear-headed enough to see that Providence alone +was trying her. No glances were exchanged between him and Laxley, or +Drummond. + +Again Mel returned to his peace, and again he had to come forth. + +'Who was this singular man you were speaking about just now?' Mrs. +Evremonde asked. + +Lady Jocelyn answered her: 'The light of his age. The embodied protest +against our social prejudice. Combine--say, Mirabeau and Alcibiades, +and the result is the Lymport Tailor:--he measures your husband in +the morning: in the evening he makes love to you, through a series of +pantomimic transformations. He was a colossal Adonis, and I'm sorry he's +dead!' + +'But did the man get into society?' said Mrs. Evremonde. 'How did he +manage that?' + +'Yes, indeed! and what sort of a society!' the dowager Copping +interjected. 'None but bachelor-tables, I can assure you. Oh! I remember +him. They talked of fetching him to Dox Hall. I said, No, thank you, +Tom; this isn't your Vauxhall.' + +'A sharp retort,' said Lady Jocelyn, 'a most conclusive rhyme; but +you're mistaken. Many families were glad to see him, I hear. And he only +consented to be treated like a footman when he dressed like one. The +fellow had some capital points. He fought two or three duels, and +behaved like a man. Franks wouldn't have him here, or I would have +received him. I hear that, as a conteur, he was inimitable. In short, he +was a robust Brummel, and the Regent of low life.' + +This should have been Mel's final epitaph. + +Unhappily, Mrs. Melville would remark, in her mincing manner, that the +idea of the admission of a tailor into society seemed very unnatural; +and Aunt Bel confessed that her experience did not comprehend it. + +'As to that,' said Lady Jocelyn, 'phenomena are unnatural. The rules +of society are lightened by the exceptions. What I like in this Mel is, +that though he was a snob, and an impostor, he could still make himself +respected by his betters. He was honest, so far; he acknowledged his +tastes, which were those of Franks, Melville, Seymour, and George--the +tastes of a gentleman. I prefer him infinitely to your cowardly +democrat, who barks for what he can't get, and is generally beastly. +In fact, I'm not sure that I haven't a secret passion for the great +tailor.' + +'After all, old Mel wasn't so bad,' Mr. George Uplift chimed in. + +'Granted a tailor--you didn't see a bit of it at table. I've known him +taken for a lord. And when he once got hold of you, you couldn't give +him up. The squire met him first in the coach, one winter. He took him +for a Russian nobleman--didn't find out what he was for a month or so. +Says Mel, "Yes, I make clothes. You find the notion unpleasant; guess +how disagreeable it is to me." The old squire laughed, and was glad to +have him at Croftlands as often as he chose to come. Old Mel and I used +to spar sometimes; but he's gone, and I should like to shake his fist +again.' + +Then Mr. George told the 'Bath' story, and episodes in Mel's career +as Marquis; and while he held the ear of the table, Rose, who had not +spoken a word, and had scarcely eaten a morsel during dinner, studied +the sisters with serious eyes. Only when she turned them from the +Countess to Mrs. Strike, they were softened by a shadowy drooping of the +eyelids, as if for some reason she deeply pitied that lady. + +Next to Rose sat Drummond, with a face expressive of cynical enjoyment. +He devoted uncommon attention to the Countess, whom he usually shunned +and overlooked. He invited her to exchange bows over wine, in the +fashion of that day, and the Countess went through the performance with +finished grace and ease. Poor Andrew had all the time been brushing back +his hair, and making strange deprecatory sounds in his throat, like a +man who felt bound to assure everybody at table he was perfectly happy +and comfortable. + +'Material enough for a Sartoriad,' said Drummond to Lady Jocelyn. + +'Excellent. Pray write it forthwith, Drummond', replied her ladyship; +and as they exchanged talk unintelligible to the Countess, this lady +observed to the Duke: + +'It is a relief to have buried that subject.' + +The Duke smiled, raising an eyebrow; but the persecuted Countess +perceived she had been much too hasty when Drummond added, + +'I'll make a journey to Lymport in a day or two, and master his +history.' + +'Do,' said her ladyship; and flourishing her hand, '"I sing the Prince +of Snobs!"' + +'Oh, if it's about old Mel, I 'll sing you material enough,' said Mr. +George. 'There! you talk of it's being unnatural, his dining out at +respectable tables. Why, I believe--upon my honour, I believe it's a +fact--he's supped and thrown dice with the Regent.' + +Lady Jocelyn clapped her hands. 'A noble culmination, Drummond! The +man's an Epic!' + +'Well, I think old Mel was equal to it,' Mr. George pursued. 'He gave me +pretty broad hints; and this is how it was, if it really happened, +you know. Old Mel had a friend; some say he was more. Well, that was +a fellow, a great gambler. I dare say you 've heard of him--Burley +Bennet--him that won Ryelands Park of one of the royal dukes--died worth +upwards of L100,000; and old Mel swore he ought to have had it, and +would if he hadn't somehow offended him. He left the money to Admiral +Harrington, and he was a relation of Mel's.' + +'But are we then utterly mixed up with tailors?' exclaimed Mrs. +Barrington. + +'Well, those are the facts,' said Mr. George. + +The wine made the young squire talkative. It is my belief that his +suspicions were not awake at that moment, and that, like any other young +country squire, having got a subject he could talk on, he did not care +to discontinue it. The Countess was past the effort to attempt to stop +him. She had work enough to keep her smile in the right place. + +Every dinner may be said to have its special topic, just as every age +has its marked reputation. They are put up twice or thrice, and have to +contend with minor lights, and to swallow them, and then they command +the tongues of men and flow uninterruptedly. So it was with the great +Mel upon this occasion. Curiosity was aroused about him. Aunt Bel agreed +with Lady Jocelyn that she would have liked to know the mighty tailor. +Mrs. Shorne but very imperceptibly protested against the notion, and +from one to another it ran. His Grace of Belfield expressed positive +approval of Mel as one of the old school. + +'Si ce n'est pas le gentilhomme, au moins, c'est le gentilhomme manque,' +said Lady Jocelyn. 'He is to be regretted, Duke. You are right. The +stuff was in him, but the Fates were unkind. I stretch out my hand to +the pauvre diable.' + +'I think one learns more from the mock magnifico than from anything +else,' observed his Grace. + +'When the lion saw the donkey in his own royal skin, said Aunt Bel, 'add +the rhyme at your discretion--he was a wiser lion, that's all.' + +'And the ape that strives to copy one--he's an animal of judgement,' +said Lady Jocelyn. 'We will be tolerant to the tailor, and the Countess +must not set us down as a nation of shopkeepers: philosophically +tolerant.' + +The Countess started, and ran a little broken 'Oh!' affably out of her +throat, dipped her lips to her tablenapkin, and resumed her smile. + +'Yes,' pursued her ladyship; 'old Mel stamps the age gone by. The +gallant adventurer tied to his shop! Alternate footman and marquis, +out of intermediate tailor! Isn't there something fine in his buffoon +imitation of the real thing? I feel already that old Mel belongs to me. +Where is the great man buried? Where have they, set the funeral brass +that holds his mighty ashes?' + +Lady Jocelyn's humour was fully entered into by the men. The women +smiled vacantly, and had a common thought that it was ill-bred of her +to hold forth in that way at table, and unfeminine of any woman to speak +continuously anywhere. + +'Oh, come!' cried Mr. George, who saw his own subject snapped away from +him by sheer cleverness; 'old Mel wasn't only a buffoon, my lady, you +know. Old Mel had his qualities. He was as much a "no-nonsense" fellow, +in his way, as a magistrate, or a minister.' + +'Or a king, or a constable,' Aunt Bel helped his illustration. + +'Or a prince, a poll-parrot, a Perigord-pie,' added Drummond, whose +gravity did not prevent Mr. George from seeing that he was laughed at. + +'Well, then, now, listen to this,' said Mr. George, leaning his two +hands on the table resolutely. Dessert was laid, and, with a full glass +beside him, and a pear to peel, he determined to be heard. + +The Countess's eyes went mentally up to the vindictive heavens. She +stole a glance at Caroline, and was alarmed at her excessive pallor. +Providence had rescued Evan from this! + +'Now, I know this to be true,' Mr. George began. 'When old Mel was +alive, he and I had plenty of sparring, and that--but he's dead, and +I'll do him justice. I spoke of Burley Bennet just now. Now, my lady, +old Burley was, I think, Mel's half-brother, and he came, I know, +somewhere out of Drury Lane-one of the courts near the theatre--I don't +know much of London. However, old Mel wouldn't have that. Nothing less +than being born in St. James's Square would content old Mel, and he +must have a Marquis for his father. I needn't be more particular. Before +ladies--ahem! But Burley was the shrewd hand of the two. Oh-h-h! such a +card! He knew the way to get into company without false pretences. Well, +I told you, he had lots more than L100,000--some said two--and he gave +up Ryelands; never asked for it, though he won it. Consequence was, +he commanded the services of somebody pretty high. And it was he got +Admiral Harrington made a captain, posted, commodore, admiral, and +K.C.B., all in seven years! In the Army it 'd have been half the time, +for the H.R.H. was stronger in that department. Now, I know old +Burley promised Mel to leave him his money, and called the Admiral +an ungrateful dog. He didn't give Mel much at a time--now and then a +twenty-pounder or so--I saw the cheques. And old Mel expected the money, +and looked over his daughters like a turkey-cock. Nobody good enough for +them. Whacking handsome gals--three! used to be called the Three Graces +of Lymport. And one day Burley comes and visits Mel, and sees the girls. +And he puts his finger on the eldest, I can tell you. She was a spanker! +She was the handsomest gal, I think, ever I saw. For the mother's a fine +woman, and what with the mother, and what with old Mel--' + +'We won't enter into the mysteries of origin,' quoth Lady Jocelyn. + +'Exactly, my lady. Oh, your servant, of course. Before ladies. A Burley +Bennet, I said. Long and short was, he wanted to take her up to London. +Says old Mel: "London 's a sad place."--"Place to make money," says +Burley. "That's not work for a young gal," says Mel. Long and short +was, Burley wanted to take her, and Mel wouldn't let her go.' Mr. George +lowered his tone, and mumbled, 'Don't know how to explain it very well +before ladies. What Burley wanted was--it wasn't quite honourable, you +know, though there was a good deal of spangles on it, and whether a real +H.R.H., or a Marquis, or a Viscount, I can't say, but--the offer was +tempting to a tradesman. "No," says Mel; like a chap planting his +flagstaff and sticking to it. I believe that to get her to go with him, +Burley offered to make a will on the spot, and to leave every farthing +of his money and property--upon my soul, I believe it to be true--to Mel +and his family, if he'd let the gal go. "No," says Mel. I like the old +bird! And Burley got in a rage, and said he'd leave every farthing to +the sailor. Says Mel: "I'm a poor tradesman; but I have and I always +will have the feelings of a gentleman, and they're more to me than hard +cash, and the honour of my daughter, sir, is dearer to me than my blood. +Out of the house!" cries Mel. And away old Burley went, and left every +penny to the sailor, Admiral Harrington, who never noticed 'em an inch. +Now, there!' + +All had listened to Mr. George attentively, and he had slurred the +apologetic passages, and emphasized the propitiatory 'before ladies' in +a way to make himself well understood a generation back. + +'Bravo, old Mel!' rang the voice of Lady Jocelyn, and a murmur ensued, +in the midst of which Rose stood up and hurried round the table to Mrs. +Strike, who was seen to rise from her chair; and as she did so, the +ill-arranged locks fell from their unnatural restraint down over her +shoulders; one great curl half forward to the bosom, and one behind her +right ear. Her eyes were wide, her whole face, neck, and fingers, white +as marble. The faintest tremor of a frown on her brows, and her shut +lips, marked the continuation of some internal struggle, as if with her +last conscious force she kept down a flood of tears and a wild outcry +which it was death to hold. Sir Franks felt his arm touched, and looked +up, and caught her, as Rose approached. The Duke and other gentlemen +went to his aid, and as the beautiful woman was borne out white and +still as a corpse, the Countess had this dagger plunged in her heart +from the mouth of Mr. George, addressing Miss Carrington: + +'I swear I didn't do it on purpose. She 's Carry Harrington, old Mel's +daughter, as sure as she 's flesh and blood!' + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. TREATS OF A HANDKERCHIEF + +Running through Beckley Park, clear from the chalk, a little stream +gave light and freshness to its pasturage. Near where it entered, a +bathing-house of white marble had been built, under which the water +flowed, and the dive could be taken to a paved depth, and you swam out +over a pebbly bottom into sun-light, screened by the thick-weeded banks, +loose-strife and willow-herb, and mint, nodding over you, and in the +later season long-plumed yellow grasses. Here at sunrise the young men +washed their limbs, and here since her return home English Rose loved to +walk by night. She had often spoken of the little happy stream to Evan +in Portugal, and when he came to Beckley Court, she arranged that +he should sleep in a bed-room overlooking it. The view was sweet and +pleasant to him, for all the babbling of the water was of Rose, and +winding in and out, to East, to North, it wound to embowered hopes in +the lover's mind, to tender dreams; and often at dawn, when dressing, +his restless heart embarked on it, and sailed into havens, the phantom +joys of which coloured his life for him all the day. But most he loved +to look across it when the light fell. The palest solitary gleam along +its course spoke to him rich promise. The faint blue beam of a star +chained all his longings, charmed his sorrows to sleep. Rose like a +fairy had breathed her spirit here, and it was a delight to the silly +luxurious youth to lie down, and fix some image of a flower bending to +the stream on his brain, and in the cradle of fancies that grew round +it, slide down the tide of sleep. + +From the image of a flower bending to the stream, like his own soul to +the bosom of Rose, Evan built sweet fables. It was she that exalted him, +that led him through glittering chapters of adventure. In his dream +of deeds achieved for her sake, you may be sure the young man behaved +worthily, though he was modest when she praised him, and his limbs +trembled when the land whispered of his great reward to come. The longer +he stayed at Beckley the more he lived in this world within world, and +if now and then the harsh outer life smote him, a look or a word from +Rose encompassed him again, and he became sensible only of a distant +pain. + +At first his hope sprang wildly to possess her, to believe, that after +he had done deeds that would have sent ordinary men in the condition of +shattered hulks to the hospital, she might be his. Then blow upon blow +was struck, and he prayed to be near her till he died: no more. Then +she, herself, struck him to the ground, and sitting in his chamber, +sick and weary, on the evening of his mishap, Evan's sole desire was to +obtain the handkerchief he had risked his neck for. To have that, and +hold it to his heart, and feel it as a part of her, seemed much. + +Over a length of the stream the red round harvest-moon was rising, +and the weakened youth was this evening at the mercy of the charm that +encircled him. The water curved, and dimpled, and flowed flat, and the +whole body of it rushed into the spaces of sad splendour. The clustered +trees stood like temples of darkness; their shadows lengthened +supernaturally; and a pale gloom crept between them on the sward. He had +been thinking for some time that Rose would knock at his door, and give +him her voice, at least; but she did not come; and when he had gazed out +on the stream till his eyes ached, he felt that he must go and walk by +it. Those little flashes of the hurrying tide spoke to him of a secret +rapture and of a joy-seeking impulse; the pouring onward of all the +blood of life to one illumined heart, mournful from excess of love. + +Pardon me, I beg. Enamoured young men have these notions. Ordinarily +Evan had sufficient common sense and was as prosaic as mankind could +wish him; but he has had a terrible fall in the morning, and a young +woman rages in his brain. Better, indeed, and 'more manly,' were he to +strike and raise huge bosses on his forehead, groan, and so have done +with it. We must let him go his own way. + +At the door he was met by the Countess. She came into the room without +a word or a kiss, and when she did speak, the total absence of any +euphuism gave token of repressed excitement yet more than her angry +eyes and eager step. Evan had grown accustomed to her moods, and if +one moment she was the halcyon, and another the petrel, it no longer +disturbed him, seeing that he was a stranger to the influences by which +she was affected. The Countess rated him severely for not seeking repose +and inviting sympathy. She told him that the Jocelyns had one and all +combined in an infamous plot to destroy the race of Harrington, and +that Caroline had already succumbed to their assaults; that the Jocelyns +would repent it, and sooner than they thought for; and that the only +friend the Harringtons had in the house was Miss Bonner, whom Providence +would liberally reward. + +Then the Countess changed to a dramatic posture, and whispered aloud, +'Hush: she is here. She is so anxious. Be generous, my brother, and let +her see you!' + +'She?' said Evan, faintly. 'May she come, Louisa?' He hoped for Rose. + +'I have consented to mask it,' returned the Countess. 'Oh, what do I not +sacrifice for you!' + +She turned from him, and to Evan's chagrin introduced Juliana Bonner. + +'Five minutes, remember!' said the Countess. 'I must not hear of more.' +And then Evan found himself alone with Miss Bonner, and very uneasy. +This young lady had restless brilliant eyes, and a contraction about +the forehead which gave one the idea of a creature suffering perpetual +headache. She said nothing, and when their eyes met she dropped hers in +a manner that made silence too expressive. Feeling which, Evan began: + +'May I tell you that I think it is I who ought to be nursing you, not +you me?' + +Miss Bonner replied by lifting her eyes and dropping them as before, +murmuring subsequently, 'Would you do so?' + +'Most certainly, if you did me the honour to select me.' + +The fingers of the young lady commenced twisting and intertwining on her +lap. Suddenly she laughed: + +'It would not do at all. You won't be dismissed from your present +service till you 're unfit for any other.' + +'What do you mean?' said Evan, thinking more of the unmusical laugh than +of the words. + +He received no explanation, and the irksome silence caused him to look +through the window, as an escape for his mind, at least. The waters +streamed on endlessly into the golden arms awaiting them. The low moon +burnt through the foliage. In the distance, over a reach of the flood, +one tall aspen shook against the lighted sky. + +'Are you in pain?' Miss Bonner asked, and broke his reverie. + +'No; I am going away, and perhaps I sigh involuntarily.' + +'You like these grounds?' + +'I have never been so happy in any place.' + +'With those cruel young men about you?' + +Evan now laughed. 'We don't call young men cruel, Miss Bonner.' + +'But were they not? To take advantage of what Rose told them--it was +base!' + +She had said more than she intended, possibly, for she coloured under +his inquiring look, and added: 'I wish I could say the same as you of +Beckley. Do you know, I am called Rose's thorn?' + +'Not by Miss Jocelyn herself, certainly!' + +'How eager you are to defend her. But am I not--tell me--do I not look +like a thorn in company with her?' + +'There is but the difference that ill health would make.' + +'Ill health? Oh, yes! And Rose is so much better born.' + +'To that, I am sure, she does not give a thought.' + +'Not Rose? Oh!' + +An exclamation, properly lengthened, convinces the feelings more +satisfactorily than much logic. Though Evan claimed only the +hand-kerchief he had won, his heart sank at the sound. Miss Bonner +watched him, and springing forward, said sharply: + +'May I tell you something?' + +'You may tell me what you please.' + +'Then, whether I offend you or not, you had better leave this.' + +'I am going,' said Evan. 'I am only waiting to introduce your tutor to +you.' + +She kept her eyes on him, and in her voice as well there was a depth, as +she returned: + +'Mr. Laxley, Mr. Forth, and Harry, are going to Lymport to-morrow.' + +Evan was looking at a figure, whose shadow was thrown towards the house +from the margin of the stream. + +He stood up, and taking the hand of Miss Bonner, said: + +'I thank you. I may, perhaps, start with them. At any rate, you have +done me a great service, which I shall not forget.' + +The figure by the stream he knew to be that of Rose. He released Miss +Bonner's trembling moist hand, and as he continued standing, she +moved to the door, after once following the line of his eyes into the +moonlight. + +Outside the door a noise was audible. Andrew had come to sit with his +dear boy, and the Countess had met and engaged and driven him to the +other end of the passage, where he hung remonstrating with her. + +'Why, Van,' he said, as Evan came up to him, 'I thought you were in a +profound sleep. Louisa said--' + +'Silly Andrew!' interposed the Countess, 'do you not observe he is +sleep-walking now?' and she left them with a light laugh to go to +Juliana, whom she found in tears. The Countess was quite aware of the +efficacy of a little bit of burlesque lying to cover her retreat from +any petty exposure. + +Evan soon got free from Andrew. He was under the dim stars, walking to +the great fire in the East. The cool air refreshed him. He was simply +going to ask for his own, before he went, and had no cause to fear what +would be thought by any one. A handkerchief! A man might fairly win +that, and carry it out of a very noble family, without having to blush +for himself. + +I cannot say whether he inherited his feeling for rank from Mel, his +father, or that the Countess had succeeded in instilling it, but Evan +never took Republican ground in opposition to those who insulted him, +and never lashed his 'manhood' to assert itself, nor compared the +fineness of his instincts with the behaviour of titled gentlemen. Rather +he seemed to admit the distinction between his birth and that of a +gentleman, admitting it to his own soul, as it were, and struggled +simply as men struggle against a destiny. The news Miss Bonner had given +him sufficed to break a spell which could not have endured another week; +and Andrew, besides, had told him of Caroline's illness. He walked to +meet Rose, honestly intending to ask for his own, and wish her good-bye. + +Rose saw him approach, and knew him in the distance. She was sitting +on a lower branch of the aspen, that shot out almost from the root, and +stretched over the intervolving rays of light on the tremulous water. +She could not move to meet him. She was not the Rose whom we have +hitherto known. Love may spring in the bosom of a young girl, like +Helper in the evening sky, a grey speck in a field of grey, and not +be seen or known, till surely as the circle advances the faint planet +gathers fire, and, coming nearer earth, dilates, and will and must be +seen and known. When Evan lay like a dead man on the ground, Rose turned +upon herself as the author of his death, and then she felt this presence +within her, and her heart all day had talked to her of it, and was +throbbing now, and would not be quieted. She could only lift her eyes +and give him her hand; she could not speak. She thought him cold, and +he was; cold enough to think that she and her cousin were not unlike +in their manner, though not deep enough to reflect that it was from the +same cause. + +She was the first to find her wits: but not before she spoke did she +feel, and start to feel, how long had been the silence, and that her +hand was still in his. + +'Why did you come out, Evan? It was not right.' + +'I came to speak to you. I shall leave early to-morrow, and may not see +you alone.' + +'You are going----?' + +She checked her voice, and left the thrill of it wavering in him. + +'Yes, Rose, I am going; I should have gone before.' + +'Evan!' she grasped his hand, and then timidly retained it. 'You have +not forgiven me? I see now. I did not think of any risk to you. I only +wanted you to beat. I wanted you to be first and best. If you knew how I +thank God for saving you! What my punishment would have been!' + +Till her eyes were full she kept them on him, too deep in emotion to be +conscious of it. + +He could gaze on her tears coldly. + +'I should be happy to take the leap any day for the prize you offered. I +have come for that.' + +'For what, Evan?' But while she was speaking the colour mounted in her +cheeks, and she went on rapidly: + +'Did you think it unkind of me not to come to nurse you. I must tell +you, to defend myself. It was the Countess, Evan. She is offended with +me--very justly, I dare say. She would not let me come. What could I do? +I had no claim to come.' + +Rose was not aware of the import of her speech. Evan, though he felt +more in it, and had some secret nerves set tingling and dancing, was not +to be moved from his demand. + +'Do you intend to withhold it, Rose?' + +'Withhold what, Evan? Anything that you wish for is yours.' + +'The handkerchief. Is not that mine?' + +Rose faltered a word. Why did he ask for it? Because he asked for +nothing else, and wanted no other thing save that. + +Why did she hesitate? Because it was so poor a gift, and so unworthy of +him. + +And why did he insist? Because in honour she was bound to surrender it. + +And why did she hesitate still? Let her answer. + +'Oh, Evan! I would give you anything but that; and if you are going +away, I should beg so much to keep it.' + +He must have been in a singular state not to see her heart in the +refusal, as was she not to see his in the request. But Love is blindest +just when the bandage is being removed from his forehead. + +'Then you will not give it me, Rose? Do you think I shall go about +boasting "This is Miss Jocelyn's handkerchief, and I, poor as I am, have +won it"?' + +The taunt struck aslant in Rose's breast with a peculiar sting. She +stood up. + +'I will give it you, Evan.' + +Turning from him she drew it forth, and handed it to him hurriedly. It +was warm. It was stained with his blood. He guessed where it had been +nestling, and, now, as if by revelation, he saw that large sole star in +the bosom of his darling, and was blinded by it and lost his senses. + +'Rose! beloved!' + +Like the flower of his nightly phantasy bending over the stream, he +looked and saw in her sweet face the living wonders that encircled his +image; she murmuring: 'No, you must hate me.' + +'I love you, Rose, and dare to say it--and it 's unpardonable. Can you +forgive me?' + +She raised her face to him. + +'Forgive you for loving me?' she said. + +Holy to them grew the stillness: the ripple suffused in golden +moonlight: the dark edges of the leaves against superlative brightness. +Not a chirp was heard, nor anything save the cool and endless carol of +the happy waters, whose voices are the spirits of silence. Nature seemed +consenting that their hands should be joined, their eyes intermingling. +And when Evan, with a lover's craving, wished her lips to say what her +eyes said so well, Rose drew his fingers up, and, with an arch smile and +a blush, kissed them. The simple act set his heart thumping, and from +the look of love, she saw an expression of pain pass through him. Her +fealty--her guileless, fearless truth--which the kissing of his hand +brought vividly before him, conjured its contrast as well in this that +was hidden from her, or but half suspected. Did she know--know and love +him still? He thought it might be: but that fell dead on her asking: + +'Shall I speak to Mama to-night?' + +A load of lead crushed him. + +'Rose!' he said; but could get no farther. + +Innocently, or with well-masked design, Rose branched off into little +sweet words about his bruised shoulder, touching it softly, as if she +knew the virtue that was in her touch, and accusing her selfish self as +she caressed it: + +'Dearest Evan! you must have been sure I thought no one like you. Why +did you not tell me before? I can hardly believe it now! Do you know,' +she hurried on, 'they think me cold and heartless,--am I? I must be, to +have made you run such risk; but yet I'm sure I could not have survived +you.' + +Dropping her voice, Rose quoted Ruth. As Evan listened, the words were +like food from heaven poured into his spirit. + +'To-morrow,' he kept saying to himself, 'to-morrow I will tell her all. +Let her think well of me a few short hours.' + +But the passing minutes locked them closer; each had a new link--in a +word, or a speechless breath, or a touch: and to break the marriage of +their eyes there must be infinite baseness on one side, or on the other +disloyalty to love. + +The moon was a silver ball, high up through the aspen-leaves. Evan +kissed the hand of Rose, and led her back to the house. He had appeased +his conscience by restraining his wild desire to kiss her lips. + +In the hall they parted. Rose whispered, 'Till death!' giving him her +hands. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. THE COUNTESS MAKES HERSELF FELT + +There is a peculiar reptile whose stroke is said to deprive men of +motion. On the day after the great Mel had stalked the dinner-table of +Beckley Court, several of the guests were sensible of the effect of this +creature's mysterious touch, without knowing what it was that paralyzed +them. Drummond Forth had fully planned to go to Lymport. He had special +reasons for making investigations with regard to the great Mel. Harry, +who was fond of Drummond, offered to accompany him, and Laxley, for the +sake of a diversion, fell into the scheme. Mr. George Uplift was also to +be of the party, and promised them fun. But when the time came to start, +not one could be induced to move: Laxley was pressingly engaged by +Rose: Harry showed the rope the Countess held him by; Mr. George made a +singular face, and seriously advised Drummond to give up the project. + +'Don't rub that woman the wrong way,' he said, in a private colloquy +they had. 'By Jingo, she's a Tartar. She was as a gal, and she isn't +changed, Lou Harrington. Fancy now: she knew me, and she faced me out, +and made me think her a stranger! Gad, I'm glad I didn't speak to the +others. Lord's sake, keep it quiet. Don't rouse that woman, now, if you +want to keep a whole skin.' + +Drummond laughed at his extreme earnestness in cautioning him, and +appeared to enjoy his dread of the Countess. Mr. George would not tell +how he had been induced to change his mind. He repeated his advice with +a very emphatic shrug of the shoulder. + +'You seem afraid of her,' said Drummond. + +'I am. I ain't ashamed to confess it. She's a regular viper, my boy!' +said Mr. George. 'She and I once were pretty thick--least said soonest +mended, you know. I offended her. Wasn't quite up to her mark--a +tailor's daughter, you know. Gad, if she didn't set an Irish Dragoon +Captain on me!--I went about in danger of my life. The fellow began +to twist his damned black moustaches the moment he clapped eyes on +me--bullied me till, upon my soul, I was almost ready to fight him! Oh, +she was a little tripping Tartar of a bantam hen then. She's grown +since she's been countessed, and does it peacocky. Now, I give you fair +warning, you know. She's more than any man's match.' + +'I dare say I shall think the same when she has beaten me,' quoth +cynical Drummond, and immediately went and gave orders for his horse to +be saddled, thinking that he would tread on the head of the viper. + +But shortly before the hour of his departure, Mrs. Evremonde summoned +him to her, and showed him a slip of paper, on which was written, in an +uncouth small hand: + +'Madam: a friend warns you that your husband is coming here. Deep +interest in your welfare is the cause of an anonymous communication. The +writer wishes only to warn you in time.' + +Mrs. Evremonde told Drummond that she had received it from one of the +servants when leaving the breakfast-room. Beyond the fact that a man on +horseback had handed it to a little boy, who had delivered it over to +the footman, Drummond could learn nothing. Of course, all thought of the +journey to Lymport was abandoned. If but to excogitate a motive for the +origin of the document, Drummond was forced to remain; and now he had +it, and now he lost it again; and as he was wandering about in his maze, +the Countess met him with a 'Good morning, Mr., Forth. Have I impeded +your expedition by taking my friend Mr. Harry to cavalier me to-day?' + +Drummond smilingly assured her that she had not in any way disarranged +his projects, and passed with so absorbed a brow that the Countess could +afford to turn her head and inspect him, without fear that he would +surprise her in the act. Knocking the pearly edge of her fan on her +teeth, she eyed him under her joined black lashes, and deliberately read +his thoughts in the mere shape of his back and shoulders. She read him +through and through, and was unconscious of the effective attitude she +stood in for the space of two full minutes, and even then it required +one of our unhappy sex to recall her. This was Harry Jocelyn. + +'My friend,' she said to him, with a melancholy smile, 'my one friend +here!' + +Harry went through the form of kissing her hand, which he had been +taught, and practised cunningly as the first step of the ladder. + +'I say, you looked so handsome, standing as you did just now,' he +remarked; and she could see how far beneath her that effective attitude +had precipitated the youth. + +'Ah!' she sighed, walking on, with the step of majesty in exile. + +'What the deuce is the matter with everybody to-day?' cried Harry. 'I 'm +hanged if I can make it out. There's the Carrington, as you call her, I +met her with such a pair of eyes, and old George looking as if he'd +been licked, at her heels; and there's Drummond and his lady fair moping +about the lawn, and my mother positively getting excited--there's +a miracle! and Juley 's sharpening her nails for somebody, and +if Ferdinand don't look out, your brother 'll be walking off with +Rosey--that 's my opinion.' + +'Indeed,' said the Countess. 'You really think so?' + +'Well, they come it pretty strong together.' + +'And what constitutes the "come it strong," Mr. Harry?' + +'Hold of hands; you know,' the young gentleman indicated. + +'Alas, then! must not we be more discreet?' + +'Oh! but it's different. With young people one knows what that means.' + +'Deus!' exclaimed the Countess, tossing her head weariedly, and Harry +perceived his slip, and down he went again. + +What wonder that a youth in such training should consent to fetch and +carry, to listen and relate, to play the spy and know no more of his +office than that it gave him astonishing thrills of satisfaction, and +now and then a secret sweet reward? + +The Countess had sealed Miss Carrington's mouth by one of her most +dexterous strokes. On leaving the dinner-table over-night, and seeing +that Caroline's attack would preclude their instant retreat, the gallant +Countess turned at bay. A word aside to Mr. George Uplift, and then the +Countess took a chair by Miss Carrington. She did all the conversation, +and supplied all the smiles to it, and when a lady has to do that she is +justified in striking, and striking hard, for to abandon the pretence of +sweetness is a gross insult from one woman to another. + +The Countess then led circuitously, but with all the ease in the world, +to the story of a Portuguese lady, of a marvellous beauty, and who was +deeply enamoured of the Chevalier Miguel de Rasadio, and engaged to be +married to him: but, alas for her! in the insolence of her happiness she +wantonly made an enemy in the person of a most unoffending lady, and she +repented it. While sketching the admirable Chevalier, the Countess drew +a telling portrait of Mr. George Uplift, and gratified her humour and +her wrath at once by strong truth to nature in the description and +animated encomiums on the individual. The Portuguese lady, too, a little +resembled Miss Carrington, in spite of her marvellous beauty. And it +was odd that Miss Carrington should give a sudden start and a horrified +glance at the Countess just when the Countess was pathetically relating +the proceeding taken by the revengeful lady on the beautiful betrothed +of the Chevalier Miguel de Rasadio: which proceeding was nothing other +than to bring to the Chevalier's knowledge that his beauty had a defect +concealed by her apparel, and that the specks in his fruit were not one, +or two, but, Oh! And the dreadful sequel to the story the Countess could +not tell: preferring ingeniously to throw a tragic veil over it. Miss +Carrington went early to bed that night. + +The courage that mounteth with occasion was eminently the attribute +of the Countess de Saldar. After that dreadful dinner she (since the +weaknesses of great generals should not be altogether ignored), did pray +for flight and total obscurity, but Caroline could not be left in +her hysteric state, and now that she really perceived that Evan was +progressing and on the point of sealing his chance, the devoted lady +resolved to hold her ground. Besides, there was the pic-nic. The +Countess had one dress she had not yet appeared in, and it was for +the picnic she kept it. That small motives are at the bottom of many +illustrious actions is a modern discovery; but I shall not adopt the +modern principle of magnifying the small motive till it overshadows my +noble heroine. I remember that the small motive is only to be seen by +being borne into the range of my vision by a powerful microscope; and +if I do more than see--if I carry on my reflections by the aid of the +glass, I arrive at conclusions that must be false. Men who dwarf human +nature do this. The gods are juster. The Countess, though she wished to +remain for the pic-nic, and felt warm in anticipation of the homage to +her new dress, was still a gallant general and a devoted sister, and if +she said to herself, 'Come what may, I will stay for that pic-nic, and +they shall not brow-beat me out of it,' it is that trifling pleasures +are noisiest about the heart of human nature: not that they govern +us absolutely. There is mob-rule in minds as in communities, but the +Countess had her appetites in excellent drill. This pic-nic +surrendered, represented to her defeat in all its ignominy. The largest +longest-headed of schemes ask occasionally for something substantial and +immediate. So the Countess stipulated with Providence for the pic-nic. +It was a point to be passed: 'Thorough flood, thorough fire.' + +In vain poor Andrew Cogglesby, to whom the dinner had been torture, and +who was beginning to see the position they stood in at Beckley, begged +to be allowed to take them away, or to go alone. The Countess laughed +him into submission. As a consequence of her audacious spirits she grew +more charming and more natural, and the humour that she possessed, but +which, like her other faculties, was usually subordinate to her plans, +gave spontaneous bursts throughout the day, and delighted her courtiers. +Nor did the men at all dislike the difference of her manner with them, +and with the ladies. I may observe that a woman who shows a marked +depression in the presence of her own sex will be thought very superior +by ours; that is, supposing she is clever and agreeable. Manhood +distinguishes what flatters it. A lady approaches. 'We must be proper,' +says the Countess, and her hearty laugh dies with suddenness and is +succeeded by the maturest gravity. And the Countess can look a profound +merriment with perfect sedateness when there appears to be an equivoque +in company. Finely secret are her glances, as if under every eye-lash +there lurked the shade of a meaning. What she meant was not so clear. +All this was going on, and Lady Jocelyn was simply amused, and sat as at +a play. + +'She seems to have stepped out of a book of French memoirs,' said her +ladyship. 'La vie galante et devote--voila la Comtesse.' + +In contradistinction to the other ladies, she did not detest the +Countess because she could not like her. + +'Where 's the harm in her?' she asked. 'She doesn't damage the men, that +I can see. And a person you can laugh at and with, is inexhaustible.' + +'And how long is she to stay here?' Mrs. Shorne inquired. Mrs. Melville +remarking: 'Her visit appears to be inexhaustible.' + +'I suppose she'll stay till the Election business is over,' said Lady +Jocelyn. + +The Countess had just driven with Melville to Fallow field in Caroline's +black lace shawl. + +'Upwards of four weeks longer!' Mrs. Melville interjected. + +Lady Jocelyn chuckled. + +Miss Carrington was present. She had been formerly sharp in her +condemnation of the Countess--her affectedness, her euphuism, and her +vulgarity. Now she did not say a word, though she might have done it +with impunity. + +'I suppose, Emily, you see what Rose is about?' said Mrs. Melville. +'I should not have thought it adviseable to have that young man here, +myself. I think I let you know that.' + +'One young man's as good as another,' responded her ladyship. 'I 've my +doubts of the one that's much better. I fancy Rose is as good a judge by +this time as you or I.' + +Mrs. Melville made an effort or two to open Lady Jocelyn's eyes, +and then relapsed into the confident serenity inspired by evil +prognostications. + +'But there really does seem some infatuation about these people!' +exclaimed Mrs. Shorne, turning to Miss Current. 'Can you understand +it? The Duke, my dear! Things seem to be going on in the house, that +really--and so openly.' + +'That's one virtue,' said Miss Current, with her imperturbable metallic +voice, and face like a cold clear northern sky. 'Things done in secret +throw on the outsiders the onus of raising a scandal.' + +'You don't believe, then?' suggested Mrs. Shorne. + +Miss Current replied: 'I always wait for a thing to happen first.' + +'But haven't you seen, my dear?' + +'I never see anything, my dear.' + +'Then you must be blind, my dear.' + +'On the contrary, that 's how I keep my sight, my dear.' + +'I don't understand you,' said Mrs. Shorne. + +'It's a part of the science of optics, and requires study,' said Miss +Current. + +Neither with the worldly nor the unworldly woman could the ladies do +anything. But they were soon to have their triumph. + +A delicious morning had followed the lovely night. The stream flowed +under Evan's eyes, like something in a lower sphere, now. His passion +took him up, as if a genie had lifted him into mid-air, and showed him +the world on a palm of a hand; and yet, as he dressed by the window, +little chinks in the garden wall, and nectarines under their shiny +leaves, and the white walks of the garden, were stamped on his hot brain +accurately and lastingly. Ruth upon the lips of Rose: that voice of +living constancy made music to him everywhere. 'Thy God shall be my +God.' He had heard it all through the night. He had not yet broken the +tender charm sufficiently to think that he must tell her the sacrifice +she would have to make. When partly he did, the first excuse he clutched +at was, that he had not even kissed her on the forehead. Surely he had +been splendidly chivalrous? Just as surely he would have brought on +himself the scorn of the chivalrous or of the commonly balanced if he +had been otherwise. The grandeur of this or of any of his proceedings, +then, was forfeited, as it must needs be when we are in the false +position: we can have no glory though martyred. The youth felt it, even +to the seeing of why it was; and he resolved, in justice to the dear +girl, that he would break loose from his fetters, as we call our +weakness. Behold, Rose met him descending the stairs, and, taking his +hand, sang, unabashed, by the tell-tale colour coming over her face, +a stave of a little Portuguese air that they had both been fond of in +Portugal; and he, listening to it, and looking in her eyes, saw that his +feelings in--the old time had been hers. Instantly the old time gave him +its breath, the present drew back. + +Rose, now that she had given her heart out, had no idea of concealment. +She would have denied nothing to her aunts: she was ready to confide it +to her mother. Was she not proud of the man she loved? When Evan's hand +touched hers she retained it, and smiled up at him frankly, as it were +to make him glad in her gladness. If before others his eyes brought the +blood to her cheeks, she would perhaps drop her eye-lids an instant, +and then glance quickly level again to reassure him. And who would have +thought that this boisterous, boyish creature had such depths of eye! +Cold, did they call her? Let others think her cold. The tender knowledge +of her--the throbbing secret they held in common sang at his heart. Rose +made no confidante, but she attempted no mystery. Evan should have risen +to the height of the noble girl. But the dearer and sweeter her bearing +became, the more conscious he was of the dead weight he was dragging: in +truth her behaviour stamped his false position to hard print the more +he admired her for it, and he had shrinkings from the feminine part it +imposed on him to play. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. IN WHICH THE STREAM FLOWS MUDDY AND CLEAR + +An Irish retriever-pup of the Shannon breed, Pat by name, was undergoing +tuition on the sward close by the kennels, Rose's hunting-whip being +passed through his collar to restrain erratic propensities. The +particular point of instruction which now made poor Pat hang out his +tongue, and agitate his crisp brown curls, was the performance of the +'down-charge'; a ceremony demanding implicit obedience from the animal +in the midst of volatile gambadoes, and a simulation of profound repose +when his desire to be up and bounding was mighty. Pat's Irish eyes were +watching Rose, as he lay with his head couched between his forepaws in +the required attitude. He had but half learnt his lesson; and something +in his half-humorous, half-melancholy look talked to Rose more +eloquently than her friend Ferdinand at her elbow. Laxley was her +assistant dog-breaker. Rose would not abandon her friends because she +had accepted a lover. On the contrary, Rose was very kind to Ferdinand, +and perhaps felt bound to be so to-day. To-day, also, her face was +lighted; a readiness to colour, and an expression of deeper knowledge, +which she now had, made the girl dangerous to friends. This was not +Rose's fault but there is no doubt among the faculty that love is +a contagious disease, and we ought not to come within miles of the +creatures in whom it lodges. + +Pat's tail kept hinting to his mistress that a change would afford him +satisfaction. After a time she withdrew her wistful gaze from him, +and listened entirely to Ferdinand: and it struck her that he spoke +particularly well to-day, though she did not see so much in his eyes as +in Pat's. The subject concerned his departure, and he asked Rose if she +should be sorry. Rose, to make him sure of it, threw a music into her +voice dangerous to friends. For she had given heart and soul to Evan, +and had a sense, therefore, of being irredeemably in debt to her old +associates, and wished to be doubly kind to them. + +Pat took advantage of the diversion to stand up quietly and have a +shake. He then began to kiss his mistress's hand, to show that all was +right on both sides; and followed this with a playful pretence at a +bite, that there might be no subsequent misunderstanding, and then +a bark and a whine. As no attention was paid to this amount of +plain-speaking, Pat made a bolt. He got no farther than the length of +the whip, and all he gained was to bring on himself the terrible word +of drill once more. But Pat had tasted liberty. Irish rebellion against +constituted authority was exhibited. Pat would not: his ears tossed +over his head, and he jumped to right and left, and looked the raggedest +rapparee that ever his ancestry trotted after. Rose laughed at his +fruitless efforts to get free; but Ferdinand meditatively appeared to +catch a sentiment in them. + +'Down-charge, Sir, will you? Ah, Pat! Pat! You'll have to obey me, my +boy. Now, down-charge!' + +While Rose addressed the language of reason to Pat, Ferdinand slipped in +a soft word or two. Presently she saw him on one knee. + +'Pat won't, and I will,' said he. + +'But Pat shall, and you had better not,' said she. 'Besides, my dear +Ferdinand,' she added, laughing, 'you don't know how to do it.' + +'Do you want me to prostrate on all fours, Rose?' + +'No. I hope not. Do get up, Ferdinand. You'll be seen from the windows.' + +Instead of quitting his posture, he caught her hand, and scared her with +a declaration. + +'Of all men, you to be on your knees! and to me, Ferdinand!' she cried, +in discomfort. + +'Why shouldn't I, Rose?' was this youth's answer. + +He had got the idea that foreign cavalier manners would take with her; +but it was not so easy to make his speech correspond with his posture, +and he lost his opportunity, which was pretty. However, he spoke plain +English. The interview ended by Rose releasing Pat from drill, and +running off in a hurry. Where was Evan? She must have his consent to +speak to her mother, and prevent a recurrence of these silly scenes. + +Evan was with Caroline, his sister. + +It was contrary to the double injunction of the Countess that Caroline +should receive Evan during her absence, or that he should disturb +the dear invalid with a visit. These two were not unlike both in +organization and character, and they had not sat together long before +they found each other out. Now, to further Evan's love-suit, the +Countess had induced Caroline to continue yet awhile in the Purgatory +Beckley Court had become to her; but Evan, in speaking of Rose, +expressed a determination to leave her, and Caroline caught at it. + +'Can you?--will you? Oh, dear Van! have you the courage? I--look at +me--you know the home I go to, and--and I think of it here as a place +to be happy in. What have our marriages done for us? Better that we had +married simple stupid men who earn their bread, and would not have been +ashamed of us! And, my dearest, it is not only that. None can tell what +our temptations are. Louisa has strength, but I feel I have none; and +though, dear, for your true interest, I would indeed sacrifice myself--I +would, Van! I would!--it is not good for you to stay,--I know it is +not. For you have Papa's sense of honour--and oh! if you should learn to +despise me, my dear brother!' + +She kissed him; her nerves were agitated by strong mental excitement. +He attributed it to her recent attack of illness, but could not help +asking, while he caressed her: + +'What's that? Despise you?' + +It may have been that Caroline felt then, that to speak of something +was to forfeit something. A light glimmered across the dewy blue of her +beautiful eyes. Desire to breathe it to him, and have his loving aid: +the fear of forfeiting it, evil as it was to her, and at the bottom of +all, that doubt we choose to encourage of the harm in a pleasant sin +unaccomplished; these might be read in the rich dim gleam that swept +like sunlight over sea-water between breaks of clouds. + +'Dear Van! do you love her so much?' + +Caroline knew too well that she was shutting her own theme with iron +clasps when she once touched on Evan's. + +Love her? Love Rose? It became an endless carol with Evan. Caroline +sighed for him from her heart. + +'You know--you understand me; don't you?' he said, after a breathless +excursion of his fancy. + +'I believe you love her, dear. I think I have never loved any one but my +one brother.' + +His love for Rose he could pour out to Caroline; when it came to Rose's +love for him his blood thickened, and his tongue felt guilty. He must +speak to her, he said,--tell her all. + +'Yes, tell her all,' echoed Caroline. 'Do, do tell her. Trust a woman +utterly if she loves you, dear. Go to her instantly.' + +'Could you bear it?' said Evan. He began to think it was for the sake of +his sisters that he had hesitated. + +'Bear it? bear anything rather than perpetual imposture. What have I not +borne? Tell her, and then, if she is cold to you, let us go. Let us go. +I shall be glad to. Ah, Van! I love you so.' Caroline's voice deepened. +'I love you so, my dear. You won't let your new love drive me out? Shall +you always love me?' + +Of that she might be sure, whatever happened. + +'Should you love me, Van, if evil befel me?' + +Thrice as well, he swore to her. + +'But if I--if I, Van Oh! my life is intolerable! Supposing I should ever +disgrace you in any way, and not turn out all you fancied me. I am very +weak and unhappy.' + +Evan kissed her confidently, with a warm smile. He said a few words +of the great faith he had in her: words that were bitter comfort to +Caroline. This brother, who might save her, to him she dared not speak. +Did she wish to be saved? She only knew that to wound Evan's sense of +honour and the high and chivalrous veneration for her sex and pride in +himself and those of his blood, would be wicked and unpardonable, and +that no earthly pleasure could drown it. Thinking this, with her hands +joined in pale dejection, Caroline sat silent, and Evan left her to lay +bare his heart to Rose. On his way to find Rose he was stopped by the +announcement of the arrival of Mr. Raikes, who thrust a bundle of notes +into his hand, and after speaking loudly of 'his curricle,' retired on +important business, as he said, with a mysterious air. 'I 'm beaten in +many things, but not in the article Luck,' he remarked; 'you will hear +of me, though hardly as a tutor in this academy.' + +Scanning the bundle of notes, without a reflection beyond the thought +that money was in his hand; and wondering at the apparition of the +curricle, Evan was joined by Harry Jocelyn, and Harry linked his arm in +Evan's and plunged with extraordinary spontaneity and candour into the +state of his money affairs. What the deuce he was to do for money he did +not know. From the impressive manner in which he put it, it appeared to +be one of Nature's great problems that the whole human race were bound +to set their heads together to solve. A hundred pounds--Harry wanted no +more, and he could not get it. His uncles? they were as poor as rats; +and all the spare money they could club was going for Mel's Election +expenses. A hundred and fifty was what Harry really wanted; but he could +do with a hundred. Ferdinand, who had plenty, would not even lend him +fifty. Ferdinand had dared to hint at a debt already unsettled, and he +called himself a gentleman! + +'You wouldn't speak of money-matters now, would you, Harrington?' + +'I dislike the subject, I confess,' said Evan. + +'And so do I' Harry jumped at the perfect similarity between them. 'You +can't think how it bothers one to have to talk about it. You and I are +tremendously alike.' + +Evan might naturally suppose that a subject Harry detested, he would not +continue, but for a whole hour Harry turned it over and over with grim +glances at Jewry. + +'You see,' he wound up, 'I'm in a fix. I want to help that poor girl, +and one or two things--' + +'It 's for that you want it?' cried Evan, brightening to him. 'Accept it +from me.' + +It is a thing familiar to the experience of money-borrowers, that your +'last chance' is the man who is to accommodate you; but we are always +astonished, nevertheless; and Harry was, when notes to the amount of the +largest sum named by him were placed in his hand by one whom he looked +upon as the last to lend. + +'What a trump you are, Harrington!' was all he could say; and then he +was for hurrying Evan into the house, to find pen and paper, and write +down a memorandum of the loan: but Evan insisted upon sparing him the +trouble, though Harry, with the admirable scruples of an inveterate +borrower, begged hard to be allowed to bind himself legally to repay the +money. + +''Pon my soul, Harrington, you make me remember I once doubted whether +you were one of us--rather your own fault, you know!' said Harry. 'Bury +that, won't you?' + +''Till your doubts recur,' Evan observed; and Harry burst out, 'Gad, +if you weren't such a melancholy beggar, you'd be the jolliest fellow +I know! There, go after Rosey. Dashed if I don't think you're ahead of +Ferdinand, long chalks. Your style does for girls. I like women.' + +With a chuckle and a wink, Harry swung-off. Evan had now to reflect that +he had just thrown away part of the price of his bondage to Tailordom; +the mention of Rose filled his mind. Where was she? Both were seeking +one another. Rose was in the cypress walk. He saw the star-like figure +up the length of it, between the swelling tall dark pillars, and was +hurrying to her, resolute not to let one minute of deception blacken +further the soul that loved so true a soul. She saw him, and stood +smiling, when the Countess issued, shadow-like, from a side path, and +declared that she must claim her brother for a few instants. Would her +sweet Rose pardon her? Rose bowed coolly. The hearts of the lovers were +chilled, not that they perceived any malice in the Countess, but their +keen instincts felt an evil fate. + +The Countess had but to tell Evan that she had met the insolvent in +apples, and recognized him under his change of fortune, and had no doubt +that at least he would amuse the company. Then she asked her brother +the superfluous question, whether he loved her, which Evan answered +satisfactorily enough, as he thought; but practical ladies require +proofs. + +'Quick,' said Evan, seeing Rose vanish, 'what do you want? I'll do +anything.' + +'Anything? Ah, but this will be disagreeable to you.' + +'Name it at once. I promise beforehand.' + +The Countess wanted Evan to ask Andrew to be the very best +brother-in-law in the world, and win, unknown to himself, her cheerful +thanks, by lending Evan to lend to her the sum of one hundred pounds, as +she was in absolute distress for money. + +'Really, Louisa, this is a thing you might ask him yourself,' Evan +remonstrated. + +'It would not become me to do so, dear,' said the Countess, demurely; +and inasmuch as she had already drawn on Andrew in her own person pretty +largely, her views of propriety were correct in this instance. + +Evan had to consent before he could be released. He ran to the end of +the walk through the portal, into the park. Rose was not to be seen. She +had gone in to dress for dinner. The opportunity might recur, but would +his courage come with it? His courage had sunk on a sudden; or it may +have been that it was worst for this young man to ask for a loan of +money, than to tell his beloved that he was basely born, vile, and +unworthy, and had snared her into loving him; for when he and Andrew +were together, money was not alluded to. Andrew, however, betrayed +remarkable discomposure. He said plainly that he wanted to leave Beckley +Court, and wondered why he didn't leave, and whether he was on his head +or his feet, and how he had been such a fool as to come. + +'Do you mean that for me?' said sensitive Evan. + +'Oh, you! You're a young buck,' returned Andrew, evasively. 'We +common-place business men-we 're out of our element; and there's poor +Carry can't sit down to their dinners without an upset. I thank God I'm +a Radical, Van; one man's the same as another to me, how he's born, as +long as he's honest and agreeable. But a chap like that George Uplift to +look down on anybody! 'Gad, I've a good mind to bring in a Bill for the +Abolition of the Squirearchy.' + +Ultimately, Andrew somehow contrived to stick a hint or two about the +terrible dinner in Evan's quivering flesh. He did it as delicately as +possible, half begging pardon, and perspiring profusely. Evan grasped +his hand, and thanked him. Caroline's illness was now explained to him. + +'I'll take Caroline with me to-morrow,' he said. 'Louisa wishes to +stay--there 's a pic-nic. Will you look to her, and bring her with you?' + +'My dear Van,' replied Andrew, 'stop with Louisa? Now, in confidence, +it's as bad as a couple of wives; no disrespect to my excellent good +Harry at home; but Louisa--I don't know how it is--but Louisa, you lose +your head, you're in a whirl, you're an automaton, a teetotum! I haven't +a notion of what I've been doing or saying since I came here. My +belief is, I 've been lying right and left. I shall be found out to a +certainty: Oh! if she's made her mind up for the pic-nic, somebody must +stop. I can only tell you, Van, it's one perpetual vapour-bath to me. +There 'll be room for two in my trousers when I get back. I shall have +to get the tailor to take them in a full half.' + +Here occurred an opening for one of those acrid pleasantries which +console us when there is horrid warfare within. + +'You must give me the work,' said Evan, partly pleased with his hated +self for being able to jest on the subject, as a piece of preliminary +self-conquest. + +'Aha!' went Andrew, as if the joke were too good to be dwelt on; 'Hem'; +and by way of diverting from it cleverly and naturally, he remarked that +the weather was fine. This made Evan allude to his letter written from +Lymport, upon which Andrew said: 'tush! pish! humbug! nonsense! won't +hear a word. Don't know anything about it. Van, you're going to be a +brewer. I say you are. You're afraid you can't? I tell you, sir, I've +got a bet on it. You're not going to make me lose, are you--eh? I have, +and a stiff bet, too. You must and shall, so there's an end. Only +we can't make arrangements just yet, my boy. Old Tom--very good old +fellow--but, you know--must get old Tom out of the way, first. Now go +and dress for dinner. And Lord preserve us from the Great Mel to-day!' +Andrew mumbled as he turned away. + +Evan could not reach his chamber without being waylaid by the Countess. +Had he remembered the sister who sacrificed so much for him? 'There, +there!' cried Evan, and her hand closed on the delicious golden whispers +of bank-notes. And, 'Oh, generous Andrew! dear good Evan!' were the +exclamations of the gratified lady. + +There remained nearly another hundred. Evan laid out the notes, and eyed +them while dressing. They seemed to say to him, 'We have you now.' He +was clutched by a beneficent or a most malignant magician. The former +seemed due to him, considering the cloud on his fortunes. This enigma +might mean, that by submitting to a temporary humiliation, for a trial +of him--in fact, by his acknowledgement of the fact, loathed though it +was,--he won a secret overlooker's esteem, gained a powerful ally. Here +was the proof, he held the proof. He had read Arabian Tales and could +believe in marvels; especially could he believe in the friendliness of a +magical thing that astounded without hurting him. + +He, sat down in his room at night and wrote a fairly manful letter to +Rose; and it is to be said of the wretch he then saw himself, that he +pardoned her for turning from so vile a pretender. He heard a step in +the passage. It was Polly Wheedle. Polly had put her young mistress to +bed, and was retiring to her own slumbers. He made her take the letter +and promise to deliver it immediately. Would not to-morrow morning do, +she asked, as Miss Rose was very sleepy. He seemed to hesitate--he was +picturing how Rose looked when very sleepy. Why should he surrender +this darling? And subtler question--why should he make her unhappy? Why +disturb her at all in her sweet sleep? + +'Well,' said Evan. 'To-morrow will do.--No, take it to-night, for God's +sake!' he cried, as one who bursts the spell of an opiate. 'Go at once.' +The temptation had almost overcome him. + +Polly thought his proceedings queer. And what could the letter +contain? A declaration, of course. She walked slowly along the passage, +meditating on love, and remotely on its slave, Mr. Nicholas Frim. +Nicholas had never written her a letter; but she was determined that +he should, some day. She wondered what love-letters were like? Like +valentines without the Cupids. Practical valentines, one might say. Not +vapoury and wild, but hot and to the point. Delightful things! No harm +in peeping at a love-letter, if you do it with the eye of a friend. + +Polly spelt just a word when a door opened at her elbow. She dropped her +candle and curtsied to the Countess's voice. The Countess desired her +to enter, and all in a tremble Polly crept in. Her air of guilt made the +Countess thrill. She had merely called her in to extract daily gossip. +The corner of the letter sticking up under Polly's neck attracted her +strangely, and beginning with the familiar, 'Well, child,' she talked +of things interesting to Polly, and then exhibited the pic-nic dress. +It was a lovely half-mourning; airy sorrows, gauzy griefs, you might +imagine to constitute the wearer. White delicately striped, exquisitely +trimmed, and of a stuff to make the feminine mouth water! + +Could Polly refuse to try it on, when the flattering proposal met +her ears? Blushing, shame-faced, adoring the lady who made her look +adorable, Polly tried it on, and the Countess complimented her, and made +a doll of her, and turned her this way and that way, and intoxicated +her. + +'A rich husband, Polly, child! and you are a lady ready made.' + +Infamous poison to poor Polly; but as the thunder destroys small +insects, exalted schemers are to be excused for riding down their few +thousands. Moreover, the Countess really looked upon domestics as being +only half-souls. + +Dressed in her own attire again, Polly felt in her pockets, and at her +bosom, and sang out: 'Oh, my--Oh, where! Oh!' + +The letter was lost. The letter could not be found. The Countess grew +extremely fatigued, and had to dismiss Polly, in spite of her eager +petitions to be allowed to search under the carpets and inside the bed. + +In the morning came Evan's great trial. There stood Rose. She turned to +him, and her eyes were happy and unclouded. + +'You are not changed?' he said. + +'Changed? what could change me?' + +The God of true hearts bless her! He could hardly believe it. + +'You are the Rose I knew yesterday?' + +'Yes, Evan. But you--you look as if you had not slept.' + +'You will not leave me this morning, before I go, Rose? Oh, my darling! +this that you do for me is the work of an angel-nothing less! I have +been a coward. And my beloved! to feel vile is agony to me--it makes me +feel unworthy of the hand I press. Now all is clear between us. I go: I +am forgiven.' + +Rose repeated his last words, and then added hurriedly: + +'All is clear between us? Shall I speak to Mama this morning? Dear Evan! +it will be right that I should.' + +For the moment he could not understand why, but supposing a scrupulous +honesty in her, said: 'Yes, tell Lady Jocelyn all.' + +'And then, Evan, you will never need to go.' + +They separated. The deep-toned sentence sang in Evan's heart. Rose and +her mother were of one stamp. And Rose might speak for her mother. +To take the hands of such a pair and be lifted out of the slough, he +thought no shame: and all through the hours of the morning the image +of two angels stooping to touch a leper, pressed on his brain like a +reality, and went divinely through his blood. + +Toward mid-day Rose beckoned to him, and led him out across the lawn +into the park, and along the borders of the stream. + +'Evan,' she said, 'shall I really speak to Mama?' + +'You have not yet?' he answered. + +'No. I have been with Juliana and with Drummond. Look at this, Evan.' +She showed a small black speck in the palm of her hand, which turned +out, on your viewing it closely, to be a brand of the letter L. 'Mama +did that when I was a little girl, because I told lies. I never could +distinguish between truth and falsehood; and Mama set that mark on me, +and I have never told a lie since. She forgives anything but that. +She will be our friend; she will never forsake us, Evan, if we do not +deceive her. Oh, Evan! it never is of any use. But deceive her, and she +cannot forgive you. It is not in her nature.' + +Evan paused before he replied: 'You have only to tell her what I have +told you. You know everything.' + +Rose gave him a flying look of pain: 'Everything, Evan? What do I know?' + +'Ah, Rose! do you compel me to repeat it?' + +Bewildered, Rose thought: 'Have I slept and forgotten it?' + +He saw the persistent grieved interrogation of her eyebrows. + +'Well!' she sighed resignedly: 'I am yours; you know that, Evan.' + +But he was a lover, and quarrelled with her sigh. + +'It may well make you sad now, Rose.' + +'Sad? no, that does not make me sad. No; but my hands are tied. I cannot +defend you or justify myself; and induce Mama to stand by us. Oh, Evan! +you love me! why can you not open your heart to me entirely, and trust +me?' + +'More?' cried Evan: 'Can I trust you more?' He spoke of the letter: Rose +caught his hand. + +'I never had it, Evan. You wrote it last night? and all was written in +it? I never saw it--but I know all.' + +Their eyes fronted. The gates of Rose's were wide open, and he saw no +hurtful beasts or lurking snakes in the happy garden within, but Love, +like a fixed star. + +'Then you know why I must leave, Rose.' + +'Leave? Leave me? On the contrary, you must stay by me, and support me. +Why, Evan, we have to fight a battle.' + +Much as he worshipped her, this intrepid directness of soul startled +him-almost humbled him. And her eyes shone with a firm cheerful light, +as she exclaimed: 'It makes me so happy to think you were the first to +mention this. You meant to be, and that's the same thing. I heard it +this morning: you wrote it last night. It's you I love, Evan. Your +birth, and what you were obliged to do--that's nothing. Of course +I'm sorry for it, dear. But I'm more sorry for the pain I must have +sometimes put you to. It happened through my mother's father being a +merchant; and that side of the family the men and women are quite +sordid and unendurable; and that's how it came that I spoke of disliking +tradesmen. I little thought I should ever love one sprung from that +class.' + +She turned to him tenderly. + +'And in spite of what my birth is, you love me, Rose?' + +'There's no spite in it, Evan. I do.' + +Hard for him, while his heart was melting to caress her, the thought +that he had snared this bird of heaven in a net! Rose gave him no time +for reflection, or the moony imagining of their raptures lovers love to +dwell upon. + +'You gave the letter to Polly, of course?' + +'Yes.' + +'Oh, naughty Polly! I must punish you,' Rose apostrophized her. 'You +might have divided us for ever. Well, we shall have to fight a battle, +you understand that. Will you stand by me?' + +Would he not risk his soul for her? + +'Very well, Evan. Then--but don't be sensitive. Oh, how sensitive you +are! I see it all now. This is what we shall have to do. We shall have +to speak to Mama to-day--this morning. Drummond has told me he is going +to speak to her, and we must be first. That 's decided. I begged a +couple of hours. You must not be offended with Drummond. He does it out +of pure affection for us, and I can see he's right--or, at least, not +quite wrong. He ought, I think, to know that he cannot change me. Very +well, we shall win Mama by what we do. My mother has ten times my +wits, and yet I manage her like a feather. I have only to be honest and +straightforward. Then Mama will gain over Papa. Papa, of course, won't +like it. He's quiet and easy, but he likes blood, but he also likes +peace better; and I think he loves Rosey--as well as somebody--almost? +Look, dear, there is our seat where we--where you would rob me of my +handkerchief. I can't talk any more.' + +Rose had suddenly fallen from her prattle, soft and short-breathed. + +'Then, dear,' she went on, 'we shall have to fight the family. Aunt +Shorne will be terrible. My poor uncles! I pity them. But they will come +round. They always have thought what I did was right, and why should +they change their minds now? I shall tell them that at their time of +life a change of any kind is very unwise and bad for them. Then there +is Grandmama Bonner. She can hurt us really, if she pleases. Oh, my dear +Evan! if you had only been a curate! Why isn't your name Parsley? Then +my Grandmama the Countess of Elburne. Well, we have a Countess on our +side, haven't we? And that reminds me, Evan, if we're to be happy and +succeed, you must promise one thing: you will not tell the Countess, +your sister. Don't confide this to her. Will you promise?' + +Evan assured her he was not in the habit of pouring secrets into any +bosom, the Countess's as little as another's. + +'Very well, then, Evan, it's unpleasant while it lasts, but we shall +gain the day. Uncle Melville will give you an appointment, and then?' + +'Yes, Rose,' he said, 'I will do this, though I don't think you can know +what I shall have to endure-not in confessing what I am, but in feeling +that I have brought you to my level.' + +'Does it not raise me?' she cried. + +He shook his head. + +'But in reality, Evan--apart from mere appearances--in reality it does! +it does!' + +'Men will not think so, Rose, nor can I. Oh, my Rose! how different you +make me. Up to this hour I have been so weak! torn two ways! You give me +double strength.' + +Then these lovers talked of distant days--compared their feelings on +this and that occasion with mutual wonder and delight. Then the old +hours lived anew. And--did you really think that, Evan? And--Oh, Rose! +was that your dream? And the meaning of that by-gone look: was it what +they fancied? And such and such a tone of voice; would it bear +the wished interpretation? Thus does Love avenge himself on the +unsatisfactory Past and call out its essence. + +Could Evan do less than adore her? She knew all, and she loved him! +Since he was too shy to allude more than once to his letter, it was +natural that he should not ask her how she came to know, and how much +the 'all' that she knew comprised. In his letter he had told all; the +condition of his parents, and his own. Honestly, now, what with his +dazzled state of mind, his deep inward happiness, and love's endless +delusions, he abstained from touching the subject further. Honestly, +therefore, as far as a lover can be honest. + +So they toyed, and then Rose, setting her fingers loose, whispered: 'Are +you ready?' And Evan nodded; and Rose, to make him think light of the +matter in hand, laughed: 'Pluck not quite up yet?' + +'Quite, my Rose!' said Evan, and they walked to the house, not quite +knowing what they were going to do. + +On the steps they met Drummond with Mrs. Evremonde. Little imagining how +heart and heart the two had grown, and that Evan would understand him, +Drummond called to Rose playfully: 'Time's up.' + +'Is it?' Rose answered, and to Mrs. Evremonde + +'Give Drummond a walk. Poor Drummond is going silly.' + +Evan looked into his eyes calmly as he passed. + +'Where are you going, Rose?' said Mrs. Evremonde. + +'Going to give my maid Polly a whipping for losing a letter she ought to +have delivered to me last night,' said Rose, in a loud voice, looking +at Drummond. 'And then going to Mama. Pleasure first--duty after. Isn't +that the proverb, Drummond?' + +She kissed her fingers rather scornfully to her old friend. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. MRS. MEL MAKES A BED FOR HERSELF AND FAMILY + +The last person thought of by her children at this period was Mrs. Mel: +nor had she been thinking much of them till a letter from Mr. Goren +arrived one day, which caused her to pass them seriously in review. +Always an early bird, and with maxims of her own on the subject of +rising and getting the worm, she was standing in a small perch in the +corner of the shop, dictating accounts to Mrs. Fiske, who was copying +hurriedly, that she might earn sweet intervals for gossip, when Dandy +limped up and delivered the letter. Mrs. Fiske worked hard while her +aunt was occupied in reading it, for a great deal of fresh talk follows +the advent of the post, and may be reckoned on. Without looking up, +however, she could tell presently that the letter had been read through. +Such being the case, and no conversation coming of it, her curiosity was +violent. Her aunt's face, too, was an index of something extraordinary. +That inflexible woman, instead of alluding to the letter in any way, +folded it up, and renewed her dictation. It became a contest between +them which should show her human nature first. Mrs. Mel had to repress +what she knew; Mrs. Fiske to control the passion for intelligence. +The close neighbourhood of one anxious to receive, and one capable of +giving, waxed too much for both. + +'I think, Anne, you are stupid this morning,' said Mrs. Mel. + +'Well, I am, aunt,' said Mrs. Fiske, pretending not to see which was the +first to unbend, 'I don't know what it is. The figures seem all dazzled +like. I shall really be glad when Evan comes to take his proper place.' + +'Ah!' went Mrs. Mel, and Mrs. Fiske heard her muttering. Then she cried +out: 'Are Harriet and Caroline as great liars as Louisa?' + +Mrs. Fiske grimaced. 'That would be difficult, would it not, aunt?' + +'And I have been telling everybody that my son is in town learning his +business, when he's idling at a country house, and trying to play his +father over again! Upon my word, what with liars and fools, if you go to +sleep a minute you have a month's work on your back.' + +'What is it, aunt?' Mrs. Fiske feebly inquired. + +'A gentleman, I suppose! He wouldn't take an order if it was offered. +Upon my word, when tailors think of winning heiresses it's time we went +back to Adam and Eve.' + +'Do you mean Evan, aunt?' interposed Mrs. Fiske, who probably did not +see the turns in her aunt's mind. + +'There--read for yourself,' said Mrs. Mel, and left her with the letter. + +Mrs. Fiske read that Mr. Goren had been astonished at Evan's +non-appearance, and at his total silence; which he did not consider +altogether gentlemanly behaviour, and certainly not such as his father +would have practised. Mr. Goren regretted his absence the more as he +would have found him useful in a remarkable invention he was about +to patent, being a peculiar red cross upon shirts--a fortune to the +patentee; but as Mr. Goren had no natural heirs of his body, he did not +care for that. What affected him painfully was the news of Evan's doings +at a noble house, Beckley Court, to wit, where, according to the report +of a rich young gentleman friend, Mr. Raikes (for whose custom Mr. Goren +was bound to thank Evan), the youth who should have been learning the +science of Tailoring, had actually passed himself off as a lord, or the +son of one, or something of the kind, and had got engaged to a wealthy +heiress, and would, no doubt, marry her if not found out. Where the +chances of detection were so numerous, Mr. Goren saw much to condemn in +the idea of such a marriage. But 'like father like son,' said Mr. Goren. +He thanked the Lord that an honest tradesman was not looked down upon in +this country; and, in fact, gave Mrs. Mel a few quiet digs to waken her +remorse in having missed the man that he was. + +When Mrs. Fiske met her aunt again she returned her the letter, and +simply remarked: 'Louisa.' + +Mrs. Mel nodded. She understood the implication. + +The General who had schemed so successfully to gain Evan time at Beckley +Court in his own despite and against a hundred obstructions, had now +another enemy in the field, and one who, if she could not undo her work, +could punish her. By the afternoon coach, Mrs. Mel, accompanied by +Dandy her squire, was journeying to Fallow field, bent upon things. The +faithful squire was kept by her side rather as a security for others +than for, his particular services. Dandy's arms were crossed, and his +countenance was gloomy. He had been promised a holiday that afternoon to +give his mistress, Sally, Kilne's cook, an airing, and Dandy knew in his +soul that Sally, when she once made up her mind to an excursion, would +go, and would not go alone, and that her very force of will endangered +her constancy. He had begged humbly to be allowed to stay, but Mrs. +Mel could not trust him. She ought to have told him so, perhaps. +Explanations were not approved of by this well-intended despot, and +however beneficial her resolves might turn out for all parties, it was +natural that in the interim the children of her rule should revolt, and +Dandy, picturing his Sally flaunting on the arm of some accursed low +marine, haply, kicked against Mrs. Mel's sovereignty, though all that he +did was to shoot out his fist from time to time, and grunt through his +set teeth: 'Iron!' to express the character of her awful rule. + +Mrs. Mel alighted at the Dolphin, the landlady of which was a Mrs. +Hawkshaw, a rival of Mrs. Sockley of the Green Dragon. She was welcomed +by Mrs. Hawkshaw with considerable respect. The great Mel had sometimes +slept at the Dolphin. + +'Ah, that black!' she sighed, indicating Mrs. Mel's dress and the story +it told. + +'I can't give you his room, my dear Mrs. Harrington, wishing I could! +I'm sorry to say it's occupied, for all I ought to be glad, I dare say, +for he's an old gentleman who does you a good turn, if you study him. +But there! I'd rather have had poor dear Mr. Harrington in my best bed +than old or young--Princes or nobodies, I would--he was that grand and +pleasant.' + +Mrs. Mel had her tea in Mrs. Hawkshaw's parlour, and was entertained +about her husband up to the hour of supper, when a short step and a +querulous voice were heard in the passage, and an old gentleman appeared +before them. + +'Who's to carry up my trunk, ma'am? No man here?' + +Mrs. Hawkshaw bustled out and tried to lay her hand on a man. Failing to +find the growth spontaneous, she returned and begged the old gentleman +to wait a few moments and the trunk would be sent up. + +'Parcel o' women!' was his reply. 'Regularly bedevilled. Gets worse and +worse. I 'll carry it up myself.' + +With a wheezy effort he persuaded the trunk to stand on one end, and +then looked at it. The exertion made him hot, which may account for the +rage he burst into when Mrs. Hawkshaw began flutteringly to apologize. + +'You're sure, ma'am, sure--what are you sure of? I'll tell you what I +am sure of--eh? This keeping clear of men's a damned pretence. You don't +impose upon me. Don't believe in your pothouse nunneries--not a bit. +Just like you! when you are virtuous it's deuced inconvenient. Let one +of the maids try? No. Don't believe in 'em.' + +Having thus relieved his spleen the old gentleman addressed himself to +further efforts and waxed hotter. He managed to tilt the trunk over, and +thus gained a length, and by this method of progression arrived at +the foot of the stairs, where he halted, and wiped his face, blowing +lustily. + +Mrs. Mel had been watching him with calm scorn all the while. She saw +him attempt most ridiculously to impel the trunk upwards by a similar +process, and thought it time to interfere. + +'Don't you see you must either take it on your shoulders, or have a +help?' + +The old gentleman sprang up from his peculiarly tight posture to blaze +round at her. He had the words well-peppered on his mouth, but somehow +he stopped, and was subsequently content to growl: 'Where 's the help in +a parcel of petticoats?' + +Mrs. Mel did not consider it necessary to give him an answer. She went +up two or three steps, and took hold of one handle of the trunk, saying: +'There; I think it can be managed this way,' and she pointed for him to +seize the other end with his hand. + +He was now in that unpleasant state of prickly heat when testy old +gentlemen could commit slaughter with ecstasy. Had it been the maid +holding a candle who had dared to advise, he would have overturned her +undoubtedly, and established a fresh instance of the impertinence, the +uselessness and weakness of women. Mrs. Mel topped him by half a head, +and in addition stood three steps above him; towering like a giantess. +The extreme gravity of her large face dispersed all idea of an assault. +The old gentleman showed signs of being horribly injured: nevertheless, +he put his hand to the trunk; it was lifted, and the procession ascended +the stairs in silence. + +The landlady waited for Mrs. Mel to return, and then said: + +'Really, Mrs. Harrington, you are clever. That lifting that trunk's +as good as a lock and bolt on him. You've as good as made him a +Dolphin--him that was one o' the oldest Green Dragons in Fallifield. My +thanks to you most sincere.' + +Mrs. Mel sent out to hear where Dandy had got to after which, she said: +'Who is the man?' + +'I told you, Mrs. Harrington--the oldest Green Dragon. His name, you +mean? Do you know, if I was to breathe it out, I believe he'd jump +out of the window. He 'd be off, that you might swear to. Oh, such a +whimsical! not ill-meaning--quite the contrary. Study his whims, and +you'll never want. There's Mrs. Sockley--she 's took ill. He won't go +there--that 's how I've caught him, my dear--but he pays her medicine, +and she looks to him the same. He hate a sick house: but he pity a sick +woman. Now, if I can only please him, I can always look on him as half +a Dolphin, to say the least; and perhaps to-morrow I'll tell you who he +is, and what, but not to-night; for there's his supper to get over, and +that, they say, can be as bad as the busting of one of his own vats. +Awful!' + +'What does he eat?' said Mrs. Mel. + +'A pair o' chops. That seem simple, now, don't it? And yet they chops +make my heart go pitty-pat.' + +'The commonest things are the worst done,' said Mrs. Mel. + +'It ain't that; but they must be done his particular way, do you see, +Mrs. Harrington. Laid close on the fire, he say, so as to keep in the +juice. But he ups and bounces in a minute at a speck o' black. So, one +thing or the other, there you are: no blacks, no juices, I say.' + +'Toast the chops,' said Mrs. Mel. + +The landlady of the Dolphin accepted this new idea with much +enlightenment, but ruefully declared that she was afraid to go against +his precise instructions. Mrs. Mel then folded her hands, and sat in +quiet reserve. She was one of those numerous women who always know +themselves to be right. She was also one of those very few whom +Providence favours by confounding dissentients. She was positive the +chops would be ill-cooked: but what could she do? She was not in command +here; so she waited serenely for the certain disasters to enthrone her. +Not that the matter of the chops occupied her mind particularly: nor +could she dream that the pair in question were destined to form a part +of her history, and divert the channel of her fortunes. Her thoughts +were about her own immediate work; and when the landlady rushed in with +the chops under a cover, and said: 'Look at 'em, dear Mrs. Harrington!' +she had forgotten that she was again to be proved right by the turn of +events. + +'Oh, the chops!' she responded. 'Send them while they are hot.' + +'Send 'em! Why you don't think I'd have risked their cooling? I have +sent 'em; and what do he do but send 'em travelling back, and here they +be; and what objections his is I might study till I was blind, and I +shouldn't see 'em.' + +'No; I suppose not,' said Mrs. Mel. 'He won't eat 'em?' + +'Won't eat anything: but his bed-room candle immediately. And whether +his sheets are aired. And Mary says he sniffed at the chops; and that +gal really did expect he 'd fling them at her. I told you what he was. +Oh, dear!' + +The bell was heard ringing in the midst of the landlady's lamentations. + +'Go to him yourself,' said Mrs. Mel. 'No Christian man should go to +sleep without his supper.' + +'Ah! but he ain't a common Christian,' returned Mrs. Hawkshaw. + +The old gentleman was in a hurry to know when his bed-room candle was +coming up, or whether they intended to give him one at all that night; +if not, let them say so, as he liked plain-speaking. The moment Mrs. +Hawkshaw touched upon the chops, he stopped her mouth. + +'Go about your business, ma'am. You can't cook 'em. I never expected +you could: I was a fool to try you. It requires at least ten years' +instruction before a man can get a woman to cook his chop as he likes +it.' + +'But what was your complaint, sir?' said Mrs. Hawkshaw, imploringly. + +'That's right!' and he rubbed his hands, and brightened his eyes +savagely. 'That's the way. Opportunity for gossip! Thing's well +done--down it goes: you know that. You can't have a word over it--eh? +Thing's done fit to toss on a dungheap, aha! Then there's a cackle! My +belief is, you do it on purpose. Can't be such rank idiots. You do it on +purpose. All done for gossip!' + +'Oh, sir, no!' The landlady half curtsied. + +'Oh, ma'am, yes!' The old gentleman bobbed his head. + +'No, indeed, sir!' The landlady shook hers. + +'Damn it, ma'am, I swear you do.' + +Symptoms of wrath here accompanied the declaration; and, with a sigh and +a very bitter feeling, Mrs. Hawkshaw allowed him to have the last word. +Apparently this--which I must beg to call the lady's morsel--comforted +his irascible system somewhat; for he remained in a state of composure +eight minutes by the clock. And mark how little things hang together. +Another word from the landlady, precipitating a retort from him, and +a gesture or muttering from her; and from him a snapping outburst, and +from her a sign that she held out still; in fact, had she chosen to +battle for that last word, as in other cases she might have done, then +would he have exploded, gone to bed in the dark, and insisted upon +sleeping: the consequence of which would have been to change this +history. Now while Mrs. Hawkshaw was upstairs, Mrs. Mel called the +servant, who took her to the kitchen, where she saw a prime loin of +mutton; off which she cut two chops with a cunning hand: and these she +toasted at a gradual distance, putting a plate beneath them, and a tin +behind, and hanging the chops so that they would turn without having +to be pierced. The bell rang twice before she could say the chops were +ready. The first time, the maid had to tell the old gentleman she was +taking up his water. Her next excuse was, that she had dropped her +candle. The chops ready--who was to take them? + +'Really, Mrs. Harrington, you are so clever, you ought, if I might be +so bold as say so; you ought to end it yourself,' said the landlady. 'I +can't ask him to eat them: he was all but on the busting point when I +left him.' + +'And that there candle did for him quite,' said Mary, the maid. + +'I'm afraid it's chops cooked for nothing,' added the landlady. + +Mrs. Mel saw them endangered. The maid held back: the landlady feared. + +'We can but try,' she said. + +'Oh! I wish, mum, you'd face him, 'stead o' me,' said Mary; 'I do dread +that old bear's den.' + +'Here, I will go,' said Mrs. Mel. 'Has he got his ale? Better draw it +fresh, if he drinks any.' + +And upstairs she marched, the landlady remaining below to listen for +the commencement of the disturbance. An utterance of something certainly +followed Mrs. Mel's entrance into the old bear's den. Then silence. Then +what might have been question and answer. Then--was Mrs. Mel assaulted? +and which was knocked down? It really was a chair being moved to the +table. The door opened. + +'Yes, ma'am; do what you like,' the landlady heard. Mrs. Mel descended, +saying: 'Send him up some fresh ale.' + +'And you have made him sit down obedient to those chops?' cried the +landlady. 'Well might poor dear Mr. Harrington--pleasant man as he +was!--say, as he used to say, "There's lovely women in the world, Mrs. +Hawkshaw," he'd say, "and there's Duchesses," he'd say, "and there's +they that can sing, and can dance, and some," he says, "that can cook." +But he'd look sly as he'd stoop his head and shake it. "Roll 'em into +one," he says, "and not any of your grand ladies can match my wife at +home." + +And, indeed, Mrs. Harrington, he told me he thought so many a time in +the great company he frequented.' + +Perfect peace reigning above, Mrs. Hawkshaw and Mrs. Mel sat down to +supper below; and Mrs. Hawkshaw talked much of the great one gone. His +relict did not care to converse about the dead, save in their practical +aspect as ghosts; but she listened, and that passed the time. By-and-by, +the old gentleman rang, and sent a civil message to know if the landlady +had ship's rum in the house. + +'Dear! here's another trouble,' cried the poor woman. 'No--none!' + +'Say, yes,' said Mrs. Mel, and called Dandy, and charged him to run +down the street to the square, and ask for the house of Mr. Coxwell, the +maltster, and beg of him, in her name, a bottle of his ship's rum. + +'And don't you tumble down and break the bottle, Dandy. Accidents with +spirit-bottles are not excused.' + +Dandy went on the errand, after an energetic grunt. + +In due time he returned with the bottle, whole and sound, and Mr. +Coxwell's compliments. Mrs. Mel examined the cork to see that no process +of suction had been attempted, and then said: + +'Carry it up to him, Dandy. Let him see there's a man in the house +besides himself.' + +'Why, my dear,' the landlady turned to her, 'it seems natural to you to +be mistress where you go. I don't at all mind, for ain't it my profit? +But you do take us off our legs.' + +Then the landlady, warmed by gratitude, told her that the old gentleman +was the great London brewer, who brewed there with his brother, and +brewed for himself five miles out of Fallow field, half of which and +a good part of the neighbourhood he owned, and his name was Mr. Tom +Cogglesby. + +'Oh!' said Mrs. Mel. 'And his brother is Mr. Andrew.' + +'That 's it,' said the landlady. 'And because he took it into his head +to go and to choose for himself, and be married, no getting his brother, +Mr. Tom, to speak to him. Why not, indeed? If there's to be no marrying, +the sooner we lay down and give up, the better, I think. But that 's his +way. He do hate us women, Mrs. Harrington. I have heard he was crossed. +Some say it was the lady of Beckley Court, who was a Beauty, when he was +only a poor cobbler's son.' + +Mrs. Mel breathed nothing of her relationship to Mr. Tom, but continued +from time to time to express solicitude about Dandy. They heard the door +open, and old Tom laughing in a capital good temper, and then Dandy came +down, evidently full of ship's rum. + +'He's pumped me!' said Dandy, nodding heavily at his mistress. + +Mrs. Mel took him up to his bed-room, and locked the door. On her way +back she passed old Tom's chamber, and his chuckles were audible to her. + +'They finished the rum,' said Mrs. Hawkshaw. + +'I shall rate him for that to-morrow,' said Mrs. Mel. 'Giving that poor +beast liquor!' + +'Rate Mr. Tom! Oh! Mrs. Harrington! Why, he'll snap your head off for a +word.' + +Mrs. Mel replied that her head would require a great deal of snapping to +come off. + +During this conversation they had both heard a singular intermittent +noise above. Mrs. Hawkshaw was the first to ask: + +'What can it be? More trouble with him? He's in his bed-room now.' + +'Mad with drink, like Dandy, perhaps,' said Mrs. Mel. + +'Hark!' cried the landlady. 'Oh!' + +It seemed that Old Tom was bouncing about in an extraordinary manner. +Now came a pause, as if he had sworn to take his rest: now the room +shook and the windows rattled. + +'One 'd think, really, his bed was a frying-pan, and him a live fish in +it,' said the landlady. 'Oh--there, again! My goodness! have he got a +flea?' + +The thought was alarming. Mrs. Mel joined in: + +'Or a ------' + +'Don't! don't, my dear!' she was cut short. 'Oh! one o' them little +things 'd be ruin to me. To think o' that! Hark at him! It must be. And +what's to do? I 've sent the maids to bed. We haven't a man. If I was to +go and knock at his door, and ask?' + +'Better try and get him to be quiet somehow.' + +'Ah! I dare say I shall make him fire out fifty times worse.' + +Mrs. Hawkshaw stipulated that Mrs. Mel should stand by her, and the two +women went up-stairs and stood at Old Tom's door. There they could hear +him fuming and muttering imprecations, and anon there was an interval of +silence, and then the room was shaken, and the cursings recommenced. + +'It must be a fight he 's having with a flea,' said the landlady. 'Oh! +pray heaven, it is a flea. For a flea, my dear-gentlemen may bring that +theirselves; but a b-----, that's a stationary, and born of a bed. Don't +you hear? The other thing 'd give him a minute's rest; but a flea's +hop-hop-off and on. And he sound like an old gentleman worried by a +flea. What are you doing?' + +Mrs. Mel had knocked at the door. The landlady waited breathlessly for +the result. It appeared to have quieted Old Tom. + +'What's the matter?' said Mrs. Mel, severely. + +The landlady implored her to speak him fair, and reflect on the +desperate things he might attempt. + +'What's the matter? Can anything be done for you?' + +Mr. Tom Cogglesby's reply comprised an insinuation so infamous regarding +women when they have a solitary man in their power, that it cannot be +placed on record. + +'Is anything the matter with your bed?' + +'Anything? Yes; anything is the matter, ma'am. Hope twenty live +geese inside it's enough-eh? Bed, do you call it? It's the rack! It's +damnation! Bed? Ha!' + +After delivering this, he was heard stamping up and down the room. + +'My very best bed!' whispered the landlady. 'Would it please you, sir, +to change--I can give you another?' + +'I'm not a man of experiments, ma'am-'specially in strange houses.' + +'So very, very sorry!' + +'What the deuce!' Old Tom came close to the door. 'You whimpering! You +put a man in a beast of a bed--you drive him half mad--and then begin to +blubber! Go away.' + +'I am so sorry, sir!' + +'If you don't go away, ma'am, I shall think your intentions are +improper.' + +'Oh, my goodness!' cried poor Mrs. Hawkshaw. 'What can one do with him?' +Mrs. Mel put Mrs. Hawkshaw behind her. + +'Are you dressed?' she called out. + +In this way Mrs. Mel tackled Old Tom. He was told that should he consent +to cover himself decently, she would come into his room and make his +bed comfortable. And in a voice that dispersed armies of innuendoes, she +bade him take his choice, either to rest quiet or do her bidding. +Had Old Tom found his master at last, and in one of the hated sex? +Breathlessly Mrs. Hawkshaw waited his answer, and she was an astonished +woman when it came. + +'Very well, ma'am. Wait a couple of minutes. Do as you like.' + +On their admission to the interior of the chamber, Old Tom was exhibited +in his daily garb, sufficiently subdued to be civil and explain the +cause of his discomfort. Lumps in his bed: he was bruised by them. +He supposed he couldn't ask women to judge for themselves--they'd be +shrieking--but he could assure them he was blue all down his back. Mrs. +Mel and Mrs. Hawkshaw turned the bed about, and punched it, and rolled +it. + +'Ha!' went Old Tom, 'what's the good of that? That's just how I found +it. Moment I got into bed geese began to put up their backs.' + +Mrs. Mel seldom indulged in a joke, and then only when it had a +proverbial cast. On the present occasion, the truth struck her forcibly, +and she said: + +'One fool makes many, and so, no doubt, does one goose.' + +Accompanied by a smile the words would have seemed impudent; but spoken +as a plain fact, and with a grave face, it set Old Tom blinking like a +small boy ten minutes after the whip. + +'Now,' she pursued, speaking to him as to an old child, 'look here. This +is how you manage. Knead down in the middle of the bed. Then jump into +the hollow. Lie there, and you needn't wake till morning.' + +Old Tom came to the side of the bed. He had prepared himself for a +wretched night, an uproar, and eternal complaints against the house, its +inhabitants, and its foundations; but a woman stood there who as much +as told him that digging his fist into the flock and jumping into the +hole--into that hole under his, eyes--was all that was wanted! that he +had been making a noise for nothing, and because he had not the wit to +hit on a simple contrivance! Then, too, his jest about the geese--this +woman had put a stop to that! He inspected the hollow cynically. A man +might instruct him on a point or two: Old Tom was not going to admit +that a woman could. + +'Oh, very well; thank you, ma'am; that's your idea. I'll try it. Good +night.' + +'Good night,' returned Mrs. Mel. 'Don't forget to jump into the middle.' + +'Head foremost, ma'am?' + +'As you weigh,' said Mrs. Mel, and Old Tom trumped his lips, silenced if +not beaten. Beaten, one might almost say, for nothing more was heard of +him that night. + +He presented himself to Mrs. Mel after breakfast next morning. + +'Slept well, ma'am.' + +'Oh! then you did as I directed you,' said Mrs. Mel. + +'Those chops, too, very good. I got through 'em.' + +'Eating, like scratching, only wants a beginning,' said Mrs. Mel. + +'Ha! you've got your word, then, as well as everybody else. Where's your +Dandy this morning, ma'am?' + +'Locked up. You ought to be ashamed to give that poor beast liquor. He +won't get fresh air to-day.' + +'Ha! May I ask you where you're going to-day, ma'am?' + +'I am going to Beckley.' + +'So am I, ma'am. What d' ye say, if we join company. Care for +insinuations?' + +'I want a conveyance of some sort,' returned Mrs. Mel. + +'Object to a donkey, ma'am?' + +'Not if he's strong and will go.' + +'Good,' said Old Tom; and while he spoke a donkey-cart stopped in front +of the Dolphin, and a well-dressed man touched his hat. + +'Get out of that damned bad habit, will you?' growled Old Tom. What +do you mean by wearing out the brim o' your hat in that way? Help this +woman in.' + +Mrs. Mel helped herself to a part of the seat. + +'We are too much for the donkey,' she said. + +'Ha, that's right. What I have, ma'am, is good. I can't pretend to +horses, but my donkey's the best. Are you going to cry about him?' + +'No. When he's tired I shall either walk or harness you,' said Mrs. Mel. + +This was spoken half-way down the High Street of Fallow field. Old Tom +looked full in her face, and bawled out: + +'Deuce take it. Are you a woman?' + +'I have borne three girls and one boy,' said Mrs. Mel. + +'What sort of a husband?' + +'He is dead.' + +'Ha! that's an opening, but 'tain't an answer. I'm off to Beckley on a +marriage business. I 'm the son of a cobbler, so I go in a donkey-cart. +No damned pretences for me. I'm going to marry off a young tailor to a +gal he's been playing the lord to. If she cares for him she'll take him: +if not, they're all the luckier, both of 'em.' + +'What's the tailor's name?' said Mrs. Mel. + +'You are a woman,' returned Old Tom. 'Now, come, ma'am, don't you feel +ashamed of being in a donkeycart?' + +'I 'm ashamed of men, sometimes,' said Mrs. Mel; 'never of animals.' + +''Shamed o' me, perhaps.' + +'I don't know you.' + +'Ha! well! I'm a man with no pretences. Do you like 'em? How have you +brought up your three girls and one boy? No pretences--eh?' + +Mrs. Mel did not answer, and Old Tom jogged the reins and chuckled, and +asked his donkey if he wanted to be a racer. + +'Should you take me for a gentleman, ma'am?' + +'I dare say you are, sir, at heart. Not from your manner of speech.' + +'I mean appearances, ma'am.' + +'I judge by the disposition.' + +'You do, ma'am? Then, deuce take it, if you are a woman, you 're -----' +Old Tom had no time to conclude. + +A great noise of wheels, and a horn blown, caused them both to turn +their heads, and they beheld a curricle descending upon them vehemently, +and a fashionably attired young gentleman straining with all his might +at the reins. The next instant they were rolling on the bank. About +twenty yards ahead the curricle was halted and turned about to see the +extent of the mischief done. + +'Pardon, a thousand times, my worthy couple,' cried the sonorous +Mr. Raikes. 'What we have seen we swear not to divulge. Franco and +Fred--your pledge!' + +'We swear!' exclaimed this couple. + +But suddenly the cheeks of Mr. John Raikes flushed. He alighted from the +box, and rushing up to Old Tom, was shouting, 'My bene--' + +'Do you want my toe on your plate?' Old Tom stopped him with. + +The mysterious words completely changed the aspect of Mr. John Raikes. +He bowed obsequiously and made his friend Franco step down and assist in +the task of reestablishing the donkey, who fortunately had received no +damage. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. EXHIBITS ROSE'S GENERALSHIP; EVAN'S PERFORMANCE ON THE +SECOND FIDDLE; AND THE WRETCHEDNESS OF THE COUNTESS + +We left Rose and Evan on their way to Lady Jocelyn. At the library-door +Rose turned to him, and with her chin archly lifted sideways, said: + +'I know what you feel; you feel foolish.' + +Now the sense of honour, and of the necessity of acting the part it +imposes on him, may be very strong in a young man; but certainly, as +a rule, the sense of ridicule is more poignant, and Evan was suffering +horrid pangs. We none of us like to play second fiddle. To play second +fiddle to a young woman is an abomination to us all. But to have to +perform upon that instrument to the darling of our hearts--would we +not rather die? nay, almost rather end the duet precipitately and with +violence. Evan, when he passed Drummond into the house, and quietly +returned his gaze, endured the first shock of this strange feeling. +There could be no doubt that he was playing second fiddle to Rose. And +what was he about to do? Oh, horror! to stand like a criminal, and say, +or worse, have said for him, things to tip the ears with fire! To +tell the young lady's mother that he had won her daughter's love, and +meant--what did he mean? He knew not. Alas! he was second fiddle; he +could only mean what she meant. Evan loved Rose deeply and completely, +but noble manhood was strong in him. You may sneer at us, if you please, +ladies. We have been educated in a theory, that when you lead off with +the bow, the order of Nature is reversed, and it is no wonder therefore, +that, having stript us of one attribute, our fine feathers moult, and +the majestic cock-like march which distinguishes us degenerates. You +unsex us, if I may dare to say so. Ceasing to be men, what are we? If we +are to please you rightly, always allow us to play First. + +Poor Evan did feel foolish. Whether Rose saw it in his walk, or had a +loving feminine intuition of it, and was aware of the golden rule I have +just laid down, we need not inquire. She hit the fact, and he could only +stammer, and bid her open the door. + +'No,' she said, after a slight hesitation, 'it will be better that I +should speak to Mama alone, I see. Walk out on the lawn, dear, and wait +for me. And if you meet Drummond, don't be angry with him. Drummond is +very fond of me, and of course I shall teach him to be fond of you. +He only thinks... what is not true, because he does not know you. I do +thoroughly, and there, you see, I give you my hand.' + +Evan drew the dear hand humbly to his lips. Rose then nodded meaningly, +and let her eyes dwell on him, and went in to her mother to open the +battle. + +Could it be that a flame had sprung up in those grey eyes latterly? Once +they were like morning before sunrise. How soft and' warm and tenderly +transparent they could now be! Assuredly she loved him. And he, beloved +by the noblest girl ever fashioned, why should he hang his head, and +shrink at the thought of human faces, like a wretch doomed to the +pillory? He visioned her last glance, and lightning emotions of pride +and happiness flashed through his veins. The generous, brave heart! +Yes, with her hand in his, he could stand at bay--meet any fate. Evan +accepted Rose because he believed in her love, and judged it by the +strength of his own; her sacrifice of her position he accepted, because +in his soul he knew he should have done no less. He mounted to the level +of her nobleness, and losing nothing of the beauty of what she did, it +was not so strange to him. + +Still there was the baleful reflection that he was second fiddle to +his beloved. No harmony came of it in his mind. How could he take an +initiative? He walked forth on the lawn, where a group had gathered +under the shade of a maple, consisting of Drummond Forth, Mrs. +Evremonde, Mrs. Shorne, Mr. George Uplift, Seymour Jocelyn, and +Ferdinand Laxley. A little apart Juliana Bonner was walking with Miss +Carrington. Juliana, when she saw him, left her companion, and passing +him swiftly, said, 'Follow me presently into the conservatory.' + +Evan strolled near the group, and bowed to Mrs. Shorne, whom he had not +seen that morning. + +The lady's acknowledgement of his salute was constrained, and but a +shade on the side of recognition. They were silent till he was out of +earshot. He noticed that his second approach produced the same effect. +In the conservatory Juliana was awaiting him. + +'It is not to give you roses I called you here, Mr. Harrington,' she +said. + +'Not if I beg one?' he responded. + +'Ah! but you do not want them from... It depends on the person.' + +'Pluck this,' said Evan, pointing to a white rose. + +She put her fingers to the stem. + +What folly!' she cried, and turned from it. + +'Are you afraid that I shall compromise you?' asked Evan. + +'You care for me too little for that.' + +'My dear Miss Bonner!' + +'How long did you know Rose before you called her by her Christian +name?' + +Evan really could not remember, and was beginning to wonder what he had +been called there for. The little lady had feverish eyes and fingers, +and seemed to be burning to speak, but afraid. + +'I thought you had gone,' she dropped her voice, 'without wishing me +good-bye.' + +'I certainly should not do that, Miss Bonner.' + +'Formal!' she exclaimed, half to herself. 'Miss Bonner thanks you. Do +you think I wish you to stay? No friend of yours would wish it. You do +not know the selfishness--brutal!--of these people of birth, as they +call it.' + +'I have met with nothing but kindness here,' said Evan. + +'Then go while you can feel that,' she answered; 'for it cannot last +another hour. Here is the rose.' She broke it from the stem and handed +it to him. 'You may wear that, and they are not so likely to call you +an adventurer, and names of that sort. I am hardly considered a lady by +them.' + +An adventurer! The full meaning of the phrase struck Evan's senses when +he was alone. Miss Bonner knew something of his condition, evidently. +Perhaps it was generally known, and perhaps it was thought that he had +come to win Rose for his worldly advantage! The idea was overwhelmingly +new to him. Up started self-love in arms. He would renounce her. + +It is no insignificant contest when love has to crush self-love utterly. +At moments it can be done. Love has divine moments. There are times +also when Love draws part of his being from self-love, and can find no +support without it. + +But how could he renounce her, when she came forth to him,--smiling, +speaking freshly and lightly, and with the colour on her cheeks which +showed that she had done her part? How could he retract a step? + +'I have told Mama, Evan. That's over. She heard it first from me.' + +'And she?' + +'Dear Evan, if you are going to be sensitive, I'll run away. You that +fear no danger, and are the bravest man I ever knew! I think you are +really trembling. She will speak to Papa, and then--and then, I suppose, +they will both ask you whether you intend to give me up, or no. I'm +afraid you'll do the former.' + +'Your mother--Lady Jocelyn listened to you, Rose? You told her all?' + +'Every bit.' + +'And what does she think of me?' + +'Thinks you very handsome and astonishing, and me very idiotic and +natural, and that there is a great deal of bother in the world, and that +my noble relatives will lay the blame of it on her. No, dear, not all +that; but she talked very sensibly to me, and kindly. You know she is +called a philosopher: nobody knows how deep-hearted she is, though. My +mother is true as steel. I can't separate the kindness from the sense, +or I would tell you all she said. When I say kindness, I don't mean any +"Oh, my child," and tears, and kisses, and maundering, you know. You +mustn't mind her thinking me a little fool. You want to know what she +thinks of you. She said nothing to hurt you, Evan, and we have gained +ground so far, and now we'll go and face our enemies. Uncle Mel expects +to hear about your appointment, in a day or two, and----' + +'Oh, Rose!' Evan burst out. + +'What is it?' + +'Why must I owe everything to you?' + +'Why, dear? Why, because, if you do, it's very much better than your +owing it to anybody else. Proud again?' + +Not proud: only second fiddle. + +'You know, dear Evan, when two people love, there is no such thing as +owing between them.' + +'Rose, I have been thinking. It is not too late. I love you, God knows! +I did in Portugal: I do now--more and more. But Oh, my bright angel!' he +ended the sentence in his breast. + +'Well? but--what?' + +Evan sounded down the meaning of his 'but.' Stripped of the usual +heroics, it was, 'what will be thought of me?' not a small matter to +any of us. He caught a distant glimpse of the little bit of bare +selfishness, and shrank from it. + +'Too late,' cried Rose. 'The battle has commenced now, and, Mr. +Harrington, I will lean on your arm, and be led to my dear friends +yonder. Do they think that I am going to put on a mask to please them? +Not for anybody! What they are to know they may as well know at once.' + +She looked in Evan's face. + +'Do you hesitate?' + +He felt the contrast between his own and hers; between the niggard +spirit of the beggarly receiver, and the high bloom of the exalted +giver. Nevertheless, he loved her too well not to share much of her +nature, and wedding it suddenly, he said: + +'Rose; tell me, now. If you were to see the place where I was born, +could you love me still?' + +'Yes, Evan.' + +'If you were to hear me spoken of with contempt--' + +'Who dares?' cried Rose. 'Never to me!' + +'Contempt of what I spring from, Rose. Names used... Names are used ...' + +'Tush!--names!' said Rose, reddening. 'How cowardly that is! Have +you finished? Oh, faint heart! I suppose I'm not a fair lady, or you +wouldn't have won me. Now, come. Remember, Evan, I conceal nothing; and +if anything makes you wretched here, do think how I love you.' + +In his own firm belief he had said everything to arrest her in her +course, and been silenced by transcendent logic. She thought the same. + +Rose made up to the conclave under the maple. + +The voices hushed as they approached. + +'Capital weather,' said Rose. 'Does Harry come back from London +to-morrow--does anybody know?' + +'Not aware,' Laxley was heard to reply. + +'I want to speak a word to you, Rose,' said Mrs. Shorne. + +'With the greatest pleasure, my dear aunt': and Rose walked after her. + +'My dear Rose,' Mrs. Shorne commenced, 'your conduct requires that I +should really talk to you most seriously. You are probably not aware of +what you are doing: Nobody likes ease and natural familiarity more than +I do. I am persuaded it is nothing but your innocence. You are young to +the world's ways, and perhaps a little too headstrong, and vain.' + +'Conceited and wilful,' added Rose. + +'If you like the words better. But I must say--I do not wish to trouble +your father--you know he cannot bear worry--but I must say, that if you +do not listen to me, he must be spoken to.' + +'Why not Mama?' + +'I should naturally select my brother first. No doubt you understand +me.' + +'Any distant allusion to Mr. Harrington?' + +'Pertness will not avail you, Rose.' + +'So you want me to do secretly what I am doing openly?' + +'You must and shall remember you are a Jocelyn, Rose.' + +'Only half, my dear aunt!' + +'And by birth a lady, Rose.' + +'And I ought to look under my eyes, and blush, and shrink, whenever I +come near a gentleman, aunt!' + +'Ah! my dear. No doubt you will do what is most telling. Since you +have spoken of this Mr. Harrington, I must inform you that I have it +on certain authority from two or three sources, that he is the son of a +small shopkeeper at Lymport.' + +Mrs. Shorne watched the effect she had produced. + +'Indeed, aunt?' cried Rose. 'And do you know this to be true?' + +'So when you talk of gentlemen, Rose, please be careful whom you +include.' + +'I mustn't include poor Mr. Harrington? Then my Grandpapa Bonner is out +of the list, and such numbers of good worthy men?' + +Mrs. Shorne understood the hit at the defunct manufacturer. She said: +'You must most distinctly give me your promise, while this young +adventurer remains here--I think it will not be long--not to be +compromising yourself further, as you now do. Or--indeed I must--I shall +let your parents perceive that such conduct is ruin to a young girl in +your position, and certainly you will be sent to Elburne House for the +winter.' + +Rose lifted her hands, crying: 'Ye Gods!--as Harry says. But I'm +very much obliged to you, my dear aunt. Concerning Mr. Harrington, +wonderfully obliged. Son of a small-----! Is it a t-t-tailor, aunt?' + +'It is--I have heard.' + +'And that is much worse. Cloth is viler than cotton! And don't they call +these creatures sn-snips? Some word of that sort?' + +'It makes little difference what they are called.' + +'Well, aunt, I sincerely thank you. As this subject seems to interest +you, go and see Mama, now. She can tell you a great deal more: and, if +you want her authority, come back to me.' + +Rose then left her aunt in a state of extreme indignation. It was a +clever move to send Mrs. Shorne to Lady Jocelyn. They were antagonistic, +and, rational as Lady Jocelyn was, and with her passions under control, +she was unlikely to side with Mrs. Shorne. + +Now Rose had fought against herself, and had, as she thought, conquered. +In Portugal Evan's half insinuations had given her small suspicions, +which the scene on board the Jocasta had half confirmed: and since she +came to communicate with her own mind, she bore the attack of all that +rose against him, bit by bit. She had not been too blind to see the +unpleasantness of the fresh facts revealed to her. They did not change +her; on the contrary, drew her to him faster--and she thought she had +completely conquered whatever could rise against him. But when Juliana +Bonner told her that day that Evan was not only the son of the thing, +but the thing himself, and that his name could be seen any day in +Lymport, and that he had come from the shop to Beckley, poor Rosey had +a sick feeling that almost sank her. For a moment she looked back wildly +to the doors of retreat. Her eyes had to feed on Evan, she had to taste +some of the luxury of love, before she could gain composure, and then +her arrogance towards those she called her enemies did not quite return. + +'In that letter you told me all--all--all, Evan?' + +'Yes, all-religiously.' + +'Oh, why did I miss it!' + +'Would it give you pleasure?' + +She feared to speak, being tender as a mother to his sensitiveness. +The expressive action of her eyebrows sufficed. She could not bear +concealment, or doubt, or a shadow of dishonesty; and he, gaining force +of soul to join with hers, took her hands and related the contents of +the letter fully. She was pale when he had finished. It was some time +before she was able to get free from the trammels of prejudice, but when +she did, she did without reserve, saying: 'Evan, there is no man who +would have done so much.' These little exaltations and generosities bind +lovers tightly. He accepted the credit she gave him, and at that we need +not wonder. It helped him further to accept herself, otherwise could +he--his name known to be on a shop-front--have aspired to her still? +But, as an unexampled man, princely in soul, as he felt, why, he might +kneel to Rose Jocelyn. So they listened to one another, and blinded the +world by putting bandages on their eyes, after the fashion of little +boys and girls. + +Meantime the fair being who had brought these two from the ends of +the social scale into this happy tangle, the beneficent Countess, was +wretched. When you are in the enemy's country you are dependent on the +activity and zeal of your spies and scouts, and the best of these--Polly +Wheedle, to wit--had proved defective, recalcitrant even. And because a +letter had been lost in her room! as the Countess exclaimed to herself, +though Polly gave her no reasons. The Countess had, therefore, to +rely chiefly upon personal observation, upon her intuitions, upon her +sensations in the proximity of the people to whom she was opposed; +and from these she gathered that she was, to use the word which seemed +fitting to her, betrayed. Still to be sweet, still to smile and to +amuse,--still to give her zealous attention to the business of the +diplomatist's Election, still to go through her church-services +devoutly, required heroism; she was equal to it, for she had remarkable +courage; but it was hard to feel no longer at one with Providence. Had +not Providence suggested Sir Abraham to her? killed him off at the right +moment in aid of her? And now Providence had turned, and the assistance +she had formerly received from that Power, and given thanks for so +profusely, was the cause of her terror. It was absolutely as if she +had been borrowing from a Jew, and were called upon to pay fifty-fold +interest. + +'Evan!' she writes in a gasp to Harriet. 'We must pack up and depart. +Abandon everything. He has disgraced us all, and ruined himself. +Impossible that we can stay for the pic-nic. We are known, dear. Think +of my position one day in this house! Particulars when I embrace you. +I dare not trust a letter here. If Evan had confided in me! He is +impenetrable. He will be low all his life, and I refuse any more +to sully myself in attempting to lift him. For Silva's sake I must +positively break the connection. Heaven knows what I have done for this +boy, and will support me in the feeling that I have done enough. My +conscience at least is safe.' + +Like many illustrious Generals, the Countess had, for the hour, lost +heart. We find her, however, the next day, writing: + +'Oh! Harriet! what trials for sisterly affection! Can I +possibly--weather the gale, as the old L---- sailors used to say? It +is dreadful. I fear I am by duty bound to stop on. Little Bonner thinks +Evan quite a duke's son, has been speaking to her Grandmama, and +to-day, this morning, the venerable old lady quite as much as gave me to +understand that an union between our brother and her son's child would +sweetly gratify her, and help her to go to her rest in peace. Can I +chase that spark of comfort from one so truly pious? Dearest Juliana! I +have anticipated Evan's feeling for her, and so she thinks his conduct +cold. Indeed, I told her, point blank, he loved her. That, you know, is +different from saying, dying of love, which would have been an untruth. +But, Evan, of course! No getting him! Should Juliana ever reproach me, +I can assure the child that any man is in love with any woman--which +is really the case. It is, you dear humdrum! what the dictionary calls +"nascent." I never liked the word, but it stands for a fact.' + +The Countess here exhibits the weakness of a self-educated intelligence. +She does not comprehend the joys of scholarship in her employment of +Latinisms. It will be pardoned to her by those who perceive the profound +piece of feminine discernment which precedes it. + +'I do think I shall now have courage to stay out the pic-nic,' she +continues. 'I really do not think all is known. Very little can be +known, or I am sure I could not feel as I do. It would burn me up. +George Up---does not dare; and his most beautiful lady-love had far +better not. Mr. Forth may repent his whispers. But, Oh! what Evan may +do! Rose is almost detestable. Manners, my dear? Totally deficient! + +'An ally has just come. Evan's good fortune is most miraculous. His low +friend turns out to be a young Fortunatus; very original, sparkling, +and in my hands to be made much of. I do think he will--for he is most +zealous--he will counteract that hateful Mr. Forth, who may soon have +work enough. Mr. Raikes (Evan's friend) met a mad captain in Fallow +field! Dear Mr. Raikes is ready to say anything; not from love of +falsehood, but because he is ready to think it. He has confessed to me +that Evan told him! Louisa de Saldar has changed his opinion, and much +impressed this eccentric young gentleman. Do you know any young girl who +wants a fortune, and would be grateful? + +'Dearest! I have decided on the pic-nic. Let your conscience be clear, +and Providence cannot be against you. So I feel. Mr. Parsley spoke very +beautifully to that purpose last Sunday in the morning service. A little +too much through his nose, perhaps; but the poor young man's nose is a +great organ, and we will not cast it in his teeth more than nature +has done. I said so to my diplomatist, who was amused. If you are +sparklingly vulgar with the English, you are aristocratic. Oh! what +principle we women require in the thorny walk of life. I can show you a +letter when we meet that will astonish humdrum. Not so diplomatic as the +writer thought! Mrs. Melville (sweet woman!) must continue to practise +civility; for a woman who is a wife, my dear, in verity she lives in a +glass house, and let her fling no stones. "Let him who is without sin." +How beautiful that Christian sentiment! I hope I shall be pardoned, but +it always seems to me that what we have to endure is infinitely worse +than any other suffering, for you find no comfort for the children +of T----s in Scripture, nor any defence of their dreadful position. +Robbers, thieves, Magdalens! but, no! the unfortunate offspring of that +class are not even mentioned: at least, in my most diligent perusal of +the Scriptures, I never lighted upon any remote allusion; and we know +the Jews did wear clothing. Outcasts, verily! And Evan could go, and +write--but I have no patience with him. He is the blind tool of his +mother, and anybody's puppet.' + +The letter concludes, with horrid emphasis: + +'The Madre in Beckley! Has sent for Evan from a low public-house! I +have intercepted the messenger. Evan closeted with Sir Franks. Andrew's +horrible old brother with Lady Jocelyn. The whole house, from garret to +kitchen, full of whispers!' + +A prayer to Providence closes the communication. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. TOM COGGLESEY'S PROPOSITION + +The appearance of a curricle and a donkey-cart within the gates of +Beckley Court, produced a sensation among the men of the lower halls, +and a couple of them rushed out, with the left calf considerably in +advance, to defend the house from violation. Toward the curricle +they directed what should have been a bow, but was a nod. Their joint +attention was then given to the donkey-cart, in which old Tom Cogglesby +sat alone, bunchy in figure, bunched in face, his shrewd grey eyes +twinkling under the bush of his eyebrows. + +'Oy, sir--you! my man!' exclaimed the tallest of the pair, resolutely. +'This won't do. Don't you know driving this sort of conveyance slap +along the gravel 'ere, up to the pillars, 's unparliamentary? Can't be +allowed. Now, right about!' + +This address, accompanied by a commanding elevation of the dexter hand, +seemed to excite Mr. Raikes far more than Old Tom. He alighted from +his perch in haste, and was running up to the stalwart figure, crying, +'Fellow!' when, as you tell a dog to lie down, Old Tom called out, 'Be +quiet, Sir!' and Raikes halted with prompt military obedience. + +The sight of the curricle acting satellite to the donkey-cart staggered +the two footmen. + +'Are you lords?' sang out Old Tom. + +A burst of laughter from the friends of Mr. Raikes, in the curricle, +helped to make the powdered gentlemen aware of a sarcasm, and one with +no little dignity replied that they were not lords. + +'Oh! Then come and hold my donkey.' + +Great irresolution was displayed at the injunction, but having consulted +the face of Mr. Raikes, one fellow, evidently half overcome by what +was put upon him, with the steps of Adam into exile, descended to the +gravel, and laid his hand on the donkey's head. + +'Hold hard!' cried Old Tom. 'Whisper in his ear. He'll know your +language.' + +'May I have the felicity of assisting you to terra firma?' interposed +Mr. Raikes, with the bow of deferential familiarity. + +'Done that once too often,' returned Old Tom, jumping out. 'There. +What's the fee? There's a crown for you that ain't afraid of a live +donkey; and there 's a sixpenny bit for you that are--to keep up your +courage; and when he's dead you shall have his skin--to shave by.' + +'Excellent!' shouted Raikes. + +'Thomas!' he addressed a footman, 'hand in my card. Mr. John Feversham +Raikes.' + +'And tell my lady, Tom Cogglesby's come,' added the owner of that name. + +We will follow Tom Cogglesby, as he chooses to be called. + +Lady Jocelyn rose on his entering the library, and walking up to him, +encountered him with a kindly full face. + +'So I see you at last, Tom?' she said, without releasing his hand; and +Old Tom mounted patches of red in his wrinkled cheeks, and blinked, and +betrayed a singular antiquated bashfulness, which ended, after a mumble +of 'Yes, there he was, and he hoped her ladyship was well,' by his +seeking refuge in a chair, where he sat hard, and fixed his attention on +the leg of a table. + +'Well, Tom, do you find much change in me?' she was woman enough to +continue. + +He was obliged to look up. + +'Can't say I do, my lady.' + +'Don't you see the grey hairs, Tom?' + +'Better than a wig,' rejoined he. + +Was it true that her ladyship had behaved rather ill to Old Tom in her +youth? Excellent women have been naughty girls, and young Beauties will +have their train. It is also very possible that Old Tom had presumed +upon trifles, and found it difficult to forgive her his own folly. + +'Preferable to a wig? Well, I would rather see you with your natural +thatch. You're bent, too. You look as if you had kept away from Beckley +a little too long.' + +'Told you, my lady, I should come when your daughter was marriageable.' + +'Oho! that's it? I thought it was the Election! + +'Election be ------ hem!--beg pardon, my lady.' + +'Swear, Tom, if it relieves you. I think it bad to check an oath or a +sneeze.' + +'I 'm come to see you on business, my lady, or I shouldn't have troubled +you.' + +'Malice?' + +'You 'll see I don't bear any, my lady.' + +'Ah! if you had only sworn roundly twenty-five years ago, what a much +younger man you would have been! and a brave capital old friend whom I +should not have missed all that time.' + +'Come!' cried Old Tom, varying his eyes rapidly between her ladyship's +face and the floor, 'you acknowledge I had reason to.' + +'Mais, cela va sans dire.' + +'Cobblers' sons ain't scholars, my lady.' + +'And are not all in the habit of throwing their fathers in our teeth, I +hope!' + +Old Tom wriggled in his chair. 'Well, my lady, I'm not going to make a +fool of myself at my time o' life. Needn't be alarmed now. You've got +the bell-rope handy and a husband on the premises.' + +Lady Jocelyn smiled, stood up, and went to him. 'I like an honest fist,' +she said, taking his. 'We 're not going to be doubtful friends, and we +won't snap and snarl. That's for people who're independent of wigs, Tom. +I find, for my part, that a little grey on the top of any head cools the +temper amazingly. I used to be rather hot once.' + +'You could be peppery, my lady.' + +'Now I'm cool, Tom, and so must you be; or, if you fight, it must be in +my cause, as you did when you thrashed that saucy young carter. Do you +remember?' + +'If you'll sit ye down, my lady, I'll just tell you what I'm come +for,' said Old Tom, who plainly showed that he did remember, and was +alarmingly softened by her ladyship's retention of the incident. + +Lady Jocelyn returned to her place. + +'You've got a marriageable daughter, my lady?' + +'I suppose we may call her so,' said Lady Jocelyn, with a composed +glance at the ceiling. + +''Gaged to be married to any young chap?' + +'You must put the question to her, Tom.' + +'Ha! I don't want to see her.' + +At this Lady Jocelyn looked slightly relieved. Old Tom continued. + +'Happen to have got a little money--not so much as many a lord's got, +I dare say; such as 'tis, there 'tis. Young fellow I know wants a wife, +and he shall have best part of it. Will that suit ye, my lady?' + +Lady Jocelyn folded her hands. 'Certainly; I've no objection. What it +has to do with me I can't perceive.' + +'Ahem!' went Old Tom. 'It won't hurt your daughter to be married now, +will it?' + +'Oh! my daughter is the destined bride of your "young fellow,"' said +Lady Jocelyn. 'Is that how it's to be?' + +'She'--Old Tom cleared his throat 'she won't marry a lord, my lady; but +she--'hem--if she don't mind that--'ll have a deuced sight more hard +cash than many lord's son 'd give her, and a young fellow for a husband, +sound in wind and limb, good bone and muscle, speaks grammar and two or +three languages, and--' + +'Stop!' cried Lady Jocelyn. 'I hope this is not a prize young man? If +he belongs, at his age, to the unco quid, I refuse to take him for a +son-in-law, and I think Rose will, too.' + +Old Tom burst out vehemently: 'He's a damned good young fellow, though +he isn't a lord.' + +'Well,' said Lady Jocelyn, 'I 've no doubt you're in earnest, Tom. It +'s curious, for this morning Rose has come to me and given me the first +chapter of a botheration, which she declares is to end in the common +rash experiment. What is your "young fellow's" name? Who is he? What is +he?' + +'Won't take my guarantee, my lady?' + +'Rose--if she marries--must have a name, you know?' + +Old Tom hit his knee. 'Then there's a pill for ye to swallow, for he +ain't the son of a lord.' + +'That's swallowed, Tom. What is he?' + +'He's the son of a tradesman, then, my lady.' And Old Tom watched her to +note the effect he had produced. + +'More 's the pity,' was all she remarked. + +'And he 'll have his thousand a year to start with; and he's a tailor, +my lady.' + +Her ladyship opened her eyes. + +'Harrington's his name, my lady. Don't know whether you ever heard of +it.' + +Lady Jocelyn flung herself back in her chair. 'The queerest thing I ever +met!' said she. + +'Thousand a year to start with,' Old Tom went on, 'and if she marries--I +mean if he marries her, I'll settle a thousand per ann. on the first +baby-boy or gal.' + +'Hum! Is this gross collusion, Mr. Tom?' Lady Jocelyn inquired. + +'What does that mean?' + +'Have you spoken of this before to any one?' + +'I haven't, my lady. Decided on it this morning. Hem! you got a son, +too. He's fond of a young gal, or he ought to be. I'll settle him when +I've settled the daughter.' + +'Harry is strongly attached to a dozen, I believe,' said his mother. +'Well, Tom, we'll think of it. I may as well tell you: Rose has just +been here to inform me that this Mr. Harrington has turned her head, and +that she has given her troth, and all that sort of thing. I believe such +was not to be laid to my charge in my day.' + +'You were open enough, my lady,' said Old Tom. 'She's fond of the young +fellow? She'll have a pill to swallow! poor young woman!' + +Old Tom visibly chuckled. Lady Jocelyn had a momentary temptation to +lead him out, but she did not like the subject well enough to play with +it. + +'Apparently Rose has swallowed it,' she said. + +'Goose, shears, cabbage, and all!' muttered Old Tom. 'Got a +stomach!--she knows he's a tailor, then? The young fellow told her? He +hasn't been playing the lord to her?' + +'As far as he's concerned, I think he has been tolerably honest, Tom, +for a man and a lover.' + +'And told her he was born and bound a tailor?' + +'Rose certainly heard it from him.' + +Slapping his knee, Old Tom cried: 'Bravo!' For though one part of his +nature was disappointed, and the best part of his plot disarranged, he +liked Evan's proceeding and felt warm at what seemed to him Rose's scorn +of rank. + +'She must be a good gal, my lady. She couldn't have got it from t' other +side. Got it from you. Not that you--' + +'No,' said Lady Jocelyn, apprehending him. 'I'm afraid I have no +Republican virtues. I 'm afraid I should have rejected the pill. Don't +be angry with me,' for Old Tom looked sour again; 'I like birth and +position, and worldly advantages, and, notwithstanding Rose's pledge of +the instrument she calls her heart, and in spite of your offer, I shall, +I tell you honestly, counsel her to have nothing to do with--' + +'Anything less than lords,' Old Tom struck in. 'Very well. Are you going +to lock her up, my lady?' + +'No. Nor shall I whip her with rods.' + +'Leave her free to her choice?' + +'She will have my advice. That I shall give her. And I shall take care +that before she makes a step she shall know exactly what it leads to. +Her father, of course, will exercise his judgement.' (Lady Jocelyn +said this to uphold the honour of Sir Franks, knowing at the same time +perfectly well that he would be wheedled by Rose.) 'I confess I like +this Mr. Harrington. But it's a great misfortune for him to have had a +notorious father. A tailor should certainly avoid fame, and this young +man will have to carry his father on his back. He 'll never throw the +great Mel off.' + +Tom Cogglesby listened, and was really astonished at her ladyship's calm +reception of his proposal. + +'Shameful of him! shameful!' he muttered perversely: for it would have +made him desolate to have had to change his opinion of her ladyship +after cherishing it, and consoling himself with it, five-and-twenty +years. Fearing the approach of softness, he prepared to take his leave. + +'Now--your servant, my lady. I stick to my word, mind: and if +your people here are willing, I--I 've got a candidate up for +Fall'field--I'll knock him down, and you shall sneak in your Tory. +Servant, my lady.' + +Old Tom rose to go. Lady Jocelyn took his hand cordially, though she +could not help smiling at the humility of the cobbler's son in his +manner of speaking of the Tory candidate. + +'Won't you stop with us a few days?' + +'I 'd rather not, I thank ye.' + +'Won't you see Rose?' + +'I won't. Not till she's married.' + +'Well, Tom, we're friends now?' + +'Not aware I've ever done you any harm, my lady.' + +'Look me in the face.' + +The trial was hard for him. Though she had been five-and-twenty years +a wife, she was still very handsome: but he was not going to be melted, +and when the perverse old fellow obeyed her, it was with an aspect of +resolute disgust that would have made any other woman indignant. Lady +Jocelyn laughed. + +'Why, Tom, your brother Andrew's here, and makes himself comfortable +with us. We rode by Brook's farm the other day. Do you remember +Copping's pond--how we dragged it that night? What days we had!' + +Old Tom tugged once or twice at his imprisoned fist, while these +youthful frolics of his too stupid self and the wild and beautiful Miss +Bonner were being recalled. + +'I remember!' he said savagely, and reaching the door hurled out: 'And I +remember the Bull-dogs, too! servant, my lady.' With which he effected a +retreat, to avoid a ringing laugh he heard in his ears. + +Lady Jocelyn had not laughed. She had done no more than look and smile +kindly on the old boy. It was at the Bull-dogs, a fall of water on the +borders of the park, that Tom Cogglesby, then a hearty young man, had +been guilty of his folly: had mistaken her frank friendliness for a +return of his passion, and his stubborn vanity still attributed her +rejection of his suit to the fact of his descent from a cobbler, or, as +he put it, to her infernal worship of rank. + +'Poor old Tom!' said her ladyship, when alone. 'He 's rough at the rind, +but sound at the core.' She had no idea of the long revenge Old Tom +cherished, and had just shaped into a plot to be equal with her for the +Bull-dogs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. PRELUDE TO AN ENGAGEMENT + +Money was a strong point with the Elburne brood. The Jocelyns +very properly respected blood; but being, as Harry, their youngest +representative, termed them, poor as rats, they were justified in +considering it a marketable stuff; and when they married they married +for money. The Hon. Miss Jocelyn had espoused a manufacturer, who failed +in his contract, and deserved his death. The diplomatist, Melville, had +not stepped aside from the family traditions in his alliance with Miss +Black, the daughter of a bold bankrupt, educated in affluence; and if +he touched nothing but L5000 and some very pretty ringlets, that was +not his fault. Sir Franks, too, mixed his pure stream with gold. As yet, +however, the gold had done little more than shine on him; and, belonging +to expectancy, it might be thought unsubstantial. Beckley Court was in +the hands of Mrs. Bonner, who, with the highest sense of duty toward +her only living child, was the last to appreciate Lady Jocelyn's +entire absence of demonstrative affection, and severely reprobated her +daughter's philosophic handling of certain serious subjects. Sir Franks, +no doubt, came better off than the others; her ladyship brought him +twenty thousand pounds, and Harry had ten in the past tense, and +Rose ten in the future; but living, as he had done, a score of years +anticipating the demise of an incurable invalid, he, though an excellent +husband and father, could scarcely be taught to imagine that the Jocelyn +object of his bargain was attained. He had the semblance of wealth, +without the personal glow which absolute possession brings. It was his +habit to call himself a poor man, and it was his dream that Rose should +marry a rich one. Harry was hopeless. He had been his Grandmother's pet +up to the years of adolescence: he was getting too old for any prospect +of a military career he had no turn for diplomacy, no taste for any of +the walks open to blood and birth, and was in headlong disgrace with the +fountain of goodness at Beckley Court, where he was still kept in the +tacit understanding that, should Juliana inherit the place, he must be +at hand to marry her instantly, after the fashion of the Jocelyns. They +were an injured family; for what they gave was good, and the commercial +world had not behaved honourably to them. Now, Ferdinand Laxley was just +the match for Rose. Born to a title and fine estate, he was evidently +fond of her, and there had been a gentle hope in the bosom of Sir Franks +that the family fatality would cease, and that Rose would marry both +money and blood. + +From this happy delusion poor Sir Franks was awakened to hear that his +daughter had plighted herself to the son of a tradesman: that, as the +climax to their evil fate, she who had some blood and some money of +her own--the only Jocelyn who had ever united the two--was desirous of +wasting herself on one who had neither. The idea was so utterly opposed +to the principles Sir Franks had been trained in, that his intellect +could not grasp it. He listened to his sister, Mrs. Shorne: he listened +to his wife; he agreed with all they said, though what they said was +widely diverse: he consented to see and speak to Evan, and he did so, +and was much the most distressed. For Sir Franks liked many things in +life, and hated one thing alone--which was 'bother.' A smooth world +was his delight. Rose knew this, and her instruction to Evan was: 'You +cannot give me up--you will go, but you cannot give me up while I am +faithful to you: tell him that.' She knew that to impress this fact +at once on the mind of Sir Franks would be a great gain; for in his +detestation of bother he would soon grow reconciled to things monstrous: +and hearing the same on both sides, the matter would assume an +inevitable shape to him. Mr. Second Fiddle had no difficulty in +declaring the eternity of his sentiments; but he toned them with a +despair Rose did not contemplate, and added also his readiness to +repair, in any way possible, the evil done. He spoke of his birth and +position. Sir Franks, with a gentlemanly delicacy natural to all lovers +of a smooth world, begged him to see the main and the insurmountable +objection. Birth was to be desired, of course, and position, and so +forth: but without money how can two young people marry? Evan's heart +melted at this generous way of putting it. He said he saw it, he had no +hope: he would go and be forgotten: and begged that for any annoyance +his visit might have caused Sir Franks and Lady Jocelyn, they would +pardon him. Sir Franks shook him by the hand, and the interview ended +in a dialogue on the condition of the knees of Black Lymport, and on +horseflesh in Portugal and Spain. + +Following Evan, Rose went to her father and gave him a good hour's +excitement, after which the worthy gentleman hurried for consolation +to Lady Jocelyn, whom he found reading a book of French memoirs, in her +usual attitude, with her feet stretched out and her head thrown back, as +in a distant survey of the lively people screening her from a troubled +world. Her ladyship read him a piquant story, and Sir Franks capped it +with another from memory; whereupon her ladyship held him wrong in one +turn of the story, and Sir Franks rose to get the volume to verify, and +while he was turning over the leaves, Lady Jocelyn told him incidentally +of old Tom Cogglesby's visit and proposal. Sir Franks found the passage, +and that her ladyship was right, which it did not move her countenance +to hear. + +'Ah!' said he, finding it no use to pretend there was no bother in the +world, 'here's a pretty pickle! Rose says she will have that fellow.' + +'Hum!' replied her ladyship. 'And if she keeps her mind a couple of +years, it will be a wonder.' + +'Very bad for her this sort of thing--talked about,' muttered Sir +Franks. 'Ferdinand was just the man.' + +'Well, yes; I suppose it's her mistake to think brains an absolute +requisite,' said Lady Jocelyn, opening her book again, and scanning down +a column. + +Sir Franks, being imitative, adopted a similar refuge, and the talk +between them was varied by quotations and choice bits from the authors +they had recourse to. Both leaned back in their chairs, and spoke with +their eyes on their books. + +'Julia's going to write to her mother,' said he. + +'Very filial and proper,' said she. + +'There'll be a horrible hubbub, you know, Emily.' + +'Most probably. I shall get the blame; 'cela se concoit'.' + +'Young Harrington goes the day after to-morrow. Thought it better not to +pack him off in a hurry.' + +'And just before the pic-nic; no, certainly. I suppose it would look +odd.' + +'How are we to get rid of the Countess?' + +'Eh? This Bautru is amusing, Franks; but he's nothing to Vandy. 'Homme +incomparable!' On the whole I find Menage rather dull. The Countess? +what an accomplished liar that woman is! She seems to have stepped +out of Tallemant's Gallery. Concerning the Countess, I suppose you had +better apply to Melville.' + +'Where the deuce did this young Harrington get his breeding from?' + +'He comes of a notable sire.' + +'Yes, but there's no sign of the snob in him.' + +'And I exonerate him from the charge of "adventuring" after Rose. George +Uplift tells me--I had him in just now--that the mother is a woman of +mark and strong principle. She has probably corrected the too luxuriant +nature of Mel in her offspring. That is to say in this one. 'Pour les +autres, je ne dis pas'. Well, the young man will go; and if Rose chooses +to become a monument of constancy, we can do nothing. I shall give my +advice; but as she has not deceived me, and she is a reasonable being, +I shan't interfere. Putting the case at the worst, they will not want +money. I have no doubt Tom Cogglesby means what he says, and will do it. +So there we will leave the matter till we hear from Elburne House.' + +Sir Franks groaned at the thought. + +'How much does he offer to settle on them?' he asked. + +'A thousand a year on the marriage, and the same amount to the first +child. I daresay the end would be that they would get all.' + +Sir Franks nodded, and remained with one eye-brow pitiably elevated +above the level of the other. + +'Anything but a tailor!' he exclaimed presently, half to himself. + +'There is a prejudice against that craft,' her ladyship acquiesced. +'Beranger--let me see--your favourite Frenchman, Franks, wasn't it +his father?--no, his grandfather. "Mon pauvre et humble grand-pyre," +I think, was a tailor. Hum! the degrees of the thing, I confess, don't +affect me. One trade I imagine to be no worse than another.' + +'Ferdinand's allowance is about a thousand,' said Sir Franks, +meditatively. + +'And won't be a farthing more till he comes to the title,' added her +ladyship. + +'Well,' resumed Sir Franks, 'it's a horrible bother!' + +His wife philosophically agreed with him, and the subject was dropped. + +Lady Jocelyn felt with her husband, more than she chose to let him +know, and Sir Franks could have burst into anathemas against fate and +circumstances, more than his love of a smooth world permitted. He, +however, was subdued by her calmness; and she, with ten times the weight +of brain, was manoeuvred by the wonderful dash of General Rose Jocelyn. +For her ladyship, thinking, 'I shall get the blame of all this,' rather +sided insensibly with the offenders against those who condemned +them jointly; and seeing that Rose had been scrupulously honest and +straightforward in a very delicate matter, this lady was so constituted +that she could not but applaud her daughter in her heart. A worldly +woman would have acted, if she had not thought, differently; but her +ladyship was not a worldly woman. + +Evan's bearing and character had, during his residence at Beckley Court, +become so thoroughly accepted as those of a gentleman, and one of their +own rank, that, after an allusion to the origin of his breeding, not a +word more was said by either of them on that topic. Besides, Rose had +dignified him by her decided conduct. + +By the time poor Sir Franks had read himself into tranquillity, Mrs. +Shorne, who knew him well, and was determined that he should not enter +upon his usual negociations with an unpleasantness: that is to say, to +forget it, joined them in the library, bringing with her Sir John Loring +and Hamilton Jocelyn. Her first measure was to compel Sir Franks to put +down his book. Lady Jocelyn subsequently had to do the same. + +'Well, what have you done, Franks?' said Mrs. Shorne. + +'Done?' answered the poor gentleman. 'What is there to be done? I've +spoken to young Harrington.' + +'Spoken to him! He deserves horsewhipping! Have you not told him to quit +the house instantly?' + +Lady Jocelyn came to her husband's aid: 'It wouldn't do, I think, to +kick him out. In the first place, he hasn't deserved it.' + +'Not deserved it, Emily!--the commonest, low, vile, adventuring +tradesman!' + +'In the second place,' pursued her ladyship, 'it's not adviseable to do +anything that will make Rose enter into the young woman's sublimities. +It 's better not to let a lunatic see that you think him stark mad, and +the same holds with young women afflicted with the love-mania. The sound +of sense, even if they can't understand it, flatters them so as to +keep them within bounds. Otherwise you drive them into excesses best +avoided.' + +'Really, Emily,' said Mrs. Shorne, 'you speak almost, one would say, as +an advocate of such unions.' + +'You must know perfectly well that I entirely condemn them,' replied +her ladyship, who had once, and once only, delivered her opinion of the +nuptials of Mr. and Mrs. Shorne. + +In self-defence, and to show the total difference between the cases, +Mrs. Shorne interjected: 'An utterly penniless young adventurer!' + +'Oh, no; there's money,' remarked Sir Franks. + +'Money is there?' quoth Hamilton, respectfully. + +'And there's wit,' added Sir John, 'if he has half his sister's talent.' + +'Astonishing woman!' Hamilton chimed in; adding, with a shrug, 'But, +egad!' + +'Well, we don't want him to resemble his sister,' said Lady Jocelyn. 'I +acknowledge she's amusing.' + +'Amusing, Emily!' Mrs. Shorne never encountered her sister-in-law's +calmness without indignation. 'I could not rest in the house with such +a person, knowing her what she is. A vile adventuress, as I firmly +believe. What does she do all day with your mother? Depend upon it, you +will repent her visit in more ways than one.' + +'A prophecy?' asked Lady Jocelyn, smiling. + +On the grounds of common sense, on the grounds of propriety, and +consideration of what was due to themselves, all agreed to condemn the +notion of Rose casting herself away on Evan. Lady Jocelyn agreed with +Mrs. Shorne; Sir Franks with his brother, and Sir John. But as to what +they were to do, they were divided. Lady Jocelyn said she should not +prevent Rose from writing to Evan, if she had the wish to do so. + +'Folly must come out,' said her ladyship. 'It's a combustible material. +I won't have her health injured. She shall go into the world more. She +will be presented at Court, and if it's necessary to give her a dose or +two to counteract her vanity, I don't object. This will wear off, or, +'si c'est veritablement une grande passion, eh bien' we must take what +Providence sends us.' + +'And which we might have prevented if we had condescended to listen to +the plainest worldly wisdom,' added Mrs. Shorne. + +'Yes,' said Lady Jocelyn, equably, 'you know, you and I, Julia, argue +from two distinct points. Girls may be shut up, as you propose. I don't +think nature intended to have them the obverse of men. I 'm sure +their mothers never designed that they should run away with footmen, +riding-masters, chance curates, as they occasionally do, and wouldn't +if they had points of comparison. My opinion is that Prospero was +just saved by the Prince of Naples being wrecked on his island, from a +shocking mis-alliance between his daughter and the son of Sycorax. I +see it clearly. Poetry conceals the extreme probability, but from what I +know of my sex, I should have no hesitation in turning prophet also, as +to that.' + +What could Mrs. Shorne do with a mother who talked in this manner? +Mrs. Melville, when she arrived to take part in the conference, which +gradually swelled to a family one, was equally unable to make Lady +Jocelyn perceive that her plan of bringing up Rose was, in the present +result of it, other than unlucky. + +Now the two Generals--Rose Jocelyn and the Countess de Saldar--had +brought matters to this pass; and from the two tactical extremes: +the former by openness and dash; the latter by subtlety, and her own +interpretations of the means extended to her by Providence. I will not +be so bold as to state which of the two I think right. Good and evil +work together in this world. If the Countess had not woven the tangle, +and gained Evan time, Rose would never have seen his blood,--never have +had her spirit hurried out of all shows and forms and habits of thought, +up to the gates of existence, as it were, where she took him simply as +God created him and her, and clave to him. Again, had Rose been secret, +when this turn in her nature came, she would have forfeited the strange +power she received from it, and which endowed her with decision to say +what was in her heart, and stamp it lastingly there. The two Generals +were quite antagonistic, but no two, in perfect ignorance of one +another's proceedings, ever worked so harmoniously toward the main +result. The Countess was the skilful engineer: Rose the General of +cavalry. And it did really seem that, with Tom Cogglesby and his +thousands in reserve, the victory was about to be gained. The male +Jocelyns, an easy race, decided that, if the worst came to the worst, +and Rose proved a wonder, there was money, which was something. + +But social prejudice was about to claim its champion. Hitherto there had +been no General on the opposite side. Love, aided by the Countess, had +engaged an inert mass. The champion was discovered in the person of the +provincial Don Juan, Mr. Harry Jocelyn. Harry had gone on a mysterious +business of his own to London. He returned with a green box under his +arm, which, five minutes after his arrival, was entrusted to Conning, in +company with a genial present for herself, of a kind not perhaps so fit +for exhibition; at least they both thought so, for it was given in the +shades. Harry then went to pay his respects to his mother, who received +him with her customary ironical tolerance. His father, to whom he was +an incarnation of bother, likewise nodded to him and gave him a finger. +Duty done, Harry looked round him for pleasure, and observed nothing +but glum faces. Even the face of John Raikes was, heavy. He had been +hovering about the Duke and Miss Current for an hour, hoping the +Countess would come and give him a promised introduction. The Countess +stirred not from above, and Jack drifted from group to group on the +lawn, and grew conscious that wherever he went he brought silence with +him. His isolation made him humble, and when Harry shook his hand, and +said he remembered Fallow field and the fun there, Mr. Raikes thanked +him. + +Harry made his way to join his friend Ferdinand, and furnished him with +the latest London news not likely to appear in the papers. Laxley was +distant and unamused. From the fact, too, that Harry was known to be the +Countess's slave, his presence produced the same effect in the different +circles about the grounds, as did that of John Raikes. Harry began to +yawn and wish very ardently for his sweet lady. She, however, had too +fine an instinct to descend. + +An hour before dinner, Juliana sent him a message that she desired to +see him. + +'Jove! I hope that girl's not going to be blowing hot again,' sighed the +conqueror. + +He had nothing to fear from Juliana. The moment they were alone she +asked him, 'Have you heard of it?' + +Harry shook his head and shrugged. + +'They haven't told you? Rose has engaged herself to Mr. Harrington, a +tradesman, a tailor!' + +'Pooh! have you got hold of that story?' said Harry. 'But I'm sorry for +old Ferdy. He was fond of Rosey. Here's another bother!' + +'You don't believe me, Harry?' + +Harry was mentally debating whether, in this new posture of affairs, his +friend Ferdinand would press his claim for certain moneys lent. + +'Oh, I believe you,' he said. 'Harrington has the knack with you women. +Why, you made eyes at him. It was a toss-up between you and Rosey once.' + +Juliana let this accusation pass. + +'He is a tradesman. He has a shop in Lymport, I tell you, Harry, and his +name on it. And he came here on purpose to catch Rose. And now he has +caught her, he tells her. And his mother is now at one of the village +inns, waiting to see him. Go to Mr. George Uplift; he knows the family. +Yes, the Countess has turned your head, of course; but she has schemed, +and schemed, and told such stories--God forgive her!' + +The girl had to veil her eyes in a spasm of angry weeping. + +'Oh, come! Juley!' murmured her killing cousin. Harry boasted an +extraordinary weakness at the sight of feminine tears. 'I say! Juley! +you know if you begin crying I'm done for, and it isn't fair.' + +He dropped his arm on her waist to console her, and generously declared +to her that he always had been, very fond of her. These scenes were not +foreign to the youth. Her fits of crying, from which she would burst in +a frenzy of contempt at him, had made Harry say stronger things; and the +assurances of profound affection uttered in a most languid voice will +sting the hearts of women. + +Harry still went on with his declarations, heating them rapidly, so +as to bring on himself the usual outburst and check. She was longer +in coming to it this time, and he had a horrid fear, that instead of +dismissing him fiercely, and so annulling his words, the strange little +person was going to be soft and hold him to them. There were her tears, +however, which she could not stop. + +'Well, then, Juley, look. I do, upon my honour, yes--there, don't cry +any more--I do love you.' + +Harry held his breath in awful suspense. Juliana quietly disengaged her +waist, and looking at him, said, 'Poor Harry! You need not lie any more +to please me.' + +Such was Harry's astonishment, that he exclaimed, + +'It isn't a lie! I say, I do love you.' And for an instant he thought +and hoped that he did love her. + +'Well, then, Harry, I don't love you,' said Juliana; which revealed to +our friend that he had been mistaken in his own emotions. Nevertheless, +his vanity was hurt when he saw she was sincere, and he listened to +her, a moody being. This may account for his excessive wrath at Evan +Harrington after Juliana had given him proofs of the truth of what she +said. + +But the Countess was Harrington's sister! The image of the Countess swam +before him. Was it possible? Harry went about asking everybody he met. +The initiated were discreet; those who had the whispers were open. A +bare truth is not so convincing as one that discretion confirms. Harry +found the detestable news perfectly true. + +'Stop it by all means if you can,' said his father. + +'Yes, try a fall with Rose,' said his mother. + +'And I must sit down to dinner to-day with a confounded fellow, the son +of a tailor, who's had the impudence to make love to my sister!' cried +Harry. 'I'm determined to kick him out of the house!--half.' + +'To what is the modification of your determination due?' Lady Jocelyn +inquired, probably suspecting the sweet and gracious person who divided +Harry's mind. + +Her ladyship treated her children as she did mankind generally, from her +intellectual eminence. Harry was compelled to fly from her cruel shafts. +He found comfort with his Aunt Shorne, and she as much as told +Harry that he was the head of the house, and must take up the matter +summarily. It was expected of him. Now was the time for him to show his +manhood. + +Harry could think of but one way to do that. + +'Yes, and if I do--all up with the old lady,' he said, and had to +explain that his Grandmama Bonner would never leave a penny to a fellow +who had fought a duel. + +'A duel!' said Mrs. Shorne. 'No, there are other ways. Insist upon his +renouncing her. And Rose--treat her with a high hand, as becomes you. +Your mother is incorrigible, and as for your father, one knows him of +old. This devolves upon you. Our family honour is in your hands, Harry.' + +Considering Harry's reputation, the family honour must have got low: +Harry, of course, was not disposed to think so. He discovered a great +deal of unused pride within him, for which he had hitherto not found +an agreeable vent. He vowed to his aunt that he would not suffer the +disgrace, and while still that blandishing olive-hued visage swam before +his eyes, he pledged his word to Mrs. Shorne that he would come to an +understanding with Harrington that night. + +'Quietly,' said she. 'No scandal, pray.' + +'Oh, never mind how I do it,' returned Harry, manfully. 'How am I to do +it, then?' he added, suddenly remembering his debt to Evan. + +Mrs. Shorne instructed him how to do it quietly, and without fear of +scandal. The miserable champion replied that it was very well for her +to tell him to say this and that, but--and she thought him demented--he +must, previous to addressing Harrington in those terms, have money. + +'Money!' echoed the lady. 'Money!' + +'Yes, money!' he iterated doggedly, and she learnt that he had borrowed +a sum of Harrington, and the amount of the sum. + +It was a disastrous plight, for Mrs. Shorne was penniless. + +She cited Ferdinand Laxley as a likely lender. + +'Oh, I'm deep with him already,' said Harry, in apparent dejection. + +'How dreadful are these everlasting borrowings of yours!' exclaimed his +aunt, unaware of a trifling incongruity in her sentiments. 'You must +speak to him without--pay him by-and-by. We must scrape the money +together. I will write to your grandfather.' + +'Yes; speak to him! How can I when I owe him? I can't tell a fellow he's +a blackguard when I owe him, and I can't speak any other way. I ain't a +diplomatist. Dashed if I know what to do!' + +'Juliana,' murmured his aunt. + +'Can't ask her, you know.' + +Mrs. Shorne combated the one prominent reason for the objection: but +there were two. Harry believed that he had exhausted Juliana's treasury. +Reproaching him further for his wastefulness, Mrs. Shorne promised him +the money should be got, by hook or by crook, next day. + +'And you will speak to this Mr. Harrington to-night, Harry? No allusion +to the loan till you return it. Appeal to his sense of honour.' + +The dinner-bell assembled the inmates of the house. Evan was not among +them. He had gone, as the Countess said aloud, on a diplomatic mission +to Fallow field, with Andrew Cogglesby. The truth being that he had +finally taken Andrew into his confidence concerning the letter, the +annuity, and the bond. Upon which occasion Andrew had burst into a +laugh, and said he could lay his hand on the writer of the letter. + +'Trust Old Tom for plots, Van! He'll blow you up in a twinkling, the +cunning old dog! He pretends to be hard--he 's as soft as I am, if +it wasn't for his crotchets. We'll hand him back the cash, and that's +ended. And--eh? what a dear girl she is! Not that I'm astonished. My +Harry might have married a lord--sit at top of any table in the land! +And you're as good as any man. + +That's my opinion. But I say she's a wonderful girl to see it.' + +Chattering thus, Andrew drove with the dear boy into Fallow field. Evan +was still in his dream. To him the generous love and valiant openness of +Rose, though they were matched in his own bosom, seemed scarcely human. +Almost as noble to him were the gentlemanly plainspeaking of Sir Franks +and Lady Jocelyn's kind commonsense. But the more he esteemed them, the +more unbounded and miraculous appeared the prospect of his calling their +daughter by the sacred name, and kneeling with her at their feet. Did +the dear heavens have that in store for him? The horizon edges were +dimly lighted. + +Harry looked about under his eye-lids for Evan, trying at the same time +to compose himself for the martyrdom he had to endure in sitting at +table with the presumptuous fellow. The Countess signalled him to come +within the presence. As he was crossing the room, Rose entered, and +moved to meet him, with: 'Ah, Harry! back again! Glad to see you.' + +Harry gave her a blunt nod, to which she was inattentive. + +'What!' whispered the Countess, after he pressed the tips of her +fingers. 'Have you brought back the grocer?' + +Now this was hard to stand. Harry could forgive her her birth, and pass +it utterly by if she chose to fall in love with him; but to hear the +grocer mentioned, when he knew of the tailor, was a little too much, and +what Harry felt his ingenuous countenance was accustomed to exhibit. The +Countess saw it. She turned her head from him to the diplomatist, and he +had to remain like a sentinel at her feet. He did not want to be thanked +for the green box: still he thought she might have favoured him with one +of her much-embracing smiles: + +In the evening, after wine, when he was warm, and had almost forgotten +the insult to his family and himself, the Countess snubbed him. It was +unwise on her part, but she had the ghastly thought that facts were +oozing out, and were already half known. She was therefore sensitive +tenfold to appearances; savage if one failed to keep up her lie to her, +and was guilty of a shadow of difference of behaviour. The pic-nic over, +our General would evacuate Beckley Court, and shake the dust off her +shoes, and leave the harvest of what she had sown to Providence. Till +then, respect, and the honours of war! So the Countess snubbed him, and +he being full of wine, fell into the hands of Juliana, who had witnessed +the little scene. + +'She has made a fool of others as well as of you,' said Juliana. + +'How has she?' he inquired. + +'Never mind. Do you want to make her humble and crouch to you?' + +'I want to see Harrington,' said Harry. + +'He will not return to-night from Fallow field. He has gone there to get +Mr. Andrew Cogglesby's brother to do something for him. You won't have +such another chance of humbling them both--both! I told you his mother +is at an inn here. The Countess has sent Mr. Harrington to Fallow +field to be out of the way, and she has told her mother all sorts of +falsehoods.' + +'How do you know all that?' quoth Harry. 'By Jove, Juley! talk about +plotters! No keeping anything from you, ever!' + +'Never mind. The mother is here. She must be a vulgar woman. Oh! if +you could manage, Harry, to get this woman to come--you could do it so +easily! while they are at the pie-nic tomorrow. It would have the best +effect on Rose. She would then understand! And the Countess!' + +'I could send the old woman a message!' cried Harry, rushing into the +scheme, inspired by Juliana's fiery eyes. 'Send her a sort of message to +say where we all were.' + +'Let her know that her son is here, in some way,' Juley resumed. + +'And, egad! what an explosion!' pursued Harry. 'But, suppose--' + +'No one shall know, if you leave it to me-if you do just as I tell you, +Harry. You won't be treated as you were this evening after that, if you +bring down her pride. And, Harry, I hear you want money--I can give you +some.' + +'You're a perfect trump, Juley!' exclaimed her enthusiastic cousin. + +'But, no; I can't take it. I must kiss you, though.' + +He put a kiss upon her cheek. Once his kisses had left a red waxen +stamp; she was callous to these compliments now. + +'Will you do what I advise you to-morrow?' she asked. + +After a slight hesitation, during which the olive-hued visage flitted +faintly in the distances of his brain, Harry said: + +'It 'll do Rose good, and make Harrington cut. Yes! I declare I will.' + +Then they parted. Juliana went to her bed-room, and flung herself upon +the bed hysterically. As the tears came thick and fast, she jumped up +to lock the door, for this outrageous habit of crying had made her +contemptible in the eyes of Lady Jocelyn, and an object of pity to +Rose. Some excellent and noble natures cannot tolerate disease, and are +mystified by its ebullitions. It was very sad to see the slight thin +frame grasped by those wan hands to contain the violence of the frenzy +that possessed her! the pale, hapless face rigid above the torment +in her bosom! She had prayed to be loved like other girls, and her +readiness to give her heart in return had made her a by-word in the +house. She went to the window and leaned out on the casement, looking +towards Fallowfield over the downs, weeping bitterly, with a hard shut +mouth. One brilliant star hung above the ridge, and danced on her tears. + +'Will he forgive me?' she murmured. 'Oh, my God! I wish we were dead +together!' + +Her weeping ceased, and she closed the window, and undressed as far away +from the mirror as she could get; but its force was too much for her, +and drew her to it. Some undefined hope had sprung in her suddenly. With +nervous slow steps she approached the glass, and first brushing back the +masses of black hair from her brow, looked as for some new revelation. +Long and anxiously she perused her features: the wide bony forehead; +the eyes deep-set and rounded with the scarlet of recent tears, the thin +nose-sharp as the dead; the weak irritable mouth and sunken cheeks. She +gazed like a spirit disconnected from what she saw. Presently a sort of +forlorn negative was indicated by the motion of her head. + +'I can pardon him,' she said, and sighed. 'How could he love such a +face!' + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. THE BATTLE OF THE BULL-DOGS. PART I. + +At the South-western extremity of the park, with a view extending +over wide meadows and troubled mill waters, yellow barn-roofs and +weather-gray old farm-walls, two grassy mounds threw their slopes to the +margin of the stream. Here the bull-dogs held revel. The hollow between +the slopes was crowned by a bending birch, which rose three-stemmed from +the root, and hung a noiseless green shower over the basin of green it +shadowed. Beneath it the interminable growl sounded pleasantly; softly +shot the sparkle of the twisting water, and you might dream things +half-fulfilled. Knots of fern were about, but the tops of the mounds +were firm grass, evidently well rolled, and with an eye to airy feet. +Olympus one eminence was called, Parnassus the other. Olympus a little +overlooked Parnassus, but Parnassus was broader and altogether better +adapted for the games of the Muses. Round the edges of both there was a +well-trimmed bush of laurel, obscuring only the feet of the dancers from +the observing gods. For on Olympus the elders reclined. Great efforts +had occasionally been made to dispossess and unseat them, and their +security depended mainly on a hump in the middle of the mound which +defied the dance. + +Watteau-like groups were already couched in the shade. There were +ladies of all sorts: town-bred and country-bred: farmers' daughters and +daughters of peers: for this pic-nic, as Lady Jocelyn, disgusting +the Countess, would call it, was in reality a 'fete champetre', given +annually, to which the fair offspring of the superior tenants were +invited the brothers and fathers coming to fetch them in the evening. It +struck the eye of the Countess de Saldar that Olympus would be a fitting +throne for her, and a point whence her shafts might fly without fear of +a return. Like another illustrious General at Salamanca, she directed a +detachment to take possession of the height. Courtly Sir John Loring +ran up at once, and gave the diplomatist an opportunity to thank her +flatteringly for gaining them two minutes to themselves. Sir John +waved his handkerchief in triumph, welcoming them under an awning where +carpets and cushions were spread, and whence the Countess could eye the +field. She was dressed ravishingly; slightly in a foreign style, the +bodice being peaked at the waist, as was then the Portuguese persuasion. +The neck, too, was deliciously veiled with fine lace--and thoroughly +veiled, for it was a feature the Countess did not care to expose to the +vulgar daylight. Off her gentle shoulders, as it were some fringe of +cloud blown by the breeze this sweet lady opened her bosom to, curled +a lovely black lace scarf: not Caroline's. If she laughed, the tinge +of mourning lent her laughter new charms. If she sighed, the exuberant +array of her apparel bade the spectator be of good cheer. Was she +witty, men surrendered reason and adored her. Only when she entered the +majestic mood, and assumed the languors of greatness, and recited musky +anecdotes of her intimacy with it, only then did mankind, as represented +at Beckley Court, open an internal eye and reflect that it was wonderful +in a tailor's daughter. And she felt that mankind did so reflect. Her +instincts did not deceive her. She knew not how much was known; in the +depths of her heart she kept low the fear that possibly all might be +known; and succeeding in this, she said to herself that probably nothing +was known after all. George Uplift, Miss Carrington, and Rose, were the +three she abhorred. Partly to be out of their way, and to be out of +the way of chance shots (for she had heard names of people coming that +reminded her of Dubbins's, where, in past days, there had been on one +awful occasion a terrific discovery made), the Countess selected Olympus +for her station. It was her last day, and she determined to be happy. +Doubtless, she was making a retreat, but have not illustrious Generals +snatched victory from their pursuers? Fair, then, sweet, and full of +grace, the Countess moved. As the restless shifting of colours to her +motions was the constant interchange of her semisorrowful manner +and ready archness. Sir John almost capered to please her, and the +diplomatist in talking to her forgot his diplomacy and the craft of his +tongue. + +It was the last day also of Caroline and the Duke. The Countess clung +to Caroline and the Duke more than to Evan and Rose. She could see the +first couple walking under an avenue of limes, and near them that young +man or monkey, Raikes, as if in ambush. Twice they passed him, and twice +he doffed his hat and did homage. + +'A most singular creature!' exclaimed the Countess. 'It is my constant +marvel where my brother discovered such a curiosity. Do notice him.' + +'That man? Raikes?' said the diplomatist. 'Do you know he is our rival? +Harry wanted an excuse for another bottle last night, and proposed the +"Member" for Fallowfield. Up got this Mr. Raikes and returned thanks.' + +'Yes?' the Countess negligently interjected in a way she had caught from +Lady Jocelyn. + +'Cogglesby's nominee, apparently.' + +'I know it all,' said the Countess. 'We need have no apprehension. He is +docile. My brother-in-law's brother, you see, is most eccentric. We +can manage him best through this Mr. Raikes, for a personal application +would be ruin. He quite detests our family, and indeed all the +aristocracy.' + +Melville's mouth pursed, and he looked very grave. + +Sir John remarked: 'He seems like a monkey just turned into a man.' + +'And doubtful about the tail,' added the Countess. + +The image was tolerably correct, but other causes were at the bottom of +the air worn by John Raikes. The Countess had obtained an invitation for +him, with instructions that he should come early, and he had followed +them so implicitly that the curricle was flinging dust on the hedges +between Fallow field and Beckley but an hour or two after the chariot of +Apollo had mounted the heavens, and Mr. Raikes presented himself at the +breakfast table. Fortunately for him the Countess was there. After the +repast she introduced him to the Duke: and he bowed to the Duke, and +the Duke bowed to him: and now, to instance the peculiar justness in the +mind of Mr. Raikes, he, though he worshipped a coronet and would +gladly have recalled the feudal times to a corrupt land, could not help +thinking that his bow had beaten the Duke's and was better. He would +rather not have thought so, for it upset his preconceptions and +threatened a revolution in his ideas. For this reason he followed +the Duke, and tried, if possible, to correct, or at least chasten the +impressions he had of possessing a glaring advantage over the nobleman. +The Duke's second notice of him was hardly a nod. 'Well!' Mr. Raikes +reflected, 'if this is your Duke, why, egad! for figure and style my +friend Harrington beats him hollow.' And Raikes thought he knew who +could conduct a conversation with superior dignity and neatness. The +torchlight of a delusion was extinguished in him, but he did not wander +long in that gloomy cavernous darkness of the disenchanted, as many of +us do, and as Evan had done, when after a week at Beckley Court he +began to examine of what stuff his brilliant father, the great Mel, was +composed. On the contrary, as the light of the Duke dwindled, Raikes +gained in lustre. 'In fact,' he said, 'there's nothing but the title +wanting.' He was by this time on a level with the Duke in his elastic +mind. + +Olympus had been held in possession by the Countess about half an hour, +when Lady Jocelyn mounted it, quite unconscious that she was scaling a +fortified point. The Countess herself fired off the first gun at her. + +'It has been so extremely delightful up alone here, Lady Jocelyn: to +look at everybody below! I hope many will not intrude on us!' + +'None but the dowagers who have breath to get up,' replied her ladyship, +panting. 'By the way, Countess, you hardly belong to us yet. You dance?' + +'Indeed, I do not.' + +'Oh, then you are in your right place. A dowager is a woman who doesn't +dance: and her male attendant is--what is he? We will call him a fogy.' + +Lady Jocelyn directed a smile at Melville and Sir John, who both +protested that it was an honour to be the Countess's fogy. + +Rose now joined them, with Laxley morally dragged in her wake. + +'Another dowager and fogy!' cried the Countess, musically. 'Do you not +dance, my child?' + +'Not till the music strikes up,' rejoined Rose. 'I suppose we shall have +to eat first.' + +'That is the Hamlet of the pic-nic play, I believe,' said her mother. + +'Of course you dance, don't you, Countess?' Rose inquired, for the sake +of amiable conversation. + +The Countess's head signified: 'Oh, no! quite out of the question': she +held up a little bit of her mournful draperies, adding: 'Besides, you, +dear child, know your company, and can select; I do not, and cannot do +so. I understand we have a most varied assembly!' + +Rose shut her eyes, and then looked at her mother. Lady Jocelyn's face +was undisturbed; but while her eyes were still upon the Countess, she +drew her head gently back, imperceptibly. If anything, she was admiring +the lady; but Rose could be no placid philosophic spectator of what +was to her a horrible assumption and hypocrisy. For the sake of him she +loved, she had swallowed a nauseous cup bravely. The Countess was too +much for her. She felt sick to think of being allied to this person. She +had a shuddering desire to run into the ranks of the world, and hide her +head from multitudinous hootings. With a pang of envy she saw her +friend Jenny walking by the side of William Harvey, happy, untried, +unoffending: full of hope, and without any bitter draughts to swallow! + +Aunt Bel now came tripping up gaily. + +'Take the alternative, 'douairiere or demoiselle'?' cried Lady Jocelyn. +'We must have a sharp distinction, or Olympus will be mobbed.' + +'Entre les deux, s'il vous plait,' responded Aunt Bel. 'Rose, hurry +down, and leaven the mass. I see ten girls in a bunch. It's shocking. +Ferdinand, pray disperse yourself. Why is it, Emily, that we are always +in excess at pic-nics? Is man dying out?' + +'From what I can see,' remarked Lady Jocelyn, 'Harry will be lost to his +species unless some one quickly relieves him. He's already half eaten up +by the Conley girls. Countess, isn't it your duty to rescue him?' + +The Countess bowed, and murmured to Sir John: + +'A dismissal!' + +'I fear my fascinations, Lady Jocelyn, may not compete with those fresh +young persons.' + +'Ha! ha! "fresh young persons,"' laughed Sir John for the ladies in +question were romping boisterously with Mr. Harry. + +The Countess inquired for the names and condition of the ladies, and was +told that they sprang from Farmer Conley, a well-to-do son of the soil, +who farmed about a couple of thousand acres between Fallow field and +Beckley, and bore a good reputation at the county bank. + +'But I do think,' observed the Countess, 'it must indeed be pernicious +for any youth to associate with that class of woman. A deterioration of +manners!' + +Rose looked at her mother again. She thought 'Those girls would scorn to +marry a tradesman's son!' + +The feeling grew in Rose that the Countess lowered and degraded her. Her +mother's calm contemplation of the lady was more distressing than if +she had expressed the contempt Rose was certain, according to her young +ideas, Lady Jocelyn must hold. + +Now the Countess had been considering that she would like to have a +word or two with Mr. Harry, and kissing her fingers to the occupants of +Olympus, and fixing her fancy on the diverse thoughts of the ladies and +gentlemen, deduced from a rapturous or critical contemplation of her +figure from behind, she descended the slope. + +Was it going to be a happy day? The well-imagined opinions of the +gentleman on her attire and style, made her lean to the affirmative; but +Rose's demure behaviour, and something--something would come across her +hopes. She had, as she now said to herself, stopped for the pic-nic, +mainly to give Caroline a last opportunity of binding the Duke to visit +the Cogglesby saloons in London. Let Caroline cleverly contrive this, as +she might, without any compromise, and the stay at Beckley Court would +be a great gain. Yes, Caroline was still with the Duke; they were +talking earnestly. The Countess breathed a short appeal to Providence +that Caroline might not prove a fool. Overnight she had said to +Caroline: 'Do not be so English. Can one not enjoy friendship with a +nobleman without wounding one's conscience or breaking with the world? +My dear, the Duke visiting you, you cow that infamous Strike of yours. +He will be utterly obsequious! I am not telling you to pass the line. +The contrary. But we continentals have our grievous reputation because +we dare to meet as intellectual beings, and defy the imputation that +ladies and gentlemen are no better than animals.' + +It sounded very lofty to Caroline, who, accepting its sincerity, +replied: + +'I cannot do things by halves. I cannot live a life of deceit. A life of +misery--not deceit.' + +Whereupon, pitying her poor English nature, the Countess gave her +advice, and this advice she now implored her familiars to instruct or +compel Caroline to follow. + +The Countess's garment was plucked at. She beheld little Dorothy Loring +glancing up at her with the roguish timidity of her years. + +'May I come with you?' asked the little maid, and went off into a +prattle: 'I spent that five shillings--I bought a shilling's worth of +sweet stuff, and nine penn'orth of twine, and a shilling for small wax +candles to light in my room when I'm going to bed, because I like plenty +of light by the looking-glass always, and they do make the room so hot! +My Jane declared she almost fainted, but I burnt them out! Then I only +had very little left for a horse to mount my doll on; and I wasn't going +to get a screw, so I went to Papa, and he gave me five shillings. And, +oh, do you know, Rose can't bear me to be with you. Jealousy, I suppose, +for you're very agreeable. And, do you know, your Mama is coming to-day? +I've got a Papa and no Mama, and you've got a Mama and no Papa. Isn't +it funny? But I don't think so much of it, as you 're grown up. Oh, I'm +quite sure she is coming, because I heard Harry telling Juley she was, +and Juley said it would be so gratifying to you.' + +A bribe and a message relieved the Countess of Dorothy's attendance on +her. + +What did this mean? Were people so base as to be guilty of hideous plots +in this house? Her mother coming! The Countess's blood turned deadly +chill. Had it been her father she would not have feared, but her mother +was so vilely plain of speech; she never opened her mouth save +to deliver facts: which was to the Countess the sign of atrocious +vulgarity. + +But her mother had written to say she would wait for Evan in Fallow +field! The Countess grasped at straws. Did Dorothy hear that? And if +Harry and Juliana spoke of her mother, what did that mean? That she was +hunted, and must stand at bay! + +'Oh, Papa! Papa! why did you marry a Dawley?' she exclaimed, plunging to +what was, in her idea, the root of the evil. + +She had no time for outcries and lamentations. It dawned on her that +this was to be a day of battle. Where was Harry? Still in the midst of +the Conley throng, apparently pooh-poohing something, to judge by the +twist of his mouth. + +The Countess delicately signed for him to approach her. The extreme +delicacy of the signal was at least an excuse for Harry to perceive +nothing. It was renewed, and Harry burst into a fit of laughter at some +fun of one of the Conley girls. The Countess passed on, and met Juliana +pacing by herself near the lower gates of the park. She wished only to +see how Juliana behaved. The girl looked perfectly trustful, as much so +as when the Countess was pouring in her ears the tales of Evan's growing +but bashful affection for her. + +'He will soon be here,' whispered the Countess. 'Has he told you he will +come by this entrance?' + +'No,' replied Juliana. + +'You do not look well, sweet child.' + +'I was thinking that you did not, Countess?' + +'Oh, indeed, yes! With reason, alas! All our visitors have by this time +arrived, I presume?' + +'They come all day.' + +The Countess hastened away from one who, when roused, could be almost as +clever as herself, and again stood in meditation near the joyful Harry. +This time she did not signal so discreetly. Harry could not but see it, +and the Conley girls accused him of cruelty to the beautiful dame, which +novel idea stung Harry with delight, and he held out to indulge in it +a little longer. His back was half turned, and as he talked noisily, he +could not observe the serene and resolute march of the Countess toward +him. The youth gaped when he found his arm taken prisoner by the +insertion of a small deliciously-gloved and perfumed hand through it. +'I must claim you for a few moments,' said the Countess, and took the +startled Conley girls one and all in her beautiful smile of excuse. + +'Why do you compromise me thus, sir?' + +These astounding words were spoken out of the hearing of the Conley +girls. + +'Compromise you!' muttered Harry. + +Masterly was the skill with which the Countess contrived to speak +angrily and as an injured woman, while she wore an indifferent social +countenance. + +'I repeat, compromise me. No, Mr. Harry Jocelyn, you are not the +jackanapes you try to make people think you: you understand me.' + +The Countess might accuse him, but Harry never had the ambition to make +people think him that: his natural tendency was the reverse: and he +objected to the application of the word jackanapes to himself, and was +ready to contest the fact of people having that opinion at all. However, +all he did was to repeat: 'Compromise!' + +'Is not open unkindness to me compromising me?' + +'How?' asked Harry. + +'Would you dare to do it to a strange lady? Would you have the impudence +to attempt it with any woman here but me? No, I am innocent; it is my +consolation; I have resisted you, but you by this cowardly behaviour +place me--and my reputation, which is more--at your mercy. Noble +behaviour, Mr. Harry Jocelyn! I shall remember my young English +gentleman.' + +The view was totally new to Harry. + +'I really had no idea of compromising you,' he said. 'Upon my honour, I +can't see how I did it now!' + +'Oblige me by walking less in the neighbourhood of those fat-faced +glaring farm-girls,' the Countess spoke under her breath; 'and don't +look as if you were being whipped. The art of it is evident--you are +but carrying on the game.--Listen. If you permit yourself to exhibit +an unkindness to me, you show to any man who is a judge, and to +every woman, that there has been something between us. You know my +innocence--yes! but you must punish me for having resisted you thus +long.' + +Harry swore he never had such an idea, and was much too much of a man +and a gentleman to behave in that way.--And yet it seemed wonderfully +clever! And here was the Countess saying: + +'Take your reward, Mr. Harry Jocelyn. You have succeeded; I am your +humble slave. I come to you and sue for peace. To save my reputation I +endanger myself. This is generous of you.' + +'Am I such a clever fellow?' thought the young gentleman. 'Deuced +lucky with women': he knew that: still a fellow must be wonderfully, +miraculously, clever to be able to twist and spin about such a woman as +this in that way. He did not object to conceive that he was the fellow +to do it. Besides, here was the Countess de Saldar-worth five hundred of +the Conley girls--almost at his feet! + +Mollified, he said: 'Now, didn't you begin it?' + +'Evasion!' was the answer. 'It would be such pleasure to you so see a +proud woman weep! And if yesterday, persecuted as I am, with dreadful +falsehoods abroad respecting me and mine, if yesterday I did seem cold +to your great merits, is it generous of you to take this revenge?' + +Harry began to scent the double meaning in her words. She gave him no +time to grow cool over it. She leaned, half abandoned, on his arm. Arts +feminine and irresistible encompassed him. It was a fatal mistake of +Juliana's to enlist Harry Jocelyn against the Countess de Saldar. He +engaged, still without any direct allusion to the real business, to move +heaven and earth to undo all that he had done, and the Countess implied +an engagement to do--what? more than she intended to fulfil. + +Ten minutes later she was alone with Caroline. + +'Tie yourself to the Duke at the dinner,' she said, in the forcible +phrase she could use when necessary. 'Don't let them scheme to separate +you. Never mind looks--do it!' + +Caroline, however, had her reasons for desiring to maintain appearances. +The Countess dashed at her hesitation. + +'There is a plot to humiliate us in the most abominable way. The whole +family have sworn to make us blush publicly. Publicly blush! They +have written to Mama to come and speak out. Now will you attend to me, +Caroline? You do not credit such atrocity? I know it to be true.' + +'I never can believe that Rose would do such a thing,' said Caroline.' +We can hardly have to endure more than has befallen us already.' + +Her speech was pensive, as of one who had matter of her own to ponder +over. A swift illumination burst in the Countess's mind. + +'No? Have you, dear, darling Carry? not that I intend that you should! +but to-day the Duke would be such ineffable support to us. May I deem +you have not been too cruel to-day? You dear silly English creature, +"Duck," I used to call you when I was your little Louy. All is not yet +lost, but I will save you from the ignominy if I can. I will!' + +Caroline denied nothing--confirmed nothing, just as the Countess had +stated nothing. Yet they understood one another perfectly. Women have a +subtler language than ours: the veil pertains to them morally as bodily, +and they see clearer through it. + +The Countess had no time to lose. Wrath was in her heart. She did not +lend all her thoughts to self-defence. + +Without phrasing a word, or absolutely shaping a thought in her head, +she slanted across the sun to Mr. Raikes, who had taken refreshment, and +in obedience to his instinct, notwithstanding his enormous pretensions, +had commenced a few preliminary antics. + +'Dear Mr. Raikes!' she said, drawing him aside, 'not before dinner!' + +'I really can't contain the exuberant flow!' returned that +gentleman. 'My animal spirits always get the better of me,' he added +confidentially. + +'Suppose you devote your animal spirits to my service for half an hour.' + +'Yours, Countess, from the 'os frontis' to the chine!' was the exuberant +rejoinder. + +The Countess made a wry mouth. + +'Your curricle is in Beckley?' + +'Behold!' said Jack. 'Two juveniles, not half so blest as I, do from +the seat regard the festive scene o'er yon park palings. They are there, +even Franko and Fred. I 'm afraid I promised to get them in at a later +period of the day. Which sadly sore my conscience doth disturb! But what +is to be done about the curricle, my Countess?' + +'Mr. Raikes,' said the Countess, smiling on him fixedly, 'you are +amusing; but in addressing me, you must be precise, and above all things +accurate. I am not your Countess!' + +He bowed profoundly. 'Oh, that I might say my Queen!' + +The Countess replied: 'A conviction of your lunacy would prevent my +taking offence, though I might wish you enclosed and guarded.' + +Without any further exclamations, Raikes acknowledged a superior. + +'And, now, attend to me,' said the Countess. 'Listen: + +You go yourself, or send your friends instantly to Fallow field. Bring +with you that girl and her child. Stop: there is such a person. Tell her +she is to be spoken to about the prospects of the poor infant. I leave +that to your inventive genius. Evan wishes her here. Bring her, and +should you see the mad captain who behaves so oddly, favour him with +a ride. He says he dreams his wife is here, and he will not reveal his +name! Suppose it should be my own beloved husband! I am quite anxious.' + +The Countess saw him go up to the palings and hold a communication +with his friends Franko and Fred. One took the whip, and after mutual +flourishes, drove away. + +'Now!' mused the Countess, 'if Captain Evremonde should come!' It would +break up the pic-nic. Alas! the Countess had surrendered her humble +hopes of a day's pleasure. But if her mother came as well, what a +diversion that would be! If her mother came before the Captain, his +arrival would cover the retreat; if the Captain preceded her, she would +not be noticed. Suppose her mother refrained from coming? In that case +it was a pity, but the Jocelyns had brought it on themselves. + +This mapping out of consequences followed the Countess's deeds, and did +not inspire them. Her passions sharpened her instincts, which produced +her actions. The reflections ensued: as in nature, the consequences +were all seen subsequently! Observe the difference between your male and +female Generals. + +On reflection, too, the Countess praised herself for having done all +that could be done. She might have written to her mother: but her +absence would have been remarked: her messenger might have been +overhauled and, lastly, Mrs. Mel--'Gorgon of a mother!' the Countess +cried out: for Mrs. Mel was like a Fate to her. She could remember only +two occasions in her whole life when she had been able to manage her +mother, and then by lying in such a way as to distress her conscience +severely. + +'If Mama has conceived this idea of coming, nothing will impede her. My +prayers will infuriate her!' said the Countess, and she was sure that +she had acted both rightly and with wisdom. + +She put on her armour of smiles: she plunged into the thick of the +enemy. Since they would not allow her to taste human happiness--she had +asked but for the pic-nic! a small truce! since they denied her that, +rather than let them triumph by seeing her wretched, she took into her +bosom the joy of demons. She lured Mr. George Uplift away from +Miss Carrington, and spoke to him strange hints of matrimonial +disappointments, looking from time to time at that apprehensive lady, +doating on her terrors. And Mr. George seconded her by his clouded face, +for he was ashamed not to show that he did not know Louisa Harrington in +the Countess de Saldar, and had not the courage to declare that he +did. The Countess spoke familiarly, but without any hint of an ancient +acquaintance between them. 'What a post her husband's got!' thought Mr. +George, not envying the Count. He was wrong: she was an admirable ally. +All over the field the Countess went, watching for her mother, praying +that if she did come, Providence might prevent her from coming while +they were at dinner. How clearly Mrs. Shorne and Mrs. Melville saw her +vulgarity now! By the new light of knowledge, how certain they were that +they had seen her ungentle training in a dozen little instances. + +'She is not well-bred, 'cela se voit',' said Lady Jocelyn. + +'Bred! it's the stage! How could such a person be bred?' said Mrs. +Shorne. + +Accept in the Countess the heroine who is combating class-prejudices, +and surely she is pre-eminently noteworthy. True, she fights only for +her family, and is virtually the champion of the opposing institution +misplaced. That does not matter: the Fates may have done it purposely: +by conquering she establishes a principle. A Duke adores her sister, +the daughter of the house her brother, and for herself she has many +protestations in honour of her charms: nor are they empty ones. She can +confound Mrs. Melville, if she pleases to, by exposing an adorer to lose +a friend. Issuing out of Tailordom, she, a Countess, has done all this; +and it were enough to make her glow, did not little evils, and angers, +and spites, and alarms so frightfully beset her. + +The sun of the pic-nic system is dinner. Hence philosophers may deduce +that the pic-nic is a British invention. There is no doubt that we do +not shine at the pic-nic until we reflect the face of dinner. To this, +then, all who were not lovers began seriously to look forward, and the +advance of an excellent county band, specially hired to play during +the entertainment, gave many of the guests quite a new taste for sweet +music; and indeed we all enjoy a thing infinitely more when we see its +meaning. + +About this time Evan entered the lower park-gates with Andrew. The first +object he encountered was John Raikes in a state of great depression. He +explained his case: + +'Just look at my frill! Now, upon my honour, you know, I'm +good-tempered; I pass their bucolic habits, but this is beyond bearing. +I was near the palings there, and a fellow calls out, "Hi! will you help +the lady over?" Holloa! thinks I, an adventure! However, I advised him +to take her round to the gates. The beast burst out laughing. "Now, +then," says he, and I heard a scrambling at the pales, and up came the +head of a dog. "Oh! the dog first," says I. "Catch by the ears," says +he. I did so. "Pull," says he. "'Gad, pull indeed!", The beast gave a +spring and came slap on my chest, with his dirty wet muzzle on my neck! +I felt instantly it was the death of my frill, but gallant as you know +me, I still asked for the lady. "If you will please, or an it meet your +favour, to extend your hand to me!" I confess I did think it rather odd, +the idea of a lady coming in that way over the palings! but my curst +love of adventure always blinds me. It always misleads my better sense, +Harrington. Well, instead of a lady, I see a fellow--he may have been +a lineal descendant of Cedric the Saxon. "Where's the lady?" says I. +"Lady?" says he, and stares, and then laughs: "Lady! why," he jumps +over, and points at his beast of a dog, "don't you know a bitch when +you see one?" I was in the most ferocious rage! If he hadn't been a big +burly bully, down he'd have gone. "Why didn't you say what it was?" I +roared. "Why," says he, "the word isn't considered polite!" I gave him +a cut there. I said, "I rejoice to be positively assured that you uphold +the laws and forms of civilization, sir." My belief is he didn't feel +it.' + +'The thrust sinned in its shrewdness,' remarked Evan, ending a laugh. + +'Hem!' went Mr. Raikes, more contentedly: 'after all, what are +appearances to the man of wit and intellect? Dress, and women will +approve you: but I assure you they much prefer the man of wit in his +slouched hat and stockings down. I was introduced to the Duke this +morning. It is a curious thing that the seduction of a Duchess has +always been one of my dreams.' + +At this Andrew Cogglesby fell into a fit of laughter. + +'Your servant,' said Mr. Raikes, turning to him. And then he muttered +'Extraordinary likeness! Good Heavens! Powers!' + +From a state of depression, Mr. Raikes--changed into one of +bewilderment. Evan paid no attention to him, and answered none of his +hasty undertoned questions. Just then, as they were on the skirts of the +company, the band struck up a lively tune, and quite unconsciously, +the legs of Raikes, affected, it may be, by supernatural reminiscences, +loosely hornpiped. It was but a moment: he remembered himself the +next: but in that fatal moment eyes were on him. He never recovered his +dignity in Beckley Court: he was fatally mercurial. + +'What is the joke against this poor fellow?' asked Evan of Andrew. + +'Never mind, Van. You'll roar. Old Tom again. We 'll see by-and-by, +after the champagne. He--this young Raikes-ha! ha!--but I can't +tell you.' And Andrew went away to Drummond, to whom he was more +communicative. Then he went to Melville, and one or two others, and the +eyes of many became concentrated on Raikes, and it was observed as a +singular sign that he was constantly facing about, and flushing the +fiercest red. Once he made an effort to get hold of Evan's arm and drag +him away, as one who had an urgent confession to be delivered of, +but Evan was talking to Lady Jocelyn, and other ladies, and quietly +disengaged his arm without even turning to notice the face of his +friend. Then the dinner was announced, and men saw the dinner. The +Countess went to shake her brother's hand, and with a very gratulatory +visage, said through her half-shut teeth. + +'If Mama appears, rise up and go away with her, before she has time to +speak a word.' An instant after Evan found himself seated between Mrs. +Evremonde and one of the Conley girls. The dinner had commenced. +The first half of the Battle of the Bull-dogs was as peaceful as +any ordinary pic-nic, and promised to the general company as calm a +conclusion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. THE BATTLE OF THE BULL-DOGS. PART II. + +If it be a distinct point of wisdom to hug the hour that is, then +does dinner amount to a highly intellectual invitation to man, for it +furnishes the occasion; and Britons are the wisest of their race, +for more than all others they take advantage of it. In this Nature +is undoubtedly our guide, seeing that he who, while feasting his body +allows to his soul a thought for the morrow, is in his digestion +curst, and becomes a house of evil humours. Now, though the epicure may +complain of the cold meats, a dazzling table, a buzzing company, +blue sky, and a band of music, are incentives to the forgetfulness +of troubles past and imminent, and produce a concentration of the +faculties. They may not exactly prove that peace is established between +yourself and those who object to your carving of the world, but they +testify to an armistice. + +Aided by these observations, you will understand how it was that the +Countess de Saldar, afflicted and menaced, was inspired, on taking her +seat, to give so graceful and stately a sweep to her dress that she was +enabled to conceive woman and man alike to be secretly overcome by it. +You will not refuse to credit the fact that Mr. Raikes threw care to +the dogs, heavy as was that mysterious lump suddenly precipitated on his +bosom; and you will think it not impossible that even the springers of +the mine about to explode should lose their subterranean countenances. A +generous abandonment to one idea prevailed. As for Evan, the first glass +of champagne rushed into reckless nuptials with the music in his head, +bringing Rose, warm almost as life, on his heart. Sublime are the +visions of lovers! He knew he must leave her on the morrow; he feared +he might never behold her again; and yet he tasted bliss, for it seemed +within the contemplation of the Gods that he should dance with his +darling before dark-haply waltz with her! Oh, heaven! he shuts his +eyes, blinded. The band wheels off meltingly in a tune all cadences, and +twirls, and risings and sinkings, and passionate outbursts trippingly +consoled. Ah! how sweet to waltz through life with the right partner. +And what a singular thing it is to look back on the day when we thought +something like it! Never mind: there may be spheres where it is so +managed--doubtless the planets have their Hanwell and Bedlam. + +I confess that the hand here writing is not insensible to the effects of +that first glass of champagne. The poetry of our Countess's achievements +waxes rich in manifold colours: I see her by the light of her own pleas +to Providence. I doubt almost if the hand be mine which dared to make a +hero play second fiddle, and to his beloved. I have placed a bushel +over his light, certainly. Poor boy! it was enough that he should have +tailordom on his shoulders: I ought to have allowed him to conquer +Nature, and so come out of his eclipse. This shall be said of him: that +he can play second fiddle without looking foolish, which, for my part, +I call a greater triumph than if he were performing the heroics we are +more accustomed to. He has steady eyes, can gaze at the right level into +the eyes of others, and commands a tongue which is neither struck dumb +nor set in a flutter by any startling question. The best instances to +be given that he does not lack merit are that the Jocelyns, whom he has +offended by his birth, cannot change their treatment of him, and that +the hostile women, whatever they may say, do not think Rose utterly +insane. At any rate, Rose is satisfied, and her self-love makes her a +keen critic. The moment Evan appeared, the sickness produced in her by +the Countess passed, and she was ready to brave her situation. With no +mock humility she permitted Mrs. Shorne to place her in a seat where +glances could not be interchanged. She was quite composed, calmly +prepared for conversation with any one. Indeed, her behaviour since the +hour of general explanation had been so perfectly well-contained, that +Mrs. Melville said to Lady Jocelyn: + +'I am only thinking of the damage to her. It will pass over--this fancy. +You can see she is not serious. It is mere spirit of opposition. She +eats and drinks just like other girls. You can see that the fancy has +not taken such very strong hold of her.' + +'I can't agree with you,' replied her ladyship. 'I would rather have her +sit and sigh by the hour, and loathe roast beef. That would look nearer +a cure.' + +'She has the notions of a silly country girl,' said Mrs. Shorne. + +'Exactly,' Lady Jocelyn replied. 'A season in London will give her +balance.' + +So the guests were tolerably happy, or at least, with scarce an +exception, open to the influences of champagne and music. Perhaps +Juliana was the wretchedest creature present. She was about to smite +on both cheeks him she loved, as well as the woman she despised and +had been foiled by. Still she had the consolation that Rose, seeing the +vulgar mother, might turn from Evan: a poor distant hope, meagre and +shapeless like herself. Her most anxious thoughts concerned the means +of getting money to lockup Harry's tongue. She could bear to meet the +Countess's wrath, but not Evan's offended look. Hark to that Countess! + +'Why do you denominate this a pic-nic, Lady Jocelyn? It is in verity a +fete!' + +'I suppose we ought to lie down 'A la Grecque' to come within the term,' +was the reply. 'On the whole, I prefer plain English for such matters.' + +'But this is assuredly too sumptuous for a pic-nic, Lady Jocelyn. From +what I can remember, pic-nic implies contribution from all the guests. +It is true I left England a child!' + +Mr. George Uplift could not withhold a sharp grimace: The Countess +had throttled the inward monitor that tells us when we are lying, so +grievously had she practised the habit in the service of her family. + +'Yes,' said Mrs. Melville, 'I have heard of that fashion, and very +stupid it is.' + +'Extremely vulgar,' murmured Miss Carrington. + +'Possibly,' Lady Jocelyn observed; 'but good fun. I have been to +pic-nics, in my day. I invariably took cold pie and claret. I clashed +with half-a-dozen, but all the harm we did was to upset the dictum +that there can be too much of a good thing. I know for certain that the +bottles were left empty.' + +'And this woman,' thought the Countess, 'this woman, with a soul so +essentially vulgar, claims rank above me!' The reflection generated +contempt of English society, in the first place, and then a passionate +desire for self-assertion. + +She was startled by a direct attack which aroused her momentarily lulled +energies. + +A lady, quite a stranger, a dry simpering lady, caught the Countess's +benevolent passing gaze, and leaning forward, said: 'I hope her ladyship +bears her affliction as well as can be expected?' + +In military parlance, the Countess was taken in flank. Another would +have asked--What ladyship? To whom do you allude, may I beg to inquire? +The Countess knew better. Rapid as light it shot through her that the +relict of Sir Abraham was meant, and this she divined because she was +aware that devilish malignity was watching to trip her. + +A little conversation happening to buzz at the instant, the Countess +merely turned her chin to an angle, agitated her brows very gently, and +crowned the performance with a mournful smile. All that a woman must +feel at the demise of so precious a thing as a husband, was therein +eloquently expressed: and at the same time, if explanations ensued, +there were numerous ladyships in the world, whom the Countess did not +mind afflicting, should she be hard pressed. + +'I knew him so well!' resumed the horrid woman, addressing anybody. 'It +was so sad! so unexpected! but he was so subject to affection of the +throat. And I was so sorry I could not get down to him in time. I had +not seen him since his marriage, when I was a girl!--and to meet one +of his children!--But, my dear, in quinsey, I have heard that there is +nothing on earth like a good hearty laugh.' + +Mr. Raikes hearing this, sucked down the flavour of a glass of +champagne, and with a look of fierce jollity, interposed, as if +specially charged by Providence to make plain to the persecuted Countess +his mission and business there: 'Then our vocation is at last revealed +to us! Quinsey-doctor! I remember when a boy, wandering over the +paternal mansion, and envying the life of a tinker, which my mother did +not think a good omen in me. But the traps of a Quinsey-doctor are even +lighter. Say twenty good jokes, and two or three of a practical kind. A +man most enviable!' + +'It appears,' he remarked aloud to one of the Conley girls, 'that +quinsey is needed before a joke is properly appreciated.' + +'I like fun,' said she, but had not apparently discovered it. + +What did that odious woman mean by perpetually talking about Sir +Abraham? The Countess intercepted a glance between her and the hated +Juliana. She felt it was a malignant conspiracy: still the vacuous +vulgar air of the woman told her that most probably she was but an +instrument, not a confederate, and was only trying to push herself into +acquaintance with the great: a proceeding scorned and abominated by the +Countess, who longed to punish her for her insolent presumption. The +bitterness of her situation stung her tenfold when she considered that +she dared not. + +Meantime the champagne became as regular in its flow as the Bull-dogs, +and the monotonous bass of these latter sounded through the music, like +life behind the murmur of pleasure, if you will. The Countess had a not +unfeminine weakness for champagne, and old Mr. Bonner's cellar was well +and choicely stocked. But was this enjoyment to the Countess?--this +dreary station in the background! 'May I emerge?' she as much as +implored Providence. + +The petition was infinitely tender. She thought she might, or it may be +that nature was strong, and she could not restrain herself. + +Taking wine with Sir John, she said: + +'This bowing! Do you know how amusing it is deemed by us Portuguese? Why +not embrace? as the dear Queen used to say to me.' + +'I am decidedly of Her Majesty's opinion,' observed Sir John, with +emphasis, and the Countess drew back into a mingled laugh and blush. + +Her fiendish persecutor gave two or three nods. 'And you know the +Queen!' she said. + +She had to repeat the remark: whereupon the Countess murmured, +'Intimately.' + +'Ah, we have lost a staunch old Tory in Sir Abraham,' said the lady, +performing lamentation. + +What did it mean? Could design lodge in that empty-looking head with its +crisp curls, button nose, and diminishing simper? Was this pic-nic to +be made as terrible to the Countess by her putative father as the dinner +had been by the great Mel? The deep, hard, level look of Juliana met the +Countess's smile from time to time, and like flimsy light horse before +a solid array of infantry, the Countess fell back, only to be worried +afresh by her perfectly unwitting tormentor. + +'His last days?--without pain? Oh, I hope so!' came after a lapse of +general talk. + +'Aren't we getting a little funereal, Mrs. Perkins?' Lady Jocelyn asked, +and then rallied her neighbours. + +Miss Carrington looked at her vexedly, for the fiendish Perkins was +checked, and the Countess in alarm, about to commit herself, was a +pleasant sight to Miss Carrington. + +'The worst of these indiscriminate meetings is that there is no +conversation,' whispered the Countess, thanking Providence for the +relief. + +Just then she saw Juliana bend her brows at another person. This was +George Uplift, who shook his head, and indicated a shrewd-eyed, thin, +middle-aged man, of a lawyer-like cast; and then Juliana nodded, +and George Uplift touched his arm, and glanced hurriedly behind for +champagne. The Countess's eyes dwelt on the timid young squire most +affectionately. You never saw a fortress more unprepared for dread +assault. + +'Hem!' was heard, terrific. But the proper pause had evidently not +yet come, and now to prevent it the Countess strained her energies +and tasked her genius intensely. Have you an idea of the difficulty of +keeping up the ball among a host of ill-assorted, stupid country people, +who have no open topics, and can talk of nothing continuously but +scandal of their neighbours, and who, moreover, feel they are not up +to the people they are mixing with? Darting upon Seymour Jocelyn, the +Countess asked touchingly for news of the partridges. It was like the +unlocking of a machine. Seymour was not blythe in his reply, but he +was loud and forcible; and when he came to the statistics--oh, then you +would have admired the Countess!--for comparisons ensued, braces were +enumerated, numbers given were contested, and the shooting of this one +jeered at, and another's sure mark respectfully admitted. And how lay +the coveys? And what about the damage done by last winter's floods? And +was there good hope of the pheasants? Outside this latter the Countess +hovered. Twice the awful 'Hem!' was heard. She fought on. She kept +them at it. If it flagged she wished to know this or that, and finally +thought that, really, she should like herself to try one shot. The women +had previously been left behind. This brought in the women. Lady Jocelyn +proposed a female expedition for the morrow. + +'I believe I used to be something of a shot, formerly,' she said. + +'You peppered old Tom once, my lady,' remarked Andrew, and her ladyship +laughed, and that foolish Andrew told the story, and the Countess, to +revive her subject, had to say: 'May I be enrolled to shoot?' though she +detested and shrank from fire-arms. + +'Here are two!' said the hearty presiding dame. 'Ladies, apply +immediately to have your names put down.' + +The possibility of an expedition of ladies now struck Seymour vividly, +and said he: 'I 'll be secretary'; and began applying to the ladies +for permission to put down their names. Many declined, with brevity, +muttering, either aloud or to themselves, 'unwomanly'; varied by +'unladylike': some confessed cowardice; some a horror of the noise +close to their ears; and there was the plea of nerves. But the names of +half-a-dozen ladies were collected, and then followed much laughter, and +musical hubbub, and delicate banter. So the ladies and gentlemen fell +one and all into the partridge pit dug for them by the Countess: and +that horrible 'Hem!' equal in force and terror to the roar of artillery +preceding the charge of ten thousand dragoons, was silenced--the pit +appeared impassable. Did the Countess crow over her advantage? Mark her: +the lady's face is entirely given up to partridges. 'English sports are +so much envied abroad,' she says: but what she dreads is a reflection, +for that leads off from the point. A portion of her mind she keeps to +combat them in Lady Jocelyn and others who have the tendency: the rest +she divides between internal-prayers for succour, and casting about +for another popular subject to follow partridges. Now, mere talent, as +critics say when they are lighting candles round a genius, mere talent +would have hit upon pheasants as the natural sequitur, and then +diverged to sports--a great theme, for it ensures a chorus of sneers at +foreigners, and so on probably to a discussion of birds and beasts best +adapted to enrapture the palate of man. Stories may succeed, but they +are doubtful, and not to be trusted, coming after cookery. After an +exciting subject which has made the general tongue to wag, and just +enough heated the brain to cause it to cry out for spiced food--then +start your story: taking care that it be mild; for one too marvellous +stops the tide, the sense of climax being strongly implanted in all +bosoms. So the Countess told an anecdote--one of Mel's. Mr. George +Uplift was quite familiar with it, and knew of one passage that would +have abashed him to relate 'before ladies.' The sylph-like ease with +which the Countess floated over this foul abysm was miraculous. Mr. +George screwed his eye-lids queerly, and closed his jaws with a report, +completely beaten. The anecdote was of the character of an apologue, +and pertained to game. This was, as it happened, a misfortune; for Mr. +Raikes had felt himself left behind by the subject; and the stuff that +was in this young man being naturally ebullient, he lay by to trip +it, and take a lead. His remarks brought on him a shrewd cut from the +Countess, which made matters worse; for a pun may also breed puns, as +doth an anecdote. The Countess's stroke was so neat and perfect that +it was something for the gentlemen to think over; and to punish her for +giving way to her cleverness and to petty vexation, 'Hem!' sounded once +more, and then: 'May I ask you if the present Baronet is in England?' + +Now Lady Jocelyn perceived that some attack was directed against her +guest. She allowed the Countess to answer: + +'The eldest was drowned in the Lisbon waters' + +And then said: 'But who is it that persists in serving up the funeral +baked meats to us?' + +Mrs. Shorne spoke for her neighbour: 'Mr. Farnley's cousin was the +steward of Sir Abraham Harrington's estates.' + +The Countess held up her head boldly. There is a courageous exaltation +of the nerves known to heroes and great generals in action when they +feel sure that resources within themselves will spring up to the +emergency, and that over simple mortals success is positive. + +'I had a great respect for Sir Abraham,' Mr. Farnley explained, 'very +great. I heard that this lady' (bowing to the Countess) 'was his +daughter.' + +Lady Jocelyn's face wore an angry look, and Mrs. Shorne gave her the +shade of a shrug and an expression implying, 'I didn't!' + +Evan was talking to Miss Jenny Graine at the moment rather earnestly. +With a rapid glance at him, to see that his ears were closed, the +Countess breathed: + +'Not the elder branch!--Cadet!' + +The sort of noisy silence produced by half-a-dozen people respirating +deeply and moving in their seats was heard. The Countess watched Mr. +Farnley's mystified look, and whispered to Sir John: 'Est-ce qu'il +comprenne le Francais, lui?' + +It was the final feather-like touch to her triumph. She saw safety and +a clear escape, and much joyful gain, and the pleasure of relating her +sufferings in days to come. This vista was before her when, harsh as +an execution bell, telling her that she had vanquished man, but that +Providence opposed her, 'Mrs. Melchisedec Harrington!' was announced to +Lady Jocelyn. + +Perfect stillness reigned immediately, as if the pic-nic had heard its +doom. + +'Oh! I will go to her,' said her ladyship, whose first thought was to +spare the family. 'Andrew, come and give me your arm.' + +But when she rose Mrs. Mel was no more than the length of an arm from +her elbow. + +In the midst of the horrible anguish she was enduring, the Countess +could not help criticizing her mother's curtsey to Lady Jocelyn. Fine, +but a shade too humble. Still it was fine; all might not yet be lost. + +'Mama!' she softly exclaimed, and thanked heaven that she had not denied +her parent. + +Mrs. Mel did not notice her or any of her children. There was in her +bosom a terrible determination to cast a devil out of the one she +best loved. For this purpose, heedless of all pain to be given, or of +impropriety, she had come to speak publicly, and disgrace and humiliate, +that she might save him from the devils that had ruined his father. + +'My lady,' said the terrible woman, thanking her in reply to an +invitation that she should be seated, 'I have come for my son. I hear +he has been playing the lord in your house, my lady. I humbly thank +your ladyship for your kindness to him, but he is nothing more than +a tailor's son, and is bound a tailor himself that his father may be +called an honest man. I am come to take him away.' + +Mrs. Mel seemed to speak without much effort, though the pale flush of +her cheeks showed that she felt what she was doing. Juliana was pale as +death, watching Rose. Intensely bright with the gem-like light of her +gallant spirit, Rose's eyes fixed on Evan. He met them. The words of +Ruth passed through his heart. But the Countess, who had given Rose to +Evan, and the Duke to Caroline, where was her supporter? The Duke was +entertaining Caroline with no less dexterity, and Rose's eyes said to +Evan: 'Feel no shame that I do not feel!' but the Countess stood alone. +It is ever thus with genius! to quote the numerous illustrious authors +who have written of it. + +What mattered it now that in the dead hush Lady Jocelyn should assure +her mother that she had been misinformed, and that Mrs. Mel was +presently quieted, and made to sit with others before the fruits and +wines? All eyes were hateful--the very thought of Providence confused +her brain. Almost reduced to imbecility, the Countess imagined, as +a reality, that Sir Abraham had borne with her till her public +announcement of relationship, and that then the outraged ghost would no +longer be restrained, and had struck this blow. + +The crushed pic-nic tried to get a little air, and made attempts at +conversation. Mrs. Mel sat upon the company with the weight of all +tailordom. + +And now a messenger came for Harry. Everybody was so zealously employed +in the struggle to appear comfortable under Mrs. Mel, that his departure +was hardly observed. The general feeling for Evan and his sisters, by +their superiors in rank, was one of kindly pity. Laxley, however, did +not behave well. He put up his glass and scrutinized Mrs. Mel, and then +examined Evan, and Rose thought that in his interchange of glances with +any one there was a lurking revival of the scene gone by. She signalled +with her eyebrows for Drummond to correct him, but Drummond had another +occupation. Andrew made the diversion. He whispered to his neighbour, +and the whisper went round, and the laugh; and Mr. Raikes grew extremely +uneasy in his seat, and betrayed an extraordinary alarm. But he also +was soon relieved. A messenger had come from Harry to Mrs. Evremonde, +bearing a slip of paper. This the lady glanced at, and handed it to +Drummond. A straggling pencil had traced these words: + +'Just running by S.W. gates--saw the Captain coming in--couldn't stop to +stop him--tremendous hurry--important. Harry J.' + +Drummond sent the paper to Lady Jocelyn. After her perusal of it a scout +was despatched to the summit of Olympus, and his report proclaimed the +advance in the direction of the Bull-dogs of a smart little figure of a +man in white hat and white trousers, who kept flicking his legs with a +cane. + +Mrs. Evremonde rose and conferred with her ladyship an instant, and then +Drummond took her arm quietly, and passed round Olympus to the East, and +Lady Jocelyn broke up the sitting. + +Juliana saw Rose go up to Evan, and make him introduce her to his +mother. She turned lividly white, and went to a corner of the park by +herself, and cried bitterly. + +Lady Jocelyn, Sir Franks, and Sir John, remained by the tables, but +before the guests were out of ear-shot, the individual signalled from +Olympus presented himself. + +'There are times when one can't see what else to do but to lie,' said +her ladyship to Sir Franks, 'and when we do lie the only way is to lie +intrepidly.' + +Turning from her perplexed husband, she exclaimed: + +'Ah! Lawson?' + +Captain Evremonde lifted his hat, declining an intimacy. + +'Where is my wife, madam?' + +'Have you just come from the Arctic Regions?' + +'I have come for my wife, madam!' + +His unsettled grey eyes wandered restlessly on Lady Jocelyn's face. The +Countess standing near the Duke, felt some pity for the wife of that +cropped-headed, tight-skinned lunatic at large, but deeper was the +Countess's pity for Lady Jocelyn, in thinking of the account she would +have to render on the Day of Judgement, when she heard her ladyship +reply-- + +'Evelyn is not here.' + +Captain Evremonde bowed profoundly, trailing his broad white hat along +the sward. + +'Do me the favour to read this, madam,' he said, and handed a letter to +her. + +Lady Jocelyn raised her brows as she gathered the contents of the +letter. + +'Ferdinand's handwriting!' she exclaimed. + +'I accuse no one, madam,--I make no accusation. I have every respect +for you, madam,--you have my esteem. I am sorry to intrude, madam, an +intrusion is regretted. My wife runs away from her bed, madam, and I +have the law, madam, the law is with the husband. No force!' He lashed +his cane sharply against his white legs. 'The law, madam. No brute +force!' His cane made a furious whirl, cracking again on his legs, as he +reiterated, 'The law!' + +'Does the law advise you to strike at a tangent all over the country in +search for her?' inquired Lady Jocelyn. + +Captain Evremonde became ten times more voluble and excited. + +Mrs. Mel was heard by the Countess to say: 'Her ladyship does not know +how to treat madmen.' + +Nor did Sir Franks and Sir John. They began expostulating with him. + +'A madman gets madder when you talk reason to him,' said Mrs. Mel. + +And now the Countess stepped forward to Lady Jocelyn, and hoped she +would not be thought impertinent in offering her opinion as to how this +frantic person should be treated. The case indeed looked urgent. Many +gentlemen considered themselves bound to approach and be ready in case +of need. Presently the Countess passed between Sir Franks and Sir John, +and with her hand put up, as if she feared the furious cane, said: + +'You will not strike me?' + +'Strike a lady, madam?' The cane and hat were simultaneously lowered. + +'Lady Jocelyn permits me to fetch for you a gentleman of the law. Or +will you accompany me to him?' + +In a moment, Captain Evremonde's manners were subdued and civilized, +and in perfectly sane speech he thanked the Countess and offered her his +arm. The Countess smilingly waved back Sir John, who motioned to attend +on her, and away she went with the Captain, with all the glow of a woman +who feels that she is heaping coals of fire on the heads of her enemies. + +Was she not admired now? + +'Upon my honour,' said Lady Jocelyn, 'they are a remarkable family,' +meaning the Harringtons. + +What farther she thought she did not say, but she was a woman who looked +to natural gifts more than the gifts of accidents; and Evan's chance +stood high with her then. So the battle of the Bull-dogs was fought, +and cruelly as the Countess had been assailed and wounded, she gained +a victory; yea, though Demogorgon, aided by the vindictive ghost of Sir +Abraham, took tangible shape in the ranks opposed to her. True, Lady +Jocelyn, forgetting her own recent intrepidity, condemned her as a liar; +but the fruits of the Countess's victory were plentiful. Drummond Forth, +fearful perhaps of exciting unjust suspicions in the mind of Captain +Evremonde, disappeared altogether. Harry was in a mess which threw him +almost upon Evan's mercy, as will be related. And, lastly, Ferdinand +Laxley, that insufferable young aristocrat, was thus spoken to by Lady +Jocelyn. + +'This 'letter addressed to Lawson, telling him that his wife is here, is +in your handwriting, Ferdinand. I don't say you wrote it--I don't +think you could have written it. But, to tell you the truth, I have an +unpleasant impression about it, and I think we had better shake hands +and not see each other for some time.' + +Laxley, after one denial of his guilt, disdained to repeat it. He met +her ladyship's hand haughtily, and, bowing to Sir Franks, turned on his +heel. + +So, then, in glorious complete victory, the battle of the Bull-dogs +ended! + +Of the close of the pic-nic more remains to be told. + +For the present I pause, in observance of those rules which demand that +after an exhibition of consummate deeds, time be given to the spectator +to digest what has passed before him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. IN WHICH EVANS LIGHT BEGINS TO TWINKLE AGAIN + +The dowagers were now firmly planted on Olympus. Along the grass lay +the warm strong colours of the evening sun, reddening the pine-stems +and yellowing the idle aspen-leaves. For a moment it had hung in doubt +whether the pic-nic could survive the two rude shocks it had received. +Happily the youthful element was large, and when the band, refreshed +by chicken and sherry, threw off half-a-dozen bars of one of those +irresistible waltzes that first catch the ear, and then curl round the +heart, till on a sudden they invade and will have the legs, a rush up +Parnassus was seen, and there were shouts and laughter and commotion, as +over other great fields of battle the corn will wave gaily and mark the +reestablishment of nature's reign. + +How fair the sight! Approach the twirling couples. They talk as they +whirl. 'Fancy the run-away tailor!' is the male's remark, and he expects +to be admired for it, and is. + +'That make-up Countess--his sister, you know--didn't you see her? she +turned green,' says Creation's second effort, almost occupying the place +of a rib. + +'Isn't there a run-away wife, too?' + +'Now, you mustn't be naughty!' + +They laugh and flatter one another. The power to give and take flattery +to any amount is the rare treasure of youth. + +Undoubtedly they are a poetical picture; but some poetical pictures talk +dreary prose; so we will retire. + +Now, while the dancers carried on their business, and distance lent them +enchantment, Rose stood by Juliana, near an alder which hid them from +the rest. + +'I don't accuse you,' she was saying; 'but who could have done this but +you? Ah, Juley! you will never get what you want if you plot for it. I +thought once you cared for Evan. If he had loved you, would I not have +done all that I could for you both? I pardon you with all my heart.' + +'Keep your pardon!' was the angry answer. 'I have done more for you, +Rose. He is an adventurer, and I have tried to open your eyes and make +you respect your family. You may accuse me of what you like, I have my +conscience.' + +'And the friendship of the Countess,' added Rose. + +Juliana's figure shook as if she had been stung. + +'Go and be happy--don't stay here and taunt me,' she said, with a +ghastly look. 'I suppose he can lie like his sister, and has told you +all sorts of tales.' + +'Not a word--not a word!' cried Rose. 'Do you think my lover could tell +a lie?' + +The superb assumption of the girl, and the true portrait of Evan's +character which it flashed upon Juliana, were to the latter such intense +pain, that she turned like one on the rack, exclaiming: + +'You think so much of him? You are so proud of him? Then, yes! I love +him too, ugly, beastly as I am to look at! Oh, I know what you think! I +loved him from the first, and I knew all about him, and spared him pain. +I did not wait for him to fall from a horse. I watched every chance of +his being exposed. I let them imagine he cared for me. Drummond would +have told what he knew long before--only he knew there would not be +much harm in a tradesman's son marrying me. And I have played into your +hands, and now you taunt me!' + +Rose remembered her fretful unkindness to Evan on the subject of his +birth, when her feelings toward him were less warm. Dwelling on that +alone, she put her arms round Juliana's stiffening figure, and said: 'I +dare say I am much more selfish than you. Forgive me, dear.' + +Staring at her, Juliana replied, 'Now you are acting.' + +'No,' said Rose, with a little effort to fondle her; 'I only feel that I +love you better for loving him.' + +Generous as her words sounded, and were, Juliana intuitively struck to +the root of them, which was comfortless. For how calm in its fortune, +how strong in its love, must Rose's heart be, when she could speak in +this unwonted way! + +'Go, and leave me, pray,' she said. + +Rose kissed her burning cheek. 'I will do as you wish, dear. Try and +know me better, and be sister Juley as you used to be. I know I am +thoughtless, and horribly vain and disagreeable sometimes. Do forgive +me. I will love you truly.' + +Half melting, Juliana pressed her hand. + +'We are friends?' said Rose. 'Good-bye'; and her countenance lighted, +and she moved away, so changed by her happiness! Juliana was jealous of +a love strong as she deemed her own to overcome obstacles. She called to +her: 'Rose! Rose, you will not take advantage of what I have told you, +and repeat it to any one?' + +Instantly Rose turned with a glance of full contempt over her shoulder. + +'To whom?' she asked. + +'To any one.' + +'To him? He would not love me long if I did!' + +Juliana burst into fresh tears, but Rose walked into the sunbeams and +the circle of the music. + +Mounting Olympus, she inquired whether Ferdinand was within hail, as +they were pledged to dance the first dance together. A few hints were +given, and then Rose learnt that Ferdinand had been dismissed. + +'And where is he?' she cried with her accustomed impetuosity. 'Mama!--of +course you did not accuse him--but, Mama! could you possibly let him go +with the suspicion that you thought him guilty of writing an anonymous +letter?' + +'Not at all,' Lady Jocelyn replied. 'Only the handwriting was so +extremely like, and he was the only person who knew the address and the +circumstances, and who could have a motive--though I don't quite see +what it is--I thought it as well to part for a time.' + +'But that's sophistry!' said Rose. 'You accuse or you exonerate. Nobody +can be half guilty. If you do not hold him innocent you are unjust!' +Lady Jocelyn rejoined: 'Yes? It's singular what a stock of axioms young +people have handy for their occasions.' + +Rose loudly announced that she would right this matter. + +'I can't think where Rose gets her passion for hot water,' said her +mother, as Rose ran down the ledge. + +Two or three young gentlemen tried to engage her for a dance. She gave +them plenty of promises, and hurried on till she met Evan, and, almost +out of breath, told him the shameful injustice that had been done to her +friend. + +'Mama is such an Epicurean! I really think she is worse than Papa. This +disgraceful letter looks like Ferdinand's writing, and she tells him +so; and, Evan! will you believe that instead of being certain it's +impossible any gentleman could do such a thing, she tells Ferdinand she +shall feel more comfortable if she doesn't see him for some time? Poor +Ferdinand! He has had so much to bear!' + +Too sure of his darling to be envious now of any man she pitied, Evan +said, 'I would forfeit my hand on his innocence!' + +'And so would I,' echoed Rose. 'Come to him with me, dear. Or no,' she +added, with a little womanly discretion, 'perhaps it would not be so +well--you're not very much cast down by what happened at dinner?' + +'My darling! I think of you.' + +'Of me, dear? Concealment is never of any service. What there is to be +known people may as well know at once. They'll gossip for a month, and +then forget it. Your mother is dreadfully outspoken, certainly; but she +has better manners than many ladies--I mean people in a position: you +understand me? But suppose, dear, this had happened, and I had said +nothing to Mama, and then we had to confess? Ah, you'll find I'm wiser +than you imagine, Mr. Evan.' + +'Haven't I submitted to somebody's lead?' + +'Yes, but with a sort of "under protest." I saw it by the mouth. Not +quite natural. You have been moody ever since--just a little. I suppose +it's our manly pride. But I'm losing time. Will you promise me not to +brood over that occurrence? Think of me. Think everything of me. I am +yours; and, dearest, if I love you, need you care what anybody else +thinks? We will soon change their opinion.' + +'I care so little,' said Evan, somewhat untruthfully, 'that till you +return I shall go and sit with my mother.' + +'Oh, she has gone. She made her dear old antiquated curtsey to Mama and +the company. "If my son has not been guilty of deception, I will leave +him to your good pleasure, my lady." That's what she said. Mama likes +her, I know. But I wish she didn't mouth her words so precisely: +it reminds me of--' the Countess, Rose checked herself from saying. +'Good-bye. Thank heaven! the worst has happened. Do you know what I +should do if I were you, and felt at all distressed? I should keep +repeating,' Rose looked archly and deeply up under his eyelids, "'I am +the son of a tradesman, and Rose loves me," over and over, and then, if +you feel ashamed, what is it of?' + +She nodded adieu, laughing at her own idea of her great worth; an idea +very firmly fixed in her fair bosom, notwithstanding. Mrs. Melville said +of her, 'I used to think she had pride.' Lady Jocelyn answered, 'So she +has. The misfortune is that it has taken the wrong turning.' + +Evan watched the figure that was to him as that of an angel--no less! +She spoke so frankly to them as she passed: or here and there went on +with a light laugh. It seemed an act of graciousness that she should +open her mouth to one! And, indeed, by virtue of a pride which raised +her to the level of what she thought it well to do, Rose was veritably +on higher ground than any present. She no longer envied her friend +Jenny, who, emerging from the shades, allured by the waltz, dislinked +herself from William's arm, and whispered exclamations of sorrow at +the scene created by Mr. Harrington's mother. Rose patted her hand, and +said: 'Thank you, Jenny dear but don't be sorry. I'm glad. It prevents a +number of private explanations.' + +'Still, dear!' Jenny suggested. + +'Oh! of course, I should like to lay my whip across the shoulders of the +person who arranged the conspiracy,' said Rose. 'And afterwards I don't +mind returning thanks to him, or her, or them.' + +William cried out, 'I 'm always on your side, Rose.' + +'And I'll be Jenny's bridesmaid,' rejoined Rose, stepping blithely away +from them. + +Evan debated whither to turn when Rose was lost to his eyes. He had no +heart for dancing. Presently a servant approached, and said that Mr. +Harry particularly desired to see him. From Harry's looks at table, Evan +judged that the interview was not likely to be amicable. He asked the +direction he was to take, and setting out with long strides, came in +sight of Raikes, who walked in gloom, and was evidently labouring under +one of his mountains of melancholy. He affected to be quite out of the +world; but finding that Evan took the hint in his usual prosy manner, +was reduced to call after him, and finally to run and catch him. + +'Haven't you one single spark of curiosity?' he began. + +'What about?' said Evan. + +'Why, about my amazing luck! You haven't asked a question. A matter of +course.' + +Evan complimented him by asking a question: saying that Jack's luck +certainly was wonderful. + +'Wonderful, you call it,' said Jack, witheringly. 'And what's more +wonderful is, that I'd give up all for quiet quarters in the Green +Dragon. I knew I was prophetic. I knew I should regret that peaceful +hostelry. Diocletian, if you like. I beg you to listen. I can't walk so +fast without danger.' + +'Well, speak out, man. What's the matter with you?' cried Evan, +impatiently. + +Jack shook his head: 'I see a total absence of sympathy,' he remarked. +'I can't.' + +'Then stand out of the way.' + +Jack let him pass, exclaiming, with cold irony, 'I will pay homage to a +loftier Nine!' + +Mr. Raikes could not in his soul imagine that Evan was really so little +inquisitive concerning a business of such importance as the trouble that +possessed him. He watched his friend striding off, incredulously, and +then commenced running in pursuit. + +'Harrington, I give in; I surrender; you reduce me to prose. Thy nine +have conquered my nine!--pardon me, old fellow. I'm immensely upset. +This is the first day in my life that I ever felt what indigestion is. +Egad, I've got something to derange the best digestion going! + +'Look here, Harrington. What happened to you today, I declare I think +nothing of. You owe me your assistance, you do, indeed; for if it +hadn't been for the fearful fascinations of your sister--that divine +Countess--I should have been engaged to somebody by this time, and +profited by the opportunity held out to me, and which is now gone. I +'m disgraced. I 'm known. And the worst of it is, I must face people. I +daren't turn tail. Did you ever hear of such a dilemma?' + +'Ay,' quoth Evan, 'what is it?' + +Raikes turned pale. 'Then you haven't heard of it?' 'Not a word.' + +'Then it's all for me to tell. I called on Messrs. Grist. I dined at the +Aurora afterwards. Depend upon it, Harrington, we're led by a star. I +mean, fellows with anything in them are. I recognized our Fallow field +host, and thinking to draw him out, I told our mutual histories. Next +day I went to these Messrs. Grist. They proposed the membership for +Fallow field, five hundred a year, and the loan of a curricle, on +condition. It 's singular, Harrington; before anybody knew of the +condition I didn't care about it a bit. It seemed to me childish. Who +would think of minding wearing a tin plate? But now!--the sufferings of +Orestes--what are they to mine? He wasn't tied to his Furies. They did +hover a little above him; but as for me, I'm scorched; and I mustn't say +where: my mouth is locked; the social laws which forbid the employment +of obsolete words arrest my exclamations of despair. What do you +advise?' + +Evan stared a moment at the wretched object, whose dream of meeting a +beneficent old gentleman had brought him to be the sport of a cynical +farceur. He had shivers on his own account, seeing something of himself +magnified, and he loathed the fellow, only to feel more acutely what a +stigma may be. + +'It 's a case I can't advise in,' he said, as gently as he could. 'I +should be off the grounds in a hurry.' + +'And then I'm where I was before I met the horrid old brute!' Raikes +moaned. + +'I told him over a pint of port-and noble stuff is that Aurora port!--I +told him--I amused him till he was on the point of bursting--I told +him I was such a gentleman as the world hadn't seen--minus money. So +he determined to launch me. He said I should lead the life of such a +gentleman as the world had not yet seen--on that simple condition, which +appeared to me childish, a senile whim; rather an indulgence of his.' + +Evan listened to the tribulations of his friend as he would to those +of a doll--the sport of some experimental child. By this time he knew +something of old Tom Cogglesby, and was not astonished that he should +have chosen John Raikes to play one of his farces on. Jack turned off +abruptly the moment he saw they were nearing human figures, but soon +returned to Evan's side, as if for protection. + +'Hoy! Harrington!' shouted Harry, beckoning to him. 'Come, make haste! +I'm in a deuce of a mess.' + +The two Wheedles--Susan and Polly--were standing in front of him, and +after his call to Evan, he turned to continue some exhortation or appeal +to the common sense of women, largely indulged in by young men when the +mischief is done. + +'Harrington, do speak to her. She looks upon you as a sort of parson. I +can't make her believe I didn't send for her. Of course, she knows I +'m fond of her. My dear fellow,' he whispered, 'I shall be ruined if my +grandmother hears of it. Get her away, please. Promise anything.' + +Evan took her hand and asked for the child. + +'Quite well, sir,' faltered Susan. + +'You should not have come here.' + +Susan stared, and commenced whimpering: 'Didn't you wish it, sir?' + +'Oh, she's always thinking of being made a lady of,' cried Polly. 'As if +Mr. Harry was going to do that. It wants a gentleman to do that.' + +'The carriage came for me, sir, in the afternoon,' said Susan, +plaintively, 'with your compliments, and would I come. I thought--' + +'What carriage?' asked Evan. + +Raikes, who was ogling Polly, interposed grandly, 'Mine!' + +'And you sent in my name for this girl to come here?' Evan turned +wrathfully on him. + +'My dear Harrington, when you hit you knock down. The wise require but +one dose of experience. The Countess wished it, and I did dispatch.' + +'The Countess!' Harry exclaimed; 'Jove! do you mean to say that the +Countess--' + +'De Saldar,' added Jack. 'In Britain none were worthy found.' + +Harry gave a long whistle. + +'Leave at once,' said Evan to Susan. 'Whatever you may want send to me +for. And when you think you can meet your parents, I will take you to +them. Remember that is what you must do.' + +'Make her give up that stupidness of hers, about being made a lady of, +Mr. Harrington,' said the inveterate Polly. + +Susan here fell a-weeping. + +'I would go, sir,' she said. 'I 'm sure I would obey you: but I can't. +I can't go back to the inn. They 're beginning to talk about me, +because--because I can't--can't pay them, and I'm ashamed.' + +Evan looked at Harry. + +'I forgot,' the latter mumbled, but his face was crimson. He put his +hands in his pockets. 'Do you happen to have a note or so?' he asked. + +Evan took him aside and gave him what he had; and this amount, without +inspection or reserve, Harry offered to Susan. She dashed his hand +impetuously from her sight. + +'There, give it to me,' said Polly. 'Oh, Mr. Harry! what a young man you +are!' + +Whether from the rebuff, or the reproach, or old feelings reviving, +Harry was moved to go forward, and lay his hand on Susan's shoulder and +mutter something in her ear that softened her. + +Polly thrust the notes into her bosom, and with a toss of her nose, as +who should say, 'Here 's nonsense they 're at again,' tapped Susan on +the other shoulder, and said imperiously: 'Come, Miss!' + +Hurrying out a dozen sentences in one, Harry ended by suddenly kissing +Susan's cheek, and then Polly bore her away; and Harry, with great +solemnity, said to Evan: + +''Pon my honour, I think I ought to! I declare I think I love that girl. +What's one's family? Why shouldn't you button to the one that just suits +you? That girl, when she's dressed, and in good trim, by Jove! nobody 'd +know her from a born lady. And as for grammar, I'd soon teach her that.' + +Harry began to whistle: a sign in him that he was thinking his hardest. + +'I confess to being considerably impressed by the maid Wheedle,' said +Raikes. + +'Would you throw yourself away on her?' Evan inquired. + +Apparently forgetting how he stood, Mr. Raikes replied: + +'You ask, perhaps, a little too much of me. One owes consideration +to one's position. In the world's eyes a matrimonial slip outweighs a +peccadillo. No. To much the maid might wheedle me, but to Hymen! She's +decidedly fresh and pert--the most delicious little fat lips and cocky +nose; but cease we to dwell on her, or of us two, to! one will be +undone.' + +Harry burst into a laugh: 'Is this the T.P. for Fallow field?' + +'M.P. I think you mean,' quoth Raikes, serenely; but a curious glance +being directed on him, and pursuing him pertinaciously, it was as if the +pediment of the lofty monument he topped were smitten with violence. He +stammered an excuse, and retreated somewhat as it is the fashion to do +from the presence of royalty, followed by Harry's roar of laughter, in +which Evan cruelly joined. + +'Gracious powers!' exclaimed the victim of ambition, 'I'm laughed at by +the son of a tailor!' and he edged once more into the shade of trees. + +It was a strange sight for Harry's relatives to see him arm-in-arm +with the man he should have been kicking, challenging, denouncing, +or whatever the code prescribes: to see him talking to this young man +earnestly, clinging to him affectionately, and when he separated from +him, heartily wringing his hand. Well might they think that there was +something extraordinary in these Harringtons. Convicted of Tailordom, +these Harringtons appeared to shine with double lustre. How was it? They +were at a loss to say. They certainly could say that the Countess was +egregiously affected and vulgar; but who could be altogether complacent +and sincere that had to fight so hard a fight? In this struggle with +society I see one of the instances where success is entirely to be +honoured and remains a proof of merit. For however boldly antagonism +may storm the ranks of society, it will certainly be repelled, whereas +affinity cannot be resisted; and they who, against obstacles of birth, +claim and keep their position among the educated and refined, have +that affinity. It is, on the whole, rare, so that society is not often +invaded. I think it will have to front Jack Cade again before another +Old Mel and his progeny shall appear. You refuse to believe in Old Mel? +You know not nature's cunning. + +Mrs. Shorne, Mrs. Melville, Miss Carrington, and many of the guests who +observed Evan moving from place to place, after the exposure, as they +called it, were amazed at his audacity. There seemed such a quietly +superb air about him. He would not look out of his element; and this, +knowing what they knew, was his offence. He deserved some commendation +for still holding up his head, but it was love and Rose who kept the +fires of his heart alive. + +The sun had sunk. The figures on the summit of Parnassus were seen +bobbing in happy placidity against the twilight sky. The sun had sunk, +and many of Mr. Raikes' best things were unspoken. Wandering about in +his gloom, he heard a feminine voice: + +'Yes, I will trust you.' + +'You will not repent it,' was answered. + +Recognizing the Duke, Mr. Raikes cleared his throat. + +'A-hem, your Grace! This is how the days should pass. I think we should +diurnally station a good London band on high, and play his Majesty to +bed--the sun. My opinion is, it would improve the crops. I'm not, as +yet, a landed proprietor--' + +The Duke stepped aside with him, and Raikes addressed no one for +the next twenty minutes. When he next came forth Parnassus was half +deserted. It was known that old Mrs. Bonner had been taken with a +dangerous attack, and under this third blow the pic-nic succumbed. +Simultaneously with the messenger that brought the news to Lady Jocelyn, +one approached Evan, and informed him that the Countess de Saldar +urgently entreated him to come to the house without delay. He also +wished to speak a few words to her, and stepped forward briskly. He had +no prophetic intimations of the change this interview would bring upon +him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. THE HERO TAKES HIS RANK IN THE ORCHESTRA + +The Countess was not in her dressing-room when Evan presented himself. +She was in attendance on Mrs. Bonner, Conning said; and the primness of +Conning was a thing to have been noticed by any one save a dreamy youth +in love. Conning remained in the room, keeping distinctly aloof. Her +duties absorbed her, but a presiding thought mechanically jerked back +her head from time to time: being the mute form of, 'Well, I never!' in +Conning's rank of life and intellectual capacity. Evan remained quite +still in a chair, and Conning was certainly a number of paces beyond +suspicion, when the Countess appeared, and hurling at the maid one of +those feminine looks which contain huge quartos of meaning, vented the +cold query: + +'Pray, why did you not come to me, as you were commanded?' + +'I was not aware, my lady,' Conning drew up to reply, and performed with +her eyes a lofty rejection of the volume cast at her, and a threat of +several for offensive operations, if need were. + +The Countess spoke nearer to what she was implying 'You know I object to +this: it is not the first time.' + +'Would your ladyship please to say what your ladyship means?' + +In return for this insolent challenge to throw off the mask, the +Countess felt justified in punishing her by being explicit. 'Your +irregularities are not of yesterday,' she said, kindly making use of a +word of double signification still. + +'Thank you, my lady.' Conning accepted the word in its blackest meaning. +'I am obliged to you. If your ladyship is to be believed, my character +is not worth much. But I can make distinctions, my lady.' + +Something very like an altercation was continued in a sharp, brief +undertone; and then Evan, waking up to the affairs of the hour, heard +Conning say: + +'I shall not ask your ladyship to give me a character.' + +The Countess answering with pathos: 'It would, indeed, be to give you +one.' + +He was astonished that the Countess should burst into tears when Conning +had departed, and yet more so that his effort to console her should +bring a bolt of wrath upon himself. + +'Now, Evan, now see what you have done for us-do, and rejoice at it. The +very menials insult us. You heard what that creature said? She can make +distinctions. Oh! I could beat her. They know it: all the servants +know it: I can see it in their faces. I feel it when I pass them. The +insolent wretches treat us as impostors; and this Conning--to defy me! +Oh! it comes of my devotion to you. I am properly chastized. I passed +Rose's maid on the stairs, and her reverence was barely perceptible.' + +Evan murmured that he was very sorry, adding, foolishly: 'Do you really +care, Louisa, for what servants think and say?' + +The Countess sighed deeply: 'Oh! you are too thickskinned! Your mother +from top to toe! It is too dreadful! What have I done to deserve it? Oh, +Evan, Evan!' + +Her head dropped in her lap. There was something ludicrous to Evan +in this excess of grief on account of such a business; but he was +tender-hearted and wrought upon to declare that, whether or not he was +to blame for his mother's intrusion that afternoon, he was ready to do +what he could to make up to the Countess for her sufferings: whereat the +Countess sighed again: asked him what he possibly could do, and doubted +his willingness to accede to the most trifling request. + +'No; I do in verity believe that were I to desire you to do aught for +your own good alone, you would demur, Van.' + +He assured her that she was mistaken. + +'We shall see,' she said. + +'And if once or twice, I have run counter to you, Louisa--' + +'Abominable language!' cried the Countess, stopping her ears like a +child. 'Do not excruciate me so. You laugh! My goodness! what will you +come to!' + +Evan checked his smile, and, taking her hand, said: + +'I must tell you; that, on the whole, I see nothing to regret in what +has happened to-day. You may notice a change in the manners of the +servants and some of the country squiresses, but I find none in the +bearing of the real ladies, the true gentlemen, to me.' + +'Because the change is too fine for you to perceive it,' interposed the +Countess. + +'Rose, then, and her mother, and her father!' Evan cried impetuously. + +'As for Lady Jocelyn!' the Countess shrugged: + +'And Sir Franks!' her head shook: 'and Rose, Rose is, simply +self-willed; a "she will" or "she won't" sort of little person. No +criterion! Henceforth the world is against us. We have to struggle with +it: it does not rank us of it!' + +'Your feeling on the point is so exaggerated, my dear Louisa', said +Evan, 'one can't bring reason to your ears. The tattle we shall hear +we shall outlive. I care extremely for the good opinion of men, but I +prefer my own; and I do not lose it because my father was in trade.' + +'And your own name, Evan Harrington, is on a shop,' the Countess struck +in, and watched him severely from under her brow, glad to mark that he +could still blush. + +'Oh, heaven!' she wailed to increase the effect, 'on a shop! a brother +of mine!' + +'Yes, Louisa. It may not last... I did it--is it not better that a son +should blush, than cast dishonour on his father's memory?' + +'Ridiculous boy-notion!' + +'Rose has pardoned it, Louisa--cannot you? I find that the naturally +vulgar and narrow-headed people, and cowards who never forego mean +advantages, are those only who would condemn me and my conduct in that.' + +'And you have joy in your fraction of the world left to you!' exclaimed +his female-elder. + +Changeing her manner to a winning softness, she said: + +'Let me also belong to the very small party! You have been really +romantic, and most generous and noble; only the shop smells! But, never +mind, promise me you will not enter it.' + +'I hope not,' said Evan. + +'You do hope that you will not officiate? Oh, Evan the eternal +contemplation of gentlemen's legs! think of that! Think of yourself +sculptured in that attitude!' Innumerable little prickles and stings +shot over Evan's skin. + +'There--there, Louisa!' he said, impatiently; 'spare your ridicule. We +go to London to-morrow, and when there I expect to hear that I have an +appointment, and that this engagement is over.' He rose and walked up +and down the room. + +'I shall not be prepared to go to-morrow,' remarked the Countess, +drawing her figure up stiffly. + +'Oh! well, if you can stay, Andrew will take charge of you, I dare say.' + +'No, my dear, Andrew will not--a nonentity cannot--you must.' + +'Impossible, Louisa,' said Evan, as one who imagines he is uttering a +thing of little consequence. 'I promised Rose.' + +'You promised Rose that you would abdicate and retire? Sweet, loving +girl!' + +Evan made no answer. + +'You will stay with me, Evan.' + +'I really can't,' he said in his previous careless tone. + +'Come and sit down,' cried the Countess, imperiously. + +'The first trifle is refused. It does not astonish me. I will honour you +now by talking seriously to you. I have treated you hitherto as a child. +Or, no--' she stopped her mouth; 'it is enough if I tell you, dear, that +poor Mrs. Bonner is dying, and that she desires my attendance on her +to refresh her spirit with readings on the Prophecies, and Scriptural +converse. No other soul in the house can so soothe her.' + +'Then, stay,' said Evan. + +'Unprotected in the midst of enemies! Truly!' + +'I think, Louisa, if you can call Lady Jocelyn an enemy, you must read +the Scriptures by a false light.' + +'The woman is an utter heathen!' interjected the Countess. 'An infidel +can be no friend. She is therefore the reverse. Her opinions embitter +her mother's last days. But now you will consent to remain with me, dear +Van!' + +An implacable negative responded to the urgent appeal of her eyes. + +'By the way,' he said, for a diversion, 'did you know of a girl stopping +at an inn in Fallow field?' + +'Know a barmaid?' the Countess's eyes and mouth were wide at the +question. + +'Did you send Raikes for her to-day?' + +'Did Mr. Raikes--ah, Evan! that creature reminds me, you have no sense +of contrast. For a Brazilian ape--he resembles, if he is not truly +one--what contrast is he to an English gentleman! His proximity and +acquaintance--rich as he may be--disfigure you. Study contrast!' + +Evan had to remind her that she had not answered him: whereat she +exclaimed: 'One would really think you had never been abroad. Have you +not evaded me, rather?' + +The Countess commenced fanning her languid brows, and then pursued: +'Now, my dear brother, I may conclude that you will acquiesce in my +moderate wishes. You remain. My venerable friend cannot last three days. +She is on the brink of a better world! I will confide to you that it is +of the utmost importance we should be here, on the spot, until the sad +termination! That is what I summoned you for. You are now at liberty. +Ta-ta, as soon as you please.' + +She had baffled his little cross-examination with regard to Raikes, +but on the other point he was firm. She would listen to nothing: she +affected that her mandate had gone forth, and must be obeyed; tapped +with her foot, fanned deliberately, and was a consummate queen, till he +turned the handle of the door, when her complexion deadened, she started +up, trembling, and tripping towards him, caught him by the arm, and +said: 'Stop! After all that I have sacrificed for you! As well try +to raise the dead as a Dawley from the dust he grovels in! Why did I +consent to visit this place? It was for you. I came, I heard that you +had disgraced yourself in drunkenness at Fallow field, and I toiled to +eclipse that, and I did. Young Jocelyn thought you were what you are I +could spit the word at you! and I dazzled him to give you time to win +this minx, who will spin you like a top if you get her. That Mr. Forth +knew it as well, and that vile young Laxley. They are gone! Why are they +gone? Because they thwarted me--they crossed your interests--I said they +should go. George Uplift is going to-day. The house is left to us; and I +believe firmly that Mrs. Bonner's will contains a memento of the effect +of our frequent religious conversations. So you would leave now? I +suspect nobody, but we are all human, and Wills would not have +been tampered with for the first time. Besides, and the Countess's +imagination warmed till she addressed her brother as a confederate, 'we +shall then see to whom Beckley Court is bequeathed. Either way it may be +yours. Yours! and you suffer their plots to drive you forth. Do you not +perceive that Mama was brought here to-day on purpose to shame us and +cast us out? We are surrounded by conspiracies, but if our faith is pure +who can hurt us? If I had not that consolation--would that you had it, +too!--would it be endurable to me to see those menials whispering and +showing their forced respect? As it is, I am fortified to forgive +them. I breathe another atmosphere. Oh, Evan! you did not attend to +Mr. Parsley's beautiful last sermon. The Church should have been your +vocation.' + +From vehemence the Countess had subsided to a mournful gentleness. She +had been too excited to notice any changes in her brother's face during +her speech, and when he turned from the door, and still eyeing her +fixedly, led her to a chair, she fancied from his silence that she had +subdued and convinced him. A delicious sense of her power, succeeded by +a weary reflection that she had constantly to employ it, occupied her +mind, and when presently she looked up from the shade of her hand, it +was to agitate her head pitifully at her brother. + +'All this you have done for me, Louisa,' he said. + +'Yes, Evan,--all!' she fell into his tone. + +'And you are the cause of Laxley's going? Did you know anything of that +anonymous letter?' + +He was squeezing her hand-with grateful affection, as she was deluded to +imagine. + +'Perhaps, dear,--a little,' her conceit prompted her to admit. + +'Did you write it?' + +He gazed intently into her eyes, and as the question shot like a +javelin, she tried ineffectually to disengage her fingers; her delusion +waned; she took fright, but it was too late; he had struck the truth out +of her before she could speak. Her spirit writhed like a snake in his +hold. Innumerable things she was ready to say, and strove to; the words +would not form on her lips. + +'I will be answered, Louisa.' + +The stern manner he had assumed gave her no hope of eluding him. With an +inward gasp, and a sensation of nakedness altogether new to her, dismal, +and alarming, she felt that she could not lie. Like a creature forsaken +of her staunchest friend, she could have flung herself to the floor. The +next instant her natural courage restored her. She jumped up and stood +at bay. + +'Yes. I did.' + +And now he was weak, and she was strong, and used her strength. + +'I wrote it to save you. Yes. Call on your Creator, and be my judge, if +you dare. Never, never will you meet a soul more utterly devoted to you, +Evan. This Mr. Forth, this Laxley, I said, should go, because they +were resolved to ruin you, and make you base. They are gone. The +responsibility I take on myself. Nightly--during the remainder of my +days--I will pray for pardon.' + +He raised his head to ask sombrely: 'Is your handwriting like Laxley's?' + +'It seems so,' she answered, with a pitiful sneer for one who could +arrest her exaltation to inquire about minutiae. 'Right or wrong, it +is done, and if you choose to be my judge, think whether your own +conscience is clear. Why did you come here? Why did you stay? You have +your free will,--do you deny that? Oh, I will take the entire blame, +but you must not be a hypocrite, Van. You know you were aware. We had +no confidences. I was obliged to treat you like a child; but for you to +pretend to suppose that roses grow in your path--oh, that is paltry! You +are a hypocrite or an imbecile, if that is your course.' + +Was he not something of the former? The luxurious mist in which he had +been living, dispersed before his sister's bitter words, and, as she +designed he should, he felt himself her accomplice. But, again, reason +struggled to enlighten him; for surely he would never have done a thing +so disproportionate to the end to be gamed! It was the unconnected +action of his brain that thus advised him. No thoroughly-fashioned, +clear-spirited man conceives wickedness impossible to him: but +wickedness so largely mixed with folly, the best of us may reject as +not among our temptations. Evan, since his love had dawned, had begun to +talk with his own nature, and though he knew not yet how much it would +stretch or contract, he knew that he was weak and could not perform +moral wonders without severe struggles. The cynic may add, if he +likes--or without potent liquors. + +Could he be his sister's judge? It is dangerous for young men to be too +good. They are so sweeping in their condemnations, so sublime in their +conceptions of excellence, and the most finished Puritan cannot out-do +their demands upon frail humanity. Evan's momentary self-examination +saved him from this, and he told the Countess, with a sort of cold +compassion, that he himself dared not blame her. + +His tone was distinctly wanting in admiration of her, but she was +somewhat over-wrought, and leaned her shoulder against him, and became +immediately his affectionate, only too-zealous, sister; dearly to be +loved, to be forgiven, to be prized: and on condition of inserting +a special petition for pardon in her orisons, to live with a calm +conscience, and to be allowed to have her own way with him during the +rest of her days. + +It was a happy union--a picture that the Countess was lured to admire in +the glass. + +Sad that so small a murmur should destroy it for ever! + +'What?' cried the Countess, bursting from his arm. + +'Go?' she emphasized with the hardness of determined unbelief, as if +plucking the words, one by one, out of her reluctant ears. 'Go to Lady +Jocelyn, and tell her I wrote the letter?' + +'You can do no less, I fear,' said Evan, eyeing the floor and breathing +a deep breath. + +'Then I did hear you correctly? Oh, you must be mad-idiotic! There, pray +go away, Evan. Come in the morning. You are too much for my nerves.' + +Evan rose, putting out his hand as if to take hers and plead with her. +She rejected the first motion, and repeated her desire for him to leave +her; saying, cheerfully-- + +'Good night, dear; I dare say we shan't meet till the morning.' + +'You can't let this injustice continue a single night, Louisa?' said he. + +She was deep in the business of arrangeing a portion of her attire. + +'Go-go; please,' she responded. + +Lingering, he said: 'If I go, it will be straight to Lady Jocelyn.' + +She stamped angrily. + +'Only go!' and then she found him gone, and she stooped lower to the +glass, to mark if the recent agitation were observable under her eyes. +There, looking at herself, her heart dropped heavily in her bosom. +She ran to the door and hurried swiftly after Evan, pulling him back +speechlessly. + +'Where are you going, Evan?' + +'To Lady Jocelyn.' + +The unhappy victim of her devotion stood panting. + +'If you go, I--I take poison!' It was for him now to be struck; but he +was suffering too strong an anguish to be susceptible to mock tragedy. +The Countess paused to study him. She began to fear her brother. 'I +will!' she reiterated wildly, without moving him at all. And the quiet +inflexibility of his face forbade the ultimate hope which lies in giving +men a dose of hysterics when they are obstinate. She tried by taunts +and angry vituperations to make him look fierce, if but an instant, to +precipitate her into an exhibition she was so well prepared for. + +'Evan! what! after all my love, my confidence in you--I need not have +told you--to expose us! Brother? would you? Oh!' + +'I will not let this last another hour,' said Evan, firmly, at the +same time seeking to caress her. She spurned his fruitless affection, +feeling, nevertheless, how cruel was her fate; for, with any other +save a brother, she had arts at her disposal to melt the manliest +resolutions. The glass showed her that her face was pathetically pale; +the tones of her voice were rich and harrowing. What did they avail with +a brother? 'Promise me,' she cried eagerly, 'promise me to stop here--on +this spot-till I return.' + +The promise was extracted. The Countess went to fetch Caroline. Evan did +not count the minutes. One thought was mounting in his brain-the scorn +of Rose. He felt that he had lost her. Lost her when he had just won +her! He felt it, without realizing it. The first blows of an immense +grief are dull, and strike the heart through wool, as it were. The +belief of the young in their sorrow has to be flogged into them, on the +good old educational principle. Could he do less than this he was about +to do? Rose had wedded her noble nature to him, and it was as much her +spirit as his own that urged him thus to forfeit her, to be worthy of +her by assuming unworthiness. + +There he sat neither conning over his determination nor the cause for +it, revolving Rose's words about Laxley, and nothing else. The words +were so sweet and so bitter; every now and then the heavy smiting on his +heart set it quivering and leaping, as the whip starts a jaded horse. + +Meantime the Countess was participating in a witty conversation in the +drawing-room with Sir John and the Duke, Miss Current, and others; and +it was not till after she had displayed many graces, and, as one or two +ladies presumed to consider, marked effrontery, that she rose and drew +Caroline away with her. Returning to her dressing-room, she found that +Evan had faithfully kept his engagement; he was on the exact spot where +she had left him. + +Caroline came to him swiftly, and put her hand to his forehead that she +might the better peruse his features, saying, in her mellow caressing +voice: 'What is this, dear Van, that you will do? Why do you look so +wretched?' + +'Has not Louisa told you?' + +'She has told me something, dear, but I don't know what it is. That you +are going to expose us? What further exposure do we need? I'm sure, Van, +my pride--what I had--is gone. I have none left!' + +Evan kissed her brows warmly. An explanation, full of the Countess's +passionate outcries of justification, necessity, and innocence in higher +than fleshly eyes, was given, and then the three were silent. + +'But, Van,' Caroline commenced, deprecatingly, 'my darling! of what +use--now! Whether right or wrong, why should you, why should you, when +the thing is done, dear?--think!' + +'And you, too, would let another suffer under an unjust accusation?' +said Evan. + +'But, dearest, it is surely your duty to think of your family first. +Have we not been afflicted enough? Why should you lay us under this +fresh burden?' + +'Because it 's better to bear all now than a life of remorse,' answered +Evan. + +'But this Mr. Laxley--I cannot pity him; he has behaved so insolently to +you throughout! Let him suffer.' + +'Lady Jocelyn,' said Evan, 'has been unintentionally unjust to him, and +after her kindness--apart from the right or wrong--I will not--I can't +allow her to continue so.' + +'After her kindness!' echoed the Countess, who had been fuming at +Caroline's weak expostulations. 'Kindness! Have I not done ten times +for these Jocelyns what they have done for us? O mio Deus! why, I have +bestowed on them the membership for Fallow field: I have saved her from +being a convicted liar this very day. Worse! for what would have been +talked of the morals of the house, supposing the scandal. Oh! indeed I +was tempted to bring that horrid mad Captain into the house face to face +with his flighty doll of a wife, as I, perhaps, should have done, acting +by the dictates of my conscience. I lied for Lady Jocelyn, and handed +the man to a lawyer, who withdrew him. And this they owe to me! +Kindness? They have given us bed and board, as the people say. I have +repaid them for that.' + +'Pray be silent, Louisa,' said Evan, getting up hastily, for the sick +sensation Rose had experienced came over him. His sister's plots, her +untruth, her coarseness, clung to him and seemed part of his blood. +He now had a personal desire to cut himself loose from the wretched +entanglement revealed to him, whatever it cost. + +'Are you really, truly going?' Caroline exclaimed, for he was near the +door. + +'At a quarter to twelve at night!' sneered the Countess, still imagining +that he, like herself, must be partly acting. + +'But, Van, is it--dearest, think! is it manly for a brother to go and +tell of his sister? And how would it look?' + +Evan smiled. 'Is it that that makes you unhappy? Louisa's name will not +be mentioned--be sure of that.' + +Caroline was stooping forward to him. Her figure straightened: 'Good +Heaven, Evan! you are not going to take it on yourself? Rose!--she will +hate you.' + +'God help me!' he cried internally. + +'Oh, Evan, darling! consider, reflect!' She fell on her knees, catching +his hand. 'It is worse for us that you should suffer, dearest! Think +of the dreadful meanness and baseness of what you will have to +acknowledge.' + +'Yes!' sighed the youth, and his eyes, in his extreme pain, turned to +the Countess reproachfully. + +'Think, dear,' Caroline hurried on, 'he gains nothing for whom you +do this--you lose all. It is not your deed. You will have to speak an +untruth. Your ideas are wrong--wrong, I know they are. You will have to +lie. But if you are silent, the little, little blame that may attach to +us will pass away, and we shall be happy in seeing our brother happy.' + +'You are talking to Evan as if he had religion,' said the Countess, with +steady sedateness. And at that moment, from the sublimity of his pagan +virtue, the young man groaned for some pure certain light to guide him: +the question whether he was about to do right made him weak. He took +Caroline's head between his two hands, and kissed her mouth. The act +brought Rose to his senses insufferably, and she--his Goddess of truth +and his sole guiding light-spurred him afresh. + +'My family's dishonour is mine, Caroline. Say nothing more--don't think +of me. I go to Lady Jocelyn tonight. To-morrow we leave, and there's the +end. Louisa, if you have any new schemes for my welfare, I beg you to +renounce them.' + +'Gratitude I never expected from a Dawley!' the Countess retorted. + +'Oh, Louisa! he is going!' cried Caroline; 'kneel to him with me: stop +him: Rose loves him, and he is going to make her hate him.' + +'You can't talk reason to one who's mad,' said the Countess, more like +the Dawley she sprang from than it would have pleased her to know. + +'My darling! My own Evan! it will kill me,' Caroline exclaimed, and +passionately imploring him, she looked so hopelessly beautiful, that +Evan was agitated, and caressed her, while he said, softly: 'Where our +honour is not involved I would submit to your smallest wish.' + +'It involves my life--my destiny!' murmured Caroline. + +Could he have known the double meaning in her words, and what a saving +this sacrifice of his was to accomplish, he would not have turned to do +it feeling abandoned of heaven and earth. + +The Countess stood rigidly as he went forth. Caroline was on her knees, +sobbing. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. A PAGAN SACRIFICE + +Three steps from the Countess's chamber door, the knot of Evan's +resolution began to slacken. The clear light of his simple duty grew +cloudy and complex. His pride would not let him think that he was +shrinking, but cried out in him, 'Will you be believed?' and whispered +that few would believe him guilty of such an act. Yet, while something +said that full surely Lady Jocelyn would not, a vague dread that Rose +might, threw him back on the luxury of her love and faith in him. He +found himself hoping that his statement would be laughed at. Then why +make it? + +No: that was too blind a hope. Many would take him at his word; all--all +save Lady Jocelyn! Rose the first! Because he stood so high with her now +he feared the fall. Ah, dazzling pinnacle! our darlings shoot us up on a +wondrous juggler's pole, and we talk familiarly to the stars, and are +so much above everybody, and try to walk like creatures with two legs, +forgetting that we have but a pin's point to stand on up there. Probably +the absence of natural motion inspires the prophecy that we must +ultimately come down: our unused legs wax morbidly restless. Evan +thought it good that Rose should lift her head to look at him; +nevertheless, he knew that Rose would turn from him the moment he +descended from his superior station. Nature is wise in her young +children, though they wot not of it, and are always trying to rush away +from her. They escape their wits sooner than their instincts. + +But was not Rose involved in him, and part of him? Had he not sworn +never to renounce her? What was this but a betrayal? + +Go on, young man: fight your fight. The little imps pluck at you: the +big giant assails you: the seductions of the soft-mouthed siren are not +wanting. Slacken the knot an instant, and they will all have play. And +the worst is, that you may be wrong, and they may be right! For is it, +can it be proper for you to stain the silvery whiteness of your skin +by plunging headlong into yonder pitch-bath? Consider the defilement! +Contemplate your hideous aspect on issuing from that black baptism! + +As to the honour of your family, Mr. Evan Harrington, pray, of what sort +of metal consists the honour of a tailor's family? + +One little impertinent imp ventured upon that question on his own +account. The clever beast was torn back and strangled instantaneously +by his experienced elders, but not before Evan's pride had answered +him. Exalted by Love, he could dread to abase himself and strip off his +glittering garments; lowered by the world, he fell back upon his innate +worth. + +Yes, he was called on to prove it; he was on his way to prove it. +Surrendering his dearest and his best, casting aside his dreams, his +desires, his aspirations, for this stern duty, he at least would know +that he made himself doubly worthy of her who abandoned him, and the +world would scorn him by reason of his absolute merit. Coming to this +point, the knot of his resolve tightened again; he hugged it with the +furious zeal of a martyr. + +Religion, the lack of which in him the Countess deplored, would have +guided him and silenced the internal strife. But do not despise a virtue +purely Pagan. The young who can act readily up to the Christian light +are happier, doubtless: but they are led, they are passive: I think they +do not make such capital Christians subsequently. They are never in such +danger, we know; but some in the flock are more than sheep. The heathen +ideal it is not so very easy to attain, and those who mount from it to +the Christian have, in my humble thought, a firmer footing. + +So Evan fought his hard fight from the top of the stairs to the bottom. +A Pagan, which means our poor unsupported flesh, is never certain of his +victory. Now you will see him kneeling to his Gods, and anon drubbing +them; or he makes them fight for him, and is complacent at the issue. +Evan had ceased to pick his knot with one hand and pull it with the +other: but not finding Lady Jocelyn below, and hearing that she had +retired for the night, he mounted the stairs, and the strife recommenced +from the bottom to the top. Strange to say, he was almost unaware of any +struggle going on within him. The suggestion of the foolish little imp +alone was loud in the heart of his consciousness; the rest hung more in +his nerves than in his brain. He thought: 'Well, I will speak it out to +her in the morning'; and thought so sincerely, while an ominous sigh of +relief at the reprieve rose from his over-burdened bosom. + +Hardly had the weary deep breath taken flight, when the figure of Lady +Jocelyn was seen advancing along the corridor, with a lamp in her +hand. She trod heavily, in a kind of march, as her habit was; her large +fully-open grey eyes looking straight ahead. She would have passed him, +and he would have let her pass, but seeing the unusual pallor on her +face, his love for this lady moved him to step forward and express a +hope that she had no present cause for sorrow. + +Hearing her mother's name, Lady Jocelyn was about to return a +conventional answer. Recognizing Evan, she said: + +'Ah! Mr. Harrington! Yes, I fear it's as bad as it can be. She can +scarcely outlive the night.' + +Again he stood alone: his chance was gone. How could he speak to her in +her affliction? Her calm sedate visage had the beauty of its youth, when +lighted by the animation that attends meetings or farewells. In her bow +to Evan, he beheld a lovely kindness more unique, if less precious, +than anything he had ever seen on the face of Rose. Half exultingly, +he reflected that no opportunity would be allowed him now to teach that +noble head and truest of human hearts to turn from him: the clear-eyed +morrow would come: the days of the future would be bright as other days! + +Wrapped in the comfort of his cowardice, he started to see Lady Jocelyn +advancing to him again. + +'Mr. Harrington,' she said, 'Rose tells me you leave us early in the +morning. I may as well shake your hand now. We part very good friends. I +shall always be glad to hear of you.' + +Evan pressed her hand, and bowed. 'I thank you, madam,' was all he could +answer. + +'It will be better if you don't write to Rose.' + +Her tone was rather that of a request than an injunction. + +'I have no right to do so, my lady.' + +'She considers that you have: I wish her to have, a fair trial.' + +His voice quavered. The philosophic lady thought it time to leave him. + +'So good-bye. I can trust you without extracting a promise. If you ever +have need of a friend, you know you are at liberty to write to me.' + +'You are tired, my lady?' He put this question more to dally with what +he ought to be saying. + +'Tolerably. Your sister, the Countess, relieves me in the night. I fancy +my mother finds her the better nurse of the two.' + +Lady Jocelyn's face lighted in its gracious pleasant way, as she just +inclined her head: but the mention of the Countess and her attendance +on Mrs. Bonner had nerved Evan: the contrast of her hypocrisy and vile +scheming with this most open, noble nature, acted like a new force +within him. He begged Lady Jocelyn's permission to speak with her in +private. Marking his fervid appearance, she looked at him seriously. + +'Is it really important?' + +'I cannot rest, madam, till it is spoken.' + +'I mean, it doesn't pertain to the delirium? We may sleep upon that.' + +He divined her sufficiently to answer: 'It concerns a piece of injustice +done by you, madam, and which I can help you to set right.' + +Lady Jocelyn stared somewhat. 'Follow me into my dressing-room,' she +said, and led the way. + +Escape was no longer possible. He was on the march to execution, and +into the darkness of his brain danced John Raikes, with his grotesque +tribulations. It was the harsh savour of reality that conjured up this +flighty being, who probably never felt a sorrow or a duty. The farce +Jack lived was all that Evan's tragic bitterness could revolve, and +seemed to be the only light in his mind. You might have seen a smile on +his mouth when he was ready to ask for a bolt from heaven to crush him. + +'Now,' said her ladyship, and he found that the four walls enclosed +them, 'what have I been doing?' + +She did not bid him be seated. Her brevity influenced him to speak to +the point. + +'You have dismissed Mr. Laxley, my lady: he is innocent.' + +'How do you know that?' + +'Because,'--a whirl of sensations beset the wretched youth, 'because I +am guilty.' + +His words had run ahead of his wits; and in answer to Lady Jocelyn's +singular exclamation he could but simply repeat them. + +Her head drew back; her face was slightly raised; she looked, as he +had seen her sometimes look at the Countess, with a sort of speculative +amazement. + +'And why do you come to tell me?' + +'For the reason that I cannot allow you to be unjust, madam.' + +'What on earth was your motive?' + +Evan stood silent, flinching from her frank eyes. + +'Well, well, well!' Her ladyship dropped into a chair, and thumped her +knees. + +There was lawyer's blood in Lady Jocelyn's veins she had the judicial +mind. A confession was to her a confession. She tracked actions up to a +motive; but one who came voluntarily to confess needed no sifting. She +had the habit of treating things spoken as facts. + +'You absolutely wrote that letter to Mrs. Evremonde's husband!' + +Evan bowed, to avoid hearing his own lie. + +'You discovered his address and wrote to him, and imitated Mr. Laxley's +handwriting, to effect the purpose you may have had?' + +Her credulity did require his confirmation of it, and he repeated: 'It +is my deed.' + +'Hum! And you sent that premonitory slip of paper to her?' + +'To Mrs. Evremonde?' + +'Somebody else was the author of that, perhaps?' + +'It is all on me.' + +'In that case, Mr. Harrington, I can only say that it's quite right you +should quit this house to-morrow morning.' + +Her ladyship commenced rocking in her chair, and then added: 'May I ask, +have you madness in your family? No? Because when one can't discern +a motive, it's natural to ascribe certain acts to madness. Had Mrs. +Evremonde offended you? or Ferdinand--but one only hears of such +practices towards fortunate rivals, and now you have come to undo what +you did! I must admit, that taking the monstrousness of the act and the +inconsequence of your proceedings together, the whole affair becomes +more incomprehensible to me than it was before. Would it be unpleasant +to you to favour me with explanations?' + +She saw the pain her question gave him, and, passing it, said: + +'Of course you need not be told that Rose must hear of this?' + +'Yes,' said Evan, 'she must hear it.' + +'You know what that 's equivalent to? But, if you like, I will not speak +to her till you, have left us.' + +'Instantly,' cried Evan. 'Now-to-night! I would not have her live a +minute in a false estimate of me.' + +Had Lady Jocelyn's intellect been as penetrating as it was masculine, +she would have taken him and turned him inside out in a very short time; +for one who would bear to see his love look coldly on him rather than +endure a minute's false estimate of his character, and who could yet +stoop to concoct a vile plot, must either be mad or simulating the +baseness for some reason or other. She perceived no motive for the +latter, and she held him to be sound in the head, and what was spoken +from the mouth she accepted. Perhaps, also, she saw in the complication +thus offered an escape for Rose, and was the less inclined to elucidate +it herself. But if her intellect was baffled, her heart was unerring. +A man proved guilty of writing an anonymous letter would not have been +allowed to stand long in her room. She would have shown him to the door +of the house speedily; and Evan was aware in his soul that he had not +fallen materially in her esteem. He had puzzled and confused her, and +partly because she had the feeling that this young man was entirely +trustworthy, and because she never relied on her feelings, she let his +own words condemn him, and did not personally discard him. In fact, she +was a veritable philosopher. She permitted her fellows to move the world +on as they would, and had no other passions in the contemplation of the +show than a cultured audience will usually exhibit. + +'Strange,--most strange! I thought I was getting old!' she said, and +eyed the culprit as judges generally are not wont to do. 'It will be a +shock to Rose. I must tell you that I can't regret it. I would not have +employed force with her, but I should have given her as strong a taste +of the world as it was in my power to give. Girls get their reason from +society. But, come! if you think you can make your case out better to +her, you shall speak to her first yourself.' + +'No, my lady,' said Evan, softly. + +'You would rather not?' + +'I could not.' + +'But, I suppose, she'll want to speak to you when she knows it.' + +'I can take death from her hands, but I cannot slay myself.' + +The language was natural to his condition, though the note was pitched +high. Lady Jocelyn hummed till the sound of it was over, and an idea +striking her, she said: + +'Ah, by the way, have you any tremendous moral notions?' + +'I don't think I have, madam.' + +'People act on that mania sometimes, I believe. Do you think it an +outrage on decency for a wife to run away from a mad husband whom they +won't shut up, and take shelter with a friend? Is that the cause? Mr. +Forth is an old friend of mine. I would trust my daughter with him in a +desert, and stake my hand on his honour.' + +'Oh, Lady Jocelyn!' cried Evan. 'Would to God you might ever have said +that of me! Madam, I love you. I shall never see you again. I shall +never meet one to treat me so generously. I leave you, blackened in +character--you cannot think of me without contempt. I can never hope +that this will change. But, for your kindness let me thank you.' + +And as speech is poor where emotion is extreme--and he knew his own to +be especially so--he took her hand with petitioning eyes, and dropping +on one knee, reverentially kissed it. + +Lady Jocelyn was human enough to like to be appreciated. She was a +veteran Pagan, and may have had the instinct that a peculiar virtue in +this young one was the spring of his conduct. She stood up and said: +'Don't forget that you have a friend here.' + +The poor youth had to turn his head from her. + +'You wish that I should tell Rose what you have told me at once, Mr. +Harrington?' + +'Yes, my lady; I beg that you will do so.' + +'Well!' + +And the queer look Lady Jocelyn had been wearing dimpled into absolute +wonder. A stranger to Love's cunning, she marvelled why he should desire +to witness the scorn Rose would feel for him. + +'If she's not asleep, then, she shall hear it now,' said her ladyship. +'You understand that it will be mentioned to no other person.' + +'Except to Mr. Laxley, madam, to whom I shall offer the satisfaction he +may require. But I will undertake that.' + +'Just as you think proper on that matter,' remarked her philosophical +ladyship, who held that man was a fighting animal, and must not have his +nature repressed. + +She lighted him part of the way, and then turned off to Rose's chamber. + +Would Rose believe it of him? Love combated his dismal foreboding. +Strangely, too, now that he had plunged into his pitch-bath, the guilt +seemed to cling to him, and instead of hoping serenely, or fearing +steadily, his spirit fell in a kind of abject supplication to Rose, and +blindly trusted that she would still love even if she believed him +base. In his weakness he fell so low as to pray that she might love +that crawling reptile who could creep into a house and shrink from no +vileness to win her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. ROSE WOUNDED + +The light of morning was yet cold along the passages of the house when +Polly Wheedle, hurrying to her young mistress, met her loosely dressed +and with a troubled face. + +'What 's the matter, Polly? I was coming to you.' + +'O, Miss Rose! and I was coming to you. Miss Bonner's gone back to her +convulsions again. She's had them all night. Her hair won't last till +thirty, if she keeps on giving way to temper, as I tell her: and I know +that from a barber.' + +'Tush, you stupid Polly! Does she want to see me?' + +'You needn't suspect that, Miss. But you quiet her best, and I thought +I'd come to you. But, gracious!' + +Rose pushed past her without vouchsafing any answer to the look in +her face, and turned off to Juliana's chamber, where she was neither +welcomed nor repelled. Juliana said she was perfectly well, and that +Polly was foolishly officious: whereupon Rose ordered Polly out of the +room, and said to Juliana, kindly: 'You have not slept, dear, and I have +not either. I am so unhappy.' + +Whether Rose intended by this communication to make Juliana eagerly +attentive, and to distract her from her own affair, cannot be said, but +something of the effect was produced. + +'You care for him, too,' cried Rose, impetuously. 'Tell me, Juley: do +you think him capable of any base action? Do you think he would do what +any gentleman would be ashamed to own? Tell me.' + +Juliana looked at Rose intently, but did not reply. + +Rose jumped up from the bed. 'You hesitate, Juley? What? Could you think +so?' + +Young women after a common game are shrewd. Juliana may have seen that +Rose was not steady on the plank she walked, and required support. + +'I don't know,' she said, turning her cheek to her pillow. + +'What an answer!' Rose exclaimed. 'Have you no opinion? What did you say +yesterday? It's silent as the grave with me: but if you do care for him, +you must think one thing or the other.' + +'I suppose not, then--no,' said Juliana. + +Repeating the languid words bitterly, Rose continued: + +'What is it to love without having faith in him you love? You make my +mind easier.' + +Juliana caught the implied taunt, and said, fretfully: + +'I'm ill. You're so passionate. You don't tell me what it is. How can I +answer you?' + +'Never mind,' said Rose, moving to the door, wondering why she had +spoken at all: but when Juliana sprang forward, and caught her by the +dress to stop her, and with a most unwonted outburst of affection, +begged of her to tell her all, the wound in Rose's breast began to +bleed, and she was glad to speak. + +'Juley, do you-can you believe that he wrote that letter which poor +Ferdinand was--accused of writing?' + +Juliana appeared to muse, and then responded: 'Why should he do such a +thing?' + +'O my goodness, what a girl!' Rose interjected. + +'Well, then, to please you, Rose, of course I think he is too +honourable.' + +'You do think so, Juley? But if he himself confessed it--what then? You +would not believe him, would you?' + +'Oh, then I can't say. Why should he condemn himself?' + +'But you would know--you would know that he was a man to suffer death +rather than be guilty of the smallest baseness. His birth--what is +that!' Rose filliped her fingers: 'But his acts--what he is himself +you would be sure of, would you not? Dear Juley! Oh, for heaven's sake, +speak out plainly to me.' + +A wily look had crept over Juliana's features. + +'Certainly,' she said, in a tone that belied it, and drawing Rose to her +bosom, the groan she heard there was passing sweet to her. + +'He has confessed it to Mama,' sobbed Rose. 'Why did he not come to me +first? He has confessed it--the abominable thing has come out of his own +mouth. He went to her last night...' + +Juliana patted her shoulders regularly as they heaved. When words were +intelligible between them, Juliana said: + +'At least, dear, you must admit that he has redeemed it.' + +'Redeemed it? Could he do less?' Rose dried her eyes vehemently, as if +the tears shamed her. 'A man who could have let another suffer for his +crime--I could never have lifted my head again. I think I would have cut +off this hand that plighted itself to him! As it is, I hardly dare look +at myself. But you don't think it, dear? You know it to be false! false! +false!' + +'Why should Mr. Harrington confess it?' said Juliana. + +'Oh, don't speak his name!' cried Rose. + +Her cousin smiled. 'So many strange things happen,' she said, and +sighed. + +'Don't sigh: I shall think you believe it!' cried Rose. An appearance of +constrained repose was assumed. Rose glanced up, studied for an instant, +and breathlessly uttered: 'You do, you do believe it, Juley?' + +For answer, Juliana hugged her with much warmth, and recommenced the +patting. + +'I dare say it's a mistake,' she remarked. 'He may have been jealous of +Ferdinand. You know I have not seen the letter. I have only heard of +it. In love, they say, you ought to excuse... And the want of religious +education! His sister...' + +Rose interrupted her with a sharp shudder. Might it not be possible that +one who had the same blood as the Countess would stoop to a momentary +vileness. + +How changed was Rose from the haughty damsel of yesterday! + +'Do you think my lover could tell a lie?' 'He--would not love me long if +I did!' + +These phrases arose and rang in Juliana's ears while she pursued the +task of comforting the broken spirit that now lay prone on the bed, +and now impetuously paced the room. Rose had come thinking the moment +Juliana's name was mentioned, that here was the one to fortify her faith +in Evan: one who, because she loved, could not doubt him. She moaned in +a terror of distrust, loathing her cousin: not asking herself why +she needed support. And indeed she was too young for much clear +self-questioning, and her blood was flowing too quickly for her brain to +perceive more than one thing at a time. + +'Does your mother believe it?' said Juliana, evading a direct assault. + +'Mama? She never doubts what you speak,' answered Rose, disconsolately. + +'She does?' + +'Yes.' + +Whereat Juliana looked most grave, and Rose felt that it was hard to +breathe. + +She had grown very cold and calm, and Juliana had to be expansive +unprovoked. + +'Believe nothing, dear, till you hear it from his own lips. If he can +look in your face and say that he did it... well, then! But of course he +cannot. It must be some wonderful piece of generosity to his rival.' + +'So I thought, Juley! so I thought,' cried Rose, at the new light, and +Juliana smiled contemptuously, and the light flickered and died, and all +was darker than before in the bosom of Rose. She had borne so much that +this new drop was poison. + +'Of course it must be that, if it is anything,' Juliana pursued. 'You +were made to be happy, Rose. And consider, if it is true, people of very +low birth, till they have lived long with other people, and if they have +no religion, are so very likely to do things. You do not judge them as +you do real gentlemen, and one must not be too harsh--I only wish to +prepare you for the worst.' + +A dim form of that very idea had passed through Rose, giving her small +comfort. + +'Let him tell you with his own lips that what he has told your mother is +true, and then, and not till then, believe him,' Juliana concluded, and +they kissed kindly, and separated. Rose had suddenly lost her firm step, +but no sooner was Juliana alone than she left the bed, and addressed her +visage to the glass with brightening eyes, as one who saw the glimmer of +young hope therein. + +'She love him! Not if he told me so ten thousand times would I believe +it! and before he has said a syllable she doubts him. Asking me in that +frantic way! as if I couldn't see that she wanted me to help her to her +faith in him, as she calls it. Not name his name? Mr. Harrington! I may +call him Evan: some day!' + +Half-uttered, half-mused, the unconscious exclamations issued from her, +and for many a weary day since she had dreamed of love, and studied that +which is said to attract the creature, she had not been so glowingly +elated or looked so much farther in the glass than its pale reflection. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. BEFORE BREAKFAST + +Cold through the night the dark-fringed stream had whispered under +Evan's eyes, and the night breeze voiced 'Fool, fool!' to him, not +without a distant echo in his heart. By symbols and sensations he knew +that Rose was lost to him. There was no moon: the water seemed aimless, +passing on carelessly to oblivion. Now and then, the trees stirred and +talked, or a noise was heard from the pastures. He had slain the life +that lived in them, and the great glory they were to bring forth, and +the end to which all things moved. Had less than the loss of Rose been +involved, the young man might have found himself looking out on a world +beneath notice, and have been sighing for one more worthy of his clouded +excellence but the immense misery present to him in the contemplation of +Rose's sad restrained contempt, saved him from the silly elation which +is the last, and generally successful, struggle of human nature in those +who can so far master it to commit a sacrifice. The loss of that brave +high young soul-Rose, who had lifted him out of the mire with her own +white hands: Rose, the image of all that he worshipped: Rose, so closely +wedded to him that to be cut away from her was to fall like pallid clay +from the soaring spirit: surely he was stunned and senseless when he +went to utter the words to her mother! Now that he was awake, and +could feel his self-inflicted pain, he marvelled at his rashness and +foolishness, as perhaps numerous mangled warriors have done for a time, +when the battle-field was cool, and they were weak, and the uproar of +their jarred nerves has beset them, lying uncherished. + +By degrees he grew aware of a little consolatory touch, like the point +of a needle, in his consciousness. Laxley would certainly insult him! +In that case he would not refuse to fight him. The darkness broke and +revealed this happy prospect, and Evan held to it an hour, and could +hardly reject it when better thoughts conquered. For would it not be +sweet to make the strength of his arm respected? He took a stick, and +ran his eye musingly along the length, trifling with it grimly. The +great Mel had been his son's instructor in the chivalrous science of +fence, and a maitre d'armes in Portugal had given him polish. In Mel's +time duels with swords had been occasionally fought, and Evan looked on +the sword as the weapon of combat. Face to face with his adversary--what +then were birth or position? Action!--action! he sighed for it, as +I have done since I came to know that his history must be morally +developed. A glow of bitter pleasure exalted him when, after hot +passages, and parryings and thrusts, he had disarmed Ferdinand Laxley, +and bestowing on him his life, said: 'Accept this worthy gift of the +son of a tailor!' and he wiped his sword, haply bound up his wrist, and +stalked off the ground, the vindicator of man's natural dignity. And +then he turned upon himself with laughter, discovering a most wholesome +power, barely to be suspected in him yet; but of all the children of +glittering Mel and his solid mate, Evan was the best mixed compound of +his parents. + +He put the stick back in its corner and eyed his wrist, as if he had +really just gone through the pretty scene he had just laughed at. It was +nigh upon reality, for it suggested the employment of a handkerchief, +and he went to a place and drew forth one that had the stain of his +blood on it, and the name of Rose at one end. The beloved name +was half-blotted by the dull-red mark, and at that sight a strange +tenderness took hold of Evan. His passions became dead and of old date. +This, then, would be his for ever! Love, for whom earth had been too +small, crept exultingly into a nut-shell. He clasped the treasure on his +breast, and saw a life beyond his parting with her. + +Strengthened thus, he wrote by the morning light to Laxley. The letter +was brief, and said simply that the act of which Laxley had been +accused, Evan Harrington was responsible for. The latter expressed +regret that Laxley should have fallen under a false charge, and, at +the same time, indicated that if Laxley considered himself personally +aggrieved, the writer was at his disposal. + +A messenger had now to be found to convey it to the village-inn. Footmen +were stirring about the house, and one meeting Evan close by his door, +observed with demure grin, that he could not find the gentleman's +nether-garments. The gentleman, it appeared, was Mr. John Raikes, who +according to report, had been furnished with a bed at the house, because +of a discovery, made at a late period over-night, that farther the +gentleman could not go. Evan found him sleeping soundly. How much +the poor youth wanted a friend! Fortune had given him instead a born +buffoon; and it is perhaps the greatest evil of a position like Evan's, +that, with cultured feelings, you are likely to meet with none to know +you. Society does not mix well in money-pecking spheres. Here, however, +was John Raikes, and Evan had to make the best of him. + +'Eh?' yawned Jack, awakened; 'I was dreaming I was Napoleon Bonaparte's +right-hand man.' + +'I want you to be mine for half-an-hour,' said Evan. + +Without replying, the distinguished officer jumped out of bed at a +bound, mounted a chair, and peered on tip-toe over the top, from which, +with a glance of self-congratulation, he pulled the missing piece of +apparel, sighed dejectedly as he descended, while he exclaimed: + +'Safe! but no distinction can compensate a man for this state of +intolerable suspicion of everybody. I assure you, Harrington, I wouldn't +be Napoleon himself--and I have always been his peculiar admirer--to +live and be afraid of my valet! I believe it will develop cancer +sooner or later in me. I feel singular pains already. Last night, after +crowning champagne with ale, which produced a sort of French Revolution +in my interior--by the way, that must have made me dream of Napoleon +last night, with my lower members in revolt against my head, I had to +sit and cogitate for hours on a hiding-place for these-call them what +you will. Depend upon it, Harrington, this world is no such funny affair +as we fancy.' + +'Then it is true, that you could let a man play pranks on you,' said +Evan. 'I took it for one of your jokes.' + +'Just as I can't believe that you're a tailor,' returned Jack. 'It 's +not a bit more extraordinary.' + +'But, Jack, if you cause yourself to be contemptible----' + +'Contemptible!' cried Jack. 'This is not the tone I like. Contemptible! +why it's my eccentricity among my equals. If I dread the profane vulgar, +that only proves that I'm above them. Odi, etc. Besides, Achilles had +his weak point, and egad, it was when he faced about! By Jingo! I wish +I'd had that idea yesterday. I should have behaved better.' + +Evan could see that the creature was beginning to rely desperately on +his humour. + +'Come,' he said, 'be a man to-day. Throw off your motley. When I met you +that night so oddly, you had been acting like a worthy fellow, trying to +earn your bread in the best way you could--' + +'And precisely because I met you, of all men, I've been going round and +round ever since,' said Jack. 'A clown or pantaloon would have given me +balance. Say no more. You couldn't help it. We met because we were the +two extremes.' + +Sighing, 'What a jolly old inn!' Raikes rolled himself over in the +sheets, and gave two or three snug jolts indicative of his determination +to be comfortable while he could. + +'Do you intend to carry on this folly, Jack?' + +'Say, sacrifice,' was the answer. 'I feel it as much as you possibly +could, Mr. Harrington. Hear the facts,' Jack turned round again. 'Why +did I consent to this absurdity? Because of my ambition. That old +fellow, whom I took to be a clerk of Messrs. Grist, said: "You want to +cut a figure in the world--you're armed now." A sort of Fortunatus's +joke. It was his way of launching me. But did he think I intended this +for more than a lift? I his puppet? He, sir, was my tool! Well, I came. +All my efforts were strained to shorten the period of penance. I had the +best linen, and put on captivating manners. I should undoubtedly have +won some girl of station, and cast off my engagement like an old suit, +but just mark!--now mark how Fortune tricks us! After the pic-nic +yesterday, the domestics of the house came to clear away, and the band +being there, I stopped them and bade them tune up, and at the same +time seizing the maid Wheedle, away we flew. We danced, we whirled, we +twirled. Ale upon this! My head was lost. "Why don't it last for ever?" +says I. "I wish it did," says she. The naivete enraptured me. "Oooo!" +I cried, hugging her, and then, you know, there was no course open to a +man of honour but to offer marriage and make a lady of her. I proposed: +she accepted me, and here I am, eternally tied to this accurst insignia, +if I'm to keep my promise! Isn't that a sacrifice, friend H.? There's +no course open to me. The poor girl is madly in love. She called me a +"rattle!" As a gentleman, I cannot recede.' + +Evan got up and burst into damnable laughter at this burlesque of +himself. Telling the fellow the service he required, and receiving a +groaning assurance that the letter should, without loss of time, be +delivered in proper style, the egoist, as Jack heartily thought him, +fell behind his; knitted brows, and, after musing abstractedly, went +forth to light upon his fate. + +But a dread of meeting had seized both Rose and Evan. She had exhausted +her first sincerity of unbelief in her interview with Juliana: and he +had begun to consider what he could say to her. More than the three +words 'I did it,' would not be possible; and if she made him repeat +them, facing her truthful eyes, would he be man enough to strike her +bared heart twice? And, ah! the sullen brute he must seem, standing +before her dumb, hearing her sigh, seeing her wretched effort not to +show how unwillingly her kind spirit despised him. The reason for the +act--she would ask for that! Rose would not be so philosophic as her +mother. She would grasp at every chance to excuse the deed. He cried +out against his scheming sister in an agony, and while he did so, +encountered Miss Carrington and Miss. Bonner in deep converse. Juliana +pinched her arm, whereupon Miss Carrington said: 'You look merry this +morning, Mr. Harrington': for he was unawares smiling at the image +of himself in the mirror of John Raikes. That smile, transformed to a +chuckling grimace, travelled to Rose before they met. + +Why did she not come to him? + +A soft voice at his elbow made his blood stop. It was Caroline. She +kissed him, answering his greeting: 'Is it good morning?' + +'Certainly,' said he. 'By the way, don't forget that the coach leaves +early.' + +'My darling Evan! you make me so happy. For it was really a mistaken +sense of honour. For what can at all excuse a falsehood, you know, +Evan!' + +Caroline took his arm, and led him into the sun, watching his face at +times. Presently she said: 'I want just to be assured that you thought +more wisely than when you left us last night.' + +'More wisely?' Evan turned to her with a playful smile. + +'My dear brother! you did not do what you said you would do?' + +'Have you ever known me not to do what I said I would do?' + +'Evan! Good heaven! you did it? Then how can you remain here an instant? +Oh, no, no!--say no, darling!' + +'Where is Louisa?' he inquired. + +'She is in her room. She will never appear at breakfast, if she knows +this.' + +'Perhaps more solitude would do her good,' said Evan. + +'Remember, if this should prove true, think how you punish her!' + +On that point Evan had his own opinion. + +'Well, I shall never have to punish you in this way, my love, he said +fondly, and Caroline dropped her eyelids. + +'Don't think that I am blaming her,' he added, trying to feel as +honestly as he spoke. 'I was mad to come here. I see it all now. Let +us keep to our place. We are all the same before God till we disgrace +ourselves.' Possibly with that sense of shame which some young people +have who are not professors of sounding sentences, or affected by +missionary zeal, when they venture to breathe the holy name, Evan +blushed, and walked on humbly silent. Caroline murmured: 'Yes, yes! oh, +brother!' and her figure drew to him as if for protection. Pale, she +looked up. + +'Shall you always love me, Evan?' + +'Whom else have I to love?' + +'But always--always? Under any circumstances?' + +'More and more, dear. I always have, and shall. I look to you now. I +have no home but in your heart now.' + +She was agitated, and he spoke warmly to calm her. + +The throb of deep emotion rang in her rich voice. 'I will live any life +to be worthy of your love, Evan,' and she wept. + +To him they were words and tears without a history. + +Nothing further passed between them. Caroline went to the Countess: Evan +waited for Rose. The sun was getting high. The face of the stream glowed +like metal. Why did she not come? She believed him guilty from the mouth +of another? If so, there was something less for him to lose. And now the +sacrifice he had made did whisper a tale of mortal magnificence in his +ears: feelings that were not his noblest stood up exalted. He waited +till the warm meadow-breath floating past told that the day had settled +into heat, and then he waited no more, but quietly walked into the house +with the strength of one who has conquered more than human scorn. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. THE RETREAT FROM BECKLEY + +Never would the Countess believe that brother of hers, idiot as by +nature he might be, and heir to unnumbered epithets, would so far forget +what she had done for him, as to drag her through the mud for nothing: +and so she told Caroline again and again, vehemently. + +It was about ten minutes before the time for descending to the +breakfast-table. She was dressed, and sat before the glass, smoothing +her hair, and applying the contents of a pot of cold cream to her +forehead between-whiles. With perfect sincerity she repeated that she +could not believe it. She had only trusted Evan once since their visit +to Beckley; and that this once he should, when treated as a man, turn +traitor to their common interests, and prove himself an utter baby, was +a piece of nonsense her great intelligence indignantly rejected. + +'Then, if true,' she answered Caroline's assurances finally, 'if true, +he is not his father's son!' + +By which it may be seen that she had indeed taken refuge in the Castle +of Negation against the whole army of facts. + +'He is acting, Carry. He is acting the ideas of his ridiculous empty +noddle!' + +'No,' said Caroline, mournfully, 'he is not. I have never known Evan to +lie.' + +'Then you must forget the whipping he once had from his mother--little +dolt! little selfish pig! He obtains his reputation entirely from his +abominable selfishness, and then stands tall, and asks us to admire him. +He bursts with vanity. But if you lend your credence to it, Carry, how, +in the name of goodness, are you to appear at the breakfast? + +'I was going to ask you whether you would come,' said Caroline, coldly. + +'If I can get my hair to lie flat by any means at all, of course!' +returned the Countess. 'This dreadful horrid country pomade! Why did we +not bring a larger stock of the Andalugian Regenerator? Upon my honour, +my dear, you use a most enormous quantity; I must really tell you that.' + +Conning here entered to say that Mr. Evan had given orders for the boxes +to be packed and everything got ready to depart by half-past eleven +o'clock, when the fly would call for them and convey them to Fallow +field in time to meet the coach for London. + +The Countess turned her head round to Caroline like an astonished +automaton. + +'Given orders!' she interjected. + +'I have very little to get ready,' remarked Caroline. + +'Be so good as to wait outside the door one instant,' said the Countess +to Conning, with particular urbanity. + +Conning heard a great deal of vigorous whispering within, and when +summoned to re-appear, a note was handed to her to convey to Mr. +Harrington immediately. He was on the lawn; read it, and wrote back +three hasty lines in pencil. + +'Louisa. You have my commands to quit this house, at the hour named, +this day. You will go with me. E. H.' + +Conning was again requested to wait outside the Countess's door. She was +the bearer of another note. Evan read it likewise; tore it up, and said +that there was no answer. + +The Castle of Negation held out no longer. Ruthless battalions poured +over the walls, blew up the Countess's propriety, made frightful ravages +in her complexion. Down fell her hair. + +'You cannot possibly go to breakfast,' said Caroline. + +'I must! I must!' cried the Countess. 'Why, my dear, if he has done +it-wretched creature! don't you perceive that, by withholding our +presences, we become implicated with him?' And the Countess, from +a burst of frenzy, put this practical question so shrewdly, that +Caroline's wits succumbed to her. + +'But he has not done it; he is acting!' she pursued, restraining her +precious tears for higher purposes, as only true heroines can. 'Thinks +to frighten me into submission!' + +'Do you not think Evan is right in wishing us to leave, after--after--' +Caroline humbly suggested. + +'Say, before my venerable friend has departed this life,' the Countess +took her up. 'No, I do not. If he is a fool, I am not. No, Carry: I do +not jump into ditches for nothing. I will have something tangible for +all that I have endured. We are now tailors in this place, remember. +If that stigma is affixed to us, let us at least be remunerated for it. +Come.' + +Caroline's own hard struggle demanded all her strength yet she appeared +to hesitate. 'You will surely not disobey Evan, Louisa?' + +'Disobey?' The Countess amazedly dislocated the syllables. 'Why, the boy +will be telling you next that he will not permit the Duke to visit +you! Just your English order of mind, that cannot--brutes!--conceive of +friendship between high-born men and beautiful women. Beautiful as +you truly are, Carry, five years more will tell on you. But perhaps +my dearest is in a hurry to return to her Maxwell? At least he thwacks +well!' + +Caroline's arm was taken. The Countess loved an occasional rhyme when +a point was to be made, and went off nodding and tripping till the time +for stateliness arrived, near the breakfast-room door. She indeed was +acting. At the bottom of her heart there was a dismal rage of passions: +hatred of those who would or might look tailor in her face: terrors +concerning the possible re-visitation of the vengeful Sir Abraham: dread +of Evan and the efforts to despise him: the shocks of many conflicting +elements. Above it all her countenance was calmly, sadly sweet: even as +you may behold some majestic lighthouse glimmering over the tumult of a +midnight sea. + +An unusual assemblage honoured the breakfast that morning. The news of +Mrs. Bonner's health was more favourable. How delighted was the Countess +to hear that! Mrs. Bonner was the only firm ground she stood on there, +and after receiving and giving gentle salutes, she talked of Mrs. +Bonner, and her night-watch by the sick bed, in a spirit of doleful +hope. This passed off the moments till she could settle herself to +study faces. Decidedly, every lady present looked glum, with the single +exception of Miss Current. Evan was by Lady Jocelyn's side. Her ladyship +spoke to him; but the Countess observed that no one else did. To +herself, however, the gentlemen were as attentive as ever. Evan sat +three chairs distant from her. + +If the traitor expected his sister to share in his disgrace, by +noticing him, he was in error. On the contrary, the Countess joined the +conspiracy to exclude him, and would stop a mild laugh if perchance he +looked up. Presently Rose entered. She said 'Good morning' to one or +two, and glided into a seat. + +That Evan was under Lady Jocelyn's protection soon became generally +apparent, and also that her ladyship was angry: an exhibition so rare +with her that it was the more remarked. Rose could see that she was +a culprit in her mother's eyes. She glanced from Evan to her. Lady +Jocelyn's mouth shut hard. The girl's senses then perceived the +something that was afloat at the table; she thought with a pang of +horror: 'Has Juliana told?' Juliana smiled on her; but the aspect of +Mrs. Shorne, and of Miss Carrington, spoke for their knowledge of that +which must henceforth be the perpetual reproof to her headstrong youth. + +'At what hour do you leave us?' said Lady Jocelyn to Evan. + +'When I leave the table, my lady. The fly will call for my sisters at +half-past eleven.' + +'There is no necessity for you to start in advance?' + +'I am going over to see my mother.' + +Rose burned to speak to him now. Oh! why had she delayed! Why had she +swerved from her good rule of open, instant explanations? But Evan's +heart was stern to his love. Not only had she, by not coming, shown her +doubt of him,--she had betrayed him! + +Between the Countess, Melville, Sir John, and the Duke, an animated +dialogue was going on, over which Miss Current played like a lively +iris. They could not part with the Countess. Melville said he should +be left stranded, and numerous pretty things were uttered by other +gentlemen: by the women not a word. Glancing from certain of them +lingeringly to her admirers, the Countess smiled her thanks, and then +Andrew, pressed to remain, said he was willing and happy, and so forth; +and it seemed that her admirers had prevailed over her reluctance, for +the Countess ended her little protests with a vanquished bow. Then there +was a gradual rising from table. Evan pressed Lady Jocelyn's hand, and +turning from her bent his head to Sir Franks, who, without offering +an exchange of cordialities, said, at arm's length: 'Good-bye, sir.' +Melville also gave him that greeting stiffly. Harry was perceived to +rush to the other end of the room, in quest of a fly apparently. Poor +Caroline's heart ached for her brother, to see him standing there in the +shadow of many faces. But he was not left to stand alone. Andrew quitted +the circle of Sir John, Seymour Jocelyn, Mr. George Uplift, and others, +and linked his arm to Evan's. Rose had gone. While Evan looked for her +despairingly to say his last word and hear her voice once more, Sir +Franks said to his wife: + +'See that Rose keeps up-stairs.' + +'I want to speak to her,' was her ladyship's answer, and she moved to +the door. + +Evan made way for her, bowing. + +'You will be ready at half-past eleven, Louisa,' he said, with calm +distinctness, and passed from that purgatory. + +Now honest Andrew attributed the treatment Evan met with to the exposure +of yesterday. He was frantic with democratic disgust. + +'Why the devil don't they serve me like that; eh? 'Cause I got a few +coppers! There, Van! I'm a man of peace; but if you'll call any man +of 'em out I'll stand your second--'pon my soul, I will. They must be +cowards, so there isn't much to fear. Confound the fellows, I tell 'em +every day I'm the son of a cobbler, and egad, they grow civiller. What +do they mean? Are cobblers ranked over tailors?' + +'Perhaps that's it,' said Evan. + +'Hang your gentlemen!' Andrew cried. + +'Let us have breakfast first,' uttered a melancholy voice near them in +the passage. + +'Jack!' said Evan. 'Where have you been?' + +'I didn't know the breakfast-room,' Jack returned, 'and the fact is, +my spirits are so down, I couldn't muster up courage to ask one of the +footmen. I delivered your letter. Nothing hostile took place. I bowed +fiercely to let him know what he might expect. That generally stops it. +You see, I talk prose. I shall never talk anything else!' + +Andrew recommenced his jests of yesterday with Jack. The latter bore +them patiently, as one who had endured worse. + +'She has rejected me!' he whispered to Evan. 'Talk of the ingratitude of +women! Ten minutes ago I met her. She perked her eyebrows at me!--tried +to run away. "Miss Wheedle": I said. "If you please, I 'd rather not," +says she. To cut it short, the sacrifice I made to her was the cause. +It's all over the house. She gave the most excruciating hint. Those +low-born females are so horribly indelicate. I stood confounded. +Commending his new humour, Evan persuaded him to breakfast immediately, +and hunger being one of Jack's solitary incitements to a sensible course +of conduct, the disconsolate gentleman followed its dictates. 'Go with +him, Andrew,' said Evan. 'He is here as my friend, and may be made +uncomfortable.' + +'Yes, yes,--ha! ha! I'll follow the poor chap,' said Andrew. 'But what +is it all about? Louisa won't go, you know. Has the girl given you up +because she saw your mother, Van? I thought it was all right. Why the +deuce are you running away?' + +'Because I've just seen that I ought never to have come, I suppose,' +Evan replied, controlling the wretched heaving of his chest. + +'But Louisa won't go, Van.' + +'Understand, my dear Andrew, that I know it to be quite imperative. Be +ready yourself with Caroline. Louisa will then make her choice. Pray +help me in this. We must not stay a minute more than is necessary in +this house.' + +'It's an awful duty,' breathed Andrew, after a pause. 'I see nothing +but hot water at home. Why--but it's no use asking questions. My love to +your mother. I say, Van,--now isn't Lady Jocelyn a trump?' + +'God bless her!' said Evan. And the moisture in Andrew's eyes affected +his own. + +'She's the staunchest piece of woman-goods I ever--I know a hundred +cases of her!' + +'I know one, and that 's enough,' said Evan. + +Not a sign of Rose! Can Love die without its dear farewell on which it +feeds, away from the light, dying by bits? In Evan's heart Love seemed +to die, and all the pangs of a death were there as he trod along the +gravel and stepped beneath the gates of Beckley Court. + +Meantime the gallant Countess was not in any way disposed to retreat +on account of Evan's defection. The behaviour toward him at the +breakfast-table proved to her that he had absolutely committed his +egregious folly, and as no General can have concert with a fool, she cut +him off from her affections resolutely. Her manifest disdain at his last +speech, said as much to everybody present. Besides, the lady was in +her element here, and compulsion is required to make us relinquish +our element. Lady Jocelyn certainly had not expressly begged of her to +remain: the Countess told Melville so, who said that if she required +such an invitation she should have it, but that a guest to whom they +were so much indebted, was bound to spare them these formalities. + +'What am I to do?' + +The Countess turned piteously to the diplomatist's wife. + +She answered, retiringly: 'Indeed I cannot say.' + +Upon this, the Countess accepted Melville's arm, and had some thoughts +of punishing the woman. + +They were seen parading the lawn. Mr. George Uplift chuckled singularly. + +'Just the old style,' he remarked, but corrected the inadvertence with a +'hem!' committing himself more shamefully the instant after. 'I'll wager +she has the old Dip. down on his knee before she cuts.' + +'Bet can't be taken,' observed Sir John Loring. 'It requires a spy.' + +Harry, however, had heard the remark, and because he wished to speak to +her, let us hope, and reproach her for certain things when she chose to +be disengaged, he likewise sallied out, being forlorn as a youth whose +sweet vanity is much hurt. + +The Duke had paired off with Mrs. Strike. The lawn was fair in sunlight +where they walked. The air was rich with harvest smells, and the scent +of autumnal roses. Caroline was by nature luxurious and soft. The +thought of that drilled figure to which she was returning in bondage, +may have thrown into bright relief the polished and gracious nobleman +who walked by her side, shadowing forth the chances of a splendid +freedom. Two lovely tears fell from her eyes. The Duke watched them +quietly. + +'Do you know, they make me jealous?' he said. + +Caroline answered him with a faint smile. + +'Reassure me, my dear lady; you are not going with your brother this +morning?' + +'Your Grace, I have no choice!' + +'May I speak to you as your warmest friend? From what I hear, it appears +to be right that your brother should not stay. To the best of my ability +I will provide for him: but I sincerely desire to disconnect you from +those who are unworthy of you. Have you not promised to trust in me? +Pray, let me be your guide.' + +Caroline replied to the heart of his words: 'I dare not.' + +'What has changed you?' + +'I am not changed, but awakened,' said Caroline. + +The Duke paced on in silence. + +'Pardon me if I comprehend nothing of such a change,' he resumed. 'I +asked you to sacrifice much; all that I could give in return I offered. +Is it the world you fear?' + +'What is the world to such as I am?' + +'Can you consider it a duty to deliver yourself bound to that man +again?' + +'Heaven pardon me, my lord, I think of that too little!' + +The Duke's next question: 'Then what can it be?' stood in his eyes. + +'Oh!' Caroline's touch quivered on his arm, 'Do not suppose me +frivolous, ungrateful, or--or cowardly. For myself you have offered more +happiness than I could have hoped for. To be allied to one so generous, +I could bear anything. Yesterday you had my word: give it me back +to-day!' + +Very curiously the Duke gazed on her, for there was evidence of internal +torture across her forehead. + +'I may at least beg to know the cause for this request?' + +She quelled some throbbing in her bosom. 'Yes.' + +He waited, and she said: 'There is one--if I offended him, I could not +live. If now I followed my wishes, he would lose his faith in the last +creature that loves him. He is unhappy. I could bear what is called +disgrace, my lord--I shudder to say it--I could sin against heaven; but +I dare not do what would make him despise me.' + +She was trembling violently; yet the nobleman, in his surprise, could +not forbear from asking who this person might be, whose influence on her +righteous actions was so strong. + +'It is my brother, my lord,' she said. + +Still more astonished, 'Your brother!' the Duke exclaimed. 'My dearest +lady, I would not wound you; but is not this a delusion? We are so +placed that we must speak plainly. Your brother I have reason to feel +sure is quite unworthy of you.' + +'Unworthy? My brother Evan? Oh! he is noble, he is the best of men!' + +'And how, between yesterday and to-day, has he changed you?' + +'It is that yesterday I did not know him, and to-day I do.' + +Her brother, a common tradesman, a man guilty of forgery and the utmost +baseness--all but kicked out of the house! The Duke was too delicate to +press her further. Moreover, Caroline had emphasized the 'yesterday' and +'to-day,' showing that the interval which had darkened Evan to everybody +else, had illumined him to her. He employed some courtly eloquence, +better unrecorded; but if her firm resolution perplexed him, it threw a +strange halo round the youth from whom it sprang. + +The hour was now eleven, and the Countess thought it full time to retire +to her entrenchment in Mrs. Bonner's chamber. She had great things +still to do: vast designs were in her hand awaiting the sanction of +Providence. Alas! that little idle promenade was soon to be repented. +She had joined her sister, thinking it safer to have her upstairs till +they were quit of Evan. The Duke and the diplomatist loitering in the +rear, these two fair women sailed across the lawn, conscious, doubtless, +over all their sorrows and schemes, of the freight of beauty they +carried. + +What meant that gathering on the steps? It was fortuitous, like +everything destined to confound us. There stood Lady Jocelyn with +Andrew, fretting his pate. Harry leant against a pillar, Miss +Carrington, Mrs. Shorne, and Mrs. Melville, supported by Mr. George +Uplift, held watchfully by. Juliana, with Master Alec and Miss Dorothy, +were in the background. + +Why did our General see herself cut off from her stronghold, as by a +hostile band? She saw it by that sombre light in Juliana's eyes, which +had shown its ominous gleam whenever disasters were on the point of +unfolding. + +Turning to Caroline, she said: 'Is there a back way?' + +Too late! Andrew called. + +'Come along, Louisa, Just time, and no more. Carry, are you packed?' + +This in reality was the first note of the retreat from Beckley; and +having blown it, the hideous little trumpeter burst into scarlet +perspirations, mumbling to Lady Jocelyn: 'Now, my lady, mind you stand +by me.' + +The Countess walked straight up to him. + +'Dear Andrew! this sun is too powerful for you. I beg you, withdraw into +the shade of the house.' + +She was about to help him with all her gentleness. + +'Yes, yes. All right, Louisa rejoined Andrew. 'Come, go and pack. The +fly 'll be here, you know--too late for the coach, if you don't mind, my +lass. Ain't you packed yet?' + +The horrible fascination of vulgarity impelled the wretched lady +to answer: 'Are we herrings?' And then she laughed, but without any +accompaniment. + +'I am now going to dear Mrs. Bonner,' she said, with a tender glance at +Lady Jocelyn. + +'My mother is sleeping,' her ladyship remarked. + +'Come, Carry, my darling!' cried Andrew. + +Caroline looked at her sister. The Countess divined Andrew's shameful +trap. + +'I was under an engagement to go and canvass this afternoon,' she said. + +'Why, my dear Louisa, we've settled that in here this morning,' said +Andrew. 'Old Tom only stuck up a puppet to play with. We've knocked him +over, and march in victorious--eh, my lady?' + +'Oh!' exclaimed the Countess, 'if Mr. Raikes shall indeed have listened +to my inducements!' + +'Deuce a bit of inducements!' returned Andrew. 'The fellow's ashamed of +himself-ha! ha! Now then, Louisa.' + +While they talked, Juliana had loosed Dorothy and Alec, and these imps +were seen rehearsing a remarkable play, in which the damsel held forth a +hand and the cavalier advanced and kissed it with a loud smack, being at +the same time reproached for his lack of grace. + +'You are so English!' cried Dorothy, with perfect languor, and a +malicious twitter passed between two or three. Mr. George spluttered +indiscreetly. + +The Countess observed the performance. Not to convert the retreat into a +total rout, she, with that dark flush which was her manner of blushing, +took formal leave of Lady Jocelyn, who, in return, simply said: +'Good-bye, Countess.' Mrs. Strike's hand she kindly shook. + +The few digs and slaps and thrusts at gloomy Harry and prim Miss +Carrington and boorish Mr. George, wherewith the Countess, torn with +wrath, thought it necessary to cover her retreat, need not be told. She +struck the weak alone: Juliana she respected. Masterly tactics, for they +showed her power, gratified her vengeance, and left her unassailed. On +the road she had Andrew to tear to pieces. O delicious operation! And +O shameful brother to reduce her to such joys! And, O Providence! may +a poor desperate soul, betrayed through her devotion, unremunerated for +her humiliation and absolute hard work, accuse thee? The Countess would +have liked to. She felt it to be the instigation of the devil, and +decided to remain on the safe side still. + +Happily for Evan, she was not ready with her packing by half-past +eleven. It was near twelve when he, pacing in front of the inn, observed +Polly Wheedle, followed some yards in the rear by John Raikes, advancing +towards him. Now Polly had been somewhat delayed by Jack's persecutions, +and Evan declining to attend to the masked speech of her mission, which +directed him to go at once down a certain lane in the neighbourhood of +the park, some minutes were lost. + +'Why, Mr. Harrington,' said Polly, 'it's Miss Rose: she's had leave from +her Ma. Can you stop away, when it's quite proper?' + +Evan hesitated. Before he could conquer the dark spirit, lo, Rose +appeared, walking up the village street. Polly and her adorer fell back. + +Timidly, unlike herself, Rose neared him. + +'I have offended you, Evan. You would not come to me: I have come to +you.' + +'I am glad to be able to say good-bye to you, Rose,' was his pretty +response. + +Could she have touched his hand then, the blood of these lovers rushing +to one channel must have made all clear. At least he could hardly have +struck her true heart with his miserable lie. But that chance was lost +they were in the street, where passions have no play. + +'Tell me, Evan,--it is not true.' + +He, refining on his misery, thought, She would not ask it if she trusted +me: and answered her: 'You have heard it from your mother, Rose.' + +'But I will not believe it from any lips but yours, Evan. Oh, speak, +speak!' + +It pleased him to think: How could one who loved me believe it even +then? + +He said: 'It can scarcely do good to make me repeat it, Rose.' + +And then, seeing her dear bosom heave quickly, he was tempted to fall +on his knees to her with a wild outcry of love. The chance was lost. The +inexorable street forbade it. + +There they stood in silence, gasping at the barrier that divided them. + +Suddenly a noise was heard. 'Stop! stop!' cried the voice of John +Raikes. 'When a lady and gentleman are talking together, sir, do you +lean your long ears over them--ha?' + +Looking round, Evan beheld Laxley a step behind, and Jack rushing up +to him, seizing his collar, and instantly undergoing ignominious +prostration for his heroic defence of the privacy of lovers. + +'Stand aside'; said Laxley, imperiously. 'Rosey so you've come for me. +Take my arm. You are under my protection.' + +Another forlorn 'Is it true?' Rose cast toward Evan with her eyes. He +wavered under them. + +'Did you receive my letter?' he demanded of Laxley. + +'I decline to hold converse with you,' said Laxley, drawing Rose's hand +on his arm. + +'You will meet me to-day or to-morrow?' + +'I am in the habit of selecting my own company.' + +Rose disengaged her hand. Evan grasped it. No word of farewell was +uttered. Her mouth moved, but her eyes were hard shut, and nothing +save her hand's strenuous pressure, equalling his own, told that their +parting had been spoken, the link violently snapped. + +Mr. John Raikes had been picked up and pulled away by Polly. She now +rushed to Evan: 'Good-bye, and God bless you, dear Mr. Harrington. +I'll find means of letting you know how she is. And he shan't have her, +mind!' + +Rose was walking by Laxley's side, but not leaning on his arm. Evan +blessed her for this. Ere she was out of sight the fly rolled down the +street. She did not heed it, did not once turn her head. Ah, bitter +unkindness! + +When Love is hurt, it is self-love that requires the opiate. Conning +gave it him in the form of a note in a handwriting not known to him. It +said: + + 'I do not believe it, and nothing will ever make me. + 'JULIANA.' + +Evan could not forget these words. They coloured his farewell to +Beckley: the dear old downs, the hopgardens, the long grey farms walled +with clipped yew, the home of his lost love! He thought of them through +weary nights when the ghostly image with the hard shut eyelids and the +quivering lips would rise and sway irresolutely in air till a shape out +of the darkness extinguished it. Pride is the God of Pagans. Juliana had +honoured his God. The spirit of Juliana seemed to pass into the body of +Rose, and suffer for him as that ghostly image visibly suffered. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. IN WHICH WE HAVE TO SEE IN THE DARK + +So ends the fourth act of our comedy. + +After all her heroism and extraordinary efforts, after, as she feared, +offending Providence--after facing Tailordom--the Countess was rolled +away in a dingy fly unrewarded even by a penny, for what she had gone +through. For she possessed eminently the practical nature of her sex; +and though she would have scorned, and would have declined to handle +coin so base, its absence was upbraidingly mentioned in her spiritual +outcries. Not a penny! + +Nor was there, as in the miseries of retreat she affected indifferently +to imagine, a Duke fished out of the ruins of her enterprise, to wash +the mud off her garments and edge them with radiance. Caroline, it +became clear to her, had been infected by Evan's folly. Caroline, she +subsequently learnt, had likewise been a fool. Instead of marvelling at +the genius that had done so much in spite of the pair of fools that +were the right and left wing of her battle array, the simple-minded lady +wept. She wanted success, not genius. Admiration she was ever ready to +forfeit for success. + +Nor did she say to the tailors of earth: 'Weep, for I sought to +emancipate you from opprobrium by making one of you a gentleman; I +fought for a great principle and have failed.' Heroic to the end, she +herself shed all the tears; took all the sorrow. + +Where was consolation? Would any Protestant clergyman administer comfort +to her? Could he? might he do so? He might listen, and quote texts; +but he would demand the harsh rude English for everything; and the +Countess's confessional thoughts were all innuendoish, aerial; too +delicate to live in our shameless tongue. Confession by implication, and +absolution; she could know this to be what she wished for, and yet not +think it. She could see a haven of peace in that picture of the little +brown box with the sleekly reverend figure bending his ear to the +kneeling Beauty outside, thrice ravishing as she half-lifts the veil of +her sins and her visage!--yet she started alarmed to hear it whispered +that the fair penitent was the Countess de Saldar; urgently she prayed +that no disgraceful brother might ever drive her to that! + +Never let it be a Catholic priest!--she almost fashioned her petition +into words. Who was to save her? Alas! alas! in her dire distress--in +her sense of miserable pennilessness, she clung to Mr. John Raikes, +of the curricle, the mysteriously rich young gentleman; and on that +picture, with Andrew roguishly contemplating it, and Evan, with +feelings regarding his sister that he liked not to own, the curtain +commiseratingly drops. + +As in the course of a stream you come upon certain dips, where, but +here and there, a sparkle or a gloom of the full flowing water is caught +through deepening foliage, so the history that concerns us wanders out +of day for a time, and we must violate the post and open written leaves +to mark the turn it takes. + +First we have a letter from Mr. Goren to Mrs. Mel, to inform her that +her son has arrived and paid his respects to his future instructor in +the branch of science practised by Mr. Goren. + +'He has arrived at last,' says the worthy tradesman. 'His appearance +in the shop will be highly gentlemanly, and when he looks a little more +pleasing, and grows fond of it, nothing will be left to be desired. The +ladies, his sisters, have not thought proper to call. I had hopes of +the custom of Mr. Andrew Cogglesby. Of course you wish him to learn +tailoring thoroughly?' + +Mrs. Mel writes back, thanking Mr. Goren, and saying that 'she had shown +the letter to inquiring creditors, and that she does wish her son to +learn his business from the root. This produces a second letter from Mr. +Goren, which imparts to her that at the root of the tree, of tailoring +the novitiate must sit no less than six hours a day with his legs +crossed and doubled under him, cheerfully plying needle and thread; +and that, without this probation, to undergo which the son resolutely +objects, all hope of his climbing to the top of the lofty tree, and +viewing mankind from an eminence, must be surrendered. + +'If you do not insist, my dear Mrs. Harrington, I tell you candidly, +your son may have a shop, but he will be no tailor.' + +Mrs. Mel understands her son and his state of mind well enough not to +insist, and is resigned to the melancholy consequence. + +Then Mr. Goren discovers an extraordinary resemblance between Evan and +his father: remarking merely that the youth is not the gentleman his +father was in a shop, while he admits, that had it been conjoined to +business habits, he should have envied his departed friend. + +He has soon something fresh to tell; and it is that young Mr. Harrington +is treating him cavalierly. That he should penetrate the idea or +appreciate the merits of Mr. Goren's Balance was hardly to be expected +at present: the world did not, and Mr. Goren blamed no young man for his +ignorance. Still a proper attendance was requisite. Mr. Goren thought it +very singular that young Mr. Harrington should demand all the hours +of the day for his own purposes, up to half-past four. He found it +difficult to speak to him as a master, and begged that Mrs. Harrington +would, as a mother. + +The reply of Mrs. Mel is dashed with a trifle of cajolery. She has heard +from her son, and seeing that her son takes all that time from his right +studies, to earn money wherewith to pay debts of which Mr. Goren is +cognizant, she trusts that their oldest friend will overlook it. + +Mr. Goren rejoins that he considers that he need not have been excluded +from young Mr. Harrington's confidence. Moreover, it is a grief to +him that the young gentleman should refrain from accepting any of his +suggestions as to the propriety of requesting some, at least, of his +rich and titled acquaintance to confer on him the favour of their +patronage. 'Which they would not repent,' adds Mr. Goren, 'and might +learn to be very much obliged to him for, in return for kindnesses +extended to him.' + +Notwithstanding all my efforts, you see, the poor boy is thrust into the +shop. There he is, without a doubt. He sleeps under Mr. Goren's roof: +he (since one cannot be too positive in citing the punishment of such +a Pagan) stands behind a counter: he (and, oh! choke, young loves, +that have hovered around him! shrink from him in natural horror, gentle +ladies!) handles the shears. It is not my fault. He would be a Pagan. If +you can think him human enough still to care to know how he feels it, I +must tell you that he feels it hardly-at all. After a big blow, a very +little one scarcely counts. What are outward forms and social ignominies +to him whose heart has been struck to the dust? His Gods have fought for +him, and there he is! He deserves no pity. + +But he does not ask it of you, the callous Pagan! Despise him, if you +please, and rank with the Countess, who despises him most heartily. +Dipping further into the secrets of the post, we discover a brisk +correspondence between Juliana Bonner and Mrs. Strike. + +'A thousand thanks to you, my dear Miss Bonner,' writes the latter lady. +'The unaffected interest you take in my brother touches me deeply. I +know him to be worthy of your good opinion. Yes, I will open my heart to +you, dearest Juliana; and it shall, as you wish, be quite secret between +us. Not to a soul! + +'He is quite alone. My sisters Harriet and Louisa will not see him, +and I can only do so by stealth. His odd other little friend sometimes +drives me out on Sundays, to a place where I meet him; and the Duke of +Belfield kindly lends me his carriage. Oh, that we might never part! I +am only happy with him! + +'Ah, do not doubt him, Juliana, for anything he does! You say, that now +the Duke has obtained for him the Secretaryship to my husband's Company, +he should not thing, and you do not understand why. I will tell you. Our +poor father died in debt, and Evan receives money which enables him by +degrees to liquidate these debts, on condition that he consents to be +what I dislike as much as you can. He bears it; you can have no idea of +his pride! He is too proud to own to himself that it debases him--too +proud to complain. It is a tangle--a net that drags him down to it but +whatever he is outwardly, he is the noblest human being in the world to +me, and but for him, oh, what should I be? Let me beg you to forgive it, +if you can. My darling has no friends. Is his temper as sweet as ever? +I can answer that. Yes, only he is silent, and looks--when you look into +his eyes--colder, as men look when they will not bear much from other +men. + +'He has not mentioned her name. I am sure she has not written. + +'Pity him, and pray for him.' + +Juliana then makes a communication, which draws forth the following:-- + +'Mistress of all the Beckley property-dearest, dearest Juliana! Oh! how +sincerely I congratulate you! The black on the letter alarmed me so, I +could hardly open it, my fingers trembled so; for I esteem you all at +Beckley; but when I had opened and read it, I was recompensed. You say +you are sorry for Rose. But surely what your Grandmama has done is quite +right. It is just, in every sense. But why am I not to tell Evan? I am +certain it would make him very happy, and happiness of any kind he needs +so much! I will obey you, of course, but I cannot see why. Do you know, +my dear child, you are extremely mysterious, and puzzle me. Evan takes a +pleasure in speaking of you. You and Lady Jocelyn are his great themes. +Why is he to be kept ignorant of your good fortune? The spitting of +blood is bad. You must winter in a warm climate. I do think that London +is far better for you in the late Autumn than Hampshire. May I ask my +sister Harriet to invite you to reside with her for some weeks? Nothing, +I know, would give her greater pleasure.' + +Juliana answers this-- + +'If you love me--I sometimes hope that you do--but the feeling of being +loved is so strange to me that I can only believe it at times--but, +Caroline--there, I have mustered up courage to call you by your +Christian name at last--Oh, dear Caroline! if you do love me, do not +tell Mr. Harrington. I go on my knees to you to beg you not to tell him +a word. I have no reasons indeed not any; but I implore you again never +even to hint that I am anything but the person he knew at Beckley. + +'Rose has gone to Elburne House, where Ferdinand, her friend, is to meet +her. She rides and sings the same, and keeps all her colour. + +'She may not, as you imagine, have much sensibility. Perhaps not enough. +I am afraid that Rose is turning into a very worldly woman! + +'As to what you kindly say about inviting me to London, I should like +it, and I am my own mistress. Do you know, I think I am older than your +brother! I am twenty-three. Pray, when you write, tell me if he is older +than that. But should I not be a dreadful burden to you? Sometimes I +have to keep to my chamber whole days and days. When that happens now, I +think of you entirely. See how I open my heart to you. You say that you +do to me. I wish I could really think it.' + +A postscript begs Caroline 'not to forget about the ages.' + +In this fashion the two ladies open their hearts, and contrive to read +one another perfectly in their mutual hypocrisies. + +Some letters bearing the signatures of Mr. John Raikes, and Miss Polly +Wheedle, likewise pass. Polly inquires for detailed accounts of the +health and doings of Mr. Harrington. Jack replies with full particulars +of her own proceedings, and mild corrections of her grammar. It is to +be noted that Polly grows much humbler to him on paper, which being +instantly perceived by the mercurial one, his caressing condescension +to her is very beautiful. She is taunted with Mr. Nicholas Frim, and +answers, after the lapse of a week, that the aforesaid can be nothing to +her, as he 'went in a passion to church last Sunday and got married.' +It appears that they had quarrelled, 'because I danced with you that +night.' To this Mr. Raikes rejoins in a style that would be signified by +'ahem!' in language, and an arrangement of the shirt collar before the +looking-glass, in action. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. IN THE DOMAIN OF TAILORDOM + +There was peace in Mr. Goren's shop. Badgered Ministers, bankrupt +merchants, diplomatists with a headache--any of our modern grandees +under difficulties, might have envied that peace over which Mr. Goren +presided: and he was an enviable man. He loved his craft, he believed +that he had not succeeded the millions of antecedent tailors in vain; +and, excepting that trifling coquetry with shirt-fronts, viz., the red +crosses, which a shrewd rival had very soon eclipsed by representing +nymphs triangularly posed, he devoted himself to his business from +morning to night; as rigid in demanding respect from those beneath him, +as he was profuse in lavishing it on his patrons. His public boast was, +that he owed no man a farthing; his secret comfort, that he possessed +two thousand pounds in the Funds. But Mr. Goren did not stop here. +Behind these external characteristics he nursed a passion. Evan was +astonished and pleased to find in him an enthusiastic fern-collector. +Not that Mr. Harrington shared the passion, but the sight of these brown +roots spread out, ticketed, on the stained paper, after supper, when the +shutters were up and the house defended from the hostile outer world; +the old man poring over them, and naming this and that spot where, +during his solitary Saturday afternoon and Sunday excursions, he had +lighted on the rare samples exhibited this contrast of the quiet evening +with the sordid day humanized Mr. Goren to him. He began to see a spirit +in the rigid tradesman not so utterly dissimilar to his own, and he +fancied that he, too, had a taste for ferns. Round Beckley how they +abounded! + +He told Mr. Goren so, and Mr. Goren said: + +'Some day we'll jog down there together, as the saying goes.' + +Mr. Goren spoke of it as an ordinary event, likely to happen in the +days to come: not as an incident the mere mention of which, as being +probable, stopped the breath and made the pulses leap. + +For now Evan's education taught him to feel that he was at his lowest +degree. Never now could Rose stoop to him. He carried the shop on his +back. She saw the brand of it on his forehead. Well! and what was Rose +to him, beyond a blissful memory, a star that he had once touched? +Self-love kept him strong by day, but in the darkness of night came his +misery; wakening from tender dreams, he would find his heart sinking +under a horrible pressure, and then the fair fresh face of Rose swam +over him; the hours of Beckley were revived; with intolerable anguish he +saw that she was blameless--that he alone was to blame. Yet worse was +it when his closed eyelids refused to conjure up the sorrowful lovely +nightmare, and he lay like one in a trance, entombed-wretched Pagan! +feeling all that had been blindly; when the Past lay beside him like a +corpse that he had slain. + +These nightly torments helped him to brave what the morning brought. +Insensibly also, as Time hardened his sufferings, Evan asked himself +what the shame of his position consisted in. He grew stiff-necked. His +Pagan virtues stood up one by one to support him. Andrew, courageously +evading the interdict that forbade him to visit Evan, would meet him +by appointment at City taverns, and flatly offered him a place in the +Brewery. Evan declined it, on the pretext that, having received Old +Tom's money for the year, he must at least work out that term according +to the conditions. Andrew fumed and sneered at Tailordom. Evan said +that there was peace in Mr. Goren's shop. His sharp senses discerned in +Andrew's sneer a certain sincerity, and he revolted against it. Mr John +Raikes, too, burlesqued Society so well, that he had the satisfaction +of laughing at his enemy occasionally. The latter gentleman was still a +pensioner, flying about town with the Countess de Saldar, in deadly +fear lest that fascinating lady should discover the seat of his fortune; +happy, notwithstanding. In the mirror of Evan's little world, he beheld +the great one from which he was banished. + +Now the dusk of a winter's afternoon was closing over London, when a +carriage drew up in front of Mr. Goren's shop, out of which, to Mr. +Goren's chagrin, a lady stepped, with her veil down. The lady entered, +and said that she wished to speak to Mr. Harrington. Mr. Goren made way +for her to his pupil; and was amazed to see her fall into his arms, and +hardly gratified to hear her say: 'Pardon me, darling, for coming to you +in this place.' + +Evan asked permission to occupy the parlour. + +'My place,' said Mr. Goren, with humble severity, over his spectacles, +'is very poor. Such as it is, it is at the lady's service.' + +Alone with her, Evan was about to ease his own feelings by remarking to +the effect that Mr. Goren was human like the rest of us, but Caroline +cried, with unwonted vivacity: + +'Yes, yes, I know; but I thought only of you. I have such news for you! +You will and must pardon my coming--that's my first thought, sensitive +darling that you are!' She kissed him fondly. 'Juliana Bonner is in +town, staying with us!' + +'Is that your news?' asked Evan, pressing her against his breast. + +'No, dear love--but still! You have no idea what her fortune--Mrs. +Bonner has died and left her--but I mustn't tell you. Oh, my darling! +how she admires you! She--she could recompense you; if you would! +We will put that by, for the present. Dear! the Duke has begged you, +through me, to accept--I think it 's to be a sort of bailiff to his +estates--I don't know rightly. It's a very honourable post, that +gentlemen take: and the income you are to have, Evan, will be near a +thousand a year. Now, what do I deserve for my news?' + +She put up her mouth for another kiss, out of breath. + +'True?' looked Evan's eyes. + +'True!' she said, smiling, and feasting on his bewilderment. + +After the bubbling in his brain had a little subsided, Evan breathed as +a man on whom fresh air is blown. Were not these tidings of release? +His ridiculous pride must nevertheless inquire whether Caroline had been +begging this for him. + +'No, dear--indeed!' Caroline asserted with more than natural vehemence. +'It's something that you yourself have done that has pleased him. I +don't know what. Only he says, he believes you are a man to be trusted +with the keys of anything--and so you are. You are to call on him +to-morrow. Will you?' + +While Evan was replying, her face became white. She had heard the +Major's voice in the shop. His military step advanced, and Caroline, +exclaiming, 'Don't let me see him!' bustled to a door. Evan nodded, and +she slipped through. The next moment he was facing the stiff marine. + +'Well, young man,' the Major commenced, and, seating himself, added, 'be +seated. I want to talk to you seriously, sir. You didn't think fit to +wait till I had done with the Directors today. You're devilishly out in +your discipline, whatever you are at two and two. I suppose there's no +fear of being intruded on here? None of your acquaintances likely to be +introducing themselves to me?' + +'There is not one that I would introduce to you,' said Evan. + +The Major nodded a brief recognition of the compliment, and then, +throwing his back against the chair, fired out: 'Come, sir, is this your +doing?' + +In military phrase, Evan now changed front. His first thought had been +that the Major had come for his wife. He perceived that he himself was +the special object of his visitation. + +'I must ask you what you allude to,' he answered. + +'You are not at your office, but you will speak to me as if there was +some distinction between us,' said the Major. 'My having married your +sister does not reduce me to the ranks, I hope.' + +The Major drummed his knuckles on the table, after this impressive +delivery. + +'Hem!' he resumed. 'Now, sir, understand, before you speak a word, +that I can see through any number of infernal lies. I see that you're +prepared for prevarication. By George! it shall come out of you, if I +get it by main force. The Duke compelled me to give you that appointment +in my Company. Now, sir, did you, or did you not, go to him and +deliberately state to him that you believed the affairs of the Company +to be in a bad condition--infamously handled, likely to involve his +honour as a gentleman? I ask you, sir, did you do this, or did you not +do it?' + +Evan waited till the sharp rattle of the Major's close had quieted. + +'If I am to answer the wording of your statement, I may say that I did +not.' + +'Very good; very good; that will do. Are you aware that the Duke has +sent in his resignation as a Director of our Company?' + +'I hear of it first from you.' + +'Confound your familiarity!' cried the irritable officer, rising. 'Am +I always to be told that I married your sister? Address me, sir, as +becomes your duty.' + +Evan heard the words 'beggarly tailor' mumbled 'out of the gutters,' and +'cursed connection.' He stood in the attitude of attention, while the +Major continued: + +'Now, young man, listen to these facts. You came to me this day +last week, and complained that you did not comprehend some of our +transactions and affairs. I explained them to your damned stupidity. You +went away. Three days after that, you had an interview with the Duke. +Stop, sir! What the devil do you mean by daring to speak while I +am speaking? You saw the Duke, I say. Now, what took place at that +interview?' + +The Major tried to tower over Evan powerfully, as he put this query. +They were of a common height, and to do so, he had to rise on his toes, +so that the effect was but momentary. + +'I think I am not bound to reply,' said Evan. + +'Very well, sir; that will do.' The Major's fingers were evidently +itching for an absent rattan. 'Confess it or not, you are dismissed from +your post. Do you hear? You are kicked in the street. A beggarly tailor +you were born, and a beggarly tailor you will die.' + +'I must beg you to stop, now,' said Evan. 'I told you that I was not +bound to reply: but I will. If you will sit down, Major Strike, you +shall hear what you wish to know.' + +This being presently complied with, though not before a glare of the +Major's eyes had shown his doubt whether it might not be construed into +insolence, Evan pursued: + +'I came to you and informed you that I could not reconcile the +cash-accounts of the Company, and that certain of the later proceedings +appeared to me to jeopardize its prosperity. Your explanations did not +satisfy me. I admit that you enjoined me to be silent. But the Duke, as +a Director, had as strong a right to claim me as his servant, and when +he questioned me as to the position of the Company, I told him what I +thought, just as I had told you.' + +'You told him we were jobbers and swindlers, sir!' + +'The Duke inquired of me whether I would, under the circumstances, +while proceedings were going on which I did not approve of, take the +responsibility of allowing my name to remain--' + +'Ha! ha! ha!' the Major burst out. This was too good a joke. The name of +a miserable young tailor!' Go on, sir, go on!' He swallowed his laughter +like oil on his rage. + +'I have said sufficient.' + +Jumping up, the Major swore by the Lord, that he had said sufficient. + +'Now, look you here, young man.' He squared his finger before Evan, +eyeing him under a hard frown, 'You have been playing your game again, +as you did down at that place in Hampshire. I heard of it--deserved to +be shot, by heaven! You think you have got hold of the Duke, and you +throw me over. You imagine, I dare say, that I will allow my wife to be +talked about to further your interests--you self-seeking young dog! As +long as he lent the Company his name, I permitted a great many things. +Do you think me a blind idiot, sir? But now she must learn to be +satisfied with people who 've got no titles, or carriages, and who can't +give hundred guinea compliments. You're all of a piece-a set of...' + +The Major paused, for half a word was on his mouth which had drawn +lightning to Evan's eyes. + +Not to be baffled, he added: 'But look you, sir. I may be ruined. I dare +say the Company will go to the dogs--every ass will follow a Duke. But, +mark, this goes on no more. I will be no woman's tally. Mind, sir, I +take excellent care that you don't traffic in your sister!' + +The Major delivered this culminating remark with a well-timed deflection +of his forefinger, and slightly turned aside when he had done. + +You might have seen Evan's figure rocking, as he stood with his eyes +steadily levelled on his sister's husband. + +The Major, who, whatever he was, was physically no coward, did not fail +to interpret the look, and challenge it. + +Evan walked to the door, opened it, and said, between his teeth, 'You +must go at once.' + +'Eh, sir, eh? what's this?' exclaimed the warrior but the door was open, +Mr. Goren was in the shop; the scandal of an assault in such a house, +and the consequent possibility of his matrimonial alliance becoming +bruited in the newspapers, held his arm after it had given an +involuntary jerk. He marched through with becoming dignity, and marched +out into the street; and if necks unelastic and heads erect may be taken +as the sign of a proud soul and of nobility of mind, my artist has the +Major for his model. + +Evan displayed no such a presence. He returned to the little parlour, +shut and locked the door to the shop, and forgetting that one was near, +sat down, covered his eyes, and gave way to a fit of tearless sobbing. +With one foot in the room Caroline hung watching him. A pain that she +had never known wrung her nerves. His whole manhood seemed to be shaken, +as if by regular pulsations of intensest misery. She stood in awe of the +sight till her limbs failed her, and then staggering to him she fell on +her knees, clasping his, passionately kissing them. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. IN WHICH THE COUNTESS STILL SCENTS GAME + +Mr. Raikes and his friend Frank Remand, surnamed Franko, to suit the +requirements of metre, in which they habitually conversed, were walking +arm-in-arm along the drive in Society's Park on a fine frosty Sunday +afternoon of midwinter. The quips and jokes of Franko were lively, and +he looked into the carriages passing, as if he knew that a cheerful +countenance is not without charms for their inmates. Raikes' face, on +the contrary, was barren and bleak. Being of that nature that when a pun +was made he must perforce outstrip it, he fell into Franko's humour from +time to time, but albeit aware that what he uttered was good, and by +comparison transcendent, he refused to enjoy it. Nor when Franko started +from his arm to declaim a passage, did he do other than make limp +efforts to unite himself to Franko again. A further sign of immense +depression in him was that instead of the creative, it was the critical +faculty he exercised, and rather than reply to Franko in his form of +speech, he scanned occasional lines and objected to particular phrases. +He had clearly exchanged the sanguine for the bilious temperament, and +was fast stranding on the rocky shores of prose. Franko bore this very +well, for he, like Raikes in happier days, claimed all the glances +of lovely woman as his own, and on his right there flowed a stream of +Beauties. At last he was compelled to observe: 'This change is sudden: +wherefore so downcast? With tigrine claw thou mangiest my speech, thy +cheeks are like December's pippin, and thy tongue most sour!' + +'Then of it make a farce!' said Raikes, for the making of farces was +Franko's profession. 'Wherefore so downcast! What a line! There! let's +walk on. Let us the left foot forward stout advance. I care not for the +herd.' + +''Tis love!' cried Franko. + +'Ay, an' it be!' Jack gloomily returned. + +'For ever cruel is the sweet Saldar?' + +Raikes winced at this name. + +'A truce to banter, Franko!' he said sternly: but the subject was +opened, and the wound. + +'Love!' he pursued, mildly groaning. 'Suppose you adored a fascinating +woman, and she knew--positively knew--your manly weakness, and you saw +her smiling upon everybody, and she told you to be happy, and egad, when +you came to reflect, you found that after three months' suit you were +nothing better than her errand-boy? A thing to boast of, is it not, +quotha?' + +'Love's yellow-fever, jealousy, methinks,' Franko commenced in reply; +but Raikes spat at the emphasized word. + +'Jealousy!--who's jealous of clergymen and that crew? Not I, by Pluto! +I carried five messages to one fellow with a coat-tail straight to his +heels, last week. She thought I should drive my curricle--I couldn't +afford an omnibus! I had to run. When I returned to her I was dirty. She +made remarks!' + +'Thy sufferings are severe--but such is woman!' said Franko. 'Gad, it's +a good idea, though.' He took out a note-book and pencilled down a point +or two. Raikes watched the process sardonically. + +'My tragedy is, then, thy farce!' he exclaimed. 'Well, be it so! I +believe I shall come to song-writing again myself shortly-beneath the +shield of Catnach I'll a nation's ballads frame. I've spent my income +in four months, and now I 'm living on my curricle. I underlet it. It 's +like trade--it 's as bad as poor old Harrington, by Jove! But that isn't +the worst, Franko!' Jack dropped his voice: 'I believe I'm furiously +loved by a poor country wench.' + +'Morals!' was Franko's most encouraging reproof. + +'Oh, I don't think I've even kissed her,' rejoined Raikes, who doubted +because his imagination was vivid. 'It 's my intellect that dazzles her. +I 've got letters--she calls me clever. By Jove! since I gave up driving +I've had thoughts of rushing down to her and making her mine in spite +of home, family, fortune, friends, name, position--everything! I have, +indeed.' + +Franko looked naturally astonished at this amount of self-sacrifice. +'The Countess?' he shrewdly suggested. + + 'I'd rather be my Polly's prince, + Than yon great lady's errand-boy!' + +Raikes burst into song. + +He stretched out his hand, as if to discard all the great ladies who +were passing. By the strangest misfortune ever known, the direction +taken by his fingers was toward a carriage wherein, beautifully smiling +opposite an elaborately reverend gentleman of middle age, the Countess +de Saldar was sitting. This great lady is not to be blamed for deeming +that her errand-boy was pointing her out vulgarly on a public promenade. +Ineffable disdain curled off her sweet olive visage. She turned her +head. + +'I 'll go down to that girl to-night,' said Raikes, with compressed +passion. And then he hurried Franko along to the bridge, where, behold, +the Countess alighted with the gentleman, and walked beside him into the +gardens. + +'Follow her,' said Raikes, in agitation. 'Do you see her? by yon +long-tailed raven's side? Follow her, Franko! See if he kisses her +hand-anything! and meet me here in half an hour. I'll have evidence!' + +Franko did not altogether like the office, but Raikes' dinners, singular +luck, and superiority in the encounter of puns, gave him the upper hand +with his friend, and so Franko went. + +Turning away from the last glimpse of his Countess, Raikes crossed the +bridge, and had not strolled far beneath the bare branches of one of the +long green walks, when he perceived a gentleman with two ladies leaning +on him. + +'Now, there,' moralized this youth; 'now, what do you say to that? Do +you call that fair? He can't be happy, and it's not in nature for them +to be satisfied. And yet, if I went up and attempted to please them all +by taking one away, the probabilities are that he would knock me down. +Such is life! We won't be made comfortable!' + +Nevertheless, he passed them with indifference, for it was merely the +principle he objected to; and, indeed, he was so wrapped in his own +conceptions, that his name had to be called behind him twice before +he recognized Evan Harrington, Mrs. Strike, and Miss Bonner. The +arrangement he had previously thought good, was then spontaneously +adopted. Mrs. Strike reposed her fair hand upon his arm, and Juliana, +with a timid glance of pleasure, walked ahead in Evan's charge. Close +neighbourhood between the couples was not kept. The genius of Mr. Raikes +was wasted in manoeuvres to lead his beautiful companion into places +where he could be seen with her, and envied. It was, perhaps, more +flattering that she should betray a marked disposition to prefer +solitude in his society. But this idea illumined him only near the +moment of parting. Then he saw it; then he groaned in soul, and besought +Evan to have one more promenade, saying, with characteristic cleverness +in the masking of his real thoughts: 'It gives us an appetite, you +know.' + +In Evan's face and Juliana's there was not much sign that any +protraction of their walk together would aid this beneficent process of +nature. He took her hand gently, and when he quitted it, it dropped. + +'The Rose, the Rose of Beckley Court!' Raikes sang aloud. 'Why, this is +a day of meetings. Behold John Thomas in the rear-a tower of plush and +powder! Shall I rush-shall I pluck her from the aged stem?' + +On the gravel-walk above them Rose passed with her aristocratic +grandmother, muffled in furs. She marched deliberately, looking coldly +before her. Evan's face was white, and Juliana, whose eyes were fixed on +him, shuddered. + +'I'm chilled,' she murmured to Caroline. 'Let us go.' Caroline eyed Evan +with a meaning sadness. + +'We will hurry to our carriage,' she said. + +They were seen to make a little circuit so as not to approach Rose; +after whom, thoughtless of his cruelty, Evan bent his steps slowly, +halting when she reached her carriage. He believed--rather, he knew that +she had seen him. There was a consciousness in the composed outlines of +her face as she passed: the indifference was too perfect. Let her hate +him if she pleased. It recompensed him that the air she wore should make +her appearance more womanly; and that black dress and crape-bonnet, in +some way, touched him to mournful thoughts of her that helped a partial +forgetfulness of wounded self. + +Rose had driven off. He was looking at the same spot, where Caroline's +hand waved from her carriage. Juliana was not seen. Caroline requested +her to nod to him once, but she would not. She leaned back hiding her +eyes, and moving a petulant shoulder at Caroline's hand. + +'Has he offended you, my child?' + +Juliana answered harshly: + +'No-no.' + +The wheels rolled on, and Caroline tried other subjects, knowing +possibly that they would lead Juliana back to this of her own accord. + +'You saw how she treated him?' the latter presently said, without moving +her hand from before her eyes. + +'Yes, dear. He forgives her, and will forget it.' + +'Oh!' she clenched her long thin hand, 'I pray that I may not die before +I have made her repent it. She shall!' + +Juliana looked glitteringly in Caroline's face, and then fell a-weeping, +and suffered herself to be folded and caressed. The storm was long +subsiding. + +'Dearest! you are better now?' said Caroline. + +She whispered: 'Yes.' + +'My brother has only to know you, dear--' + +'Hush! That's past.' Juliana stopped her; and, on a deep breath that +threatened to break to sobs, she added in a sweeter voice than was +common to her, 'Ah, why--why did you tell him about the Beckley +property?' + +Caroline vainly strove to deny that she had told him. Juliana's head +shook mournfully at her; and now Caroline knew what Juliana meant when +she begged so earnestly that Evan should be kept ignorant of her change +of fortune. + +Some days after this the cold struck Juliana's chest, and she sickened. +The three sisters held a sitting to consider what it was best to do with +her. Caroline proposed to take her to Beckley without delay. Harriet was +of opinion that the least they could do was to write to her relatives +and make them instantly aware of her condition. + +But the Countess said 'No,' to both. Her argument was, that Juliana +being independent, they were by no means bound to 'bundle' her, in her +state, back to a place where she had been so shamefully maltreated: that +here she would live, while there she would certainly die: that absence +of excitement was her medicine, and that here she had it. Mrs. Andrew, +feeling herself responsible as the young lady's hostess, did not +acquiesce in the Countess's views till she had consulted Juliana; +and then apologies for giving trouble were breathed on the one hand; +sympathy, condolences, and professions of esteem, on the other. Juliana +said, she was but slightly ill, would soon recover. Entreated not to +leave them before she was thoroughly re-established, and to consent +to be looked on as one of the family, she sighed, and said it was the +utmost she could hope. Of course the ladies took this compliment to +themselves, but Evan began to wax in importance. The Countess thought it +nearly time to acknowledge him, and supported the idea by a citation of +the doctrine, that to forgive is Christian. It happened, however, +that Harriet, who had less art and more will than her sisters, was +inflexible. She, living in a society but a few steps above Tailordom, +however magnificent in expenditure and resources, abhorred it solemnly. +From motives of prudence, as well as personal disgust, she continued +firm in declining to receive her brother. She would not relent when the +Countess pointed out a dim, a dazzling prospect, growing out of Evan's +proximity to the heiress of Beckley Court; she was not to be moved when +Caroline suggested that the specific for the frail invalid was Evan's +presence. As to this, Juliana was sufficiently open, though, as she +conceived, her art was extreme. + +'Do you know why I stay to vex and trouble you?' she asked Caroline. +'Well, then, it is that I may see your brother united to you all: and +then I shall go, happy.' + +The pretext served also to make him the subject of many conversations. +Twice a week a bunch of the best flowers that could be got were sorted +and arranged by her, and sent namelessly to brighten Evan's chamber. + +'I may do such a thing as this, you know, without incurring blame,' she +said. + +The sight of a love so humble in its strength and affluence, sent +Caroline to Evan on a fruitless errand. What availed it, that accused +of giving lead to his pride in refusing the heiress, Evan should declare +that he did not love her? He did not, Caroline admitted as possible, +but he might. He might learn to love her, and therefore he was wrong in +wounding her heart. She related flattering anecdotes. She drew tearful +pictures of Juliana's love for him: and noticing how he seemed to prize +his bouquet of flowers, said: + +'Do you love them for themselves, or the hand that sent them?' + +Evan blushed, for it had been a struggle for him to receive them, as +he thought, from Rose in secret. The flowers lost their value; the song +that had arisen out of them, 'Thou livest in my memory,' ceased. But +they came still. How many degrees from love gratitude may be, I have not +reckoned. I rather fear it lies on the opposite shore. From a youth to +a girl, it may yet be very tender; the more so, because their ages +commonly exclude such a sentiment, and nature seems willing to make a +transition stage of it. Evan wrote to Juliana. Incidentally he expressed +a wish to see her. Juliana was under doctor's interdict: but she was not +to be prevented from going when Evan wished her to go. They met in the +park, as before, and he talked to her five minutes through the carriage +window. + +'Was it worth the risk, my poor child?' said Caroline, pityingly. + +Juliana cried: 'Oh! I would give anything to live!' + +A man might have thought that she made no direct answer. + +'Don't you think I am patient? Don't you think I am very patient?'she +asked Caroline, winningly, on their way home. + +Caroline could scarcely forbear from smiling at the feverish anxiety she +showed for a reply that should confirm her words and hopes. + +'So we must all be!'she said, tend that common-place remark caused +Juliana to exclaim: 'Prisoners have lived in a dungeon, on bread and +water, for years!' + +Whereat Caroline kissed her so tenderly that Juliana tried to look +surprised, and failing, her thin lips quivered; she breathed a soft +'hush,' and fell on Caroline's bosom. + +She was transparent enough in one thing; but the flame which burned +within her did not light her through. + +Others, on other matters, were quite as transparent to her. + +Caroline never knew that she had as much as told her the moral suicide +Evan had committed at Beckley; so cunningly had she been probed at +intervals with little casual questions; random interjections, that +one who loved him could not fail to meet; petty doubts requiring +elucidations. And the Countess, kind as her sentiments had grown toward +the afflicted creature, was compelled to proclaim her densely stupid in +material affairs. For the Countess had an itch of the simplest feminine +curiosity to know whether the dear child had any notion of accomplishing +a certain holy duty of the perishable on this earth, who might possess +worldly goods; and no hints--not even plain speaking, would do. Juliana +did not understand her at all. + +The Countess exhibited a mourning-ring on her finger, Mrs. Bonner's +bequest to her. + +'How fervent is my gratitude to my excellent departed friend for this! A +legacy, however trifling, embalms our dear lost ones in the memory!' + +It was of no avail. Juliana continued densely stupid. Was she not worse? +The Countess could not, 'in decency,' as she observed, reveal to her +who had prompted Mrs. Bonner so to bequeath the Beckley estates as +to 'ensure sweet Juliana's future'; but ought not Juliana to divine +it?--Juliana at least had hints sufficient. + +Cold Spring winds were now blowing. Juliana had resided no less than two +months with the Cogglesbys. She was entreated still to remain, and she +did. From Lady Jocelyn she heard not a word of remonstrance; but from +Miss Carrington and Mrs. Shorne she received admonishing letters. +Finally, Mr. Harry Jocelyn presented himself. In London, and without any +of that needful subsistence which a young gentleman feels the want of +in London more than elsewhere, Harry began to have thoughts of his +own, without any instigation from his aunts, about devoting himself to +business. So he sent his card up to his cousin, and was graciously met +in the drawing-room by the Countess, who ruffled him and smoothed +him, and would possibly have distracted his soul from business had +his circumstances been less straitened. Juliana was declared to be +too unwell to see him that day. He called a second time, and enjoyed a +similar greeting. His third visit procured him an audience alone with +Juliana, when, at once, despite the warnings of his aunts, the frank +fellow plunged, 'medias res'. Mrs. Bonner had left him totally dependent +on his parents and his chances. + +'A desperate state of things, isn't it, Juley? I think I shall go for a +soldier--common, you know.' + +Instead of shrieking out against such a debasement of his worth and +gentility, as was to be expected, Juliana said: + +'That's what Mr. Harrington thought of doing.' + +'He! If he'd had the pluck he would.' + +'His duty forbade it, and he did not.' + +'Duty! a confounded tailor! What fools we were to have him at Beckley!' + +'Has the Countess been unkind to you Harry?' + +'I haven't seen her to-day, and don't want to. It's my little dear old +Juley I came for.' + +'Dear Harry!' she thanked him with eyes and hands. 'Come often, won't +you?' + +'Why, ain't you coming back to us, Juley?' + +'Not yet. They are very kind to me here. How is Rose?' + +'Oh, quite jolly. She and Ferdinand are thick again. Balls every night. +She dances like the deuce. They want me to go; but I ain't the sort of +figure for those places, and besides, I shan't dance till I can lead you +out.' + +A spur of laughter at Harry's generous nod brought on Juliana's cough. +Harry watched her little body shaken and her reddened eyes. Some real +emotion--perhaps the fear which healthy young people experience at the +sight of deadly disease--made Harry touch her arm with the softness of a +child's touch. + +'Don't be alarmed, Harry,' she said. 'It's nothing--only Winter. I'm +determined to get well.' + +'That's right,' quoth he, recovering. 'I know you've got pluck, or you +wouldn't have stood that operation.' + +'Let me see: when was that?' she asked slyly. + +Harry coloured, for it related to a time when he had not behaved +prettily to her. + +'There, Juley, that 's all forgotten. I was a fool-a scoundrel, if you +like. I 'm sorry for it now.' + +'Do you want money, Harry?' + +'Oh, money!' + +'Have you repaid Mr. Harrington yet?' + +'There--no, I haven't. Bother it! that fellow's name's always on your +tongue. I'll tell you what, Juley--but it's no use. He's a low, vulgar +adventurer.' + +'Dear Harry,' said Juliana, softly; 'don't bring your aunts with you +when you come to see me.' + +'Well, then I'll tell you, Juley. It's enough that he's a beastly +tailor.' + +'Quite enough,' she responded; 'and he is neither a fool nor a +scoundrel.' + +Harry's memory for his own speech was not quick. When Juliana's calm +glance at him called it up, he jumped from his chair, crying: 'Upon my +honour, I'll tell you what, Juley! If I had money to pay him to-morrow, +I'd insult him on the spot.' + +Juliana meditated, and said: 'Then all your friends must wish you to +continue poor.' + +This girl had once been on her knees to him. She had looked up to him +with admiring love, and he had given her a crumb or so occasionally, +thinking her something of a fool, and more of a pest; but now he could +not say a word to her without being baffled in an elderly-sisterly tone +exasperating him so far that he positively wished to marry her, and +coming to the point, offered himself with downright sincerity, and +was rejected. Harry left in a passion. Juliana confided the secret to +Caroline, who suggested interested motives, which Juliana would not hear +of. + +'Ah,' said the Countess, when Caroline mentioned the case to her, 'of +course the poor thing cherishes her first offer. She would believe a +curate to be disinterested! But mind that Evan has due warning when she +is to meet him. Mind that he is dressed becomingly.' + +Caroline asked why. + +'Because, my dear, she is enamoured of his person. These little +unhealthy creatures are always attracted by the person. She thinks it to +be Evan's qualities. I know better: it is his person. Beckley Court may +be lost by a shabby coat!' + +The Countess had recovered from certain spiritual languors into which +she had fallen after her retreat. Ultimate victory hung still in the +balance. Oh! if Evan would only marry this little sufferer, who was so +sure to die within a year! or, if she lived (for marriage has often +been as a resurrection to some poor female invalids), there was Beckley +Court, a splendid basis for future achievements. Reflecting in this +fashion, the Countess pardoned her brother. Glowing hopes hung fresh +lamps in her charitable breast. She stepped across the threshold of +Tailordom, won Mr. Goren's heart by her condescension, and worked Evan +into a sorrowful mood concerning the invalid. Was not Juliana his only +active friend? In return, he said things which only required a little +colouring to be very acceptable to her. + +The game waxed exciting again. The enemy (the Jocelyn party) was alert, +but powerless. The three sisters were almost wrought to perform a +sacrifice far exceeding Evan's. They nearly decided to summon him to the +house: but the matter being broached at table one evening, Major Strike +objected to it so angrily that they abandoned it, with the satisfactory +conclusion that if they did wrong it was the Major's fault. + +Meantime Juliana had much on her conscience. She knew Evan to be +innocent, and she allowed Rose to think him guilty. Could she bring her +heart to join them? That was not in her power: but desiring to be lulled +by a compromise, she devoted herself to make his relatives receive him; +and on days of bitter winds she would drive out to meet him, answering +all expostulations with--'I should not go if he were here.' + +The game waxed hot. It became a question whether Evan should be admitted +to the house in spite of the Major. Juliana now made an extraordinary +move. Having the Count with her in the carriage one day, she stopped in +front of Mr. Goren's shop, and Evan had to come out. The Count returned +home extremely mystified. Once more the unhappy Countess was obliged to +draw bills on the fabulous; and as she had recommenced the system, which +was not without its fascinations to her, Juliana, who had touched +the spring, had the full benefit of it. The Countess had deceived her +before--what of that? She spoke things sweet to hear. Who could be false +that gave her heart food on which it lived? + +One night Juliana returned from her drive alarmingly ill. She was +watched through the night by Caroline and the Countess alternately. In +the morning the sisters met. + +'She has consented to let us send for a doctor,' said Caroline. + +'Her chief desire seems to be a lawyer,' said the Countess. + +'Yes, but the doctor must be sent for first.' + +'Yes, indeed! But it behoves us to previse that the doctor does not kill +her before the lawyer comes.' + +Caroline looked at Louisa, and said: 'Are you ignorant?' + +'No--what?' cried the Countess eagerly. + +'Evan has written to tell Lady Jocelyn the state of her health, and--' + +'And that naturally has aggravated her malady!' The Countess cramped her +long fingers. 'The child heard it from him yesterday! Oh, I could swear +at that brother!' + +She dropped into a chair and sat rigid and square-jawed, a sculpture of +unutterable rage. + +In the afternoon Lady Jocelyn arrived. The doctor was there--the lawyer +had gone. Without a word of protest Juliana accompanied her ladyship to +Beckley Court. Here was a blow! + +But Andrew was preparing one more mighty still. What if the Cogglesby +Brewery proved a basis most unsound? Where must they fall then? Alas! on +that point whence they sprang. If not to Perdition--Tailordom! + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. REVEALS AN ABOMINABLE PLOT OF THE BROTHERS COGGLESBY + +A lively April day, with strong gusts from the Southwest, and long +sweeping clouds, saluted the morning coach from London to Lymport. +Thither Tailordom triumphant was bearing its victim at a rattling pace, +to settle him, and seal him for ever out of the ranks of gentlemen: +Society, meantime, howling exclusion to him in the background: 'Out of +our halls, degraded youth: The smiles of turbaned matrons: the sighs +of delicate maids; genial wit, educated talk, refined scandal, vice +in harness, dinners sentineled by stately plush: these, the flavour +of life, are not for you, though you stole a taste of them, wretched +impostor! Pay for it with years of remorse!' + +The coach went rushing against the glorious high wind. It stirred his +blood, freshened his cheeks, gave a bright tone of zest to his eyes, as +he cast them on the young green country. Not banished from the breath of +heaven, or from self-respect, or from the appetite for the rewards that +are to follow duties done! Not banished from the help that is always +reached to us when we have fairly taken the right road: and that for him +is the road to Lymport. Let the kingdom of Gilt Gingerbread howl as it +will! We are no longer children, but men: men who have bitten hard +at experience, and know the value of a tooth: who have had our hearts +bruised, and cover them with armour: who live not to feed, but look to +food that we may live! What matters it that yonder high-spiced kingdom +should excommunicate such as we are? We have rubbed off the gilt, and +have assumed the command of our stomachs. We are men from this day! + +Now, you would have thought Evan's companions, right and left of him, +were the wretches under sentence, to judge from appearances. In contrast +with his look of insolent pleasure, Andrew, the moment an eye was on +him, exhibited the cleverest impersonation of the dumps ever seen: +while Mr. Raikes was from head to foot nothing better than a moan made +visible. Nevertheless, they both agreed to rally Evan, and bid him be of +good cheer. + +'Don't be down, Van; don't be down, my boy,' said Andrew, rubbing his +hands gloomily. + +'I? do I look it?' Evan answered, laughing. + +'Capital acting!' exclaimed Raikes. 'Try and keep it up.' + +'Well, I hope you're acting too,' said Evan. + +Raikes let his chest fall like a collapsing bellows. + +At the end of five minutes, he remarked: 'I've been sitting on it the +whole morning! There's violent inflammation, I'm persuaded. Another +hour, and I jump slap from the summit of the coach!' + +Evan turned to Andrew. + +'Do you think he'll be let off?' + +'Mr. Raikes? Can't say. You see, Van, it depends upon how Old Tom has +taken his bad luck. Ahem! Perhaps he'll be all the stricter; and as a +man of honour, Mr. Raikes, you see, can't very well--' + +'By Jove! I wish I wasn't a man of honour!' Raikes interposed, heavily. + +'You see, Van, Old Tom's circumstances'--Andrew ducked, to smother a +sort of laughter--'are now such that he'd be glad of the money to let +him off, no doubt; but Mr. Raikes has spent it, I can't lend it, and you +haven't got it, and there we all are. At the end of the year he's free, +and he--ha! ha! I'm not a bit the merrier for laughing, I can tell you.' + +Catching another glimpse of Evan's serious face, Andrew fell into louder +laughter; checking it with doleful solemnity. + +Up hill and down hill, and past little homesteads shining with yellow +crocuses; across wide brown heaths, whose outlines raised in Evan's mind +the night of his funeral walk, and tossed up old feelings dead as the +whirling dust. At last Raikes called out: + +'The towers of Fallow field; heigho!' + +And Andrew said: + +'Now then, Van: if Old Tom's anywhere, he's here. You get down at the +Dragon, and don't you talk to me, but let me go in. It'll be just the +hour he dines in the country. Isn't it a shame of him to make me face +every man of the creditors--eh?' + +Evan gave Andrew's hand an affectionate squeeze, at which Andrew had to +gulp down something--reciprocal emotion, doubtless. + +'Hark,' said Raikes, as the horn of the guard was heard. 'Once that +sound used to set me caracoling before an abject multitude. I did +wonders. All London looked on me! It had more effect on me than +champagne. Now I hear it--the whole charm has vanished! I can't see +a single old castle. Would you have thought it possible that a small +circular bit of tin on a man's person could produce such changes in +him?' + +'You are a donkey to wear it,' said Evan. + +'I pledged my word as a gentleman, and thought it small, for the money!' +said Raikes. 'This is the first coach I ever travelled on, without +making the old whip burst with laughing. I'm not myself. I'm haunted. +I'm somebody else.' + +The three passengers having descended, a controversy commenced between +Evan and Andrew as to which should pay. Evan had his money out; Andrew +dashed it behind him; Evan remonstrated. + +'Well, you mustn't pay for us two, Andrew. I would have let you do it +once, but--' + +'Stuff!' cried Andrew. 'I ain't paying--it 's the creditors of the +estate, my boy!' + +Evan looked so ingenuously surprised and hurt at his lack of principle, +that Andrew chucked a sixpence at a small boy, saying, + +'If you don't let me have my own way, Van, I 'll shy my purse after it. +What do you mean, sir, by treating me like a beggar?' + +'Our friend Harrington can't humour us,' quoth Raikes. 'For myself, I +candidly confess I prefer being paid for'; and he leaned contentedly +against one of the posts of the inn till the filthy dispute was arranged +to the satisfaction of the ignobler mind. There Andrew left them, and +went to Mrs. Sockley, who, recovered from her illness, smiled her usual +placid welcome to a guest. + +'You know me, ma'am?' + +'Oh, yes! The London Mr. Cogglesby!' + +'Now, ma'am, look here. I've come for my brother. Don't be alarmed. No +danger as yet. But, mind! if you attempt to conceal him from his lawful +brother, I'll summon here the myrmidons of the law.' + +Mrs. Sockley showed a serious face. + +'You know his habits, Mr. Cogglesby; and one doesn't go against any one +of his whimsies, or there's consequences: but the house is open to you, +sir. I don't wish to hide him.' + +Andrew accepted this intelligent evasion of Tom Cogglesby's orders as +sufficient, and immediately proceeded upstairs. A door shut on the first +landing. Andrew went to this door and knocked. No answer. He tried to +open it, but found that he had been forestalled. After threatening to +talk business through the key-hole, the door was unlocked, and Old Tom +appeared. + +'So! now you're dogging me into the country. Be off; make an +appointment. Saturday's my holiday. You know that.' + +Andrew pushed through the doorway, and, by way of an emphatic reply and +a silencing one, delivered a punch slap into Old Tom's belt. + +'Confound you, Nan!' said Old Tom, grimacing, but friendly, as if his +sympathies had been irresistibly assailed. + +'It 's done, Tom! I've done it. Won my bet, now,' Andrew exclaimed. 'The +women-poor creatures! What a state they're in. I pity 'em.' + +Old Tom pursed his lips, and eyed his brother incredulously, but with +curious eagerness. + +'Oh, Lord! what a face I've had to wear!' Andrew continued, and while he +sank into a chair and rubbed his handkerchief over his crisp hair, Old +Tom let loose a convinced and exulting, 'ha! ha!' + +'Yes, you may laugh. I've had all the bother,' said Andrew. + +'Serve ye right--marrying such cattle,' Old Tom snapped at him. + +'They believe we're bankrupt--owe fifty thousand clear, Tom!' + +'Ha! ha!' + +'Brewery stock and household furniture to be sold by general auction, +Friday week.' + +'Ha! ha!' + +'Not a place for any of us to poke our heads into. I talked about +"pitiless storms" to my poor Harry--no shelter to be had unless we go +down to Lymport, and stop with their brother in shop!' + +Old Tom did enjoy this. He took a great gulp of air for a tremendous +burst of laughter, and when this was expended and reflection came, his +features screwed, as if the acidest of flavours had ravished his palate. + +'Bravo, Nan! Didn't think you were man enough. Ha! ha! Nan--I say--eh? +how did ye get on behind the curtains?' + +The tale, to guess by Andrew's face, appeared to be too strongly infused +with pathos for revelation. + +'Will they go, Nan, eh? d' ye think they 'll go?' + +'Where else can they go, Tom? They must go there, or on the parish, you +know.' + +'They'll all troop down to the young tailor--eh?' + +'They can't sleep in the parks, Tom.' + +'No. They can't get into Buckingham Palace, neither--'cept as +housemaids. 'Gad, they're howling like cats, I'd swear--nuisance to the +neighbourhood--ha! ha!' + +Old Tom's cruel laughter made Andrew feel for the unhappy ladies. He +stuck his forehead, and leaned forward, saying: 'I don't know--'pon my +honour, I don't know--can't think we've--quite done right to punish 'em +so.' + +This acted like cold water on Old Tom's delight. He pitched it back +in the shape of a doubt of what Andrew had told him. Whereupon Andrew +defied him to face three miserable women on the verge of hysterics; and +Old Tom, beginning to chuckle again, rejoined that it would bring them +to their senses, and emancipate him. + +'You may laugh, Mr. Tom,' said Andrew; 'but if poor Harry should find me +out, deuce a bit more home for me.' + +Old Tom looked at him keenly, and rapped the table. 'Swear you did it, +Nan.' + +'You promise you'll keep the secret,' said Andrew. + +'Never make promises.' + +'Then there's a pretty life for me! I did it for that poor dear boy. You +were only up to one of your jokes--I see that. Confound you, Old Tom, +you've been making a fool of me.' + +The flattering charge was not rejected by Old Tom, who now had his +brother to laugh at as well. Andrew affected to be indignant and +desperate. + +'If you'd had a heart, Tom, you'd have saved the poor fellow without any +bother at all. What do you think? When I told him of our smash--ha! ha! +it isn't such a bad joke-well, I went to him, hanging my head, and he +offered to arrange our affairs--that is--' + +'Damned meddlesome young dog!' cried Old Tom, quite in a rage. + +'There--you're up in a twinkling,' said Andrew. 'Don't you see he +believed it, you stupid Old Tom? Lord! to hear him say how sorry he was, +and to see how glad he looked at the chance of serving us!' + +'Serving us!' Tom sneered. + +'Ha!' went Andrew. 'Yes. There. You're a deuced deal prouder than fifty +peers. You're an upside-down old despot!' + +No sharper retort rising to Old Tom's lips, he permitted his brother's +abuse of him to pass, declaring that bandying words was not his +business, he not being a Parliament man. + +'How about the Major, Nan? He coming down, too?' + +'Major!' cried Andrew. 'Lucky if he keeps his commission. Coming down? +No. He's off to the Continent.' + +'Find plenty of scamps there to keep him company,' added Tom. 'So he's +broke--eh? ha! ha!' + +'Tom,' said Andrew, seriously, 'I'll tell you all about it, if you 'll +swear not to split on me, because it would really upset poor Harry +so. She 'd think me such a beastly hypocrite, I couldn't face her +afterwards.' + +'Lose what pluck you have--eh?' Tom jerked out his hand, and bade his +brother continue. + +Compelled to trust in him without a promise, Andrew said: 'Well, then, +after we'd arranged it, I went back to Harry, and begged her to have +poor Van at the house told her what I hoped you'd do for him about +getting him into the Brewery. She's very kind, Tom, 'pon my honour she +is. She was willing, only--' + +'Only--eh?' + +'Well, she was so afraid it'd hurt her sisters to see him there.' + +Old Tom saw he was in for excellent fun, and wouldn't spoil it for the +world. + +'Yes, Nan?' + +'So I went to Caroline. She was easy enough; and she went to the +Countess.' + +'Well, and she--?' + +'She was willing, too, till Lady Jocelyn came and took Miss Bonner home +to Beckley, and because Evan had written to my lady to fetch her, the +Countess--she was angry. That was all. Because of that, you know. But +yet she agreed. But when Miss Bonner had gone, it turned out that the +Major was the obstacle. They were all willing enough to have Evan there, +but the Major refused. I didn't hear him. I wasn't going to ask him. I +mayn't be a match for three women, but man to man, eh, Tom? You'd back +me there? So Harry said the Major 'd make Caroline miserable, if his +wishes were disrespected. By George, I wish I'd know, then. Don't you +think it odd, Tom, now? There's a Duke of Belfield the fellow had hooked +into his Company; and--through Evan I heard--the Duke had his name +struck off. After that, the Major swore at the Duke once or twice, and +said Caroline wasn't to go out with him. Suddenly, he insists that she +shall go. Days the poor thing kept crying! One day, he makes her go. She +hasn't the spirit of my Harry or the Countess. By good luck, Van, +who was hunting ferns for some friends of his, met them on Sunday in +Richmond Park, and Van took her away from the Duke. But, Tom, think +of Van seeing a fellow watching her wherever she went, and hearing the +Duke's coachman tell that fellow he had orders to drive his master and +a lady hard on to the sea that night. I don't believe it--it wasn't +Caroline! But what do you think of our finding out that beast of a spy +to be in the Major's pay? We did. Van put a constable on his track; we +found him out, and he confessed it. A fact, Tom! That decided me. If +it was only to get rid of a brute, I determined I 'd do it, and I did. +Strike came to me to get my name for a bill that night. 'Gad, he looked +blanker than his bill when he heard of us two bankrupt. I showed him one +or two documents I'd got ready. Says he: "Never mind; it'll only be a +couple of hundred more in the schedule." Stop, Tom! he's got some of our +blood. I don't think he meant it. He is hard pushed. Well, I gave him a +twentier, and he was off the next night. You 'll soon see all about the +Company in the papers.' + +At the conclusion of Andrew's recital, Old Tom thrummed and looked on +the floor under a heavy frown. His mouth worked dubiously, and, from +moment to moment, he plucked at his waistcoat and pulled it down, +throwing back his head and glaring. + +'I 've knocked that fellow over once,' he said. 'Wish he hadn't got up +again.' + +Andrew nodded. + +'One good thing, Nan. He never boasted of our connection. Much obliged +to him.' + +'Yes,' said Andrew, who was gladly watching Old Tom's change of mood +with a quiescent aspect. + +'Um!--must keep it quiet from his poor old mother.' + +Andrew again affirmatived his senior's remarks. That his treatment of +Old Tom was sound, he presently had proof of. The latter stood up, and +after sniffing in an injured way for about a minute, launched out his +right leg, and vociferated that he would like to have it in his power to +kick all the villains out of the world: a modest demand Andrew at once +chimed in with; adding that, were such a faculty extended to him, +he would not object to lose the leg that could benefit mankind so +infinitely, and consented to its following them. Then, Old Tom, who was +of a practical turn, meditated, swung his foot, and gave one grim kick +at the imaginary bundle of villains, discharged them headlong straight +into space. Andrew, naturally imitative, and seeing that he had now +to kick them flying, attempted to excel Old Tom in the vigour of his +delivery. No wonder that the efforts of both were heating: they were +engaged in the task of ridding the globe of the larger half of its +inhabitants. Tom perceived Andrew's useless emulation, and with a sound +translated by 'yack,' sent his leg out a long way. Not to be outdone, +Andrew immediately, with a still louder 'yack,' committed himself to an +effort so violent that the alternative between his leg coming off, or +his being taken off his leg, was propounded by nature, and decided by +the laws of gravity in a trice. Joyful grunts were emitted by Old Tom +at the sight of Andrew prostrate, rubbing his pate. But Mrs. Sockley, +to whom the noise of Andrew's fall had suggested awful fears of a +fratricidal conflict upstairs, hurried forthwith to announce to them +that the sovereign remedy for human ills, the promoter of concord, +the healer of feuds, the central point of man's destiny in the +flesh--Dinner, was awaiting them. + +To the dinner they marched. + +Of this great festival be it simply told that the supply was copious +and of good quality--much too good and copious for a bankrupt host: that +Evan and Mr. John Raikes were formally introduced to Old Tom before the +repast commenced, and welcomed some three minutes after he had decided +the flavour of his first glass; that Mr. Raikes in due time preferred +his petition for release from a dreadful engagement, and furnished vast +amusement to the company under Old Tom's hand, until, by chance, he +quoted a scrap of Latin, at which the brothers Cogglesby, who would have +faced peers and princes without being disconcerted, or performing mental +genuflexions, shut their mouths and looked injured, unhappy, and in +the presence of a superior: Mr. Raikes not being the man to spare them. +Moreover, a surprise was afforded to Evan. Andrew stated to Old Tom that +the hospitality of Main Street, Lymport,--was open to him. Strange to +say, Old Tom accepted it on the spot, observing, 'You're master of the +house--can do what you like, if you 're man enough,' and adding that he +thanked him, and would come in a day or two. The case of Mr. Raikes was +still left uncertain, for as the bottle circulated, he exhibited such +a faculty for apt, but to the brothers, totally incomprehensible +quotation, that they fled from him without leaving him time to remember +what special calamity was on his mind, or whether this earth was +other than an abode conceived in great jollity for his life-long +entertainment. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. JULIANA + +The sick night-light burned steadily in Juliana's chamber. On a couch, +beside her bed, Caroline lay sleeping, tired with a long watch. Two +sentences had been passed on Juliana: one on her heart: one on her body: +'Thou art not loved'; and, 'Thou must die.' The frail passion of her +struggle against her destiny was over with her. Quiet as that quiet +which Nature was taking her to, her body reposed. Calm as the solitary +night-light before her open eyes, her spirit was wasting away. 'If I am +not loved, then let me die!' In such a sense she bowed to her fate. + +At an hour like this, watching the round of light on the ceiling, with +its narrowing inner rings, a sufferer from whom pain has fled looks +back to the shores she is leaving, and would be well with them who walk +there. It is false to imagine that schemers and workers in the dark +are destitute of the saving gift of conscience. They have it, and it is +perhaps made livelier in them than with easy people; and therefore, they +are imperatively spurred to hoodwink it. Hence, their self-delusion is +deep and endures. They march to their object, and gaining or losing it, +the voice that calls to them is the voice of a blind creature, whom any +answer, provided that the answer is ready, will silence. And at an +hour like this, when finally they snatch their minute of sight on the +threshold of black night, their souls may compare with yonder shining +circle on the ceiling, which, as the light below gasps for air, +contracts, and extends but to mingle with the darkness. They would be +nobler, better, boundlessly good to all;--to those who have injured them +to those whom they have injured. Alas! for any definite deed the limit +of their circle is immoveable, and they must act within it. The trick +they have played themselves imprisons them. Beyond it, they cease to be. + +Lying in this utter stillness, Juliana thought of Rose; of her beloved +by Evan. The fever that had left her blood, had left it stagnant, +and her thoughts were quite emotionless. She looked faintly on a far +picture. She saw Rose blooming with pleasures in Elburne House, sliding +as a boat borne by the river's tide to sea, away from her living joy. +The breast of Rose was lucid to her, and in that hour of insight she had +clear knowledge of her cousin's heart; how it scoffed at its base love, +and unwittingly betrayed the power on her still, by clinging to the +world and what it would give her to fill the void; how externally the +lake was untroubled, and a mirror to the passing day; and how within +there pressed a flood against an iron dam. Evan, too, she saw. The +Countess was right in her judgement of Juliana's love. Juliana looked +very little to his qualities. She loved him when she thought him guilty, +which made her conceive that her love was of a diviner cast than Rose +was capable of. Guilt did not spoil his beauty to her; his gentleness +and glowing manhood were unchanged; and when she knew him as he was, +the revelation of his high nature simply confirmed her impression of his +physical perfections. She had done him a wrong; at her death news would +come to him, and it might be that he would bless her name. Because she +sighed no longer for those dear lips and strong arms to close about her +tremulous frame, it seemed to her that she had quite surrendered him. +Generous to Evan, she would be just to Rose. Beneath her pillow she +found pencil and paper, and with difficulty, scarce seeing her letters +in the brown light, she began to trace lines of farewell to Rose. Her +conscience dictated to her thus, 'Tell Rose that she was too ready to +accept his guilt; and that in this as in all things, she acted with the +precipitation of her character. Tell her that you always trusted, and +that now you know him innocent. Give her the proofs you have. Show that +he did it to shield his intriguing sister. Tell her that you write this +only to make her just to him. End with a prayer that Rose may be happy.' + +Ere Juliana had finished one sentence, she resigned the pencil. Was it +not much, even at the gates of death, to be the instrument to send Rose +into his arms? The picture swayed before her, helping her weakness. +She found herself dreaming that he had kissed her once. Dorothy, she +remembered, had danced up to her one day, to relate what the maids of +the house said of the gentleman--(at whom, it is known, they look with +the licence of cats toward kings); and Dorothy's fresh careless mouth +had told how one observant maid, amorously minded, proclaimed of Evan, +to a companion of her sex, that, 'he was the only gentleman who gave you +an idea of how he would look when he was kissing you.' Juliana cherished +that vision likewise. Young ladies are not supposed to do so, if menial +maids are; but Juliana did cherish it, and it possessed her fancy. Bear +in your recollection that she was not a healthy person. Diseased little +heroines may be made attractive, and are now popular; but strip off the +cleverly woven robe which is fashioned to cover them, and you will find +them in certain matters bearing a resemblance to menial maids. + +While the thoughts of his kiss lasted, she could do nothing; but lay +with her two hands out on the bed, and her eyelids closed. Then waking, +she took the pencil again. It would not move: her bloodless fingers fell +from it. + +'If they do not meet, and he never marries, I may claim him in the next +world,' she mused. + +But conscience continued uneasy. She turned her wrist and trailed a +letter from beneath the pillow. It was from Mrs. Shorne. Juliana knew +the contents. She raised it unopened as high as her faltering hands +permitted, and read like one whose shut eyes read syllables of fire on +the darkness. + +'Rose has at last definitely engaged herself to Ferdinand, you will be +glad to hear, and we may now treat her as a woman.' + +Having absorbed these words, Juliana's hand found strength to write, +with little difficulty, what she had to say to Rose. She conceived it +to be neither sublime nor generous: not even good; merely her peculiar +duty. When it was done, she gave a long, low sigh of relief. + +Caroline whispered, 'Dearest child, are you awake?' + +'Yes,' she answered. + +'Sorrowful, dear?' + +'Very quiet.' + +Caroline reached her hand over to her, and felt the paper. 'What is +this?' + +'My good-bye to Rose. I want it folded now.' + +Caroline slipped from the couch to fulfil her wish. She enclosed the +pencilled scrap of paper, sealed it, and asked, 'Is that right?' + +'Now unlock my desk,' Juliana uttered, feebly. 'Put it beside a letter +addressed to a law-gentleman. Post both the morning I am gone.' + +Caroline promised to obey, and coming to Juliana to mark her looks, +observed a faint pleased smile dying away, and had her hand gently +squeezed. Juliana's conscience had preceded her contentedly to its last +sleep; and she, beneath that round of light on the ceiling, drew on her +counted breaths in peace till dawn. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. ROSE + +Have you seen a young audacious spirit smitten to the earth? It is +a singular study; and, in the case of young women, a trap for +inexperienced men. Rose, who had commanded and managed every one +surrounding her since infancy, how humble had she now become!--how much +more womanly in appearance, and more child-like at heart! She was as +wax in Lady Elburne's hands. A hint of that veiled episode, the Beckley +campaign, made Rose pliant, as if she had woven for herself a rod of +scorpions. The high ground she had taken; the perfect trust in one; the +scorn of any judgement, save her own; these had vanished from her. Rose, +the tameless heroine who had once put her mother's philosophy in action, +was the easiest filly that turbaned matron ever yet drove into the +straight road of the world. It even surprised Lady Jocelyn to see how +wonderfully she had been broken in by her grandmother. Her ladyship +wrote to Drummond to tell him of it, and Drummond congratulated her, +saying, however: 'Changes of this sort don't come of conviction. Wait +till you see her at home. I think they have been sticking pins into the +sore part.' + +Drummond knew Rose well. In reality there was no change in her. She was +only a suppliant to be spared from ridicule: spared from the application +of the scourge she had woven for herself. + +And, ah! to one who deigned to think warmly still of such a disgraced +silly creature, with what gratitude she turned! He might well suppose +love alone could pour that profusion of jewels at his feet. + +Ferdinand, now Lord Laxley, understood the merits of his finger-nails +better than the nature of young women; but he is not to be blamed for +presuming that Rose had learnt to adore him. Else why did she like his +company so much? He was not mistaken in thinking she looked up to him. +She seemed to beg to be taken into his noble serenity. In truth she +sighed to feel as he did, above everybody!--she that had fallen so +low! Above everybody!--born above them, and therefore superior by grace +divine! To this Rose Jocelyn had come--she envied the mind of Ferdinand. + +He, you may be sure, was quite prepared to accept her homage. Rose he +had always known to be just the girl for him; spirited, fresh, and +with fine teeth; and once tied to you safe to be staunch. They walked +together, rode together, danced together. Her soft humility touched +him to eloquence. Say she was a little hypocrite, if you like, when the +blood came to her cheeks under his eyes. Say she was a heartless minx +for allowing it to be bruited that she and Ferdinand were betrothed. I +can but tell you that her blushes were blushes of gratitude to one who +could devote his time to such a disgraced silly creature, and that +she, in her abject state, felt a secret pleasure in the protection +Ferdinand's name appeared to extend over her, and was hardly willing to +lose it. + +So far Lady Elburne's tact and discipline had been highly successful. +One morning, in May, Ferdinand, strolling with Rose down the garden made +a positive appeal to her common sense and friendly feeling; by which she +understood that he wanted her consent to his marriage with her. + +Rose answered: + +'Who would have me?' + +Ferdinand spoke pretty well, and ultimately got possession of her hand. +She let him keep it, thinking him noble for forgetting that another had +pressed it before him. + +Some minutes later the letters were delivered. One of them contained +Juliana's dark-winged missive. + +'Poor, poor Juley!' said Rose, dropping her head, after reading all that +was on the crumpled leaf with an inflexible face. And then, talking on, +long low sighs lifted her bosom at intervals. She gazed from time +to time with a wistful conciliatory air on Ferdinand. Rushing to her +chamber, the first cry her soul framed was: + +'He did not kiss me!' + +The young have a superstitious sense of something incontestably true in +the final protestations of the dead. Evan guiltless! she could not quite +take the meaning this revelation involved. That which had been dead +was beginning to move within her; but blindly: and now it stirred and +troubled; now sank. Guiltless all she had thought him! Oh! she knew she +could not have been deceived. But why, why had he hidden his sacrifice +from her? + +'It is better for us both, of course,' said Rose, speaking the world's +wisdom, parrot-like, and bursting into tears the next minute. Guiltless, +and gloriously guiltless! but nothing--nothing to her! + +She tried to blame him. It would not do. She tried to think of that +grovelling loathsome position painted to her by Lady Elburne's graphic +hand. Evan dispersed the gloomy shades like sunshine. Then in a sort of +terror she rejoiced to think she was partially engaged to Ferdinand, and +found herself crying again with exultation, that he had not kissed her: +for a kiss on her mouth was to Rose a pledge and a bond. + +The struggle searched her through: bared her weakness, probed her +strength; and she, seeing herself, suffered grievously in her self-love. +Am I such a coward, inconstant, cold? she asked. Confirmatory answers +coming, flung her back under the shield of Ferdinand if for a moment her +soul stood up armed and defiant, it was Evan's hand she took. + +To whom do I belong? was another terrible question. In her ideas, if +Evan was not chargeable with that baseness which had sundered them he +might claim her yet, if he would. If he did, what then? Must she go to +him? + +Impossible: she was in chains. Besides, what a din of laughter there +would be to see her led away by him. Twisting her joined hands: weeping +for her cousin, as she thought, Rose passed hours of torment over +Juliana's legacy to her. + +'Why did I doubt him?' she cried, jealous that any soul should have +known and trusted him better. Jealous and I am afraid that the kindling +of that one feature of love relighted the fire of her passion thus +fervidly. To be outstripped in generosity was hateful to her. Rose, +naturally, could not reflect that a young creature like herself, +fighting against the world, as we call it, has all her faculties at the +utmost stretch, and is often betrayed by failing nature when the will is +still valiant. + +And here she sat-in chains! 'Yes! I am fit only to be the wife of +an idle brainless man, with money and a title,' she said, in extreme +self-contempt. She caught a glimpse of her whole life in the horrid +tomb of his embrace, and questions whether she could yield her hand to +him--whether it was right in the eyes of heaven, rushed impetuously +to console her, and defied anything in the shape of satisfactory +affirmations. Nevertheless, the end of the struggle was, that she felt +that she was bound to Ferdinand. + +'But this I will do,' said Rose, standing with heat-bright eyes and +deep-coloured cheeks before the glass. 'I will clear his character at +Beckley. I will help him. I will be his friend. I will wipe out the +injustice I did him.' And this bride-elect of a lord absolutely added +that she was unworthy to be the wife of a tailor! + +'He! how unequalled he is! There is nothing he fears except shame. Oh! +how sad it will be for him to find no woman in his class to understand +him and be his helpmate!' + +Over, this sad subject, of which we must presume her to be accurately +cognizant, Rose brooded heavily. By mid-day she gave her Grandmother +notice that she was going home to Juliana's funeral. + +'Well, Rose, if you think it necessary to join the ceremony,' said Lady +Elburne. 'Beckley is bad quarters for you, as you have learnt. There was +never much love between you cousins.' + +'No, and I don't pretend to it,' Rose answered. 'I am sorry poor Juley's +gone.' + +'She's better gone for many reasons--she appears to have been a little +venomous toad,' said Lady Elburne; and Rose, thinking of a snakelike +death-bite working through her blood, rejoined: 'Yes, she isn't to be +pitied she 's better off than most people.' + +So it was arranged that Rose should go. Ferdinand and her aunt, Mrs. +Shorne, accompanied her. Mrs. Shorne gave them their opportunities, +albeit they were all stowed together in a carriage, and Ferdinand seemed +willing to profit by them; but Rose's hand was dead, and she sat by +her future lord forming the vow on her lips that they should never be +touched by him. + +Arrived at Beckley, she, to her great delight, found Caroline there, +waiting for the funeral. In a few minutes she got her alone, and after +kisses, looked penetratingly into her lovely eyes, shook her head, and +said: 'Why were you false to me?' + +'False?' echoed Caroline. + +'You knew him. You knew why he did that. Why did you not save me?' + +Caroline fell upon her neck, asking pardon. She spared her the recital +of facts further than the broad avowal. Evan's present condition she +plainly stated: and Rose, when the bitter pangs had ceased, made oath to +her soul she would rescue him from it. + +In addition to the task of clearing Evan's character, and rescuing him, +Rose now conceived that her engagement to Ferdinand must stand ice-bound +till Evan had given her back her troth. How could she obtain it from +him? How could she take anything from one so noble and so poor! Happily +there was no hurry; though before any bond was ratified, she decided +conscientiously that it must be done. + +You see that like a lithe snake she turns on herself, and must be +tracked in and out. Not being a girl to solve the problem with tears, or +outright perfidy, she had to ease her heart to the great shock little by +little--sincere as far as she knew: as far as one who loves may be. The +day of the funeral came and went. The Jocelyns were of their mother's +opinion: that for many reasons Juliana was better out of the way. Mrs. +Bonner's bequest had been a severe blow to Sir Franks. However, all was +now well. The estate naturally lapsed to Lady Jocelyn. No one in the +house dreamed of a will, signed with Juliana's name, attested, under +due legal forms, being in existence. None of the members of the family +imagined that at Beckley Court they were then residing on somebody +else's ground. + +Want of hospitable sentiments was not the cause that led to an +intimation from Sir Franks to his wife, that Mrs. Strike must not be +pressed to remain, and that Rose must not be permitted to have her +own way in this. Knowing very well that Mrs. Shorne spoke through +her husband's mouth, Lady Jocelyn still acquiesced, and Rose, who had +pressed Caroline publicly to stay, had to be silent when the latter +renewed her faint objections; so Caroline said she would leave on the +morrow morning. + +Juliana, with her fretfulness, her hand bounties, her petty egoisms, and +sudden far-leaping generosities, and all the contradictory impulses of +her malady, had now departed utterly. The joys of a landed proprietor +mounted into the head of Sir Franks. He was up early the next morning, +and he and Harry walked over a good bit of the ground before breakfast. +Sir Franks meditated making it entail, and favoured Harry with a lecture +on the duty of his shaping the course of his conduct at once after the +model of the landed gentry generally. + +'And you may think yourself lucky to come into that catalogue--the son +of a younger son!' said Sir Franks, tapping Mr. Harry's shoulder. Harry +also began to enjoy the look and smell of land. At the breakfast, which, +though early, was well attended, Harry spoke of the adviseability of +felling timber here, planting there, and so forth, after the model +his father held up. Sir Franks nodded approval of his interest in the +estate, but reserved his opinion on matters of detail. + +'All I beg of you is,' said Lady Jocelyn, 'that you won't let us have +turnips within the circuit of a mile'; which was obligingly promised. + +The morning letters were delivered and opened with the customary +calmness. + +'Letter from old George,' Harry sings out, and buzzes over a few lines. +'Halloa!--Hum!' He was going to make a communication, but catching sight +of Caroline, tossed the letter over to Ferdinand, who read it and tossed +it back with the comment of a careless face. + +'Read it, Rosey?' says Harry, smiling bluntly. + +Rather to his surprise, Rose took the letter. Study her eyes if you +wish to gauge the potency of one strong dose of ridicule on an ingenuous +young heart. She read that Mr. George Uplift had met 'our friend Mr. +Snip' riding, by moonlight, on the road to Beckley. That great orbed +night of their deep tender love flashed luminously through her frame, +storming at the base epithet by which her lover was mentioned, flooding +grandly over the ignominies cast on him by the world. She met the world, +as it were, in a death-grapple; she matched the living heroic youth +she felt him to be, with that dead wooden image of him which it thrust +before her. Her heart stood up singing like a craven who sees the tide +of victory setting toward him. But this passed beneath her eyelids. When +her eyes were lifted, Ferdinand could have discovered nothing in them +to complain of, had his suspicions been light to raise: nor could Mrs. +Shorne perceive that there was the opening for a shrewd bodkin-thrust. +Rose had got a mask at last: her colour, voice, expression, were +perfectly at command. She knew it to be a cowardice to wear any mask: +but she had been burnt, horribly burnt: how much so you may guess +from the supple dissimulation of such a bold clear-visaged girl. She +conquered the sneers of the world in her soul: but her sensitive skin +was yet alive to the pangs of the scorching it had been subjected to +when weak, helpless, and betrayed by Evan, she stood with no philosophic +parent to cry fair play for her, among the skilful torturers of Elburne +House. + +Sir Franks had risen and walked to the window. + +'News?' said Lady Jocelyn, wheeling round in her chair. + +The one eyebrow up of the easy-going baronet signified trouble of mind. +He finished his third perusal of a letter that appeared to be written +in a remarkably plain legal hand, and looking as men do when their +intelligences are just equal to the comprehension or expression of an +oath, handed the letter to his wife, and observed that he should be +found in the library. Nevertheless he waited first to mark its effect +on Lady Jocelyn. At one part of the document her forehead wrinkled +slightly. + +'Doesn't sound like a joke!' he said. + +She answered: + +'No.' + +Sir Franks, apparently quite satisfied by her ready response, turned on +his heel and left the room quickly. + +An hour afterward it was rumoured and confirmed that Juliana Bonner had +willed all the worldly property she held in her own right, comprising +Beckley Court, to Mr. Evan Harrington, of Lymport, tailor. An abstract +of the will was forwarded. The lawyer went on to say, that he had +conformed to the desire of the testatrix in communicating the existence +of the aforesaid will six days subsequent to her death, being the day +after her funeral. + +There had been railing and jeering at the Countess de Saldar, the clever +outwitted exposed adventuress, at Elburne House and Beckley Court. What +did the crowing cleverer aristocrats think of her now? + +On Rose the blow fell bitterly. Was Evan also a foul schemer? Was he of +a piece with his intriguing sister? His close kinship with the Countess +had led her to think baseness possible to him when it was confessed by +his own mouth once. She heard black names cast at him and the whole of +the great Mel's brood, and incapable of quite disbelieving them merited, +unable to challenge and rebut them, she dropped into her recent state of +self-contempt: into her lately-instilled doubt whether it really was in +Nature's power, unaided by family-portraits, coats-of-arms, ball-room +practice, and at least one small phial of Essence of Society, to make a +Gentleman. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. CONTAINS A WARNING TO ALL CONSPIRATORS + +This, if you have done me the favour to read it aright, has been a +chronicle of desperate heroism on the part of almost all the principal +personages represented. But not the Countess de Saldar, scaling the +embattled fortress of Society; nor Rose, tossing its keys to her lover +from the shining turret-tops; nor Evan, keeping bright the lamp of +self-respect in his bosom against South wind and East; none excel friend +Andrew Cogglesby, who, having fallen into Old Tom's plot to humiliate +his wife and her sisters, simply for Evan's sake, and without any +distinct notion of the terror, confusion, and universal upset he was +bringing on his home, could yet, after a scared contemplation of the +scene when he returned from his expedition to Fallow field, continue to +wear his rueful mask; and persevere in treacherously outraging his lofty +wife. + +He did it to vindicate the ties of blood against accidents of position. +Was he justified? I am sufficiently wise to ask my own sex alone. + +On the other side, be it said (since in our modern days every hero must +have his weak heel), that now he had gone this distance it was difficult +to recede. It would be no laughing matter to tell his solemn Harriet +that he had been playing her a little practical joke. His temptations to +give it up were incessant and most agitating; but if to advance seemed +terrific, there was, in stopping short, an awfulness so overwhelming +that Andrew abandoned himself to the current, his real dismay adding to +his acting powers. + +The worst was, that the joke was no longer his: it was Old Tom's. He +discovered that he was in Old Tom's hands completely. Andrew had thought +that he would just frighten the women a bit, get them down to Lymport +for a week or so, and then announce that matters were not so bad with +the Brewery as he had feared; concluding the farce with a few domestic +fireworks. Conceive his dismay when he entered the house, to find there +a man in possession. + +Andrew flew into such a rage that he committed an assault on the man. So +ungovernable was his passion, that for some minutes Harriet's measured +voice summoned him from over the banisters above, quite in vain. The +miserable Englishman refused to be taught that his house had ceased +to be his castle. It was something beyond a joke, this! The intruder, +perfectly docile, seeing that by accurate calculation every shake he got +involved a bottle of wine for him, and ultimate compensation probably +to the amount of a couple of sovereigns, allowed himself to be lugged up +stairs, in default of summary ejection on the point of Andrew's toe into +the street. There he was faced to the lady of the house, who apologized +to him, and requested her husband to state what had made him guilty of +this indecent behaviour. The man showed his papers. They were quite in +order. 'At the suit of Messrs. Grist.' + +'My own lawyers!' cried Andrew, smacking his forehead; and Old Tom's +devilry flashed on him at once. He sank into a chair. + +'Why did you bring this person up here?' said Harriet, like a speaking +statue. + +'My dear!' Andrew answered, and spread out his hand, and waggled his +head; 'My--please!--I--I don't know. We all want exercise.' + +The man laughed, which was kindly of him, but offensive to Mrs. +Cogglesby, who gave Andrew a glance which was full payment for his +imbecile pleasantry, and promised more. + +With a hospitable inquiry as to the condition of his appetite, and a +request that he would be pleased to satisfy it to the full, the man was +dismissed: whereat, as one delivered of noxious presences, the Countess +rustled into sight. Not noticing Andrew, she lisped to Harriet: +'Misfortunes are sometimes no curses! I bless the catarrh that has +confined Silva to his chamber, and saved him from a bestial exhibition.' + +The two ladies then swept from the room, and left Andrew to perspire at +leisure. + +Fresh tribulations awaited him when he sat down to dinner. Andrew liked +his dinner to be comfortable, good, and in plenty. This may not seem +strange. The fact is stated that I may win for him the warm sympathies +of the body of his countrymen. He was greeted by a piece of cold boiled +neck of mutton and a solitary dish of steaming potatoes. The blank +expanse of table-cloth returned his desolate stare. + +'Why, what's the meaning of this?' Andrew brutally exclaimed, as he +thumped the table. + +The Countess gave a start, and rolled a look as of piteous supplication +to spare a lady's nerves, addressed to a ferocious brigand. Harriet +answered: 'It means that I will have no butcher's bills.' + +'Butcher's bills! butcher's bills!' echoed Andrew; 'why, you must have +butcher's bills; why, confound! why, you'll have a bill for this, won't +you, Harry? eh? of course!' + +'There will be no more bills dating from yesterday,' said his wife. + +'What! this is paid for, then?' + +'Yes, Mr. Cogglesby; and so will all household expenses be, while my +pocket-money lasts.' + +Resting his eyes full on Harriet a minute, Andrew dropped them on the +savourless white-rimmed chop, which looked as lonely in his plate as its +parent dish on the table. The poor dear creature's pocket-money had paid +for it! The thought, mingling with a rush of emotion, made his ideas +spin. His imagination surged deliriously. He fancied himself at the +Zoological Gardens, exchanging pathetic glances with a melancholy +marmoset. Wonderfully like one the chop looked! There was no use in his +trying to eat it. He seemed to be fixing his teeth in solid tears. +He choked. Twice he took up knife and fork, put them down again, and +plucking forth his handkerchief, blew a tremendous trumpet, that sent +the Countess's eyes rolling to the ceiling, as if heaven were her sole +refuge from such vulgarity. + +'Damn that Old Tom!' he shouted at last, and pitched back in his chair. + +'Mr. Cogglesby!' and 'In the presence of ladies!' were the admonishing +interjections of the sisters, at whom the little man frowned in turns. + +'Do you wish us to quit the room, sir?' inquired his wife. + +'God bless your soul, you little darling!' he apostrophized that stately +person. 'Here, come along with me, Harry. A wife's a wife, I say--hang +it! Just outside the room--just a second! or up in a corner will do.' + +Mrs. Cogglesby was amazed to see him jump up and run round to her. She +was prepared to defend her neck from his caress, and refused to go: but +the words, 'Something particular to tell you,' awakened her curiosity, +which urged her to compliance. She rose and went with him to the door. + +'Well, sir; what is it?' + +No doubt he was acting under a momentary weakness he was about to betray +the plot and take his chance of forgiveness; but her towering port, her +commanding aspect, restored his courage. (There may be a contrary view +of the case.) He enclosed her briskly in a connubial hug, and remarked +with mad ecstasy: 'What a duck you are, Harry! What a likeness between +you and your mother.' + +Mrs. Cogglesby disengaged herself imperiously. Had he called her aside +for this gratuitous insult? Contrite, he saw his dreadful error. + +'Harry! I declare!' was all he was allowed to say. Mrs. Cogglesby +marched back to her chair, and recommenced the repast in majestic +silence. + +Andrew sighed; he attempted to do the same. He stuck his fork in the +blanched whiskerage of his marmoset, and exclaimed: 'I can't!' + +He was unnoticed. + +'You do not object to plain diet?' said Harriet to Louisa. + +'Oh, no, in verity!' murmured the Countess. 'However plain it be! +Absence of appetite, dearest. You are aware I partook of luncheon at +mid-day with the Honourable and Reverend Mr. Duffian. You must not look +condemnation at your Louy for that. Luncheon is not conversion!' + +Harriet observed that this might be true; but still, to her mind, it was +a mistake to be too intimate with dangerous people. 'And besides,' +she added, 'Mr. Duffian is no longer "the Reverend." We deprive all +renegades of their spiritual titles. His worldly ones let him keep.' + +Her superb disdain nettled the Countess. + +'Dear Harriet!' she said, with less languor, 'You are utterly and +totally and entirely mistaken. I tell you so positively. Renegade! The +application of such a word to such a man! Oh! and it is false, Harriet +quite! Renegade means one who has gone over to the Turks, my dear. I am +almost certain I saw it in Johnson's Dictionary, or an improvement upon +Johnson, by a more learned author. But there is the fact, if Harriet can +only bring her--shall I say stiff-necked prejudices to envisage it?' + +Harriet granted her sister permission to apply the phrases she stood +in need of, without impeaching her intimacy with the most learned among +lexicographers. + +'And is there no such thing as being too severe?' the Countess resumed. +'What our enemies call unchristian!' + +'Mr. Duffian has no cause to complain of us,' said Harriet. + +'Nor does he do so, dearest. Calumny may assail him; you may utterly +denude him--' + +'Adam!' interposed Andrew, distractedly listening. He did not disturb +the Countess's flow. + +'You may vilify and victimize Mr. Duffian, and strip him of the honours +of his birth, but, like the Martyrs, he will still continue the perfect +nobleman. Stoned, I assure you that Mr. Duffian would preserve his +breeding. In character he is exquisite; a polish to defy misfortune.' + +'I suppose his table is good?' said Harriet, almost ruffled by the +Countess's lecture. + +'Plate,' was remarked in the cold tone of supreme indifference. + +'Hem! good wines?' Andrew asked, waking up a little and not wishing to +be excluded altogether. + +'All is of the very best,' the Countess pursued her eulogy, not looking +at him. + +'Don't you think you could--eh, Harry?--manage a pint for me, my dear?' +Andrew humbly petitioned. 'This cold water--ha! ha! my stomach don't +like cold bathing.' + +His wretched joke rebounded from the impenetrable armour of the ladies. + +'The wine-cellar is locked,' said his wife. 'I have sealed up the key +till an inventory can be taken by some agent of the creditors.' + +'What creditors?' roared Andrew. + +'You can have some of the servants' beer,' Mrs. Cogglesby appended. + +Andrew studied her face to see whether she really was not hoisting him +with his own petard. Perceiving that she was sincerely acting according +to her sense of principle, he fumed, and departed to his privacy, unable +to stand it any longer. + +Then like a kite the Countess pounced upon his character. Would the +Honourable and Reverend Mr. Duflian decline to participate in the +sparest provender? Would he be guilty of the discourtesy of leaving +table without a bow or an apology, even if reduced to extremest poverty? +No, indeed! which showed that, under all circumstances, a gentleman was +a gentleman. And, oh! how she pitied her poor Harriet--eternally tied to +a most vulgar little man, without the gilding of wealth. + +'And a fool in his business to boot, dear!' + +'These comparisons do no good,' said Harriet. 'Andrew at least is not +a renegade, and never shall be while I live. I will do my duty by him, +however poor we are. And now, Louisa, putting my husband out of the +question, what are your intentions? I don't understand bankruptcy, but +I imagine they can do nothing to wife and children. My little ones must +have a roof over their heads; and, besides, there is little Maxwell. You +decline to go down to Lymport, of course.' + +'Decline!' cried the Countess, melodiously; 'and do not you?' + +'As far as I am concerned--yes. But I am not to think of myself.' + +The Countess meditated, and said: 'Dear Mr. Duflian has offered me his +hospitality. Renegades are not absolutely inhuman. They may be +generous. I have no moral doubt that Mr. Duflian would, upon my +representation--dare I venture?' + +'Sleep in his house! break bread with him!' exclaimed Harriet. 'What do +you think I am made of? I would perish--go to the workhouse, rather!' + +'I see you trooping there,' said the Countess, intent on the vision. + +'And have you accepted his invitation for yourself, Louisa?' + +The Countess was never to be daunted by threatening aspects. She gave +her affirmative with calmness and a deliberate smile. + +'You are going to live with him?' + +'Live with him! What expressions! My husband accompanies me.' + +Harriet drew up. + +'I know nothing, Louisa, that could give me more pain.' + +The Countess patted Harriet's knee. 'It succeeds to bankruptcy, +assuredly. But would you have me drag Silva to the--the shop, Harriet, +love? Alternatives!' + +Mrs. Andrew got up and rang the bell to have the remains of their dinner +removed. When this was done, she said, + +'Louisa, I don't know whether I am justified: you told me to-day I might +keep my jewels, trinkets, and lace, and such like. To me, I know they +do not belong now: but I will dispose of them to procure you an asylum +somewhere--they will fetch, I should think, L400,--to prevent your going +to Mr. Duffian.' + +No exhibition of great-mindedness which the Countess could perceive, +ever found her below it. + +'Never, love, never!' she said. + +'Then, will you go to Evan?' + +'Evan? I hate him!' The olive-hued visage was dark. It brightened as she +added, 'At least as much as my religious sentiments permit me to. A +boy who has thwarted me at every turn!--disgraced us! Indeed, I find it +difficult to pardon you the supposition of such a possibility as your +own consent to look on him ever again, Harriet.' + +'You have no children,' said Mrs. Andrew. + +The Countess mournfully admitted it. + +'There lies your danger with Mr. Duffian, Louisa!' + +'What! do you doubt my virtue?' asked the Countess. + +'Pish! I fear something different. You understand me. Mr. Duflian's +moral reputation is none of the best, perhaps.' + +'That was before he renegaded,' said the Countess. + +Harriet bluntly rejoined: 'You will leave that house a Roman Catholic.' + +'Now you have spoken,' said the Countess, pluming. 'Now let me explain +myself. My dear, I have fought worldly battles too long and too +earnestly. I am rightly punished. I do but quote Herbert Duffian's own +words: he is no flatterer though you say he has such soft fingers. I am +now engaged in a spiritual contest. He is very wealthy! I have resolved +to rescue back to our Church what can benefit the flock of which we form +a portion, so exceedingly!' + +At this revelation of the Countess's spiritual contest, Mrs. Andrew +shook a worldly head. + +'You have no chance with men there, Louisa.' + +'My Harriet complains of female weakness!' + +'Yes. We are strong in our own element, Louisa. Don't be tempted out of +it.' + +Sublime, the Countess rose: + +'Element! am I to be confined to one? What but spiritual solaces could +assist me to live, after the degradations I have had heaped on me? I +renounce the world. I turn my sight to realms where caste is unknown. I +feel no shame there of being a tailor's daughter. You see, I can bring +my tongue to name the thing in its actuality. Once, that member would +have blistered. Confess to me that, in spite of your children, you are +tempted to howl at the idea of Lymport--' + +The Countess paused, and like a lady about to fire off a gun, appeared +to tighten her nerves, crying out rapidly: + +'Shop! Shears! Geese! Cabbage! Snip! Nine to a man!' + +Even as the silence after explosions of cannon, that which reigned in +the room was deep and dreadful. + +'See,' the Countess continued, 'you are horrified you shudder. I name +all our titles, and if I wish to be red in my cheeks, I must rouge. It +is, in verity, as if my senseless clay were pelted, as we heard of Evan +at his first Lymport boys' school. You remember when he told us the +story? He lisped a trifle then. "I'm the thon of a thnip." Oh! it was +hell-fire to us, then; but now, what do I feel? Why, I avowed it to +Herbert Duffian openly, and he said, that the misfortune of dear Papa's +birth did not the less enable him to proclaim himself in conduct a +nobleman's offspring--' + +'Which he never was.' Harriet broke the rhapsody in a monotonous low +tone: the Countess was not compelled to hear: + +'--and that a large outfitter--one of the very largest, was in reality +a merchant, whose daughters have often wedded nobles of the land, and +become ancestresses! Now, Harriet, do you see what a truly religious +mind can do for us in the way of comfort? Oh! I bow in gratitude to +Herbert Duffian. I will not rest till I have led him back to our fold, +recovered from his error. He was our own preacher and pastor. He quitted +us from conviction. He shall return to us from conviction.' + +The Countess quoted texts, which I respect, and will not repeat. She +descanted further on spiritualism, and on the balm that it was to +tailors and their offspring; to all outcasts from Society. + +Overpowered by her, Harriet thus summed up her opinions: 'You were +always self-willed, Louisa.' + +'Say, full of sacrifice, if you would be just,' added the Countess; 'and +the victim of basest ingratitude.' + +'Well, you are in a dangerous path, Louisa.' + +Harriet had the last word, which usually the Countess was not disposed +to accord; but now she knew herself strengthened to do so, and was +content to smile pityingly on her sister. + +Full upon them in this frame of mind, arrived Caroline's great news from +Beckley. + +It was then that the Countess's conduct proved a memorable refutation +of cynical philosophy: she rejoiced in the good fortune of him who had +offended her! Though he was not crushed and annihilated (as he deserved +to be) by the wrong he had done, the great-hearted woman pardoned him! + +Her first remark was: 'Let him thank me for it or not, I will lose no +moment in hastening to load him with my congratulations.' + +Pleasantly she joked Andrew, and defended him from Harriet now. + +'So we are not all bankrupts, you see, dear brother-in-law.' + +Andrew had become so demoralized by his own plot, that in every turn of +events he scented a similar piece of human ingenuity. Harriet was angry +with his disbelief, or say, the grudging credit he gave to the glorious +news. Notwithstanding her calmness, the thoughts of Lymport had sickened +her soul, and it was only for the sake of her children, and from a sense +of the dishonesty of spending a farthing of the money belonging, as she +conceived, to the creditors, that she had consented to go. + +'I see your motive, Mr. Cogglesby,' she observed. 'Your measures are +disconcerted. I will remain here till my brother gives me shelter.' + +'Oh, that'll do, my love; that's all I want,' said Andrew, sincerely. + +'Both of you, fools!' the Countess interjected. 'Know you Evan so +little? He will receive us anywhere: his arms are open to his kindred: +but to his heart the road is through humiliation, and it is to his heart +we seek admittance.' + +'What do you mean?' Harriet inquired. + +'Just this,' the Countess answered in bold English and her eyes were +lively, her figure elastic: 'We must all of us go down to the old shop +and shake his hand there--every man Jack of us!--I'm only quoting the +sailors, Harriet--and that's the way to win him.' + +She snapped her fingers, laughing. Harriet stared at her, and so did +Andrew, though for a different reason. She seemed to be transformed. +Seeing him inclined to gape, she ran up to him, caught up his chin +between her ten fingers, and kissed him on both cheeks, saying: + +'You needn't come, if you're too proud, you know, little man!' + +And to Harriet's look of disgust, the cause for which she divined with +her native rapidity, she said: 'What does it matter? They will talk, but +they can't look down on us now. Why, this is my doing!' + +She came tripping to her tall sister, to ask plaintively 'Mayn't I be +glad?' and bobbed a curtsey. + +Harriet desired Andrew to leave them. Flushed and indignant she then +faced the Countess. + +'So unnecessary!' she began. 'What can excuse your indiscretion, +Louisa?' + +The Countess smiled to hear her talking to her younger sister once more. +She shrugged. + +'Oh, if you will keep up the fiction, do. Andrew knows--he isn't an +idiot--and to him we can make light of it now. What does anybody's birth +matter, who's well off!' + +It was impossible for Harriet to take that view. The shop, if not the +thing, might still have been concealed from her husband, she thought. + +'It mattered to me when I was well off,' she said, sternly. + +'Yes; and to me when I was; but we've had a fall and a lesson since +that, my dear. Half the aristocracy of England spring from shops!--Shall +I measure you?' + +Harriet never felt such a desire to inflict a slap upon mortal cheek. +She marched away from her in a tiff. On the other hand, Andrew was +half fascinated by the Countess's sudden re-assumption of girlhood, and +returned--silly fellow! to have another look at her. She had ceased, on +reflection, to be altogether so vivacious: her stronger second nature +had somewhat resumed its empire: still she was fresh, and could at times +be roguishly affectionate and she patted him, and petted him, and made +much of him; slightly railed at him for his uxoriousness and domestic +subjection, and proffered him her fingers to try the taste of. The truth +must be told: Mr. Duflian not being handy, she in her renewed earthly +happiness wanted to see her charms in a woman's natural mirror: namely, +the face of man: if of man on his knees, all the better and though a +little man is not much of a man, and a sister's husband is, or should +be, hardly one at all, still some sort of a reflector he must be. Two +or three jests adapted to Andrew's palate achieved his momentary +captivation. + +He said: 'Gad, I never kissed you in my life, Louy.' + +And she, with a flavour of delicate Irish brogue, 'Why don't ye catch +opportunity by the tail, then?' + +Perfect innocence, I assure you, on both sides. + +But mark how stupidity betrays. Andrew failed to understand her, and act +on the hint immediately. Had he done so, the affair would have been over +without a witness. As it happened, delay permitted Harriet to assist at +the ceremony. + +'It wasn't your mouth, Louy,' said Andrew. + +'Oh, my mouth!--that I keep for, my chosen,' was answered. + +'Gad, you make a fellow almost wish--' Andrew's fingers worked over his +poll, and then the spectre of righteous wrath flashed on him--naughty +little man that he was! He knew himself naughty, for it was the only +time since his marriage that he had ever been sorry to see his wife. +This is a comedy, and I must not preach lessons of life here: but I +am obliged to remark that the husband must be proof, the sister-in-law +perfect, where arrangements exist that keep them under one roof. She +may be so like his wife! Or, from the knowledge she has of his +circumstances, she may talk to him almost as his wife. He may forget +that she is not his wife! And then again, the small beginnings, which +are in reality the mighty barriers, are so easily slid over. But what +is the use of telling this to a pure generation? My constant error is in +supposing that I write for the wicked people who begat us. + +Note, however, the difference between the woman and the man! Shame +confessed Andrew's naughtiness; he sniggered pitiably: whereas the +Countess jumped up, and pointing at him, asked her sister what she +thought of that. Her next sentence, coolly delivered, related to some +millinery matter. If this was not innocence, what is? + +Nevertheless, I must here state that the scene related, innocent as it +was, and, as one would naturally imagine, of puny consequence, if any, +did no less a thing than, subsequently, to precipitate the Protestant +Countess de Saldar into the bosom of the Roman Catholic Church. A little +bit of play! + +It seems barely just. But if, as I have heard, a lady has trod on a +pebble and broken her nose, tremendous results like these warn us to be +careful how we walk. As for play, it was never intended that we should +play with flesh and blood. + +And, oh, be charitable, matrons of Britain! See here, Andrew Cogglesby, +who loved his wife as his very soul, and who almost disliked her sister; +in ten minutes the latter had set his head spinning! The whole of the +day he went about the house meditating frantically on the possibility of +his Harriet demanding a divorce. + +She was not the sort of woman to do that. But one thing she resolved to +do; and it was, to go to Lymport with Louisa, and having once got her +out of her dwelling-place, never to allow her to enter it, wherever it +might be, in the light of a resident again. Whether anything but +the menace of a participation in her conjugal possessions could have +despatched her to that hateful place, I doubt. She went: she would not +let Andrew be out of her sight. Growing haughtier toward him at every +step, she advanced to the strange old shop. EVAN HARRINGTON over the +door! There the Countess, having meantime returned to her state of +womanhood, shared her shudders. They entered, and passed in to Mrs. Mel, +leaving their footman, apparently, in the rear. Evan was not visible. A +man in the shop, with a yard measure negligently adorning his shoulders, +said that Mr. Harrington was in the habit of quitting the shop at five. + +'Deuced good habit, too,' said Andrew. + +'Why, sir,' observed another, stepping forward, 'as you truly say--yes. +But--ah! Mr. Andrew Cogglesby? Pleasure of meeting you once in Fallow +field! Remember Mr. Perkins?--the lawyer, not the maltster. Will you do +me the favour to step out with me?' + +Andrew followed him into the street. + +'Are you aware of our young friend's good fortune?' said Lawyer +Perkins. 'Yes. Ah! Well!--Would you believe that any sane person in +his condition, now--nonsense apart--could bring his mind wilfully to +continue a beggar? No. Um! Well; Mr. Cogglesby, I may tell you that I +hold here in my hands a document by which Mr. Evan Harrington transfers +the whole of the property bequeathed to him to Lady Jocelyn, and that +I have his orders to execute it instantly, and deliver it over to her +ladyship, after the will is settled, probate, and so forth: I presume +there will be an arrangement about his father's debts. Now what do you +think of that?' + +'Think, sir,--think!' cried Andrew, cocking his head at him like an +indignant bird, 'I think he's a damned young idiot to do so, and you're +a confounded old rascal to help him.' + +Leaving Mr. Perkins to digest his judgement, which he had solicited, +Andrew bounced back into the shop. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. IN WHICH THE SHOP BECOMES THE CENTRE OF ATTRACTION + +Under the first lustre of a May-night, Evan was galloping over the +moon-shadowed downs toward Beckley. At the ridge commanding the woods, +the park, and the stream, his horse stopped, as if from habit, snorted, +and puffed its sides, while he gazed steadily across the long lighted +vale. Soon he began to wind down the glaring chalk-track, and reached +grass levels. Here he broke into a round pace, till, gaining the first +straggling cottages of the village, he knocked the head of his whip +against the garden-gate of one, and a man came out, who saluted him, and +held the reins. + +'Animal does work, sir,' said the man. + +Evan gave directions for it to be looked to, and went on to the doorway, +where he was met by a young woman. She uttered a respectful greeting, +and begged him to enter. + +The door closed, he flung himself into a chair, and said: + +'Well, Susan, how is the child?' + +'Oh! he's always well, Mr. Harrington; he don't know the tricks o' +trouble yet.' + +'Will Polly be here soon?' + +'At a quarter after nine, she said, sir.' + +Evan bade her sit down. After examining her features quietly, he said: + +'I 'm glad to see you here, Susan. You don't regret that you followed my +advice?' + +'No, sir; now it's over, I don't. Mother's kind enough, and father +doesn't mention anything. She's a-bed with bile--father's out.' + +'But what? There's something on your mind.' + +'I shall cry, if I begin, Mr. Harrington.' + +'See how far you can get without.' + +'Oh! Sir, then,' said Susan, on a sharp rise of her bosom, 'it ain't my +fault. I wouldn't cause trouble to Mr. Harry, or any friend of yours; +but, sir, father have got hold of his letters to me, and he says, there +'s a promise in 'em--least, one of 'em; and it's as good as law, he +says--he heard it in a public-house; and he's gone over to Fall'field +to a law-gentleman there.' Susan was compelled to give way to some sobs. +'It ain't for me--father does it, sir,' she pleaded. 'I tried to stop +him, knowing how it'd vex you, Mr. Harrington; but he's heady about +points, though a quiet man ordinary; and he says he don't expect--and I +know now no gentleman 'd marry such as me--I ain't such a stupid gaper +at words as I used to be; but father says it's for the child's sake, and +he does it to have him provided for. Please, don't ye be angry with me, +sir.' + +Susan's half-controlled spasms here got the better of her. + +While Evan was awaiting the return of her calmer senses, the latch was +lifted, and Polly appeared. + +'At it again!' was her sneering comment, after a short survey of her +apron-screened sister; and then she bobbed to Evan. + +'It's whimper, whimper, and squeak, squeak, half their lives with some +girls. After that they go wondering they can't see to thread a needle! +The neighbours, I suppose. I should like to lift the top off some o' +their houses. I hope I haven't kept you, sir.' + +'No, Polly,' said Evan; 'but you must be charitable, or I shall think +you want a lesson yourself. Mr. Raikes tells me you want to see me. What +is it? You seem to be correspondents.' + +Polly replied: 'Oh, no, Mr. Harrington: only accidental ones--when +something particular's to be said. And he dances-like on the paper, so +that you can't help laughing. Isn't he a very eccentric gentleman, sir?' + +'Very,' said Evan. 'I 've no time to lose, Polly.' + +'Here, you must go,' the latter called to her sister. 'Now pack at once, +Sue. Do rout out, and do leave off thinking you've got a candle at your +eyes, for Goodness' sake!' + +Susan was too well accustomed to Polly's usage to complain. She murmured +a gentle 'Good night, sir,' and retired. Whereupon Polly exclaimed: +'Bless her poor dear soft heart! It 's us hard ones that get on best +in the world. I'm treated better than her, Mr. Harrington, and I know I +ain't worth half of her. It goes nigh to make one religious, only to see +how exactly like Scripture is the way Beckley treats her, whose only sin +is her being so soft as to believe in a man! Oh, dear! Mr. Harrington! I +wish I had good news for you.' + +In spite of all his self-control, Evan breathed quickly and looked +eagerly. + +'Speak it out, Polly.' + +'Oh, dear! I must, I suppose,' Polly answered. 'Mr. Laxley's become a +lord now, Mr. Harrington.' + +Evan tasted in his soul the sweets of contrast. 'Well?' + +'And my Miss Rose--she--' + +'What?' + +Moved by the keen hunger of his eyes, Polly hesitated. Her face betrayed +a sudden change of mind. + +'Wants to see you, sir,' she said, resolutely. + +'To see me?' + +Evan stood up, so pale that Polly was frightened. + +'Where is she? Where can I meet her?' + +'Please don't take it so, Mr. Harrington.' + +Evan commanded her to tell him what her mistress had said. + +Now up to this point Polly had spoken truth. She was positive her +mistress did want to see him. Polly, also, with a maiden's tender guile, +desired to bring them together for once, though it were for the last +time, and for no good on earth. She had been about to confide to him +her young mistress's position toward Lord Laxley, when his sharp +interrogation stopped her. Shrinking from absolute invention, she +remarked that of course she could not exactly remember Miss Rose's +words; which seemed indeed too much to expect of her. + +'She will see me to-night?' said Evan. + +'I don't know about to-night,' Polly replied. + +'Go to her instantly. Tell her I am ready. I will be at the West +park-gates. This is why you wrote, Polly? Why did you lose time? Don't +delay, my good girl! Come!' + +Evan had opened the door. He would not allow Polly an instant for +expostulation; but drew her out, saying, 'You will attend to the gates +yourself. Or come and tell me the day, if she appoints another.' + +Polly made a final effort to escape from the pit she was being pushed +into. + +'Mr. Harrington! it wasn't to tell you this I wrote. + +Miss Rose is engaged, sir.' + +'I understand,' said Evan, hoarsely, scarcely feeling it, as is the case +with men who are shot through the heart. + +Ten minutes later he was on horseback by the Fallow field gates, with +the tidings shrieking through his frame. The night was still, and +stiller in the pauses of the nightingales. He sat there, neither +thinking of them nor reproached in his manhood for the tears that rolled +down his cheeks. Presently his horse's ears pricked, and the animal gave +a low neigh. Evan's eyes fixed harder on the length of gravel leading +to the house. There was no sign, no figure. Out from the smooth grass of +the lane a couple of horsemen issued, and came straight to the gates. He +heard nothing till one spoke. It was a familiar voice. + +'By Jove, Ferdy, here is the fellow, and we've been all the way to +Lymport!' + +Evan started from his trance. + +'It 's you, Harrington?' + +'Yes, Harry.' + +'Sir!' exclaimed that youth, evidently flushed with wine, 'what the +devil do you mean by addressing me by my Christian name?' + +Laxley pushed his horse's head in front of Harry. In a manner apparently +somewhat improved by his new dignity, he said: 'We have ridden to +Lymport to speak to you, sir. Favour me by moving a little ahead of the +lodge.' + +Evan bowed, and moved beside him a short way down the lane, Harry +following. + +'The purport of my visit, sir,' Laxley began, 'was to make known to you +that Miss Jocelyn has done me the honour to accept me as her husband. I +learn from her that during the term of your residence in the house, you +contrived to extract from her a promise to which she attaches certain +scruples. She pleases to consider herself bound to you till you release +her. My object is to demand that you will do so immediately.' + +There was no reply. + +'Should you refuse to make this reparation for the harm you have done to +her and her family,' Laxley pursued, 'I must let you know that there are +means of compelling you to it, and that those means will be employed.' + +Harry, fuming at these postured sentences, burst out: + +'What do you talk to the fellow in that way for? A fellow who makes a +fool of my cousin, and then wants to get us to buy off my sister! +What's he spying after here? The place is ours till we troop. I tell +you there's only one way of dealing with him, and if you don't do it, I +will.' + +Laxley pulled his reins with a jerk that brought him to the rear. + +'Miss Jocelyn has commissioned you to make this demand on me in her +name?' said Evan. + +'I make it in my own right,' returned--Laxley. 'I demand a prompt +reply.' + +'My lord, you shall have it. Miss Jocelyn is not bound to me by any +engagement. Should she entertain scruples which I may have it in my +power to obliterate, I shall not hesitate to do so--but only to her. +What has passed between us I hold sacred.' + +'Hark at that!' shouted Harry. 'The damned tradesman means money! You +ass, Ferdinand! What did we go to Lymport for? Not to bandy words. Here! +I've got my own quarrel with you, Harrington. You've been setting that +girl's father on me. Can you deny that?' + +It was enough for Harry that Evan did not deny it. The calm disdain +which he read on Evan's face acted on his fury, and digging his heels +into his horse's flanks he rushed full at him and dealt him a sharp +flick with his whip. Evan's beast reared. + +'Accept my conditions, sir, or afford me satisfaction,' cried Laxley. + +'You do me great honour, my lord; but I have told you I cannot,' said +Evan, curbing his horse. + +At that moment Rose came among them. Evan raised his hat, as did Laxley. +Harry, a little behind the others, performed a laborious mock salute, +and then ordered her back to the house. A quick altercation ensued; +the end being that Harry managed to give his sister the context of the +previous conversation. + +'Now go back, Rose,' said Laxley. 'I have particular business with Mr. +Harrington.' + +'I came to see him,' said Rose, in a clear voice. + +Laxley reddened angrily. + +'Then tell him at once you want to be rid of him,' her brother called to +her. + +Rose looked at Evan. Could he not see that she had no word in her soul +for him of that kind? Yes: but love is not always to be touched to +tenderness even at the sight of love. + +'Rose,' he said, 'I hear from Lord Laxley, that you fancy yourself not +at liberty; and that you require me to disengage you.' + +He paused. Did he expect her to say there that she wished nothing of the +sort? Her stedfast eyes spoke as much: but misery is wanton, and will +pull all down to it. Even Harry was checked by his tone, and Laxley sat +silent. The fact that something more than a tailor was speaking seemed +to impress them. + +'Since I have to say it, Rose, I hold you in no way bound to me. The +presumption is forced upon me. May you have all the happiness I pray God +to give you. + +Gentlemen, good night!' + +He bowed and was gone. How keenly she could have retorted on that +false prayer for her happiness! Her limbs were nerveless, her tongue +speechless. He had thrown her off--there was no barrier now between +herself and Ferdinand. Why did Ferdinand speak to her with that air of +gentle authority, bidding her return to the house? She was incapable of +seeing, what the young lord acutely felt, that he had stooped very +much in helping to bring about such a scene. She had no idea of having +trifled with him and her own heart, when she talked feebly of her +bondage to another, as one who would be warmer to him were she free. +Swiftly she compared the two that loved her, and shivered as if she had +been tossed to the embrace of a block of ice. + +'You are cold, Rose,' said Laxley, bending to lay his hand on her +shoulder. + +'Pray, never touch me,' she answered, and walked on hastily to the +house. + +Entering it, she remembered that Evan had dwelt there. A sense of +desolation came over her. She turned to Ferdinand remorsefully, saying: +'Dear Ferdinand!' and allowed herself to be touched and taken close to +him. When she reached her bed-room, she had time to reflect that he had +kissed her on the lips, and then she fell down and shed such tears as +had never been drawn from her before. + +Next day she rose with an undivided mind. Belonging henceforth to +Ferdinand, it was necessary that she should invest him immediately with +transcendent qualities. The absence of character in him rendered this +easy. What she had done for Evan, she did for him. But now, as if the +Fates had been lying in watch to entrap her and chain her, that +they might have her at their mercy, her dreams of Evan's high +nature--hitherto dreams only--were to be realized. With the purposeless +waywardness of her sex, Pony Wheedle, while dressing her young mistress, +and though quite aware that the parting had been spoken, must needs +relate her sister's story and Evan's share in it. Rose praised him like +one forever aloof from him. Nay, she could secretly congratulate herself +on not being deceived. Upon that came a letter from Caroline: + +'Do not misjudge my brother. He knew Juliana's love for him and rejected +it. You will soon have proofs of his disinterestedness. Then do not +forget that he works to support us all. I write this with no hope save +to make you just to him. That is the utmost he will ever anticipate.' + +It gave no beating of the heart to Rose to hear good of Evan now: but +an increased serenity of confidence in the accuracy of her judgement of +persons. + +The arrival of Lawyer Perkins supplied the key to Caroline's +communication. No one was less astonished than Rose at the news that +Evan renounced the estate. She smiled at Harry's contrite stupefaction, +and her father's incapacity of belief in conduct so singular, caused her +to lift her head and look down on her parent. + +'Shows he knows nothing of the world, poor young fellow!' said Sir +Franks. + +'Nothing more clearly,' observed Lady Jocelyn. 'I presume I shall cease +to be blamed for having had him here?' + +'Upon my honour, he must have the soul of a gentleman!' said the +baronet. 'There's nothing he can expect in return, you know!' + +'One would think, Papa, you had always been dealing with tradesmen!' +remarked Rose, to whom her father now accorded the treatment due to a +sensible girl. + +Laxley was present at the family consultation. What was his opinion? +Rose manifested a slight anxiety to hear it. + +'What those sort of fellows do never surprises me,' he said, with a +semi-yawn. + +Rose felt fire on her cheeks. + +'It's only what the young man is bound to do,' said Mrs. Shorne. + +'His duty, aunt? I hope we may all do it!' Rose interjected. + +'Championing him again?' + +Rose quietly turned her face, too sure of her cold appreciation of him +to retort. But yesterday night a word from him might have made her his; +and here she sat advocating the nobility of his nature with the zeal of +a barrister in full swing of practice. Remember, however, that a kiss +separates them: and how many millions of leagues that counts for in +love, in a pure girl's thought, I leave you to guess. + +Now, in what way was Evan to be thanked? how was he to be treated? Sir +Franks proposed to go down to him in person, accompanied by Harry. Lady +Jocelyn acquiesced. But Rose said to her mother: + +'Will not you wound his sensitiveness by going to him there?' + +'Possibly,' said her ladyship. 'Shall we write and ask him to come to +us?' + +'No, Mama. Could we ask him to make a journey to receive our thanks?' + +'Not till we have solid ones to offer, perhaps.' + +'He will not let us help him, Mama, unless we have all given him our +hands.' + +'Probably not. There's always a fund of nonsense in those who are +capable of great things, I observe. It shall be a family expedition, if +you like.' + +'What!' exclaimed Mrs. Shorne. 'Do you mean that you intend to allow +Rose to make one of the party? Franks! is that your idea?' + +Sir Franks looked at his wife. + +'What harm?' Lady Jocelyn asked; for Rose's absence of conscious guile +in appealing to her reason had subjugated that great faculty. + +'Simply a sense of propriety, Emily,' said Mrs. Shorne, with a glance at +Ferdinand. + +'You have no objection, I suppose!' Lady Jocelyn addressed him. + +'Ferdinand will join us,' said Rose. + +'Thank you, Rose, I'd rather not,' he replied. 'I thought we had done +with the fellow for good last night.' + +'Last night?' quoth Lady Jocelyn. + +No one spoke. The interrogation was renewed. Was it Rose's swift +instinct which directed her the shortest way to gain her point? or that +she was glad to announce that her degrading engagement was at an end? +She said: + +'Ferdinand and Mr. Harrington came to an understanding last night, in my +presence.' + +That, strange as it struck on their ears, appeared to be quite +sufficient to all, albeit the necessity for it was not so very clear. +The carriage was ordered forthwith; Lady Jocelyn went to dress; Rose +drew Ferdinand away into the garden. Then, with all her powers, she +entreated him to join her. + +'Thank you, Rose,' he said; 'I have no taste for the genus.' + +'For my sake, I beg it, Ferdinand.' + +'It's really too much to ask of me, Rose.' + +'If you care for me, you will.' + +''Pon my honour, quite impossible!' + +'You refuse, Ferdinand?' + +'My London tailor 'd find me out, and never forgive me.' + +This pleasantry stopped her soft looks. Why she wished him to be with +her, she could not have said. For a thousand reasons: which implies no +distinct one something prophetically pressing in her blood. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. A LOVERS' PARTING + +Now, to suppose oneself the fashioner of such a chain of events as +this which brought the whole of the Harrington family in tender unity +together once more, would have elated an ordinary mind. But to the +Countess de Saldar, it was simply an occasion for reflecting that she +had misunderstood--and could most sincerely forgive--Providence. She +admitted to herself that it was not entirely her work; for she never +would have had their place of meeting to be the Shop. Seeing, however, +that her end was gained, she was entitled to the credit of it, and could +pardon the means adopted. Her brother lord of Beckley Court, and all +of them assembled in the old 193, Main Street, Lymport! What matter for +proud humility! Providence had answered her numerous petitions, but in +its own way. Stipulating that she must swallow this pill, Providence +consented to serve her. She swallowed it with her wonted courage. In +half an hour subsequent to her arrival at Lymport, she laid siege to +the heart of Old Tom Cogglesby, whom she found installed in the +parlour, comfortably sipping at a tumbler of rum-and-water. Old Tom was +astonished to meet such an agreeable unpretentious woman, who talked of +tailors and lords with equal ease, appeared to comprehend a man's habits +instinctively, and could amuse him while she ministered to them. + +'Can you cook, ma'am?' asked Old Tom. + +'All but that,' said the Countess, with a smile of sweet meaning. + +'Ha! then you won't suit me as well as your mother.' + +'Take care you do not excite my emulation,' she returned, graciously, +albeit disgusted at his tone. + +To Harriet, Old Tom had merely nodded. There he sat, in the arm-chair, +sucking the liquor, with the glimpse of a sour chuckle on his cheeks. +Now and then, during the evening, he rubbed his hands sharply, but spoke +little. The unbending Harriet did not conceal her disdain of him. When +he ventured to allude to the bankruptcy, she cut him short. + +'Pray, excuse me--I am unacquainted with affairs of business--I cannot +even understand my husband.' + +'Lord bless my soul!' Old Tom exclaimed, rolling his eyes. + +Caroline had informed her sisters up-stairs that their mother was +ignorant of Evan's change of fortune, and that Evan desired her to +continue so for the present. Caroline appeared to be pained by the +subject, and was glad when Louisa sounded his mysterious behaviour by +saying: + +'Evan has a native love of concealment--he must be humoured.' + +At the supper, Mr. Raikes made his bow. He was modest and reserved. +It was known that this young gentleman acted as shopman there. With a +tenderness for his position worthy of all respect, the Countess spared +his feelings by totally ignoring his presence; whereat he, unaccustomed +to such great-minded treatment, retired to bed, a hater of his kind. +Harriet and Caroline went next. The Countess said she would wait up +for Evan, but hearing that his hours of return were about the chimes +of matins, she cried exultingly: 'Darling Papa all over!' and departed +likewise. Mrs. Mel, when she had mixed Old Tom's third glass, wished the +brothers good night, and they were left to exchange what sentiments +they thought proper for the occasion. The Countess had certainly, +disappointed Old Tom's farce, in a measure; and he expressed himself +puzzled by her. 'You ain't the only one,' said his brother. Andrew, with +some effort, held his tongue concerning the news of Evan--his fortune +and his folly, till he could talk to the youth in person. + +All took their seats at the early breakfast next morning. + +'Has Evan not come--home yet?' was the Countess's first question. + +Mrs. Mel replied, 'No.' + +'Do you know where he has gone, dear Mama?' + +'He chooses his own way.' + +'And you fear that it leads somewhere?' added the Countess. + +'I fear that it leads to knocking up the horse he rides.' + +'The horse, Mama! He is out on a horse all night! But don't you see, +dear old pet! his morals, at least, are safe on horseback.' + +'The horse has to be paid for, Louisa,' said her mother, sternly; and +then, for she had a lesson to read to the guests of her son, 'Ready +money doesn't come by joking. What will the creditors think? If he +intends to be honest in earnest, he must give up four-feet mouths.' + +'Fourteen-feet, ma'am, you mean,' said Old Tom, counting the heads at +table. + +'Bravo, Mama!' cried the Countess, and as she was sitting near her +mother, she must show how prettily she kissed, by pouting out her +playful lips to her parent. 'Do be economical always! And mind! for +the sake of the wretched animals, I will intercede for you to be his +inspector of stables.' + +This, with a glance of intelligence at her sisters. + +'Well, Mr. Raikes,' said Andrew, 'you keep good hours, at all +events--eh?' + +'Up with the lark,' said Old Tom. 'Ha! 'fraid he won't be so early when +he gets rid of his present habits--eh?' + +'Nec dierum numerum, ut nos, sed noctium computant,' said Mr. Raikes, +and both the brothers sniffed like dogs that have put their noses to a +hot coal, and the Countess, who was less insensible to the aristocracy +of the dead languages than are women generally, gave him the recognition +that is occasionally afforded the family tutor. + +About the hour of ten Evan arrived. He was subjected to the hottest +embrace he had ever yet received from his sister Louisa. + +'Darling!' she called him before them all. 'Oh! how I suffer for this +ignominy I see you compelled for a moment to endure. But it is but for a +moment. They must vacate; and you will soon be out of this horrid hole.' + +'Where he just said he was glad to give us a welcome,' muttered Old Tom. + +Evan heard him, and laughed. The Countess laughed too. + +'No, we will not be impatient. We are poor insignificant people!' she +said; and turning to her mother, added: 'And yet I doubt not you think +the smallest of our landed gentry equal to great continental seigneurs. +I do not say the contrary.' + +'You will fill Evan's head with nonsense till you make him knock up a +horse a week, and never go to his natural bed,' said Mrs. Mel, angrily. +'Look at him! Is a face like that fit for business?' + +'Certainly, certainly not!' said the Countess. + +'Well, Mother, the horse is dismissed,--you won't have to complain any +more,' said Evan, touching her hand. 'Another history commences from +to-day.' + +The Countess watched him admiringly. Such powers of acting she could not +have ascribed to him. + +'Another history, indeed!' she said. 'By the way, Van, love! was it +out of Glamorganshire--were we Tudors, according to Papa? or only Powys +chieftains? It's of no moment, but it helps one in conversation.' + +'Not half so much as good ale, though!' was Old Tom's comment. + +The Countess did not perceive its fitness, till Evan burst into a laugh, +and then she said: + +'Oh! we shall never be ashamed of the Brewery. Do not fear that, Mr. +Cogglesby.' + +Old Tom saw his farce reviving, and encouraged the Countess to patronize +him. She did so to an extent that called on her Mrs. Mel's reprobation, +which was so cutting and pertinent, that Harriet was compelled to defend +her sister, remarking that perhaps her mother would soon learn that +Louisa was justified in not permitting herself and family to be classed +too low. At this Andrew, coming from a private interview with Evan, +threw up his hands and eyes as one who foretold astonishment but +counselled humility. What with the effort of those who knew a little +to imply a great deal; of those who knew all to betray nothing; and of +those who were kept in ignorance to strain a fact out of the conflicting +innuendos the general mystification waxed apace, and was at its height, +when a name struck on Evan's ear that went through his blood like a +touch of the torpedo. + +He had been called into the parlour to assist at a consultation over the +Brewery affairs. Raikes opened the door, and announced, 'Sir Franks and +Lady Jocelyn.' + +Them he could meet, though it was hard for his pride to pardon their +visit to him there. But when his eyes discerned Rose behind them, the +passions of his lower nature stood up armed. What could she have come +for but to humiliate, or play with him? + +A very few words enabled the Countess to guess the cause for this visit. +Of course, it was to beg time! But they thanked Evan. For something +generous, no doubt. + +Sir Franks took him aside, and returning remarked to his wife that she +perhaps would have greater influence with him. All this while Rose sat +talking to Mrs. Andrew Cogglesby, Mrs. Strike, and Evan's mother. She +saw by his face the offence she had committed, and acted on by one +of her impulses, said: 'Mama, I think if I were to speak to Mr. +Harrington--' + +Ere her mother could make light of the suggestion, Old Tom had jumped +up, and bowed out his arm. + +'Allow me to conduct ye to the drawing room, upstairs, young lady. He'll +follow, safe enough!' + +Rose had not stipulated for that. Nevertheless, seeing no cloud on her +mother's face, or her father's, she gave Old Tom her hand, and awaited a +movement from Evan. It was too late to object to it on either side. +Old Tom had caught the tide at the right instant. Much as if a grim old +genie had planted them together, the lovers found themselves alone. + +'Evan, you forgive me?' she began, looking up at him timidly. + +'With all my heart, Rose,' he answered, with great cheerfulness. + +'No. I know your heart better. Oh, Evan! you must be sure that we +respect you too much to wound you. We came to thank you for your +generosity. Do you refuse to accept anything from us? How can we take +this that you thrust on us, unless in some way--' + +'Say no more,' he interposed. 'You see me here. You know me as I am, +now.' + +'Yes, yes!' the tears stood in her eyes. 'Why did I come, you would ask? +That is what you cannot forgive! I see now how useless it was. Evan! why +did you betray me?' + +'Betray you, Rose?' + +'You said that you loved me once.' + +She was weeping, and all his spirit melted, and his love cried out: 'I +said "till death," and till death it will be, Rose.' + +'Then why, why did you betray me, Evan? I know it all. But if you +blackened yourself to me, was it not because you loved something better +than me? And now you think me false! Which of us two has been false? It +'s silly to talk of these things now too late! But be just. I wish that +we may be friends. Can we, unless you bend a little?' + +The tears streamed down her cheeks, and in her lovely humility he saw +the baseness of that pride of his which had hitherto held him up. + +'Now that you are in this house where I was born and am to live, can you +regret what has come between us, Rose?' + +Her lips quivered in pain. + +'Can I do anything else but regret it all my life, Evan?' + +How was it possible for him to keep his strength? + +'Rose!' he spoke with a passion that made her shrink, 'are you bound to +this man?' and to the drooping of her eyes, 'No. Impossible, for you do +not love him. Break it. Break the engagement you cannot fulfil. Break it +and belong to me. It sounds ill for me to say that in such a place. +But Rose, I will leave it. I will accept any assistance that your +father--that any man will give me. Beloved--noble girl! I see my +falseness to you, though I little thought it at the time--fool that I +was! Be my help, my guide-as the soul of my body! Be mine!' + +'Oh, Evan!' she clasped her hands in terror at the change in him, +that was hurrying her she knew not whither, and trembling, held them +supplicatingly. + +'Yes, Rose: you have taught me what love can be. You cannot marry that +man.' + +'But, my honour, Evan! No. I do not love him; for I can love but one. He +has my pledge. Can I break it?' + +The stress on the question choked him, just as his heart sprang to her. + +'Can you face the world with me, Rose?' + +'Oh, Evan! is there an escape for me? Think Decide!--No--no! there is +not. My mother, I know, looks on it so. Why did she trust me to be with +you here, but that she thinks me engaged to him, and has such faith +in me? Oh, help me!--be my guide. Think whether you would trust me +hereafter! I should despise myself.' + +Not if you marry him!' said Evan, bitterly. And then thinking as men +will think when they look on the figure of a fair girl marching serenely +to a sacrifice, the horrors of which they insist that she ought to know: +half-hating her for her calmness--adoring her for her innocence: he +said: 'It rests with you, Rose. The world will approve you, and if your +conscience does, why--farewell, and may heaven be your help.' + +She murmured, 'Farewell.' + +Did she expect more to be said by him? What did she want or hope for +now? And yet a light of hunger grew in her eyes, brighter and brighter, +as it were on a wave of yearning. + +'Take my hand once,' she faltered. + +Her hand and her whole shape he took, and she with closed eyes let him +strain her to his breast. + +Their swoon was broken by the opening of the door, where Old Tom +Cogglesby and Lady Jocelyn appeared. + +'Gad! he seems to have got his recompense--eh, my lady?' cried Old Tom. +However satisfactorily they might have explained the case, it certainly +did seem so. + +Lady Jocelyn looked not absolutely displeased. Old Tom was chuckling at +her elbow. The two principal actors remained dumb. + +'I suppose, if we leave young people to settle a thing, this is how they +do it,' her ladyship remarked. + +'Gad, and they do it well!' cried Old Tom. + +Rose, with a deep blush on her cheeks, stepped from Evan to her mother. +Not in effrontery, but earnestly, and as the only way of escaping from +the position, she said: 'I have succeeded, Mama. He will take what I +offer.' + +'And what's that, now?' Old Tom inquired. + +Rose turned to Evan. He bent and kissed her hand. + +'Call it "recompense" for the nonce,' said Lady Jocelyn. 'Do you still +hold to your original proposition, Tom?' + +'Every penny, my lady. I like the young fellow, and she's a jolly little +lass--if she means it:--she's a woman.' + +'True,' said Lady Jocelyn. 'Considering that fact, you will oblige me by +keeping the matter quiet.' + +'Does she want to try whether the tailor's a gentleman still, my +lady-eh?' + +'No. I fancy she will have to see whether a certain nobleman may be +one.' + +The Countess now joined them. Sir Franks had informed her of her +brother's last fine performance. After a short, uneasy pause, she said, +glancing at Evan:-- + +'You know his romantic nature. I can assure you he was sincere; and even +if you could not accept, at least--' + +'But we have accepted, Countess,' said Rose. + +'The estate!' + +'The estate, Countess. And what is more, to increase the effect of his +generosity, he has consented to take a recompense.' + +'Indeed!' exclaimed the Countess, directing a stony look at her brother. + +'May I presume to ask what recompense?' + +Rose shook her head. 'Such a very poor one, Countess! He has no idea of +relative value.' + +The Countess's great mind was just then running hot on estates, and +thousands, or she would not have played goose to them, you may be sure. +She believed that Evan had been wheedled by Rose into the acceptance of +a small sum of money, in return for his egregious gift. + +With an internal groan, the outward aspect of which she had vast +difficulty in masking, she said: 'You are right--he has no head. Easily +cajoled!' + +Old Tom sat down in a chair, and laughed outright. Lady Jocelyn, in pity +for the poor lady, who always amused her, thought it time to put an end +to the scene. + +'I hope your brother will come to us in about a week,' she said. 'May I +expect the favour of your company as well?' + +The Countess felt her dignity to be far superior as she responded: +'Lady Jocelyn, when next I enjoy the gratification of a visit to your +hospitable mansion, I must know that I am not at a disadvantage. I +cannot consent to be twice pulled down to my brother's level.' + +Evan's heart was too full of its dim young happiness to speak, or care +for words. The cold elegance of the Countess's curtsey to Lady Jocelyn: +her ladyship's kindly pressure of his hand: Rose's stedfast look into +his eyes: Old Tom's smothered exclamation that he was not such a fool +as he seemed: all passed dream-like, and when he was left to the fury +of the Countess, he did not ask her to spare him, nor did he defend +himself. She bade adieu to him and their mutual relationship that very +day. But her star had not forsaken her yet. Chancing to peep into the +shop, to intrust a commission to Mr. John Raikes, who was there doing +penance for his career as a gentleman, she heard Old Tom and Andrew +laughing, utterly unlike bankrupts. + +'Who 'd have thought the women such fools! and the Countess, too!' + +This was Andrew's voice. He chuckled as one emancipated. The Countess +had a short interview with him (before she took her departure to join +her husband, under the roof of the Honourable Herbert Duffian), and +Andrew chuckled no more. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. A YEAR LATER + +THE COUNTESS DE SALDAR DE SANCORVO TO HER SISTER CAROLINE + + 'Rome. +'Let the post-mark be my reply to your letter received through the +Consulate, and most courteously delivered with the Consul's compliments. +We shall yet have an ambassador at Rome--mark your Louisa's words. Yes, +dearest! I am here, body and spirit! I have at last found a haven, a +refuge, and let those who condemn me compare the peace of their spirits +with mine. You think that you have quite conquered the dreadfulness of +our origin. My love, I smile at you! I know it to be impossible for +the Protestant heresy to offer a shade of consolation. Earthly-born, +it rather encourages earthly distinctions. It is the sweet sovereign +Pontiff alone who gathers all in his arms, not excepting tailors. Here, +if they could know it, is their blessed comfort! + +'Thank Harriet for her message. She need say nothing. By refusing me +her hospitality, when she must have known that the house was as free of +creditors as any foreigner under the rank of Count is of soap, she drove +me to Mr. Duflian. Oh! how I rejoice at her exceeding unkindness! How +warmly I forgive her the unsisterly--to say the least--vindictiveness of +her unaccountable conduct! Her sufferings will one day be terrible. Good +little Andrew supplies her place to me. Why do you refuse his easily +afforded bounty? No one need know of it. I tell you candidly, I take +double, and the small good punch of a body is only too delighted. But +then, I can be discreet. + +'Oh! the gentlemanliness of these infinitely maligned Jesuits! They +remind me immensely of Sir Charles Grandison, and those frontispiece +pictures to the novels we read when girls--I mean in manners and the +ideas they impose--not in dress or length of leg, of course. The same +winning softness; the same irresistible ascendancy over the female mind! +They require virtue for two, I assure you, and so I told Silva, who +laughed. + +'But the charms of confession, my dear! I will talk of Evan first. +I have totally forgiven him. Attache to the Naples embassy, sounds +tol-lol. In such a position I can rejoice to see him, for it permits me +to acknowledge him. I am not sure that, spiritually, Rose will be his +most fitting helpmate. However, it is done, and I did it, and there +is no more to be said. The behaviour of Lord Laxley in refusing to +surrender a young lady who declared that her heart was with another, +exceeds all I could have supposed. One of the noble peers among +his ancestors must have been a pig! Oh! the Roman nobility! Grace, +refinement, intrigue, perfect comprehension of your ideas, wishes--the +meanest trifles! Here you have every worldly charm, and all crowned by +Religion! This is my true delight. I feel at last that whatsoever I +do, I cannot go far wrong while I am within hail of my gentle priest. I +never could feel so before. + +'The idea of Mr. Parsley proposing for the beautiful widow Strike! It +was indecent to do so so soon--widowed under such circumstances! But +I dare say he was as disinterested as a Protestant curate ever can be. +Beauty is a good dowry to bring a poor, lean, worldly curate of your +Church, and he knows that. Your bishops and arches are quite susceptible +to beautiful petitioners, and we know here how your livings and +benefices are dispensed. What do you intend to do? Come to me; come to +the bosom of the old and the only true Church, and I engage to marry you +to a Roman prince the very next morning or two. That is, if you have no +ideas about prosecuting a certain enterprise which I should not abandon. +In that case, stay. As Duchess of B., Mr. Duffian says you would be +cordially welcome to his Holiness, who may see women. That absurd +report is all nonsense. We do not kiss his toe, certainly, but we have +privileges equally enviable. Herbert is all charm. I confess he is a +little wearisome with his old ruins, and his Dante, the poet. He is +quite of my opinion, that Evan will never wash out the trade stain on +him until he comes over to the Church of Rome. I adjure you, Caroline, +to lay this clearly before our dear brother. In fact, while he continues +a Protestant, to me he is a tailor. But here Rose is the impediment. I +know her to be just one of those little dogged minds that are incapable +of receiving new impressions. Was it not evident in the way she stuck to +Evan after I had once brought them together? I am not at all astonished +that Mr. Raikes should have married her maid. It is a case of natural +selection. But it is amusing to think of him carrying on the old +business in 193, and with credit! I suppose his parents are to be +pitied; but what better is the creature fit for? Mama displeases me in +consenting to act as housekeeper to old Grumpus. I do not object to the +fact, for it is prospective; but she should have insisted on another +place of resort than Fallow field. I do not agree with you in thinking +her right in refusing a second marriage. Her age does not shelter her +from scandal in your Protestant communities. + +'I am every day expecting Harry Jocelyn to turn up. + +He was rightly sent away, for to think of the folly Evan put into his +empty head! No; he shall have another wife, and Protestantism shall be +his forsaken mistress! + +'See how your Louy has given up the world and its vanities! You expected +me to creep up to you contrite and whimpering? On the contrary, I never +felt prouder. And I am not going to live a lazy life, I can assure you. +The Church hath need of me! If only for the peace it hath given me on +one point, I am eternally bound to serve it. + +'Postscript: I am persuaded of this; that it is utterly impossible for +a man to be a true gentleman who is not of the true Church. What it is I +cannot say; but it is as a convert that I appreciate my husband. Love +is made to me, dear, for Catholics are human. The other day it was +a question whether a lady or a gentleman should be compromised. It +required the grossest fib. The gentleman did not hesitate. And why? +His priest was handy. Fancy Lord Laxley in such a case. I shudder. This +shows that your religion precludes any possibility of the being the real +gentleman, and whatever Evan may think of himself, or Rose think of him, +I KNOW THE THING.' + + + ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS + + A woman rises to her husband. But a man is what he is + A share of pity for the objects she despised + A sixpence kindly meant is worth any crown-piece that's grudged + A youth who is engaged in the occupation of eating his heart + A man who rejected medicine in extremity + A lover must have his delusions, just as a man must have a skin + A madman gets madder when you talk reason to him + A man to be trusted with the keys of anything + Abject sense of the lack of a circumference + Accustomed to be paid for by his country + Adept in the lie implied + Admirable scruples of an inveterate borrower + After a big blow, a very little one scarcely counts + Ah! how sweet to waltz through life with the right partner + Amiable mirror as being wilfully ruffled to confuse + An obedient creature enough where he must be + And not any of your grand ladies can match my wife at home + Any man is in love with any woman + Because you loved something better than me + Because men can't abide praise of another man + Because he stood so high with her now he feared the fall + Believed in her love, and judged it by the strength of his own + Bitten hard at experience, and know the value of a tooth + Bound to assure everybody at table he was perfectly happy + Brief negatives are not re-assuring to a lover's uneasy mind + British hunger for news; second only to that for beef + Brotherhood among the select who wear masks instead of faces + But a woman must now and then ingratiate herself + By forbearance, put it in the wrong + Can you not be told you are perfect without seeking to improve + Cheerful martyr + Command of countenance the Countess possessed + Commencement of a speech proves that you have made the plunge + Common voice of praise in the mouths of his creditors + Confident serenity inspired by evil prognostications + Damsel who has lost the third volume of an exciting novel + Eating, like scratching, only wants a beginning + Embarrassments of an uncongenial employment + Empty stomachs are foul counsellors + Enamoured young men have these notions + English maids are domesticated savage animals + Equally acceptable salted when it cannot be had fresh + Every woman that's married isn't in love with her husband + Eyes of a lover are not his own; but his hands and lips are + Far higher quality is the will that can subdue itself to wait + Feel no shame that I do not feel! + Feel they are not up to the people they are mixing with + Few feelings are single on this globe + Forty seconds too fast, as if it were a capital offence + Found it difficult to forgive her his own folly + Friend he would not shake off, but could not well link with + From head to foot nothing better than a moan made visible + Gentlefolks like straight-forwardness in their inferiors + Glimpse of her whole life in the horrid tomb of his embrace + Good nature, and means no more harm than he can help + Good and evil work together in this world + Gossip always has some solid foundation, however small + Graduated naturally enough the finer stages of self-deception + Gratuitous insult + Habit, what a sacred and admirable thing it is + Hated one thing alone--which was 'bother' + Have her profile very frequently while I am conversing with her + He has been tolerably honest, Tom, for a man and a lover + He grunted that a lying clock was hateful to him + He was in love, and subtle love will not be shamed and smothered + He kept saying to himself, 'to-morrow I will tell' + He had his character to maintain + He squandered the guineas, she patiently picked up the pence + His wife alone, had, as they termed it, kept him together + Hope which lies in giving men a dose of hysterics + How many degrees from love gratitude may be + I 'm a bachelor, and a person--you're married, and an object + I cannot live a life of deceit. A life of misery--not deceit + I take off my hat, Nan, when I see a cobbler's stall + I always wait for a thing to happen first + I never see anything, my dear + I did, replied Evan. 'I told a lie.' + I'll come as straight as I can + If we are to please you rightly, always allow us to play First + If I love you, need you care what anybody else thinks + In truth she sighed to feel as he did, above everybody + Incapable of putting the screw upon weak excited nature + Informed him that he never played jokes with money, or on men + Is he jealous? 'Only when I make him, he is.' + It 's us hard ones that get on best in the world + It is better for us both, of course + It was in a time before our joyful era of universal equality + It is no insignificant contest when love has to crush self-love + It's no use trying to be a gentleman if you can't pay for it + It's a fool that hopes for peace anywhere + Lay no petty traps for opportunity + Listened to one another, and blinded the world + Looked as proud as if he had just clapped down the full amount + Love is a contagious disease + Make no effort to amuse him. He is always occupied + Man without a penny in his pocket, and a gizzard full of pride + Married a wealthy manufacturer--bartered her blood for his money + Maxims of her own on the subject of rising and getting the worm + Men they regard as their natural prey + Men do not play truant from home at sixty years of age + Most youths are like Pope's women; they have no character + My belief is, you do it on purpose. Can't be such rank idiots + Never intended that we should play with flesh and blood + Never to despise the good opinion of the nonentities + No great harm done when you're silent + No conversation coming of it, her curiosity was violent + Notoriously been above the honours of grammar + Occasional instalments--just to freshen the account + Oh! I can't bear that class of people + One fool makes many, and so, no doubt, does one goose + One seed of a piece of folly will lurk and sprout to confound us + Our comedies are frequently youth's tragedies + Partake of a morning draught + Patronizing woman + Play second fiddle without looking foolish + Pride is the God of Pagans + Propitiate common sense on behalf of what seems tolerably absurd + Rare as epic song is the man who is thorough in what he does + Read one another perfectly in their mutual hypocrisies + Rebukes which give immeasurable rebounds + Recalling her to the subject-matter with all the patience + Refuge in the Castle of Negation against the whole army of facts + Remarked that the young men must fight it out together + Requiring natural services from her in the button department + Rose was much behind her age + Rose! what have I done? 'Nothing at all,' she said + Said she was what she would have given her hand not to be + Says you're so clever you ought to be a man + Second fiddle; he could only mean what she meant + Secrets throw on the outsiders the onus of raising a scandal + Sense, even if they can't understand it, flatters them so + She did not detest the Countess because she could not like her + She was unworthy to be the wife of a tailor + She, not disinclined to dilute her grief + She believed friendship practicable between men and women + She was at liberty to weep if she pleased + Sincere as far as she knew: as far as one who loves may be + Small beginnings, which are in reality the mighty barriers + Speech is poor where emotion is extreme + Speech that has to be hauled from the depths usually betrays + Spiritualism, and on the balm that it was + Such a man was banned by the world, which was to be despised? + Taking oath, as it were, by their lower nature + Tears that dried as soon as they had served their end + Tenderness which Mrs. Mel permitted rather than encouraged + That plain confession of a lack of wit; he offered combat + That beautiful trust which habit gives + The ass eats at my table, and treats me with contempt + The Countess dieted the vanity according to the nationality + The letter had a smack of crabbed age hardly counterfeit + The commonest things are the worst done + The thrust sinned in its shrewdness + The power to give and take flattery to any amount + The grey furniture of Time for his natural wear + Those numerous women who always know themselves to be right + Thus does Love avenge himself on the unsatisfactory Past + To be both generally blamed, and generally liked + To let people speak was a maxim of Mrs. Mel's, and a wise one + Took care to be late, so that all eyes beheld her + Touching a nerve + Toyed with little flowers of palest memory + Tradesman, and he never was known to have sent in a bill + Tried to be honest, and was as much so as his disease permitted + True enjoyment of the princely disposition + Two people love, there is no such thing as owing between them + Unfeminine of any woman to speak continuously anywhere + Virtuously zealous in an instant on behalf of the lovely dame + Vulgarity in others evoked vulgarity in her + Waited serenely for the certain disasters to enthrone her + We deprive all renegades of their spiritual titles + What a stock of axioms young people have handy + What will be thought of me? not a small matter to any of us + What he did, she took among other inevitable matters + What's an eccentric? a child grown grey! + When testy old gentlemen could commit slaughter with ecstasy + When you run away, you don't live to fight another day + When Love is hurt, it is self-love that requires the opiate + Whose bounty was worse to him than his abuse + Why, he'll snap your head off for a word + With good wine to wash it down, one can swallow anything + With a proud humility + Wrapped in the comfort of his cowardice + You do want polish + You talk your mother with a vengeance + You accuse or you exonerate--Nobody can be half guilty + You rides when you can, and you walks when you must + You're the puppet of your women! + Youth is not alarmed by the sound of big sums + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Evan Harrington, Complete, by George Meredith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EVAN HARRINGTON, COMPLETE *** + +***** This file should be named 4434.txt or 4434.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/3/4434/ + +Produced by David Widger + + +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. 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LEADS TO A SMALL SKIRMISH BETWEEN ROSE AND EVAN +XVII. IN WHICH EVAN WRITES HIMSELF TAILOR +XVIII. IN WHICH EVAN CALLS HIMSELF GENTLEMAN + +BOOK 4. +XIX. SECOND DESPATCH OF THE COUNTESS +XX. BREAK-NECK LEAP +XXI. TRIBULATIONS AND TACTICS OF THE COUNTESS +XXII. IN WHICH THE DAUGHTERS OF THE GREAT MEL HAVE TO + DIGEST HIM AT DINNER +XXIII. TREATS OF A HANDKERCHIEF +XXIV. THE COUNTESS MAKES HERSELF FELT +XXV. IN WHICH THE STREAM FLOWS MUDDY AND CLEAR + +BOOK 5. +XXVI. MRS. MEL MAKES A BED FOR HERSELF AND FAMILY +XXVII. EXHIBITS ROSE'S GENERALSHIP; EVAN'S PERFORMANCE ON THE SECOND + FIDDLE; AND THE WRETCHEDNESS OF THE COUNTESS +XXVIII. TOM COGGLESBY'S PROPOSITION +XXIX. PRELUDE TO AN ENGAGEMENT +XXX. THE BATTLE OF THE BULL-DOGS. PART I. +XXXI. THE BATTLE OF THE BULL-DOGS. PART II. + +BOOK 6. +XXXII. IN WHICH EVAN'S LIGHT BEGINS TO TWINKLE AGAIN +XXXIII. THE HERO TAKES HIS RANK IN THE ORCHESTRA +XXXIV. A PAGAN SACRIFICE +XXXV. ROSE WOUNDED +XXXVI. BEFORE BREAKFAST +XXXVII. THE RETREAT FROM BECKLEY +XXXVIII. IN WHICH WE HAVE TO SEE IN THE DARK + +BOOK 7. +XXXIX. IN THE DOMAIN OF TAILORDOM +XL. IN WHICH THE COUNTESS STILL SCENTS GAME +XLI. REVEALS AN ABOMINABLE PLOT OF THE BROTHERS COGGLESBY +XLII. JULIANA +XLIII. ROSE +XLIV. CONTAINS A WARNING TO ALL CONSPIRATORS +XLV. IN WHICH THE SHOP BECOMES THE CENTRE OF ATTRACTION +XLVI. A LOVER'S PARTING +XLVII. A YEAR LATER THE COUNTESS DE SALDAR DE SANCORVO TO HER + SISTER CAROLINE + + + +BOOK 1. + +I. ABOVE BUTTONS +II. THE HERITAGE OR THE SOY +III. THE DAUGHTERS OR THE SHEARS +IV. ON BOARD THE JOCASTA +V. THE FAMILY AND THE FUNERAL +VI. MY GENTLEMAN ON THE ROAD +VII. MOTHER AND SON + + + +CHAPTER I + +ABOVE BUTTONS + +Long after the hours when tradesmen are in the habit of commencing +business, the shutters of a certain shop in the town of Lymport-on-the- +Sea remained significantly closed, and it became known that death had +taken Mr. Melchisedec Harrington, and struck one off the list of living +tailors. The demise of a respectable member of this class does not +ordinarily create a profound sensation. He dies, and his equals debate +who is to be his successor: while the rest of them who have come in +contact with him, very probably hear nothing of his great launch and +final adieu till the winding up of cash-accounts; on which occasions we +may augur that he is not often blessed by one or other of the two great +parties who subdivide this universe. In the case of Mr. Melchisedec it +was otherwise. This had been a grand man, despite his calling, and in +the teeth of opprobrious epithets against his craft. To be both +generally blamed, and generally liked, evinces a peculiar construction of +mortal. Mr. Melchisedec, whom people in private called the great Mel, +had been at once the sad dog of Lymport, and the pride of the town. He +was a tailor, and he kept horses; he was a tailor, and he had gallant +adventures; he was a tailor, and he shook hands with his customers. +Finally, he was a tradesman, and he never was known to have sent in a +bill. Such a personage comes but once in a generation, and, when he +goes, men miss the man as well as their money. + +That he was dead, there could be no doubt. Kilne, the publican opposite, +had seen Sally, one of the domestic servants, come out of the house in +the early morning and rush up the street to the doctor's, tossing her +hands; and she, not disinclined to dilute her grief, had, on her return, +related that her master was then at his last gasp, and had refused, in so +many words, to swallow the doctor. + +'"I won't swallow the doctor!" he says, "I won't swallow the doctor!"' +Sally moaned. '"I never touched him," he says, "and I never will."' + +Kilne angrily declared, that in his opinion, a man who rejected medicine +in extremity, ought to have it forced down his throat: and considering +that the invalid was pretty deeply in Kilne's debt, it naturally assumed +the form of a dishonest act on his part; but Sally scornfully dared any +one to lay hand on her master, even for his own good. 'For,' said she, +'he's got his eyes awake, though he do lie so helpless. He marks ye!' + +'Ah! ah!' Kilne sniffed the air. Sally then rushed back to her duties. + +'Now, there 's a man!' Kilne stuck his hands in his pockets and began +his meditation: which, however, was cut short by the approach of his +neighbour Barnes, the butcher, to whom he confided what he had heard, +and who ejaculated professionally, 'Obstinate as a pig!' As they stood +together they beheld Sally, a figure of telegraph, at one of the windows, +implying that all was just over. + +'Amen!' said Barnes, as to a matter-of-fact affair. + +Some minutes after, the two were joined by Grossby, the confectioner, who +listened to the news, and observed: + +'Just like him! I'd have sworn he'd never take doctor's stuff'; and, +nodding at Kilne, 'liked his medicine best, eh?' + +'Had a-hem!--good lot of it,' muttered Kilne, with a suddenly serious +brow. + +'How does he stand on your books?' asked Barnes. + +Kilne shouldered round, crying: 'Who the deuce is to know?' + +'I don't,' Grossby sighed. 'In he comes with his "Good morning, Grossby, +fine day for the hunt, Grossby," and a ten-pound note. "Have the +kindness to put that down in my favour, Grossby." And just as I am going +to say, "Look here,--this won't do," he has me by the collar, and there's +one of the regiments going to give a supper party, which he's to order; +or the Admiral's wife wants the receipt for that pie; or in comes my +wife, and there's no talking of business then, though she may have been +bothering about his account all the night beforehand. Something or +other! and so we run on.' + +'What I want to know,' said Barnes, the butcher, 'is where he got his +tenners from?' + +Kilne shook a sagacious head: 'No knowing!' + +'I suppose we shall get something out of the fire?' Barnes suggested. + +'That depends!' answered the emphatic Kilne. + +'But, you know, if the widow carries on the business,' said Grossby, +'there's no reason why we shouldn't get it all, eh?' + +'There ain't two that can make clothes for nothing, and make a profit out +of it,' said Kilne. + +'That young chap in Portugal,' added Barnes, 'he won't take to tailoring +when he comes home. D' ye think he will?' + +Kilne muttered: 'Can't say !' and Grossby, a kindly creature in his way, +albeit a creditor, reverting to the first subject of their discourse, +ejaculated, 'But what a one he was!--eh?' + +'Fine!--to look on,' Kilne assented. + +'Well, he was like a Marquis,' said Barnes. + +Here the three regarded each other, and laughed, though not loudly. They +instantly checked that unseemliness, and Kilne, as one who rises from the +depths of a calculation with the sum in his head, spoke quite in a +different voice: + +'Well, what do you say, gentlemen? shall we adjourn? No use standing +here.' + +By the invitation to adjourn, it was well understood by the committee +Kilne addressed, that they were invited to pass his threshold, and +partake of a morning draught. Barnes, the butcher, had no objection +whatever, and if Grossby, a man of milder make, entertained any, the +occasion and common interests to be discussed, advised him to waive them. +In single file these mourners entered the publican's house, where Kilne, +after summoning them from behind the bar, on the important question, what +it should be? and receiving, first, perfect acquiescence in his views as +to what it should be, and then feeble suggestions of the drink best +befitting that early hour and the speaker's particular constitution, +poured out a toothful to each, and one to himself. + +'Here's to him, poor fellow!' said Kilne; and was deliberately echoed +twice. + +'Now, it wasn't that,' Kilne pursued, pointing to the bottle in the midst +of a smacking of lips, 'that wasn't what got him into difficulties. It +was expensive luckshries. It was being above his condition. Horses! +What's a tradesman got to do with horses? Unless he's retired! Then +he's a gentleman, and can do as he likes. It's no use trying to be a +gentleman if you can't pay for it. It always ends bad. Why, there was +he, consorting with gentlefolks--gay as a lark! Who has to pay for it?' + +Kilne's fellow-victims maintained a rather doleful tributary silence. + +'I'm not saying anything against him now,' the publican further observed. +'It 's too late. And there! I'm sorry he's gone, for one. He was as +kind a hearted a man as ever breathed. And there! perhaps it was just +as much my fault; I couldn't say "No" to him,--dash me, if I could!' + +Lymport was a prosperous town, and in prosperity the much-despised +British tradesman is not a harsh, he is really a well-disposed, easy +soul, and requires but management, manner, occasional instalments--just +to freshen the account--and a surety that he who debits is on the spot, +to be a right royal king of credit. Only the account must never drivel. +'Stare aut crescere' appears to be his feeling on that point, and the +departed Mr. Melchisedec undoubtedly understood him there; for the +running on of the account looked deplorable and extraordinary now that +Mr. Melchisedec was no longer in a position to run on with it, and it was +precisely his doing so which had prevented it from being brought to a +summary close long before. Both Barnes, the butcher; and Grossby, the +confectioner, confessed that they, too, found it hard ever to say 'No' +to him, and, speaking broadly, never could. + +'Except once,'said Barnes, 'when he wanted me to let him have a ox to +roast whole out on the common, for the Battle of Waterloo. I stood out +against him on that. "No, no," says I, "I'll joint him for ye, Mr. +Harrington. You shall have him in joints, and eat him at home";-ha! ha!' + +'Just like him!' said Grossby, with true enjoyment of the princely +disposition that had dictated the patriotic order. + +'Oh!--there!' Kilne emphasized, pushing out his arm across the bar, as +much as to say, that in anything of such a kind, the great Mel never had +a rival. + +'That "Marquis" affair changed him a bit,' said Barnes. + +'Perhaps it did, for a time,' said Kilne. 'What's in the grain, you +know. He couldn't change. He would be a gentleman, and nothing 'd stop +him.' + +'And I shouldn't wonder but what that young chap out in Portugal 'll want +to be one, too; though he didn't bid fair to be so fine a man as his +father.' + +'More of a scholar,' remarked Kilne. 'That I call his worst fault-- +shilly-shallying about that young chap. I mean his.' Kilne stretched a +finger toward the dead man's house. 'First, the young chap's to be sent +into the Navy; then it's the Army; then he's to be a judge, and sit on +criminals; then he goes out to his sister in Portugal; and now there's +nothing but a tailor open to him, as I see, if we're to get our money.' + +'Ah! and he hasn't got too much spirit to work to pay his father's +debts,' added Barnes. 'There's a business there to make any man's +fortune-properly directed, I say. But, I suppose, like father like son, +he'll becoming the Marquis, too. He went to a gentleman's school, and +he's had foreign training. I don't know what to think about it. His +sisters over there--they were fine women.' + +'Oh! a fine family, every one of 'em! and married well!' exclaimed the +publican. + +'I never had the exact rights of that "Marquis" affair,' said Grossby; +and, remembering that he had previously laughed knowingly when it was +alluded to, pursued: 'Of course I heard of it at the time, but how did he +behave when he was blown upon?' + +Barnes undertook to explain; but Kilne, who relished the narrative quite +as well, and was readier, said: 'Look here! I 'll tell you. I had it +from his own mouth one night when he wasn't--not quite himself. He was +coming down King William Street, where he stabled his horse, you know, +and I met him. He'd been dining out-somewhere out over Fallow field, I +think it was; and he sings out to me, "Ah! Kilne, my good fellow!" and +I, wishing to be equal with him, says, "A fine night, my lord!" and he +draws himself up--he smelt of good company--says he, "Kilne! I'm not a +lord, as you know, and you have no excuse for mistaking me for one, sir!" +So I pretended I had mistaken him, and then he tucked his arm under mine, +and said, "You're no worse than your betters, Kilne. They took me for +one at Squire Uplift's to-night, but a man who wishes to pass off for +more than he is, Kilne, and impose upon people," he says, "he's +contemptible, Kilne! contemptible!" So that, you know, set me thinking +about "Bath" and the "Marquis," and I couldn't help smiling to myself, +and just let slip a question whether he had enlightened them a bit. +"Kilne," said he, "you're an honest man, and a neighbour, and I'll tell +you what happened. The Squire," he says, "likes my company, and I like +his table. Now the Squire 'd never do a dirty action, but the Squire's +nephew, Mr. George Uplift, he can't forget that I earn my money, and once +or twice I have had to correct him." And I'll wager Mel did it, too! +Well, he goes on: "There was Admiral Sir Jackson Racial and his lady, at +dinner, Squire Falco of Bursted, Lady Barrington, Admiral Combleman"--our +admiral, that was; 'Mr. This and That', I forget their names--and other +ladies and gentlemen whose acquaintance I was not honoured with." You +know his way of talking. "And there was a goose on the table," he says; +and, looking stern at me, "Don't laugh yet!" says he, like thunder. +Well, he goes on: "Mr. George caught my eye across the table, and said, +so as not to be heard by his uncle, 'If that bird was rampant, you would +see your own arms, Marquis.'" And Mel replied, quietly for him to hear, +"And as that bird is couchant, Mr. George, you had better look to your +sauce." Couchant means squatting, you know. That's heraldry! Well, +that wasn't bad sparring of Mel's. But, bless you! he was never taken +aback, and the gentlefolks was glad enough to get him to sit down amongst +'em. So, says Mr. George, "I know you're a fire-eater, Marquis," and his +dander was up, for he began marquising Mel, and doing the mock polite at +such a rate, that, by-and-by, one of the ladies who didn't know Mel +called him "my lord" and "his lordship." "And," says Mel, "I merely +bowed to her, and took no notice." So that passed off: and there sits +Mel telling his anecdotes, as grand as a king. And, by and-by, young Mr. +George, who hadn't forgiven Mel, and had been pulling at the bottle +pretty well, he sings out, "It 's Michaelmas! the death of the goose! +and I should like to drink the Marquis's health!" and he drank it +solemn. But, as far as I can make out, the women part of the company was +a little in the dark. So Mel waited till there was a sort of a pause, +and then speaks rather loud to the Admiral, "By the way, Sir Jackson, may +I ask you, has the title of Marquis anything to do with tailoring?" Now +Mel was a great favourite with the Admiral, and with his lady, too, they +say--and the Admiral played into his hands, you see, and, says he, "I 'm +not aware that it has, Mr. Harrington." And he begged for to know why he +asked the question--called him, "Mister," you understand. So Mel said, +and I can see him now, right out from his chest he spoke, with his head +up "When I was a younger man, I had the good taste to be fond of good +society, and the bad taste to wish to appear different from what I was in +it": that's Mel speaking; everybody was listening; so he goes on: "I was +in the habit of going to Bath in the season, and consorting with the +gentlemen I met there on terms of equality; and for some reason that I am +quite guiltless of," says Mel, "the hotel people gave out that I was a +Marquis in disguise; and, upon my honour, ladies and gentlemen--I was +young then, and a fool--I could not help imagining I looked the thing. +At all events, I took upon myself to act the part, and with some success, +and considerable gratification; for, in my opinion," says Mel, "no real +Marquis ever enjoyed his title so much as I did. One day I was in my +shop--No. 193, Main Street, Lymport--and a gentleman came in to order his +outfit. I received his directions, when suddenly he started back, stared +at me, and exclaimed: + +'My dear Marquis! I trust you will pardon me for having addressed you +with so much familiarity.' I recognized in him one of my Bath +acquaintances. That circumstance, ladies and gentlemen, has been a +lesson to me. Since that time I have never allowed a false impression +with regard to my position to exist. "I desire," says Mel, smiling, "to +have my exact measure taken everywhere; and if the Michaelmas bird is to +be associated with me, I am sure I have no objection; all I can say is, +that I cannot justify it by letters patent of nobility." That's how Mel +put it. Do you think they thought worse of him? I warrant you he came +out of it in flying colours. Gentlefolks like straight-forwardness in +their inferiors--that's what they do. Ah!' said Kilne, meditatively, +'I see him now, walking across the street in the moonlight, after he 'd +told me that. A fine figure of a man! and there ain't many Marquises to +match him.' + +To this Barnes and Grossby, not insensible to the merits of the recital +they had just given ear to, agreed. And with a common voice of praise in +the mouths of his creditors, the dead man's requiem was sounded. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE HERITAGE OF THE SON + +Toward evening, a carriage drove up to the door of the muted house, and +the card of Lady Racial, bearing a hurried line in pencil, was handed to +the widow. + +It was when you looked upon her that you began to comprehend how great +was the personal splendour of the husband who could eclipse such a woman. +Mrs. Harrington was a tall and a stately dame. Dressed in the high +waists of the matrons of that period, with a light shawl drawn close over +her shoulders and bosom, she carried her head well; and her pale firm +features, with the cast of immediate affliction on them, had much +dignity: dignity of an unrelenting physical order, which need not express +any remarkable pride of spirit. The family gossips who, on both sides, +were vain of this rare couple, and would always descant on their beauty, +even when they had occasion to slander their characters, said, to +distinguish them, that Henrietta Maria had a Port, and Melchisedec a +Presence: and that the union of a Port and a Presence, and such a Port +and such a Presence, was so uncommon, that you might search England +through and you would not find another, not even in the highest ranks of +society. There lies some subtle distinction here; due to the minute +perceptions which compel the gossips of a family to coin phrases that +shall express the nicest shades of a domestic difference. By a Port, one +may understand them to indicate something unsympathetically impressive; +whereas a Presence would seem to be a thing that directs the most affable +appeal to our poor human weaknesses. His Majesty King George IV., for +instance, possessed a Port: Beau Brummel wielded a Presence. Many, it is +true, take a Presence to mean no more than a shirt-frill, and interpret a +Port as the art of walking erect. But this is to look upon language too +narrowly. + +On a more intimate acquaintance with the couple, you acknowledge the, +aptness of the fine distinction. By birth Mrs. Harrington had claims to +rank as a gentlewoman. That is, her father was a lawyer of Lymport. The +lawyer, however, since we must descend the genealogical tree, was known +to have married his cook, who was the lady's mother. Now Mr. Melchisedec +was mysterious concerning his origin; and, in his cups, talked largely +and wisely of a great Welsh family, issuing from a line of princes; and +it is certain that he knew enough of their history to have instructed +them on particular points of it. He never could think that his wife had +done him any honour in espousing him; nor was she the woman to tell him +so. She had married him for love, rejecting various suitors, Squire +Uplift among them, in his favour. Subsequently she had committed the +profound connubial error of transferring her affections, or her thoughts, +from him to his business, which, indeed, was much in want of a mate; and +while he squandered the guineas, she patiently picked up the pence. They +had not lived unhappily. He was constantly courteous to her. But to see +the Port at that sordid work considerably ruffled the Presence--put, as +it were, the peculiar division between them; and to behave toward her as +the same woman who had attracted his youthful ardours was a task for his +magnificent mind, and may have ranked with him as an indemnity for his +general conduct, if his reflections ever stretched so far. The +townspeople of Lymport were correct in saying that his wife, and his wife +alone, had, as they termed it, kept him together. Nevertheless, now that +he was dead, and could no longer be kept together, they entirely forgot +their respect for her, in the outburst of their secret admiration for the +popular man. Such is the constitution of the inhabitants of this dear +Island of Britain, so falsely accused by the Great Napoleon of being a +nation of shopkeepers. Here let any one proclaim himself Above Buttons, +and act on the assumption, his fellows with one accord hoist him on their +heads, and bear him aloft, sweating, and groaning, and cursing, but proud +of him! And if he can contrive, or has any good wife at home to help +him, to die without going to the dogs, they are, one may say, unanimous +in crying out the same eulogistic funeral oration as that commenced by +Kilne, the publican, when he was interrupted by Barnes, the butcher, +'Now, there's a man!--' + + +Mrs. Harrington was sitting in her parlour with one of her married +nieces, Mrs. Fiske, and on reading Lady Racial's card she gave word for +her to be shown up into the drawing-room. It was customary among Mrs. +Harrington's female relatives, who one and all abused and adored the +great Mel, to attribute his shortcomings pointedly to the ladies; which +was as much as if their jealous generous hearts had said that he was +sinful, but that it was not his fault. Mrs. Fiske caught the card from +her aunt, read the superscription, and exclaimed: 'The idea! At least she +might have had the decency! She never set her foot in the house before-- +and right enough too! What can she want now? I decidedly would refuse +to see her, aunt!' + +The widow's reply was simply, 'Don't be a fool, Ann!' + +Rising, she said: 'Here, take poor Jacko, and comfort him till I come +back.' + +Jacko was a middle-sized South American monkey, and had been a pet of her +husband's. He was supposed to be mourning now with the rest of the +family. Mrs. Fiske received him on a shrinking lap, and had found time +to correct one of his indiscretions before she could sigh and say, in the +rear of her aunt's retreating figure, 'I certainly never would let +myself, down so'; but Mrs. Harrington took her own counsel, and Jacko was +of her persuasion, for he quickly released himself from Mrs. Fiske's +dispassionate embrace, and was slinging his body up the balusters after +his mistress. + +'Mrs. Harrington,' said Lady Racial, very sweetly swimming to meet her as +she entered the room, 'I have intruded upon you, I fear, in venturing to +call upon you at such a time?' + +The widow bowed to her, and begged her to be seated. + +Lady Racial was an exquisitely silken dame, in whose face a winning smile +was cut, and she was still sufficiently youthful not to be accused of +wearing a flower too artificial. + +'It was so sudden! so sad!' she continued. 'We esteemed him so much. +I thought you might be in need of sympathy, and hoped I might--Dear Mrs. +Harrington! can you bear to speak of it?' + +'I can tell you anything you wish to hear, my lady,' the widow replied. +Lady Racial had expected to meet a woman much more like what she +conceived a tradesman's wife would be: and the grave reception of her +proffer of sympathy slightly confused her. She said: + +'I should not have come, at least not so early, but Sir Jackson, my +husband, thought, and indeed I imagined--You have a son, Mrs. Harrington? +I think his name is--' + +'Evan, my lady.' + +'Evan. It was of him we have been speaking. I imagined that is, we +thought, Sir Jackson might--you will be writing to him, and will let him +know we will use our best efforts to assist him in obtaining some +position worthy of his--superior to--something that will secure him from +the harassing embarrassments of an uncongenial employment.' + +The widow listened to this tender allusion to the shears without a smile +of gratitude. She replied: 'I hope my son will return in time to bury +his father, and he will thank you himself, my lady.' + +'He has no taste for--a--for anything in the shape of trade, has he, Mrs. +Harrington?' + +'I am afraid not, my lady.' + +'Any position--a situation--that of a clerk even--would be so much better +for him!' + +The widow remained impassive. + +'And many young gentlemen I know, who are clerks, and are enabled to live +comfortably, and make a modest appearance in society; and your son, Mrs. +Harrington, he would find it surely an improvement upon--many would think +it a step for him.' + +'I am bound to thank you for the interest you take in my son, my lady.' + +'Does it not quite suit your views, Mrs. Harrington?' Lady Racial was +surprised at the widow's manner. + +'If my son had only to think of himself, my lady.' + +'Oh! but of course,'--the lady understood her now--'of course! You +cannot suppose, Mrs. Harrington, but that I should anticipate he would +have you to live with him, and behave to you in every way as a dutiful +son, surely? + +'A clerk's income is not very large, my lady.' + +'No; but enough, as I have said, and with the management you would bring, +Mrs. Harrington, to produce a modest, respectable maintenance. My +respect for your husband, Mrs. Harrington, makes me anxious to press my +services upon you.' Lady Racial could not avoid feeling hurt at the +widow's want of common gratitude. + +'A clerk's income would not be more than L100 a year, my lady.' + +'To begin with--no; certainly not more.' The lady was growing brief. + +'If my son puts by the half of that yearly, he can hardly support himself +and his mother, my lady.' + +'Half of that yearly, Mrs. Harrington?' + +'He would have to do so, and be saddled till he dies, my lady.' + +'I really cannot see why.' + +Lady Racial had a notion of some excessive niggardly thrift in the widow, +which was arousing symptoms of disgust. + +Mrs. Harrington quietly said: 'There are his father's debts to pay, my +lady.' + +'His father's debts!' + +'Under L5000, but above L4000, my lady.' + +'Five thousand pounds! Mrs. Harrington!' The lady's delicately gloved +hand gently rose and fell. 'And this poor young man--'she pursued. + +'My son will have to pay it, my lady.' + +For a moment the lady had not a word to instance. Presently she +remarked: 'But, Mrs. Harrington, he is surely under no legal obligation?' + +'He is only under the obligation not to cast disrespect on his father's +memory, my lady; and to be honest, while he can.' + +'But, Mrs. Harrington! surely! what can the poor young man do?' + +'He will pay it, my lady.' + +'But how, Mrs. Harrington?' + +'There is his father's business, my lady.' + +His father's business! Then must the young man become a tradesman in +order to show respect for his father? Preposterous! That was the lady's +natural inward exclamation. She said, rather shrewdly, for one who knew +nothing of such things: 'But a business which produces debts so enormous, +Mrs. Harrington!' + +The widow replied: 'My son will have to conduct it in a different way. +It would be a very good business, conducted properly, my lady.' + +'But if he has no taste for it, Mrs. Harrington? If he is altogether +superior to it?' + +For the first time during the interview, the widow's inflexible +countenance was mildly moved, though not to any mild expression. + +'My son will have not to consult his tastes,' she observed: and seeing +the lady, after a short silence, quit her seat, she rose likewise, and +touched the fingers of the hand held forth to her, bowing. + +'You will pardon the interest I take in your son,' said Lady Racial. +'I hope, indeed, that his relatives and friends will procure him the +means of satisfying the demands made upon him.' + +'He would still have to pay them, my lady,' was the widow's answer. + +'Poor young man! indeed I pity him!' sighed her visitor. 'You have +hitherto used no efforts to persuade him to take such a step,--Mrs. +Harrington?' + +'I have written to Mr. Goren, who was my husband's fellow-apprentice in +London, my lady; and he is willing to instruct him in cutting, and +measuring, and keeping accounts.' + +Certain words in this speech were obnoxious to the fine ear of Lady +Racial, and she relinquished the subject. + +'Your husband, Mrs. Harrington--I should so much have wished!--he did not +pass away in--in pain!' + +'He died very calmly, my lady.' + +'It is so terrible, so disfiguring, sometimes. One dreads to see!--one +can hardly distinguish! I have known cases where death was dreadful! +But a peaceful death is very beautiful! There is nothing shocking to +the mind. It suggests heaven! It seems a fulfilment of our prayers!' + +'Would your ladyship like to look upon him?' said the widow. + +Lady Racial betrayed a sudden gleam at having her desire thus intuitively +fathomed. + +'For one moment, Mrs. Harrington! We esteemed him so much! May I?' + +The widow responded by opening the door, and leading her into the chamber +where the dead man lay. + + +At that period, when threats of invasion had formerly stirred up the +military fire of us Islanders, the great Mel, as if to show the great +Napoleon what character of being a British shopkeeper really was, had, +by remarkable favour, obtained a lieutenancy of militia dragoons: in the +uniform of which he had revelled, and perhaps, for the only time in his +life, felt that circumstances had suited him with a perfect fit. However +that may be, his solemn final commands to his wife, Henrietta Maria, on +whom he could count for absolute obedience in such matters, had been, +that as soon as the breath had left his body, he should be taken from his +bed, washed, perfumed, powdered, and in that uniform dressed and laid +out; with directions that he should be so buried at the expiration of +three days, that havoc in his features might be hidden from men. In this +array Lady Racial beheld him. The curtains of the bed were drawn aside. +The beams of evening fell soft through the blinds of the room, and cast a +subdued light on the figure of the vanquished warrior. The Presence, +dumb now for evermore, was sadly illumined for its last exhibition. But +one who looked closely might have seen that Time had somewhat spoiled +that perfect fit which had aforetime been his pride; and now that the +lofty spirit had departed, there had been extreme difficulty in +persuading the sullen excess of clay to conform to the dimensions of +those garments. The upper part of the chest alone would bear its +buttons, and across one portion of the lower limbs an ancient seam had +started; recalling an incident to them who had known him in his brief +hour of glory. For one night, as he was riding home from Fallow field, +and just entering the gates of the town, a mounted trooper spurred +furiously past, and slashing out at him, gashed his thigh. Mrs. +Melchisedec found him lying at his door in a not unwonted way; carried +him up-stairs in her arms, as she had done many a time before, and did +not perceive his condition till she saw the blood on her gown. The +cowardly assailant was never discovered; but Mel was both gallant and +had, in his military career, the reputation of being a martinet. Hence, +divers causes were suspected. The wound failed not to mend, the trousers +were repaired: Peace about the same time was made, and the affair passed +over. + +Looking on the fine head and face, Lady Racial saw nothing of this. She +had not looked long before she found covert employment for her +handkerchief. The widow standing beside her did not weep, or reply to +her whispered excuses at emotion; gazing down on his mortal length with a +sort of benignant friendliness; aloof, as one whose duties to that form +of flesh were well-nigh done. At the feet of his master, Jacko, the +monkey, had jumped up, and was there squatted, with his legs crossed, +very like a tailor! The imitative wretch had got a towel, and as often +as Lady Racial's handkerchief travelled to her eyes, Jacko's peery face +was hidden, and you saw his lithe skinny body doing grief's convulsions +till, tired of this amusement, he obtained possession of the warrior's +helmet, from a small round table on one side of the bed; a calque of the +barbarous military-Georgian form, with a huge knob of horse-hair +projecting over the peak; and under this, trying to adapt it to his +rogue's head, the tricksy image of Death extinguished himself. + +All was very silent in the room. Then the widow quietly disengaged +Jacko, and taking him up, went to the door, and deposited him outside. +During her momentary absence, Lady Racial had time to touch the dead +man's forehead with her lips, unseen. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE DAUGHTERS OF THE SHEARS + +Three daughters and a son were left to the world by Mr. Melchisedec. +Love, well endowed, had already claimed to provide for the daughters: +first in the shape of a lean Marine subaltern, whose days of obscuration +had now passed, and who had come to be a major of that corps: secondly, +presenting his addresses as a brewer of distinction: thirdly, and for a +climax, as a Portuguese Count: no other than the Senor Silva Diaz, Conde +de Saldar: and this match did seem a far more resplendent one than that +of the two elder sisters with Major Strike and Mr. Andrew Cogglesby. But +the rays of neither fell visibly on Lymport. These escaped Eurydices +never reappeared, after being once fairly caught away from the gloomy +realms of Dis, otherwise Trade. All three persons of singular beauty, a +certain refinement, some Port, and some Presence, hereditarily combined, +they feared the clutch of that fell king, and performed the widest +possible circles around him. Not one of them ever approached the house +of her parents. They were dutiful and loving children, and wrote +frequently; but of course they had to consider their new position, and +their husbands, and their husbands' families, and the world, and what it +would say, if to it the dreaded rumour should penetrate! Lymport +gossips, as numerous as in other parts, declared that the foreign +nobleman would rave in an extraordinary manner, and do things after the +outlandish fashion of his country: for from him, there was no doubt, the +shop had been most successfully veiled, and he knew not of Pluto's close +relationship to his lovely spouse. + +The marriages had happened in this way. Balls are given in country +towns, where the graces of tradesmen's daughters may be witnessed and +admired at leisure by other than tradesmen: by occasional country +gentlemen of the neighbourhood, with light minds: and also by small +officers: subalterns wishing to do tender execution upon man's fair +enemy, and to find a distraction for their legs. The classes of our +social fabric have, here and there, slight connecting links, and +provincial public balls are one of these. They are dangerous, for Cupid +is no respecter of class-prejudice; and if you are the son of a retired +tea-merchant, or of a village doctor, or of a half-pay captain, or of +anything superior, and visit one of them, you are as likely to receive +his shot as any shopboy. Even masquerading lords at such places, have +been known to be slain outright; and although Society allows to its +highest and dearest to save the honour of their families, and heal their +anguish, by indecorous compromise, you, if you are a trifle below that +mark, must not expect it. You must absolutely give yourself for what you +hope to get. Dreadful as it sounds to philosophic ears, you must marry. +This, having danced with Caroline Harrington, the gallant Lieutenant +Strike determined to do. Nor, when he became aware of her father's +occupation, did he shrink from his resolve. After a month's hard +courtship, he married her straight out of her father's house. That he +may have all the credit due to him, it must be admitted that he did not +once compare, or possibly permit himself to reflect on, the dissimilarity +in their respective ranks, and the step he had taken downward, till they +were man and wife: and then not in any great degree, before Fortune had +given him his majority; an advance the good soldier frankly told his wife +he did not owe to her. If we may be permitted to suppose the colonel of +a regiment on friendly terms with one of his corporals, we have an +estimate of the domestic life of Major and Mrs. Strike. Among the +garrison males, his comrades, he passed for a disgustingly jealous brute. + +The ladies, in their pretty language, signalized him as a 'finick.' + +Now, having achieved so capital a marriage, Caroline, worthy creature, +was anxious that her sisters should not be less happy, and would have +them to visit her, in spite of her husband's protests. + +'There can be no danger,' she said, for she was in fresh quarters, far +from the nest of contagion. The lieutenant himself ungrudgingly declared +that, looking on the ladies, no one for an instant could suspect; and he +saw many young fellows ready to be as great fools as he had been another +voluntary confession he made to his wife; for the candour of which she +thanked him, and pointed out that it seemed to run in the family; +inasmuch as Mr. Andrew Cogglesby, his rich relative, had seen and had +proposed for Harriet. The lieutenant flatly said he would never allow +it. In fact he had hitherto concealed the non-presentable portion of his +folly very satisfactorily from all save the mess-room, and Mr. Andrew's +passion was a severe dilemma to him. It need scarcely be told that his +wife, fortified by the fervid brewer, defeated him utterly. What was +more, she induced him to be an accomplice in deception. For though the +lieutenant protested that he washed his hands of it, and that it was a +fraud and a snare, he certainly did not avow the condition of his wife's +parents to Mr. Andrew, but alluded to them in passing as 'the country +people.' He supposed 'the country people' must be asked, he said. The +brewer offered to go down to them. But the lieutenant drew an unpleasant +picture of the country people, and his wife became so grave at the +proposal, that Mr. Andrew said he wanted to marry the lady and not the +'country people,' and if she would have him, there he was. There he was, +behaving with a particular and sagacious kindness to the raw lieutenant +since Harriet's arrival. If the lieutenant sent her away, Mr. Andrew +would infallibly pursue her, and light on a discovery. Twice cursed by +Love, twice the victim of tailordom, our excellent Marine gave away +Harriet Harrington in marriage to Mr. Andrew Cogglesby. + +Thus Joy clapped hands a second time, and Horror deepened its shadows. + +From higher ground it was natural that the remaining sister should take a +bolder flight. Of the loves of the fair Louisa Harrington and the +foreign Count, and how she first encountered him in the brewer's saloons, +and how she, being a humorous person, laughed at his 'loaf' for her, and +wore the colours that pleased him, and kindled and soothed his jealousy, +little is known beyond the fact that she espoused the Count, under the +auspices of the affluent brewer, and engaged that her children should be +brought up in the faith of the Catholic Church: which Lymport gossips +called, paying the Devil for her pride. + +The three sisters, gloriously rescued by their own charms, had now to +think of their one young brother. How to make him a gentleman! That was +their problem. + +Preserve him from tailordom--from all contact with trade--they must; +otherwise they would be perpetually linked to the horrid thing they hoped +to outlive and bury. A cousin of Mr. Melchisedec's had risen to be an +Admiral and a knight for valiant action in the old war, when men could +rise. Him they besought to take charge of the youth, and make a +distinguished seaman of him. He courteously declined. They then +attacked the married Marine--Navy or Army being quite indifferent to them +as long as they could win for their brother the badge of one Service, +'When he is a gentleman at once!' they said, like those who see the end +of their labours. Strike basely pretended to second them. It would have +been delightful to him, of course, to have the tailor's son messing at +the same table, and claiming him when he pleased with a familiar 'Ah, +brother!' and prating of their relationship everywhere. Strike had been +a fool: in revenge for it he laid out for himself a masterly career of +consequent wisdom. The brewer--uxorious Andrew Cogglesby--might and +would have bought the commission. Strike laughed at the idea of giving +money for what could be got for nothing. He told them to wait. + +In the meantime Evan, a lad of seventeen, spent the hours not devoted to +his positive profession--that of gentleman--in the offices of the +brewery, toying with big books and balances, which he despised with the +combined zeal of the sucking soldier and emancipated tailor. + +Two years passed in attendance on the astute brother-in-law, to whom +Fortune now beckoned to come to her and gather his laurels from the pig- +tails. About the same time the Countess sailed over from Lisbon on a +visit to her sister Harriet (in reality, it was whispered in the +Cogglesby saloons, on a diplomatic mission from the Court of Lisbon; but +that could not be made ostensible). The Countess narrowly examined Evan, +whose steady advance in his profession both her sisters praised. + +'Yes,' said the Countess, in a languid alien accent. 'He has something +of his father's carriage--something. Something of his delivery--his +readiness.' + +It was a remarkable thing that these ladies thought no man on earth like +their father, and always cited him as the example of a perfect gentleman, +and yet they buried him with one mind, and each mounted guard over his +sepulchre, to secure his ghost from an airing. + +'He can walk, my dears, certainly, and talk--a little. Tete-a-tete, I do +not say. I should think there he would be--a stick! All you English +are. But what sort of a bow has he got, I ask you? How does he enter a +room? And, then his smile! his laugh! He laughs like a horse-- +absolutely! There's no music in his smile. Oh! you should see a +Portuguese nobleman smile. O mio Deus! honeyed, my dears! But Evan has +it not. None of you English have. You go so.' + +The Countess pressed a thumb and finger to the sides of her mouth, and +set her sisters laughing. + +'I assure you, no better! not a bit! I faint in your society. I ask +myself--Where am I? Among what boors have I fallen? But Evan is no +worse than the rest of you; I acknowledge that. If he knew how to dress +his shoulders properly, and to direct his eyes--Oh! the eyes! you +should see how a Portuguese nobleman can use his eyes! Soul! my dears, +soul! Can any of you look the unutterable without being absurd! You +look so.' + +And the Countess hung her jaw under heavily vacuous orbits, something as +a sheep might yawn. + +'But I acknowledge that Evan is no worse than the rest of you,' she +repeated. 'If he understood at all the management of his eyes and mouth! +But that's what he cannot possibly learn in England--not possibly! As +for your poor husband, Harriet! one really has to remember his excellent +qualities to forgive him, poor man! And that stiff bandbox of a man of +yours, Caroline!' addressing the wife of the Marine, 'he looks as if he +were all angles and sections, and were taken to pieces every night and +put together in the morning. He may be a good soldier--good anything you +will--but, Diacho! to be married to that! He is not civilized. None of +you English are. You have no place in the drawing-room. You are like so +many intrusive oxen--absolutely! One of your men trod on my toe the +other night, and what do you think the creature did? Jerks back, then +the half of him forward--I thought he was going to break in two--then +grins, and grunts, "Oh! 'm sure, beg pardon, 'm sure!" I don't know +whether he didn't say, MARM!' + +The Countess lifted her hands, and fell away in laughing horror. When +her humour, or her feelings generally, were a little excited, she spoke +her vernacular as her sisters did, but immediately subsided into the +deliberate delicately-syllabled drawl. + +'Now that happened to me once at one of our great Balls,' she pursued. +'I had on one side of me the Duchesse Eugenia de Formosa de Fontandigua; +on the other sat the Countess de Pel, a widow. And we were talking of +the ices that evening. Eugenia, you must know, my dears, was in love +with the Count Belmarana. I was her sole confidante. The Countess de +Pel--a horrible creature! Oh! she was the Duchess's determined enemy- +would have stabbed her for Belmarana, one of the most beautiful men! +Adored by every woman! So we talked ices, Eugenic and myself, quite +comfortably, and that horrible De Pel had no idea in life! Eugenia had +just said, "This ice sickens me! I do not taste the flavour of the +vanille." I answered, "It is here! It must--it cannot but be here! +You love the flavour of the vanille?" With her exquisite smile, I see +her now saying, "Too well! it is necessary to me! I live on it!"--when +up he came. In his eagerness, his foot just effleured my robe. Oh! +I never shall forget! In an instant he was down on one knee it was so +momentary that none saw it but we three, and done with ineffable grace. +"Pardon!" he said, in his sweet Portuguese; "Pardon!" looking up--the +handsomest man I ever beheld; and when I think of that odious wretch the +other night, with his "Oh! 'm sure, beg pardon, 'm sure! 'pon my honour!" +I could have kicked him--I could, indeed!' + +Here the Countess laughed out, but relapsed into: + +'Alas! that Belmarana should have betrayed that beautiful trusting +creature to De Pel. Such scandal! a duel!--the Duke was wounded. For a +whole year Eugenia did not dare to appear at Court, but had to remain +immured in her country-house, where she heard that Belmarana had married +De Pel! It was for her money, of course. Rich as Croesus, and as wicked +as the black man below! as dear papa used to say. By the way, weren't +we talking of Evan? Ah,--yes!' + +And so forth. The Countess was immensely admired, and though her sisters +said that she was 'foreignized' overmuch, they clung to her desperately. +She seemed so entirely to have eclipsed tailordom, or 'Demogorgon,' as +the Countess was pleased to call it. Who could suppose this grand- +mannered lady, with her coroneted anecdotes and delicious breeding, the +daughter of that thing? It was not possible to suppose it. It seemed to +defy the fact itself. + +They congratulated her on her complete escape from Demogorgon. The +Countess smiled on them with a lovely sorrow. + +'Safe from the whisper, my dears; the ceaseless dread? If you knew what +I have to endure! I sometimes envy you. 'Pon my honour, I sometimes +wish I had married a fishmonger! Silva, indeed, is a most excellent +husband. Polished! such polish as you know not of in England. He has a +way--a wriggle with his shoulders in company--I cannot describe it to +you; so slight! so elegant! and he is all that a woman could desire. +But who could be safe in any part of the earth, my dears, while papa +will go about so, and behave so extraordinarily? I was at dinner at your +English embassy a month ago, and there was Admiral Combleman, then on the +station off Lisbon, Sir Jackson Racial's friend, who was the Admiral at +Lymport formerly. I knew him at once, and thought, oh! what shall I do! +My heart was like a lump of lead. I would have given worlds that we +might one of us have smothered the other! I had to sit beside him-- +it always happens! Thank heaven! he did not identify me. And then +he told an anecdote of Papa. It was the dreadful old "Bath" story. +I thought I should have died. I could not but fancy the Admiral +suspected. Was it not natural? And what do you think I had the audacity +to do? I asked him coolly, whether the Mr. Harrington he mentioned was +not the son of Sir Abraham Harrington, of Torquay,--the gentleman who +lost his yacht in the Lisbon waters last year? I brought it on myself. +"Gentleman, ma'am,--MA'AM!" says the horrid old creature, laughing," +gentleman! he's a--" I cannot speak it: I choke! And then he began +praising Papa. Diacho! what I suffered. But, you know, I can keep my +countenance, if I perish. I am a Harrington as much as any of us!' + +And the Countess looked superb in the pride with which she said she was +what she would have given her hand not to be. But few feelings are +single on this globe, and junction of sentiments need not imply unity in +our yeasty compositions. + +'After it was over--my supplice,' continued the Countess, 'I was +questioned by all the ladies--I mean our ladies--not your English. They +wanted to know how I could be so civil to that intolerable man. I gained +a deal of credit, my dears. I laid it all on--Diplomacy.' The Countess +laughed bitterly. 'Diplomacy bears the burden of it all. I pretended +that Combleman could be useful to Silva! Oh! what hypocrites we all are, +mio Deus!' + +The ladies listening could not gainsay this favourite claim of universal +brotherhood among the select who wear masks instead of faces. + + +With regard to Evan, the Countess had far outstripped her sisters in her +views. A gentleman she had discovered must have one of two things-- +a title or money. He might have all the breeding in the world; he might +be as good as an angel; but without a title or money he was under eclipse +almost total. On a gentleman the sun must shine. Now, Evan had no +title, no money. The clouds were thick above the youth. To gain a title +he would have to scale aged mountains. There was one break in his +firmament through which the radiant luminary might be assisted to cast +its beams on him still young. That divine portal was matrimony. If he +could but make a rich marriage he would blaze transfigured; all would be +well! And why should not Evan marry an heiress, as well as another? + +'I know a young creature who would exactly suit him,' said the Countess. +'She is related to the embassy, and is in Lisbon now. A charming child-- +just sixteen! Dios! how the men rave about her! and she isn't a +beauty,--there's the wonder; and she is a little too gauche too English +in her habits and ways of thinking; likes to be admired, of course, but +doesn't know yet how to set about getting it. She rather scandalizes our +ladies, but when you know her!--She will have, they say, a hundred +'thousand pounds in her own right! Rose Jocelyn, the daughter of Sir +Franks, and that eccentric Lady Jocelyn. She is with her uncle, +Melville, the celebrated diplomate though, to tell you the truth, +we turn him round our fingers, and spin him as the boys used to do the +cockchafers. I cannot forget our old Fallow field school-life, you see, +my dears. Well, Rose Jocelyn would just suit Evan. She is just of an +age to receive an impression. And I would take care she did. Instance +me a case where I have failed? + +'Or there is the Portuguese widow, the Rostral. She's thirty, certainly; +but she possesses millions! Estates all over the kingdom, and the +sweetest creature. But, no. Evan would be out of the way there, +certainly. But--our women are very nice: they have the dearest, +sweetest ways: but I would rather Evan did not marry one of them. +And then there 's the religion!' + +This was a sore of the Countess's own, and she dropped a tear in coming +across it. + +'No, my dears, it shall be Rose Jocelyn!' she concluded: 'I will take +Evan over with me, and see that he has opportunities. It shall be Rose, +and then I can call her mine; for in verity I love the child.' + +It is not my part to dispute the Countess's love for Miss Jocelyn; +and I have only to add that Evan, unaware of the soft training he was +to undergo, and the brilliant chance in store for him, offered no +impediment to the proposition that he should journey to Portugal with his +sister (whose subtlest flattery was to tell him that she should not be +ashamed to own him there); and ultimately, furnished with cash for the +trip by the remonstrating brewer, went. + +So these Parcae, daughters of the shears, arranged and settled the young +man's fate. His task was to learn the management of his mouth, how to +dress his shoulders properly, and to direct his eyes--rare qualities in +man or woman, I assure you; the management of the mouth being especially +admirable, and correspondingly difficult. These achieved, he was to +place his battery in position, and win the heart and hand of an heiress. + +Our comedy opens with his return from Portugal, in company with Miss +Rose, the heiress; the Honourable Melville Jocelyn, the diplomate; and +the Count and Countess de Saldar, refugees out of that explosive little +kingdom. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +ON BOARD THE JOCASTA + +From the Tagus to the Thames the Government sloop-of-war, Jocasta, +had made a prosperous voyage, bearing that precious freight, a removed +diplomatist and his family; for whose uses let a sufficient vindication +be found in the exercise he affords our crews in the science of +seamanship. She entered our noble river somewhat early on a fine July +morning. Early as it was, two young people, who had nothing to do with +the trimming or guiding of the vessel, stood on deck, and watched the +double-shore, beginning to embrace them more and more closely as they +sailed onward. One, a young lady, very young in manner, wore a black +felt hat with a floating scarlet feather, and was clad about the +shoulders in a mantle of foreign style and pattern. The other you might +have taken for a wandering Don, were such an object ever known; so simply +he assumed the dusky sombrero and dangling cloak, of which one fold was +flung across his breast and drooped behind him. The line of an +adolescent dark moustache ran along his lip, and only at intervals could +you see that his eyes were blue and of the land he was nearing. For the +youth was meditative, and held his head much down. The young lady, on +the contrary, permitted an open inspection of her countenance, and +seemed, for the moment at least, to be neither caring nor thinking of +what kind of judgement would be passed on her. Her pretty nose was up, +sniffing the still salt breeze with vivacious delight. + +'Oh!' she cried, clapping her hands, 'there goes a dear old English gull! +How I have wished to see him! I haven't seen one for two years and seven +months. When I 'm at home, I 'll leave my window open all night, just to +hear the rooks, when they wake in the morning. There goes another!' + +She tossed up her nose again, exclaiming: + +'I 'm sure I smell England nearer and nearer! I smell the fields, and +the cows in them. I'd have given anything to be a dairy-maid for half an +hour! I used to lie and pant in that stifling air among those stupid +people, and wonder why anybody ever left England. Aren't you glad to +come back?' + +This time the fair speaker lent her eyes to the question, and shut her +lips; sweet, cold, chaste lips she had: a mouth that had not yet dreamed +of kisses, and most honest eyes. + +The young man felt that they were not to be satisfied by his own, and +after seeking to fill them with a doleful look, which was immediately +succeeded by one of superhuman indifference, he answered: + +'Yes! We shall soon have to part!' and commenced tapping with his foot +the cheerful martyr's march. + +Speech that has to be hauled from the depths usually betrays the effort. +Listening an instant to catch the import of this cavernous gasp upon the +brink of sound, the girl said: + +'Part? what do you mean?' + +Apparently it required a yet vaster effort to pronounce an explanation. +The doleful look, the superhuman indifference, were repeated in due +order: sound, a little more distinct, uttered the words: + +'We cannot be as we have been, in England!' and then the cheerful martyr +took a few steps farther. + +'Why, you don't mean to say you're going to give me up, and not be +friends with me, because we've come back to England?' cried the girl +in a rapid breath, eyeing him seriously. + +Most conscientiously he did not mean it! but he replied with the quietest +negative. + +'No?' she mimicked him. 'Why do you say "No" like that? Why are you so +mysterious, Evan? Won't you promise me to come and stop with us for +weeks? Haven't you said we would ride, and hunt, and fish together, +and read books, and do all sorts of things?' + +He replied with the quietest affirmative. + +'Yes? What does "Yes!" mean?' She lifted her chest to shake out the +dead-alive monosyllable, as he had done. 'Why are you so singular this +morning, Evan? Have I offended you? You are so touchy!' + +The slur on his reputation for sensitiveness induced the young man to +attempt being more explicit. + +'I mean,' he said, hesitating; 'why, we must part. We shall not see each +other every day. Nothing more than that.' And away went the cheerful +martyr in sublimest mood. + +'Oh! and that makes you, sorry?' A shade of archness was in her voice. + +The girl waited as if to collect something in her mind, and was now a +patronizing woman. + +'Why, you dear sentimental boy! You don't suppose we could see each +other every day for ever?' + +It was perhaps the cruelest question that could have been addressed to +the sentimental boy from her mouth. But he was a cheerful martyr! + +'You dear Don Doloroso!' she resumed. 'I declare if you are not just +like those young Portugals this morning; and over there you were such a +dear English fellow; and that's why I liked you so much! Do change! +Do, please, be lively, and yourself again. Or mind; I'll call you Don +Doloroso, and that shall be your name in England. See there!--that's-- +that's? what's the name of that place? Hoy! Mr. Skerne!' She hailed the +boatswain, passing, 'Do tell me the name of that place.' + +Mr. Skerne righted about to satisfy her minutely, and then coming up to +Evan, he touched his hat, and said: + +'I mayn't have another opportunity--we shall be busy up there--of +thankin' you again, sir, for what you did for my poor drunken brother +Bill, and you may take my word I won't forget it, sir, if he does; and +I suppose he'll be drowning his memory just as he was near drowning +himself.' + +Evan muttered something, grimaced civilly, and turned away. The girl's +observant brows were moved to a faintly critical frown, and nodding +intelligently to the boatswain's remark, that the young gentleman did not +seem quite himself, now that he was nearing home, she went up to Evan, +and said: + +'I'm going to give you a lesson in manners, to be quits with you. +Listen, sir. Why did you turn away so ungraciously from Mr. Skerne, +while he was thanking you for having saved his brother's life? Now +there's where you're too English. Can't you bear to be thanked?' + +'I don't want to be thanked because I can swim,' said Evan. + +'But it is not that. Oh, how you trifle!' she cried. 'There's nothing +vexes me so much as that way you have. Wouldn't my eyes have sparkled if +anybody had come up to me to thank me for such a thing? I would let them +know how glad I was to have done such a thing! Doesn't it make them +happier, dear Evan?' + +'My dear Miss Jocelyn!' + +'What?' + +The honest grey eyes fixed on him, narrowed their enlarged lids. She +gazed before her on the deck, saying: + +'I'm sure I can't understand you. I suppose it's because I'm a girl, and +I never shall till I'm a woman. Heigho!' + +A youth who is engaged in the occupation of eating his heart, cannot +shine to advantage, and is as much a burden to himself as he is an enigma +to others. Evan felt this; but he could do nothing and say nothing; so +he retired deeper into the folds of the Don, and remained picturesque and +scarcely pleasant. + +They were relieved by a summons to breakfast from below. + +She brightened and laughed. 'Now, what will you wager me, Evan, that the +Countess doesn't begin: + +"Sweet child! how does she this morning? blooming?" when she kisses +me?' + +Her capital imitation of his sister's manner constrained him to join in +her laugh, and he said: + +'I'll back against that, I get three fingers from your uncle, and +"Morrow, young sir!"' + +Down they ran together, laughing; and, sure enough, the identical words +of the respective greetings were employed, which they had to enjoy with +all the discretion they could muster. + +Rose went round the table to her little cousin Alec, aged seven, kissed +his reluctant cheek, and sat beside him, announcing a sea appetite and +great capabilities, while Evan silently broke bread. The Count de +Saldar, a diminutive tawny man, just a head and neck above the +tablecloth, sat sipping chocolate and fingering dry toast, which he would +now and then dip in jelly, and suck with placidity, in the intervals of a +curt exchange of French with the wife of the Hon. Melville, a ringleted +English lady, or of Portuguese with the Countess; who likewise sipped +chocolate and fingered dry toast, and was mournfully melodious. The Hon. +Melville, as became a tall islander, carved beef, and ate of it, like a +ruler of men. Beautiful to see was the compassionate sympathy of the +Countess's face when Rose offered her plate for a portion of the world- +subjugating viand, as who should say: 'Sweet child! thou knowest not yet +of sorrows, thou canst ballast thy stomach with beef!' In any other than +an heiress, she would probably have thought: 'This is indeed a disgusting +little animal, and most unfeminine conduct!' + +Rose, unconscious of praise or blame, rivalled her uncle in enjoyment of +the fare, and talked of her delight in seeing England again, and anything +that belonged to her native land. Mrs. Melville perceived that it pained +the refugee Countess, and gave her the glance intelligible; but the +Countess never missed glances, or failed to interpret them. She said: + +'Let her. I love to hear the sweet child's prattle.' + +'It was fortunate' (she addressed the diplomatist) 'that we touched at +Southampton and procured fresh provision!' + +'Very lucky for US!' said he, glaring shrewdly between a mouthful. + +The Count heard the word 'Southampton,' and wished to know how it was +comprised. A passage of Portuguese ensued, and then the Countess said: + +'Silva, you know, desired to relinquish the vessel at Southampton. He +does not comprehend the word "expense," but' (she shook a dumb Alas!) +'I must think of that for him now!' + +'Oh! always avoid expense,' said the Hon. Melville, accustomed to be +paid for by his country. + +'At what time shall we arrive, may I ask, do you think?' the Countess +gently inquired. + +The watch of a man who had his eye on Time was pulled out, and she was +told it might be two hours before dark. Another reckoning, keenly +balanced, informed the company that the day's papers could be expected on +board somewhere about three o'clock in the afternoon. + +'And then,' said the Hon. Melville, nodding general gratulation, 'we +shall know how the world wags.' + +How it had been wagging the Countess's straining eyes under closed +eyelids were eloquent of. + +'Too late, I fear me, to wait upon Lord Livelyston to-night?' she +suggested. + +'To-night?' The Hon. Melville gazed blank astonishment at the notion. +'Oh! certainly, too late tonight. A-hum! I think, madam, you had better +not be in too great a hurry to see him. Repose a little. Recover your +fatigue.' + +'Oh !' exclaimed the Countess, with a beam of utter confidence in him, +'I shall be too happy to place myself in your hands--believe me.' + +This was scarcely more to the taste of the diplomatist. He put up his +mouth, and said, blandly: + +'I fear--you know, madam, I must warn you beforehand--I, personally, +am but an insignificant unit over here, you know; I, personally, +can't guarantee much assistance to you--not positive. What I can do-- +of course, very happy!' And he fell to again upon the beef. + +'Not so very insignificant!' said the Countess, smiling, as at a softly +radiant conception of him. + +'Have to bob and bow like the rest of them over here,' he added, proof +against the flattery. + +'But that you will not forsake Silva, I am convinced,' said the Countess; +and, paying little heed to his brief 'Oh! what I can do,' continued: +'For over here, in England, we are almost friendless. My relations--such +as are left of them--are not in high place.' She turned to Mrs. +Melville, and renewed the confession with a proud humility. 'Truly, I +have not a distant cousin in the Cabinet!' + +Mrs. Melville met her sad smile, and returned it, as one who understood +its entire import. + +'My brother-in-law-my sister, I think, you know--married a--a brewer! +He is rich; but, well! such was her taste! My brother-in-law is indeed +in Parliament, and he--' + +'Very little use, seeing he votes with the opposite party,' the +diplomatist interrupted her. + +'Ah! but he will not,' said the Countess, serenely. 'I can trust with +confidence that, if it is for Silva's interest, he will assuredly so +dispose of his influence as to suit the desiderations of his family, and +not in any way oppose his opinions to the powers that would willingly +stoop to serve us!' + +It was impossible for the Hon. Melville to withhold a slight grimace at +his beef, when he heard this extremely alienized idea of the nature of a +member of the Parliament of Great Britain. He allowed her to enjoy her +delusion, as she pursued: + +'No. So much we could offer in repayment. It is little! But this, in +verity, is a case. Silva's wrongs have only to be known in England, and +I am most assured that the English people will not permit it. In the +days of his prosperity, Silva was a friend to England, and England should +not--should not--forget it now. Had we money! But of that arm our +enemies have deprived us: and, I fear, without it we cannot hope to have +the justice of our cause pleaded in the English papers. Mr. Redner, you +know, the correspondent in Lisbon, is a sworn foe to Silva. And why but +because I would not procure him an invitation to Court! The man was so +horridly vulgar; his gloves were never clean; I had to hold a bouquet to +my nose when I talked to him. That, you say, was my fault! Truly so. +But what woman can be civil to a low-bred, pretentious, offensive man?' + +Mrs. Melville, again appealed to, smiled perfect sympathy, and said, to +account for his character: + +'Yes. He is the son of a small shopkeeper of some kind, in Southampton, +I hear.' + +'A very good fellow in his way,' said her husband. + +'Oh! I can't bear that class of people,' Rose exclaimed. 'I always keep +out of their way. You can always tell them.' + +The Countess smiled considerate approbation of her exclusiveness and +discernment. So sweet a smile! + +'You were on deck early, my dear?' she asked Evan, rather abruptly. + +Master Alec answered for him: 'Yes, he was, and so was Rose. They made +an appointment, just as they used to do under the oranges.' + +'Children!' the Countess smiled to Mrs. Melville. + +'They always whisper when I'm by,' Alec appended. + +'Children!' the Countess's sweetened visage entreated Mrs. Melville to +re-echo; but that lady thought it best for the moment to direct Rose to +look to her packing, now that she had done breakfast. + +'And I will take a walk with my brother on deck,' said the Countess. +'Silva is too harassed for converse.' + +The parties were thus divided. The silent Count was left to meditate on +his wrongs in the saloon; and the diplomatist, alone with his lady, +thought fit to say to her, shortly: 'Perhaps it would be as well to draw +away from these people a little. We 've done as much as we could for +them, in bringing them over here. They may be trying to compromise us. +That woman's absurd. She 's ashamed of the brewer, and yet she wants to +sell him--or wants us to buy him. Ha! I think she wants us to send a +couple of frigates, and threaten bombardment of the capital, if they +don't take her husband back, and receive him with honours.' + +'Perhaps it would be as well,' said Mrs. Melville. 'Rose's invitation to +him goes for nothing.' + +'Rose? inviting the Count? down to Hampshire?' The diplomatist's brows +were lifted. + +'No, I mean the other,' said the diplomatist's wife. + +'Oh! the young fellow! very good young fellow. Gentlemanly. No harm in +him.' + +'Perhaps not,' said the diplomatist's wife. + +'You don't suppose he expects us to keep him on, or provide for him over +here--eh?' + +The diplomatist's wife informed him that such was not her thought, that +he did not understand, and that it did not matter; and as soon as the +Hon. Melville saw that she was brooding something essentially feminine, +and which had no relationship to the great game of public life, curiosity +was extinguished in him. + +On deck the Countess paced with Evan, and was for a time pleasantly +diverted by the admiration she could, without looking, perceive that her +sorrow-subdued graces had aroused in the breast of a susceptible naval +lieutenant. At last she spoke: + +'My dear! remember this. Your last word to Mr. Jocelyn will be: "I will +do myself the honour to call upon my benefactor early." To Rose you will +say: "Be assured, Miss Jocelyn "Miss Jocelyn--"I shall not fail in +hastening to pay my respects to your family in Hampshire." You will +remember to do it, in the exact form I speak it.' + +Evan laughed: 'What! call him benefactor to his face? I couldn't do it.' + +'Ah! my child!' + +'Besides, he isn't a benefactor at all. His private secretary died, and +I stepped in to fill the post, because nobody else was handy.' + +'And tell me of her who pushed you forward, Evan?' + +'My dear sister, I'm sure I'm not ungrateful.' + +'No; but headstrong: opinionated. Now these people will endeavour--Oh! +I have seen it in a thousand little things--they wish to shake us off. +Now, if you will but do as I indicate! Put your faith in an older head, +Evan. It is your only chance of society in England. For your brother- +in-law--I ask you, what sort of people will you meet at the Cogglesbys? +Now and then a nobleman, very much out of his element. In short, you +have fed upon a diet which will make you to distinguish, and painfully to +know the difference! Indeed! Yes, you are looking about for Rose. It +depends upon your behaviour now, whether you are to see her at all in +England. Do you forget? You wished once to inform her of your origin. +Think of her words at the breakfast this morning!' + +The Countess imagined she had produced an impression. Evan said: 'Yes, +and I should have liked to have told her this morning that I'm myself +nothing more than the son of a--' + +'Stop! cried his sister, glancing about in horror. The admiring +lieutenant met her eye. Blandishingly she smiled on him: 'Most beautiful +weather for a welcome to dear England?' and passed with majesty. + +'Boy!' she resumed, 'are you mad?' + +'I hate being such a hypocrite, madam.' + +'Then you do not love her, Evan?' + +This may have been dubious logic, but it resulted from a clear sequence +of ideas in the lady's head. Evan did not contest it. + +'And assuredly you will lose her, Evan. Think of my troubles! I have to +intrigue for Silva; I look to your future; I smile, Oh heaven! how do I +not smile when things are spoken that pierce my heart! This morning at +the breakfast!' + +Evan took her hand, and patted it. + +'What is your pity?' she sighed. + +'If it had not been for you, my dear sister, I should never have held my +tongue.' + +'You are not a Harrington! You are a Dawley!' she exclaimed, +indignantly. + +Evan received the accusation of possessing more of his mother's spirit +than his father's in silence. + +'You would not have held your tongue,' she said, with fervid severity: +'and you would have betrayed yourself! and you would have said you were +that! and you in that costume! Why, goodness gracious! could you bear to +appear so ridiculous?' + +The poor young man involuntarily surveyed his person. The pains of an +impostor seized him. The deplorable image of the Don making confession +became present to his mind. It was a clever stroke of this female +intriguer. She saw him redden grievously, and blink his eyes; and not +wishing to probe him so that he would feel intolerable disgust at his +imprisonment in the Don, she continued: + +'But you have the sense to see your duties, Evan. You have an excellent +sense, in the main. No one would dream--to see you. You did not, I must +say, you did not make enough of your gallantry. A Portuguese who had +saved a man's life, Evan, would he have been so boorish? You behaved as +if it was a matter of course that you should go overboard after anybody, +in your clothes, on a dark night. So, then, the Jocelyns took it. I +barely heard one compliment to you. And Rose--what an effect it should +have had on her! But, owing to your manner, I do believe the girl thinks +it nothing but your ordinary business to go overboard after anybody, in +your clothes, on a dark night. 'Pon my honour, I believe she expects to +see you always dripping!' The Countess uttered a burst of hysterical +humour. 'So you miss your credit. That inebriated sailor should really +have been gold to you. Be not so young and thoughtless.' + +The Countess then proceeded to tell him how foolishly he had let slip his +great opportunity. A Portuguese would have fixed the young lady long +before. By tender moonlight, in captivating language, beneath the +umbrageous orange-groves, a Portuguese would have accurately calculated +the effect of the perfume of the blossom on her sensitive nostrils, and +know the exact moment when to kneel, and declare his passion sonorously. + +'Yes,' said Evan, 'one of them did. She told me.' + +'She told you? And you--what did you do?' + +'Laughed at him with her, to be sure.' + +'Laughed at him! She told you, and you helped her to laugh at love! +Have you no perceptions? Why did she tell you?' + +'Because she thought him such a fool, I suppose.' + +'You never will know a woman,' said the Countess, with contempt. + +Much of his worldly sister at a time was more than Evan could bear. +Accustomed to the symptoms of restiveness, she finished her discourse, +enjoyed a quiet parade up and down under the gaze of the lieutenant, and +could find leisure to note whether she at all struck the inferior seamen, +even while her mind was absorbed by the multiform troubles and anxieties +for which she took such innocent indemnification. + +The appearance of the Hon. Melville Jocelyn on deck, and without his +wife, recalled her to business. It is a peculiarity of female +diplomatists that they fear none save their own sex. Men they regard as +their natural prey: in women they see rival hunters using their own +weapons. The Countess smiled a slowly-kindling smile up to him, set her +brother adrift, and delicately linked herself to Evan's benefactor. + +'I have been thinking,' she said, 'knowing your kind and most considerate +attentions, that we may compromise you in England.' + +He at once assured her he hoped not, he thought not at all. + +'The idea is due to my brother,' she went on; 'for I--women know so +little!--and most guiltlessly should we have done so. My brother perhaps +does not think of us foremost; but his argument I can distinguish. I can +see, that were you openly to plead Silva's cause, you might bring +yourself into odium, Mr. Jocelyn; and heaven knows I would not that! +May I then ask, that in England we may be simply upon the same footing +of private friendship?' + +The diplomatist looked into her uplifted visage, that had all the sugary +sparkles of a crystallized preserved fruit of the Portugal clime, and +observed, confidentially, that, with every willingness in the world to +serve her, he did think it would possibly be better, for a time, to be +upon that footing, apart from political considerations. + +'I was very sure my brother would apprehend your views,' said the +Countess. 'He, poor boy! his career is closed. He must sink into a +different sphere. He will greatly miss the intercourse with you and your +sweet family.' + +Further relieved, the diplomatist delivered a high opinion of the young +gentleman, his abilities, and his conduct, and trusted he should see him +frequently. + +By an apparent sacrifice, the lady thus obtained what she wanted. + +Near the hour speculated on by the diplomatist, the papers came on board, +and he, unaware how he had been manoeuvred for lack of a wife at his +elbow, was quickly engaged in appeasing the great British hunger for +news; second only to that for beef, it seems, and equally acceptable +salted when it cannot be had fresh. + +Leaving the devotee of statecraft with his legs crossed, and his face +wearing the cognizant air of one whose head is above the waters of +events, to enjoy the mighty meal of fresh and salted at discretion, +the Countess dived below. + +Meantime the Jocasta, as smoothly as before she was ignorant of how the +world wagged, slipped up the river with the tide; and the sun hung red +behind the forest of masts, burnishing a broad length of the serpentine +haven of the nations of the earth. A young Englishman returning home can +hardly look on this scene without some pride of kinship. Evan stood at +the fore part of the vessel. Rose, in quiet English attire, had escaped +from her aunt to join him, singing in his ears, to spur his senses: +'Isn't it beautiful? Isn't it beautiful? Dear old England!' + +'What do you find so beautiful?' he asked. + +'Oh, you dull fellow! Why the ships, and the houses, and the smoke, to +be sure.' + +'The ships? Why, I thought you despised trade, mademoiselle?' + +'And so I do. That is, not trade, but tradesmen. Of course, I mean +shopkeepers.' + +'It's they who send the ships to and fro, and make the picture that +pleases you, nevertheless.' + +'Do they?' said she, indifferently, and then with a sort of fervour, 'Why +do you always grow so cold to me whenever we get on this subject?' + +'I cold?' Evan responded. The incessant fears of his diplomatic sister +had succeeded in making him painfully jealous of this subject. He turned +it off. 'Why, our feelings are just the same. Do you know what I was +thinking when you came up? I was thinking that I hoped I might never +disgrace the name of an Englishman.' + +'Now, that's noble!' cried the girl. 'And I'm sure you never will. Of +an English gentleman, Evan. I like that better.' + +'Would your rather be called a true English lady than a true English +woman, Rose?' + +'Don't think I would, my dear,' she answered, pertly; 'but "gentleman" +always means more than "man" to me.' + +'And what's a gentleman, mademoiselle?' + +'Can't tell you, Don Doloroso. Something you are, sir,' she added, +surveying him. + +Evan sucked the bitter and the sweet of her explanation. His sister in +her anxiety to put him on his guard, had not beguiled him to forget his +real state. + +His sister, the diplomatist and his lady, the refugee Count, with ladies' +maids, servants, and luggage, were now on the main-deck, and Master Alec, +who was as good as a newspaper correspondent for private conversations, +put an end to the colloquy of the young people. They were all assembled +in a circle when the vessel came to her moorings. The diplomatist +glutted with news, and thirsting for confirmations; the Count dumb, +courteous, and quick-eyed; the honourable lady complacent in the +consciousness of boxes well packed; the Countess breathing mellifluous +long-drawn adieux that should provoke invitations. Evan and Rose +regarded each other. + +The boat to convey them on shore was being lowered, and they were +preparing to move forward. Just then the vessel was boarded by a +stranger. + +'Is that one of the creatures of your Customs? I did imagine we were +safe from them,' exclaimed the Countess. + +The diplomatist laughingly requested her to save herself anxiety on that +score, while under his wing. But she had drawn attention to the +intruder, who was seen addressing one of the midshipmen. He was a man in +a long brown coat and loose white neckcloth, spectacles on nose, which he +wore considerably below the bridge and peered over, as if their main use +were to sight his eye; a beaver hat, with broadish brim, on his head. +A man of no station, it was evident to the ladies at once, and they would +have taken no further notice of him had he not been seen stepping toward +them in the rear of the young midshipman. + +The latter came to Evan, and said: 'A fellow of the name of Goren wants +you. Says there's something the matter at home.' + +Evan advanced, and bowed stiffly. + +Mr. Goren held out his hand. 'You don't remember me, young man? I cut +out your first suit for you when you were breeched, though! Yes-ah! +Your poor father wouldn't put his hand to it. Goren!' + +Embarrassed, and not quite alive to the chapter of facts this name should +have opened to him, Evan bowed again. + +'Goren!' continued the possessor of the name. He had a cracked voice, +that when he spoke a word of two syllables, commenced with a lugubrious +crow, and ended in what one might have taken for a curious question. + +'It is a bad business brings me, young man. I 'm not the best messenger +for such tidings. It's a black suit, young man! It's your father!' + +The diplomatist and his lady gradually edged back but Rose remained +beside the Countess, who breathed quick, and seemed to have lost her +self-command. + +Thinking he was apprehended, Mr. Goren said: 'I 'm going down to-night to +take care of the shop. He 's to be buried in his old uniform. You had +better come with me by the night-coach, if you would see the last of him, +young man.' + +Breaking an odd pause that had fallen, the Countess cried aloud, suddenly: + +'In his uniform!' + +Mr. Goren felt his arm seized and his legs hurrying him some paces into +isolation. 'Thanks! thanks!' was murmured in his ear. 'Not a word +more. Evan cannot bear it. Oh! you are good to have come, and we are +grateful. My father! my father!' + +She had to tighten her hand and wrist against her bosom to keep herself +up. She had to reckon in a glance how much Rose had heard, or divined. +She had to mark whether the Count had understood a syllable. She had to +whisper to Evan to hasten away with the horrible man. + +She had to enliven his stunned senses, and calm her own. And with +mournful images of her father in her brain, the female Spartan had to +turn to Rose, and speculate on the girl's reflective brows, while she +said, as over a distant relative, sadly, but without distraction: +'A death in the family!' and preserved herself from weeping her heart +out, that none might guess the thing who did not positively know it. +Evan touched the hand of Rose without meeting her eyes. He was soon cast +off in Mr. Goren's boat. Then the Countess murmured final adieux; +twilight under her lids, but yet a smile, stately, affectionate, almost +genial. Rose, her sweet Rose, she must kiss. She could have slapped +Rose for appearing so reserved and cold. She hugged Rose, as to hug +oblivion of the last few minutes into her. The girl leant her cheek, and +bore the embrace, looking on her with a kind of wonder. + +Only when alone with the Count, in the brewer's carriage awaiting her on +shore, did the lady give a natural course to her grief; well knowing that +her Silva would attribute it to the darkness of their common exile. She +wept: but in the excess of her misery, two words of strangely opposite +signification, pronounced by Mr. Goren; two words that were at once +poison and antidote, sang in her brain; two words that painted her dead +father from head to foot, his nature and his fortune: these were the +Shop, and the Uniform. + +Oh! what would she not have given to have-seen and bestowed on her +beloved father one last kiss! Oh! how she hoped that her inspired echo +of Uniform, on board the Jocasta, had drowned the memory, eclipsed the +meaning, of that fatal utterance of Shop! + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE FAMILY AND THE FUNERAL + +It was the evening of the second day since the arrival of the black +letter in London from Lymport, and the wife of the brewer and the wife of +the Major sat dropping tears into one another's laps, in expectation of +their sister the Countess. Mr. Andrew Cogglesby had not yet returned +from his office. The gallant Major had gone forth to dine with General +Sir George Frebuter, the head of the Marines of his time. It would have +been difficult for the Major, he informed his wife, to send in an excuse +to the General for non-attendance, without entering into particulars; +and that he should tell the General he could not dine with him, because +of the sudden decease of a tailor, was, as he let his wife understand, +and requested her to perceive, quite out of the question. So he dressed +himself carefully, and though peremptory with his wife concerning his +linen, and requiring natural services from her in the button department, +and a casual expression of contentment as to his ultimate make-up, he +left her that day without any final injunctions to occupy her mind, and +she was at liberty to weep if she pleased, a privilege she did not enjoy +undisturbed when he was present; for the warrior hated that weakness, and +did not care to hide his contempt for it. + +Of the three sisters, the wife of the Major was, oddly enough, the one +who was least inveterately solicitous of concealing the fact of her +parentage. Reticence, of course, she had to study with the rest; the +Major was a walking book of reticence and the observances; he professed, +also, in company with herself alone, to have had much trouble in drilling +her to mark and properly preserve them. She had no desire to speak of +her birthplace. But, for some reason or other, she did not share her +hero's rather petulant anxiety to keep the curtain nailed down on that +part of her life which preceded her entry into the ranks of the Royal +Marines. Some might have thought that those fair large blue eyes of hers +wandered now and then in pleasant unambitious walks behind the curtain, +and toyed with little flowers of palest memory. Utterly tasteless, +totally wanting in discernment, not to say gratitude, the Major could not +presume her to be; and yet his wits perceived that her answers and the +conduct she shaped in accordance with his repeated protests and long- +reaching apprehensions of what he called danger, betrayed acquiescent +obedience more than the connubial sympathy due to him. Danger on the +field the Major knew not of; he did not scruple to name the word in +relation to his wife. For, as he told her, should he, some day, as in +the chapter of accidents might occur, sally into the street a Knight +Companion of the Bath and become known to men as Sir Maxwell Strike, it +would be decidedly disagreeable for him to be blown upon by a wind from +Lymport. Moreover she was the mother of a son. The Major pointed out to +her the duty she owed her offspring. Certainly the protecting aegis of +his rank and title would be over the lad, but she might depend upon it +any indiscretion of hers would damage him in his future career, the Major +assured her. Young Maxwell must be considered. + +For all this, the mother and wife, when the black letter found them in +the morning at breakfast, had burst into a fit of grief, and faltered +that she wept for a father. Mrs. Andrew, to whom the letter was +addressed, had simply held the letter to her in a trembling hand. The +Major compared their behaviour, with marked encomiums of Mrs. Andrew. +Now this lady and her husband were in obverse relative positions. The +brewer had no will but his Harriet's. His esteem for her combined the +constitutional feelings of an insignificantly-built little man for a +majestic woman, and those of a worthy soul for the wife of his bosom. +Possessing, or possessed by her, the good brewer was perfectly happy. +She, it might be thought, under these circumstances, would not have +minded much his hearing what he might hear. It happened, however, +that she was as jealous of the winds of Lymport as the Major himself; +as vigilant in debarring them from access to the brewery as now the +Countess could have been. We are not dissecting human nature suffice it, +therefore, from a mere glance at the surface, to say, that just as +moneyed men are careful of their coin, women who have all the advantages +in a conjunction, are miserly in keeping them, and shudder to think that +one thing remains hidden, which the world they move in might put down +pityingly in favour of their spouse, even though to the little man 'twere +naught. She assumed that a revelation would diminish her moral stature; +and certainly it would not increase that of her husband. So no good +could come of it. Besides, Andrew knew, his whole conduct was a tacit +admission, that she had condescended in giving him her hand. The +features of their union might not be changed altogether by a revelation, +but it would be a shock to her. + +Consequently, Harriet tenderly rebuked Caroline, for her outcry at the +breakfast-table; and Caroline, the elder sister, who had not since +marriage grown in so free an air, excused herself humbly, and the two +were weeping when the Countess joined them and related what she had just +undergone. + +Hearing of Caroline's misdemeanour, however, Louisa's eyes rolled aloft +in a paroxysm of tribulation. It was nothing to Caroline; it was +comparatively nothing to Harriet; but the Count knew not Louisa had a +father: believed that her parents had long ago been wiped out. And the +Count was by nature inquisitive: and if he once cherished a suspicion he +was restless; he was pointed in his inquiries: he was pertinacious in +following out a clue: there never would be peace with him! And then, +as they were secure in their privacy, Louisa cried aloud for her father, +her beloved father! Harriet wept silently. Caroline alone expressed +regret that she had not set eyes on him from the day she became a wife. + +'How could we, dear?' the Countess pathetically asked, under drowning +lids. + +'Papa did not wish it,' sobbed Mrs. Andrew. + +'I never shall forgive myself!' said the wife of the Major, drying her +cheeks. Perhaps it was not herself whom she felt she never could +forgive. + +Ah! the man their father was! Incomparable Melchisedec! he might well +be called. So generous! so lordly! When the rain of tears would +subside for a moment, one would relate an anecdote or childish +reminiscence of him, and provoke a more violent outburst. + +'Never, among the nobles of any land, never have I seen one like him!' +exclaimed the Countess, and immediately requested Harriet to tell her +how it would be possible to stop Andrew's tongue in Silva's presence. + +'At present, you know, my dear, they may talk as much as they like--they +can't understand one another one bit.' + +Mrs. Cogglesby comforted her by the assurance that Andrew had received an +intimation of her wish for silence everywhere and toward everybody; and +that he might be reckoned upon to respect it, without demanding a reason +for the restriction. In other days Caroline and Louisa had a little +looked down on Harriet's alliance with a dumpy man--a brewer--and had +always kind Christian compassion for him if his name were mentioned. +They seemed now, by their silence, to have a happier estimate of Andrew's +qualities. + +While the three sisters sat mingling their sorrows and alarms, their +young brother was making his way to the house. As he knocked at the door +he heard his name pronounced behind him, and had no difficulty in +recognizing the worthy brewer. + +'What, Van, my boy! how are you? Quite a foreigner! By George, what a +hat!' + +Mr. Andrew bounced back two or three steps to regard the dusky sombrero. + +'How do you do, sir?' said Evan. + +'Sir to you!' Mr. Andrew briskly replied. 'Don't they teach you to give +your fist in Portugal, eh? I'll "sir" you. Wait till I'm Sir Andrew, +and then "sir" away. You do speak English still, Van, eh? Quite jolly, +my boy?' + +Mr. Andrew rubbed his hands to express that state in himself. Suddenly +he stopped, blinked queerly at Evan, grew pensive, and said, 'Bless my +soul! I forgot.' + +The door opened, Mr. Andrew took Evan's arm, murmured a 'hush!' and trod +gently along the passage to his library. + +'We're safe here,' he said. 'There--there's something the matter up- +stairs. The women are upset about something. Harriet--' Mr. Andrew +hesitated, and branched off: 'You 've heard we 've got a new baby?' + +Evan congratulated him; but another inquiry was in Mr. Andrew's aspect, +and Evan's calm, sad manner answered it. + +'Yes,'--Mr. Andrew shook his head dolefully--'a splendid little chap! +a rare little chap! a we can't help these things, Van! They will +happen. Sit down, my boy.' + +Mr. Andrew again interrogated Evan with his eyes. + +'My father is dead,' said Evan. + +'Yes!' Mr. Andrew nodded, and glanced quickly at the ceiling, as if to +make sure that none listened overhead. 'My parliamentary duties will +soon be over for the season,' he added, aloud; pursuing, in an under- +breath: + +'Going down to-night, Van?' + +'He is to be buried to-morrow,' said Evan. + +'Then, of course, you go. Yes: quite right. Love your father and +mother! always love your father and mother! Old Tom and I never knew +ours. Tom's quite well-same as ever. I'll,' he rang the bell, 'have my +chop in here with you. You must try and eat a bit, Van. Here we are, +and there we go. Old Tom's wandering for one of his weeks. You'll see +him some day. He ain't like me. No dinner to-day, I suppose, Charles?' + +This was addressed to the footman. He announced: + +'Dinner to-day at half-past six, as usual, sir,' bowed, and retired. + +Mr. Andrew pored on the floor, and rubbed his hair back on his head. +'An odd world!' was his remark. + +Evan lifted up his face to sigh: 'I 'm almost sick of it!' + +'Damn appearances!' cried Mr. Andrew, jumping on his legs. + +The action cooled him. + +'I 'm sorry I swore,' he said. 'Bad habit! The Major's here--you know +that?' and he assumed the Major's voice, and strutted in imitation of the +stalwart marine. 'Major--a--Strike! of the Royal Marines! returned from +China! covered with glory!--a hero, Van! We can't expect him to be much +of a mourner. And we shan't have him to dine with us to-day--that's +something.' He sank his voice: 'I hope the widow 'll bear it.' + +'I hope to God my mother is well!' Evan groaned. + +'That'll do,' said Mr. Andrew. 'Don't say any more.' + +As he spoke, he clapped Evan kindly on the back. + +A message was brought from the ladies, requiring Evan to wait on them. +He returned after some minutes. + +'How do you think Harriet's looking?' asked Mr. Andrew. And, not waiting +for an answer, whispered, + +'Are they going down to the funeral, my boy?' + +Evan's brow was dark, as he replied: 'They are not decided.' + +'Won't Harriet go?' + +'She is not going--she thinks not.' + +'And the Countess--Louisa's upstairs, eh?--will she go?' + +'She cannot leave the Count--she thinks not.' + +'Won't Caroline go? Caroline can go. She--he--I mean--Caroline can go?' + +'The Major objects. She wishes to.' + +Mr. Andrew struck out his arm, and uttered, 'the Major!'--a compromise +for a loud anathema. But the compromise was vain, for he sinned again in +an explosion against appearances. + +'I'm a brewer, Van. Do you think I'm ashamed of it? Not while I brew +good beer, my boy!--not while I brew good beer! They don't think worse +of me in the House for it. It isn't ungentlemanly to brew good beer, +Van. But what's the use of talking?' + +Mr. Andrew sat down, and murmured, 'Poor girl! poor girl!' + +The allusion was to his wife; for presently he said: 'I can't see why +Harriet can't go. What's to prevent her?' + +Evan gazed at him steadily. Death's levelling influence was in Evan's +mind. He was ready to say why, and fully. + +Mr. Andrew arrested him with a sharp 'Never mind! Harriet does as she +likes. I'm accustomed to--hem! what she does is best, after all. She +doesn't interfere with my business, nor I with hers. Man and wife.' + +Pausing a moment or so, Mr. Andrew intimated that they had better be +dressing for dinner. With his hand on the door, which he kept closed, he +said, in a businesslike way, 'You know, Van, as for me, I should be very +willing--only too happy--to go down and pay all the respect I could.' +He became confused, and shot his head from side to side, looking anywhere +but at Evan. 'Happy now and to-morrow, to do anything in my power, if +Harriet--follow the funeral--one of the family--anything I could do: +but--a--we 'd better be dressing for dinner.' And out the enigmatic +little man went. + +Evan partly divined him then. But at dinner his behaviour was +perplexing. He was too cheerful. He pledged the Count. He would have +the Portuguese for this and that, and make Anglican efforts to repeat it, +and laugh at his failures. He would not see that there was a father +dead. At a table of actors, Mr. Andrew overdid his part, and was the +worst. His wife could not help thinking him a heartless little man. + +The poor show had its term. The ladies fled to the boudoir sacred to +grief. Evan was whispered that he was to join them when he might, +without seeming mysterious to the Count. Before he reached them, they +had talked tearfully over the clothes he should wear at Lymport, agreeing +that his present foreign apparel, being black, would be suitable, and +would serve almost as disguise, to the inhabitants at large; and as Evan +had no English wear, and there was no time to procure any for him, that +was well. They arranged exactly how long he should stay at Lymport, whom +he should visit, the manner he should adopt toward the different +inhabitants. By all means he was to avoid the approach of the gentry. +For hours Evan, in a trance, half stupefied, had to listen to the +Countess's directions how he was to comport himself in Lymport. + +'Show that you have descended among them, dear Van, but are not of them. +Our beautiful noble English poet expresses it so. You have come to pay +the last mortal duties, which they will respect, if they are not brutes, +and attempt no familiarities. Allow none: gently, but firmly. Imitate +Silva. You remember, at Dona Risbonda's ball? When he met the Comte de +Dartigues, and knew he was to be in disgrace with his Court on the +morrow? Oh! the exquisite shade of difference in Silva's behaviour +towards the Comte. So finely, delicately perceptible to the Comte, and +not a soul saw it but that wretched Frenchman! He came to me: "Madame," +he said, "is a question permitted?" I replied, "As-many as you please, +M. le Comte, but no answers promised." He said: "May I ask if the +Courier has yet come in?"--"Nay, M. le Comte," I replied, "this is +diplomacy. Inquire of me, or better, give me an opinion on the new glace +silk from Paris."--"Madame," said he, bowing, "I hope Paris may send me +aught so good, or that I shall grace half so well." I smiled, "You shall +not be single in your hopes, M. le Comte. The gift would be base that +you did not embellish." He lifted his hands, French-fashion: "Madame, it +is that I have received the gift."--"Indeed! M. le Comte."--"Even now +from the Count de Saldar, your husband." I looked most innocently, "From +my husband, M. le Comte?"--"From him, Madame. A portrait. An Ambassador +without his coat! The portrait was a finished performance." I said: +"And may one beg the permission to inspect it?"--"Mais," said he, +laughing: "were it you alone, it would be a privilege to me." I had to +check him. "Believe me, M. le Comte, that when I look upon it, my praise +of the artist will be extinguished by my pity for the subject." He +should have stopped there; but you cannot have the last word with a +Frenchman--not even a woman. Fortunately the Queen just then made her +entry into the saloon, and his mot on the charity of our sex was lost. +We bowed mutually, and were separated.' (The Countess employed her +handkerchief.) 'Yes, dear Van! that is how you should behave. Imply +things. With dearest Mama, of course, you are the dutiful son. Alas! +you must stand for son and daughters. Mama has so much sense! She will +understand how sadly we are placed. But in a week I will come to her for +a day, and bring you back.' + +So much his sister Louisa. His sister Harriet offered him her house for +a home in London, thence to project his new career. His sister Caroline +sought a word with him in private, but only to weep bitterly in his arms, +and utter a faint moan of regret at marriages in general. He loved this +beautiful creature the best of his three sisters (partly, it may be, +because he despised her superior officer), and tried with a few smothered +words to induce her to accompany him: but she only shook her fair locks +and moaned afresh. Mr. Andrew, in the farewell squeeze of the hand at +the street-door, asked him if he wanted anything. He negatived the +requirement of anything whatever, with an air of careless decision, +though he was aware that his purse barely contained more than would take +him the distance, but the instincts of this amateur gentleman were very +fine and sensitive on questions of money. His family had never known him +beg for a shilling, or admit his necessity for a penny: nor could he be +made to accept money unless it was thrust into his pocket. Somehow his +sisters had forgotten this peculiarity of his. Harriet only remembered +it when too late. + +'But I dare say Andrew has supplied him,' she said. + +Andrew being interrogated, informed her what had passed between them. + +'And you think a Harrington would confess he wanted money!' was her +scornful exclamation. 'Evan would walk--he would die rather. It was +treating him like a mendicant.' + +Andrew had to shrink in his brewer's skin. + +By some fatality all who were doomed to sit and listen to the Countess de +Saldar, were sure to be behindhand in an appointment. + +When the young man arrived at the coach-office, he was politely informed +that the vehicle, in which a seat had been secured for him, was in close +alliance with time and tide, and being under the same rigid laws, could +not possibly have waited for him, albeit it had stretched a point to the +extent of a pair of minutes, at the urgent solicitation of a passenger. + +'A gentleman who speaks so, sir,' said a volunteer mimic of the office, +crowing and questioning from his throat in Goren's manner. 'Yok! yok! +That was how he spoke, sir.' + +Evan reddened, for it brought the scene on board the Jocasta vividly to +his mind. The heavier business obliterated it. He took counsel with the +clerks of the office, and eventually the volunteer mimic conducted him to +certain livery stables, where Evan, like one accustomed to command, +ordered a chariot to pursue the coach, received a touch of the hat for a +lordly fee, and was soon rolling out of London. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MY GENTLEMAN ON THE ROAD + +The postillion had every reason to believe that he carried a real +gentleman behind him; in other words, a purse long and liberal. He +judged by all the points he knew of: a firm voice, a brief commanding +style, an apparent indifference to expense, and the inexplicable minor +characteristics, such as polished boots, and a striking wristband, and so +forth, which will show a creature accustomed to step over the heads of +men. He had, therefore, no particular anxiety to part company, and +jogged easily on the white highway, beneath a moon that walked high and +small over marble clouds. + +Evan reclined in the chariot, revolving his sensations. In another mood +he would have called, them thoughts, perhaps, and marvelled at their +immensity. The theme was Love and Death. One might have supposed, from +his occasional mutterings at the pace regulated by the postillion, that +he was burning with anxiety to catch the flying coach. He had forgotten +it: forgotten that he was giving chase to anything. A pair of wondering +feminine eyes pursued him, and made him fret for the miles to throw a +thicker veil between him and them. The serious level brows of Rose +haunted the poor youth; and reflecting whither he was tending, and to +what sight, he had shadowy touches of the holiness there is in death, +from which came a conflict between the imaged phantoms of his father and +of Rose, and he sided against his love with some bitterness. His +sisters, weeping for their father and holding aloof from his ashes, +Evan swept from his mind. He called up the man his father was: the +kindliness, the readiness, the gallant gaiety of the great Mel. Youths +are fascinated by the barbarian virtues; and to Evan, under present +influences, his father was a pattern of manhood. He asked himself: +Was it infamous to earn one's bread? and answered it very strongly in +his father's favour. The great Mel's creditors were not by to show him +another feature of the case. + +Hitherto, in passive obedience to the indoctrination of the Countess, +Evan had looked on tailors as the proscribed race of modern society. He +had pitied his father as a man superior to his fate; but despite the +fitfully honest promptings with Rose (tempting to him because of the +wondrous chivalry they argued, and at bottom false probably as the +hypocrisy they affected to combat), he had been by no means sorry that +the world saw not the spot on himself. Other sensations beset him now. +Since such a man was banned by the world, which was to be despised? + +The clear result of Evan's solitary musing was to cast a sort of halo +over Tailordom. Death stood over the pale dead man, his father, and +dared the world to sneer at him. By a singular caprice of fancy, Evan +had no sooner grasped this image, than it was suggested that he might as +well inspect his purse, and see how much money he was master of. + +Are you impatient with this young man? He has little character for the +moment. Most youths are like Pope's women; they have no character at +all. And indeed a character that does not wait for circumstances to +shape it, is of small worth in the race that must be run. To be set too +early, is to take the work out of the hands of the Sculptor who fashions +men. Happily a youth is always at school, and if he was shut up and +without mark two or three hours ago, he will have something to show you +now: as I have seen blooming seaflowers and other graduated organisms, +when left undisturbed to their own action. Where the Fates have designed +that he shall present his figure in a story, this is sure to happen. + +To the postillion Evan was indebted for one of his first lessons. + +About an hour after midnight pastoral stillness and the moon begat in the +postillion desire for a pipe. Daylight prohibits the dream of it to +mounted postillions. At night the question is more human, and allows +appeal. The moon smiles assentingly, and smokers know that she really +lends herself to the enjoyment of tobacco. + +The postillion could remember gentlemen who did not object: who had even +given him cigars. Turning round to see if haply the present inmate of +the chariot might be smoking, he observed a head extended from the +window. + +'How far are we?' was inquired. + +The postillion numbered the milestones passed. + +'Do you see anything of the coach?' + +'Can't say as I do, sir.' + +He was commanded to stop. Evan jumped out. + +'I don't think I'll take you any farther,' he said. + +The postillion laughed to scorn the notion of his caring how far he went. +With a pipe in his mouth, he insinuatingly remarked, he could jog on all +night, and throw sleep to the dogs. Fresh horses at Hillford; fresh at +Fallow field: and the gentleman himself would reach Lymport fresh in the +morning. + +'No, no; I won't take you any farther,' Evan repeated. + +'But what do it matter, sir?' urged the postillion. + +'I'd rather go on as I am. I--a--made no arrangement to take you the +whole way.' + +'Oh!' cried the postillion, 'don't you go troublin' yourself about that, +sir. Master knows it 's touch-and-go about catchin' the coach. I'm all +right.' + +So infatuated was the fellow in the belief that he was dealing with a +perfect gentleman--an easy pocket! + +Now you would not suppose that one who presumes he has sufficient, would +find a difficulty in asking how much he has to pay. With an effort, +indifferently masked, Evan blurted: + +'By the way, tell me--how much--what is the charge for the distance we've +come?' + +There are gentlemen-screws: there are conscientious gentlemen. They +calculate, and remonstrating or not, they pay. The postillion would +rather have had to do with the gentleman royal, who is above base +computation; but he knew the humanity in the class he served, and with +his conception of Evan only partially dimmed, he remarked: + +'Oh-h-h! that won't hurt you, sir. Jump along in,--settle that by-and- +by.' + +But when my gentleman stood fast, and renewed the demand to know the +exact charge for the distance already traversed, the postillion +dismounted, glanced him over, and speculated with his fingers tipping up +his hat. Meantime Evan drew out his purse, a long one, certainly, but +limp. Out of this drowned-looking wretch the last spark of life was +taken by the sum the postillion ventured to name; and if paying your +utmost farthing without examination of the charge, and cheerfully +stepping out to walk fifty miles, penniless, constituted a postillion's +gentleman, Evan would have passed the test. The sight of poverty, +however, provokes familiar feelings in poor men, if you have not had +occasion to show them you possess particular qualities. The postillion's +eye was more on the purse than on the sum it surrendered. + +'There,' said Evan, 'I shall walk. Good night.' And he flung his cloak +to step forward. + +'Stop a bit, sir!' arrested him. + +The postillion rallied up sideways, with an assumption of genial respect. +'I didn't calc'late myself in that there amount.' + +Were these words, think you, of a character to strike a young man hard +on the breast, send the blood to his head, and set up in his heart a +derisive chorus? My gentleman could pay his money, and keep his footing +gallantly; but to be asked for a penny beyond what he possessed; to be +seen beggared, and to be claimed a debtor-aleck! Pride was the one +developed faculty of Evan's nature. The Fates who mould us, always work +from the main-spring. I will not say that the postillion stripped off +the mask for him, at that instant completely; but he gave him the first +true glimpse of his condition. From the vague sense of being an +impostor, Evan awoke to the clear fact that he was likewise a fool. + +It was impossible for him to deny the man's claim, and he would not have +done it, if he could. Acceding tacitly, he squeezed the ends of his +purse in his pocket, and with a 'Let me see,' tried his waistcoat. Not +too impetuously; for he was careful of betraying the horrid emptiness +till he was certain that the powers who wait on gentlemen had utterly +forsaken him. They had not. He discovered a small coin, under ordinary +circumstances not contemptible; but he did not stay to reflect, and was +guilty of the error of offering it to the postillion. + +The latter peered at it in the centre of his palm; gazed queerly in the +gentleman's face, and then lifting the spit of silver for the disdain of +his mistress, the moon, he drew a long breath of regret at the original +mistake he had committed, and said: + +'That's what you're goin' to give me for my night's work?' + +The powers who wait on gentlemen had only helped the pretending youth to +try him. A rejection of the demand would have been infinitely wiser and +better than this paltry compromise. The postillion would have fought it: +he would not have despised his fare. + +How much it cost the poor pretender to reply, 'It 's the last farthing I +have, my man,' the postillion could not know. + +'A scabby sixpence?' The postillion continued his question. + +'You heard what I said,' Evan remarked. + +The postillion drew another deep breath, and holding out the coin at +arm's length: + +'Well, sir !' he observed, as one whom mental conflict has brought to the +philosophy of the case, 'now, was we to change places, I couldn't a' done +it! I couldn't a' done it!' he reiterated, pausing emphatically. + +'Take it, sir!' he magnanimously resumed; 'take it! You rides when you +can, and you walks when you must. Lord forbid I should rob such a +gentleman as you!' + +One who feels a death, is for the hour lifted above the satire of +postillions. A good genius prompted Evan to avoid the silly squabble +that might have ensued and made him ridiculous. He took the money, +quietly saying, 'Thank you.' + +Not to lose his vantage, the postillion, though a little staggered by the +move, rejoined: 'Don't mention it.' + +Evan then said: 'Good night, my man. I won't wish, for your sake, that +we changed places. You would have to walk fifty miles to be in time for +your father's funeral. Good night.' + +'You are it to look at!' was the postillion's comment, seeing my +gentleman depart with great strides. He did not speak offensively; +rather, it seemed, to appease his conscience for the original mistake he +had committed, for subsequently came, 'My oath on it, I don't get took in +again by a squash hat in a hurry !' + +Unaware of the ban he had, by a sixpenny stamp, put upon an unoffending +class, Evan went ahead, hearing the wheels of the chariot still dragging +the road in his rear. The postillion was in a dissatisfied state of +mind. He had asked and received more than his due. But in the matter of +his sweet self, he had been choused, as he termed it. And my gentleman +had baffled him, he could not quite tell how; but he had been got the +better of; his sarcasms had not stuck, and returned to rankle in the +bosom of their author. As a Jew, therefore, may eye an erewhile bondsman +who has paid the bill, but stands out against excess of interest on legal +grounds, the postillion regarded Evan, of whom he was now abreast, eager +for a controversy. + +'Fine night,' said the postillion, to begin, and was answered by a short +assent. 'Lateish for a poor man to be out--don't you think sir, eh?' + +'I ought to think so,' said Evan, mastering the shrewd unpleasantness he +felt in the colloquy forced on him. + +'Oh, you! you're a gentleman!' the postillion ejaculated. + +'You see I have no money.' + +'Feel it, too, sir.' + +'I am sorry you should be the victim.' + +'Victim!' the postillion seized on an objectionable word. 'I ain't no +victim, unless you was up to a joke with me, sir, just now. Was that the +game?' + +Evan informed him that he never played jokes with money, or on men. + +'Cause it looks like it, sir, to go to offer a poor chap sixpence.' The +postillion laughed hollow from the end of his lungs. 'Sixpence for a +night's work! It is a joke, if you don't mean it for one. Why, do you +know, sir, I could go--there, I don't care where it is!--I could go before +any magistrate livin', and he'd make ye pay. It's a charge, as custom +is, and he'd make ye pay. Or p'rhaps you're a goin' on my generosity, +and 'll say, he gev back that sixpence! Well! I shouldn't a' thought a +gentleman'd make that his defence before a magistrate. But there, my +man! if it makes ye happy, keep it. But you take my advice, sir. When +you hires a chariot, see you've got the shiners. And don't you go never +again offerin' a sixpence to a poor man for a night's work. They don't +like it. It hurts their feelin's. Don't you forget that, sir. Lay that +up in your mind.' + +Now the postillion having thus relieved himself, jeeringly asked +permission to smoke a pipe. To which Evan said, 'Pray, smoke, if it +pleases you.' And the postillion, hardly mollified, added, 'The baccy's +paid for,' and smoked. + +As will sometimes happen, the feelings of the man who had spoken out and +behaved doubtfully, grew gentle and Christian, whereas those of the man +whose bearing under the trial had been irreproachable were much the +reverse. The postillion smoked--he was a lord on his horse; he beheld my +gentleman trudging in the dust. Awhile he enjoyed the contrast, dividing +his attention between the footfarer and moon. To have had the last word +is always a great thing; and to have given my gentleman a lecture, +because he shunned a dispute, also counts. And then there was the poor +young fellow trudging to his father's funeral! The postillion chose to +remember that now. In reality, he allowed, he had not very much to +complain of, and my gentleman's courteous avoidance of provocation (the +apparent fact that he, the postillion, had humbled him and got the better +of him, equally, it may be), acted on his fine English spirit. I should +not like to leave out the tobacco in this good change that was wrought in +him. However, he presently astonished Evan by pulling up his horses, and +crying that he was on his way to Hillford to bait, and saw no reason why +he should not take a lift that part of the road, at all events. Evan +thanked him briefly, but declined, and paced on with his head bent. + +'It won't cost you nothing-not a sixpence!' the postillion sang out, +pursuing him. 'Come, sir! be a man! I ain't a hintin' at anything-- +jump in.' + +Evan again declined, and looked out for a side path to escape the fellow, +whose bounty was worse to him than his abuse, and whose mention of the +sixpence was unlucky. + +'Dash it!' cried the postillion, 'you're going down to a funeral-- +I think you said your father's, sir--you may as well try and get there +respectable--as far as I go. It's one to me whether you're in or out; +the horses won't feel it, and I do wish you'd take a lift and welcome. +It's because you're too much of a gentleman to be beholden to a poor man, +I suppose!' + +Evan's young pride may have had a little of that base mixture in it, and +certainly he would have preferred that the invitation had not been made +to him; but he was capable of appreciating what the rejection of a piece +of friendliness involved, and as he saw that the man was sincere, he did +violence to himself, and said: 'Very well; then I'll jump in.' + +The postillion was off his horse in a twinkling, and trotted his bandy +legs to undo the door, as to a gentleman who paid. This act of service +Evan valued. + +'Suppose I were to ask you to take the sixpence now?' he said, turning +round, with one foot on the step. + +'Well, sir,' the postillion sent his hat aside to answer. 'I don't want +it--I'd rather not have it; but there! I'll take it--dash the sixpence! +and we'll cry quits.' + +Evan, surprised and pleased with him, dropped the bit of money in his +hand, saying: 'It will fill a pipe for you. While you 're smoking it, +think of me as in your debt. You're the only man I ever owed a penny +to.' + +The postillion put it in a side pocket apart, and observed: 'A sixpence +kindly meant is worth any crown-piece that's grudged--that it is! In you +jump, sir. It's a jolly night!' + +Thus may one, not a conscious sage, play the right tune on this human +nature of ours: by forbearance, put it in the wrong; and then, by not +refusing the burden of an obligation, confer something better. The +instrument is simpler than we are taught to fancy. But it was doubtless +owing to a strong emotion in his soul, as well as to the stuff he was +made of, that the youth behaved as he did. We are now and then above our +own actions; seldom on a level with them. Evan, I dare say, was long in +learning to draw any gratification from the fact that he had achieved +without money the unparalleled conquest of a man. Perhaps he never knew +what immediate influence on his fortune this episode effected. + +At Hillford they went their different ways. The postillion wished him +good speed, and Evan shook his hand. He did so rather abruptly, for the +postillion was fumbling at his pocket, and evidently rounding about a +proposal in his mind. + +My gentleman has now the road to himself. Money is the clothing of a +gentleman: he may wear it well or ill. Some, you will mark, carry great +quantities of it gracefully: some, with a stinted supply, present a +decent appearance: very few, I imagine, will bear inspection, who are +absolutely stripped of it. All, save the shameless, are toiling to +escape that trial. My gentleman, treading the white highway across the +solitary heaths, that swell far and wide to the moon, is, by the +postillion, who has seen him, pronounced no sham. Nor do I think the +opinion of any man worthless, who has had the postillion's authority for +speaking. But it is, I am told, a finer test to embellish much +gentleman-apparel, than to walk with dignity totally unadorned. This +simply tries the soundness of our faculties: that tempts them in erratic +directions. It is the difference between active and passive excellence. +As there is hardly any situation, however, so interesting to reflect upon +as that of a man without a penny in his pocket, and a gizzard full of +pride, we will leave Mr. Evan Harrington to what fresh adventures may +befall him, walking toward the funeral plumes of the firs, under the soft +midsummer flush, westward, where his father lies. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +MOTHER AND SON + +Rare as epic song is the man who is thorough in what he does. And +happily so; for in life he subjugates us, and he makes us bondsmen to his +ashes. It was in the order of things that the great Mel should be borne +to his final resting-place by a troop of creditors. You have seen (since +the occasion demands a pompous simile) clouds that all day cling about +the sun, and, in seeking to obscure him, are compelled to blaze in his +livery at fall of night they break from him illumined, hang mournfully +above him, and wear his natural glories long after he is gone. Thus, +then, these worthy fellows, faithful to him to the dust, fulfilled Mel's +triumphant passage amongst them, and closed his career. + +To regale them when they returned, Mrs. Mel, whose mind was not intent on +greatness, was occupied in spreading meat and wine. Mrs. Fiske assisted +her, as well as she could, seeing that one hand was entirely engaged by +her handkerchief. She had already stumbled, and dropped a glass, which +had brought on her sharp condemnation from her aunt, who bade her sit +down, or go upstairs to have her cry out, and then return to be +serviceable. + +'Oh! I can't help it!' sobbed Mrs. Fiske. 'That he should be carried +away, and none of his children to see him the last time! I can +understand Louisa--and Harriet, too, perhaps? But why could not +Caroline? And that they should be too fine ladies to let their brother +come and bury his father. Oh! it does seem----' + +Mrs. Fiske fell into a chair, and surrendered to grief. + +'Where is the cold tongue?' said Mrs. Mel to Sally, the maid, in a brief +under-voice. + +'Please mum, Jacko----!' + +'He must be whipped. You are a careless slut.' + +'Please, I can't think of everybody and everything, and poor master----' + +Sally plumped on a seat, and took sanctuary under her apron. Mrs. Mel +glanced at the pair, continuing her labour. + +'Oh, aunt, aunt!' cried Mrs. Fiske, 'why didn't you put it off for +another day, to give Evan a chance?' + +'Master 'd have kept another two days, he would!' whimpered Sally. + +'Oh, aunt! to think !' cried Mrs. Fiske. + +'And his coffin not bearin' of his spurs!' whimpered Sally. + +Mrs. Mel interrupted them by commanding Sally to go to the drawing-room, +and ask a lady there, of the name of Mrs. Wishaw, whether she would like +to have some lunch sent up to her. Mrs. Fiske was requested to put +towels in Evan's bedroom. + +'Yes, aunt, if you're not infatuated!' said Mrs. Fiske, as she prepared +to obey; while Sally, seeing that her public exhibition of sorrow and +sympathy could be indulged but an instant longer, unwound herself for a +violent paroxysm, blurting between stops: + +'If he'd ony've gone to his last bed comfortable! . . . If he'd ony +'ve been that decent as not for to go to his last bed with his clothes +on! . . . If he'd ony've had a comfortable sheet! . . . It makes +a woman feel cold to think of him full dressed there, as if he was goin' +to be a soldier on the Day o' Judgement!' + +To let people speak was a maxim of Mrs. Mel's, and a wise one for any +form of society when emotions are very much on the surface. She +continued her arrangements quietly, and, having counted the number of +plates and glasses, and told off the guests on her fingers, she, sat down +to await them. + +The first one who entered the room was her son. + +'You have come,' said Mrs. Mel, flushing slightly, but otherwise +outwardly calm. + +'You didn't suppose I should stay away from you, mother?' + +Evan kissed her cheek. + +'I knew you would not.' + +Mrs. Mel examined him with those eyes of hers that compassed objects in a +single glance. She drew her finger on each side of her upper lip, and +half smiled, saying: + +'That won't do here.' + +'What?' asked Evan, and proceeded immediately to make inquiries about her +health, which she satisfied with a nod. + +'You saw him lowered, Van?' + +'Yes, mother.' + +'Then go and wash yourself, for you are dirty, and then come and take +your place at the head of the table.' + +'Must I sit here, mother?' + +'Without a doubt--you must. You know your room. Quick!' + +In this manner their first interview passed. + +Mrs. Fiske rushed in to exclaim: + +'So, you were right, aunt--he has come. I met him on the stairs. Oh! +how like dear uncle Mel he looks, in the militia, with that moustache. +I just remember him as a child; and, oh, what a gentleman he is!' + +At the end of the sentence Mrs. Mel's face suddenly darkened: she said, +in a deep voice: + +'Don't dare to talk that nonsense before him, Ann.' + +Mrs. Fiske looked astonished. + +'What have I done, aunt?' + +'He shan't be ruined by a parcel of fools,' said Mrs. Mel. 'There, go! +Women have no place here.' + +'How the wretches can force themselves to touch a morsel, after this +morning!' Mrs. Fiske exclaimed, glancing at the table. + +'Men must eat,' said Mrs. Mel. + +The mourners were heard gathering outside the door. Mrs. Fiske escaped +into the kitchen. Mrs. Mel admitted them into the parlour, bowing much +above the level of many of the heads that passed her. + +Assembled were Messrs. Barnes, Kilne, and Grossby, whom we know; Mr. +Doubleday, the ironmonger; Mr. Joyce, the grocer; Mr. Perkins, commonly +called Lawyer Perkins; Mr. Welbeck, the pier-master of Lymport; +Bartholomew Fiske; Mr. Coxwell, a Fallow field maltster, brewer, and +farmer; creditors of various dimensions, all of them. Mr. Goren coming +last, behind his spectacles. + +'My son will be with you directly, to preside,' said Mrs. Mel. 'Accept +my thanks for the respect you have shown my husband. I wish you good +morning.' + +'Morning, ma'am,' answered several voices, and Mrs. Mel retired. + +The mourners then set to work to relieve their hats of the appendages of +crape. An undertaker's man took possession of the long black cloaks. +The gloves were generally pocketed. + +'That's my second black pair this year,' said Joyce. + +'They'll last a time to come. I don't need to buy gloves while +neighbours pop off.' + +'Undertakers' gloves seem to me as if they're made for mutton fists,' +remarked Welbeck; upon which Kilne nudged Barnes, the butcher, with a +sharp 'Aha!' and Barnes observed: + +'Oh! I never wear 'em--they does for my boys on Sundays. I smoke a pipe +at home.' + +The Fallow field farmer held his length of crape aloft and inquired: +'What shall do with this?' + +'Oh, you keep it,' said one or two. + +Coxwell rubbed his chin. 'Don't like to rob the widder.' + +'What's left goes to the undertaker?' asked Grossby. + +'To be sure,' said Barnes; and Kilne added: 'It's a job': Lawyer Perkins +ejaculating confidently, 'Perquisites of office, gentlemen; perquisites +of office!' which settled the dispute and appeased every conscience. + +A survey of the table ensued. The mourners felt hunger, or else thirst; +but had not, it appeared, amalgamated the two appetites as yet. Thirst +was the predominant declaration; and Grossby, after an examination of the +decanters, unctuously deduced the fact, which he announced, that port and +sherry were present. + +'Try the port,' said Kilne. + +'Good?' Barnes inquired. + +A very intelligent 'I ought to know,' with a reserve of regret at the +extension of his intimacy with the particular vintage under that roof, +was winked by Kilne. + +Lawyer Perkins touched the arm of a mourner about to be experimental on +Kilne's port + +'I think we had better wait till young Mr. Harrington takes the table, +don't you see?' + +'Yes,-ah!' croaked Goren. 'The head of the family, as the saying goes!' + +'I suppose we shan't go into business to-day?' Joyce carelessly observed. + +Lawyer Perkins answered: + +'No. You can't expect it. Mr. Harrington has led me to anticipate that +he will appoint a day. Don't you see?' + +'Oh! I see,' returned Joyce. 'I ain't in such a hurry. What's he +doing?' + +Doubleday, whose propensities were waggish, suggested 'shaving,' but half +ashamed of it, since the joke missed, fell to as if he were soaping his +face, and had some trouble to contract his jaw. + +The delay in Evan's attendance on the guests of the house was caused by +the fact that Mrs. Mel had lain in wait for him descending, to warn him +that he must treat them with no supercilious civility, and to tell him +partly the reason why. On hearing the potential relations in which they +stood toward the estate of his father, Evan hastily and with the +assurance of a son of fortune, said they should be paid. + +'That's what they would like to hear,' said Mrs. Mel. 'You may just +mention it when they're going to leave. Say you will fix a day to meet +them.' + +'Every farthing!' pursued Evan, on whom the tidings were beginning to +operate. 'What! debts? my poor father!' + +'And a thumping sum, Van. You will open your eyes wider.' + +'But it shall be paid, mother,--it shall be paid. Debts? I hate them. +I'd slave night and day to pay them.' + +Mrs. Mel spoke in a more positive tense: 'And so will I, Van. Now, go.' + +It mattered little to her what sort of effect on his demeanour her +revelation produced, so long as the resolve she sought to bring him to +was nailed in his mind; and she was a woman to knock and knock again, +till it was firmly fixed there. With a strong purpose, and no plans, +there were few who could resist what, in her circle, she willed; not even +a youth who would gaily have marched to the scaffold rather than stand +behind a counter. A purpose wedded to plans may easily suffer shipwreck; +but an unfettered purpose that moulds circumstances as they arise, +masters us, and is terrible. Character melts to it, like metal in the +steady furnace. The projector of plots is but a miserable gambler and +votary of chances. Of a far higher quality is the will that can subdue +itself to wait, and lay no petty traps for opportunity. Poets may fable +of such a will, that it makes the very heavens conform to it; or, I may +add, what is almost equal thereto, one who would be a gentleman, to +consent to be a tailor. The only person who ever held in his course +against Mrs. Mel, was Mel,--her husband; but, with him, she was under the +physical fascination of her youth, and it never left her. In her heart +she barely blamed him. What he did, she took among other inevitable +matters. + +The door closed upon Evan, and waiting at the foot, of the stairs a +minute to hear how he was received, Mrs. Mel went to the kitchen and +called the name of Dandy, which brought out an ill-built, low-browed, +small man, in a baggy suit of black, who hopped up to her with a surly +salute. Dandy was a bird Mrs. Mel had herself brought down, and she had +for him something of a sportsman's regard for his victim. Dandy was the +cleaner of boots and runner of errands in the household of Melchisedec, +having originally entered it on a dark night by the cellar. Mrs. Mel, +on that occasion, was sleeping in her dressing-gown, to be ready to give +the gallant night-hawk, her husband, the service he might require on his +return to the nest. Hearing a suspicious noise below, she rose, and +deliberately loaded a pair of horse-pistols, weapons Mel had worn in his +holsters in the heroic days gone; and with these she stepped downstairs +straight to the cellar, carrying a lantern at her girdle. She could not +only load, but present and fire. Dandy was foremost in stating that she +called him forth steadily, three times, before the pistol was discharged. +He admitted that he was frightened, and incapable of speech, at the +apparition of the tall, terrific woman. After the third time of asking +he had the ball lodged in his leg and fell. Mrs. Mel was in the habit of +bearing heavier weights than Dandy. She made no ado about lugging him to +a chamber, where, with her own hands (for this woman had some slight +knowledge of surgery, and was great in herbs and drugs) she dressed his +wound, and put him to bed; crying contempt (ever present in Dandy's +memory) at such a poor creature undertaking the work of housebreaker. +Taught that he really was a poor creature for the work, Dandy, his +nursing over, begged to be allowed to stop and wait on Mrs. Mel; and she +who had, like many strong natures, a share of pity for the objects she +despised, did not cast him out. A jerk in his gait, owing to the bit of +lead Mrs. Mel had dropped into him, and a little, perhaps, to her self- +satisfied essay in surgical science on his person, earned him the name he +went by. + +When her neighbours remonstrated with her for housing a reprobate, Mrs. +Mel would say: 'Dandy is well-fed and well-physicked: there's no harm in +Dandy'; by which she may have meant that the food won his gratitude, and +the physic reduced his humours. She had observed human nature. At any +rate, Dandy was her creature; and the great Mel himself rallied her about +her squire. + +'When were you drunk last?, was Mrs. Mel's address to Dandy, as he stood +waiting for orders. + +He replied to it in an altogether injured way: + +'There, now; you've been and called me away from my dinner to ask me +that. Why, when I had the last chance, to be sure.' + +'And you were at dinner in your new black suit?' + +'Well,' growled Dandy, 'I borrowed Sally's apron. Seems I can't please +ye.' + +Mrs. Mel neither enjoined nor cared for outward forms of respect, where +she was sure of complete subserviency. If Dandy went beyond the limits, +she gave him an extra dose. Up to the limits he might talk as he +pleased, in accordance with Mrs. Mel's maxim, that it was a necessary +relief to all talking creatures. + +'Now, take off your apron,' she said, 'and wash your hands, dirty pig, +and go and wait at table in there'; she pointed to the parlour-door: +'Come straight to me when everybody has left.' + +'Well, there I am with the bottles again,' returned Dandy. 'It 's your +fault this time, mind! I'll come as straight as I can.' + +Dandy turned away to perform her bidding, and Mrs. Mel ascended to the +drawing-room to sit with Mrs. Wishaw, who was, as she told all who chose +to hear, an old flame of Mel's, and was besides, what Mrs. Mel thought +more of, the wife of Mel's principal creditor, a wholesale dealer in +cloth, resident in London. + +The conviviality of the mourners did not disturb the house. Still, men +who are not accustomed to see the colour of wine every day, will sit and +enjoy it, even upon solemn occasions, and the longer they sit the more +they forget the matter that has brought them together. Pleading their +wives and shops, however, they released Evan from his miserable office +late in the afternoon. + +His mother came down to him,--and saying, 'I see how you did the journey +--you walked it,' told him to follow her. + +'Yes, mother,' Evan yawned, 'I walked part of the way. I met a fellow in +a gig about ten miles out of Fallow field, and he gave me a lift to +Flatsham. I just reached Lymport in time, thank Heaven! I wouldn't have +missed that! By the way, I've satisfied these men.' + +'Oh!' said Mrs. Mel. + +'They wanted--one or two of them--what a penance it is to have to sit +among those people an hour!--they wanted to ask me about the business, +but I silenced them. I told them to meet me here this day week.' + +Mrs. Mel again said 'Oh!' and, pushing into one of the upper rooms, +'Here's your bedroom, Van, just as you left it.' + +'Ah, so it is,' muttered Evan, eyeing a print. 'The Douglas and the +Percy: "he took the dead man by the hand." What an age it seems since I +last saw that. There's Sir Hugh Montgomery on horseback--he hasn't +moved. Don't you remember my father calling it the Battle of Tit-for- +Tat? Gallant Percy! I know he wished he had lived in those days of +knights and battles.' + +'It does not much signify whom one has to make clothes for,' observed +Mrs. Mel. Her son happily did not mark her. + +'I think we neither of us were made for the days of pence and pounds,' he +continued. 'Now, mother, sit down, and talk to me about him. Did he +mention me? Did he give me his blessing? I hope he did not suffer. +I'd have given anything to press his hand,' and looking wistfully at the +Percy lifting the hand of Douglas dead, Evan's eyes filled with big +tears. + +'He suffered very little,' returned Mrs. Mel, 'and his last words were +about you.' + +'What were they?' Evan burst out. + +'I will tell you another time. Now undress, and go to bed. When I talk +to you, Van, I want a cool head to listen. You do nothing but yawn yard- +measures.' + +The mouth of the weary youth instinctively snapped short the abhorred +emblem. + +'Here, I will help you, Van.' + +In spite of his remonstrances and petitions for talk, she took off his +coat and waistcoat, contemptuously criticizing the cloth of foreign +tailors and their absurd cut. + +'Have you heard from Louisa?' asked Evan. + +'Yes, yes--about your sisters by-and-by. Now, be good, and go to bed.' + +She still treated him like a boy, whom she was going to force to the +resolution of a man. + +Dandy's sleeping-room was on the same floor as Evan's. Thither, when she +had quitted her son, she directed her steps. She had heard Dandy tumble +up-stairs the moment his duties were over, and knew what to expect when +the bottles had been in his way; for drink made Dandy savage, and a +terror to himself. It was her command to him that, when he happened to +come across liquor, he should immediately seek his bedroom and bolt the +door, and Dandy had got the habit of obeying her. On this occasion he +was vindictive against her, seeing that she had delivered him over to his +enemy with malice prepense. A good deal of knocking, and summoning of +Dandy by name, was required before she was admitted, and the sight of her +did not delight him, as he testified. + +'I 'm drunk!' he bawled. 'Will that do for ye?' + +Mrs. Mel stood with her two hands crossed above her apron-string, noting +his sullen lurking eye with the calm of a tamer of beasts. + +'You go out of the room; I'm drunk!' Dandy repeated, and pitched forward +on the bed-post, in the middle of an oath. + +She understood that it was pure kindness on Dandy's part to bid her go +and be out of his reach; and therefore, on his becoming so abusive as to +be menacing, she, without a shade of anger, and in the most unruffled +manner, administered to him the remedy she had reserved, in the shape of +a smart box on the ear, which sent him flat to the floor. He rose, after +two or three efforts, quite subdued. + +'Now, Dandy, sit on the edge of the bed.' + +Dandy sat on the extreme edge, and Mrs. Mel pursued: + +'Now, Dandy, tell me what your master said at the table.' + +'Talked at 'em like a lord, he did,' said Dandy, stupidly consoling the +boxed ear. + +'What were his words?' + +Dandy's peculiarity was, that he never remembered anything save when +drunk, and Mrs. Mel's dose had rather sobered him. By degrees, +scratching at his head haltingly, he gave the context. + +"'Gentlemen, I hear for the first time, you've claims against my poor +father. Nobody shall ever say he died, and any man was the worse for it. +I'll meet you next week, and I'll bind myself by law. Here's Lawyer +Perkins. No; Mr. Perkins. I'll pay off every penny. Gentlemen, look +upon me as your debtor, and not my father."' + +Delivering this with tolerable steadiness, Dandy asked, 'Will that do?' + +'That will do,' said Mrs. Mel. 'I'll send you up some tea presently. +Lie down, Dandy.' + +The house was dark and silent when Evan, refreshed by his rest, descended +to seek his mother. She was sitting alone in the parlour. With a +tenderness which Mrs. Mel permitted rather than encouraged, Evan put his +arm round her neck, and kissed her many times. One of the symptoms of +heavy sorrow, a longing for the signs of love, made Evan fondle his +mother, and bend over her yearningly. Mrs. Mel said once: 'Dear Van; +good boy!' and quietly sat through his caresses. + +'Sitting up for me, mother?' he whispered. + +'Yes, Van; we may as well have our talk out.' + +'Ah!' he took a chair close by her side, 'tell me my father's last +words.' + +'He said he hoped you would never be a tailor.' + +Evan's forehead wrinkled up. 'There's not much fear of that, then!' + +His mother turned her face on him, and examined him with a rigorous +placidity; all her features seeming to bear down on him. Evan did not +like the look. + +'You object to trade, Van?' + +'Yes, decidedly, mother-hate it; but that's not what I want to talk to +you about. Didn't my father speak of me much?' + +'He desired that you should wear his militia sword, if you got a +commission.' + +'I have rather given up hope of the Army,' said Evan. + +Mrs. Mel requested him to tell her what a colonel's full pay amounted to; +and again, the number of years it required, on a rough calculation, to +attain that grade. In reply to his statement she observed: 'A tailor +might realize twice the sum in a quarter of the time.' + +'What if he does-double, or treble?' cried Evan, impetuously; and to +avoid the theme, and cast off the bad impression it produced on him, he +rubbed his hands, and said: 'I want to talk to you about my prospects, +mother.' + +'What are they?' Mrs. Mel inquired. + +The severity of her mien and sceptical coldness of her speech caused him +to inspect them suddenly, as if she had lent him her eyes. He put them +by, till the gold should recover its natural shine, saying: 'By the way, +mother, I 've written the half of a History of Portugal.' + +'Have you?' said Mrs. Mel. 'For Louisa?' + +'No, mother, of course not: to sell it. Albuquerque! what a splendid +fellow he was!' + +Informing him that he knew she abominated foreign names, she said: 'And +your prospects are, writing Histories of Portugal?' + +'No, mother. I was going to tell you, I expect a Government appointment. +Mr. Jocelyn likes my work--I think he likes me. You know, I was his +private secretary for ten months.' + +'You write a good hand,' his mother interposed. + +'And I'm certain I was born for diplomacy.' + +'For an easy chair, and an ink-dish before you, and lacqueys behind. +What's to be your income, Van?' + +Evan carelessly remarked that he must wait and see. + +'A very proper thing to do,' said Mrs. Mel; for now that she had fixed +him to some explanation of his prospects, she could condescend in her +stiff way to banter. + +Slightly touched by it, Evan pursued, half laughing, as men do who wish +to propitiate common sense on behalf of what seems tolerably absurd: +'It 's not the immediate income, you know, mother: one thinks of one's +future. In the diplomatic service, as Louisa says, you come to be known +to Ministers gradually, I mean. That is, they hear of you; and if you +show you have some capacity--Louisa wants me to throw it up in time, +and stand for Parliament. Andrew, she thinks, would be glad to help me +to his seat. Once in Parliament, and known to Ministers, you--your +career is open to you.' + +In justice to Mr. Evan Harrington, it must be said, he built up this +extraordinary card-castle to dazzle his mother's mind: he had lost his +right grasp of her character for the moment, because of an undefined +suspicion of something she intended, and which sent him himself to take +refuge in those flimsy structures; while the very altitude he reached +beguiled his imagination, and made him hope to impress hers. + +Mrs. Mel dealt it one fillip. 'And in the meantime how are you to live, +and pay the creditors?' + +Though Evan answered cheerfully, 'Oh, they will wait, and I can live on +anything,' he was nevertheless floundering on the ground amid the ruins +of the superb edifice; and his mother, upright and rigid, continuing, +'You can live on anything, and they will wait, and call your father a +rogue,' he started, grievously bitten by one of the serpents of earth. + +'Good heaven, mother! what are you saying?' + +'That they will call your father a rogue, and will have a right to,' said +the relentless woman. + +'Not while I live!' Evan exclaimed. + +'You may stop one mouth with your fist, but you won't stop a dozen, Van.' + +Evan jumped up and walked the room. + +'What am I to do?' he cried. 'I will pay everything. I will bind myself +to pay every farthing. What more can I possibly do?' + +'Make the money,' said Mrs. Mel's deep voice. + +Evan faced her: 'My dear mother, you are very unjust and inconsiderate. +I have been working and doing my best. I promise---- what do the debts +amount to?' + +'Something like L5000 in all, Van.' + +'Very well.' Youth is not alarmed by the sound of big sums. 'Very well +--I will pay it.' + +Evan looked as proud as if he had just clapped down the full amount on +the table. + +'Out of the History of Portugal, half written, and the prospect of a +Government appointment?' + +Mrs. Mel raised her eyelids to him. + +'In time-in time, mother!' + +'Mention your proposal to the creditors when you meet them this day +week,' she said. + +Neither of them spoke for several minutes. Then Evan came close to her, +saying: + +'What is it you want of me, mother?' + +'I want nothing, Van--I can support myself.' + +'But what would you have me do, mother?' + +'Be honest; do your duty, and don't be a fool about it.' + +'I will try,' he rejoined. 'You tell me to make the money. Where and +how can I make it? I am perfectly willing to work.' + +'In this house,' said Mrs. Mel; and, as this was pretty clear speaking, +she stood up to lend her figure to it. + +'Here?' faltered Evan. 'What! be a ----' + +'Tailor!' The word did not sting her tongue. + +'I? Oh, that's quite impossible!' said Evan. And visions of leprosy, +and Rose shrinking her skirts from contact with him, shadowed out and +away in his mind. + +'Understand your choice!' Mrs. Mel imperiously spoke. 'What are brains +given you for? To be played the fool with by idiots and women? You have +L5000 to pay to save your father from being called a rogue. You can only +make the money in one way, which is open to you. This business might +produce a thousand pounds a-year and more. In seven or eight years you +may clear your father's name, and live better all the time than many of +your bankrupt gentlemen. You have told the creditors you will pay them. +Do you think they're gaping fools, to be satisfied by a History of +Portugal? If you refuse to take the business at once, they will sell me +up, and quite right too. Understand your choice. There's Mr. Goren has +promised to have you in London a couple of months, and teach you what he +can. He is a kind friend. Would any of your gentlemen acquaintance do +the like for you? Understand your choice. You will be a beggar--the son +of a rogue--or an honest man who has cleared his father's name!' + +During this strenuously uttered allocution, Mrs. Mel, though her chest +heaved but faintly against her crossed hands, showed by the dilatation of +her eyes, and the light in them, that she felt her words. There is that +in the aspect of a fine frame breathing hard facts, which, to a youth who +has been tumbled headlong from his card-castles and airy fabrics, is +masterful, and like the pressure of a Fate. Evan drooped his head. + +'Now,' said Mrs. Mel, 'you shall have some supper.' + +Evan told her he could not eat. + +'I insist upon your eating,' said Mrs. Mel; 'empty stomachs are foul +counsellors.' + +'Mother! do you want to drive me mad?' cried Evan. + +She looked at him to see whether the string she held him by would bear +the slight additional strain: decided not to press a small point. + +'Then go to bed and sleep on it,' she said--sure of him--and gave her +cheek for his kiss, for she never performed the operation, but kept her +mouth, as she remarked, for food and speech, and not for slobbering +mummeries. + +Evan returned to his solitary room. He sat on the bed and tried to +think, oppressed by horrible sensations of self-contempt, that caused +whatever he touched to sicken him. + +There were the Douglas and the Percy on the wall. It was a happy and a +glorious time, was it not, when men lent each other blows that killed +outright; when to be brave and cherish noble feelings brought honour; +when strength of arm and steadiness of heart won fortune; when the fair +stars of earth--sweet women--wakened and warmed the love of squires of +low degree. This legacy of the dead man's hand! Evan would have paid it +with his blood; but to be in bondage all his days to it; through it to +lose all that was dear to him; to wear the length of a loathed +existence!--we should pardon a young man's wretchedness at the prospect, +for it was in a time before our joyful era of universal equality. Yet he +never cast a shade of blame upon his father. + +The hours moved on, and he found himself staring at his small candle, +which struggled more and more faintly with the morning light, like his +own flickering ambition against the facts of life. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A man who rejected medicine in extremity +A share of pity for the objects she despised +A sixpence kindly meant is worth any crown-piece that's grudged +A youth who is engaged in the occupation of eating his heart +Accustomed to be paid for by his country +British hunger for news; second only to that for beef +Brotherhood among the select who wear masks instead of faces +By forbearance, put it in the wrong +Cheerful martyr +Common voice of praise in the mouths of his creditors +Embarrassments of an uncongenial employment +Empty stomachs are foul counsellors +Equally acceptable salted when it cannot be had fresh +Far higher quality is the will that can subdue itself to wait +Few feelings are single on this globe +Gentlefolks like straight-forwardness in their inferiors +He squandered the guineas, she patiently picked up the pence +His wife alone, had, as they termed it, kept him together +I'll come as straight as I can +Informed him that he never played jokes with money, or on men +It was in a time before our joyful era of universal equality +It's no use trying to be a gentleman if you can't pay for it +Lay no petty traps for opportunity +Looked as proud as if he had just clapped down the full amount +Man without a penny in his pocket, and a gizzard full of pride +Men they regard as their natural prey +Most youths are like Pope's women; they have no character +Occasional instalments--just to freshen the account +Oh! I can't bear that class of people +Partake of a morning draught +Patronizing woman +Propitiate common sense on behalf of what seems tolerably absurd +Rare as epic song is the man who is thorough in what he does +Requiring natural services from her in the button department +Said she was what she would have given her hand not to be +She was at liberty to weep if she pleased +She, not disinclined to dilute her grief +Speech that has to be hauled from the depths usually betrays +Such a man was banned by the world, which was to be despised? +Tenderness which Mrs. Mel permitted rather than encouraged +To be both generally blamed, and generally liked +To let people speak was a maxim of Mrs. Mel's, and a wise one +Toyed with little flowers of palest memory +Tradesman, and he never was known to have sent in a bill +True enjoyment of the princely disposition +What he did, she took among other inevitable matters +Whose bounty was worse to him than his abuse +With a proud humility +You rides when you can, and you walks when you must +Youth is not alarmed by the sound of big sums + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Evan Harrington, v1 +by George Meredith + + + + + + +EVAN HARRINGTON + +BY GEORGE MEREDITH + + + +BOOK 2. + +VIII. INTRODUCES AN ECCENTRIC +IX. THE COUNTESS IN LOW SOCIETY +X. MY GENTLEMAN ON THE ROAD AGAIN +XI. DOINGS AT AN INN +XII. IN WHICH ALE IS SHOWN TO HAVE ONE QUALITY OF WINE +XIII. THE MATCH OF FALLOW FIELD AGAINST BECKLEY + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +INTRODUCES AN ECCENTRIC + +At the Aurora--one of those rare antiquated taverns, smelling of +comfortable time and solid English fare, that had sprung up in the great +coffee days, when taverns were clubs, and had since subsisted on the +attachment of steady bachelor Templars there had been dismay, and even +sorrow, for a month. The most constant patron of the establishment--an +old gentleman who had dined there for seven-and-twenty years, four days +in the week, off dishes dedicated to the particular days, and had grown +grey with the landlady, the cook, and the head-waiter--this old gentleman +had abruptly withheld his presence. Though his name, his residence, his +occupation, were things only to be speculated on at the Aurora, he was +very well known there, and as men are best to be known: that is to say, +by their habits. Some affection for him also was felt. The landlady +looked on him as a part of the house. The cook and the waiter were +accustomed to receive acceptable compliments from him monthly. His +precise words, his regular ancient jokes, his pint of Madeira and after- +pint of Port, his antique bow to the landlady, passing out and in, his +method of spreading his table-napkin on his lap and looking up at the +ceiling ere he fell to, and how he talked to himself during the repast, +and indulged in short chuckles, and the one look of perfect felicity that +played over his features when he had taken his first sip of Port--these +were matters it pained them at the Aurora to have to remember. + +For three weeks the resolution not to regard him as of the past was +general. The Aurora was the old gentleman's home. Men do not play +truant from home at sixty years of age. He must, therefore, be seriously +indisposed. The kind heart of the landlady fretted to think he might +have no soul to nurse and care for him; but she kept his corner near the +fire-place vacant, and took care that his pint of Madeira was there. The +belief was gaining ground that he had gone, and that nothing but his +ghost would ever sit there again. Still the melancholy ceremony +continued: for the landlady was not without a secret hope, that in spite +of his reserve and the mystery surrounding him, he would have sent her a +last word. The cook and head-waiter, interrogated as to their dealings +with the old gentleman, testified solemnly to the fact of their having +performed their duty by him. They would not go against their interests +so much as to forget one of his ways, they said-taking oath, as it were, +by their lower nature, in order to be credited: an instinct men have of +one another. The landlady could not contradict them, for the old +gentleman had made no complaint; but then she called to memory that +fifteen years back, in such and such a year, Wednesday's, dish had been, +by shameful oversight, furnished him for Tuesday's, and he had eaten it +quietly, but refused his Port; which pathetic event had caused alarm and +inquiry, when the error was discovered, and apologized for, the old +gentleman merely saying, 'Don't let it happen again.' Next day he drank +his Port, as usual, and the wheels of the Aurora went smoothly. The +landlady was thus justified in averring that something had been done by +somebody, albeit unable to point to anything specific. Women, who are +almost as deeply bound to habit as old gentlemen, possess more of its +spiritual element, and are warned by dreams, omens, creepings of the +flesh, unwonted chills, suicide of china, and other shadowing signs, when +a break is to be anticipated, or, has occurred. The landlady of the +Aurora tavern was visited by none of these, and with that beautiful trust +which habit gives, and which boastful love or vainer earthly qualities +would fail in effecting, she ordered that the pint of Madeira should +stand from six o'clock in the evening till seven--a small monument of +confidence in him who was at one instant the 'poor old dear'; at another, +the 'naughty old gad-about'; further, the 'faithless old-good-for- +nothing'; and again, the 'blessed pet' of the landlady's parlour, +alternately and indiscriminately apostrophized by herself, her sister, +and daughter. + +On the last day of the month a step was heard coming up the long alley +which led from the riotous scrambling street to the plentiful cheerful +heart of the Aurora. The landlady knew the step. She checked the +natural flutterings of her ribbons, toned down the strong simper that was +on her lips, rose, pushed aside her daughter, and, as the step +approached, curtsied composedly. Old Habit lifted his hat, and passed. +With the same touching confidence in the Aurora that the Aurora had in +him, he went straight to his corner, expressed no surprise at his welcome +by the Madeira, and thereby apparently indicated that his appearance +should enjoy a similar immunity. + +As of old, he called 'Jonathan!' and was not to be disturbed till he did +so. Seeing that Jonathan smirked and twiddled his napkin, the old +gentleman added, 'Thursday!' + +But Jonathan, a man, had not his mistress's keen intuition of the +deportment necessitated by the case, or was incapable of putting the +screw upon weak excited nature, for he continued to smirk, and was +remarking how glad he was, he was sure, and something he had dared to +think and almost to fear, when the old gentleman called to him, as if he +were at the other end of the room, 'Will you order Thursday, or not, +sir?' Whereat Jonathan flew, and two or three cosy diners glanced up +from their plates, or the paper, smiled, and pursued their capital +occupation. + +'Glad to see me!' the old gentleman muttered, querulously. 'Of course, +glad to see a customer! Why do you tell me that? Talk! tattle! might +as well have a woman to wait--just!' + +He wiped his forehead largely with his handkerchief; as one whom Calamity +hunted a little too hard in summer weather. + +'No tumbling-room for the wine, too!' + +That was his next grievance. He changed the pint of Madeira from his +left side to his right, and went under his handkerchief again, +feverishly. The world was severe with this old gentleman. + +'Ah! clock wrong now!' + +He leaned back like a man who can no longer carry his burdens, informing +Jonathan, on his coming up to place the roll of bread and firm butter, +that he was forty seconds too fast, as if it were a capital offence, and +he deserved to step into Eternity for outstripping Time. + +'But, I daresay, you don't understand the importance of a minute,' said +the old gentleman, bitterly. 'Not you, or any of you. Better if we had +run a little ahead of your minute, perhaps--and the rest of you! Do you +think you can cancel the mischief that's done in the world in that +minute, sir, by hurrying ahead like that? Tell me !' + +Rather at a loss, Jonathan scanned the clock seriously, and observed that +it was not quite a minute too fast. + +The old gentleman pulled out his watch. He grunted that a lying clock +was hateful to him; subsequently sinking into contemplation of his +thumbs,--a sign known to Jonathan as indicative of the old gentleman's +system having resolved, in spite of external outrages, to be fortified +with calm to meet the repast. + +It is not fair to go behind an eccentric; but the fact was, this old +gentleman was slightly ashamed of his month's vagrancy and cruel conduct, +and cloaked his behaviour toward the Aurora, in all the charges he could +muster against it. He was very human, albeit an odd form of the race. + +Happily for his digestion of Thursday, the cook, warned by Jonathan, kept +the old gentleman's time, not the Aurora's: and the dinner was correct; +the dinner was eaten in peace; he began to address his plate vigorously, +poured out his Madeira, and chuckled, as the familiar ideas engendered by +good wine were revived in him. Jonathan reported at the bar that the old +gentleman was all right again. + +One would like here to pause, while our worthy ancient feeds, and indulge +in a short essay on Habit, to show what a sacred and admirable thing it +is that makes flimsy Time substantial, and consolidates his triple life. +It is proof that we have come to the end of dreams and Time's delusions, +and are determined to sit down at Life's feast and carve for ourselves. +Its day is the child of yesterday, and has a claim on to-morrow. Whereas +those who have no such plan of existence and sum of their wisdom to show, +the winds blow them as they list. Consider, then, mercifully the wrath +of him on whom carelessness or forgetfulness has brought a snap in the +links of Habit. You incline to scorn him because, his slippers +misplaced, or asparagus not on his table the first day of a particular +Spring month, he gazes blankly and sighs as one who saw the End. To you +it may appear small. You call to him to be a man. He is: but he is also +an immortal, and his confidence in unceasing orderly progression is +rudely dashed. + +But the old gentleman has finished his dinner and his Madeira, and says: +'Now, Jonathan, "thock" the Port!'--his joke when matters have gone well: +meant to express the sound of the uncorking, probably. The habit of +making good jokes is rare, as you know: old gentlemen have not yet +attained to it: nevertheless Jonathan enjoys this one, which has seen a +generation in and out, for he knows its purport to be, 'My heart is +open.' + +And now is a great time with this old gentleman. He sips, and in his +eyes the world grows rosy, and he exchanges mute or monosyllable salutes +here and there. His habit is to avoid converse; but he will let a light +remark season meditation. + +He says to Jonathan: 'The bill for the month.' + +'Yes, sir,' Jonathan replies. 'Would you not prefer, sir, to have the +items added on to the month ensuing?' + +'I asked you for the bill of the month,' said the old gentleman, with an +irritated voice and a twinkle in his eye. + +Jonathan bowed; but his aspect betrayed perplexity, and that perplexity +was soon shared by the landlady for Jonathan said, he was convinced the +old gentleman intended to pay for sixteen days, and the landlady could +not bring her hand to charge him for more than two. Here was the dilemma +foreseen by the old gentleman, and it added vastly to the flavour of the +Port. + +Pleasantly tickled, he sat gazing at his glass, and let the minutes fly. +He knew the part he would act in his little farce. If charged for the +whole month, he would peruse the bill deliberately, and perhaps cry out +'Hulloa?' and then snap at Jonathan for the interposition of a remark. +But if charged for two days, he would wish to be told whether they were +demented, those people outside, and scornfully return the bill to +Jonathan. + +A slap on the shoulder, and a voice: 'Found you at last, Tom!' violently +shattered the excellent plot, and made the old gentleman start. He +beheld Mr. Andrew Cogglesby. + +'Drinking Port, Tom?' said Mr. Andrew. 'I 'll join you': and he sat down +opposite to him, rubbing his hands and pushing back his hair. + +Jonathan entering briskly with the bill, fell back a step, in alarm. The +old gentleman, whose inviolacy was thus rudely assailed, sat staring at +the intruder, his mouth compressed, and three fingers round his glass, +which it' was doubtful whether he was not going to hurl at him. + +'Waiter!' Mr. Andrew carelessly hailed, 'a pint of this Port, if you +please.' + +Jonathan sought the countenance of the old gentleman. + +'Do you hear, sir?' cried the latter, turning his wrath on him. 'Another +pint!' He added: 'Take back the bill'; and away went Jonathan to relate +fresh marvels to his mistress. + +Mr. Andrew then addressed the old gentleman in the most audacious manner. + +'Astonished to see me here, Tom? Dare say you are. I knew you came +somewhere in this neighbourhood, and, as I wanted to speak to you very +particularly, and you wouldn't be visible till Monday, why, I spied into +two or three places, and here I am.' + +You might see they were brothers. They had the same bushy eyebrows, the +same healthy colour in their cheeks, the same thick shoulders, and brisk +way of speaking, and clear, sharp, though kindly, eyes; only Tom was cast +in larger proportions than Andrew, and had gotten the grey furniture of +Time for his natural wear. Perhaps, too, a cross in early life had a +little twisted him, and set his mouth in a rueful bunch, out of which +occasionally came biting things. Mr. Andrew carried his head up, and +eyed every man living with the benevolence of a patriarch, dashed with +the impudence of a London sparrow. Tom had a nagging air, and a trifle +of acridity on his broad features. Still, any one at a glance could have +sworn they were brothers, and Jonathan unhesitatingly proclaimed it at +the Aurora bar. + +Mr. Andrew's hands were working together, and at them, and at his face, +the old gentleman continued to look with a firmly interrogating air. + +'Want to know what brings me, Tom? I'll tell you presently. Hot,--isn't +it?' + +'What the deuce are you taking exercise for?' the old gentleman burst +out, and having unlocked his mouth, he began to puff and alter his +posture. + +'There you are, thawed in a minute!' said Mr. Andrew. 'What's an +eccentric? a child grown grey. It isn't mine; I read it somewhere. +Ah, here's the Port! good, I'll warrant.' + +Jonathan deferentially uncorked, excessive composure on his visage. He +arranged the table-cloth to a nicety, fixed the bottle with exactness, +and was only sent scudding by the old gentleman's muttering of: +'Eavesdropping pie!' followed by a short, 'Go!' and even then he must +delay to sweep off a particular crumb. + +'Good it is!' said Mr. Andrew, rolling the flavour on his lips, as he put +down his glass. 'I follow you in Port, Tom. Elder brother !' + +The old gentleman also drank, and was mollified enough to reply: 'Shan't +follow you in Parliament.' + +'Haven't forgiven that yet, Tom?' + +'No great harm done when you're silent.' + +'Capital Port!' said Mr. Andrew, replenishing the glasses. 'I ought to +have inquired where they kept the best Port. I might have known you'd +stick by it. By the way, talking of Parliament, there's talk of a new +election for Fallow field. You have a vote there. Will you give it to +Jocelyn? There's talk of his standing. + +'If he'll wear petticoats, I'll give him my vote.' + +'There you go, Tom!' + +'I hate masquerades. You're penny trumpets of the women. That tattle +comes from the bed-curtains. When a petticoat steps forward I give it my +vote, or else I button it up in my pocket.' + +This was probably one of the longest speeches he had ever delivered at +the Aurora. There was extra Port in it. Jonathan, who from his place of +observation noted the length of time it occupied, though he was unable to +gather the context, glanced at Mr. Andrew with a sly satisfaction. Mr. +Andrew, laughing, signalled for another pint. + +'So you've come here for my vote, have you?' said Mr. Tom. + +'Why, no; not exactly that,' Mr. Andrew answered, blinking and passing it +by. + +Jonathan brought the fresh pint, and Tom filled for himself, drank, and +said emphatically, and with a confounding voice: + +'Your women have been setting you on me, sir!' + +Andrew protested that he was entirely mistaken. + +'You're the puppet of your women!' + +'Well, Tom, not in this instance. Here's to the bachelors, and brother +Tom at their head!' + +It seemed to be Andrew's object to help his companion to carry a certain +quantity of Port, as if he knew a virtue it had to subdue him, and to +have fixed on a particular measure that he should hold before he +addressed him specially. Arrived at this, he said: + +'Look here, Tom. I know your ways. I shouldn't have bothered you here; +I never have before; but we couldn't very well talk it over in business +hours; and besides you're never at the Brewery till Monday, and the +matter's rather urgent.' + +'Why don't you speak like that in Parliament?' the old man interposed. + +'Because Parliament isn't my brother,' replied Mr. Andrew. 'You know, +Tom, you never quite took to my wife's family.' + +'I'm not a match for fine ladies, Nan.' + +'Well, Harriet would have taken to you, Tom, and will now, if you 'll let +her. Of course, it 's a pity if she 's ashamed of--hem! You found it +out about the Lymport people, Tom, and, you've kept the secret and +respected her feelings, and I thank you for it. Women are odd in those +things, you know. She mustn't imagine I 've heard a whisper. I believe +it would kill her.' + +The old gentleman shook silently. + +'Do you want me to travel over the kingdom, hawking her for the daughter +of a marquis?' + +'Now, don't joke, Tom. I'm serious. Are you not a Radical at heart? +Why do you make such a set against the poor women? What do we spring +from?' + +'I take off my hat, Nan, when I see a cobbler's stall.' + +'And I, Tom, don't care a rush who knows it. Homo--something; but we +never had much schooling. We 've thriven, and should help those we can. +We've got on in the world . . .' + +'Wife come back from Lymport?' sneered Tom. + +Andrew hurriedly, and with some confusion, explained that she had not +been able to go, on account of the child. + +'Account of the child!' his brother repeated, working his chin +contemptuously. 'Sisters gone?' + +'They're stopping with us,' said Andrew, reddening. + +'So the tailor was left to the kites and the crows. Ah! hum!' and Tom +chuckled. + +'You're angry with me, Tom, for coming here,' said Andrew. 'I see what +it is. Thought how it would be! You're offended, old Tom.' + +'Come where you like,' returned Tom, 'the place is open. It's a fool +that hopes for peace anywhere. They sent a woman here to wait on me, +this day month.' + +'That's a shame!' said Mr. Andrew, propitiatingly. 'Well, never mind, +Tom: the women are sometimes in the way.--Evan went down to bury his +father. He's there now. You wouldn't see him when he was at the +Brewery, Tom. He's--upon my honour! he's a good young fellow.' + +'A fine young gentleman, I've no doubt, Nan.' + +'A really good lad, Tom. No nonsense. I've come here to speak to you +about him.' + +Mr. Andrew drew a letter from his pocket, pursuing: 'Just throw aside +your prejudices, and read this. It's a letter I had from him this +morning. But first I must tell you how the case stands.' + +'Know more than you can tell me, Nan,' said Tom, turning over the flavour +of a gulp of his wine. + +'Well, then, just let me repeat it. He has been capitally educated; he +has always been used to good society: well, we mustn't sneer at it: good +society's better than bad, you'll allow. He has refined tastes: well, +you wouldn't like to live among crossing-sweepers, Tom. He 's clever and +accomplished, can speak and write in three languages: I wish I had his +abilities. He has good manners: well, Tom, you know you like them as +well as anybody. And now--but read for yourself.' + +'Yah!' went old Tom. 'The women have been playing the fool with him +since he was a baby. I read his rigmarole? No.' + +Mr. Andrew shrugged his shoulders, and opened the letter, saying: 'Well, +listen'; and then he coughed, and rapidly skimmed the introductory part. +'Excuses himself for addressing me formally--poor boy! Circumstances +have altered his position towards the world found his father's affairs in +a bad state: only chance of paying off father's debts to undertake +management of business, and bind himself to so much a year. But there, +Tom, if you won't read it, you miss the poor young fellow's character. +He says that he has forgotten his station: fancied he was superior to +trade, but hates debt; and will not allow anybody to throw dirt at his +father's name, while he can work to clear it; and will sacrifice his +pride. Come, Tom, that's manly, isn't it? I call it touching, poor +lad!' + +Manly it may have been, but the touching part of it was a feature missed +in Mr. Andrew's hands. At any rate, it did not appear favourably to +impress Tom, whose chin had gathered its ominous puckers, as he inquired: + +'What's the trade? he don't say.' + +Andrew added, with a wave of the hand: 'Out of a sort of feeling for his +sisters--I like him for it. Now what I want to ask you, Tom, is, whether +we can't assist him in some way! Why couldn't we take him into our +office, and fix him there, eh? If he works well--we're both getting old, +and my brats are chicks--we might, by-and-by, give him a share.' + +'Make a brewer of him? Ha! there'd be another mighty sacrifice for his +pride!' + +'Come, come, Tom,' said Andrew, 'he's my wife's brother, and I'm yours; +and--there, you know what women are. They like to preserve appearances: +we ought to consider them.' + +'Preserve appearances!' echoed Tom: 'ha! who'll do that for them better +than a tailor?' + +Andrew was an impatient little man, fitter for a kind action than to +plead a cause. Jeering jarred on him; and from the moment his brother +began it, he was of small service to Evan. He flung back against the +partition of the compound, rattling it to the disturbance of many a quiet +digestion. + +'Tom,' he cried, 'I believe you're a screw!' + +'Never said I wasn't,' rejoined Tom, as he finished his glass. 'I 'm a +bachelor, and a person--you're married, and an object. I won't have the +tailor's family at my coat-tails.' + +Do you mean to say, Tom, you don't like the young fellow? The Countess +says he's half engaged to an heiress; and he has a chance of appointments +--of course, nothing may come of them. But do you mean to say, you don't +like him for what he has done?' + +Tom made his jaw disagreeably prominent. ''Fraid I'm guilty of that +crime.' + +'And you that swear at people pretending to be above their station!' +exclaimed Andrew. 'I shall get in a passion. I can't stand this. +Here, waiter! what have I to pay?' + +'Go,' cried the time-honoured guest of the Aurora to Jonathan advancing. + +Andrew pressed the very roots of his hair back from his red forehead, +and sat upright and resolute, glancing at Tom. And now ensued a curious +scene of family blood. For no sooner did elderly Tom observe this +bantam-like demeanour of his brother, than he ruffled his feathers +likewise, and looked down on him, agitating his wig over a prodigious +frown. Whereof came the following sharp colloquy; Andrew beginning: + +I 'll pay off the debts out of my own pocket.' + +'You can make a greater fool of yourself, then?' + +'He shan't be a tailor!' + +'He shan't be a brewer!' + +'I say he shall live like a gentleman!' + +'I say he shall squat like a Turk!' + +Bang went Andrew's hand on the table: 'I 've pledged my word, mind!' + +Tom made a counter demonstration: 'And I'll have my way!' + +'Hang it! I can be as eccentric as you,' said Andrew. + +'And I as much a donkey as you, if I try hard,' said Tom. + +Something of the cobbler's stall followed this; till waxing furious, Tom +sung out to Jonathan, hovering around them in watchful timidity, 'More +Port!' and the words immediately fell oily on the wrath of the brothers; +both commenced wiping their heads with their handkerchiefs the faces of +both emerged and met, with a half-laugh: and, severally determined to +keep to what they had spoken, there was a tacit accord between them to +drop the subject. + +Like sunshine after smart rain, the Port shone on these brothers. Like a +voice from the pastures after the bellowing of the thunder, Andrew's +voice asked: 'Got rid of that twinge of the gout, Tom? Did you rub in +that ointment?' while Tom replied: 'Ay. How about that rheumatism of +yours? Have you tried that Indy oil?' receiving a like assurance. + +The remainder of the Port ebbed in meditation and chance remarks. The +bit of storm had done them both good; and Tom especially--the cynical, +carping, grim old gentleman--was much improved by the nearer resemblance +of his manner to Andrew's. + +Behind this unaffected fraternal concord, however, the fact that they +were pledged to a race in eccentricity, was present. They had been +rivals before; and anterior to the date of his marriage, Andrew had done +odd eclipsing things. But Andrew required prompting to it; he required +to be put upon his mettle. Whereas, it was more nature with Tom: nature +and the absence of a wife, gave him advantages over Andrew. Besides, he +had his character to maintain. He had said the word: and the first +vanity of your born eccentric is, that he shall be taken for infallible. + +Presently Andrew ducked his head to mark the evening clouds flushing over +the court-yard of the Aurora. + +'Time to be off, Tom,' he said: 'wife at home.' + +'Ah!' Tom answered. 'Well, I haven't got to go to bed so early.' + +'What an old rogue you are, Tom!' Andrew pushed his elbows forward on +the table amiably. 'Gad, we haven't drunk wine together since--by George! +we'll have another pint.' + +'Many as you like,' said Tom. + +Over the succeeding pint, Andrew, in whose veins the Port was merry, +favoured his brother with an imitation of Major Strike, and indicated his +dislike to that officer. Tom informed him that Major Strike was +speculating. + +'The ass eats at my table, and treats me with contempt.' + +'Just tell him that you're putting by the bones for him. He 'll want +'em.' + +Then Andrew with another glance at the clouds, now violet on a grey sky, +said he must really be off. Upon which Tom observed: 'Don't come here +again.' + +'You old rascal, Tom !' cried Andrew, swinging over the table: 'it's +quite jolly for us to be hob-a-nobbing together once more. 'Gad!--no, we +won't though! I promised--Harriet. Eh? What say, Tom?' + +'Nother pint, Nan?' + +Tom shook his head in a roguishly-cosy, irresistible way. Andrew, from a +shake of denial and resolve, fell into the same; and there sat the two +brothers--a jolly picture. + +The hour was ten, when Andrew Cogglesby, comforted by Tom's remark, that +he, Tom, had a wig, and that he, Andrew, would have a wigging, left the +Aurora; and he left it singing a song. Tom Cogglesby still sat at his +table, holding before him Evan's letter, of which he had got possession; +and knocking it round and round with a stroke of the forefinger, to the +tune of, 'Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, 'pothecary, ploughboy, thief'; +each profession being sounded as a corner presented itself to the point +of his nail. After indulging in this species of incantation for some +length of time, Tom Cogglesby read the letter from beginning to end, and +called peremptorily for pen, ink, and paper. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE COUNTESS IN LOW SOCIETY + +By dint of stratagems worthy of a Court intrigue, the Countess de Saldar +contrived to traverse the streets of Lymport, and enter the house where +she was born, unsuspected and unseen, under cover of a profusion of lace +and veil and mantilla, which only her heroic resolve to keep her beauties +hidden from the profane townspeople could have rendered endurable beneath +the fervid summer sun. Dress in a foreign style she must, as without it +she lost that sense of superiority, which was the only comfort to her in +her tribulations. The period of her arrival was ten days subsequent to +the burial of her father. She had come in the coach, like any common +mortal, and the coachman, upon her request, had put her down at the +Governor's house, and the guard had knocked at the door, and the servant +had informed her that General Hucklebridge was not the governor of +Lymport, nor did Admiral Combleman then reside in the town; which +tidings, the coach then being out of sight, it did not disconcert the +Countess to hear; and she reached her mother, having, at least, cut off +communication with the object of conveyance. + +The Countess kissed her mother, kissed Mrs. Fiske, and asked sharply for +Evan. Mrs. Fiske let her know that Evan was in the house. + +'Where?' inquired the Countess. 'I have news of the utmost importance +for him. I must see him.' + +'Where is he, aunt?' said Mrs. Fiske. 'In the shop, I think; I wonder +he did not see you passing, Louisa.' + +The Countess went bolt down into a chair. + +'Go to him, Jane,' said Mrs. Mel. 'Tell him Louisa is here, and don't +return.' + +Mrs. Fiske departed, and the Countess smiled. + +'Thank you, Mama! you know I never could bear that odious, vulgar little +woman. Oh, the heat! You talk of Portugal! And, oh! poor dear Papa! +what I have suffered!' + +Flapping her laces for air, and wiping her eyes for sorrow, the Countess +poured a flood of sympathy into her mother's ears and then said: + +'But you have made a great mistake, Mama, in allowing Evan to put his +foot into that place. He--beloved of an heiress! Why, if an enemy +should hear of it, it would ruin him--positively blast him--for ever. +And that she loves him I have proof positive. Yes; with all her +frankness, the little thing cannot conceal that from me now. She loves +him! And I desire you to guess, Mama, whether rivals will not abound? +And what enemy so much to be dreaded as a rival? And what revelation so +awful as that he has stood in a--in a--boutique?' + +Mrs. Mel maintained her usual attitude for listening. It had occurred to +her that it might do no good to tell the grand lady, her daughter; +of Evan's resolution, so she simply said, 'It is discipline for him,' and +left her to speak a private word with the youth. + +Timidly the Countess inspected the furniture of the apartment, taking +chills at the dingy articles she saw, in the midst of her heat. That she +should have sprung from this! The thought was painful; still she could +forgive Providence so much. But should it ever be known she had sprung +from this! Alas! she felt she never could pardon such a dire betrayal. +She had come in good spirits, but the mention of Evan's backsliding had +troubled her extremely, and though she did not say to herself, What was +the benefit resulting from her father's dying, if Evan would be so base- +minded? she thought the thing indefinitely, and was forming the words on +her mouth, One Harrington in a shop is equal to all! when Evan appeared +alone. + +'Why, goodness gracious! where's your moustache?' cried the Countess. + +'Gone the way of hair!' said Evan, coldly stooping to her forehead. + +'Such a distinction!' the Countess continued, reproachfully. 'Why, mon +Dieu! one could hardly tell you; as you look now, from the very +commonest tradesman--if you were not rather handsome and something of a +figure. It's a disguise, Evan--do you know that?' + +'And I 've parted with it--that 's all,' said Evan. 'No more disguises +for me!' + +The Countess immediately took his arm, and walked with him to a window. +His face was certainly changed. Murmuring that the air of Lymport was +bad for him, and that he must leave it instantly, she bade him sit and +attend to what she was about to say. + +While you have been here, degenerating, Evan, day by day--as you always +do out of my sight--degenerating! no less a word!--I have been slaving in +your interests. Yes; I have forced the Jocelyns socially to acknowledge +us. I have not slept; I have eaten bare morsels. Do abstinence and +vigils clear the wits? I know not! but indeed they have enabled me to +do more in a week than would suffice for a lifetime. Hark to me. I have +discovered Rose's secret. Si! It is so! Rose loves you. You blush; +you blush like a girl. She loves you, and you have let yourself be seen +in a shop! Contrast me the two things. Oh! in verity, dreadful as it +is, one could almost laugh. But the moment I lose sight of you, my +instructions vanish as quickly as that hair on your superior lip, which +took such time to perfect. Alas! you must grow it again immediately. +Use any perfumer's contrivance. Rowland! I have great faith in Rowland. +Without him, I believe, there would have been many bald women committing +suicide! You remember the bottle I gave to the Count de Villa Flor? +"Countess," he said to me, "you have saved this egg-shell from a crack by +helping to cover it"--for so he called his head--the top, you know, was +beginning to shine like an egg. And I do fear me he would have done it. +Ah! you do not conceive what the dread of baldness is! To a woman death- +-death is preferable to baldness! Baldness is death! And a wig-- +a wig! Oh, horror! total extinction is better than to rise again in a +wig! But you are young, and play with hair. But I was saying, I went to +see the Jocelyns. I was introduced to Sir Franks and his lady and the +wealthy grandmother. And I have an invitation for you, Evan--you +unmannered boy, that you do not bow! A gentle incline forward of the +shoulders, and the eyes fixed softly, your upper lids drooping +triflingly, as if you thanked with gentle sincerity, but were +indifferent. Well, well, if you will not! An invitation for you to +spend part of the autumn at Beckley Court, the ancestral domain, where +there will be company the nobles of the land! Consider that. You say it +was bold in me to face them after that horrible man committed us on board +the vessel? A Harrington is anything but a coward. I did go and because +I am devoted to your interests. That very morning, I saw announced in +the paper, just beneath poor Andrew's hand, as he held it up at the +breakfasttable, reading it, I saw among the deaths, Sir Abraham +Harrington, of Torquay, Baronet, of quinsy! Twice that good man has come +to my rescue! Oh! I welcomed him as a piece of Providence! I turned and +said to Harriet, "I see they have put poor Papa in the paper." Harriet +was staggered. I took the paper from Andrew, and pointed it to her. She +has no readiness. She has had no foreign training. She could not +comprehend, and Andrew stood on tiptoe, and peeped. He has a bad cough, +and coughed himself black in the face. I attribute it to excessive bad +manners and his cold feelings. He left the room. I reproached Harriet. +But, oh! the singularity of the excellent fortune of such an event at +such a time! It showed that our Harrington-luck had not forsaken us. +I hurried to the Jocelyns instantly. Of course, it cleared away any +suspicions aroused in them by that horrible man on board the vessel. +And the tears I wept for Sir Abraham, Evan, in verity they were tears of +deep and sincere gratitude! What is your mouth knitting the corners at? +Are you laughing?' + +Evan hastily composed his visage to the melancholy that was no +counterfeit in him just then. + +'Yes,' continued the Countess, easily reassured, 'I shall ever feel a +debt to Sir Abraham Harrington, of Torquay. I dare say we are related to +him. At least he has done us more service than many a rich and titled +relative. No one supposes he would acknowledge poor Papa. I can forgive +him that, Evan!' The Countess pointed out her finger with mournful and +impressive majesty, 'As we look down on that monkey, people of rank and +consideration in society look on what poor dear Papa was.' + +This was partly true, for Jacko sat on a chair, in his favourite +attitude, copied accurately from the workmen of the establishment at +their labour with needle and thread. Growing cognizant of the infamy of +his posture, the Countess begged Evan to drive him out of her sight, and +took a sniff at her smelling-bottle. + +She went on: 'Now, dear Van, you would hear of your sweet Rose?' + +'Not a word!' Evan hastily answered. + +'Why, what does this indicate? Whims! Then you do love?' + +'I tell you, Louisa, I don't want to hear a word of any of them,' said +Evan, with an angry gleam in his eyes. 'They are nothing to me, nor I to +them. I--my walk in life is not theirs.' + +'Faint heart! faint heart!' the Countess lifted a proverbial forefinger. + +'Thank heaven, I shall have the consolation of not going about, and +bowing and smirking like an impostor!' Evan exclaimed. + +There was a wider intelligence in the Countess's arrested gaze than she +chose to fashion into speech. + +'I knew,' she said, 'I knew how the air of this horrible Lymport would +act on you. But while I live, Evan, you shall not sink in the sludge. +You, with all the pains I have lavished on you! and with your presence!-- +for you have a presence, so rare among young men in this England! You, +who have been to a Court, and interchanged bows with duchesses, and I +know not what besides--nay, I do not accuse you; but if you had not been +a mere boy, and an English boy-poor Eugenia herself confessed to me that +you had a look--a tender cleaving of the underlids--that made her catch +her hand to her heart sometimes: it reminded her so acutely of false +Belmarafa. Could you have had a greater compliment than that? You shall +not stop here another day!' + +'True,' said Evan, 'for I'm going to London to-night.' + +'Not to London,' the Countess returned, with a conquering glance, 'but to +Beckley Court-and with me.' + +'To London, Louisa, with Mr. Goren.' + +Again the Countess eyed him largely; but took, as it were, a side-path +from her broad thought, saying: 'Yes, fortunes are made in London, if you +would they should be rapid.' + +She meditated. At that moment Dandy knocked at the door, and called +outside: 'Please, master, Mr. Goren says there's a gentleman in the shop- +wants to see you.' + +'Very well,' replied Evan, moving. He was swung violently round. + +The Countess had clutched him by the arm. A fearful expression was on +her face. + +'Whither do you go?' she said. + +'To the shop, Louisa.' + +Too late to arrest the villanous word, she pulled at him. 'Are you quite +insane? Consent to be seen by a gentleman there? What has come to you? +You must be lunatic! Are we all to be utterly ruined--disgraced?' + +'Is my mother to starve?' said Evan. + +'Absurd rejoinder! No! You should have sold everything here before +this. She can live with Harriet--she--once out of this horrible element +--she would not show it. But, Evan, you are getting away from me: you +are not going?--speak!' + +'I am going,' said Evan. + +The Countess clung to him, exclaiming: 'Never, while I have the power to +detain you!' but as he was firm and strong, she had recourse to her +woman's aids, and burst into a storm of sobs on his shoulder--a scene of +which Mrs. Mel was, for some seconds, a composed spectator. + +'What 's the matter now?' said Mrs. Mel. + +Evan impatiently explained the case. Mrs. Mel desired her daughter to +avoid being ridiculous, and making two fools in her family; and at the +same time that she told Evan there was no occasion for him to go, +contrived, with a look, to make the advice a command. He, in that state +of mind when one takes bitter delight in doing an abhorred duty, was +hardly willing to be submissive; but the despair of the Countess reduced +him, and for her sake he consented to forego the sacrifice of his pride +which was now his sad, sole pleasure. Feeling him linger, the Countess +relaxed her grasp. Hers were tears that dried as soon as they had served +their end; and, to give him the full benefit of his conduct, she said: +'I knew Evan would be persuaded by me.' + +Evan pitifully pressed her hand, and sighed. + +'Tea is on the table down-stairs,' said Mrs. Mel. 'I have cooked +something for you, Louisa. Do you sleep here to-night?' + +'Can I tell you, Mama?' murmured the Countess. 'I am dependent on our +Evan.' + +'Oh! well, we will eat first,' said Mrs. Mel, and they went to the table +below, the Countess begging her mother to drop titles in designating her +to the servants, which caused Mrs. Mel to say: + +'There is but one. I do the cooking'; and the Countess, ever disposed to +flatter and be suave, even when stung by a fact or a phrase, added: + +'And a beautiful cook you used to be, dear Mama!' + +At the table, awaiting them, sat Mrs. Wishaw, Mrs. Fiske, and Mr. Goren, +who soon found themselves enveloped in the Countess's graciousness. Mr. +Goren would talk of trade, and compare Lymport business with London, and +the Countess, loftily interested in his remarks, drew him out to disgust +her brother. Mrs. Wishaw, in whom the Countess at once discovered a +frivolous pretentious woman of the moneyed trading class, she treated as +one who was alive to society, and surveyed matters from a station in the +world, leading her to think that she tolerated Mr. Goren, as a lady- +Christian of the highest rank should tolerate the insects that toil for +us. Mrs. Fiske was not so tractable, for Mrs. Fiske was hostile and +armed. Mrs. Fiske adored the great Mel, and she had never loved Louisa. +Hence, she scorned Louisa on account of her late behaviour toward her +dead parent. The Countess saw through her, and laboured to be friendly +with her, while she rendered her disagreeable in the eyes of Mrs. Wishaw, +and let Mrs. Wishaw perceive that sympathy was possible between them; +manoeuvring a trifle too delicate, perhaps, for the people present, but +sufficient to blind its keen-witted author to the something that was +being concealed from herself, of which something, nevertheless, her +senses apprehensively warned her: and they might have spoken to her wits, +but that mortals cannot, unaided, guess, or will not, unless struck in +the face by the fact, credit, what is to their minds the last horror. + +'I came down in the coach, quite accidental, with this gentleman,' said +Mrs. Wishaw, fanning a cheek and nodding at Mr. Goren. 'I'm an old flame +of dear Mel's. I knew him when he was an apprentice in London. Now, +wasn't it odd? Your mother--I suppose I must call you "my lady"?' + +The Countess breathed a tender 'Spare me,' with a smile that added, +'among friends!' + +Mrs. Wishaw resumed: 'Your mother was an old flame of this gentleman's, +I found out. So there were two old flames, and I couldn't help thinking! +But I was so glad to have seen dear Mel once more: + +'Ah!' sighed the Countess. + +'He was always a martial-looking man, and laid out, he was quite +imposing. I declare, I cried so, as it reminded me of when I couldn't +have him, for he had nothing but his legs and arms--and I married Wishaw. +But it's a comfort to think I have been of some service to dear, dear +Mel! for Wishaw 's a man of accounts and payments; and I knew Mel had +cloth from him, and, the lady suggested bills delayed, with two or three +nods, 'you know! and I'll do my best for his son.' + +'You are kind,' said the Countess, smiling internally at the vulgar +creature's misconception of Evan's requirements. + +'Did he ever talk much about Mary Fence?' asked Mrs. Wishaw. '"Polly +Fence," he used to say, "sweet Polly Fence!"' + +'Oh! I think so. Frequently,' observed the Countess. + +Mrs. Fiske primmed her mouth. She had never heard the great Mel allude +to the name of Fence. + +The Goren-croak was heard + +'Painters have painted out "Melchisedec" this afternoon. Yes,--ah! +In and out-as the saying goes.' + +Here was an opportunity to mortify the Countess. + +Mrs. Fiske placidly remarked: 'Have we the other put up in its stead? +It 's shorter.' + +A twinge of weakness had made Evan request that the name of Evan +Harrington should not decorate the shopfront till he had turned his back +on it, for a time. Mrs. Mel crushed her venomous niece. + +'What have you to do with such things? Shine in your own affairs first, +Ann, before you meddle with others.' + +Relieved at hearing that ' Melchisedec' was painted out, and unsuspicious +of the announcement that should replace it, the Countess asked Mrs. +Wishaw if she thought Evan like her dear Papa. + +'So like,' returned the lady, 'that I would not be alone with him yet, +for worlds. I should expect him to be making love to me: for, you know, +my dear--I must be familiar--Mel never could be alone with you, without! +It was his nature. I speak of him before marriage. But, if I can trust +myself with him, I shall take charge of Mr. Evan, and show him some +London society.' + +'That is indeed kind,' said the Countess, glad of a thick veil for the +utterance of her contempt. 'Evan, though--I fear--will be rather +engaged. His friends, the Jocelyns of Beckley Court, will--I fear-- +hardly dispense with him and Lady Splenders--you know her? the +Marchioness of Splenders? No?--by repute, at least: a most beautiful and +most fascinating woman; report of him alone has induced her to say that +Evan must and shall form a part of her autumnal gathering at Splenders +Castle. And how he is to get out of it, I cannot tell. But I am sure +his multitudinous engagements will not prevent his paying due court to +Mistress Wishaw.' + +As the Countess intended, Mistress Wishaw's vanity was reproved, and her +ambition excited: a pretty doublestroke, only possible to dexterous +players. + +The lady rejoined that she hoped so, she was sure; and forthwith (because +she suddenly seemed to possess him more than his son), launched upon +Mel's incomparable personal attractions. This caused the Countess to +enlarge upon Evan's vast personal prospects. They talked across each +other a little, till the Countess remembered her breeding, allowed Mrs. +Wishaw to run to an end in hollow exclamations, and put a finish to the +undeclared controversy, by a traverse of speech, as if she were taking up +the most important subject of their late colloquy. 'But Evan is not in +his own hands--he is in the hands of a lovely young woman, I must tell +you. He belongs to her, and not to us. You have heard of Rose Jocelyn, +the celebrated heiress?' + +'Engaged?' Mrs. Wishaw whispered aloud. + +The Countess, an adept in the lie implied--practised by her, that she +might not subject herself to future punishment (in which she was so +devout a believer, that she condemned whole hosts to it)--deeply smiled. + +'Really !' said Mrs. Wishaw, and was about to inquire why Evan, with +these brilliant expectations, could think of trade and tailoring, when +the young man, whose forehead had been growing black, jumped up, and +quitted them; thus breaking the harmony of the table; and as the Countess +had said enough, she turned the conversation to the always welcome theme +of low society. She broached death and corpses; and became extremely +interesting, and very sympathetic: the only difference between the +ghostly anecdotes she related, and those of the other ladies, being that +her ghosts were all of them titled, and walked mostly under the burden of +a coronet. For instance, there was the Portuguese Marquis de Col. He had +married a Spanish wife, whose end was mysterious. Undressing, on the +night of the anniversary of her death, and on the point of getting into +bed, he beheld the dead woman lying on her back before him. All night +long he had to sleep with this freezing phantom! Regularly, every fresh +anniversary, he had to endure the same penance, no matter where he might +be, or in what strange bed. On one occasion, when he took the live for +the dead, a curious thing occurred, which the Countess scrupled less to +relate than would men to hint at. Ghosts were the one childish enjoyment +Mrs. Mel allowed herself, and she listened to her daughter intently, +ready to cap any narrative; but Mrs. Fiske stopped the flood. + +'You have improved on Peter Smithers, Louisa,' she said. + +The Countess turned to her mildly. + +'You are certainly thinking of Peter Smithers,' Mrs. Fiske continued, +bracing her shoulders. 'Surely, you remember poor Peter, Louisa? An old +flame of your own! He was going to kill himself, but married a +Devonshire woman, and they had disagreeables, and SHE died, and he was +undressing, and saw her there in the bed, and wouldn't get into it, and +had the mattress, and the curtains, and the counterpanes, and everything +burnt. He told us it himself. You must remember it, Louisa?' + +The Countess remembered nothing of the sort. No doubt could exist of its +having been the Portuguese Marquis de Col, because he had confided to her +the whole affair, and indeed come to her, as his habit was, to ask her +what he could possibly do, under the circumstances. If Mrs. Fiske's +friend, who married the Devonshire person, had seen the same thing, the +coincidence was yet more extraordinary than the case. Mrs. Fiske said it +assuredly was, and glanced at her aunt, who, as the Countess now rose, +declaring she must speak to Evan, chid Mrs. Fiske, and wished her and +Peter Smithers at the bottom of the sea. + +'No, no, Mama,' said the Countess, laughing, 'that would hardly be +proper,' and before Mrs. Fiske could reply, escaped to complain to Evan +of the vulgarity of those women. + +She was not prepared for the burst of wrath with which Evan met her. +'Louisa ,' said he, taking her wrist sternly, 'you have done a thing I +can't forgive. I find it hard to bear disgrace myself: I will not +consent to bring it upon others. Why did you dare to couple Miss +Jocelyn's name with mine?' + +The Countess gave him out her arm's length. 'Speak on, Van,' she said, +admiring him with a bright gaze. + +'Answer me, Louisa; and don't take me for a fool any more,' he pursued. +'You have coupled Miss Jocelyn's name with mine, in company, and I insist +now upon your giving me your promise to abstain from doing it anywhere, +before anybody.' + +'If she saw you at this instant, Van,' returned the incorrigible +Countess, 'would she desire it, think you? Oh! I must make you angry +before her, I see that! You have your father's frown. You surpass him, +for your delivery is more correct, and equally fluent. And if a woman is +momentarily melted by softness in a man, she is for ever subdued by +boldness and bravery of mien.' + +Evan dropped her hand. 'Miss Jocelyn has done me the honour to call me +her friend. That was in other days.' His lip quivered. 'I shall not +see Miss Jocelyn again. Yes; I would lay down my life for her; but +that's idle talk. No such chance will ever come to me. But I can save +her from being spoken of in alliance with me, and what I am, and I tell +you, Louisa, I will not have it.' Saying which, and while he looked +harshly at her, wounded pride bled through his eyes. + +She was touched. 'Sit down, dear; I must explain to you, and make you +happy against your will,' she said, in another voice, and an English +accent. 'The mischief is done, Van. If you do not want Rose Jocelyn to +love you, you must undo it in your own way. I am not easily deceived. +On the morning I went to her house in town, she took me aside, and spoke +to me. Not a confession in words. The blood in her cheeks, when I +mentioned you, did that for her. Everything about you she must know--how +you bore your grief, and all. And not in her usual free manner, but +timidly, as if she feared a surprise, or feared to be wakened to the +secret in her bosom she half suspects--"Tell him!" she said, "I hope he +will not forget me."' + +The Countess was interrupted by a great sob; for the picture of frank +Rose Jocelyn changed, and soft, and, as it were, shadowed under a veil of +bashful regard for him, so filled the young man with sorrowful +tenderness, that he trembled, and was as a child. + +Marking the impression she had produced on him, and having worn off that +which he had produced on her, the Countess resumed the art in her style +of speech, easier to her than nature. + +'So the sweetest of Roses may be yours, dear Van; and you have her in a +gold setting, to wear on your heart. Are you not enviable? I will not-- +no, I will not tell you she is perfect. I must fashion the sweet young +creature. Though I am very ready to admit that she is much improved by +this--shall I call it, desired consummation?' + +Evan could listen no more. Such a struggle was rising in his breast: the +effort to quench what the Countess had so shrewdly kindled; passionate +desire to look on Rose but for one lightning flash: desire to look on +her, and muffled sense of shame twin-born with it: wild love and leaden +misery mixed: dead hopelessness and vivid hope. Up to the neck in +Purgatory, but his soul saturated with visions of Bliss! The fair orb of +Love was all that was wanted to complete his planetary state, and aloft +it sprang, showing many faint, fair tracts to him, and piling huge +darknesses. + +As if in search of something, he suddenly went from the room. + +'I have intoxicated the poor boy,' said the Countess, and consulted an +attitude by the evening light in a mirror. Approving the result, she +rang for her mother, and sat with her till dark; telling her she could +not and would not leave her dear Mama that night. At the supper-table +Evan did not appear, and Mr. Goren, after taking counsel of Mrs. Mel, +dispersed the news that Evan was off to London. On the road again, with +a purse just as ill-furnished, and in his breast the light that sometimes +leads gentlemen, as well as ladies, astray. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +MY GENTLEMAN ON THE ROAD AGAIN + +Near a milestone, under the moonlight, crouched the figure of a woman, +huddled with her head against her knees, and careless hair falling to the +summer's dust. Evan came upon this sight within a few miles of +Fallowfield. At first he was rather startled, for he had inherited +superstitious emotions from his mother, and the road was lone, the moon +full. He went up to her and spoke a gentle word, which provoked no +reply. He ventured to put his hand on her shoulder, continuing softly to +address her. She was flesh and blood. Evan stooped his head to catch a +whisper from her mouth, but nothing save a heavier fall of the breath she +took, as of one painfully waking, was heard. + +A misery beyond our own is a wholesome picture for youth, and though we +may not for the moment compare the deep with the lower deep, we, if we +have a heart for outer sorrows, can forget ourselves in it. Evan had +just been accusing the heavens of conspiracy to disgrace him. Those +patient heavens had listened, as is their wont. They had viewed and had +not been disordered by his mental frenzies. It is certainly hard that +they do not come down to us, and condescend to tell us what they mean, +and be dumb-foundered by the perspicuity of our arguments the argument, +for instance, that they have not fashioned us for the science of the +shears, and do yet impel us to wield them. Nevertheless, they to whom +mortal life has ceased to be a long matter perceive that our appeals for +conviction are answered, now and then very closely upon the call. When +we have cast off the scales of hope and fancy, and surrender our claims +on mad chance, it is given us to see that some plan is working out: that +the heavens, icy as they are to the pangs of our blood, have been +throughout speaking to our souls; and, according to the strength there +existing, we learn to comprehend them. But their language is an element +of Time, whom primarily we have to know. + +Evan Harrington was young. He wished not to clothe the generation. What +was to the remainder of the exiled sons of Adam simply the brand of +expulsion from Paradise, was to him hell. In his agony, anything less +than an angel, soft-voiced in his path, would not have satisfied the poor +boy, and here was this wretched outcast, and instead of being relieved, +he was to act the reliever! + +Striving to rouse the desolate creature, he shook her slightly. She now +raised her head with a slow, gradual motion, like that of a wax-work, +showing a white young face, tearless,-dreadfully drawn at the lips. +After gazing at him, she turned her head mechanically to her shoulder, as +to ask him why he touched her. He withdrew his hand, saying: + +'Why are you here? Pardon me; I want, if possible, to help you.' + +A light sprang in her eyes. She jumped from the stone, and ran forward a +step or two, with a gasp: + +'Oh, my God! I want to go and drown myself.' + +Evan lingered behind her till he saw her body sway, and in a fit of +trembling she half fell on his outstretched arm. He led her to the +stone, not knowing what on earth to do with her. There was no sign of a +house near; they were quite solitary; to all his questions she gave an +unintelligible moan. He had not the heart to leave her, so, taking a +sharp seat on a heap of flints, thus possibly furnishing future +occupation for one of his craftsmen, he waited, and amused himself by +marking out diagrams with his stick in the thick dust. + +His thoughts were far away, when he heard, faintly uttered: + +'Why do you stop here?' + +'To help you.' + +'Please don't. Let me be. I can't be helped.' + +'My good creature,' said Evan, 'it 's quite impossible that I should +leave you in this state. Tell me where you were going when your illness +seized you?' + +'I was going,' she commenced vacantly, 'to the sea--the water,' +she added, with a shivering lip. + +The foolish youth asked her if she could be cold on such a night. + +'No, I'm not cold,' she replied, drawing closer over her lap the ends of +a shawl which would in that period have been thought rather gaudy for her +station. + +'You were going to Lymport?' + +'Yes,--Lymport's nearest, I think.' + +'And why were you out travelling at this hour?' + +She dropped her head, and began rocking to right and left. + +While they talked the noise of waggon-wheels was heard approaching. Evan +went into the middle of the road, and beheld a covered waggon, and a +fellow whom he advanced to meet, plodding a little to the rear of the +horses. He proved kindly. He was a farmer's man, he said, and was at +that moment employed in removing the furniture of the farmer's son, who +had failed as a corn-chandler in Lymport, to Hillford, which he expected +to reach about morn. He answered Evan's request that he would afford the +young woman conveyance as far as Fallowfield: + +'Tak' her in? That I will. + +'She won't hurt the harses,' he pursued, pointing his whip at the +vehicle: 'there's my mate, Gearge Stoakes, he's in there, snorin' his +turn. Can't you hear 'n asnorin' thraugh the wheels? I can; I've been +laughin'! He do snore that loud-Gearge do!' + +Proceeding to inform Evan how George Stokes had snored in that +characteristic manner from boyhood, ever since he and George had slept in +a hayloft together; and how he, kept wakeful and driven to distraction by +George Stokes' nose, had been occasionally compelled, in sheer self- +defence, madly to start up and hold that pertinacious alarum in tight +compression between thumb and forefinger; and how George Stokes, thus +severely handled, had burst his hold with a tremendous snort, as big as a +bull, and had invariably uttered the exclamation, 'Hulloa!--same to you, +my lad!' and rolled over to snore as fresh as ever;--all this with +singular rustic comparisons, racy of the soil, and in raw Hampshire +dialect, the waggoner came to a halt opposite the stone, and, while Evan +strode to assist the girl, addressed himself to the great task of +arousing the sturdy sleeper and quieting his trumpet, heard by all ears +now that the accompaniment of the wheels was at an end. + +George, violently awakened, complained that it was before his time, to +which he was true; and was for going off again with exalted contentment, +though his heels had been tugged, and were dangling some length out of +the machine; but his comrade, with a determined blow of the lungs, gave +another valiant pull, and George Stokes was on his legs, marvelling at +the world and man. Evan had less difficulty with the girl. She rose to +meet him, put up her arms for him to clasp her waist, whispering sharply +in an inward breath: 'What are you going to do with me?' and indifferent +to his verbal response, trustingly yielded her limbs to his guidance. He +could see blood on her bitten underlip; as, with the help of the +waggoner, he lifted her on the mattress, backed by a portly bundle, which +the sagacity of Mr. Stokes had selected for his couch. + +The waggoner cracked his whip, laughing at George Stokes, who yawned and +settled into a composed ploughswing, without asking questions; apparently +resolved to finish his nap on his legs. + +'Warn't he like that Myzepper chap, I see at the circus, bound athert +gray mare!' chuckled the waggoner. 'So he 'd 'a gone on, had ye 'a let +'n. No wulves waddn't wake Gearge till he 'd slept it out. Then he 'd +say, "marnin'!" to 'm. Are ye 'wake now, Gearge?' + +The admirable sleeper preferred to be a quiet butt, and the waggoner +leisurely exhausted the fun that was to be had out of him; returning to +it with a persistency that evinced more concentration than variety in his +mind. At last Evan said: 'Your pace is rather slow. They'll be shut up +in Fallowfield. I 'll go on ahead. You'll find me at one of the inns- +the Green Dragon.' + +In return for this speech, the waggoner favoured him with a stare, +followed by the exclamation: + +'Oh, no! dang that!' + +'Why, what's the matter?' quoth Evan. + +'You en't goin' to be off, for to leave me and Gearge in the lurch there, +with that ther' young woman, in that ther' pickle!' returned the +waggoner. + +Evan made an appeal to his reason, but finding that impregnable, he +pulled out his scanty purse to guarantee his sincerity with an offer of +pledgemoney. The waggoner waved it aside. He wanted no money, he said. + +'Look heer,' he went on; 'if you're for a start, I tells ye plain, I +chucks that ther' young woman int' the road.' + +Evan bade him not to be a brute. + +'Nark and crop!' the waggoner doggedly ejaculated. + +Very much surprised that a fellow who appeared sound at heart, should +threaten to behave so basely, Evan asked an explanation: upon which the +waggoner demanded to know what he had eyes for: and as this query failed +to enlighten the youth, he let him understand that he was a man of family +experience, and that it was easy to tell at a glance that the complaint +the young woman laboured under was one common to the daughters of Eve. +He added that, should an emergency arise, he, though a family man, would +be useless: that he always vacated the premises while those incidental +scenes were being enacted at home; and that for him and George Stokes to +be left alone with the young woman, why they would be of no more service +to her than a couple of babies newborn themselves. He, for his part, he +assured Evan, should take to his heels, and relinquish waggon, and +horses, and all; while George probably would stand and gape; and the end +of it would be, they would all be had up for murder. He diverged from +the alarming prospect, by a renewal of the foregoing alternative to the +gentleman who had constituted himself the young woman's protector. If he +parted company with them, they would immediately part company with the +young woman, whose condition was evident. + +'Why, couldn't you tall that?' said the waggoner, as Evan, tingling at +the ears, remained silent. + +'I know nothing of such things,' he answered, hastily, like one hurt. + +I have to repeat the statement, that he was a youth, and a modest one. +He felt unaccountably, unreasonably, but horridly, ashamed. The thought +of his actual position swamped the sickening disgust at tailordom. +Worse, then, might happen to us in this extraordinary world! There was +something more abhorrent than sitting with one's legs crossed, publicly +stitching, and scoffed at! He called vehemently to the waggoner to whip +the horses, and hurry ahead into Fallowfield; but that worthy, whatever +might be his dire alarms, had a regular pace, that was conscious of no +spur: the reply of 'All right!' satisfied him at least; and Evan's chaste +sighs for the appearance of an assistant petticoat round a turn of the +road, were offered up duly, to the measure of the waggoner's steps. + +Suddenly the waggoner came to a halt, and said 'Blest if that Gearge +bain't a snorin' on his pins!' + +Evan lingered by him with some curiosity, while the waggoner thumped his +thigh to, 'Yes he be! no he bain't!' several times, in eager hesitation. + +'It's a fellow calling from the downs,' said Evan. + +'Ay, so!' responded the waggoner. 'Dang'd if I didn't think 'twere that +Gearge of our'n. Hark awhile.' + +At a repetition of the call, the waggoner stopped his team. After a few +minutes, a man appeared panting on the bank above them, down which he ran +precipitately, knocked against Evan, apologized with the little breath +that remained to him, and then held his hand as to entreat a hearing. +Evan thought him half-mad; the waggoner was about to imagine him the +victim of a midnight assault. He undeceived them by requesting, in +rather flowery terms, conveyance on the road and rest for his limbs. It +being explained to him that the waggon was already occupied, he comforted +himself aloud with the reflection that it was something to be on the road +again for one who had been belated, lost, and wandering over the downs +for the last six hours. + +'Walcome to git in, when young woman gits out,' said the waggoner. 'I'll +gi' ye my sleep on t' Hillford.' + +'Thanks, worthy friend,' returned the new comer. 'The state of the case +is this--I'm happy to take from humankind whatsoever I can get. If this +gentleman will accept of my company, and my legs hold out, all will yet +be well.' + +Though he did not wear a petticoat, Evan was not sorry to have him. Next +to the interposition of the Gods, we pray for human fellowship when we +are in a mess. So he mumbled politely, dropped with him a little to the +rear, and they all stepped out to the crack of the waggoner's whip. + +'Rather a slow pace,' said Evan, feeling bound to converse. + +'Six hours on the downs makes it extremely suitable to me,' rejoined the +stranger, + +'You lost your way?' + +'I did, sir. Yes; one does not court those desolate regions wittingly. +I am for life and society. The embraces of Diana do not agree with my +constitution. If classics there be who differ from me, I beg them to +take six hours on the downs alone with the moon, and the last prospect of +bread and cheese, and a chaste bed, seemingly utterly extinguished. I am +cured of my romance. Of course, when I say bread and cheese, I speak +figuratively. Food is implied.' + +Evan stole a glance at his companion. + +'Besides,' the other continued, with an inflexion of grandeur, 'for a man +accustomed to his hunters, it is, you will confess, unpleasant--I speak' +hypothetically--to be reduced to his legs to that extent that it strikes +him shrewdly he will run them into stumps.' + +The stranger laughed. + +The fair lady of the night illumined his face, like one who recognized a +subject. Evan thought he knew the voice. A curious struggle therein +between native facetiousness and an attempt at dignity, appeared to Evan +not unfamiliar; and the egregious failure of ambition and triumph of the +instinct, helped him to join, the stranger in his mirth. + +'Jack Raikes?' he said: 'surely?' + +'The man!' it was answered to him. 'But you? and near our old school-- +Viscount Harrington? These marvels occur, you see--we meet again by +night.' + +Evan, with little gratification at the meeting, fell into their former +comradeship; tickled by a recollection of his old schoolfellow's India- +rubber mind. + +Mr. Raikes stood about a head under him. He had extremely mobile +features; thick, flexible eyebrows; a loose, voluble mouth; a ridiculous +figure on a dandified foot. He represented to you one who was rehearsing +a part he wished to act before the world, and was not aware that he took +the world into his confidence. + +How he had come there his elastic tongue explained in tropes and puns and +lines of dramatic verse. His patrimony spent, he at once believed +himself an actor, and he was hissed off the stage of a provincial +theatre. + +'Ruined, the last ignominy endured, I fled from the gay vistas of the +Bench--for they live who would thither lead me! and determined, the day +before the yesterday--what think'st thou? why to go boldly, and offer +myself as Adlatus to blessed old Cudford! Yes! a little Latin is all +that remains to me, and I resolved, like the man I am, to turn, hic, hac, +hoc, into bread and cheese, and beer: Impute nought foreign to me, in the +matter of pride.' + +'Usher in our old school--poor old Jack!' exclaimed Evan. + +'Lieutenant in the Cudford Academy!' the latter rejoined. 'I walked the +distance from London. I had my interview with the respected principal. +He gave me of mutton nearest the bone, which, they say, is sweetest; and +on sweet things you should not regale in excess. Endymion watched the +sheep that bred that mutton! He gave me the thin beer of our boyhood, +that I might the more soberly state my mission. That beer, my friend, +was brewed by one who wished to form a study for pantomimic masks. He +listened with the gravity which is all his own to the recital of my +career; he pleasantly compared me to Phaethon, congratulated the river +Thames at my not setting it on fire in my rapid descent, and extended to +me the three fingers of affectionate farewell. "You an usher, a rearer +of youth, Mr. Raikes? Oh, no! Oh, no!" That was all I could get out of +him. 'Gad! he might have seen that I didn't joke with the mutton-bone. +If I winced at the beer it was imperceptible. Now a man who can do that +is what I call a man in earnest.' + +'You've just come from Cudford?' said Evan. + +'Short is the tale, though long the way, friend Harrington. From Bodley +is ten miles to Beckley. I walked them. From Beckley is fifteen miles +to Fallowfield. Them I was traversing, when, lo! near sweet eventide a +fair horsewoman riding with her groom at her horse's heels. "Lady," says +I, addressing her, as much out of the style of the needy as possible, +"will you condescend to direct me to Fallowfield?"--"Are you going to the +match?" says she. I answered boldly that I was. "Beckley's in," says +she, "and you'll be in time to see them out, if you cut across the downs +there." I lifted my hat--a desperate measure, for the brim won't bear +much--but honour to women though we perish. She bowed: I cut across the +downs. In fine, Harrington, old boy, I've been wandering among those +downs for the last seven or eight hours. I was on the point of turning +my back on the road for the twentieth time, I believe when I heard your +welcome vehicular music, and hailed you; and I ask you, isn't it luck for +a fellow who hasn't got a penny in his pocket, and is as hungry as five +hundred hunters, to drop on an old friend like this?' + +Evan answered with the question: + +'Where was it you said you met the young lady?' + +'In the first place, O Amadis! I never said she was young. You're on +the scent, I see.' + +Nursing the fresh image of his darling in his heart's recesses, Evan, as +they entered Fallowfield, laid the state of his purse before Jack, and +earned anew the epithet of Amadis, when it came to be told that the +occupant of the waggon was likewise one of its pensioners. + +Sleep had long held its reign in Fallowfield. Nevertheless, Mr. Raikes, +though blind windows alone looked on him, and nought foreign was to be +imputed to him in the matter of pride, had become exceedingly solicitous +concerning his presentation to the inhabitants of that quiet little +country town; and while Evan and--the waggoner consulted the former with +regard to the chances of procuring beds and supper, the latter as to his +prospect of beer and a comfortable riddance of the feminine burden +weighing on them all--Mr. Raikes was engaged in persuading his hat to +assume something of the gentlemanly polish of its youth, and might have +been observed now and then furtively catching up a leg to be dusted. Ere +the wheels of the waggon stopped he had gained that ease of mind which +the knowledge that you have done all a man may do and circumstances +warrant, establishes. Capacities conscious of their limits may repose +even proudly when they reach them; and, if Mr. Raikes had not quite the +air of one come out of a bandbox, he at least proved to the discerning +intelligence that he knew what sort of manner befitted that happy +occasion, and was enabled by the pains he had taken to glance with a +challenge at the sign of the hostelry, under which they were now ranked, +and from which, though the hour was late, and Fallowfield a singularly +somnolent little town, there issued signs of life approaching to +festivity. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +DOINGS AT AN INN + +What every traveller sighs to find, was palatably furnished by the Green +Dragon of Fallowfield--a famous inn, and a constellation for wandering +coachmen. There pleasant smiles seasoned plenty, and the bill was gilded +in a manner unknown to our days. Whoso drank of the ale of the Green +Dragon kept in his memory a place apart for it. The secret, that to give +a warm welcome is the breath of life to an inn, was one the Green Dragon +boasted, even then, not to share with many Red Lions, or Cocks of the +Morning, or Kings' Heads, or other fabulous monsters; and as if to show +that when you are in the right track you are sure to be seconded, there +was a friend of the Green Dragon, who, on a particular night of the year, +caused its renown to enlarge to the dimensions of a miracle. But that, +for the moment, is my secret. + +Evan and Jack were met in the passage by a chambermaid. Before either of +them could speak, she had turned and fled, with the words: + +'More coming!' which, with the addition of 'My goodness me!' were echoed +by the hostess in her recess. Hurried directions seemed to be +consequent, and then the hostess sallied out, and said, with a curtsey: + +'Please to step in, gentlemen. This is the room, tonight.' + +Evan lifted his hat; and bowing, requested to know whether they could +have a supper and beds. + +'Beds, Sir!' cried the hostess. 'What am I to do for beds! Yes, beds +indeed you may have, but bed-rooms--if you ask for them, it really is +more than I can supply you with. I have given up my own. I sleep with +my maid Jane to-night.' + +'Anything will do for us, madam,' replied Evan, renewing his foreign +courtesy. 'But there is a poor young woman outside.' + +'Another!' The hostess instantly smiled down her inhospitable outcry. + +'She,' said Evan, 'must have a room to herself. She is ill.' + +'Must is must, sir,' returned the gracious hostess. 'But I really +haven't the means.' + +'You have bed-rooms, madam?' + +'Every one of them engaged, sir.' + +'By ladies, madam?' + +'Lord forbid, Sir!' she exclaimed with the honest energy of a woman who +knew her sex. + +Evan bade Jack go and assist the waggoner to bring in the girl. Jack, +who had been all the time pulling at his wristbands, and settling his +coat-collar by the dim reflection of a window of the bar, departed, +after, on his own authority, assuring the hostess that fever was not the +young woman's malady, as she protested against admitting fever into her +house, seeing that she had to consider her guests. + +'We're open to all the world to-night, except fever,' said the hostess. +'Yes,' she rejoined to Evan's order that the waggoner and his mate should +be supplied with ale, 'they shall have as much as they can drink,' which +is not a speech usual at inns, when one man gives an order for others, +but Evan passed it by, and politely begged to be shown in to one of the +gentlemen who had engaged bedrooms. + +'Oh! if you can persuade any of them, sir, I'm sure I've nothing to say,' +observed the hostess. 'Pray, don't ask me to stand by and back it, +that's all.' + +Had Evan been familiar with the Green Dragon, he would have noticed that +the landlady, its presiding genius, was stiffer than usual; the rosy +smile was more constrained, as if a great host had to be embraced, and +were trying it to the utmost stretch. There was, however, no asperity +about her, and when she had led him to the door he was to enter to prefer +his suit, and she had asked whether the young woman was quite common, and +he had replied that he had picked her up on the road, and that she was +certainly poor, the hostess said: + +'I 'm sure you're a very good gentleman, sir, and if I could spare your +asking at all, I would.' + +With that she went back to encounter Mr. Raikes and his charge, and prime +the waggoner and his mate. + +A noise of laughter and talk was stilled gradually, as Evan made his bow +into a spacious room, wherein, as the tops of pines are seen swimming on +the morning mist, about a couple of dozen guests of divers conditions sat +partially revealed through wavy clouds of tobacco-smoke. By their +postures, which Evan's appearance by no means disconcerted, you read in a +glance men who had been at ease for so many hours that they had no +troubles in the world save the two ultimate perplexities of the British +Sybarite, whose bed of roses is harassed by the pair of problems: first, +what to do with his legs; secondly, how to imbibe liquor with the +slightest possible derangement of those members subordinate to his upper +structure. Of old the Sybarite complained. Not so our self-helpful +islanders. Since they could not, now that work was done and jollity the +game, take off their legs, they got away from them as far as they might, +in fashions original or imitative: some by thrusting them out at full +length; some by cramping them under their chairs: while some, taking +refuge in a mental effort, forgot them, a process to be recommended if it +did not involve occasional pangs of consciousness to the legs of their +neighbours. We see in our cousins West of the great water, who are said +to exaggerate our peculiarities, beings labouring under the same +difficulty, and intent on its solution. As to the second problem: that +of drinking without discomposure to the subservient limbs: the company +present worked out this republican principle ingeniously, but in a manner +beneath the attention of the Muse. Let Clio record that mugs and +glasses, tobacco and pipes, were strewn upon the table. But if the +guests had arrived at that stage when to reach the arm, or arrange the +person, for a sip of good stuff, causes moral debates, and presents to +the mind impediments equal to what would be raised in active men by the +prospect of a great excursion, it is not to be wondered at that the +presence of a stranger produced no immediate commotion. Two or three +heads were half turned; such as faced him imperceptibly lifted their +eyelids. + +'Good evening, sir,' said one who sat as chairman, with a decisive nod. + +'Good night, ain't it?' a jolly-looking old fellow queried of the +speaker, in an under-voice. + +'Gad, you don't expect me to be wishing the gentleman good-bye, do you?' +retorted the former. + +'Ha! ha! No, to be sure,' answered the old boy; and the remark was +variously uttered, that 'Good night,' by a caprice of our language, did +sound like it. + +'Good evening's "How d' ye do?"--"How are ye?" Good night's "Be off, and +be blowed to you,"' observed an interpreter with a positive mind; and +another, whose intelligence was not so clear, but whose perceptions had +seized the point, exclaimed: 'I never says it when I hails a chap; but, +dash my buttons, if I mightn't 'a done, one day or another! Queer!' + +The chairman, warmed by his joke, added, with a sharp wink: 'Ay; it would +be queer, if you hailed "Good night" in the middle of the day!' and this +among a company soaked in ripe ale, could not fail to run the electric +circle, and persuaded several to change their positions; in the rumble of +which, Evan's reply, if he had made any, was lost. Few, however, were +there who could think of him, and ponder on that glimpse of fun, at the +same time; and he would have been passed over, had not the chairman said: +'Take a seat, sir; make yourself comfortable.' + +'Before I have that pleasure,' replied Evan, 'I--' + +'I see where 'tis,' burst out the old boy who had previously superinduced +a diversion: 'he's going to ax if he can't have a bed!' + +A roar of laughter, and 'Don't you remember this day last year?' followed +the cunning guess. For awhile explication was impossible; and Evan +coloured, and smiled, and waited for them. + +'I was going to ask--' + +'Said so!' shouted the old boy, gleefully. + +'--one of the gentlemen who has engaged a bed-room to do me the extreme +favour to step aside with me, and allow me a moment's speech with him.' + +Long faces were drawn, and odd stares were directed toward him, in reply. + +'I see where 'tis'; the old boy thumped his knee. 'Ain't it now? Speak +up, sir! There's a lady in the case?' + +'I may tell you thus much,' answered Evan, 'that it is an unfortunate +young woman, very ill, who needs rest and quiet.' + +'Didn't I say so?' shouted the old boy. + +But this time, though his jolly red jowl turned all round to demand a +confirmation, it was not generally considered that he had divined so +correctly. Between a lady and an unfortunate young woman, there seemed +to be a strong distinction, in the minds of the company. + +The chairman was the most affected by the communication. His bushy +eyebrows frowned at Evan, and he began tugging at the brass buttons of +his coat, like one preparing to arm for a conflict. + +'Speak out, sir, if you please,' he said. 'Above board--no asides--no +taking advantages. You want me to give up my bed-room for the use of +your young woman, sir?' + +Evan replied quietly: 'She is a stranger to me; and if you could see her, +sir, and know her situation, I think she would move your pity.' + +'I don't doubt it, sir--I don't doubt it,' returned the chairman. 'They +all move our pity. That's how they get over us. She has diddled you, +and she would diddle me, and diddle us all-diddle the devil, I dare say, +when her time comes. I don't doubt it, sir.' + +To confront a vehement old gentleman, sitting as president in an assembly +of satellites, requires command of countenance, and Evan was not +browbeaten: he held him, and the whole room, from where he stood, under a +serene and serious eye, for his feelings were too deeply stirred on +behalf of the girl to let him think of himself. That question of hers, +'What are you going to do with me?' implying such helplessness and trust, +was still sharp on his nerves. + +'Gentlemen,' he said, 'I humbly beg your pardon for disturbing you as I +do.' + +But with a sudden idea that a general address on behalf of a particular +demand must necessarily fail, he let his eyes rest on one there, whose +face was neither stupid nor repellent, and who, though he did not look +up, had an attentive, thoughtful cast about the mouth. + +'May I entreat a word apart with you, sir?' + +Evan was not mistaken in the index he had perused. The gentleman seemed +to feel that he was selected from the company, and slightly raising his +head, carelessly replied: 'My bed is entirely at your disposal,' resuming +his contemplative pose. + +On the point of thanking him, Evan advanced a step, when up started the +irascible chairman. + +'I don't permit it! I won't allow it!' And before Evan could ask his +reasons, he had rung the bell, muttering: 'They follow us to our inns, +now, the baggages! They must harry us at our inns! We can't have peace +and quiet at our inns!--' + +In a state of combustion, he cried out to the waiter: + +'Here, Mark, this gentleman has brought in a dirty wench: pack her up to +my bed-room, and lock her in lock her in, and bring down the key.' + +Agreeably deceived in the old gentleman's intentions, Evan could not +refrain from joining the murmured hilarity created by the conclusion of +his order. The latter glared at him, and added: 'Now, sir, you've done +your worst. Sit down, and be merry.' + +Replying that he had a friend outside, and would not fail to accept the +invitation, Evan retired. He was met by the hostess with the reproachful +declaration on her lips, that she was a widow woman, wise in appearances, +and that he had brought into her house that night work she did not +expect, or bargain for. Rather (since I must speak truth of my +gentleman) to silence her on the subject, and save his ears, than to +propitiate her favour towards the girl, Evan drew out his +constitutionally lean purse, and dropped it in her hand, praying +her to put every expense incurred to his charge. She exclaimed: + +'If Dr. Pillie has his full sleep this night, I shall be astonished'; and +Evan hastily led Jack into the passage to impart to him, that the extent +of his resources was reduced to the smallest of sums in shillings. + +'I can beat my friend at that reckoning,' said Mr. Raikes; and they +entered the room. + +Eyes were on him. This had ever the effect of causing him to swell to +monstrous proportions in the histrionic line. Asking the waiter +carelessly for some light supper dish, he suggested the various French, +with 'not that?' and the affable naming of another. 'Nor that? Dear me, +we shall have to sup on chops, I believe!' + +Evan saw the chairman scrutinizing Raikes, much as he himself might have +done, and he said: 'Bread and cheese for me.' + +Raikes exclaimed: 'Really? Well, my lord, you lead, and your taste is +mine!' + +A second waiter scudded past, and stopped before the chairman to say: +'If you please, sir, the gentlemen upstairs send their compliments, and +will be happy to accept.' + +'Ha!' was the answer. 'Thought better of it, have they! Lay for three +more, then. Five more, I guess.' He glanced at the pair of intruders. + +Among a portion of the guests there had been a return to common talk, and +one had observed that he could not get that 'Good Evening,' and 'Good +Night,' out of his head which had caused a friend to explain the meaning +of these terms of salutation to him: while another, of a philosophic +turn, pursued the theme: 'You see, when we meets, we makes a night of it. +So, when we parts, it's Good Night--natural! ain't it?' A proposition +assented to, and considerably dilated on; but whether he was laughing at +that, or what had aroused the fit, the chairman did not say. + +Gentle chuckles had succeeded his laughter by the time the bread and +cheese appeared. + +In the rear of the provision came three young gentlemen, of whom the +foremost lumped in, singing to one behind him, 'And you shall have little +Rosey !' + +They were clad in cricketing costume, and exhibited the health and +manners of youthful Englishmen of station. Frolicsome young bulls +bursting on an assemblage of sheep, they might be compared to. The +chairman welcomed them a trifle snubbingly. The colour mounted to the +cheeks of Mr. Raikes as he made incision in the cheese, under their eyes, +knitting his brows fearfully, as if at hard work. + +The chairman entreated Evan to desist from the cheese; and, pulling out +his watch, thundered: 'Time!' + +The company generally jumped on their legs; and, in the midst of a hum of +talk and laughter, he informed Evan and Jack, that he invited them +cordially to a supper up-stairs, and would be pleased if they would +partake of it, and in a great rage if they would not. + +Raikes was for condescending to accept. + +Evan sprang up and cried: 'Gladly, sir,' and gladly would he have cast +his cockney schoolmate to the winds, in the presence of these young +cricketers; for he had a prognostication. + +The door was open, and the company of jolly yeomen, tradesmen, farmers, +and the like, had become intent on observing all the ceremonies of +precedence: not one would broaden his back on the other; and there was +bowing, and scraping, and grimacing, till Farmer Broadmead was hailed +aloud, and the old boy stepped forth, and was summarily pushed through: +the chairman calling from the rear, 'Hulloa! no names to-night!' to +which was answered lustily: 'All right, Mr. Tom!' and the speaker was +reproved with, 'There you go! at it again!' and out and up they hustled. + +The chairman said quietly to Evan, as they were ascending the stairs: +'We don't have names to-night; may as well drop titles.' Which presented +no peculiar meaning to Evan's mind, and he smiled the usual smile. + +To Raikes, at the door of the supper-room, the chairman repeated the +same; and with extreme affability and alacrity of abnegation, the other +rejoined, 'Oh, certainly!' + +No wonder that he rubbed his hands with more delight than aristocrats and +people with gentlemanly connections are in the habit of betraying at the +prospect of refection, for the release from bread and cheese was rendered +overpoweringly glorious, in his eyes, by the bountiful contrast exhibited +on the board before him. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +IN WHICH ALE IS SHOWN TO HAVE ONE QUALITY OF WINE + +To proclaim that yon ribs of beef and yonder ruddy Britons have met, is +to furnish matter for an hour's comfortable meditation. + +Digest the fact. Here the Fates have put their seal to something Nature +clearly devised. It was intended; and it has come to pass. A thing has +come to pass which we feel to be right! The machinery of the world, +then, is not entirely dislocated: there is harmony, on one point, among +the mysterious powers who have to do with us. + +Apart from its eloquent and consoling philosophy, the picture is +pleasant. You see two rows of shoulders resolutely set for action: heads +in divers degrees of proximity to their plates: eyes variously twinkling, +or hypocritically composed: chaps in vigorous exercise. Now leans a +fellow right back with his whole face to the firmament: Ale is his +adoration. He sighs not till he sees the end of the mug. Now from one a +laugh is sprung; but, as if too early tapped, he turns off the cock, and +primes himself anew. Occupied by their own requirements, these Britons +allow that their neighbours have rights: no cursing at waste of time is +heard when plates have to be passed: disagreeable, it is still duty. +Field-Marshal Duty, the Briton's chief star, shines here. If one usurps +more than his allowance of elbow-room, bring your charge against them +that fashioned him: work away to arrive at some compass yourself. + + +Now the mustard ceases to travel, and the salt: the guests have leisure +to contemplate their achievements. Laughs are more prolonged, and come +from the depths. + +Now Ale, which is to Beef what Eve was to Adam, threatens to take +possession of the field. Happy they who, following Nature's direction, +admitted not bright ale into their Paradise till their manhood was +strengthened with beef. Some, impatient, had thirsted; had satisfied +their thirst; and the ale, the light though lovely spirit, with nothing +to hold it down, had mounted to their heads; just as Eve will do when +Adam is not mature: just as she did--Alas! + +Now, the ruins of the feast being removed, and a clear course left for +the flow of ale, Farmer Broadmead, facing the chairman, rises. He stands +in an attitude of midway. He speaks: + +'Gentlemen! 'Taint fust time you and I be met here, to salbrate this +here occasion. I say, not fust time, not by many a time, 'taint. Well, +gentlemen, I ain't much of a speaker, gentlemen, as you know. Howsever, +here I be. No denyin' that. I'm on my legs. This here's a strange +enough world, and a man 's a gentleman, I say, we ought for to be glad +when we got 'm. You know: I'm coming to it shortly. I ain't much of a +speaker, and if you wants somethin' new, you must ax elsewhere: but what +I say is--Bang it! here's good health and long life to Mr. Tom, up +there!' + +'No names !' shouts the chairman, in the midst of a tremendous clatter. + +Farmer Broadmead moderately disengages his breadth from the seat. He +humbly axes pardon, which is accorded him with a blunt nod. + +Ale (to Beef what Eve was to Adam) circulates beneath a dazzling foam, +fair as the first woman. + +Mr. Tom (for the breach of the rules in mentioning whose name on a night +when identities are merged, we offer sincere apologies every other +minute), Mr. Tom is toasted. His parents, who selected that day sixty +years ago, for his bow to be made to the world, are alluded to with +encomiums, and float down to posterity on floods of liquid amber. + +But to see all the subtle merits that now begin to bud out from Mr. Tom, +the chairman and giver of the feast; and also rightly to appreciate the +speeches, we require to be enormously charged with Ale. Mr. Raikes did +his best to keep his head above the surface of the rapid flood. He +conceived the chairman in brilliant colours, and probably owing to the +energy called for by his brain, the legs of the young man failed him +twice, as he tried them. Attention was demanded. Mr. Raikes addressed +the meeting. + +The three young gentlemen-cricketers had hitherto behaved with a certain +propriety. It did not offend Mr. Raikes to see them conduct themselves +as if they were at a play, and the rest of the company paid actors. He +had likewise taken a position, and had been the first to laugh aloud at a +particular slip of grammar; while his shrugs at the aspirates transposed +and the pronunciation prevalent, had almost established a free-masonry +between him and one of the three young gentlemen-cricketers-a fair-haired +youth, with a handsome, reckless face, who leaned on the table, +humorously eyeing the several speakers, and exchanging by-words and +laughs with his friends on each side of him. + +But Mr. Raikes had the disadvantage of having come to the table empty in +stomach--thirsty exceedingly; and, I repeat, that as, without experience, +you are the victim of divinely given Eve, so, with no foundation to +receive it upon, are you the victim of good sound Ale. He very soon lost +his head. He would otherwise have seen that he must produce a +wonderfully-telling speech if he was to keep the position he had taken, +and had better not attempt one. The three young cricketers were hostile +from the beginning. All of them leant forward, calling attention loudly +laughing for the fun to come. + +'Gentlemen!' he said: and said it twice. The gap was wide, and he said, +'Gentlemen!' again. + +This commencement of a speech proves that you have made the plunge, but +not that you can swim. At a repetition of 'Gentlemen!' expectancy +resolved into cynicism. + +'Gie'n a help,' sang out a son of the plough to a neighbour of the +orator. + +'Hang it!' murmured another, 'we ain't such gentlemen as that comes to.' + +Mr. Raikes was politely requested to 'tune his pipe.' + +With a gloomy curiosity as to the results of Jack's adventurous +undertaking, and a touch of anger at the three whose bearing throughout +had displeased him, Evan regarded his friend. He, too, had drunk, and +upon emptiness. Bright ale had mounted to his brain. A hero should be +held as sacred as the Grand Llama: so let no more be said than that he +drank still, nor marked the replenishing of his glass. + +Raikes cleared his throat for a final assault: he had got an image, and +was dashing off; but, unhappily, as if to make the start seem fair, he +was guilty of his reiteration, 'Gentlemen.' + +Everybody knew that it was a real start this time, and indeed he had made +an advance, and had run straight through half a sentence. It was +therefore manifestly unfair, inimical, contemptuous, overbearing, and +base, for one of the three young cricketers at this period to fling back +weariedly and exclaim: 'By the Lord; too many gentlemen here!' + +Evan heard him across the table. Lacking the key of the speaker's +previous conduct, the words might have passed. As it was, they, to the +ale-invaded head of a young hero, feeling himself the world's equal, and +condemned nevertheless to bear through life the insignia of Tailordom, +not unnaturally struck with peculiar offence. There was arrogance, too, +in the young man who had interposed. He was long in the body, and, when +he was not refreshing his sight by a careless contemplation of his +finger-nails, looked down on his company at table, as one may do who +comes from loftier studies. He had what is popularly known as the nose +of our aristocracy: a nose that much culture of the external graces, and +affectation of suavity, are required to soften. Thereto were joined thin +lips and arched brows. Birth it was possible he could boast, hardly +brains. He sat to the right of the fair-haired youth, who, with his +remaining comrade, a quiet smiling fellow, appeared to be better liked by +the guests, and had been hailed once or twice, under correction of the +chairman, as Mr. Harry. The three had distinguished one there by a few +friendly passages; and this was he who had offered his bed to Evan for +the service of the girl. The recognition they extended to him did not +affect him deeply. He was called Drummond, and had his place near the +chairmen, whose humours he seemed to relish. + +The ears of Mr. Raikes were less keen at the moment than Evan's, but his +openness to ridicule was that of a man on his legs solus, amid a company +sitting, and his sense of the same--when he saw himself the victim of it +--acute. His face was rather comic, and, under the shadow of +embarrassment, twitching and working for ideas--might excuse a want of +steadiness and absolute gravity in the countenances of others. + +The chairman's neighbour, Drummond, whispered him 'Laxley will get up a +row with that fellow.' + +'It 's young Jocelyn egging him on,' said the chairman. + +'Um!' added Drummond: 'it's the friend of that talkative rascal that 's +dangerous, if it comes to anything.' + +Mr. Raikes perceived that his host desired him to conclude. So, lifting +his voice and swinging his arm, he ended: 'Allow me to propose to you the +Fly in Amber. In other words, our excellent host embalmed in brilliant +ale! Drink him! and so let him live in our memories for ever!' + +He sat down very well contented with himself, very little comprehended, +and applauded loudly. + +'The Flyin' Number!' echoed Farmer Broadmead, confidently and with +clamour; adding to a friend, when both had drunk the toast to the dregs, +'But what number that be, or how many 'tis of 'em, dishes me! But that +'s ne'ther here nor there.' + +The chairman and host of the evening stood up to reply, welcomed by +thunders--'There ye be, Mr. Tom! glad I lives to see ye!' and ' No +names!' and 'Long life to him!' + +This having subsided, the chairman spoke, first nodding. 'You don't want +many words, and if you do, you won't get 'em from me.' + +Cries of 'Got something better!' took up the blunt address. + +'You've been true to it, most of you. I like men not to forget a +custom.' + +'Good reason so to be,' and 'A jolly good custom,' replied to both +sentences. + +'As to the beef, I hope you didn't find it tough: as to the ale--I know +all about THAT!' + +'Aha! good!' rang the verdict. + +'All I can say is, that this day next year it will be on the table, and I +hope that every one of you will meet Tom--will meet me here punctually. +I'm not a Parliament man, so that 'll do.' + +The chairman's breach of his own rules drowned the termination of his +speech in an uproar. + +Re-seating himself, he lifted his glass, and proposed: +'The Antediluvians!' + +Farmer Broadmead echoed: 'The Antediloovians !' appending, as a private +sentiment, 'And dam rum chaps they were!' + +The Antediluvians, undoubtedly the toast of the evening, were +enthusiastically drunk, and in an ale of treble brew. + +When they had quite gone down, Mr. Raikes ventured to ask for the reason +of their receiving such honour from a posterity they had so little to do +with. He put the question mildly, but was impetuously snapped at by the +chairman. + +'You respect men for their luck, sir, don't you? Don't be a hypocrite, +and say you don't--you do. Very well: so do I. That's why I drink "The +Antediluvians"!' + +'Our worthy host here' (Drummond, gravely smiling, undertook to elucidate +the case) 'has a theory that the constitutions of the Postdiluvians have +been deranged, and their lives shortened, by the miasmas of the Deluge. +I believe he carries it so far as to say that Noah, in the light of a +progenitor, is inferior to Adam, owing to the shaking he had to endure in +the ark, and which he conceives to have damaged the patriarch and the +nervous systems of his sons. It's a theory, you know.' + +'They lived close on a thousand years, hale, hearty--and no water!' said +the chairman. + +'Well!' exclaimed one, some way down the table, a young farmer, red as a +cock's comb: 'no fools they, eh, master? Where there's ale, would you +drink water, my hearty?' and back he leaned to enjoy the tribute to his +wit; a wit not remarkable, but nevertheless sufficient in the noise it +created to excite the envy of Mr. Raikes, who, inveterately silly when +not engaged in a contest, now began to play on the names of the sons of +Noah. + +The chairman lanced a keen light at him from beneath his bushy eyebrows. + +Before long he had again to call two parties to order. To Raikes, Laxley +was a puppy: to Laxley, Mr. Raikes was a snob. The antagonism was +natural: ale did but put the match to the magazine. But previous to an +explosion, Laxley, who had observed Evan's disgust at Jack's exhibition +of himself, and had been led to think, by his conduct and clothes in +conjunction, that Evan was his own equal; a gentleman condescending to +the society of a low-born acquaintance;--had sought with sundry +propitiations, intelligent glances, light shrugs, and such like, to +divide Evan from Jack. He did this, doubtless, because he partly +sympathized with Evan, and to assure him that he took a separate view of +him. Probably Evan was already offended, or he held to Jack, as a +comrade should, or else it was that Tailordom and the pride of his +accepted humiliation bellowed in his ears, every fresh minute: 'Nothing +assume!' I incline to think that the more ale he drank the fiercer rebel +he grew against conventional ideas of rank, and those class-barriers +which we scorn so vehemently when we find ourselves kicking at them. +Whatsoever the reason that prompted him, he did not respond to Laxley's +advances; and Laxley, disregarding him, dealt with Raikes alone. + +In a tone plainly directed at him, he said: 'Well, Harry, tired of this? +The agriculturals are good fun, but I can't stand much of the small +cockney. A blackguard who tries to make jokes out of the Scriptures +ought to be kicked!' + +Harry rejoined, with wet lips: 'Wopping stuff, this ale! Who's that you +want to kick?' + +'Somebody who objects to his bray, I suppose,' Mr. Raikes struck in, +across the table, negligently thrusting out his elbow to support his +head. + +'Did you allude to me, sir?' Laxley inquired. + +'I alluded to a donkey, sir.' Raikes lifted his eyelids to the same level +as Laxley's: 'a passing remark on that interesting animal.' + +His friend Harry now came into the ring to try a fall. + +'Are you an usher in a school?' he asked, meaning by his looks what men +of science in fisticuffs call business. + +Mr. Raikes started in amazement. He recovered as quickly. + +'No, sir, not quite; but I have no doubt I should be able to instruct you +upon a point or two.' + +'Good manners, for instance?' remarked the third young cricketer, without +disturbing his habitual smile. + +'Or what comes from not observing them,' said Evan, unwilling to have +Jack over-matched. + +'Perhaps you'll give me a lesson now?' Harry indicated a readiness to +rise for either of them. + +At this juncture the chairman interposed. + +'Harmony, my lads!--harmony to-night.' + +Farmer Broadmead, imagining it to be the signal for a song, returned: + +'All right, Mr.--- Mr. Chair! but we an't got pipes in yet. Pipes +before harmony, you know, to-night.' + +The pipes were summoned forthwith. System appeared to regulate the +proceedings of this particular night at the Green Dragon. The pipes +charged, and those of the guests who smoked, well fixed behind them, +celestial Harmony was invoked through the slowly curling clouds. In +Britain the Goddess is coy. She demands pressure to appear, and great +gulps of ale. Vastly does she swell the chests of her island children, +but with the modesty of a maid at the commencement. Precedence again +disturbed the minds of the company. At last the red-faced young farmer +led off with 'The Rose and the Thorn.' In that day Chloe still lived; nor +were the amorous transports of Strephon quenched. Mountainous inflation +--mouse-like issue characterized the young farmer's first verse. +Encouraged by manifest approbation he now told Chloe that he 'by Heaven! +never would plant in that bosom a thorn,' with such a volume of sound as +did indeed show how a lover's oath should be uttered in the ear of a +British damsel to subdue her. + +'Good!' cried Mr. Raikes, anxious to be convivial. + +Subsiding into impertinence, he asked Laxley, 'Could you tip us a +Strephonade, sir? Rejoiced to listen to you, I'm sure! Promise you my +applause beforehand.' + +Harry replied hotly: 'Will you step out of the room with me a minute?' + +'Have you a confession to make?' quoth Jack, unmoved. 'Have you planted +a thorn in the feminine flower-garden? Make a clean breast of it at the +table. Confess openly and be absolved.' + +While Evan spoke a word of angry reproof to Raikes, Harry had to be +restrained by his two friends. The rest of the company looked on with +curiosity; the mouth of the chairman was bunched. Drummond had his eyes +on Evan, who was gazing steadily at the three. Suddenly 'The fellow +isn't a gentleman!' struck the attention of Mr. Raikes with alarming +force. + +Raikes--and it may be because he knew he could do more than Evan in this +respect--vociferated: 'I'm the son of a gentleman!' + +Drummond, from the head of the table, saw that a diversion was +imperative. He leaned forward, and with a look of great interest said: + +'Are you? Pray, never disgrace your origin, then.' + +'If the choice were offered me, I think I would rather have known his +father,' said the smiling fellow, yawning, and rocking on his chair. + +'You would, possibly, have been exceedingly intimate--with his right +foot,' said Raikes. + +The other merely remarked: 'Oh! that is the language of the son of a +gentleman.' + +The tumult of irony, abuse, and retort, went on despite the efforts of +Drummond and the chairman. It was odd; for at Farmer Broadmead's end of +the table, friendship had grown maudlin: two were seen in a drowsy +embrace, with crossed pipes; and others were vowing deep amity, and +offering to fight the man that might desire it. + +'Are ye a friend? or are ye a foe?' was heard repeatedly, and +consequences to the career of the respondent, on his choice of +affirmatives to either of these two interrogations, emphatically +detailed. + +It was likewise asked, in reference to the row at the gentlemen's end: +'Why doan' they stand up and have 't out?' + +'They talks, they speechifies--why doan' they fight for 't, and then be +friendly?' + +'Where's the yarmony, Mr. Chair, I axes--so please ye?' sang out Farmer +Broadmead. + +'Ay, ay! Silence!' the chairman called. + +Mr. Raikes begged permission to pronounce his excuses, but lapsed into a +lamentation for the squandering of property bequeathed to him by his +respected uncle, and for which--as far as he was intelligible--he +persisted in calling the three offensive young cricketers opposite to +account. + +Before he could desist, Harmony, no longer coy, burst on the assembly +from three different sources. 'A Man who is given to Liquor,' soared +aloft with 'The Maid of sweet Seventeen,' who participated in the +adventures of 'Young Molly and the Kicking Cow'; while the guests +selected the chorus of the song that first demanded it. + +Evan probably thought that Harmony was herself only when she came single, +or he was wearied of his fellows, and wished to gaze a moment on the +skies whose arms were over and around his young beloved. He went to the +window and threw it up, and feasted his sight on the moon standing on the +downs. He could have wept at the bitter ignominy that severed him from +Rose. And again he gathered his pride as a cloak, and defied the world, +and gloried in the sacrifice that degraded him. The beauty of the night +touched him, and mixed these feelings with mournfulness. He quite forgot +the bellow and clatter behind. The beauty of the night, and heaven knows +what treacherous hope in the depths of his soul, coloured existence +warmly. + +He was roused from his reverie by an altercation unmistakeably fierce. + +Raikes had been touched on a tender point. In reply to a bantering +remark of his, Laxley had hummed over bits of his oration, amid the +chuckles of his comrades. Unfortunately at a loss for a biting retort, +Raikes was reduced to that plain confession of a lack of wit; he offered +combat. + +'I 'll tell you what,' said Laxley, 'I never soil my hands with a +blackguard; and a fellow who tries to make fun of Scripture, in my +opinion is one. A blackguard--do you hear? But, if you'll give me +satisfactory proofs that you really are what I have some difficulty in +believing the son of a gentleman--I 'll meet you when and where you +please.' + +'Fight him, anyhow,' said Harry. 'I 'll take him myself after we finish +the match to-morrow.' + +Laxley rejoined that Mr. Raikes must be left to him. + +'Then I'll take the other,' said Harry. 'Where is he?' + +Evan walked round to his place. + +'I am here,' he answered, 'and at your service.' + +'Will you fight?' cried Harry. + +There was a disdainful smile on Evan's mouth, as he replied: 'I must +first enlighten you. I have no pretensions to your blue blood, or +yellow. If, sir, you will deign to challenge a man who is not the son of +a gentleman, and consider the expression of his thorough contempt for +your conduct sufficient to enable you to overlook that fact, you may +dispose of me. My friend here has, it seems, reason to be proud of his +connections. That you may not subsequently bring the charge against me +of having led you to "soil your hands"--as your friend there terms it-- +I, with all the willingness in the world to chastise you or him for your +impertinence, must first give you a fair chance of escape, by telling you +that my father was a tailor.' + +The countenance of Mr. Raikes at the conclusion of this speech was a +painful picture. He knocked the table passionately, exclaiming: + +'Who'd have thought it?' + +Yet he had known it. But he could not have thought it possible for a man +to own it publicly. + +Indeed, Evan could not have mentioned it, but for hot fury and the ale. +It was the ale in him expelling truth; and certainly, to look at him, +none would have thought it. + +'That will do,' said Laxley, lacking the magnanimity to despise the +advantage given him, 'you have chosen the very best means of saving your +skins.' + +'We 'll come to you when our supply of clothes runs short,' added Harry. +'A snip!' + +'Pardon me !' said Evan, with his eyes slightly widening, 'but if you +come to me, I shall no longer give you a choice of behaviour. I wish you +good-night, gentlemen. I shall be in this house, and am to be found +here, till ten o'clock to-morrow morning. Sir,' he addressed the +chairman, 'I must apologize to you for this interruption to your +kindness, for which I thank you very sincerely. It 's "good-night," now, +sir,' he pursued, bowing, and holding out his hand, with a smile. + +The chairman grasped it: 'You're a hot-headed young fool, sir: you're an +ill-tempered ferocious young ass. Can't you see another young donkey +without joining company in kicks-eh? Sit down, and don't dare to spoil +the fun any more. You a tailor! Who'll believe it? You're a nobleman +in disguise. Didn't your friend say so?--ha! ha! Sit down.' He pulled +out his watch, and proclaiming that he was born into this world at the +hour about to strike, called for a bumper all round. + +While such of the company as had yet legs and eyes unvanquished by the +potency of the ale, stood up to drink and cheer, Mark, the waiter, +scurried into the room, and, to the immense stupefaction of the chairman, +and amusement of his guests, spread the news of the immediate birth of a +little stranger on the premises, who was declared by Dr. Pillie to be a +lusty boy, and for whom the kindly landlady solicited good luck to be +drunk. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE MATCH OF FALLOW FIELD AGAINST BECKLEY + +The dramatic proportions to which ale will exalt the sentiments within +us, and our delivery of them, are apt to dwindle and shrink even below +the natural elevation when we look back on them from the hither shore of +the river of sleep--in other words, wake in the morning: and it was with +no very self-satisfied emotions that Evan, dressing by the full light of +day, reviewed his share in the events of the preceding night. Why, since +he had accepted his fate, should he pretend to judge the conduct of +people his superiors in rank? And where was the necessity for him to +thrust the fact of his being that abhorred social pariah down the throats +of an assembly of worthy good fellows? The answer was, that he had not +accepted his fate: that he considered himself as good a gentleman as any +man living, and was in absolute hostility with the prejudices of society. +That was the state of the case: but the evaporation of ale in his brain +caused him to view his actions from the humble extreme of that delightful +liquor, of which the spirit had flown and the corpse remained. + +Having revived his system with soda-water, and finding no sign of his +antagonist below, Mr. Raikes, to disperse the sceptical dimples on his +friend's face, alluded during breakfast to a determination he had formed +to go forth and show on the cricket-field. + +'For, you know,' he observed, 'they can't have any objection to fight +one.' + +Evan, slightly colouring, answered: 'Why, you said up-stairs, you thought +fighting duels disgraceful folly.' + +'So it is, so it is; everybody knows that,' returned Jack; 'but what can +a gentleman do?' + +'Be a disgraceful fool, I suppose,' said Evan: and Raikes went on with +his breakfast, as if to be such occasionally was the distinguished fate +of a gentleman, of which others, not so happy in their birth, might well +be envious. + +He could not help betraying that he bore in mind the main incidents of +the festival over-night; for when he had inquired who it might be that +had reduced his friend to wear mourning, and heard that it was his father +(spoken by Evan with a quiet sigh), Mr. Raikes tapped an egg, and his +flexible brows exhibited a whole Bar of contending arguments within. +More than for the love of pleasure, he had spent his money to be taken +for a gentleman. He naturally thought highly of the position, having +bought it. But Raikes appreciated a capital fellow, and felt warmly to +Evan, who, moreover, was feeding him. + +If not born a gentleman, this Harrington had the look of one, and was +pleasing in female eyes, as the landlady, now present, bore witness, +wishing them good morning, and hoping they had slept well. She handed to +Evan his purse, telling him she had taken it last night, thinking it +safer for the time being in her pocket; and that the chairman of the +feast paid for all in the Green Dragon up to twelve that day, he having +been born between the hours, and liking to make certain: and that every +year he did the same; and was a seemingly rough old gentleman, but as +soft-hearted as a chicken. His name must positively not be inquired, she +said; to be thankful to him was to depart, asking no questions. + +'And with a dart in the bosom from those eyes--those eyes!' cried Jack, +shaking his head at the landlady's resistless charms. + +'I hope you was not one of the gentlemen who came and disturbed us last +night, Sir?' she turned on him sharply. + +Jack dallied with the imputation, but denied his guilt. + +'No; it wasn't your voice,' continued the landlady. 'A parcel of young +puppies calling themselves gentlemen! I know him. It's that young Mr. +Laxley: and he the nephew of a Bishop, and one of the Honourables! and +then the poor gals get the blame. I call it a shame, I do. There's that +poor young creature up-stairs-somebody's victim she is: and nobody's to +suffer but herself, the little fool!' + +'Yes,' said Raikes. 'Ah! we regret these things in after life!' and he +looked as if he had many gentlemanly burdens of the kind on his +conscience. + +'It 's a wonder, to my mind,' remarked the landlady, when she had +placidly surveyed Mr. Raikes, 'how young gals can let some of you men- +folk mislead 'em.' + +She turned from him huffily, and addressed Evan: + +'The old gentleman is gone, sir. He slept on a chair, breakfasted, and +was off before eight. He left word, as the child was born on his +birthright, he'd provide for it, and pay the mother's bill, unless you +claimed the right. I'm afraid he suspected--what I never, never-no! but +by what I've seen of you--never will believe. For you, I'd say, must be +a gentleman, whatever your company. She asks one favour of you, sir:-- +for you to go and let her speak to you once before you go away for good. +She's asleep now, and mustn't be disturbed. Will you do it, by-and-by? +Please to comfort the poor creature, sir.' + +Evan consented. I am afraid also it was the landlady's flattering speech +made him, without reckoning his means, add that the young mother and her +child must be considered under his care, and their expenses charged to +him. The landlady was obliged to think him a wealthy as well as a noble +youth, and admiringly curtsied. + +Mr. John Raikes and Mr. Evan Harrington then strolled into the air, and +through a long courtyard, with brewhouse and dairy on each side, and a +pleasant smell of baking bread, and dogs winking in the sun, cats at the +corners of doors, satisfied with life, and turkeys parading, and fowls, +strutting cocks, that overset the dignity of Mr. Raikes by awakening his +imitative propensities. Certain white-capped women, who were washing in +a tub, laughed, and one observed: 'He's for all the world like the little +bantam cock stickin' 'self up in a crow against the Spaniar'.' And this, +and the landlady's marked deference to Evan, induced Mr. Raikes +contemptuously to glance at our national blindness to the true diamond, +and worship of the mere plumes in which a person is dressed. + +They passed a pretty flower-garden, and entering a smooth-shorn meadow, +beheld the downs beautifully clear under sunlight and slowly-sailing +images of cloud. At the foot of the downs, on a plain of grass, stood a +white booth topped by a flag, which signalled that on that spot Fallow +field and Beckley were contending. + +'A singular old gentleman! A very singular old gentleman, that!' Raikes +observed, following an idea that had been occupying him. 'We did wrong +to miss him. We ought to have waylaid him in the morning. Never miss a +chance, Harrington.' + +'What chance?' Evan inquired. + +'Those old gentlemen are very odd,' Jack pursued, 'very strange. He +wouldn't have judged me by my attire. Admetus' flocks I guard, yet am a +God! Dress is nothing to those old cocks. He's an eccentric. I know +it; I can see it. He 's a corrective of Cudford, who is abhorrent to my +soul. To give you an instance, now, of what those old boys will do--I +remember my father taking me, when I was quite a youngster, to a tavern +he frequented, and we met one night just such an old fellow as this; +and the waiter told us afterwards that he noticed me particularly. +He thought me a very remarkable boy--predicted great things. For some +reason or other my father never took me there again. I remember our +having a Welsh rarebit there for supper, and when the waiter last night +mentioned a rarebit, 'gad he started up before me. I gave chase into my +early youth. However, my father never took me to meet the old fellow +again. I believe it lost me a fortune.' + +Evan's thoughts were leaping to the cricket-field, or he would have +condoled with Mr. Raikes for a loss that evidently afflicted him still. + +Now, it must be told that the lady's-maid of Mrs. Andrew Cogglesby, +borrowed temporarily by the Countess de Saldar for service at Beckley +Court, had slept in charge of the Countess's boxes at the Green Dragon: +the Countess having told her, with the candour of high-born dames to +their attendants, that it would save expense; and that, besides, Admiral +Combleman, whom she was going to see, or Sir Perkins Ripley (her father's +old friend), whom she should visit if Admiral Combleman was not at his +mansion-both were likely to have full houses, and she could not take them +by storm. An arrangement which left her upwards of twelve hours' +liberty, seemed highly proper to Maria Conning, this lady's-maid, a very +demure young person. She was at her bed-room window, as Evan passed up +the courtyard of the inn, and recognized him immediately. 'Can it be him +they mean that's the low tradesman?' was Maria's mysterious exclamation. +She examined the pair, and added: 'Oh, no. It must be the tall one they +mistook for the small one. But Mr. Harrington ought not to demean +himself by keeping company with such, and my lady should know of it.' + +My lady, alighting from the Lymport coach, did know of it, within a few +minutes after Evan had quitted the Green Dragon, and turned pale, as +high-born dames naturally do when they hear of a relative's disregard of +the company he keeps. + +'A tailor, my lady!' said scornful Maria; and the Countess jumped and +complained of a pin. + +'How did you hear of this, Conning?' she presently asked with composure. + +'Oh, my lady, he was tipsy last night, and kept swearing out loud he was +a gentleman.' + +'Tipsy!' the Countess murmured in terror. She had heard of inaccessible +truths brought to light by the magic wand of alcohol. Was Evan +intoxicated, and his dreadful secret unlocked last night? + +'And who may have told you of this, Conning?' she asked. + +Maria plunged into one of the boxes, and was understood to say that +nobody in particular had told her, but that among other flying matters it +had come to her ears. + +'My brother is Charity itself,' sighed the Countess. 'He welcomes high +or low.' + +'Yes, but, my lady, a, tailor!' Maria repeated, and the Countess, +agreeing with her scorn as she did, could have killed her. At least she +would have liked to run a bodkin into her, and make her scream. In her +position she could not always be Charity itself: nor is this the required +character for a high-born dame: so she rarely affected it. + +'Order a fly: discover the direction Mr. Harrington has taken; spare me +further remarks,' she said; and Maria humbly flitted from her presence. + +When she was gone, the Countess covered her face with her hands. 'Even +this creature would despise us!' she exclaimed. + +The young lady encountered by Mr. Raikes on the road to Fallow field, was +wrong in saying that Beckley would be seen out before the shades of +evening caught up the ball. Not one, but two men of Beckley--the last +two--carried out their bats, cheered handsomely by both parties. The +wickets pitched in the morning, they carried them in again, and plaudits +renewed proved that their fame had not slumbered. To stand before a +field, thoroughly aware that every successful stroke you make is adding +to the hoards of applause in store for you is a joy to your friends, an +exasperation to your foes; I call this an exciting situation, and one as +proud as a man may desire. Then, again, the two last men of an eleven +are twins: they hold one life between them; so that he who dies +extinguishes the other. Your faculties are stirred to their depths. You +become engaged in the noblest of rivalries: in defending your own, you +fight for your comrade's existence. You are assured that the dread of +shame, if not emulation, is making him equally wary and alert. + +Behold, then, the two bold men of Beckley fighting to preserve one life. +Under the shadow of the downs they stand, beneath a glorious day, and +before a gallant company. For there are ladies in carriages here, there +are cavaliers; good county names may be pointed out. The sons of first- +rate families are in the two elevens, mingled with the yeomen and whoever +can best do the business. Fallow field and Beckley, without regard to +rank, have drawn upon their muscle and science. One of the bold men of +Beckley at the wickets is Nick Frim, son of the gamekeeper at Beckley +Court; the other is young Tom Copping, son of Squire Copping, of Dox +Hall, in the parish of Beckley. Last year, you must know, Fallow field +beat. That is why Nick Frim, a renowned out-hitter, good to finish a +score brilliantly with a pair of threes, has taken to blocking, and Mr. +Tom cuts with caution, though he loves to steal his runs, and is usually +dismissed by his remarkable cunning. + +The field was ringing at a stroke of Nick Frim's, who had lashed out in +his old familiar style at last, and the heavens heard of it, when Evan +came into the circle of spectators. Nick and Tom were stretching from +post to post, might and main. A splendid four was scored. The field +took breath with the heroes; and presume not to doubt that heroes they +are. It is good to win glory for your country; it is also good to win +glory for your village. A Member of Parliament, Sir George Lowton, notes +this emphatically, from the statesman's eminence, to a group of gentlemen +on horseback round a carriage wherein a couple of fair ladies reclined. + +'They didn't shout more at the news of the Battle of Waterloo. Now this +is our peculiarity, this absence of extreme centralization. It must be +encouraged. Local jealousies, local rivalries, local triumphs--these are +the strength of the kingdom.' + +'If you mean to say that cricket's a ----' the old squire speaking +(Squire Uplift of Fallow field) remembered the saving presences, and +coughed--'good thing, I'm one with ye, Sir George. Encouraged, egad! +They don't want much of that here. Give some of your lean London straws +a strip o' clean grass and a bit o' liberty, and you'll do 'em a +service.' + +'What a beautiful hit!' exclaimed one of the ladies, languidly watching +the ascent of the ball. + +'Beautiful, d' ye call it?' muttered the squire. + +The ball, indeed, was dropping straight into the hands of the long-hit- +off. Instantly a thunder rolled. But it was Beckley that took the +joyful treble--Fallow field the deeply--cursing bass. The long-hit-off, +he who never was known to miss a catch-butter-fingered beast!--he has let +the ball slip through his fingers. + +Are there Gods in the air? Fred Linnington, the unfortunate of Fallow +field, with a whole year of unhappy recollection haunting him in +prospect, ere he can retrieve his character--Fred, if he does not accuse +the powers of the sky, protests that he cannot understand it, which means +the same. + +Fallow field's defeat--should such be the result of the contest-- +he knows now will be laid at his door. Five men who have bowled at the +indomitable Beckleyans think the same. Albeit they are Britons, it +abashes them. They are not the men they were. Their bowling is as the +bowling of babies; and see! Nick, who gave the catch, and pretends he +did it out of commiseration for Fallow field, the ball has flown from his +bat sheer over the booth. If they don't add six to the score, it will be +the fault of their legs. But no: they rest content with a fiver and +cherish their wind. + +Yet more they mean to do, Success does not turn the heads of these +Britons, as it would of your frivolous foreigners. + +And now small boys (who represent the Press here) spread out from the +marking-booth, announcing foremost, and in larger type, as it were, quite +in Press style, their opinion--which is, that Fallow field will get a +jolly good hiding; and vociferating that Beckley is seventy-nine ahead, +and that Nick Frim, the favourite of the field, has scored fifty-one to +his own cheek. The boys are boys of both villages: but they are British +boys--they adore prowess. The Fallow field boys wish that Nick Frim +would come and live on their side; the boys of Beckley rejoice in +possessing him. Nick is the wicketkeeper of the Beckley eleven; long- +limbed, wiry, keen of eye. His fault as a batsman is, that he will be a +slashing hitter. He is too sensible of the joys of a grand spanking hit. +A short life and a merry one, has hitherto been his motto. + +But there were reasons for Nick's rare display of skill. That woman may +have the credit due to her (and, as there never was a contest of which +she did not sit at the springs, so is she the source of all superhuman +efforts exhibited by men), be it told that Polly Wheedle is on the field; +Polly, one of the upper housemaids of Beckley Court; Polly, eagerly +courted by Fred Linnington, humbly desired by Nick Frim--a pert and +blooming maiden--who, while her suitors combat hotly for an undivided +smile, improves her holiday by instilling similar unselfish aspirations +into the breasts of others. + +Between his enjoyment of society and the melancholy it engendered in his +mind by reflecting on him the age and decrepitude of his hat, Mr. John +Raikes was doubtful of his happiness for some time. But as his taste for +happiness was sharp, he, with a great instinct amounting almost to genius +in its pursuit, resolved to extinguish his suspicion by acting the +perfectly happy man. To do this, it was necessary that he should have +listeners: Evan was not enough, and was besides unsympathetic; he had not +responded to Jack's cordial assurances of his friendship 'in spite of +anything,' uttered before they came into the field. + +Heat and lustre were now poured from the sky, on whose soft blue a fleet +of clouds sailed heavily. Nick Frim was very wonderful, no doubt. He +deserved that the Gods should recline on those gold-edged cushions above, +and lean over to observe him. Nevertheless, the ladies were beginning to +ask when Nick Frim would be out. The small boys alone preserved their +enthusiasm for Nick. As usual, the men took a middle position. Theirs +was the pleasure of critics, which, being founded on the judgement, lasts +long, and is without disappointment at the close. It was sufficient that +the ladies should lend the inspiration of their bonnets to this fine +match. Their presence on the field is another beautiful instance of the +generous yielding of the sex simply to grace our amusement, and their +acute perception of the part they have to play. + +Mr. Raikes was rather shy of them at first. But his acting rarely +failing to deceive himself, he began to feel himself the perfectly happy +man he impersonated, and where there were ladies he went, and talked of +days when he had creditably handled a bat, and of a renown in the annals +of Cricket cut short by mysterious calamity. The foolish fellow did not +know that they care not a straw for cricketing fame. His gaiety +presently forsook him as quickly as it had come. Instead of +remonstrating at Evan's restlessness, it was he who now dragged Evan from +spot to spot. He spoke low and nervously. + +'We're watched !' + +There was indeed a man lurking near and moving as they moved, with a +speculative air. Writs were out against Raikes. He slipped from his +friend, saying: + +'Never mind me. That old amphitryon's birthday hangs on till the +meridian; you understand. His table invites. He is not unlikely to +enjoy my conversation. What mayn't that lead to? Seek me there.' + +Evan strolled on, relieved by the voluntary departure of the weariful +funny friend he would not shake off, but could not well link with. + +A long success is better when seen at a distance of time, and Nick Frim +was beginning to suffer from the monotony of his luck. Fallow field +could do nothing with him. He no longer blocked. He lashed out at every +ball, and far flew every ball that was bowled. The critics saw, in this +return to his old practices, promise of Nick's approaching extinction. +The ladies were growing hot and weary. The little boys gasped on the +grass, but like cunning circulators of excitement, spread a report to +keep it up, that Nick, on going to his wickets the previous day, had +sworn an oath that he would not lay down his bat till he had scored a +hundred. + +So they had still matter to agitate their youthful breasts, and Nick's +gradual building up of tens, and prophecies and speculations as to his +chances of completing the hundred, were still vehemently confided to the +field, amid a general mopping of faces. + +Evan did become aware that a man was following him. The man had not the +look of a dreaded official. His countenance was sun-burnt and open, and +he was dressed in a countryman's holiday suit. When Evan met his eyes, +they showed perplexity. Evan felt he was being examined from head to +heel, but by one unaccustomed to his part, and without the courage to +decide what he ought consequently to do while a doubt remained, though +his inspection was verging towards a certainty in his mind. + +At last, somewhat annoyed that the man should continue to dog him +wherever he moved, he turned on him and asked him what he wanted? + +'Be you a Muster Eav'n Harrington, Esquire?' the man drawled out in the +rustic music of inquiry. + +'That is my name,' said Evan. + +'Ay,' returned the man, 'it's somebody lookin' like a lord, and has a +small friend wi' shockin' old hat, and I see ye come out o' the Green +Drag'n this mornin'--I don't reck'n there's e'er a mistaak, but I likes +to make cock sure. Be you been to Poortigal, sir?' + +'Yes,' answered Evan, 'I have been to Poortigal.' + +'What's the name o' the capital o' Portugal, sir?' The man looked +immensely shrewd, and nodding his consent at the laughing reply, added: + +'And there you was born, sir? You'll excuse my boldness, but I only does +what's necessary.' + +Evan said he was not born there. + +'No, not born there. That's good. Now, sir, did you happen to be born +anywheres within smell o' salt water?' + +'Yes,' answered Evan, 'I was born by the sea.' + +'Not far beyond fifty mile from Fall'field here, sir?' + +'Something less.' + +'All right. Now I'm cock sure,' said the man. 'Now, if you'll have the +kindness just to oblige me by--'he sped the words and the instrument +jointly at Evan, takin' that there letter, I'll say good-bye, sir, and my +work's done for the day.' + +Saying which, he left Evan with the letter in his hands. Evan turned it +over curiously. It was addressed to 'Evan Harrington, Esquire, T---- of +Lymport.' + +A voice paralyzed his fingers: the clear ringing voice of a young +horsewoman, accompanied by a little maid on a pony, who galloped up to +the carriage upon which Squire Uplift, Sir George Lowton, Hamilton +Jocelyn, and other cavaliers, were in attendance. + +'Here I am at last, and Beckley's in still! How d' ye do, Lady Racial? +How d' ye do, Sir George. How d' ye do, everybody. Your servant, +Squire! We shall beat you. Harry says we shall soon be a hundred a-head +of you. Fancy those boys! they would sleep at Fallow field last night. +How I wish you had made a bet with me, Squire.' + +'Well, my lass, it's not too late,' said the Squire, detaining her hand. + +'Oh, but it wouldn't be fair now. And I'm not going to be kissed on the +field, if you please, Squire. Here, Dorry will do instead. Dorry ! +come and be kissed by the Squire.' + +It was Rose, living and glowing; Rose, who was the brilliant young +Amazon, smoothing the neck of a mettlesome gray cob. Evan's heart +bounded up to her, but his limbs were motionless. + +The Squire caught her smaller companion in his arms, and sounded a kiss +upon both her cheeks; then settled her in the saddle, and she went to +answer some questions of the ladies. She had the same lively eyes as +Rose; quick saucy lips, red, and open for prattle. Rolls of auburn hair +fell down her back, for being a child she was allowed privileges. To +talk as her thoughts came, as well as to wear her hair as it grew, was a +special privilege of this young person, on horseback or elsewhere. + +'Now, I know what you want to ask me, Aunt Shorne. Isn't it about my +Papa? He's not come, and he won't be able to come for a week.--Glad to +be with Cousin Rosey? I should think I am! She's the nicest girl I ever +could suppose. She isn't a bit spoiled by Portugal; only browned; and +she doesn't care for that; no more do I. I rather like the sun when it +doesn't freckle you. I can't bear freckles, and I don't believe in milk +for them. People who have them are such a figure. Drummond Forth has +them, but he's a man, and it doesn't matter for a man to have freckles. +How's my uncle Mel? Oh, he's quite well. I mean he has the gout in one +of his fingers, and it's swollen so, it's just like a great fat fir cone! +He can't write a bit, and rests his hand on a table. He wants to have me +made to write with my left hand as well as my right. As if I was ever +going to have the gout in one of my fingers!' + +Sir George Lowton observed to Hamilton Jocelyn, that Melville must take +to his tongue now. + +'I fancy he will,' said Hamilton. 'My father won't give up his nominee; +so I fancy he'll try Fallow field. Of course, we go in for the +agricultural interest; but there's a cantankerous old ruffian down here-- +a brewer, or something--he's got half the votes at his bidding. We shall +see.' + +'Dorothy, my dear child, are you not tired?' said Lady Racial. 'You are +very hot.' + +'Yes, that's because Rose would tear along the road to get here in time, +after we had left those tiresome Copping people, where she had to make a +call. "What a slow little beast your pony is, Dorry!"--she said that at +least twenty times.' + +'Oh, you naughty puss!' cried Rose. 'Wasn't it, "Rosey, Rosey, I'm sure +we shall be too late, and shan't see a thing: do come along as hard as +you can"?' + +'I 'm sure it was not,' Miss Dorothy retorted, with the large eyes of +innocence. 'You said you wanted to see Nick Frim keeping the wicket, and +Ferdinand Laxley bowl. And, oh! you know something you said about +Drummond Forth.' + +'Now, shall I tell upon you?' said Rose. + +'No, don't!' hastily replied the little woman, blushing. And the +cavaliers laughed out, and the ladies smiled, and Dorothy added: 'It +isn't much, after all.' + +'Then, come; let's have it, or I shall be jealous,' said the Squire. + +'Shall I tell?' Rose asked slily. + +'It 's unfair to betray one of your sex, Rose,' remarked the sweetly- +smiling lady. + +'Yes, Lady Racial--mayn't a woman have secrets?' Dorothy put it with +great natural earnestness, and they all laughed aloud. 'But I know a +secret of Rosey's,' continued Miss Dorothy, 'and if she tells upon me, +I shall tell upon her.' + +'They're out!' cried Rose, pointing her whip at the wickets. 'Good night +to Beckley! Tom Copping 's run out.' + +Questions as to how it was done passed from mouth to mouth. Questions as +to whether it was fair sprang from Tom's friends, and that a doubt +existed was certain: the whole field was seen converging toward the two +umpires. + +Farmer Broadmead for Fallow field, Master Nat Hodges for Beckley. + +It really is a mercy there's some change in the game,' said Mrs. Shorne, +waving her parasol. 'It 's a charming game, but it wants variety a +little. When do you return, Rose?' + +'Not for some time,' said Rose, primly. 'I like variety very well, but I +don't seek it by running away the moment I've come.' + +'No, but, my dear,' Mrs. Shorne negligently fanned her face, 'you will +have to come with us, I fear, when we go. Your uncle accompanies us. +I really think the Squire will, too; and Mr. Forth is no chaperon. Even +you understand that.' + +'Oh, I can get an old man--don't be afraid, said Rose. 'Or must I have +and old woman, aunt?' + +The lady raised her eyelids slowly on Rose, and thought: ' If you were +soundly whipped, my little madam, what a good thing it would be for you.' +And that good thing Mrs. Shorne was willing to do for Rose. She turned +aside, and received the salute of and unmistakable curate on foot. + +'Ah, Mr. Parsley, you lend your countenance to the game, then?' + +The curate observed that sound Churchmen unanimously supported the game. + +'Bravo!' cried Rose. 'How I like to hear you talk like that, Mr. +Parsley. I didn't think you had so much sense. You and I will have a +game together--single wicket. We must play for something--what shall it +be?' + +'Oh--for nothing,' the curate vacuously remarked. + +'That's for love, you rogue!' exclaimed the Squire. 'Come, come, none o' +that, sir--ha! ha!' + +'Oh, very well; we'll play for love,' said Rose. + +'And I'll hold the stakes, my dear--eh?' + +'You dear old naughty Squire!--what do you mean?' + +Rose laughed. But she had all the men surrounding her, and Mrs. Shorne +talked of departing. + +Why did not Evan bravely march away? Why, he asked himself, had he come +on this cricket-field to be made thus miserable? What right had such as +he to look on Rose? Consider, however, the young man's excuses. He +could not possibly imagine that a damsel who rode one day to a match, +would return on the following day to see it finished: or absolutely know +that unseen damsel to be Rose Jocelyn. And if he waited, it was only to +hear her sweet voice once again, and go for ever. As far as he could +fathom his hopes, they were that Rose would not see him: but the hopes of +youth are deep. + +Just then a toddling small rustic stopped in front of Evan, and set up a +howl for his 'fayther.' Evan lifted him high to look over people's heads, +and discover his wandering parent. The urchin, when he had settled to +his novel position, surveyed the field, and shouting, 'Fayther, fayther ! +here I bes on top of a gentleman! made lusty signs, which attracted not +his father alone. Rose sang out, 'Who can lend me a penny?' Instantly +the curate and the squire had a race in their pockets. The curate was +first, but Rose favoured the squire, took his money with a nod and a +smile, and rode at the little lad, to whom she was saying: 'Here, bonny +boy, this will buy you--' + +She stopped and coloured. + +'Evan!' + +The child descended rapidly to the ground. + +A bow and a few murmured words replied to her. + +'Isn't this just like you, my dear Evan? Shouldn't I know that whenever +I met you, you would be doing something kind? How did you come here? +You were on your way to Beckley!' + +'To London,' said Evan. + +'To London! and not coming over to see me--us?' + +Here the little fellow's father intervened to claim his offspring, and +thank the lady and the gentleman: and, with his penny firmly grasped, he +who had brought the lady and the gentleman together, was borne off a +wealthy human creature. + +Before much further could be said between them, the Countess de Saldar +drove up. + +'My dearest Rose!' and 'My dear Countess!' and 'Not Louisa, then?' and, +'I am very glad to see you!' without attempting the endearing ' Louisa'- +passed. + +The Countess de Saldar then admitted the presence of her brother. + +'Think !' said Rose. 'He talks of going on straight from here to +London.' + +'That pretty pout will alone suffice to make him deviate, then,' said the +Countess, with her sweetest open slyness. 'I am now on the point of +accepting your most kind invitation. Our foreign habits allow us to +visit thus early! He will come with me.' + +Evan tried to look firm, and speak as he was trying to look. Rose fell +to entreaty, and from entreaty rose to command; and in both was utterly +fascinating to the poor youth. Luxuriously--while he hesitated and dwelt +on this and that faint objection--his spirit drank the delicious changes +of her face. To have her face before him but one day seemed so rich a +boon to deny himself, that he was beginning to wonder at his constancy in +refusal; and now that she spoke to him so pressingly, devoting her +guileless eyes to him alone, he forgot a certain envious feeling that had +possessed him while she was rattling among the other males--a doubt +whether she ever cast a thought on Mr. Evan Harrington. + +'Yes; he will come,' cried Rose; 'and he shall ride home with me and my +friend Drummond; and he shall have my groom's horse, if he doesn't mind. +Bob can ride home in the cart with Polly, my maid; and he'll like that, +because Polly's always good fun--when they're not in love with her. +Then, of course, she torments them.' + +'Naturally,' said the Countess. + +Mr. Evan Harrington's final objection, based on his not having clothes, +and so forth, was met by his foreseeing sister. + +'I have your portmanteau packed, in with me, my dear brother; Conning has +her feet on it. I divined that I should overtake you.' + +Evan felt he was in the toils. After a struggle or two he yielded; and, +having yielded, did it with grace. In a moment, and with a power of +self-compression equal to that of the adept Countess, he threw off his +moodiness as easily as if it had been his Spanish mantle, and assumed a +gaiety that made the Countess's eyes beam rapturously upon him, and was +pleasing to Rose, apart from the lead in admiration the Countess had +given her--not for the first time. We mortals, the best of us, may be +silly sheep in our likes and dislikes: where there is no premeditated or +instinctive antagonism, we can be led into warm acknowledgement of merits +we have not sounded. This the Countess de Saldar knew right well. + +Rose now intimated her wish to perform the ceremony of introduction +between her aunt and uncle present, and the visitors to Beckley Court. +The Countess smiled, and in the few paces that separated the two groups, +whispered to her brother: 'Miss Jocelyn, my dear.' + +The eye-glasses of the Beckley group were dropped with one accord. The +ceremony was gone through. The softly-shadowed differences of a grand +manner addressed to ladies, and to males, were exquisitely accomplished +by the Countess de Saldar. + +'Harrington? Harrington?' her quick ear caught on the mouth of Squire +Uplift, scanning Evan. + +Her accent was very foreign, as she said aloud: 'We are entirely +strangers to your game--your creecket. My brother and myself are +scarcely English. Nothing save diplomacy are we adepts in!' + +'You must be excessively dangerous, madam,' said Sir George, hat in air. + +'Even in that, I fear, we are babes and sucklings, and might take many a +lesson from you. Will you instruct me in your creecket? What are they +doing now? It seems very unintelligible--indistinct--is it not?' + +Inasmuch as Farmer Broadmead and Master Nat Hodges were surrounded by a +clamorous mob, shouting both sides of the case, as if the loudest and +longest-winded were sure to wrest a favourable judgement from those two +infallible authorities on the laws of cricket, the noble game was +certainly in a state of indistinctness. + +The squire came forward to explain, piteously entreated not to expect too +much from a woman's inapprehensive wits, which he plainly promised (under +eyes that had melted harder men) he would not. His forbearance and +bucolic gallantry were needed, for he had the Countess's radiant full +visage alone. Her senses were dancing in her right ear, which had heard +the name of Lady Racial pronounced, and a voice respond to it from the +carriage. + +Into what a pit had she suddenly plunged! You ask why she did not drive +away as fast as the horses would carry her, and fly the veiled head of +Demogorgon obscuring valley and hill and the shining firmament, and +threatening to glare destruction on her? You do not know an intriguer. +She relinquishes the joys of life for the joys of intrigue. This is her +element. The Countess did feel that the heavens were hard on her. She +resolved none the less to fight her way to her object; for where so much +had conspired to favour her--the decease of the generous Sir Abraham +Harrington, of Torquay, and the invitation to Beckley Court--could she +believe the heavens in league against her? Did she not nightly pray to +them, in all humbleness of body, for the safe issue of her cherished +schemes? And in this, how unlike she was to the rest of mankind! She +thought so; she relied on her devout observances; they gave her sweet +confidence, and the sense of being specially shielded even when specially +menaced. Moreover, tell a woman to put back, when she is once clearly +launched! Timid as she may be, her light bark bounds to meet the +tempest. I speak of women who do launch: they are not numerous, but, +to the wise, the minorities are the representatives. + +'Indeed, it is an intricate game!' said the Countess, at the conclusion +of the squire's explanation, and leaned over to Mrs. Shorne to ask her if +she thoroughly understood it. + +'Yes, I suppose I do,' was the reply; 'it--rather than the amusement they +find in it.' This lady had recovered Mr. Parsley from Rose, but had only +succeeded in making the curate unhappy, without satisfying herself. + +The Countess gave her the shrug of secret sympathy. + +'We must not say so,' she observed aloud--most artlessly, and fixed the +squire with a bewitching smile, under which her heart beat thickly. As +her eyes travelled from Mrs. Shorne to the squire, she had marked Lady +Racial looking singularly at Evan, who was mounting the horse of Bob the +groom. + +'Fine young fellow, that,' said the squire to Lady Racial, as Evan rode +off with Rose. + +'An extremely handsome, well-bred young man,' she answered. Her eyes met +the Countess's, and the Countess, after resting on their surface with an +ephemeral pause, murmured: 'I must not praise my brother,' and smiled a +smile which was meant to mean: 'I think with you, and thank you, and love +you for admiring him.' + +Had Lady Racial joined the smile and spoken with animation afterwards, +the Countess would have shuddered and had chills of dread. As it was, +she was passably content. Lady Racial slightly dimpled her cheek, for +courtesy's sake, and then looked gravely on the ground. This was no +promise; it was even an indication (as the Countess read her), of +something beyond suspicion in the lady's mind; but it was a sign of +delicacy, and a sign that her feelings had been touched, from which a +truce might be reckoned on, and no betrayal feared. + +She heard it said that the match was for honour and glory. A match of +two days' duration under a broiling sun, all for honour and glory! Was +it not enough to make her despise the games of men? For something better +she played. Her game was for one hundred thousand pounds, the happiness +of her brother, and the concealment of a horror. To win a game like that +was worth the trouble. Whether she would have continued her efforts, +had she known that the name of Evan Harrington was then blazing on a +shop-front in Lymport, I cannot tell. The possessor of the name was in +love, and did not reflect. + +Smiling adieu to the ladies, bowing to the gentlemen, and apprehending +all the homage they would pour out to her condescending beauty when she +had left them, the Countess's graceful hand gave the signal for Beckley. + +She stopped the coachman ere the wheels had rolled off the muffling turf, +to enjoy one glimpse of Evan and Rose riding together, with the little +maid on her pony in the rear. How suitable they seemed! how happy! She +had brought them together after many difficulties--might it not be? It +was surely a thing to be hoped for! + +Rose, galloping freshly, was saying to Evan: 'Why did you cut off your +moustache?' + +He, neck and neck with her, replied: 'You complained of it in Portugal.' + +And she: 'Portugal's old times now to me--and I always love old times. +I'm sorry! And, oh, Evan! did you really do it for me?' + +And really, just then, flying through the air, close to the darling of +his heart, he had not the courage to spoil that delicious question, but +dallying with the lie, he looked in her eyes lingeringly. + +This picture the Countess contemplated. Close to her carriage two young +gentlemen-cricketers were strolling, while Fallow field gained breath to +decide which men to send in first to the wickets. + +One of these stood suddenly on tiptoe, and pointing to the pair on +horseback, cried, with the vivacity of astonishment: + +'Look there! do you see that? What the deuce is little Rosey doing with +the tailor-fellow?' + +The Countess, though her cheeks were blanched, gazed calmly in +Demogorgon's face, took a mental impression of the speaker, and again +signalled for Beckley. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Adept in the lie implied +Commencement of a speech proves that you have made the plunge +Forty seconds too fast, as if it were a capital offence +Friend he would not shake off, but could not well link with +Habit, what a sacred and admirable thing it is +He grunted that a lying clock was hateful to him +He had his character to maintain +I 'm a bachelor, and a person--you're married, and an object +I take off my hat, Nan, when I see a cobbler's stall +Incapable of putting the screw upon weak excited nature +It's a fool that hopes for peace anywhere +Men do not play truant from home at sixty years of age +No great harm done when you're silent +Taking oath, as it were, by their lower nature +Tears that dried as soon as they had served their end +That beautiful trust which habit gives +That plain confession of a lack of wit; he offered combat +The ass eats at my table, and treats me with contempt +The grey furniture of Time for his natural wear +You're the puppet of your women! +What's an eccentric? a child grown grey! + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Evan Harrington, v2 +by George Meredith + + + + + + +EVAN HARRINGTON + +Copyright, 1896, +BY GEORGE MEREDITH + + +BOOK 3. + +XIV. THE COUNTESS DESCRIBES THE FIELD OF ACTION +XV. A CAPTURE +XVI. LEADS TO A SMALL SKIRMISH BETWEEN ROSE AND EVAN +XVII. IN WHICH EVAN WRITES HIMSELF TAILOR +XVIII. IN WHICH EVAN CALLS HIMSELF GENTLEMAN + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE COUNTESS DESCRIBES THE FIELD OF ACTION + +Now, to clear up a point or two: You may think the Comic Muse is +straining human nature rather toughly in making the Countess de Saldar +rush open-eyed into the jaws of Demogorgon, dreadful to her. She has +seen her brother pointed out unmistakeably as the tailor-fellow. There +is yet time to cast him off or fly with him. Is it her extraordinary +heroism impelling her onward, or infatuated rashness? or is it her mere +animal love of conflict? + +The Countess de Saldar, like other adventurers, has her star. They who +possess nothing on earth, have a right to claim a portion of the heavens. +In resolute hands, much may be done with a star. As it has empires in +its gift, so may it have heiresses. The Countess's star had not blinked +balefully at her. That was one reason why she went straight on to +Beckley. + +Again: the Countess was a born general. With her star above, with +certain advantages secured, with battalions of lies disciplined and +zealous, and with one clear prize in view, besides other undeveloped +benefits dimly shadowing forth, the Countess threw herself headlong into +the enemy's country. + +But, that you may not think too highly of this lady, I must add that the +trivial reason was the exciting cause--as in many great enterprises. +This was nothing more than the simple desire to be located, if but for a +day or two, on the footing of her present rank, in the English country- +house of an offshoot of our aristocracy. She who had moved in the first +society of a foreign capital--who had married a Count, a minister of his +sovereign, had enjoyed delicious high-bred badinage with refulgent +ambassadors, could boast the friendship of duchesses, and had been the +amiable receptacle of their pardonable follies; she who, moreover, +heartily despised things English:--this lady experienced thrills of proud +pleasure at the prospect of being welcomed at a third-rate English +mansion. But then, that mansion was Beckley Court. We return to our +first ambitions, as to our first loves not that they are dearer to us, +--quit that delusion: our ripened loves and mature ambitions are probably +closest to our hearts, as they deserve to be--but we return to them +because our youth has a hold on us which it asserts whenever a +disappointment knocks us down. Our old loves (with the bad natures I +know in them) are always lurking to avenge themselves on the new by +tempting us to a little retrograde infidelity. A schoolgirl in Fallow +field, the tailor's daughter, had sighed for the bliss of Beckley Court. +Beckley Court was her Elysium ere the ardent feminine brain conceived a +loftier summit. Fallen from that attained eminence, she sighed anew for +Beckley Court. Nor was this mere spiritual longing; it had its material +side. At Beckley Court she could feel her foreign rank. Moving with our +nobility as an equal, she could feel that the short dazzling glitter of +her career was not illusory, and had left her something solid; not coin +of the realm exactly, but yet gold. She could not feel this in the +Cogglesby saloons, among pitiable bourgeoises--middle-class people daily +soiled by the touch of tradesmen. They dragged her down. Their very +homage was a mockery. + +Let the Countess have due credit for still allowing Evan to visit Beckley +Court to follow up his chance. If Demogorgon betrayed her there, the +Count was her protector: a woman rises to her husband. But a man is what +he is, and must stand upon that. She was positive Evan had committed +himself in some manner. As it did not suit her to think so, she at once +encouraged an imaginary conversation, in which she took the argument that +it was quite impossible Evan could have been so mad, and others instanced +his youth, his wrongheaded perversity, his ungenerous disregard for his +devoted sister, and his known weakness: she replying, that undoubtedly +they were right so far: but that he could not have said he himself was +that horrible thing, because he was nothing of the sort: which faith in +Evan's stedfast adherence to facts, ultimately silenced the phantom +opposition, and gained the day. + +With admiration let us behold the Countess de Saldar alighting on the +gravel sweep of Beckley Court, the footman and butler of the enemy bowing +obsequious welcome to the most potent visitor Beckley Court has ever yet +embraced. + + +The despatches of a general being usually acknowledged to be the safest +sources from which the historian of a campaign can draw, I proceed to set +forth a letter of the Countess de Saldar, forwarded to her sister, +Harriet Cogglesby, three mornings after her arrival at Beckley Court; and +which, if it should prove false in a few particulars, does nevertheless +let us into the state of the Countess's mind, and gives the result of +that general's first inspection of the field of action. The Countess's +epistolary English does small credit to her Fallow field education; but +it is feminine, and flows more than her ordinary speech. Besides, +leaders of men have always notoriously been above the honours of grammar. + + +'MY DEAREST HARRIET, + +'Your note awaited me. No sooner my name announced, than servitors in +yellow livery, with powder and buckles started before me, and bowing one +presented it on a salver. A venerable butler--most impressive! led the +way. In future, my dear, let it be de Saldar de Sancorvo. That is our +title by rights, and it may as well be so in England. English Countess +is certainly best. Always put the de. But let us be systematic, as my +poor Silva says. He would be in the way here, and had better not come +till I see something he can do. Silva has great reliance upon me. The +farther he is from Lymport, my dear!--and imagine me, Harriet, driving +through Fallow field to Beckley Court! I gave one peep at Dubbins's, as +I passed. The school still goes on. I saw three little girls skipping, +and the old swing-pole. SEMINARY FOR YOUNG LADIES as bright as ever! I +should have liked to have kissed the children and given them bonbons and +a holiday. + +'How sparing you English are of your crests and arms! I fully expected +to see the Jocelyns' over my bed; but no--four posts totally without +ornament! Sleep, indeed, must be the result of dire fatigue in such a +bed. The Jocelyn crest is a hawk in jesses. The Elburne arms are, Or, +three falcons on a field, vert. How heraldry reminds me of poor Papa! +the evenings we used to spend with him, when he stayed at home, studying +it so diligently under his directions! We never shall again! Sir Franks +Jocelyn is the third son of Lord Elburne, made a Baronet for his +patriotic support of the Ministry in a time of great trouble. The people +are sometimes grateful, my dear. Lord Elburne is the fourteenth of his +line--originally simple country squires. They talk of the Roses, but we +need not go so very far back as that. I do not quite understand why a +Lord's son should condescend to a Baronetcy. Precedence of some sort for +his lady, I suppose. I have yet to learn whether she ranks by his birth, +or his present title. If so, a young Baronetcy cannot possibly be a +gain. One thing is certain. She cares very little about it. She is +most eccentric. But remember what I have told you. It will be +serviceable when you are speaking of the family. + +'The dinner-hour, six. It would no doubt be full seven in Town. I am +convinced you are half-an-hour too early. I had the post of honour to +the right of Sir Franks. Evan to the right of Lady Jocelyn. Most +fortunately he was in the best of spirits--quite brilliant. I saw the +eyes of that sweet Rose glisten. On the other side of me sat my pet +diplomatist, and I gave him one or two political secrets which astonished +him. Of course, my dear, I was wheedled out of them. His contempt for +our weak intellects is ineffable. But a woman must now and then +ingratiate herself at the expense of her sex. This is perfectly +legitimate. Tory policy at the table. The Opposition, as Andrew says, +not represented. So to show that we were human beings, we differed among +ourselves, and it soon became clear to me that Lady Jocelyn is the +rankest of Radicals. My secret suspicion is, that she is a person of no +birth whatever, wherever her money came from. A fine woman--yes; still +to be admired, I suppose, by some kind of men; but totally wanting in the +essentially feminine attractions. + +'There was no party, so to say. I will describe the people present, +beginning with the insignifacants. + +'First, Mr. Parsley, the curate of Beckley. He eats everything at table, +and agrees with everything. A most excellent orthodox young clergyman. +Except that he was nearly choked by a fish-bone, and could not quite +conceal his distress--and really Rose should have repressed her desire to +laugh till the time for our retirement--he made no sensation. I saw her +eyes watering, and she is not clever in turning it off. In that nobody +ever equalled dear Papa. I attribute the attack almost entirely to the +tightness of the white neck-cloths the young clergymen of the Established +Church wear. But, my dear, I have lived too long away from them to wish +for an instant the slightest change in anything they think, say, or do. +The mere sight of this young man was most refreshing to my spirit. He +may be the shepherd of a flock, this poor Mr. Parsley, but he is a sheep +to one young person. + +'Mr. Drummond Forth. A great favourite of Lady Jocelyn's; an old friend. +He went with them to the East. Nothing improper. She is too cold for +that. He is fair, with regular features, very self-possessed, and ready +--your English notions of gentlemanly. But none of your men treat a +woman as a woman. We are either angels, or good fellows, or heaven knows +what that is bad. No exquisite delicacy, no insinuating softness, mixed +with respect, none of that hovering over the border, as Papa used to say, +none of that happy indefiniteness of manner which seems to declare +"I would love you if I might," or "I do, but I dare not tell," even when +engaged in the most trivial attentions--handing a footstool, remarking on +the soup, etc. You none of you know how to meet a woman's smile, or to +engage her eyes without boldness--to slide off them, as it were, +gracefully. Evan alone can look between the eyelids of a woman. I have +had to correct him, for to me he quite exposes the state of his heart +towards dearest Rose. She listens to Mr. Forth with evident esteem. In +Portugal we do not understand young ladies having male friends. + +'Hamilton Jocelyn--all politics. The stiff Englishman. Not a shade of +manners. He invited me to drink wine. Before I had finished my bow his +glass was empty--the man was telling an anecdote of Lord Livelyston! +You may be sure, my dear, I did not say I had seen his lordship. + +'Seymour Jocelyn, Colonel of Hussars. He did nothing but sigh for the +cold weather, and hunting. All I envied him was his moustache for Evan. +Will you believe that the ridiculous boy has shaved! + +'Then there is Melville, my dear diplomatist; and here is another +instance of our Harrington luck. He has the gout in his right hand; he +can only just hold knife and fork, and is interdicted Port-wine and +penmanship. The dinner was not concluded before I had arranged that Evan +should resume (gratuitously, you know) his post of secretary to him. So +here is Evan fixed at Beckley Court as long as Melville stays. Talking +of him, I am horrified suddenly. They call him the great Mel! +'Sir Franks is most estimable, I am sure, as a man, and redolent of +excellent qualities--a beautiful disposition, very handsome. He has just +as much and no more of the English polish one ordinarily meets. When he +has given me soup or fish, bowed to me over wine, and asked a +conventional question, he has done with me. I should imagine his +opinions to be extremely good, for they are not a multitude. + +'Then his lady-but I have not grappled with her yet. Now for the women, +for I quite class her with the opposite sex. + +'You must know that before I retired for the night, I induced Conning to +think she had a bad head-ache, and Rose lent me her lady's-maid--they +call the creature Polly. A terrible talker. She would tell all about +the family. Rose has been speaking of Evan. It would have looked better +had she been quiet--but then she is so English!' + +Here the Countess breaks off to say, that from where she is writing, she +can see Rose and Evan walking out to the cypress avenue, and that no eyes +are on them; great praise being given to the absence of suspicion in the +Jocelyn nature. + +The communication is resumed the night of the same day. + +'Two days at Beckley Court are over, and that strange sensation I had of +being an intruder escaped from Dubbins's, and expecting every instant the +old schoolmistress to call for me, and expose me, and take me to the dark +room, is quite vanished, and I feel quite at home, quite happy. Evan is +behaving well. Quite the young nobleman. With the women I had no fear +of him; he is really admirable with the men--easy, and talks of sport and +politics, and makes the proper use of Portugal. He has quite won the +heart of his sister. Heaven smiles on us, dearest Harriet! + +'We must be favoured, my dear, for Evan is very troublesome-- +distressingly inconsiderate! I left him for a day-remaining to comfort +poor Mama--and on the road he picked up an object he had known at school, +and this creature, in shameful garments, is seen in the field where Rose +and Evan are riding--in a dreadful hat--Rose might well laugh at it!--he +is seen running away from an old apple woman, whose fruit he had consumed +without means to liquidate; but, of course, he rushes bolt up to Evan +before all his grand company, and claims acquaintance, and Evan was base +enough to acknowledge him! He disengaged himself so far well by tossing +his purse to the wretch, but if he knows not how to--cut, I assure him it +will be his ruin. Resolutely he must cast the dust off his shoes, or he +will be dragged down to their level. By the way, as to hands and feet, +comparing him with the Jocelyn men, he has every mark of better blood. +Not a question about it. As Papa would say--We have Nature's proof. + +'Looking out on a beautiful lawn, and the moon, and all sorts of trees, I +must now tell you about the ladies here. + +'Conning undid me to-night. While Conning remains unattached, Conning is +likely to be serviceable. If Evan, would only give her a crumb, she +would be his most faithful dog. I fear he cannot be induced, and Conning +will be snapped up by somebody else. You know how susceptible she is +behind her primness--she will be of no use on earth, and I shall find +excuse to send her back immediately. After all, her appearance here was +all that was wanted. + +'Mrs. Melville and her dreadful juvenile are here, as you may imagine-- +the complete Englishwoman. I smile on her, but I could laugh. To see +the crow's-feet under her eyes on her white skin, and those ringlets, is +really too ridiculous. Then there is a Miss Carrington, Lady Jocelyn's +cousin, aged thirty-two--if she has not tampered with the register of her +birth. I should think her equal to it. Between dark and fair. Always +in love with some man, Conning tells me she hears. Rose's maid, Polly, +hinted the same. She has a little money. + +'But my sympathies have been excited by a little cripple--a niece of Lady +Jocelyn's and the favourite grand-daughter of the rich old Mrs. Bonner-- +also here--Juliana Bonner. Her age must be twenty. You would take her +for ten. In spite of her immense expectations, the Jocelyns hate her. +They can hardly be civil to her. It is the poor child's temper. She has +already begun to watch dear Evan--certainly the handsomest of the men +here as yet, though I grant you, they are well-grown men, these Jocelyns, +for an untravelled Englishwoman. I fear, dear Harriet, we have been +dreadfully deceived about Rose. The poor child has not, in her own +right, much more than a tenth part of what we supposed, I fear. It was +that Mrs. Melville. I have had occasion to notice her quiet boasts here. +She said this morning, "when Mel is in the Ministry"--he is not yet in +Parliament! I feel quite angry with the woman, and she is not so cordial +as she might be. I have her profile very frequently while I am +conversing with her. + +'With Grandmama Bonner I am excellent good friends,--venerable silver +hair, high caps, etc. More of this most interesting Juliana Bonner by- +and-by. It is clear to me that Rose's fortune is calculated upon the +dear invalid's death! Is not that harrowing? It shocks me to think of +it. + +'Then there is Mrs. Shorne. She is a Jocelyn--and such a history! She +married a wealthy manufacturer--bartered her blood for his money, and he +failed, and here she resides, a bankrupt widow, petitioning any man that +may be willing for his love AND a decent home. AND--I say in charity. + +'Mrs. Shorne comes here to-morrow. She is at present with--guess, my +dear!--with Lady Racial. Do not be alarmed. I have met Lady Racial. +She heard Evan's name, and by that and the likeness I saw she knew at +once, and I saw a truce in her eyes. She gave me a tacit assurance of +it--she was engaged to dine here yesterday, and put it off--probably to +grant us time for composure. If she comes I do not fear her. Besides, +has she not reasons? Providence may have designed her for a staunch +ally--I will not say, confederate. + +'Would that Providence had fixed this beautiful mansion five hundred +miles from L-----, though it were in a desolate region! And that reminds +me of the Madre. She is in health. She always will be overbearingly +robust till the day we are bereft of her. There was some secret in the +house when I was there, which I did not trouble to penetrate. That +little Jane F---- was there--not improved. + +'Pray, be firm about Torquay. Estates mortgaged, but hopes of saving a +remnant of the property. Third son! Don't commit yourself there. We +dare not baronetize him. You need not speak it--imply. More can be done +that way. + +'And remember, dear Harriet, that you must manage Andrew so that we may +positively promise his vote to the Ministry on all questions when +Parliament next assembles. I understood from Lord Livelyston, that +Andrew's vote would be thought much of. A most amusing nobleman! He +pledged himself to nothing! But we are above such a thing as a +commercial transaction. He must countenance Silva. Women, my dear, have +sent out armies--why not fleets? Do not spare me your utmost aid in my +extremity, my dearest sister. + +'As for Strike, I refuse to speak of him. He is insufferable and next to +useless. How can one talk with any confidence of relationship with a +Major of Marines? When I reflect on what he is, and his conduct to +Caroline, I have inscrutable longings to slap his face. Tell dear Carry +her husband's friend--the chairman or something of that wonderful company +of Strike's--you know--the Duke of Belfield is coming here. He is a +blood-relation of the Elburnes, therefore of the Jocelyns. It will not +matter at all. Breweries, I find, are quite in esteem in your England. +It was highly commendable in his Grace to visit you. Did he come to see +the Major of Marines? Caroline is certainly the loveliest woman I ever +beheld, and I forgive her now the pangs of jealousy she used to make me +feel. + +'Andrew, I hope, has received the most kind invitations of the Jocelyns. +He must come. Melville must talk with him about the votes of his +abominable brother in Fallow field. We must elect Melville and have the +family indebted to us. But pray be careful that Andrew speaks not a word +to his odious brother about our location here. It would set him dead +against these hospitable Jocelyns. It will perhaps be as well, dear +Harriet, if you do not accompany Andrew. You would not be able to +account for him quite thoroughly. Do as you like--I do but advise, and +you know I may be trusted--for our sakes, dear one! I am working for +Carry to come with Andrew. Beautiful women always welcome. A prodigy! +--if they wish to astonish the Duke. Adieu! Heaven bless your babes!' + + +The night passes, and the Countess pursues: + +'Awakened by your fresh note from a dream of Evan on horseback, and a +multitude hailing him Count Jocelyn for Fallow field! A morning dream. +They might desire that he should change his name; but "Count" is +preposterous, though it may conceal something. + +'You say Andrew will come, and talk of his bringing Caroline. Anything +to give our poor darling a respite from her brute. You deserve great +credit for your managing of that dear little good-natured piece of +obstinate man. I will at once see to prepare dear Caroline's welcome, +and trust her stay may be prolonged in the interest of common humanity. +They have her story here already. + +'Conning has come in, and says that young Mr. Harry Jocelyn will be here +this morning from Fallow field, where he has been cricketing. The family +have not spoken of him in my hearing. He is not, I think, in good odour +at home--a scapegrace. Rose's maid, Polly, quite flew out when I +happened to mention him, and broke one of my laces. These English maids +are domesticated savage animals. + +'My chocolate is sent up, exquisitely concocted, in plate of the purest +quality--lovely little silver cups! I have already quite set the fashion +for the ladies to have chocolate in bed. The men, I hear, complain that +there is no lady at the breakfast-table. They have Miss Carrington to +superintend. I read, in the subdued satisfaction of her eyes (completely +without colour), how much she thanks me and the institution of chocolate +in bed. Poor Miss Carrington is no match for her opportunities. One may +give them to her without dread. + +'It is ten on the Sabbath morn. The sweet churchbells are ringing. It +seems like a dream. There is nothing but the religion attaches me to +England; but that--is not that everything? How I used to sigh on Sundays +to hear them in Portugal! + +'I have an idea of instituting toilette-receptions. They will not please +Miss Carrington so well. + +'Now to the peaceful village church, and divine worship. Adieu, my dear. +I kiss my fingers to Silva. Make no effort to amuse him. He is always +occupied. Bread!--he asks no more. Adieu! Carry will be invited with +your little man .... You unhappily unable .... She, the sister I pine +to see, to show her worthy of my praises. Expectation and excitement! +Adieu!' + + +Filled with pleasing emotions at the thought of the service in the quiet +village church, and worshipping in the principal pew, under the blazonry +of the Jocelyn arms, the Countess sealed her letter and addressed it, and +then examined the name of Cogglesby; which plebeian name, it struck her, +would not sound well to the menials of Beckley Court. While she was +deliberating what to do to conceal it, she heard, through her open +window, the voices of some young men laughing. She beheld her brother +pass these young men, and bow to them. She beheld them stare at him +without at all returning his salute, and then one of them--the same who +had filled her ears with venom at Fallow field--turned to the others and +laughed outrageously, crying + +'By Jove! this comes it strong. Fancy the snipocracy here--eh?' + +What the others said the Countess did not wait to hear. She put on her +bonnet hastily, tried the effect of a peculiar smile in the mirror, and +lightly ran down-stairs. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A CAPTURE + +The three youths were standing in the portico when the Countess appeared +among them. She singled out him who was specially obnoxious to her, and +sweetly inquired the direction to the village post. With the renowned +gallantry of his nation, he offered to accompany her, but presently, with +a different exhibition of the same, proposed that they should spare +themselves the trouble by dropping the letter she held prominently, in +the bag. + +'Thanks,' murmured the Countess, 'I will go.' Upon which his eager air +subsided, and he fell into an awkward silent march at her side, looking +so like the victim he was to be, that the Countess could have emulated +his power of laughter. + +'And you are Mr. Harry Jocelyn, the very famous cricketer?' + +He answered, glancing back at his friends, that he was, but did not know +about the 'famous.' + +'Oh! but I saw you--I saw you hit the ball most beautifully, and dearly +wished my brother had an equal ability. Brought up in the Court of +Portugal, he is barely English. There they have no manly sports. You +saw him pass you?' + +'Him! Who?' asked Harry. + +'My brother, on the lawn, this moment. Your sweet sister's friend. Your +uncle Melville's secretary.' + +'What's his name?' said Harry, in blunt perplexity. + +The Countess repeated his name, which in her pronunciation was +'Hawington,' adding, 'That was my brother. I am his sister. Have you +heard of the Countess de Saldar?' + +'Countess!' muttered Harry. 'Dash it! here's a mistake.' + +She continued, with elegant fan-like motion of her gloved fingers: 'They +say there is a likeness between us. The dear Queen of Portugal often +remarked it, and in her it was a compliment to me, for she thought my +brother a model! You I should have known from your extreme resemblance +to your lovely young sister.' + +Coarse food, but then Harry was a youthful Englishman; and the Countess +dieted the vanity according to the nationality. With good wine to wash +it down, one can swallow anything. The Countess lent him her eyes for +that purpose; eyes that had a liquid glow under the dove--like drooping +lids. It was a principle of hers, pampering our poor sex with swinish +solids or the lightest ambrosia, never to let the accompanying cordial be +other than of the finest quality. She knew that clowns, even more than +aristocrats, are flattered by the inebriation of delicate celestial +liquors. + +'Now,' she said, after Harry had gulped as much of the dose as she chose +to administer direct from the founts, 'you must accord me the favour to +tell me all about yourself, for I have heard much of you, Mr. Harry +Jocelyn, and you have excited my woman's interest. Of me you know +nothing.' + +'Haven't I?' cried Harry, speaking to the pitch of his new warmth. +'My uncle Melville goes on about you tremendously--makes his wife as +jealous as fire. How could I tell that was your brother?' + +'Your uncle has deigned to allude to me?' said the Countess, +meditatively. 'But not of him--of you, Mr. Harry! What does he say?' + +'Says you're so clever you ought to be a man.' + +'Ah! generous!' exclaimed the Countess. 'The idea, I think, is novel to +him. Is it not?' + +'Well, I believe, from what I hear, he didn't back you for much over in +Lisbon,' said veracious Harry. + +'I fear he is deceived in me now. I fear I am but a woman--I am not to +be "backed." But you are not talking of yourself.' + +'Oh! never mind me,' was Harry's modest answer. + +'But I do. Try to imagine me as clever as a man, and talk to me of your +doings. Indeed I will endeavour to comprehend you.' + +Thus humble, the Countess bade him give her his arm. He stuck it out +with abrupt eagerness. + +'Not against my cheek.' She laughed forgivingly. 'And you need not start +back half-a-mile,' she pursued with plain humour: 'and please do not look +irresolute and awkward--It is not necessary,' she added. 'There!'; and +she settled her fingers on him, 'I am glad I can find one or two things +to instruct you in. Begin. You are a great cricketer. What else?' + +Ay! what else? Harry might well say he had no wish to talk of himself. +He did not know even how to give his arm to a lady! The first flattery +and the subsequent chiding clashed in his elated soul, and caused him to +deem himself one of the blest suddenly overhauled by an inspecting angel +and found wanting: or, in his own more accurate style of reflection, +'What a rattling fine woman this is, and what a deuce of a fool she must +think me!' + +The Countess leaned on his arm with dainty languor. + +'You walk well,' she said. + +Harry's backbone straightened immediately. + +'No, no; I do not want you to be a drill-sergeant. Can you not be told +you are perfect without seeking to improve, vain boy? You can cricket, +and you can walk, and will very soon learn how to give your arm to a +lady. I have hopes of you. Of your friends, from whom I have ruthlessly +dragged you, I have not much. Am I personally offensive to them, Mr. +Harry? I saw them let my brother pass without returning his bow, and +they in no way acknowledged my presence as I passed. Are they +gentlemen?' + +'Yes,' said Harry, stupefied by the question. 'One 's Ferdinand Laxley, +Lord Laxley's son, heir to the title; the other's William Harvey, son of +the Chief Justice--both friends of mine.' + +'But not of your manners,' interposed the Countess. 'I have not so much +compunction as I ought to have in divorcing you from your associates for +a few minutes. I think I shall make a scholar of you in one or two +essentials. You do want polish. Have I not a right to take you in hand? +I have defended you already.' + +'Me?' cried Harry. + +'None other than Mr. Harry Jocelyn. Will he vouchsafe to me his pardon? +It has been whispered in my ears that his ambition is to be the Don Juan +of a country district, and I have said for him, that however grovelling +his undirected tastes, he is too truly noble to plume himself upon the +reputation they have procured him. Why did I defend you? Women, you +know, do not shrink from Don Juans--even provincial Don Juans--as they +should, perhaps, for their own sakes! You are all of you dangerous, if a +woman is not strictly on her guard. But you will respect your champion, +will you not?' + +Harry was about to reply with wonderful briskness. He stopped, and +murmured boorishly that he was sure he was very much obliged. + +Command of countenance the Countess possessed in common with her sex. +Those faces on which we make them depend entirely, women can entirely +control. Keenly sensible to humour as the Countess was, her face sidled +up to his immovably sweet. Harry looked, and looked away, and looked +again. The poor fellow was so profoundly aware of his foolishness that +he even doubted whether he was admired. + +The Countess trifled with his English nature; quietly watched him bob +between tugging humility and airy conceit, and went on: + +'Yes! I will trust you, and that is saying very much, for what +protection is a brother? I am alone here--defenceless!' + +Men, of course, grow virtuously zealous in an instant on behalf of the +lovely dame who tells them bewitchingly, she is alone and defenceless, +with pitiful dimples round the dewy mouth that entreats their +guardianship and mercy! + +The provincial Don Juan found words--a sign of clearer sensations within. +He said: + +'Upon my honour, I'd look after you better than fifty brothers!' + +The Countess eyed him softly, and then allowed herself the luxury of a +laugh. + +'No, no! it is not the sheep, it is the wolf I fear.' + +And she went through a bit of the concluding portion of the drama of +Little Red Riding Hood very prettily, and tickled him so that he became +somewhat less afraid of her. + +'Are you truly so bad as report would have you to be, Mr. Harry?' she +asked, not at all in the voice of a censor. + +'Pray don't think me--a--anything you wouldn't have me,' the youth +stumbled into an apt response. + +'We shall see,' said the Countess, and varied her admiration for the +noble creature beside her with gentle ejaculations on the beauty of the +deer that ranged the park of Beckley Court, the grand old oaks and +beeches, the clumps of flowering laurel, and the rich air swarming +Summer. + +She swept out her arm. 'And this most magnificent estate will be yours? +How happy will she be who is led hither to reside by you, Mr. Harry!' + +'Mine? No; there's the bother,' he answered, with unfeigned chagrin. +'Beckley isn't Elburne property, you know. It belongs to old Mrs. +Bonner, Rose's grandmama.' + +'Oh!' interjected the Countess, indifferently. + +'I shall never get it--no chance,' Harry pursued. 'Lost my luck with the +old lady long ago.' He waxed excited on a subject that drew him from his +shamefacedness. 'It goes to Juley Bonner, or to Rosey; it's a toss-up +which. If I'd stuck up to Juley, I might have had a pretty fair chance. +They wanted me to, that's why I scout the premises. But fancy Juley +Bonner!' + +'You couldn't, upon your honour!' rhymed the Countess. (And Harry let +loose a delighted 'Ha! ha !' as at a fine stroke of wit.) 'Are we +enamoured of a beautiful maiden, Senor Harry?' + +'Not a bit,' he assured her eagerly. 'I don't know any girl. I don't +care for 'em. I don't, really.' + +The Countess impressively declared to him that he must be guided by her; +and that she might the better act his monitress, she desired to hear the +pedigree of the estate, and the exact relations in which it at present +stood toward the Elburne family. + +Glad of any theme he could speak on, Harry informed her that Beckley +Court was bought by his grandfather Bonner from the proceeds of a +successful oil speculation. + +'So we ain't much on that side,' he said. + +'Oil!' was the Countess's weary exclamation. 'I imagined Beckley Court +to be your ancestral mansion. Oil!' + +Harry deprecatingly remarked that oil was money. + +'Yes,' she replied; 'but you are not one to mix oil with your Elburne +blood. Let me see--oil! That, I conceive, is grocery. So, you are +grocers on one side!' + +'Oh, come! hang it!' cried Harry, turning red. + +'Am I leaning on the grocer's side, or on the lord's?' + +Harry felt dreadfully taken down. 'One ranks with one's father,' he +said. + +'Yes,' observed the Countess; 'but you should ever be careful not to +expose the grocer. When I beheld my brother bow to you, and that your +only return was to stare at him in that singular way, I was not aware of +this, and could not account for it.' + +I declare I'm very sorry,' said Harry, with a nettled air. 'Do just let +me tell you how it happened. We were at an inn, where there was an odd +old fellow gave a supper; and there was your brother, and another fellow +--as thorough an upstart as I ever met, and infernally impudent. He got +drinking, and wanted to fight us. Now I see it! Your brother, to save +his friend's bones, said he was a tailor! Of course no gentleman could +fight a tailor; and it blew over with my saying we'd order our clothes of +him.' + +'Said he was a--!' exclaimed the Countess, gazing blankly. + +'I don't wonder at your feeling annoyed,' returned Harry. 'I saw him +with Rosey next day, and began to smell a rat then, but Laxley won't give +up the tailor. He's as proud as Lucifer. He wanted to order a suit of +your brother to-day; but I said--not while he's in the house, however he +came here.' + +The Countess had partially recovered. They were now in the village +street, and Harry pointed out the post-office. + +'Your divination with regard to my brother's most eccentric behaviour was +doubtless correct,' she said. 'He wished to succour his wretched +companion. Anywhere--it matters not to him what!--he allies himself with +miserable mortals. He is the modern Samaritan. You should thank him for +saving you an encounter with some low creature.' + +Swaying the letter to and fro, she pursued archly: 'I can read your +thoughts. You are dying to know to whom this dear letter is addressed!' + +Instantly Harry, whose eyes had previously been quite empty of +expression, glanced at the letter wistfully. + +Shall I tell you?' + +'Yes, do.' + +'It's to somebody I love.' + +'Are you in love then?' was his disconcerted rejoinder. + +'Am I not married?' + +'Yes; but every woman that's married isn't in love with her husband, you +know.' + +'Oh! Don Juan of the provinces!' she cried, holding the seal of the +letter before him in playful reproof. 'Fie!' + +'Come! who is it?' Harry burst out. + +'I am not, surely, obliged to confess my correspondence to you? +Remember!' she laughed lightly. 'He already assumes the airs of a lord +and master! You are rapid, Mr. Harry.' + +'Won't you really tell me?' he pleaded. + +She put a corner of the letter in the box. 'Must I?' + +All was done with the archest elegance: the bewildering condescension of +a Goddess to a boor. + +'I don't say you must, you know: but I should like to see it,' returned +Harry. + +'There!' She showed him a glimpse of 'Mrs.,' cleverly concealing +plebeian 'Cogglesby,' and the letter slid into darkness. 'Are you +satisfied?' + +'Yes,' said Harry, wondering why he felt a relief at the sight of 'Mrs.' +written on a letter by a lady he had only known half an hour. + +'And now,' said she, 'I shall demand a boon of you, Mr. Harry. Will it +be accorded?' + +She was hurriedly told that she might count upon him for whatever she +chose to ask; and after much trifling and many exaggerations of the boon +in question, he heard that she had selected him as her cavalier for the +day, and that he was to consent to accompany her to the village church. + +'Is it so great a request, the desire that you should sit beside a +solitary lady for so short a space?' she asked, noting his rueful visage. + +Harry assured her he would be very happy, but hinted at the bother of +having to sit and listen to that fool of a Parsley: again assuring her, +and with real earnestness, which the lady now affected to doubt, that he +would be extremely happy. + +'You know, I haven't been there for ages,' he explained. + +'I hear it!' she sighed, aware of the credit his escort would bring her +in Beckley, and especially with Harry's grandmama Bonner. + +They went together to the village church. The Countess took care to be +late, so that all eyes beheld her stately march up the aisle, with her +captive beside her. + +Nor was her captive less happy than he professed he would be. Charming +comic side-play, at the expense of Mr. Parsley, she mingled with +exceeding devoutness, and a serious attention to Mr. Parsley's discourse. +In her heart this lady really thought her confessed daily sins forgiven +her by the recovery of the lost sheep to Mr. Parsley's fold. The results +of this small passage of arms were, that Evan's disclosure at Fallow +field was annulled in the mind of Harry Jocelyn, and the latter gentleman +became the happy slave of the Countess de Saldar. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +LEADS TO A SMALL SKIRMISH BETWEEN ROSE AND EVAN + +Lady Jocelyn belonged properly to that order which the Sultans and the +Roxalanas of earth combine to exclude from their little games, under the +designation of blues, or strong-minded women: a kind, if genuine, the +least dangerous and staunchest of the sex, as poor fellows learn when the +flippant and the frail fair have made mummies of them. She had the +frankness of her daughter, the same direct eyes and firm step: a face +without shadows, though no longer bright with youth. It may be charged +to her as one of the errors of her strong mind, that she believed +friendship practicable between men and women, young or old. She knew the +world pretty well, and was not amazed by extraordinary accidents; but as +she herself continued to be an example of her faith: we must presume it +natural that her delusion should cling to her. She welcomed Evan as her +daughter's friend, walked half-way across the room to meet him on his +introduction to her, and with the simple words, 'I have heard of you,' +let him see that he stood upon his merits in her house. The young man's +spirit caught something of hers even in their first interview, and at +once mounted to that level. Unconsciously he felt that she took, and +would take him, for what he was, and he rose to his worth in the society +she presided over. A youth like Evan could not perceive, that in loving +this lady's daughter, and accepting the place she offered him, he was +guilty of a breach of confidence; or reflect, that her entire absence of +suspicion imposed upon him a corresponding honesty toward her. He fell +into a blindness. Without dreaming for a moment that she designed to +encourage his passion for Rose, he yet beheld himself in the light she +had cast on him; and, received as her daughter's friend, it seemed to +him not so utterly monstrous that he might be her daughter's lover. +A haughty, a grand, or a too familiar manner, would have kept his eyes +clearer on his true condition. Lady Jocelyn spoke to his secret nature, +and eclipsed in his mind the outward aspects with which it was warring. +To her he was a gallant young man, a fit companion for Rose, and when she +and Sir Franks said, and showed him, that they were glad to know him, his +heart swam in a flood of happiness they little suspected. + +This was another of the many forms of intoxication to which circumstances +subjected the poor lover. In Fallow field, among impertinent young men, +Evan's pride proclaimed him a tailor. At Beckley Court, acted on by one +genuine soul, he forgot it, and felt elate in his manhood. The shades of +Tailordom dispersed like fog before the full South-west breeze. When I +say he forgot it, the fact was present enough to him, but it became an +outward fact: he had ceased to feel it within him. It was not a portion +of his being, hard as Mrs. Mel had struck to fix it. Consequently, +though he was in a far worse plight than when he parted with Rose on +board the Jocasta, he felt much less of an impostor now. This may have +been partly because he had endured his struggle with the Demogorgon the +Countess painted to him in such frightful colours, and found him human +after all; but it was mainly owing to the hearty welcome Lady Jocelyn had +extended to him as the friend of Rose. + +Loving Rose, he nevertheless allowed his love no tender liberties. The +eyes of a lover are not his own; but his hands and lips are, till such +time as they are claimed. The sun must smile on us with peculiar warmth +to woo us forth utterly-pluck our hearts out. Rose smiled on many. She +smiled on Drummond Forth, Ferdinand Laxley, William Harvey, and her +brother Harry; and she had the same eyes for all ages. Once, previous to +the arrival of the latter three, there was a change in her look, or Evan +fancied it. They were going to ride out together, and Evan, coming to +his horse on the gravel walk, saw her talking with Drummond Forth. He +mounted, awaiting her, and either from a slight twinge of jealousy, or to +mark her dainty tread with her riding-habit drawn above her heels, he +could not help turning his head occasionally. She listened to Drummond +with attention, but presently broke from him, crying: 'It's an absurdity. +Speak to them yourself--I shall not.' + +On the ride that day, she began prattling of this and that with the +careless glee that became her well, and then sank into a reverie. +Between-whiles her eyes had raised tumults in Evan's breast by dropping +on him in a sort of questioning way, as if she wished him to speak, +or wished to fathom something she would rather have unspoken. Ere they +had finished their ride, she tossed off what burden may have been on her +mind as lightly as a stray lock from her shoulders. He thought that the +singular look recurred. It charmed him too much for him to speculate on +it. + +The Countess's opportune ally, the gout, which had reduced the Hon. +Melville Jocelyn's right hand to a state of uselessness, served her with +her brother equally: for, having volunteered his services to the +invalided diplomatist, it excused his stay at Beckley Court to himself, +and was a mask to his intimacy with Rose, besides earning him the thanks +of the family. Harry Jocelyn, released from the wing of the Countess, +came straight to him, and in a rough kind of way begged Evan to overlook +his rudeness. + +'You took us all in at Fallow field, except Drummond,' he said. +'Drummond would have it you were joking. I see it now. And you're a +confoundedly clever fellow into the bargain, or you wouldn't be quill- +driving for Uncle Mel. Don't be uppish about it--will you?' + +'You have nothing to fear on that point,' said Evan. With which promise +the peace was signed between them. Drummond and William Harvey were +cordial, and just laughed over the incident. Laxley, however, held +aloof. His retention of ideas once formed befitted his rank and station. +Some trifling qualms attended Evan's labours with the diplomatist; but +these were merely occasioned by the iteration of a particular phrase. +Mr. Goren, an enthusiastic tailor, had now and then thrown out to Evan +stirring hints of an invention he claimed: the discovery of a Balance in +Breeches: apparently the philosopher's stone of the tailor craft, a +secret that should ensure harmony of outline to the person and an +indubitable accommodation to the most difficult legs. + +Since Adam's expulsion, it seemed, the tailors of this wilderness had +been in search of it. But like the doctors of this wilderness, their +science knew no specific: like the Babylonian workmen smitten with +confusion of tongues, they had but one word in common, and that word was +'cut.' Mr. Goren contended that to cut was not the key of the science: +but to find a Balance was. An artistic admirer of the frame of man, Mr. +Goren was not wanting in veneration for the individual who had arisen to +do it justice. He spoke of his Balance with supreme self-appreciation. +Nor less so the Honourable Melville, who professed to have discovered the +Balance of Power, at home and abroad. It was a capital Balance, but +inferior to Mr. Goren's. The latter gentleman guaranteed a Balance with +motion: whereas one step not only upset the Honourable Melville's, but +shattered the limbs of Europe. Let us admit, that it is easier to fit a +man's legs than to compress expansive empires. + +Evan enjoyed the doctoring of kingdoms quite as well as the diplomatist. +It suited the latent grandeur of soul inherited by him from the great +Mel. He liked to prop Austria and arrest the Czar, and keep a watchful +eye on France; but the Honourable Melville's deep-mouthed phrase conjured +up to him a pair of colossal legs imperiously demanding their Balance +likewise. At first the image scared him. In time he was enabled to +smile it into phantom vagueness. The diplomatist diplomatically informed +him, it might happen that the labours he had undertaken might be neither +more nor less than education for a profession he might have to follow. +Out of this, an ardent imagination, with the Countess de Saldar for an +interpreter, might construe a promise of some sort. Evan soon had high +hopes. What though his name blazed on a shop-front? The sun might yet +illumine him to honour! + +Where a young man is getting into delicate relations with a young woman, +the more of his sex the better--they serve as a blind; and the Countess +hailed fresh arrivals warmly. There was Sir John Loring, Dorothy's +father, who had married the eldest of the daughters of Lord Elburne. +A widower, handsome, and a flirt, he capitulated to the Countess +instantly, and was played off against the provincial Don Juan, who had +reached that point with her when youths of his description make bashful +confidences of their successes, and receive delicious chidings for their +naughtiness--rebukes which give immeasurable rebounds. Then came Mr. +Gordon Graine, with his daughter, Miss Jenny Graine, an early friend of +Rose's, and numerous others. For the present, Miss Isabella Current need +only be chronicled among the visitors--a sprightly maid fifty years old, +without a wrinkle to show for it--the Aunt Bel of fifty houses where +there were young women and little boys. Aunt Bel had quick wit and +capital anecdotes, and tripped them out aptly on a sparkling tongue with +exquisite instinct for climax and when to strike for a laugh. No sooner +had she entered the hall than she announced the proximate arrival of the +Duke of Belfield at her heels, and it was known that his Grace was as +sure to follow as her little dog, who was far better paid for his +devotion. + +The dinners at Beckley Court had hitherto been rather languid to those +who were not intriguing or mixing young love with the repast. Miss +Current was an admirable neutral, sent, as the Countess fervently +believed, by Providence. Till now the Countess had drawn upon her own +resources to amuse the company, and she had been obliged to restrain +herself from doing it with that unctuous feeling for rank which warmed +her Portuguese sketches in low society and among her sisters. She +retired before Miss Current and formed audience, glad of a relief to her +inventive labour. While Miss Current and her ephemerals lightly skimmed +the surface of human life, the Countess worked in the depths. Vanities, +passions, prejudices beneath the surface, gave her full employment. How +naturally poor Juliana Bonner was moved to mistake Evan's compassion for +a stronger sentiment! The Countess eagerly assisted Providence to +shuffle the company into their proper places. Harry Jocelyn was moodily +happy, but good; greatly improved in the eyes of his grandmama Bonner, +who attributed the change to the Countess, and partly forgave her the +sinful consent to the conditions of her love-match with the foreign +Count, which his penitent wife had privately confessed to that strict +Churchwoman. + +'Thank Heaven that you have no children,' Mrs. Bonner had said; and the +Countess humbly replied: + +'It is indeed my remorseful consolation!' + +'Who knows that it is not your punishment?' added Mrs. Bonner; the +Countess weeping. + +She went and attended morning prayers in Mrs. Bonner's apartments, alone +with the old lady. 'To make up for lost time in Catholic Portugal!' she +explained it to the household. + +On the morning after Miss Current had come to shape the party, most of +the inmates of Beckley Court being at breakfast, Rose gave a lead to the +conversation. + +'Aunt Bel! I want to ask you something. We've been making bets about +you. Now, answer honestly, we're all friends. Why did you refuse all +your offers?' + +'Quite simple, child,' replied the unabashed ex-beauty. + +'A matter of taste. I liked twenty shillings better than a sovereign.' + +Rose looked puzzled, but the men laughed, and Rose exclaimed: + +'Now I see! How stupid I am! You mean, you may have friends when you +are not married. Well, I think that's the wisest, after all. You don't +lose them, do you? Pray, Mr. Evan, are you thinking Aunt Bel might still +alter her mind for somebody, if she knew his value?' + +'I was presuming to hope there might be a place vacant among the twenty,' +said Evan, slightly bowing to both. 'Am I pardoned?' + +'I like you!' returned Aunt Bel, nodding at him. 'Where do you come +from? A young man who'll let himself go for small coin's a jewel worth +knowing.' + +'Where do I come from?' drawled Laxley, who had been tapping an egg with +a dreary expression. + +'Aunt Bel spoke to Mr. Harrington,' said Rose, pettishly. + +'Asked him where he came from,' Laxley continued his drawl. 'He didn't +answer, so I thought it polite for another of the twenty to strike in.' + +'I must thank you expressly,' said Evan, and achieved a cordial bow. + +Rose gave Evan one of her bright looks, and then called the attention of +Ferdinand Laxley to the fact that he had lost a particular bet made among +them. + +'What bet?' asked Laxley. 'About the profession?' + +A stream of colour shot over Rose's face. Her eyes flew nervously from +Laxley to Evan, and then to Drummond. Laxley appeared pleased as a man +who has made a witty sally: Evan was outwardly calm, while Drummond +replied to the mute appeal of Rose, by saying: + +'Yes; we've all lost. But who could hit it? The lady admits no +sovereign in our sex.' + +'So you've been betting about me?' said Aunt Bel. 'I 'll settle the +dispute. Let him who guessed "Latin" pocket the stakes, and, if I guess +him, let him hand them over to me.' + +'Excellent!' cried Rose. 'One did guess "Latin," Aunt Bel! Now, tell us +which one it was.' + +'Not you, my dear. You guessed "temper."' + +'No! you dreadful Aunt Bel!' + +'Let me see,' said Aunt Bel, seriously. 'A young man would not marry a +woman with Latin, but would not guess it the impediment. Gentlemen +moderately aged are mad enough to slip their heads under any yoke, but +see the obstruction. It was a man of forty guessed "Latin." I request +the Hon. Hamilton Everard Jocelyn to confirm it.' + +Amid laughter and exclamations Hamilton confessed himself the man who had +guessed Latin to be the cause of Miss Current's remaining an old maid; +Rose, crying: + +'You really are too clever, Aunt Bel!' + +A divergence to other themes ensued, and then Miss Jenny Graine said: +'Isn't Juley learning Latin? I should like to join her while I'm here.' + +'And so should I,' responded Rose. 'My friend Evan is teaching her +during the intervals of his arduous diplomatic labours. Will you take us +into your class, Evan?' + +'Don't be silly, girls,' interposed Aunt Bel. 'Do you want to graduate +for my state with your eyes open?' + +Evan objected his poor qualifications as a tutor, and Aunt Bel remarked, +that if Juley learnt Latin at all, she should have regular instruction. + +'I am quite satisfied,' said Juley, quietly. + +'Of course you are,' Rose snubbed her cousin. 'So would anybody be. But +Mama really was talking of a tutor for Juley, if she could find one. +There's a school at Bodley; but that's too far for one of the men to come +over.' + +A school at Bodley! thought Evan, and his probationary years at the +Cudford Establishment rose before him; and therewith, for the first time +since his residence at Beckley, the figure of John Raikes. + +'There's a friend of mine,' he said, aloud, 'I think if Lady Jocelyn does +wish Miss Bonner to learn Latin thoroughly, he would do very well for the +groundwork and would be glad of the employment. He is very poor' + +'If he's poor, and a friend of yours, Evan, we'll have him,' said Rose: +'we'll ride and fetch him.' + +'Yes,' added Miss Carrington, 'that must be quite sufficient +qualification.' + +Juliana was not gazing gratefully at Evan for his proposal. + +Rose asked the name of Evan's friend. 'His name is Raikes,' answered +Evan. 'I don't know where he is now. He may be at Fallow field. If +Lady Jocelyn pleases, I will ride over to-day and see.' + +'My dear Evan!' cried Rose, 'you don't mean that absurd figure we saw on +the cricket-field?' She burst out laughing. 'Oh! what fun it will be! +Let us have him here by all means.' + +'I shall not bring him to be laughed at,' said Evan. + +'I will remember he is your friend,' Rose returned demurely; and again +laughed, as she related to Jenny Graine the comic appearance Mr. Raikes +had presented. + +Laxley waited for a pause, and then said: 'I have met this Mr. Raikes. +As a friend of the family, I should protest against his admission here in +any office whatever into the upper part of the house, at least. He is +not a gentleman.' + +We don't want teachers to be gentlemen,' observed Rose. + +'This fellow is the reverse,' Laxley pronounced, and desired Harry to +confirm it; but Harry took a gulp of coffee. + +'Oblige me by recollecting that I have called him a friend of mine,' said +Evan. + +Rose murmured to him: 'Pray forgive me! I forgot.' Laxley hummed +something about 'taste.' Aunt Bel led from the theme by a lively +anecdote. + +After breakfast the party broke into knots, and canvassed Laxley's +behaviour to Evan, which was generally condemned. Rose met the young men +strolling on the lawn; and, with her usual bluntness, accused Laxley of +wishing to insult her friend. + +'I speak to him--do I not?' said Laxley. 'What would you have more? I +admit the obligation of speaking to him when I meet him in your house. +Out of it--that 's another matter.' + +'But what is the cause for your conduct to him, Ferdinand?' + +'By Jove!' cried Harry, ' I wonder he puts up with it I wouldn't. I'd +have a shot with you, my boy.' + +'Extremely honoured,' said Laxley. 'But neither you nor I care to fight +tailors.' + +'Tailors!' exclaimed Rose. There was a sharp twitch in her body, as if +she had been stung or struck. + +'Look here, Rose,' said Laxley; 'I meet him, he insults me, and to get +out of the consequences tells me he's the son of a tailor, and a tailor +himself; knowing that it ties my hands. Very well, he puts himself hors +de combat to save his bones. Let him unsay it, and choose whether he 'll +apologize or not, and I'll treat him accordingly. At present I'm not +bound to do more than respect the house I find he has somehow got +admission to.' + +'It's clear it was that other fellow,' said Harry, casting a side-glance +up at the Countess's window. + +Rose looked straight at Laxley, and abruptly turned on her heel. + +In the afternoon, Lady Jocelyn sent a message to Evan that she wished to +see him. Rose was with her mother. Lady Jocelyn had only to say, that +if he thought his friend a suitable tutor for Miss Bonner, they would be +happy to give him the office at Beckley Court. Glad to befriend poor +Jack, Evan gave the needful assurances, and was requested to go and fetch +him forthwith. When he left the room, Rose marched out silently beside +him. + +'Will you ride over with me, Rose?' he said, though scarcely anxious that +she should see Mr. Raikes immediately. + +The singular sharpness of her refusal astonished him none the less. + +'Thank you, no; I would rather not.' + +A lover is ever ready to suspect that water has been thrown on the fire +that burns for him in the bosom of his darling. Sudden as the change +was, it was very decided. His sensitive ears were pained by the absence +of his Christian name, which her lips had lavishly made sweet to him. +He stopped in his walk. + +'You spoke of riding to Fallow field. Is it possible you don't want me +to bring my friend here? There's time to prevent it.' + +Judged by the Countess de Saldar, the behaviour of this well-born English +maid was anything but well-bred. She absolutely shrugged her shoulders +and marched a-head of him into the conservatory, where she began smelling +at flowers and plucking off sere leaves. + +In such cases a young man always follows; as her womanly instinct must +have told her, for she expressed no surprise when she heard his voice two +minutes after. + +'Rose! what have I done?' + +'Nothing at all,' she said, sweeping her eyes over his a moment, and +resting them on the plants. + +'I must have uttered something that has displeased you.' + +'No.' + +Brief negatives are not re-assuring to a lover's uneasy mind. + +'I beg you--Be frank with me, Rose!' + +A flame of the vanished fire shone in her face, but subsided, and she +shook her head darkly. + +'Have you any objection to my friend?' + +Her fingers grew petulant with an orange leaf. Eyeing a spot on it, she +said, hesitatingly: + +'Any friend of yours I am sure I should like to help. But--but I wish +you wouldn't associate with that--that kind of friend. It gives people +all sorts of suspicions.' + +Evan drew a sharp breath. + +The voices of Master Alec and Miss Dorothy were heard shouting on the +lawn. Alec gave Dorothy the slip and approached the conservatory on tip- +toe, holding his hand out behind him to enjoin silence and secrecy. The +pair could witness the scene through the glass before Evan spoke. + +'What suspicions?' he asked. + +Rose looked up, as if the harshness of his tone pleased her. + +'Do you like red roses best, or white?' was her answer, moving to a +couple of trees in pots. + +'Can't make up your mind?' she continued, and plucked both a white and +red rose, saying: 'There! choose your colour by-and-by,' and ask Juley to +sew the one you choose in your button-hole.' + +She laid the roses in his hand, and walked away. She must have known +that there was a burden of speech on his tongue. She saw him move to +follow her, but this time she did not linger, and it may be inferred that +she wished to hear no more. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +IN WHICH EVAN WRITES HIMSELF TAILOR + +The only philosophic method of discovering what a young woman means, and +what is in her mind, is that zigzag process of inquiry conducted by +following her actions, for she can tell you nothing, and if she does not +want to know a particular matter, it must be a strong beam from the +central system of facts that shall penetrate her. Clearly there was a +disturbance in the bosom of Rose Jocelyn, and one might fancy that +amiable mirror as being wilfully ruffled to confuse a thing it was asked +by the heavens to reflect: a good fight fought by all young people at a +certain period, and now and then by an old fool or two. The young it +seasons and strengthens; the old it happily kills off; and thus, what is, +is made to work harmoniously with what we would have be. + +After quitting Evan, Rose hied to her friend Jenny Graine, and in the +midst of sweet millinery talk, darted the odd question, whether baronets +or knights ever were tradesmen: to which Scottish Jenny, entirely putting +aside the shades of beatified aldermen and the illustrious list of mayors +that have welcomed royalty, replied that it was a thing quite impossible. +Rose then wished to know if tailors were thought worse of than other +tradesmen. Jenny, premising that she was no authority, stated she +imagined she had heard that they were. + +'Why?' said Rose, no doubt because she was desirous of seeing justice +dealt to that class. But Jenny's bosom was a smooth reflector of facts +alone. + +Rose pondered, and said with compressed eagerness, 'Jenny, do you think +you could ever bring yourself to consent to care at all for anybody ever +talked of as belonging to them? Tell me.' + +Now Jenny had come to Beckley Court to meet William Harvey: she was +therefore sufficiently soft to think she could care for him whatever his +origin were, and composed in the knowledge that no natal stigma was upon +him to try the strength of her affection. Designing to generalize, as +women do (and seem tempted to do most when they are secretly speaking +from their own emotions), she said, shyly moving her shoulders, with a +forefinger laying down the principle: + +'You know, my dear, if one esteemed such a person very very much, and +were quite sure, without any doubt, that he liked you in return--that is, +completely liked you, and was quite devoted, and made no concealment--I +mean, if he was very superior, and like other men--you know what I mean-- +and had none of the cringing ways some of them have--I mean; supposing +him gay and handsome, taking--' + +'Just like William,' Rose cut her short; and we may guess her to have had +some one in her head for her to conceive that Jenny must be speaking of +any one in particular. + +A young lady who can have male friends, as well as friends of her own +sex, is not usually pressing and secret in her confidences, possibly +because such a young lady is not always nursing baby-passions, and does +not require her sex's coddling and posseting to keep them alive. With +Rose love will be full grown when it is once avowed, and will know where +to go to be nourished. + +'Merely an idea I had,' she said to Jenny, who betrayed her mental pre- +occupation by putting the question for the questions last. + +Her Uncle Melville next received a visit from the restless young woman. +To him she spoke not a word of the inferior classes, but as a special +favourite of the diplomatist's, begged a gift of him for her proximate +birthday. Pushed to explain what it was, she said, 'It's something I +want you to do for a friend of mine, Uncle Mel.' + +The diplomatist instanced a few of the modest requests little maids +prefer to people they presume to have power to grant. + +'No, it's nothing nonsensical,' said Rose; 'I want you to get my friend +Evan an appointment. You can if you like, you know, Uncle Mel, and it's +a shame to make him lose his time when he's young and does his work so +well--that you can't deny! Now, please, be positive, Uncle Mel. You +know I hate--I have no faith in your 'nous verrons'. Say you will, and +at once.' + +The diplomatist pretended to have his weather-eye awakened. + +'You seem very anxious about feathering the young fellow's nest, Rosey?' + +'There,' cried Rose, with the maiden's mature experience of us, 'isn't +that just like men? They never can believe you can be entirely +disinterested!' + +'Hulloa!' the diplomatist sung out, 'I didn't say anything, Rosey.' + +She reddened at her hastiness, but retrieved it by saying: + +'No, but you listen to your wife; you know you do, Uncle Mel; and now +there's Aunt Shorne and the other women, who make you think just what +they like about me, because they hate Mama.' + +'Don't use strong words, my dear.' + +'But it's abominable!' cried Rose. 'They asked Mama yesterday what +Evan's being here meant? Why, of course, he's your secretary, and my +friend, and Mama very properly stopped them, and so will I! As for me, +I intend to stay at Beckley, I can tell you, dear old boy.' Uncle Mel +had a soft arm round his neck, and was being fondled. 'And I 'm not +going to be bred up to go into a harem, you may be sure.' + +The diplomatist whistled, 'You talk your mother with a vengeance, Rosey.' + +'And she's the only sensible woman I know,' said Rose. 'Now promise me-- +in earnest. Don't let them mislead you, for you know you're quite a +child, out of your politics, and I shall take you in hand myself. Why, +now, think, Uncle Mel! wouldn't any girl, as silly as they make me out, +hold her tongue--not talk of him, as I do; and because I really do feel +for him as a friend. See the difference between me and Juley!' + +It was a sad sign if Rose was growing a bit of a hypocrite, but this +instance of Juliana's different manner of showing her feelings toward +Evan would have quieted suspicion in shrewder men, for Juliana watched +Evan's shadow, and it was thought by two or three at Beckley Court, that +Evan would be conferring a benefit on all by carrying off the +romantically-inclined but little presentable young lady. + +The diplomatist, with a placid 'Well, well !' ultimately promised to do +his best for Rose's friend, and then Rose said, 'Now I leave you to the +Countess,' and went and sat with her mother and Drummond Forth. The +latter was strange in his conduct to Evan. While blaming Laxley's +unmannered behaviour, he seemed to think Laxley had grounds for it, and +treated Evan with a sort of cynical deference that had, for the last +couple of days, exasperated Rose. + +'Mama, you must speak to Ferdinand,' she burst upon the conversation, +'Drummond is afraid to--he can stand by and see my friend insulted. +Ferdinand is insufferable with his pride--he's jealous of everybody who +has manners, and Drummond approves him, and I will not bear it.' + +Lady Jocelyn hated household worries, and quietly remarked that the young +men must fight it out together. + +'No, but it's your duty to interfere, Mama,' said Rose; 'and I know you +will when I tell you that Ferdinand declares my friend Evan is a +tradesman--beneath his notice. Why, it insults me!' + +Lady Jocelyn looked out from a lofty window on such veritable squabbles +of boys and girls as Rose revealed. + +'Can't you help them to run on smoothly while they're here?' she said to +Drummond, and he related the scene at the Green Dragon. + +'I think I heard he was the son of Sir Something Harrington, Devonshire +people,' said Lady Jocelyn. + +'Yes, he is,' cried Rose, 'or closely related. I'm sure I understood the +Countess that it was so. She brought the paper with the death in it to +us in London, and shed tears over it.' + +'She showed it in the paper, and shed tears over it?' said Drummond, +repressing an inclination to laugh. 'Was her father's title given in +full?' + +'Sir Abraham Harrington, replied Rose. 'I think she said father, if the +word wasn't too common-place for her.' + +'You can ask old Tom when he comes, if you are anxious to know,' said +Drummond to her ladyship. 'His brother married one of the sisters. By +the way, he's coming, too. He ought to clear up the mystery.' + +'Now you're sneering, Drummond,' said Rose: 'for you know there 's no +mystery to clear up.' + +Drummond and Lady Jocelyn began talking of old Tom Cogglesby, whom, it +appeared, the former knew intimately, and the latter had known. + +'The Cogglesbys are sons of a cobbler, Rose,' said Lady Jocelyn. 'You +must try and be civil to them.' + +'Of course I shall, Mama,' Rose answered seriously. + +'And help the poor Countess to bear their presence as well as possible,' +said Drummond. 'The Harringtons have had to mourn a dreadful +mesalliance. Pity the Countess!' + +'Oh! the Countess! the Countess!' exclaimed Rose to Drummond's pathetic +shake of the head. She and Drummond were fully agreed about the +Countess; Drummond mimicking the lady: 'In verity, she is most +mellifluous!' while Rose sugared her lips and leaned gracefully forward +with 'De Saldar, let me petition you--since we must endure our title-- +since it is not to be your Louisa?' and her eyes sought the ceiling, and +her hand slowly melted into her drapery, as the Countess was wont to +effect it. + +Lady Jocelyn laughed, but said: 'You're too hard upon the Countess. The +female euphuist is not to be met with every day. It's a different kind +from the Precieuse. She is not a Precieuse. She has made a capital +selection of her vocabulary from Johnson, and does not work it badly, if +we may judge by Harry and Melville. Euphuism--[affectation D.W.]--in +"woman" is the popular ideal of a Duchess. She has it by nature, or she +has studied it: and if so, you must respect her abilities.' + +'Yes--Harry!' said Rose, who was angry at a loss of influence over her +rough brother, 'any one could manage Harry! and Uncle Mel 's a goose. +You should see what a "female euphuist" Dorry is getting. She says in +the Countess's hearing: "Rose! I should in verity wish to play, if it +were pleasing to my sweet cousin?" I'm ready to die with laughing. I +don't do it, Mama.' + +The Countess, thus being discussed, was closeted with old Mrs. Bonner: +not idle. Like Hannibal in Italy, she had crossed her Alps in attaining +Beckley Court, and here in the enemy's country the wary general found +herself under the necessity of throwing up entrenchments to fly to in +case of defeat. Sir Abraham Harrington of Torquay, who had helped her to +cross the Alps, became a formidable barrier against her return. + +Meantime Evan was riding over to Fallow field, and as he rode under black +visions between the hedgeways crowned with their hop-garlands, a +fragrance of roses saluted his nostril, and he called to mind the red and +the white the peerless representative of the two had given him, and which +he had thrust sullenly in his breast-pocket and he drew them out to look +at them reproachfully and sigh farewell to all the roses of life, when in +company with them he found in his hand the forgotten letter delivered to +him on the cricket-field the day of the memorable match. He smelt at the +roses, and turned the letter this way and that. His name was correctly +worded on the outside. With an odd reluctance to open it, he kept +trifling over the flowers, and then broke the broad seal, and these are +the words that met his eyes: + + +'Mr. EVAN HARRINGTON. + +'You have made up your mind to be a tailor, instead of a Tomnoddy. +You're right. Not too many men in the world--plenty of nincompoops. + +'Don't be made a weathercock of by a parcel of women. I want to find a +man worth something. If you go on with it, you shall end by riding in +your carriage, and cutting it as fine as any of them. I 'll take care +your belly is not punished while you're about it. + +'From the time your name is over your shop, I give you L300 per annum. + +'Or stop. There's nine of you. They shall have L40. per annum apiece, 9 +times 40, eh? That's better than L300., if you know how to reckon. +Don't you wish it was ninety-nine tailors to a man! I could do that too, +and it would not break me; so don't be a proud young ass, or I 'll throw +my money to the geese. Lots of them in the world. How many geese to a +tailor? + +'Go on for five years, and I double it. + +'Give it up, and I give you up. + +'No question about me. The first tailor can be paid his L40 in advance, +by applying at the offices of Messrs. Grist, Gray's Inn Square, Gray's +Inn. Let him say he is tailor No. 1, and show this letter, signed +Agreed, with your name in full at bottom. This will do--money will be +paid--no questions one side or other. So on--the whole nine. The end of +the year they can give a dinner to their acquaintance. Send in bill to +Messrs. Grist. + +'The advice to you to take the cash according to terms mentioned is +advice of + +'A FRIEND. + +'P.S. You shall have your wine. Consult among yourselves, and carry it +by majority what wine it's to be. Five carries it. Dozen and half per +tailor, per annum--that's the limit.' + + +It was certainly a very hot day. The pores of his skin were prickling, +and his face was fiery; and yet he increased his pace, and broke into a +wild gallop for a mile or so; then suddenly turned his horse's head back +for Beckley. The secret of which evolution was, that he had caught the +idea of a plotted insult of Laxley's in the letter, for when the blood is +up we are drawn the way the tide sets strongest, and Evan was prepared to +swear that Laxley had written the letter, because he was burning to +chastise the man who had injured him with Rose. + +Sure that he was about to confirm his suspicion, he read it again, gazed +upon Beckley Court in the sultry light, and turned for Fallow field once +more, devising to consult Mr. John Raikes on the subject. + +The letter had a smack of crabbed age hardly counterfeit. The savour of +an old eccentric's sour generosity was there. Evan fell into bitter +laughter at the idea of Rose glancing over his shoulder and asking him +what nine of him to a man meant. He heard her clear voice pursuing him. +He could not get away from the mocking sound of Rose beseeching him to +instruct her on that point. How if the letter were genuine? He began to +abhor the sight and touch of the paper, for it struck division cold as +death between him and his darling. He saw now the immeasurable hopes his +residence at Beckley had lured him to. Rose had slightly awakened him: +this letter was blank day to his soul. He saw the squalid shop, the +good, stern, barren-spirited mother, the changeless drudgery, the +existence which seemed indeed no better than what the ninth of a man was +fit for. The influence of his mother came on him once more. Dared he +reject the gift if true? No spark of gratitude could he feel, but +chained, dragged at the heels of his fate, he submitted to think it true; +resolving the next moment that it was a fabrication and a trap: but he +flung away the roses. + +As idle as a painted cavalier upon a painted drop-scene, the figure of +Mr. John Raikes was to be observed leaning with crossed legs against a +shady pillar of the Green Dragon; eyeing alternately, with an +indifference he did not care to conceal, the assiduous pecking in the +dust of some cocks and hens that had strayed from the yard of the inn, +and the sleepy blinking in the sun of an old dog at his feet: nor did +Evan's appearance discompose the sad sedateness of his demeanour. + +'Yes; I am here still,' he answered Evan's greeting, with a flaccid +gesture. 'Don't excite me too much. A little at a time. I can't bear +it!' + +'How now? What is it now, Jack?' said Evan. + +Mr. Raikes pointed at the dog. 'I've made a bet with myself he won't wag +his tail within the next ten minutes. I beg of you, Harrington, to +remain silent for both our sakes.' + +Evan was induced to look at the dog, and the dog looked at him, and +gently moved his tail. + +'I 've lost!' cried Raikes, in languid anguish. 'He 's getting excited. +He'll go mad. We're not accustomed to this in Fallow field.' + +Evan dismounted, and was going to tell him the news he had for him, when +his attention was distracted by the sight of Rose's maid, Polly Wheedle, +splendidly bonneted, who slipped past them into the inn, after repulsing +Jack's careless attempt to caress her chin; which caused him to tell Evan +that he could not get on without the society of intellectual women. + +Evan called a boy to hold the horse. + +'Have you seen her before, Jack?' + +Jack replied: 'Once. Your pensioner up-stairs she comes to visit. I do +suspect there kinship is betwixt them. Ay! one might swear them sisters. +She's a relief to the monotony of the petrified street--the old man with +the brown-gaitered legs and the doubled-up old woman with the crutch. I +heard the London horn this morning.' + +Evan thrust the letter in his hands, telling him to read and form an +opinion on it, and went in the track of Miss Wheedle. + +Mr. Raikes resumed his station against the pillar, and held the letter +out on a level with his thigh. Acting (as it was his nature to do off +the stage), he had not exaggerated his profound melancholy. Of a light +soil and with a tropical temperament, he had exhausted all lively +recollection of his brilliant career, and, in the short time since Evan +had parted with him, sunk abjectly down into the belief that he was fixed +in Fallow field for life. His spirit pitied for agitation and events. +The horn of the London coach had sounded distant metropolitan glories in +the ears of the exile in rustic parts. + +Sighing heavily, Raikes opened the letter, in simple obedience to the +wishes of his friend; for he would have preferred to stand contemplating +his own state of hopeless stagnation. The sceptical expression he put on +when he had read the letter through must not deceive us. John Raikes had +dreamed of a beneficent eccentric old gentleman for many years: one +against whom, haply, he had bumped in a crowded thoroughfare, and had +with cordial politeness begged pardon of; had then picked up his walking- +stick; restored it, venturing a witty remark; retired, accidentally +dropping his card-case; subsequently, to his astonishment and +gratification, receiving a pregnant missive from that old gentleman's +lawyer. Or it so happened that Mr. Raikes met the old gentleman at a +tavern, and, by the exercise of a signal dexterity, relieved him from a +bone in his throat, and reluctantly imparted his address on issuing from +the said tavern. Or perhaps it was a lonely highway where the old +gentleman walked, and John Raikes had his name in the papers for a deed +of heroism, nor was man ungrateful. Since he had eaten up his uncle, +this old gentleman of his dreams walked in town and country-only, and +alas! Mr. Raikes could never encounter him in the flesh. The muscles of +his face, therefore, are no index to the real feelings of the youth when +he had thoroughly mastered the contents of the letter, and reflected that +the dream of his luck--his angelic old gentleman--had gone and wantonly +bestowed himself upon Evan Harrington, instead of the expectant and far +worthier John Raikes. Worthier inasmuch as he gave him credence for +existing long ere he knew of him and beheld him manifest. + +Raikes retreated to the vacant parlour of the Green Dragon, and there +Evan found him staring at the unfolded letter, his head between his +cramped fists, with a contraction of his mouth. Evan was troubled by +what he had seen up-stairs, and did not speak till Jack looked up and +said, 'Oh, there you are.' + +'Well, what do you think, Jack?' + +'Yes--it's all right,' Raikes rejoined in most matter-of-course tone, and +then he stepped to the window, and puffed a very deep breath indeed, and +glanced from the straight line of the street to the heavens, with whom, +injured as he was, he felt more at home now that he knew them capable of +miracles. + +'Is it a bad joke played upon me?' said Evan. + +Raikes upset a chair. 'It's quite childish. You're made a gentleman for +life, and you ask if it's a joke played upon you! It's maddening! +There--there goes my hat!' + +With a vehement kick, Mr. Raikes despatched his ancient head-gear to the +other end of the room, saying that he must have some wine, and would; and +disdainful was his look at Evan, when the latter attempted to reason him +into economy. He ordered the wine; drank a glass, which coloured a new +mood in him; and affecting a practical manner, said: + +'I confess I have been a little hurt with you, Harrington. You left me +stranded on the desert isle. I thought myself abandoned. I thought I +should never see anything but the lengthening of an endless bill on my +landlady's face--my sole planet. I was resigned till I heard my friend +"to-lool!" this morning. He kindled recollection. But, this is a tidy +Port, and that was a delectable sort of young lady that you were riding +with when we parted last! She laughs like the true metal. I suppose you +know it 's the identical damsel I met the day before, and owe it to for +my run on the downs--I 've a compliment ready made for her.' + +'You think that letter written in good faith?' said Evan. + +'Look here.' Mr. Raikes put on a calmness. 'You got up the other night, +and said you were a tailor--a devotee of the cabbage and the goose. Why +the notion didn't strike me is extraordinary--I ought to have known my +man. However, the old gentleman who gave the supper--he's evidently one +of your beastly rich old ruffianly republicans--spent part of his time in +America, I dare say. Put two and two together.' + +But as Harrington desired plain, prose, Mr. Raikes tamed his imagination +to deliver it. He pointed distinctly at the old gentleman who gave the +supper as the writer of the letter. Evan, in return, confided to him his +history and present position, and Mr. Raikes, without cooling to his +fortunate friend, became a trifle patronizing. + +'You said your father--I think I remember at old Cudford's--was a cavalry +officer, a bold dragoon?' + +'I did,' replied Evan. 'I told a lie.' + +'We knew it; but we feared your prowess, Harrington.' + +Then they talked over the singular letter uninterruptedly, and Evan, weak +among his perplexities of position and sentiment: wanting money for the +girl up-stairs, for this distasteful comrade's bill at the Green Dragon, +and for his own immediate requirements, and with the bee buzzing of Rose +in his ears: 'She despises you,' consented in a desperation ultimately to +sign his name to it, and despatch Jack forthwith to Messrs. Grist. + +'You'll find it's an imposition,' he said, beginning less to think it so, +now that his name was put to the hated monstrous thing; which also now +fell to pricking at curiosity. For he was in the early steps of his +career, and if his lady, holding to pride, despised him--as, he was +tortured into the hypocrisy of confessing, she justly might, why, then, +unless he was the sport of a farceur, here seemed a gilding of the path +of duty: he could be serviceable to friends. His claim on fair young +Rose's love had grown in the short while so prodigiously asinine that it +was a minor matter to constitute himself an old eccentric's puppet. + +'No more an imposition than it's 50 of Virgil,' quoth the rejected usher. + +'It smells of a plot,' said Evan. + +'It 's the best joke that will be made in my time,' said Mr. Raikes, +rubbing his hands. + +'And now listen to your luck,' said Evan; 'I wish mine were like it!' and +Jack heard of Lady Jocelyn's offer. He heard also that the young lady he +was to instruct was an heiress, and immediately inspected his garments, +and showed the sacred necessity there was for him to refit in London, +under the hands of scientific tailors. Evan wrote him an introduction to +Mr. Goren, counted out the contents of his purse (which Jack had reduced +in his study of the pastoral game of skittles, he confessed), and +calculated in a niggardly way, how far it would go to supply the fellow's +wants; sighing, as he did it, to think of Jack installed at Beckley +Court, while Jack, comparing his luck with Evan's, had discovered it to +be dismally inferior. + +'Oh, confound those bellows you keep blowing!' he exclaimed. 'I wish to +be decently polite, Harrington, but you annoy me. Excuse me, pray, but +the most unexampled case of a lucky beggar that ever was known--and to +hear him panting and ready to whimper!--it's outrageous. You've only to +put up your name, and there you are--an independent gentleman! By Jove! +this isn't such a dull world. John Raikes! thou livest in times. I +feel warm in the sun of your prosperity, Harrington. Now listen to me. +Propound thou no inquiries anywhere about the old fellow who gave the +supper. Humour his whim--he won't have it. All Fallow field is paid to +keep him secret; I know it for a fact. I plied my rustic friends every +night. "Eat you yer victuals, and drink yer beer, and none o' yer +pryin's and peerin's among we!" That's my rebuff from Farmer Broadmead. +And that old boy knows more than he will tell. I saw his cunning old eye +on-cock. Be silent, Harrington. Let discretion be the seal of thy +luck.' + +'You can reckon on my silence,' said Evan. 'I believe in no such folly. +Men don't do these things.' + +'Ha!' went Mr. Raikes contemptuously. + +Of the two he was the foolisher fellow; but quacks have cured +incomprehensible maladies, and foolish fellows have an instinct for +eccentric actions. + +Telling Jack to finish the wine, Evan rose to go. + +'Did you order the horse to be fed?' + +'Did I order the feeding of the horse?' said Jack, rising and yawning. +'No, I forgot him. Who can think of horses now?' + +'Poor brute!' muttered Evan, and went out to see to him. + +The ostler had required no instructions to give the horse a feed of corn. +Evan mounted, and rode out of the yard to where Jack was standing, bare- +headed, in his old posture against the pillar, of which the shade had +rounded, and the evening sun shone full on him over a black cloud. He +now looked calmly gay. + +'I 'm laughing at the agricultural Broadmead!' he said: "'None o' yer +pryin's and peerin's!" He thought my powers of amusing prodigious. +"Dang 'un, he do maak a chap laugh!" Well, Harrington, that sort of +homage isn't much, I admit.' + +Raikes pursued: 'There's something in a pastoral life, after all.' + +'Pastoral!' muttered Evan. 'I was speaking of you at Beckley, and hope +when you're there you won't make me regret my introduction of you. Keep +your mind on old Cudford's mutton-bone.' + +'I perfectly understood you,' said Jack. 'I 'm Presumed to be in luck. +Ingratitude is not my fault--I'm afraid ambition is!' + +'Console yourself with it or what you can get till we meet--here or in +London. But the Dragon shall be the address for both of us,' Evan said, +and nodded, trotting off. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +IN WHICH EVAN CALLS HIMSELF GENTLEMAN + +The young cavalier perused that letter again in memory. Genuine, or a +joke of the enemy, it spoke wakening facts to him. He leapt from the +spell Rose had encircled him with. Strange that he should have rushed +into his dream with eyes open! But he was fully awake now. He would +speak his last farewell to her, and so end the earthly happiness he paid +for in deep humiliation, and depart into that gray cold mist where his +duty lay. It is thus that young men occasionally design to burst from +the circle of the passions, and think that they have done it, when indeed +they are but making the circle more swiftly. Here was Evan mouthing his +farewell to Rose, using phrases so profoundly humble, that a listener +would have taken them for bitter irony. He said adieu to her,-- +pronouncing it with a pathos to melt scornful princesses. He tried +to be honest, and was as much so as his disease permitted. + +The black cloud had swallowed the sun; and turning off to the short cut +across the downs, Evan soon rode between the wind and the storm. He +could see the heavy burden breasting the beacon-point, round which curled +leaden arms, and a low internal growl saluted him advancing. The horse +laid back his ears. A last gust from the opposing quarter shook the +furzes and the clumps of long pale grass, and straight fell columns of +rattling white rain, and in a minute he was closed in by a hissing ring. +Men thus pelted abandon without protest the hope of retaining a dry +particle of clothing on their persons. Completely drenched, the track +lost, everything in dense gloom beyond the white enclosure that moved +with him, Evan flung the reins to the horse, and curiously watched him +footing on; for physical discomfort balanced his mental perturbation, and +he who had just been chafing was now quite calm. + +Was that a shepherd crouched under the thorn? The place betokened a +shepherd, but it really looked like a bundle of the opposite sex; and it +proved to be a woman gathered up with her gown over her head. +Apparently, Mr. Evan Harrington was destined for these encounters. The +thunder rolled as he stopped by her side and called out to her. She +heard him, for she made a movement, but without sufficiently disengaging +her head of its covering to show him a part of her face. + +Bellowing against the thunder, Evan bade her throw back her garment, and +stand and give him up her arms, that he might lift her on the horse +behind him. + +There came a muffled answer, on a big sob, as it seemed. And as if +heaven paused to hear, the storm was mute. + +Could he have heard correctly? The words he fancied he had heard sobbed +were: + +'Best bonnet.' + +The elements hereupon crashed deep and long from end to end, like a table +of Titans passing a jest. + +Rain-drops, hard as hail, were spattering a pool on her head. Evan +stooped his shoulder, seized the soaked garment, and pulled it back, +revealing the features of Polly Wheedle, and the splendid bonnet in +ruins--all limp and stained. + +Polly blinked at him penitentially. + +'Oh, Mr. Harrington; oh, ain't I punished!' she whimpered. + +In truth, the maid resembled a well-watered poppy. + +Evan told her to stand up close to the horse, and Polly stood up close, +looking like a creature that expected a whipping. She was suffering, +poor thing, from that abject sense of the lack of a circumference, which +takes the pride out of women more than anything. Note, that in all +material fashions, as in all moral observances, women demand a +circumference, and enlarge it more and more as civilization advances. +Respect the mighty instinct, however mysterious it seem. + +'Oh, Mr. Harrington, don't laugh at me,' said Polly. + +Evan assured her that he was seriously examining her bonnet. + +'It 's the bonnet of a draggletail,' said Polly, giving up her arms, and +biting her under-lip for the lift. + +With some display of strength, Evan got the lean creature up behind him, +and Polly settled there, and squeezed him tightly with her arms, excusing +the liberty she took. + +They mounted the beacon, and rode along the ridge whence the West became +visible, and a washed edge of red over Beckley Church spire and the woods +of Beckley Court. + +'And what have you been doing to be punished? What brought you here?' +said Evan. + +'Somebody drove me to Fallow field to see my poor sister Susan,' returned +Polly, half crying. + +'Well, did he bring you here and leave you? + +'No: he wasn't true to his appointment the moment I wanted to go back; +and I, to pay him out, I determined I'd walk it where he shouldn't +overtake me, and on came the storm . . . And my gown spoilt, and such +a bonnet!' + +'Who was the somebody?' + +'He's a Mr. Nicholas Frim, sir.' + +'Mr. Nicholas Frim will be very unhappy, I should think.' + +'Yes, that's one comfort,' said Polly ruefully, drying her eyes. + +Closely surrounding a young man as a young woman must be when both are on +the same horse, they, as a rule, talk confidentially together in a very +short time. His 'Are you cold?' when Polly shivered, and her 'Oh, no; +not very,' and a slight screwing of her body up to him, as she spoke, to +assure him and herself of it, soon made them intimate. + +'I think Mr. Nicholas Frim mustn't see us riding into Beckley,' said +Evan. + +'Oh, my gracious! Ought I to get down, sir?' Polly made no move, +however. + +'Is he jealous?' + +'Only when I make him, he is.' + +'That's very naughty of you.' + +'Yes, I know it is--all the Wheedles are. Mother says, we never go right +till we 've once got in a pickle.' + +'You ought to go right from this hour,' said Evan. + +'It's 'dizenzy--[?? D.W.]--does it,' said Polly. 'And then we're +ashamed to show it. My poor Susan went to stay with her aunt at Bodley, +and then at our cousin's at Hillford, and then she was off to Lymport to +drown her poor self, I do believe, when you met her. And all because we +can't bear to be seen when we 're in any of our pickles. I wish you +wouldn't look at me, Mr. Harrington.' + +'You look very pretty.' + +'It 's quite impossible I can now,' said Polly, with a wretched effort to +spread open her collar. 'I can see myself a fright, like my Miss Rose +did, making a face in the looking-glass when I was undressing her last +night. But, do you know, I would much rather Nicholas saw us than +somebody.! + +'Who's that?' + +'Miss Bonner. She'd never forgive me.' + +'Is she so strict?' + +'She only uses servants for spies,' said Polly. 'And since my Miss Rose +come--though I'm up a step--I'm still a servant, and Miss Bonner 'd be in +a fury to see my--though I'm sure we're quite respectable, Mr. +Harrington--my having hold of you as I'm obliged to, and can't help +myself. But she'd say I ought to tumble off rather than touch her +engaged with a little finger.' + +'Her engaged?' cried Evan. + +'Ain't you, sir?' quoth Polly. 'I understand you were going to be, from +my lady, the Countess. We all think so at Beckley. Why, look how Miss +Bonner looks at you, and she's sure to have plenty of money.' + +This was Polly's innocent way of bringing out a word about her own young +mistress. + +Evan controlled any denial of his pretensions to the hand of Miss Bonner. +He said: 'Is it your mistress's habit to make faces in the looking- +glass?' + +'I'll tell you how it happened,' said Polly. 'But I'm afraid I'm in your +way, sir. Shall I get off now?' + +'Not by any means,' said Evan. 'Make your arm tighter.' + +'Will that do?' asked Polly. + +Evan looked round and met her appealing face, over which the damp locks +of hair straggled. The maid was fair: it was fortunate that he was +thinking of the mistress. + +'Speak on,' said Evan, but Polly put the question whether her face did +not want washing, and so earnestly that he had to regard it again, and +compromised the case by saying that it wanted kissing by Nicholas Frim, +which set Polly's lips in a pout. + +'I 'm sure it wants kissing by nobody,' she said, adding with a spasm of +passion: 'Oh! I know the colours of my bonnet are all smeared over it, +and I'm a dreadful fright.' + +Evan failed to adopt the proper measures to make Miss Wheedle's mind easy +with regard to her appearance, and she commenced her story rather +languidly. + +'My Miss Rose--what was it I was going to tell? Oh!--my Miss Rose. You +must know, Mr. Harrington, she's very fond of managing; I can see that, +though I haven't known her long before she gave up short frocks; and she +said to Mr. Laxley, who's going to marry her some day, "She didn't like +my lady, the Countess, taking Mr. Harry to herself like that." I can't +a-bear to speak his name, but I suppose he's not a bit more selfish than +the rest of men. So Mr. Laxley said--just like the jealousy of men--they +needn't talk of women! I'm sure nobody can tell what we have to put up +with. We mustn't look out of this eye, or out of the other, but they're +up and--oh, dear me! there's such a to-do as never was known--all for +nothing!' + +'My good girl!' said Evan, recalling her to the subject-matter with all +the patience he could command. + +'Where was I?' Polly travelled meditatively back. 'I do feel a little +cold.' + +'Come closer,' said Evan. 'Take this handkerchief--it 's the only dry +thing I have--cover your chest with it.' + +'The shoulders feel wettest,' Polly replied, 'and they can't be helped. +I'll tie it round my neck, if you'll stop, sir. There, now I'm warmer.' + +To show how concisely women can narrate when they feel warmer, Polly +started off: + +'So, you know, Mr. Harrington, Mr. Laxley said--he said to Miss Rose, +"You have taken her brother, and she has taken yours." And Miss Rose +said, "That was her own business, and nobody else's." And Mr. Laxley +said, "He was glad she thought it a fair exchange." I heard it all! +And then Miss Rose said--for she can be in a passion about some things"-- +What do you mean, Ferdinand," was her words, "I insist upon your speaking +out." Miss Rose always will call gentlemen by their Christian names when +she likes them; that's always a sign with her. And he wouldn't tell her. +And Miss Rose got awful angry, and she's clever, is my Miss Rose, for +what does she do, Mr. Harrington, but begins praising you up so that she +knew it must make him mad, only because men can't abide praise of another +man when it's a woman that says it--meaning, young lady; for my Miss Rose +has my respect, however familiar she lets herself be to us that she +likes. The others may go and drown themselves. Are you took ill, sir?' + +'No,' said Evan, 'I was only breathing.' + +'The doctors say it's bad to take such long breaths,' remarked artless +Polly. 'Perhaps my arms are pressing you?' + +It 's the best thing they can do,' murmured Evan, dejectedly. + +'What, sir?' + +'Go and drown themselves.' + +Polly screwed her lips, as if she had a pin between them, and continued: +'Miss Rose was quite sensible when she praised you as her friend; she +meant it--every word; and then sudden what does Mr. Laxley do, but say +you was something else besides friend--worse or better; and she was +silent, which made him savage, I could hear by his voice. And he said, +Mr. Harrington, "You meant it if she did not." "No," says she, "I know +better; he's as honest as the day." Out he flew and said such things: he +said, Mr. Harrington, you wasn't fit to be Miss Rose's friend, even. +Then she said, she heard he had told lies about you to her Mama, and her +aunts; but her Mama, my lady, laughed at him, and she at her aunts. Then +he said you--oh, abominable of him!' + +'What did he say?' asked Evan, waking up. + +'Why, if I were to tell my Miss Rose some things of him,' Polly went on, +'she'd never so much as speak to him another instant.' + +'What did he say?' Evan repeated. + +'I hate him!' cried Polly. 'It's Mr. Laxley that misleads Mr. Harry, who +has got his good nature, and means no more harm than he can help. Oh, I +didn't hear what he said of you, sir. Only I know it was abominable, +because Miss Rose was so vexed, and you were her dearest friend.' + +'Well, and about the looking-glass?' + +'That was at night, Mr. Harrington, when I was undressing of her. Miss +Rose has a beautiful figure, and no need of lacing. But I'd better get +down now.' + +'For heaven's sake, stay where you are.' + +'I tell her she stands as if she'd been drilled for a soldier,' Polly +quietly continued. 'You're squeezing my arm with your elbow, Mr. +Harrington. It didn't hurt me. So when I had her nearly undressed, we +were talking about this and that, and you amongst 'em--and I, you know, +rather like you, sir, if you'll not think me too bold--she started off by +asking me what was the nickname people gave to tailors. It was one of +her whims. I told her they were called snips--I'm off!' + +Polly gave a shriek. The horse had reared as if violently stung. + +'Go on,' said Evan. 'Hold hard, and go on.' + +'Snips--Oh! and I told her they were called snips. It is a word that +seems to make you hate the idea. I shouldn't like to hear my intended +called snip. Oh, he's going to gallop!' + +And off in a gallop Polly was borne. + +'Well,' said Evan, 'well?' + +'I can't, Mr. Harrington; I have to press you so,' cried Polly; 'and I'm +bounced so--I shall bite my tongue.' + +After a sharp stretch, the horse fell to a canter, and then trotted +slowly, and allowed Polly to finish. + +'So Miss Rose was standing sideways to the glass, and she turned her +neck, and just as I'd said "snip," I saw her saying it in the glass; and +you never saw anything so funny. It was enough to make anybody laugh; +but Miss Rose, she seemed as if she couldn't forget how ugly it had made +her look. She covered her face with her hands, and she shuddered! It is +a word-snip! that makes you seem to despise yourself.' + +Beckley was now in sight from the edge of the downs, lying in its foliage +dark under the grey sky backed by motionless mounds of vapour. Miss +Wheedle to her great surprise was suddenly though safely dropped; and on +her return to the ground the damsel instantly 'knew her place,' and +curtseyed becoming gratitude for his kindness; but he was off in a fiery +gallop, the gall of Demogorgon in his soul. + +What 's that the leaves of the proud old trees of Beckley Court hiss as +he sweeps beneath them? What has suddenly cut him short? Is he +diminished in stature? Are the lackeys sneering? The storm that has +passed has marvellously chilled the air. + +His sister, the Countess, once explained to him what Demogorgon was, in +the sensation it entailed. 'You are skinned alive!' said the Countess. +Evan was skinned alive. Fly, wretched young man! Summon your pride, and +fly! Fly, noble youth, for whom storms specially travel to tell you that +your mistress makes faces in the looking-glass! Fly where human lips and +noses are not scornfully distorted, and get thee a new skin, and grow and +attain to thy natural height in a more genial sphere! You, ladies and +gentlemen, who may have had a matter to conceal, and find that it is +oozing out: you, whose skeleton is seen stalking beside you, you know +what it is to be breathed upon: you, too, are skinned alive: but this +miserable youth is not only flayed, he is doomed calmly to contemplate +the hideous image of himself burning on the face of her he loves; making +beauty ghastly. In vain--for he is two hours behind the dinner-bell-- +Mr. Burley, the butler, bows and offers him viands and wine. How can he +eat, with the phantom of Rose there, covering her head, shuddering, +loathing him? But he must appear in company: he has a coat, if he has +not a skin. Let him button it, and march boldly. Our comedies are +frequently youth's tragedies. We will smile reservedly as we mark Mr. +Evan Harrington step into the midst of the fair society of the drawing- +room. Rose is at the piano. Near her reclines the Countess de Saldar, +fanning the languors from her cheeks, with a word for the diplomatist on +one side, a whisper for Sir John Loring on the other, and a very quiet +pair of eyes for everybody. Providence, she is sure, is keeping watch to +shield her sensitive cuticle; and she is besides exquisitely happy, +albeit outwardly composed: for, in the room sits his Grace the Duke of +Belfield, newly arrived. He is talking to her sister, Mrs. Strike, +masked by Miss Current. The wife of the Major has come this afternoon, +and Andrew Cogglesby, who brought her, chats with Lady Jocelyn like an +old acquaintance. + +Evan shakes the hands of his relatives. Who shall turn over the leaves +of the fair singer's music-book? The young men are in the billiard-room: +Drummond is engaged in converse with a lovely person with Giorgione hair, +which the Countess intensely admires, and asks the diplomatist whether he +can see a soupcon of red in it. The diplomatist's taste is for dark +beauties: the Countess is dark. + +Evan must do duty by Rose. And now occurred a phenomenon in him. +Instead of shunning her, as he had rejoiced in doing after the Jocasta +scene, ere she had wounded him, he had a curious desire to compare her +with the phantom that had dispossessed her in his fancy. Unconsciously +when he saw her, he transferred the shame that devoured him, from him to +her, and gazed coldly at the face that could twist to that despicable +contortion. + +He was in love, and subtle love will not be shamed and smothered. Love +sits, we must remember, mostly in two hearts at the same time, and the +one that is first stirred by any of the passions to wakefulness, may know +more of the other than its owner. Why had Rose covered her head and +shuddered? Would the girl feel that for a friend? If his pride +suffered, love was not so downcast; but to avenge him for the cold she +had cast on him, it could be critical, and Evan made his bearing to her a +blank. + +This somehow favoured him with Rose. Sheep's eyes are a dainty dish for +little maids, and we know how largely they indulge in it; but when they +are just a bit doubtful of the quality of the sheep, let the good animal +shut his lids forthwith, for a time. Had she not been a little unkind to +him in the morning? She had since tried to help him, and that had +appeased her conscience, for in truth he was a good young man. Those +very words she mentally pronounced, while he was thinking, 'Would she +feel it for a friend?' We dare but guess at the puzzle young women +present now and then, but I should say that Evan was nearer the mark, and +that the 'good young man' was a sop she threw to that within her which +wanted quieting, and was thereby passably quieted. Perhaps the good +young man is offended? Let us assure him of our disinterested +graciousness. + +'Is your friend coming?' she asked, and to his reply said, 'I'm glad'; +and pitched upon a new song-one that, by hazard, did not demand his +attentions, and he surveyed the company to find a vacant seat with a +neighbour. Juley Bonner was curled up on the sofa, looking like a damsel +who has lost the third volume of an exciting novel, and is divining the +climax. He chose to avoid Miss Bonner. Drummond was leaving the side of +the Giorgione lady. Evan passed leisurely, and Drummond said +'You know Mrs. Evremonde? Let me introduce you.' + +He was soon in conversation with the glorious-haired dame. + +'Excellently done, my brother!' thinks the Countess de Saldar. + +Rose sees the matter coolly. What is it to her? But she had finished +with song. Jenny takes her place at the piano; and, as Rose does not +care for instrumental music, she naturally talks and laughs with +Drummond, and Jenny does not altogether like it, even though she is not +playing to the ear of William Harvey, for whom billiards have such +attractions; but, at the close of the performance, Rose is quiet enough, +and the Countess observes her sitting, alone, pulling the petals of a +flower in her lap, on which her eyes are fixed. Is the doe wounded? The +damsel of the disinterested graciousness is assuredly restless. She +starts up and goes out upon the balcony to breathe the night-air, mayhap +regard the moon, and no one follows her. + +Had Rose been guiltless of offence, Evan might have left Beckley Court +the next day, to cherish his outraged self-love. Love of woman is +strongly distinguished from pure egoism when it has got a wound: for it +will not go into a corner complaining, it will fight its duel on the +field or die. Did the young lady know his origin, and scorn him? He +resolved to stay and teach her that the presumption she had imputed to +him was her own mistake. And from this Evan graduated naturally enough +the finer stages of self-deception downward. + +A lover must have his delusions, just as a man must have a skin. But +here was another singular change in Evan. After his ale-prompted speech +in Fallow field, he was nerved to face the truth in the eyes of all save +Rose. Now that the truth had enmeshed his beloved, he turned to battle +with it; he was prepared to deny it at any moment; his burnt flesh was as +sensitive as the Countess's. + +Let Rose accuse him, and he would say, 'This is true, Miss Jocelyn--what +then?' and behold Rose confused and dumb! Let not another dare suspect +it. For the fire that had scorched him was in some sort healing, though +horribly painful; but contact with the general air was not to be endured +--was death! This, I believe, is common in cases of injury by fire. +So it befell that Evan, meeting Rose the next morning was playfully asked +by her what choice he had made between the white and the red; and he, +dropping on her the shallow eyes of a conventional smile, replied, that +unable to decide and form a choice, he had thrown both away; at which +Miss Jocelyn gave him a look in the centre of his brows, let her head +slightly droop, and walked off. + +'She can look serious as well as grimace,' was all that Evan allowed +himself to think, and he strolled out on the lawn with the careless +serenity of lovers when they fancy themselves heart-free. + +Rose, whipping the piano in the drawing-room, could see him go to sit by +Mrs. Evremonde, till they were joined by Drummond, when he left her and +walked with Harry, and apparently shadowed the young gentleman's +unreflective face; after which Harry was drawn away by the appearance of +that dark star, the Countess de Saldar, whom Rose was beginning to +detest. Jenny glided by William Harvey's side, far off. Rose, the young +Queen of Friendship, was left deserted on her music-stool for a throne, +and when she ceased to hammer the notes she was insulted by a voice that +cried from below: + +'Go on, Rose, it's nice in the sun to hear you,' causing her to close her +performances and the instrument vigorously. + +Rose was much behind her age: she could not tell what was the matter with +her. In these little torments young people have to pass through they +gain a rapid maturity. Let a girl talk with her own heart an hour, and +she is almost a woman. Rose came down-stairs dressed for riding. Laxley +was doing her the service of smoking one of her rose-trees. Evan stood +disengaged, prepared for her summons. She did not notice him, but +beckoned to Laxley drooping over a bud, while the curled smoke floated +from his lips. + +'The very gracefullest of chimney-pots-is he not?' says the Countess to +Harry, whose immense guffaw fails not to apprise Laxley that something +has been said of him, for in his dim state of consciousness absence of +the power of retort is the prominent feature, and when he has the +suspicion of malicious tongues at their work, all he can do is silently +to resent it. Probably this explains his conduct to Evan. Some youths +have an acute memory for things that have shut their mouths. + +The Countess observed to Harry that his dear friend Mr. Laxley appeared, +by the cast of his face, to be biting a sour apple. + +'Grapes, you mean?' laughed Harry. 'Never mind! she'll bite at him when +he comes in for the title.' + +'Anything crude will do,' rejoined the Countess. 'Why are you not +courting Mrs. Evremonde, naughty Don?' + +'Oh! she's occupied--castle's in possession. Besides--!' and Harry +tried hard to look sly. + +'Come and tell me about her,' said the Countess. + +Rose, Laxley, and Evan were standing close together. + +'You really are going alone, Rose?' said Laxley. + +'Didn't I say so?--unless you wish to join us?' She turned upon Evan. + +'I am at your disposal,' said Evan. + +Rose nodded briefly. + +'I think I'll smoke the trees,' said Laxley, perceptibly huffing. + +'You won't come, Ferdinand?' + +'I only offered to fill up the gap. One does as well as another.' + +Rose flicked her whip, and then declared she would not ride at all, and, +gathering up her skirts, hurried back to the house. + +As Laxley turned away, Evan stood before him. + +The unhappy fellow was precipitated by the devil of his false position. + +'I think one of us two must quit the field; if I go I will wait for you,' +he said. + +'Oh; I understand,' said Laxley. 'But if it 's what I suppose you to +mean, I must decline.' + +'I beg to know your grounds.' + +'You have tied my hands.' + +'You would escape under cover of superior station?' + +'Escape! You have only to unsay--tell me you have a right to demand it.' + +The battle of the sophist victorious within him was done in a flash, as +Evan measured his qualities beside this young man's, and without a sense +of lying, said: 'I have.' + +He spoke firmly. He looked the thing he called himself now. The +Countess, too, was a dazzling shield to her brother. The beautiful Mrs. +Strike was a completer vindicator of him; though he had queer associates, +and talked oddly of his family that night in Fallow field. + +'Very well, sir: I admit you manage to annoy me,' said Laxley. 'I can +give you a lesson as well as another, if you want it.' + +Presently the two youths were seen bowing in the stiff curt style of +those cavaliers who defer a passage of temper for an appointed +settlement. Harry rushed off to them with a shout, and they separated; +Laxley speaking a word to Drummond, Evan--most judiciously, the Countess +thought--joining his fair sister Caroline, whom the Duke held in +converse. + + +Drummond returned laughing to the side of Mrs. Evremonde, nearing whom, +the Countess, while one ear was being filled by Harry's eulogy of her +brother's recent handling of Laxley, and while her intense gratification +at the success of her patient management of her most difficult subject +made her smiles no mask, heard, 'Is it not impossible to suppose such a +thing?' A hush ensued--the Countess passed. + +In the afternoon, the Jocelyns, William Harvey, and Drummond met together +to consult about arranging the dispute; and deputations went to Laxley +and to Evan. The former demanded an apology for certain expressions that +day; and an equivalent to an admission that Mr. Harrington had said, in +Fallow field, that he was not a gentleman, in order to escape the +consequences. All the Jocelyns laughed at his tenacity, and 'gentleman' +began to be bandied about in ridicule of the arrogant lean-headed +adolescent. Evan was placable enough, but dogged; he declined to make +any admission, though within himself he admitted that his antagonist was +not in the position of an impostor; which he for one honest word among +them would be exposed as being, and which a simple exercise of resolution +to fly the place would save him from being further. + +Lady Jocelyn enjoyed the fun, and still more the serious way in which her +relatives regarded it. + +'This comes of Rose having friends, Emily,' said Mrs. Shorne. + +There would have been a dispute to arrange between Lady Jocelyn and Mrs. +Shorne, had not her ladyship been so firmly established in her phlegmatic +philosophy. She said: 'Quelle enfantillage! I dare say Rose was at the +bottom of it: she can settle it best. Defer the encounter between the +boys until they see they are in the form of donkeys. They will; and then +they'll run on together, as long as their goddess permits.' + +'Indeed, Emily,' said Mrs. Shorne, 'I desire you, by all possible means, +to keep the occurrence secret from Rose. She ought not to hear of it.' + +'No; I dare say she ought not,' returned Lady Jocelyn; 'but I wager you +she does. You can teach her to pretend not to, if you like. Ecce +signum.' + +Her ladyship pointed through the library window at Rose, who was walking +with Laxley, and showing him her pearly teeth in return for one of his +jokes: an exchange so manifestly unfair, that Lady Jocelyn's womanhood, +indifferent as she was, could not but feel that Rose had an object in +view; which was true, for she was flattering Laxley into a consent to +meet Evan half way. + +The ladies murmured and hummed of these proceedings, and of Rose's +familiarity with Mr. Harrington; and the Countess in trepidation took +Evan to herself, and spoke to him seriously; a thing she had not done +since her residence in Beckley. She let him see that he must be on a +friendly footing with everybody in the house, or go which latter +alternative Evan told her he had decided on. 'Yes,' said the Countess, +'and then you give people full warrant to say it was jealousy drove you +hence; and you do but extinguish yourself to implicate dear Rose. In +love, Evan, when you run away, you don't live to fight another day.' + +She was commanded not to speak of love. + +'Whatever it may be, my dear,' said the Countess, 'Mr. Laxley has used +you ill. It may be that you put yourself at his feet'; and his sister +looked at him, sighing a great sigh. She had, with violence, stayed her +mouth concerning what she knew of the Fallow field business, dreading to +alarm his sensitiveness; but she could not avoid giving him a little +slap. It was only to make him remember by the smart that he must always +suffer when he would not be guided by her. + +Evan professed to the Jocelyns that he was willing to apologize to Laxley +for certain expressions; determining to leave the house when he had done +it. The Countess heard and nodded. The young men, sounded on both +sides, were accordingly lured to the billiard-room, and pushed together: +and when he had succeeded in thrusting the idea of Rose from the dispute, +it did seem such folly to Evan's common sense, that he spoke with +pleasant bonhommie about it. That done, he entered into his acted part, +and towered in his conceit considerably above these aristocratic boors, +who were speechless and graceless, but tigers for their privileges and +advantages. + +It will not be thought that the Countess intended to permit her brother's +departure. To have toiled, and yet more, to have lied and fretted her +conscience, for nothing, was as little her principle, as to quit the +field of action till she is forcibly driven from it is that of any woman. + +'Going, my dear,' she said coolly. 'To-morrow? Oh! very well. You are +the judge. And this creature--the insolvent to the apple-woman, who is +coming, whom you would push here--will expose us, without a soul to guide +his conduct, for I shall not remain. And Carry will not remain. +Carry---!' The Countess gave a semisob. 'Carry must return to her +brute--' meaning the gallant Marine, her possessor. + +And the Countess, knowing that Evan loved his sister Caroline, +incidentally related to him an episode in the domestic life of Major and +Mrs. Strike. + +'Greatly redounding to the credit of the noble martinet for the +discipline he upholds,' the Countess said, smiling at the stunned youth. + +'I would advise you to give her time to recover from one bruise,' she +added. 'You will do as it pleases you.' + +Evan was sent rushing from the Countess to Caroline, with whom the +Countess was content to leave him. + +The young man was daintily managed. Caroline asked him to stay, as she +did not see him often, and (she brought it in at the close) her home was +not very happy. She did not entreat him, but looking resigned, her +lovely face conjured up the Major to Evan, and he thought, 'Can I drive +her back to her tyrant?' For so he juggled with himself to have but +another day in the sunshine of Rose. + +Andrew, too, threw out genial hints about the Brewery. Old Tom intended +to retire, he said, and then they would see what they would see! He +silenced every word about Lymport; called him a brewer already, and made +absurd jokes, that were serviceable stuff nevertheless to the Countess, +who deplored to this one and to that the chance existing that Evan might, +by the urgent solicitations of his brother-in-law, give up diplomacy and +its honours for a brewery and lucre! + +Of course Evan knew that he was managed. The memoirs of a managed man +have yet to be written; but if he be sincere he will tell you that he +knew it all the time. He longed for the sugar-plum; he knew it was +naughty to take it: he dared not for fear of the devil, and he shut his +eyes while somebody else popped it into his mouth, and assumed his +responsibility. Being man-driven or chicaned, is different from being +managed. Being managed implies being led the way this other person +thinks you should go: altogether for your own benefit, mind: you are to +see with her eyes, that you may not disappoint your own appetites: which +does not hurt the flesh, certainly; but does damage the conscience; and +from the moment you have once succumbed, that function ceases to perform +its office of moral strainer so well. + +After all, was he not happier when he wrote himself tailor, than when he +declared himself gentleman? + +So he now imagined, till Rose, wishing him 'Good night' on the balcony, +and abandoning her hand with a steady sweet voice and gaze, said: 'How +generous of you to forgive my friend, dear Evan!' And the ravishing +little glimpse of womanly softness in her, set his heart beating. If he +thought at all, it was that he would have sacrificed body and soul for +her. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A lover must have his delusions, just as a man must have a skin +A woman rises to her husband. But a man is what he is +Abject sense of the lack of a circumference +Amiable mirror as being wilfully ruffled to confuse +Because men can't abide praise of another man +Brief negatives are not re-assuring to a lover's uneasy mind +But a woman must now and then ingratiate herself +Can you not be told you are perfect without seeking to improve +Command of countenance the Countess possessed +Damsel who has lost the third volume of an exciting novel +English maids are domesticated savage animals +Every woman that's married isn't in love with her husband +Eyes of a lover are not his own; but his hands and lips are +Good nature, and means no more harm than he can help +Graduated naturally enough the finer stages of self-deception +Have her profile very frequently while I am conversing with her +He was in love, and subtle love will not be shamed and smothered +I did, replied Evan. 'I told a lie.' +Is he jealous? 'Only when I make him, he is.' +Make no effort to amuse him. He is always occupied +Married a wealthy manufacturer--bartered her blood for his money +Notoriously been above the honours of grammar +Our comedies are frequently youth's tragedies +Rebukes which give immeasurable rebounds +Recalling her to the subject-matter with all the patience +Remarked that the young men must fight it out together +Rose was much behind her age +Rose! what have I done? 'Nothing at all,' she said +Says you're so clever you ought to be a man +She believed friendship practicable between men and women +The Countess dieted the vanity according to the nationality +The letter had a smack of crabbed age hardly counterfeit +Took care to be late, so that all eyes beheld her +Tried to be honest, and was as much so as his disease permitted +Virtuously zealous in an instant on behalf of the lovely dame +When you run away, you don't live to fight another day +With good wine to wash it down, one can swallow anything +You do want polish +You talk your mother with a vengeance + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Evan Harrington, v3 +by George Meredith + + + + + + +EVAN HARRINGTON + +By GEORGE MEREDITH + + + +BOOK 4. + +XIX. SECOND DESPATCH OF THE COUNTESS +XX. BREAK-NECK LEAP +XXI. TRIBULATIONS AND TACTICS OF THE COUNTESS +XXII. IN WHICH THE DAUGHTERS OF THE GREAT MEL HAVE TO + DIGEST HIM AT DINNER +XXIII. TREATS OF A HANDKERCHIEF +XXIV. THE COUNTESS MAKES HERSELF FELT +XXV. IN WHICH THE STREAM FLOWS MUDDY AND CLEAR + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +SECOND DESPATCH OF THE COUNTESS + +We do not advance very far in this second despatch, and it will be found +chiefly serviceable for the indications it affords of our General's skill +in mining, and addiction to that branch of military science. For the +moment I must beg that a little indulgence be granted to her. + +'Purely business. Great haste. Something has happened. An event? I +know not; but events may flow from it. + +'A lady is here who has run away from the conjugal abode, and Lady +Jocelyn shelters her, and is hospitable to another, who is more concerned +in this lady's sad fate than he should be. This may be morals, my dear: +but please do not talk of Portugal now. A fine-ish woman with a great +deal of hair worn as if her maid had given it one comb straight down and +then rolled it up in a hurry round one finger. Malice would say carrots. +It is called gold. Mr. Forth is in a glass house, and is wrong to cast +his sneers at perfectly inoffensive people. + +'Perfectly impossible we can remain at Beckley Court together--if not +dangerous. Any means that Providence may designate, I would employ. It +will be like exorcising a demon. Always excuseable. I only ask a little +more time for stupid Evan. He might have little Bonner now. I should +not object; but her family is not so good. + +'Now, do attend. At once obtain a copy of Strike's Company people. You +understand--prospectuses. Tell me instantly if the Captain Evremonde in +it is Captain Lawson Evremonde. Pump Strike. Excuse vulgar words. +Whether he is not Lord Laxley's half-brother. Strike shall be of use to +us. Whether he is not mad. Captain E----'s address. Oh! when I think +of Strike--brute! and poor beautiful uncomplaining Carry and her +shoulder! But let us indeed most fervently hope that his Grace may be +balm to it. We must not pray for vengeance. It is sinful. Providence +will inflict that. Always know that Providence is quite sure to. It +comforts exceedingly. + +'Oh, that Strike were altogether in the past tense! No knowing what the +Duke might do--a widower and completely subjugated. It makes my bosom +bound. The man tempts me to the wickedest Frenchy ideas. There! + +We progress with dear venerable Mrs. Bonner. Truly pious--interested in +your Louisa. She dreads that my husband will try to convert me to his +creed. I can but weep and say--never! + +'I need not say I have my circle. To hear this ridiculous boy Harry +Jocelyn grunt under my nose when he has led me unsuspectingly away from +company--Harriet! dearest! He thinks it a sigh! But there is no time +for laughing. + +'My maxim in any house is--never to despise the good opinion of the +nonentities. They are the majority. I think they all look up to me. +But then of course you must fix that by seducing the stars. My +diplomatist praises my abilities--Sir John Loring my style--the rest +follow and I do not withhold my smiles, and they are happy, and I should +be but that for ungrateful Evan's sake I sacrificed my peace by binding +myself to a dreadful sort of half-story. I know I did not quite say it. +It seems as if Sir A.'s ghost were going to haunt me. And then I have +the most dreadful fears that what I have done has disturbed him in the +other world. Can it be so? It is not money or estates we took at all, +dearest! And these excellent young curates--I almost wish it was +Protestant to speak a word behind a board to them and imbibe comfort. +For after all it is nothing: and a word even from this poor thin mopy Mr. +Parsley might be relief to a poor soul in trouble. Catholics tell you +that what you do in a good cause is redeemable if not exactly right. And +you know the Catholic is the oldest Religion of the two. I would listen +to the Pope, staunch Protestant as I am, in preference to King Henry the +Eighth. Though, as a woman, I bear him no rancour, for his wives were-- +fools, point blank. No man was ever so manageable. My diplomatist is +getting liker and liker to him every day. Leaner, of course, and does +not habitually straddle. Whiskers and morals, I mean. We must be silent +before our prudish sister. Not a prude? We talk diplomacy, dearest. +He complains of the exclusiveness of the port of Oporto, and would have +strict alliance between Portugal and England, with mutual privileges. +I wish the alliance, and think it better to maintain the exclusiveness. +Very trifling; but what is life! + +'Adieu. One word to leave you laughing. Imagine her situation! This +stupid Miss Carrington has offended me. She has tried to pump Conning, +who, I do not doubt, gave her as much truth as I chose she should have in +her well. But the quandary of the wretched creature! She takes Conning +into her confidence--a horrible malady just covered by high-neck dress! +Skin! and impossible that she can tell her engaged--who is--guess--Mr. +George Up------! Her name is Louisa Carrington. There was a Louisa +Harrington once. Similarity of names perhaps. Of course I could not let +her come to the house; and of course Miss C. is in a state of wonderment +and bad passions, I fear. I went straight to Lady Racial, my dear. +There was nothing else for it but to go and speak. She is truly a noble +woman--serves us in every way. As she should!--much affected by sight of +Evan, and keeps aloof from Beckley Court. The finger of Providence is in +all. Adieu! but do pray think of Miss Carrington! +It was foolish of her to offend me. Drives and walks-the Duke attentive. +Description of him when I embrace you. I give amiable Sir Franks +Portuguese dishes. Ah, my dear, if we had none but men to contend +against, and only women for our tools! But this is asking for the world, +and nothing less. + +'Open again,' she pursues. 'Dear Carry just come in. There are fairies, +I think, where there are dukes! Where could it have come from? Could +any human being have sent messengers post to London, ordered, and had it +despatched here within this short time? You shall not be mystified! I +do not think I even hinted; but the afternoon walk I had with his Grace, +on the first day of his arrival, I did shadow it very delicately how much +it was to be feared our poor Carry could not, that she dared not, betray +her liege lord in an evening dress. Nothing more, upon my veracity! And +Carry has this moment received the most beautiful green box, containing +two of the most heavenly old lace shawls that you ever beheld. We divine +it is to hide poor Carry's matrimonial blue mark! We know nothing. Will +you imagine Carry is for not accepting it! Priority of birth does not +imply superior wits, dear--no allusion to you. I have undertaken all. +Arch looks, but nothing pointed. His Grace will understand the exquisite +expression of feminine gratitude. It is so sweet to deal with true +nobility. Carry has only to look as she always does. One sees Strike +sitting on her. Her very pliability has rescued her from being utterly +squashed long ere this! The man makes one vulgar. It would have been +not the slightest use asking me to be a Christian had I wedded Strike. +But think of the fairy presents! It has determined me not to be expelled +by Mr. Forth--quite. Tell Silva he is not forgotten. But, my dear, +between us alone, men are so selfish, that it is too evident they do not +care for private conversations to turn upon a lady's husband: not to be +risked, only now and then. + +'I hear that the young ladies and the young gentlemen have been out +riding a race. The poor little Bonner girl cannot ride, and she says to +Carry that Rose wishes to break our brother's neck. The child hardly +wishes that, but she is feelingless. If Evan could care for Miss Bonner, +he might have B. C.! Oh, it is not so very long a shot, my dear. I am +on the spot, remember. Old Mrs. Bonner is a most just-minded spirit. +Juliana is a cripple, and her grandmother wishes to be sure that when she +departs to her Lord the poor cripple may not be chased from this home of +hers. Rose cannot calculate--Harry is in disgrace--there is really no +knowing. This is how I have reckoned; L10,000 extra to Rose; perhaps +L1000 or nothing to H.; all the rest of ready-money--a large sum-- +no use guessing--to Lady Jocelyn; and B. C. to little Bonner--it is worth +L40,000 Then she sells, or stops--permanent resident. It might be so +soon, for I can see worthy Mrs. Bonner to be breaking visibly. But young +men will not see with wiser eyes than their own. Here is Evan risking +his neck for an indifferent--there's some word for "not soft." In short, +Rose is the cold-blooded novice, as I have always said, the most selfish +of the creatures on two legs. + +'Adieu! Would you have dreamed that Major Nightmare's gallantry to his +wife would have called forth a gallantry so truly touching and delicate? +Can you not see Providence there? Out of Evil--the Catholics again! + +'Address. If Lord Lax---'s half-brother. If wrong in noddle. This I +know you will attend to scrupulously. Ridiculous words are sometimes the +most expressive. Once more, may Heaven bless you all! I thought of you +in church last Sunday. + +'I may tell you this: young Mr. Laxley is here. He--but it was Evan's +utter madness was the cause, and I have not ventured a word to him. He +compelled Evan to assert his rank, and Mr. Forth's face has been one +concentrated sneer since THEN. He must know the origin of the +Cogglesbys, or something. Now you will understand the importance. I +cannot be more explicit. Only--the man must go. + +'P.S. I have just ascertained that Lady Jocelyn is quite familiar with +Andrew's origin!! She must think my poor Harriet an eccentric woman. Of +course I have not pretended to rank here, merely gentry. It is gentry in +reality, for had poor Papa been legitimized, he would have been a +nobleman. You know that; and between the two we may certainly claim +gentry. I twiddle your little good Andrew to assert it for us twenty +times a day. Of all the dear little manageable men! It does you +infinite credit that you respect him as you do. What would have become +of me I do not know. + +'P.S. I said two shawls--a black and a white. The black not so costly-- +very well. And so delicate of him to think of the mourning! But the +white, my dear, must be family--must! Old English point. Exquisitely +chaste. So different from that Brussels poor Andrew surprised you with. +I know it cost money, but this is a question of taste. The Duke +reconciles me to England and all my troubles! He is more like poor Papa +than any one of the men I have yet seen. The perfect gentleman! I do +praise myself for managing an invitation to our Carry. She has been a +triumph.' + +Admire the concluding stroke. The Countess calls this letter a purely +business communication. Commercial men might hardly think so; but +perhaps ladies will perceive it. She rambles concentrically, if I may so +expound her. Full of luxurious enjoyment of her position, her mind is +active, and you see her at one moment marking a plot, the next, with a +light exclamation, appeasing her conscience, proud that she has one; +again she calls up rival forms of faith, that she may show the Protestant +its little shortcomings, and that it is slightly in debt to her (like +Providence) for her constancy, notwithstanding. The Protestant you see, +does not confess, and she has to absolve herself, and must be doing it +internally while she is directing outer matters. Hence her slap at King +Henry VIII. In fact, there is much more business in this letter than I +dare to indicate; but as it is both impertinent and unpopular to dive for +any length of time beneath the surface (especially when there are few +pearls to show for it), we will discontinue our examination. + +The Countess, when she had dropped the letter in the bag, returned to her +chamber, and deputed Dorothy Loring, whom she met on the stairs, to run +and request Rose to lend her her album to beguile the afternoon with; and +Dorothy dances to Rose, saying, 'The Countess de Lispy-Lispy would be +delighted to look at your album all the afternoon.' + +'Oh what a woman that is!' says Rose. 'Countess de Lazy-Lazy, I think.' + +The Countess, had she been listening, would have cared little for +accusations on that head. Idlesse was fashionable: exquisite languors +were a sign of breeding; and she always had an idea that she looked more +interesting at dinner after reclining on a couch the whole of the +afternoon. The great Mel and his mate had given her robust health, and +she was able to play the high-born invalid without damage to her +constitution. Anything amused her; Rose's album even, and the +compositions of W. H., E. H., D. F., and F. L. The initials F. L. were +diminutive, and not unlike her own hand, she thought. They were appended +to a piece of facetiousness that would not have disgraced the abilities +of Mr. John Raikes; but we know that very stiff young gentlemen betray +monkey-minds when sweet young ladies compel them to disport. On the +whole, it was not a lazy afternoon that the Countess passed, and it was +not against her wish that others should think it was. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +BREAK-NECK LEAP + +The August sun was in mid-sky, when a troop of ladies and cavaliers +issued from the gates of Beckley Court, and winding through the +hopgardens, emerged on the cultivated slopes bordering the downs. +Foremost, on her grey cob, was Rose, having on her right her uncle +Seymour, and on her left Ferdinand Laxley. Behind came Mrs. Evremonde, +flanked by Drummond and Evan. Then followed Jenny Graine, supported by +Harry and William Harvey. In the rear came an open carriage, in which +Miss Carrington and the Countess de Saldar were borne, attended by Lady +Jocelyn and Andrew Cogglesby on horseback. The expedition had for its +object the selection of a run of ground for an amateur steeple-chase: the +idea of which had sprung from Laxley's boasts of his horsemanship: and +Rose, quick as fire, had backed herself, and Drummond and Evan, to beat +him. The mention of the latter was quite enough for Laxley. + +'If he follows me, let him take care of his neck,' said that youth. + +'Why, Ferdinand, he can beat you in anything!' exclaimed Rose, +imprudently. + +But the truth was, she was now more restless than ever. She was not +distant with Evan, but she had a feverish manner, and seemed to thirst to +make him show his qualities, and excel, and shine. Billiards, or +jumping, or classical acquirements, it mattered not--Evan must come +first. He had crossed the foils with Laxley, and disarmed him; for Mel +his father had seen him trained for a military career. Rose made a noise +about the encounter, and Laxley was eager for his opportunity, which he +saw in the proposed mad gallop. + +Now Mr. George Uplift, who usually rode in buckskins whether he was after +the fox or fresh air, was out on this particular morning; and it happened +that, as the cavalcade wound beneath the down, Mr. George trotted along +the ridge. He was a fat-faced, rotund young squire--a bully where he +might be, and an obedient creature enough where he must be--good-humoured +when not interfered with; fond of the table, and brimful of all the jokes +of the county, the accent of which just seasoned his speech. He had +somehow plunged into a sort of half-engagement with Miss Carrington. +At his age, and to ladies of Miss Carrington's age, men unhappily do not +plunge head-foremost, or Miss Carrington would have had him long before. +But he was at least in for it half a leg; and a desperate maiden, on the +criminal side of thirty, may make much of that. Previous to the visit of +the Countess de Saldar, Mr. George had been in the habit of trotting over +to Beckley three or four times a week. Miss Carrington had a little +money: Mr. George was heir to his uncle. Miss Carrington was lean and +blue-eyed. + +Mr. George was black-eyed and obese. By everybody, except Mr. George, the +match was made: but that exception goes for little in the country, where +half the population are talked into marriage, and gossips entirely devote +themselves to continuing the species. Mr. George was certain that he had +not been fighting shy of the fair Carrington of late, nor had he been +unfaithful. He had only been in an extraordinary state of occupation. +Messages for Lady Racial had to be delivered, and he had become her +cavalier and escort suddenly. The young squire was bewildered; but as +he was only one leg in love--if the sentiment may be thus spoken of +figuratively--his vanity in his present office kept him from remorse or +uneasiness. + +He rode at an easy pace within sight of the home of his treasure, and his +back turned to it. Presently there rose a cry from below. Mr. George +looked about. The party of horsemen hallooed: Mr. George yoicked. Rose +set her horse to gallop up; Seymour Jocelyn cried 'fox,' and gave the +view; hearing which Mr. George shouted, and seemed inclined to surrender; +but the fun seized him, and, standing up in his stirrups, he gathered his +coat-tails in a bunch, and waggled them with a jolly laugh, which was +taken up below, and the clamp of hoofs resounded on the turf as Mr. +George led off, after once more, with a jocose twist in his seat, showing +them the brush mockingly. Away went fox, and a mad chase began. Seymour +acted as master of the hunt. Rose, Evan, Drummond, and Mrs. Evremonde +and Dorothy, skirted to the right, all laughing, and full of excitement. +Harry bellowed the direction from above. The ladies in the carriage, +with Lady Jocelyn and Andrew, watched them till they flowed one and all +over the shoulder of the down. + +'And who may the poor hunted animal be?' inquired the Countess. + +'George Uplift,' said Lady Jocelyn, pulling out her watch. 'I give him +twenty minutes.' + +'Providence speed him!' breathed the Countess, with secret fervour. + +'Oh, he hasn't a chance,' said Lady Jocelyn. 'The squire keeps wretched +beasts.' + +'Is there not an attraction that will account for his hasty capture?' +said the Countess, looking tenderly at Miss Carrington, who sat a little +straighter, and the Countess, hating manifestations of stiff-backedness, +could not forbear adding: 'I am at war with my sympathies, which should +be with the poor brute flying from his persecutors.' + +She was in a bitter state of trepidation, or she would have thought twice +before she touched a nerve of the enamoured lady, as she knew she did in +calling her swain a poor brute, and did again by pertinaciously pursuing: + +'Does he then shun his captivity?' + +'Touching a nerve' is one of those unforgivable small offences which, in +our civilized state, produce the social vendettas and dramas that, with +savage nations, spring from the spilling of blood. Instead of an eye for +an eye, a tooth for a tooth, we demand a nerve for a nerve. 'Thou hast +touched me where I am tender thee, too, will I touch.' + +Miss Carrington had been alarmed and hurt at the strange evasion of Mr. +George; nor could she see the fun of his mimicry of the fox and his +flight away from instead of into her neighbourhood. She had also, or she +now thought it, remarked that when Mr. George had been spoken of +casually, the Countess had not looked a natural look. Perhaps it was her +present inflamed fancy. At any rate the Countess was offensive now. She +was positively vulgar, in consequence, to the mind of Miss Carrington, +and Miss Carrington was drawn to think of a certain thing Ferdinand +Laxley had said he had heard from the mouth of this lady's brother when +ale was in him. Alas! how one seed of a piece of folly will lurk and +sprout to confound us; though, like the cock in the eastern tale, we peck +up zealously all but that one! + +The carriage rolled over the turf, attended by Andrew, and Lady Jocelyn, +and the hunt was seen; Mr. George some forty paces a-head; Seymour +gaining on him, Rose next. + +'Who's that breasting Rose?' said Lady Jocelyn, lifting her glass. + +'My brother-in-law, Harrington,' returned Andrew. + +'He doesn't ride badly,' said Lady Jocelyn. 'A little too military. +He must have been set up in England.' + +'Oh, Evan can do anything,' said Andrew enthusiastically. 'His father +was a capital horseman, and taught him fencing, riding, and every +accomplishment. You won't find such a young fellow, my lady--' + +'The brother like him at all?' asked Lady Jocelyn, still eyeing the +chase. + +'Brother? He hasn't got a brother,' said Andrew. + +Lady Jocelyn continued: 'I mean the present baronet.' + +She was occupied with her glass, and did not observe the flush that took +hold of Andrew's ingenuous cheeks, and his hurried glance at and off the +quiet eye of the Countess. Miss Carrington did observe it. + +Mr. Andrew dashed his face under the palm of his hand, and murmured: + +'Oh-yes! His brother-in-law isn't much like him--ha! ha!' + +And then the poor little man rubbed his hands, unconscious of the +indignant pity for his wretched abilities in the gaze of the Countess; +and he must have been exposed--there was a fear that the ghost of Sir +Abraham would have darkened this day, for Miss Carrington was about to +speak, when Lady Jocelyn cried: 'There's a purl! Somebody's down.' + +The Countess was unaware of the nature of a purl, but she could have +sworn it to be a piece of Providence. + +'Just by old Nat Hodges' farm, on Squire Copping's ground,' cried Andrew, +much relieved by the particular individual's misfortune. 'Dear me, my +lady! how old Tom and I used to jump the brook there, to be sure! and +when you were no bigger than little Miss Loring--do you remember old Tom? +We're all fools one time in our lives!' + +'Who can it be?' said Lady Jocelyn, spying at the discomfited horseman. +'I'm afraid it's poor Ferdinand.' + +They drove on to an eminence from which the plain was entirely laid open. + +'I hope my brother will enjoy his ride this day,' sighed the Countess. +'It will be his limit of enjoyment for a lengthened period!' + +She perceived that Mr. George's capture was inevitable, and her heart +sank; for she was sure he would recognize her, and at the moment she +misdoubted her powers. She dreamed of flight. + +'You're not going to leave us?' said Lady Jocelyn. 'My dear Countess, +what will the future member do without you? We have your promise to stay +till the election is over.' + +'Thanks for your extreme kind courtesy, Lady Jocelyn,' murmured the +Countess: 'but my husband--the Count.' + +'The favour is yours,' returned her ladyship. 'And if the Count cannot +come, you at least are at liberty?' + +'You are most kind,' said the Countess. + +'Andrew and his wife I should not dare to separate for more than a week,' +said Lady Jocelyn. 'He is the great British husband. The proprietor! +"My wife" is his unanswerable excuse.' + +'Yes,' Andrew replied cheerily. 'I don't like division between man and +wife, I must say.' + +The Countess dared no longer instance the Count, her husband. She was +heard to murmur that citizen feelings were not hers: + +'You suggested Fallow field to Melville, did you not?' asked Lady +Jocelyn. + +'It was the merest suggestion,' said the Countess, smiling. + +'Then you must really stay to see us through it,' said her ladyship. +'Where are they now? They must be making straight for break-neck fence. +They'll have him there. George hasn't pluck for that.' + +'Hasn't what?' + +It was the Countess who requested to know the name of this other piece of +Providence Mr. George Uplift was deficient in. + +'Pluck-go,' said her ladyship hastily, and telling the coachman to drive +to a certain spot, trotted on with Andrew, saying to him: 'I'm afraid we +are thought vulgar by the Countess.' + +Andrew considered it best to reassure her gravely. + +'The young man, her brother, is well-bred,' said Lady Jocelyn, and Andrew +was very ready to praise Evan. + +Lady Jocelyn, herself in slimmer days a spirited horsewoman, had +correctly estimated Mr. George's pluck. He was captured by Harry and +Evan close on the leap, in the act of shaking his head at it; and many +who inspected the leap would have deemed it a sign that wisdom weighted +the head that would shake long at it; for it consisted of a post and +rails, with a double ditch. + +Seymour Jocelyn, Mrs. Evremonde, Drummond, Jenny Graine, and William +Harvey, rode with Mr. George in quest of the carriage, and the captive +was duly delivered over. + +'But where's the brush?' said Lady Jocelyn, laughing, and introducing him +to the Countess, who dropped her head, and with it her veil. + +'Oh! they leave that on for my next run,' said Mr. George, bowing +civilly. + +'You are going to run again?' + +Miss Carrington severely asked this question; and Mr. George protested. + +'Secure him, Louisa,' said Lady Jocelyn. 'See here: what's the matter +with poor Dorothy?' + +Dorothy came slowly trotting up to them along the green lane, and thus +expressed her grief, between sobs: + +'Isn't it a shame? Rose is such a tyrant. They're going to ride a race +and a jump down in the field, and it's break-neck leap, and Rose won't +allow me to stop and see it, though she knows I'm just as fond of Evan as +she is; and if he's killed I declare it will be her fault; and it's all +for her stupid, dirty old pocket handkerchief!' + +'Break-neck fence!' said Lady Jocelyn; 'that's rather mad.' + +'Do let's go and see it, darling Aunty Joey,' pleaded the little maid. +Lady Jocelyn rode on, saying to herself: 'That girl has a great deal of +devil in her.' The lady's thoughts were of Rose. + +'Black Lymport'd take the leap,' said Mr. George, following her with the +rest of the troop. 'Who's that fellow on him?' + +'His name's Harrington,' quoth Drummond. + +'Oh, Harrington!' Mr. George responded; but immediately laughed-- +'Harrington? 'Gad, if he takes the leap it'll be odd--another of the +name. That's where old Mel had his spill.' + +'Who?' Drummond inquired. + +'Old Mel Harrington--the Lymport wonder. Old Marquis Mel,' said Mr. +George. 'Haven't ye heard of him?' + +'What! the gorgeous tailor!' exclaimed Lady Jocelyn. 'How I regret +never meeting that magnificent snob! that efflorescence of sublime +imposture! I've seen the Regent; but one's life doesn't seem complete +without having seen his twin-brother. You must give us warning when you +have him down at Croftlands again, Mr. George.' + +'Gad, he'll have to come a long distance--poor old Mel!' said Mr. George; +and was going on, when Seymour Jocelyn stroked his moustache to cry, +'Look! Rosey 's starting 'em, by Jove!' + +The leap, which did not appear formidable from where they stood, was four +fields distant from the point where Rose, with a handkerchief in her +hand, was at that moment giving the signal to Laxley and Evan. + +Miss Carrington and the Countess begged Lady Jocelyn to order a shout to +be raised to arrest them, but her ladyship marked her good sense by +saying: 'Let them go, now they're about it'; for she saw that to make a +fuss now matters had proceeded so far, was to be uncivil to the +inevitable. + +The start was given, and off they flew. Harry Jocelyn, behind them, was +evidently caught by the demon, and clapped spurs to his horse to have his +fling as well, for the fun of the thing; but Rose, farther down the +field, rode from her post straight across him, to the imminent peril of a +mutual overset; and the party on the height could see Harry fuming, and +Rose coolly looking him down, and letting him understand what her will +was; and her mother, and Drummond, and Seymour who beheld this, had a +common sentiment of admiration for the gallant girl. But away went the +rivals. Black Lymport was the favourite, though none of the men thought +he would be put at the fence. The excitement became contagious. The +Countess threw up her veil. Lady Jocelyn, and Seymour, and Drummond, +galloped down the lane, and Mr. George was for accompanying them, till +the line of Miss Carrington's back gave him her unmistakeable opinion of +such a course of conduct, and he had to dally and fret by her side. +Andrew's arm was tightly grasped by the Countess. The rivals were +crossing the second field, Laxley a little a-head. + +'He 's holding in the black mare--that fellow!' said Mr. George. 'Gad, +it looks like going at the fence. Fancy Harrington!' + +They were now in the fourth field, a smooth shorn meadow. Laxley was two +clear lengths in advance, but seemed riding, as Mr. George remarked, more +for pace than to take the jump. The ladies kept plying random queries +and suggestions: the Countess wishing to know whether they could not be +stopped by a countryman before they encountered any danger. In the midst +of their chatter, Mr. George rose in his stirrups, crying: + +'Bravo, the black mare!' + +'Has he done it?' said Andrew, wiping his poll. + +'He? No, the mare!' shouted Mr. George, and bolted off, no longer to be +restrained. + +The Countess, doubly relieved, threw herself back in the carriage, and +Andrew drew a breath, saying: 'Evan has beat him--I saw that! The +other's horse swerved right round.' + +'I fear,' said Mrs. Evremonde, 'Mr. Harrington has had a fall. Don't be +alarmed--it may not be much.' + +'A fall!' exclaimed the Countess, equally divided between alarms of +sisterly affection and a keen sense of the romance of the thing. + +Miss Carrington ordered the carriage to be driven round. They had not +gone far when they were met by Harry Jocelyn riding in hot haste, and he +bellowed to the coachman to drive as hard as he could, and stop opposite +Brook's farm. + +The scene on the other side of the fence would have been a sweet one to +the central figure in it had his eyes then been open. Surrounded by Lady +Jocelyn, Drummond, Seymour, and the rest, Evan's dust-stained body was +stretched along the road, and his head was lying in the lap of Rose, who, +pale, heedless of anything spoken by those around her, and with her lips +set and her eyes turning wildly from one to the other, held a gory +handkerchief to his temple with one hand, and with the other felt for the +motion of his heart. + +But heroes don't die, you know. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +TRIBULATIONS AND TACTICS OF THE COUNTESS + +'You have murdered my brother, Rose Jocelyn!' + +'Don't say so now.' + +Such was the interchange between the two that loved the senseless youth, +as he was being. lifted into the carriage. + +Lady Jocelyn sat upright in her saddle, giving directions about what was +to be done with Evan and the mare, impartially. + +'Stunned, and a good deal shaken, I suppose; Lymport's knees are terribly +cut,' she said to Drummond, who merely nodded. And Seymour remarked, +'Fifty guineas knocked off her value!' One added, 'Nothing worse, I +should think'; and another, 'A little damage inside, perhaps.' Difficult +to say whether they spoke of Evan or the brute. + +No violent outcries; no reproaches cast on the cold-blooded coquette; +no exclamations on the heroism of her brother! They could absolutely +spare a thought for the animal! And Evan had risked his life for this, +and might die unpitied. The Countess diversified her grief with a deadly +bitterness against the heartless Jocelyns. + +Oh, if Evan dies! will it punish Rose sufficiently? + +Andrew expressed emotion, but not of a kind the Countess liked a relative +to be seen exhibiting; for in emotion worthy Andrew betrayed to her his +origin offensively. + +'Go away and puke, if you must,' she said, clipping poor Andrew's word +about his 'dear boy.' She could not help speaking in that way--he was so +vulgar. A word of sympathy from Lady Jocelyn might have saved her from +the sourness into which her many conflicting passions were resolving; and +might also have saved her ladyship from the rancour she had sown in the +daughter of the great Mel by her selection of epithets to characterize +him. + +Will it punish Rose at all, if Evan dies? + +Rose saw that she was looked at. How could the Countess tell that Rose +envied her the joy of holding Evan in the carriage there? Rose, to judge +by her face, was as calm as glass. Not so well seen through, however. +Mrs. Evremonde rode beside her, whose fingers she caught, and twined her +own with them tightly once for a fleeting instant. Mrs. Evremonde wanted +no further confession of her state. + +Then Rose said to her mother, 'Mama, may I ride to have the doctor +ready?' + +Ordinarily, Rose would have clapped heel to horse the moment the thought +came. She waited for the permission, and flew off at a gallop, waving +back Laxley, who was for joining her. + +'Franks will be a little rusty about the mare,' the Countess heard Lady +Jocelyn say; and Harry just then stooped his head to the carriage, and +said, in his blunt fashion, 'After all, it won't show much.' + +'We are not cattle!' exclaimed the frenzied Countess, within her bosom. +Alas! it was almost a democratic outcry they made her guilty of; but she +was driven past patience. And as a further provocation, Evan would open +his eyes. She laid her handkerchief over them with loving delicacy, +remembering in a flash that her own face had been all the while exposed +to Mr. George Uplift; and then the terrors of his presence at Beckley +Court came upon her, and the fact that she had not for the last ten +minutes been the serene Countess de Saldar; and she quite hated Andrew, +for vulgarity in others evoked vulgarity in her, which was the reason why +she ranked vulgarity as the chief of the deadly sins. Her countenance +for Harry and all the others save poor Andrew was soon the placid heaven- +confiding sister's again; not before Lady Jocelyn had found cause to +observe to Drummond: + +'Your Countess doesn't ruffle well.' + +But a lady who is at war with two or three of the facts of Providence, +and yet will have Providence for her ally, can hardly ruffle well. +Do not imagine that the Countess's love for her brother was hollow. She +was assured when she came up to the spot where he fell, that there was no +danger; he had but dislocated his shoulder, and bruised his head a +little. Hearing this, she rose out of her clamorous heart, and seized +the opportunity for a small burst of melodrama. Unhappily, Lady Jocelyn, +who gave the tone to the rest, was a Spartan in matters of this sort; and +as she would have seen those dearest to her bear the luck of the field, +she could see others. When the call for active help reached her, you +beheld a different woman. + +The demonstrativeness the Countess thirsted for was afforded her by Juley +Bonner, and in a measure by her sister Caroline, who loved Evan +passionately. The latter was in riding attire, about to mount to ride +and meet them, accompanied by the Duke. Caroline had hastily tied up her +hair; a rich golden brown lump of it hung round her cheek; her limpid +eyes and anxiously-nerved brows impressed the Countess wonderfully as she +ran down the steps and bent her fine well-filled bust forward to ask the +first hurried question. + +The Countess patted her shoulder. 'Safe, dear,' she said aloud, as one +who would not make much of it. And in a whisper, 'You look superb.' + +I must charge it to Caroline's beauty under the ducal radiance, that a +stream of sweet feelings entering into the Countess made her forget to +tell her sister that George Uplift was by. Caroline had not been abroad, +and her skin was not olive-hued; she was a beauty, and a majestic figure, +little altered since the day when the wooden marine marched her out of +Lymport. + +The Countess stepped from the carriage to go and cherish Juliana's +petulant distress; for that unhealthy little body was stamping with +impatience to have the story told to her, to burst into fits of pathos; +and while Seymour and Harry assisted Evan to descend, trying to laugh off +the pain he endured, Caroline stood by, soothing him with words and +tender looks. + +Lady Jocelyn passed him, and took his hand, saying, 'Not killed this +time!' + +'At your ladyship's service to-morrow,' he replied, and his hand was +kindly squeezed. + +'My darling Evan, you will not ride again?' Caroline cried, kissing him +on the steps; and the Duke watched the operation, and the Countess +observed the Duke. + +That Providence should select her sweetest moments to deal her wounds, +was cruel; but the Countess just then distinctly heard Mr. George Uplift +ask Miss Carrington + +'Is that lady a Harrington?' + +'You perceive a likeness?' was the answer. + +Mr. George went 'Whew!--tit-tit-tit!' with the profound expression of a +very slow mind. + +The scene was quickly over. There was barely an hour for the ladies to +dress for dinner. Leaving Evan in the doctor's hand, and telling +Caroline to dress in her room, the Countess met Rose, and gratified her +vindictiveness, while she furthered her projects, by saying: + +'Not till my brother is quite convalescent will it be adviseable that you +should visit him. I am compelled to think of him entirely now. In his +present state he is not fit to be, played with.' + +Rose, stedfastly eyeing her, seemed to swallow down something in her +throat, and said: + +'I will obey you, Countess. I hoped you would allow me to nurse him.' + +'Quiet above all things, Rose Jocelyn!' returned the Countess, with the +suavity of a governess, who must be civil in her sourness. 'If you would +not complete this morning's achievement--stay away.' + +The Countess declined to see that Rose's lip quivered. She saw an +unpleasantness in the bottom of her eyes; and now that her brother's +decease was not even remotely to be apprehended, she herself determined +to punish the cold, unimpressionable coquette of a girl. Before +returning to Caroline, she had five minutes' conversation with. Juliana, +which fully determined her to continue the campaign at Beckley Court, +commence decisive movements, and not to retreat, though fifty George +Uplofts menaced her. Consequently, having dismissed Conning on a message +to Harry Jocelyn, to ask him for a list of the names of the new people +they were to meet that day at dinner, she said to Caroline: + +'My dear, I think it will be incumbent on us to depart very quickly.' + +Much to the Countess's chagrin and astonishment, Caroline replied: + +'I shall hardly be sorry.' + +'Not sorry? Why, what now, dear one? Is it true, then, that a +flagellated female kisses the rod? Are you so eager for a repetition of +Strike?' + +Caroline, with some hesitation, related to her more than the Countess had +ventured to petition for in her prayers. + +'Oh! how exceedingly generous!' the latter exclaimed. How very +refreshing to think that there are nobles in your England as romantic, +as courteous, as delicate as our own foreign ones! But his Grace is +quite an exceptional nobleman. Are you not touched, dearest Carry?' + +Caroline pensively glanced at the reflection of her beautiful arm in the +glass, and sighed, pushing back the hair from her temples. + +'But, for mercy's sake!' resumed the Countess, in alarm at the sigh, +'do not be too--too touched. Do, pray, preserve your wits. You weep! +Caroline, Caroline! O my goodness; it is just five-and-twenty minutes to +the first dinner-bell, and you are crying! For God's sake, think of your +face! Are you going to be a Gorgon? And you show the marks twice as +long as any other, you fair women. Squinnying like this! Caroline, for +your Louisa's sake, do not!' + +Hissing which, half angrily and half with entreaty, the Countess dropped +on her knees. Caroline's fit of tears subsided. The eldest of the +sisters, she was the kindest, the fairest, the weakest. + +'Not,' said the blandishing Countess, when Caroline's face was clearer, +'not that my best of Carrys does not look delicious in her shower. Cry, +with your hair down, and you would subdue any male creature on two legs. +And that reminds me of that most audacious Marquis de Remilla. He saw a +dirty drab of a fruit-girl crying in Lisbon streets one day, as he was +riding in the carriage of the Duchesse de Col da Rosta, and her husband +and duena, and he had a letter for her--the Duchesse. They loved! How +deliver the letter? "Save me!" he cried to the Duchesse, catching her +hand, and pressing his heart, as if very sick. The Duchesse felt the +paper--turned her hand over on her knee, and he withdrew his. What does +my Carry think was the excuse he tendered the Duke? This--and this gives +you some idea of the wonderful audacity of those dear Portuguese--that he +--he must precipitate himself and marry any woman he saw weep, and be her +slave for the term of his natural life, unless another woman's hand at +the same moment restrained him! There!' and the Countess's eyes shone +brightly. + +'How excessively imbecile!' Caroline remarked, hitherto a passive +listener to these Lusitanian contes. + +It was the first sign she had yet given of her late intercourse with a +positive Duke, and the Countess felt it, and drew back. No more +anecdotes for Caroline, to whom she quietly said: + +'You are very English, dear!' + +'But now, the Duke--his Grace,' she went on, 'how did he inaugurate?' + +'I spoke to him of Evan's position. God forgive me!--I said that was the +cause of my looks being sad.' + +'You could have thought of nothing better,' interposed the Countess. +'Yes?' + +'He said, if he might clear them he should be happy! + +'In exquisite language, Carry, of course.' + +'No; just as others talk.' + +'Hum!' went the Countess, and issued again brightly from a cloud of +reflection, with the remark: 'It was to seem business-like--the +commerciality of the English mind. To the point--I know. Well, you +perceive, my sweetest, that Evan's interests are in your hands. You dare +not quit the field. In one week, I fondly trust, he will be secure. +What more did his Grace say? May we not be the repository of such +delicious secresies?' + +Caroline gave tremulous indications about the lips, and the Countess +jumped to the bell and rang it, for they were too near dinner for the +trace of a single tear to be permitted. The bell and the appearance of +Conning effectually checked the flood. + +While speaking to her sister, the Countess had hesitated to mention +George Uplift's name, hoping that, as he had no dinner-suit, he would not +stop to dinner that day, and would fall to the charge of Lady Racial once +more. Conning, however, brought in a sheet of paper on which the names +of the guests were written out by Harry, a daily piece of service he +performed for the captivating dame, and George Uplift's name was in the +list. + +'We will do the rest, Conning-retire,' she said, and then folding +Caroline in her arms, murmured, the moment they were alone, 'Will my +Carry dress her hair plain to-day, for the love of her Louisa?' + +'Goodness! what a request!' exclaimed Caroline, throwing back her head +to see if her Louisa could be serious. + +'Most inexplicable--is it not? Will she do it?' + +'Flat, dear? It makes a fright of me.' + +'Possibly. May I beg it?' + +'But why, dearest, why? If I only knew why!' + +'For the love of your Louy.' + +'Plain along the temples?' + +'And a knot behind.' + +'And a band along the forehead?' + +'Gems, if they meet your favour.' + +'But my cheek-bones, Louisa?' + +'They are not too prominent, Carry.' + +'Curls relieve them.' + +'The change will relieve the curls, dear one.' + +Caroline looked in the glass, at the Countess, as polished a reflector, +and fell into a chair. Her hair was accustomed to roll across her +shoulders in heavy curls. The Duke would find a change of the sort +singular. She should not at all know herself with her hair done +differently: and for a lovely woman to be transformed to a fright is hard +to bear in solitude, or in imagination. + +'Really!' she petitioned. + +'Really--yes, or no?' added the Countess. + +'So unaccountable a whim!' Caroline looked in the glass dolefully, and +pulled up her thick locks from one cheek, letting them fall on the +instant. + +'She will?' breathed the Countess. + +'I really cannot,' said Caroline, with vehemence. + +The Countess burst into laughter, replying: 'My poor child! it is not my +whim--it is your obligation. George Uplift dines here to-day. Now do +you divine it? Disguise is imperative for you.' + +Mrs. Strike, gazing in her sister's face, answered slowly, 'George? But +how will you meet him?' she hurriedly asked. + +'I have met him,' rejoined the Countess, boldly. 'I defy him to know me. +I brazen him! You with your hair in my style are equally safe. You see +there is no choice. Pooh! contemptible puppy!' + +'But I never,'--Caroline was going to say she never could face him. +'I will not dine. I will nurse Evan.' + +'You have faced him, my dear,' said the Countess, 'and you are to change +your head-dress simply to throw him off his scent.' + +As she spoke the Countess tripped about, nodding her head like a girl. +Triumph in the sense of her power over all she came in contact with, +rather elated the lady. + +Do you see why she worked her sister in this roundabout fashion? She +would not tell her George Uplift was in the house till she was sure he +intended to stay, for fear of frightening her. When the necessity became +apparent, she put it under the pretext of a whim in order to see how far +Caroline, whose weak compliance she could count on, and whose reticence +concerning the Duke annoyed her, would submit to it to please her sister; +and if she rebelled positively, why to be sure it was the Duke she +dreaded to shock: and, therefore, the Duke had a peculiar hold on her: +and, therefore, the Countess might reckon that she would do more than she +pleased to confess to remain with the Duke, and was manageable in that +quarter. All this she learnt without asking. I need not add, that +Caroline sighingly did her bidding. + +'We must all be victims in our turn, Carry,' said the Countess. 'Evan's +prospects--it may be, Silva's restoration--depend upon your hair being +dressed plain to-day. Reflect on that!' + +Poor Caroline obeyed; but she was capable of reflecting only that her +face was unnaturally lean and strange to her. + +The sisters tended and arranged one another, taking care to push their +mourning a month or two ahead and the Countess animadverted on the vulgar +mind of Lady Jocelyn, who would allow a 'gentleman to sit down at a +gentlewoman's table, in full company, in pronounced undress': and +Caroline, utterly miserable, would pretend that she wore a mask and kept +grimacing as they do who are not accustomed to paint on the cheeks, till +the Countess checked her by telling her she should ask her for that +before the Duke. + +After a visit to Evan, the sisters sailed together into the drawing-room. + +'Uniformity is sometimes a gain,' murmured the Countess, as they were +parting in the middle of the room. She saw that their fine figures, and +profiles, and resemblance in contrast, produced an effect. The Duke wore +one of those calmly intent looks by which men show they are aware of +change in the heavens they study, and are too devout worshippers to +presume to disapprove. Mr. George was standing by Miss Carrington, and +he also watched Mrs. Strike. To bewilder him yet more the Countess +persisted in fixing her eyes upon his heterodox apparel, and Mr. George +became conscious and uneasy. Miss Carrington had to address her question +to him twice before he heard. Melville Jocelyn, Sir John Loring, Sir +Franks, and Hamilton surrounded the Countess, and told her what they had +decided on with regard to the election during the day; for Melville was +warm in his assertion that they would not talk to the Countess five +minutes without getting a hint worth having. + +'Call to us that man who is habited like a groom,' said the Countess, +indicating Mr. George. 'I presume he is in his right place up here?' + +'Whew--take care, Countess--our best man. He's good for a dozen,' said +Hamilton. + +Mr. George was brought over and introduced to the Countess de Saldar. + +'So the oldest Tory in the county is a fox?' she said, in allusion to the +hunt. Never did Caroline Strike admire her sister's fearful genius more +than at that moment. + +Mr. George ducked and rolled his hand over his chin, with 'ah-um!' and +the like, ended by a dry laugh. + +'Are you our supporter, Mr. Uplift?' + +'Tory interest, ma--um--my lady.' + +'And are you staunch and may be trusted?' + +''Pon my honour, I think I have that reputation.' + +'And you would not betray us if we give you any secrets? Say "'Pon my +honour," again. You launch it out so courageously.' + +The men laughed, though they could not see what the Countess was driving +at. She had for two minutes spoken as she spoke when a girl, and George +--entirely off his guard and unsuspicious--looked unenlightened. If he +knew, there were hints enough for him in her words. + +If he remained blind, they might pass as air. The appearance of the +butler cut short his protestation as to his powers of secresy. + +The Countess dismissed him. + +'You will be taken into our confidence when we require you.' And she +resumed her foreign air in a most elaborate and overwhelming bow. + +She was now perfectly satisfied that she was safe from Mr. George, and, +as she thoroughly detested the youthful squire, she chose to propagate a +laugh at him by saying with the utmost languor and clearness of voice, as +they descended the stairs: + +'After all, a very clever fox may be a very dull dog--don't you think?' + +Gentlemen in front of her, and behind, heard it, and at Mr. George's +expense her reputation rose. + +Thus the genius of this born general prompted her to adopt the principle +in tactics--boldly to strike when you are in the dark as to your enemy's +movements. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +IN WHICH THE DAUGHTERS OF THE GREAT MEL HAVE TO DIGEST HIM AT DINNER + +You must know, if you would form an estimate of the Countess's heroic +impudence, that a rumour was current in Lymport that the fair and well- +developed Louisa Harrington, in her sixteenth year, did advisedly, and +with the intention of rendering the term indefinite, entrust her +guileless person to Mr. George Uplift's honourable charge. The rumour, +unflavoured by absolute malignity, was such; and it went on to say, that +the sublime Mel, alive to the honour of his family, followed the +fugitives with a pistol, and with a horsewhip, that he might chastise the +offender according to the degree of his offence. It was certain that he +had not used the pistol: it was said that he had used the whip. +The details of the interview between Mel and Mr. George were numerous, +but at the same time various. Some declared that he put a pistol to Mr. +George's ear, and under pressure of that persuader got him into the +presence of a clergyman, when he turned sulky; and when the pistol was +again produced, the ceremony would have been performed, had not the +outraged Church cried out for help. Some vowed that Mr. George had +referred all questions implying a difference between himself and Mel to +their mutual fists for decision. At any rate, Mr. George turned up in +Fallow field subsequently; the fair Louisa, unhurt and with a quiet mind, +in Lymport; and this amount of truth the rumours can be reduced to--that +Louisa and Mr. George had been acquainted. Rumour and gossip know how to +build: they always have some solid foundation, however small. Upwards of +twelve years had run since Louisa went to the wife of the brewer-- +a period quite long enough for Mr. George to forget any one in; and she +was altogether a different creature; and, as it was true that Mr. George +was a dull one, she was, after the test she had put him to, justified in +hoping that Mel's progeny might pass unchallenged anywhere out of +Lymport. So, with Mr. George facing her at table, the Countess sat down, +determined to eat and be happy. + +A man with the education and tastes of a young country squire is not +likely to know much of the character of women; and of the marvellous +power they have of throwing a veil of oblivion between themselves and +what they don't want to remember, few men know much. Mr. George had +thought, when he saw Mrs. Strike leaning to Evan, and heard she was a +Harrington, that she was rather like the Lymport family; but the +reappearance of Mrs. Strike, the attention of the Duke of Belfield to +her, and the splendid tactics of the Countess, which had extinguished +every thought in the thought of himself, drove Lymport out of his mind. + +There were some dinner guests at the table-people of Fallow field, +Beckley, and Bodley. The Countess had the diplomatist on one side, the +Duke on the other. Caroline was under the charge of Sir Franks. The +Countess, almost revelling in her position opposite Mr. George, was +ambitious to lead the conversation, and commenced, smiling at Melville: + +'We are to be spared politics to-day? I think politics and cookery do +not assimilate.' + +'I'm afraid you won't teach the true Briton to agree with you,' said +Melville, shaking his head over the sums involved by this British +propensity. + +'No,' said Seymour. 'Election dinners are a part of the Constitution': +and Andrew laughed: 'They make Radicals pay as well as Tories, so it's +pretty square.' + +The topic was taken up, flagged, fell, and was taken up again. And then +Harry Jocelyn said: + +'I say, have you worked the flags yet? The great Mel must have his +flags.' + +The flags were in the hands of ladies, and ladies would look to the +rosettes, he was told. + +Then a lady of the name of Barrington laughed lightly, and said: + +'Only, pray, my dear Harry, don't call your uncle the "Great Mel" at the +election.' + +'Oh! very well,' quoth Harry: 'why not?' + +'You 'll get him laughed at--that 's all.' + +'Oh! well, then, I won't,' said Harry, whose wits were attracted by the +Countess's visage. + +Mrs. Barrington turned to Seymour, her neighbour, and resumed: + +'He really would be laughed at. There was a tailor--he was called the +Great Mel--and he tried to stand for Fallow field once. I believe he had +the support of Squire Uplift--George's uncle--and others. They must have +done it for fun! Of course he did not get so far as the hustings; but I +believe he had flags, and principles, and all sorts of things worked +ready. He certainly canvassed.' + +'A tailor--canvassed--for Parliament?' remarked an old Dowager, the +mother of Squire Copping. 'My what are we coming to next?' + +'He deserved to get in,' quoth Aunt Bel: 'After having his principles +worked ready, to eject the man was infamous.' + +Amazed at the mine she had sprung, the Countess sat through it, lamenting +the misery of owning a notorious father. Happily Evan was absent, on his +peaceful blessed bed! + +Bowing over wine with the Duke, she tried another theme, while still, +like a pertinacious cracker, the Great Mel kept banging up and down the +table. + +'We are to have a feast in the open air, I hear. What you call pic-nic.' + +The Duke believed there was a project of the sort. + +'How exquisitely they do those things in Portugal! I suppose there would +be no scandal in my telling something now. At least we are out of Court- +jurisdiction.' + +'Scandal of the Court!' exclaimed his Grace, in mock horror. + +'The option is yours to listen. The Queen, when young, was sweetly +pretty; a divine complexion; and a habit of smiling on everybody. I +presume that the young Habral, son of the first magistrate of Lisbon, was +also smiled on. Most innocently, I would swear! But it operated on the +wretched youth! He spent all his fortune in the purchase and decoration +of a fairy villa, bordering on the Val das Rosas, where the Court enjoyed +its rustic festivities, and one day a storm! all the ladies hurried +their young mistress to the house where the young Habral had been +awaiting her for ages. None so polished as he! Musicians started up, +the floors were ready, and torches beneath them!--there was a feast of +exquisite wines and viands sparkling. Quite enchantment. The girl-Queen +was in ecstasies. She deigned a dance with the young Habral, and then +all sat down to supper; and in the middle of it came the cry of Fire! +The Queen shrieked; the flames were seen all around; and if the arms of +the young Habral were opened to save her, or perish, could she cast a +thought on Royalty, and refuse? The Queen was saved the villa was burnt; +the young Habral was ruined, but, if I know a Portuguese, he was happy +till he died, and well remunerated! For he had held a Queen to his +heart! So that was a pic-nic!' + +The Duke slightly inclined his head. + +'Vrai Portughez derrendo,' he said. 'They tell a similar story in Spain, +of one of the Queens--I forget her name. The difference between us and +your Peninsular cavaliers is, that we would do as much for uncrowned +ladies.' + +'Ah! your Grace!' The Countess swam in the pleasure of a nobleman's +compliment. + +'What's the story?' interposed Aunt Bel. + +An outline of it was given her. Thank heaven, the table was now rid of +the Great Mel. For how could he have any, the remotest relation with +Queens and Peninsular pic-nics? You shall hear. + +Lady Jocelyn happened to catch a word or two of the story. + +'Why,' said she, 'that's English! Franks, you remember the ballet +divertissement they improvised at the Bodley race-ball, when the +magnificent footman fired a curtain and caught up Lady Racial, and +carried her--' + +'Heaven knows where!' cried Sir Franks. 'I remember it perfectly. It +was said that the magnificent footman did it on purpose to have that +pleasure.' + +'Ay, of course,' Hamilton took him up. 'They talked of prosecuting the +magnificent footman.' + +'Ay,' followed Seymour, 'and nobody could tell where the magnificent +footman bolted. He vanished into thin air.' + +'Ay, of course,' Melville struck in; 'and the magic enveloped the lady +for some time.' + +At this point Mr. George Uplift gave a horse-laugh. He jerked in his +seat excitedly. + +'Bodley race-ball!' he cried; and looking at Lady Jocelyn: 'Was your +ladyship there, then? Why--ha! ha! why, you have seen the Great Mel, +then! That tremendous footman was old Mel himself!' + +Lady Jocelyn struck both her hands on the table, and rested her large +grey eyes, full of humorous surprise, on Mr. George. + +There was a pause, and then the ladies and gentlemen laughed. + +'Yes,' Mr. George went on, 'that was old Mel. I'll swear to him.' + +'And that's how it began?' murmured Lady Jocelyn. + +Mr. George nodded at his plate discreetly. + +'Well,' said Lady Jocelyn, leaning back, and lifting her face upward in +the discursive fulness of her fancy, 'I feel I am not robbed. 'Il y a +des miracles, et j'en ai vu'. One's life seems more perfect when one has +seen what nature can do. The fellow was stupendous! I conceive him +present. Who'll fire a house for me? Is it my deficiency of attraction, +or a total dearth of gallant snobs?' + +The Countess was drowned. The muscles of her smiles were horribly stiff +and painful. Caroline was getting pale. Could it be accident that thus +resuscitated Mel, their father, and would not let the dead man die? Was +not malice at the bottom of it? The Countess, though she hated Mr. +George infinitely, was clear-headed enough to see that Providence alone +was trying her. No glances were exchanged between him and Laxley, or +Drummond. + +Again Mel returned to his peace, and again he had to come forth. + +'Who was this singular man you were speaking about just now?' Mrs. +Evremonde asked. + +Lady Jocelyn answered her: 'The light of his age. The embodied protest +against our social prejudice. Combine--say, Mirabeau and Alcibiades, and +the result is the Lymport Tailor:--he measures your husband in the +morning: in the evening he makes love to you, through a series of +pantomimic transformations. He was a colossal Adonis, and I'm sorry he's +dead!' + +'But did the man get into society?' said Mrs. Evremonde. 'How did he +manage that?' + +'Yes, indeed! and what sort of a society!' the dowager Copping +interjected. 'None but bachelor-tables, I can assure you. Oh! I +remember him. They talked of fetching him to Dox Hall. I said, No, +thank you, Tom; this isn't your Vauxhall.' + +'A sharp retort,' said Lady Jocelyn, 'a most conclusive rhyme; but you're +mistaken. Many families were glad to see him, I hear. And he only +consented to be treated like a footman when he dressed like one. The +fellow had some capital points. He fought two or three duels, and +behaved like a man. Franks wouldn't have him here, or I would have +received him. I hear that, as a conteur, he was inimitable. In short, +he was a robust Brummel, and the Regent of low life.' + +This should have been Mel's final epitaph. + +Unhappily, Mrs. Melville would remark, in her mincing manner, that the +idea of the admission of a tailor into society seemed very unnatural; +and Aunt Bel confessed that her experience did not comprehend it. + +'As to that,' said Lady Jocelyn, 'phenomena are unnatural. The rules of +society are lightened by the exceptions. What I like in this Mel is, +that though he was a snob, and an impostor, he could still make himself +respected by his betters. He was honest, so far; he acknowledged his +tastes, which were those of Franks, Melville, Seymour, and George--the +tastes of a gentleman. I prefer him infinitely to your cowardly +democrat, who barks for what he can't get, and is generally beastly. +In fact, I'm not sure that I haven't a secret passion for the great +tailor.' + +'After all, old Mel wasn't so bad,' Mr. George Uplift chimed in. + +'Granted a tailor--you didn't see a bit of it at table. I've known him +taken for a lord. And when he once got hold of you, you couldn't give +him up. The squire met him first in the coach, one winter. He took him +for a Russian nobleman--didn't find out what he was for a month or so. +Says Mel, "Yes, I make clothes. You find the notion unpleasant; guess +how disagreeable it is to me." The old squire laughed, and was glad to +have him at Croftlands as often as he chose to come. Old Mel and I used +to spar sometimes; but he's gone, and I should like to shake his fist +again.' + +Then Mr. George told the 'Bath' story, and episodes in Mel's career as +Marquis; and while he held the ear of the table, Rose, who had not spoken +a word, and had scarcely eaten a morsel during dinner, studied the +sisters with serious eyes. Only when she turned them from the Countess +to Mrs. Strike, they were softened by a shadowy drooping of the eyelids, +as if for some reason she deeply pitied that lady. + +Next to Rose sat Drummond, with a face expressive of cynical enjoyment. +He devoted uncommon attention to the Countess, whom he usually shunned +and overlooked. He invited her to exchange bows over wine, in the +fashion of that day, and the Countess went through the performance with +finished grace and ease. Poor Andrew had all the time been brushing back +his hair, and making strange deprecatory sounds in his throat, like a man +who felt bound to assure everybody at table he was perfectly happy and +comfortable. + +'Material enough for a Sartoriad,' said Drummond to Lady Jocelyn. + +'Excellent. Pray write it forthwith, Drummond', replied her ladyship; +and as they exchanged talk unintelligible to the Countess, this lady +observed to the Duke: + +'It is a relief to have buried that subject.' + +The Duke smiled, raising an eyebrow; but the persecuted Countess +perceived she had been much too hasty when Drummond added, + +'I'll make a journey to Lymport in a day or two, and master his history.' + +'Do,' said her ladyship; and flourishing her hand, '"I sing the Prince of +Snobs!"' + +'Oh, if it's about old Mel, I 'll sing you material enough,' said Mr. +George. 'There! you talk of it's being unnatural, his dining out at +respectable tables. Why, I believe--upon my honour, I believe it's a +fact--he's supped and thrown dice with the Regent.' + +Lady Jocelyn clapped her hands. 'A noble culmination, Drummond! +The man's an Epic!' + +'Well, I think old Mel was equal to it,' Mr. George pursued. 'He gave me +pretty broad hints; and this is how it was, if it really happened, you +know. Old Mel had a friend; some say he was more. Well, that was a +fellow, a great gambler. I dare say you 've heard of him--Burley Bennet +--him that won Ryelands Park of one of the royal dukes--died worth +upwards of L100,000; and old Mel swore he ought to have had it, and would +if he hadn't somehow offended him. He left the money to Admiral +Harrington, and he was a relation of Mel's.' + +'But are we then utterly mixed up with tailors?' exclaimed Mrs. +Barrington. + +'Well, those are the facts,' said Mr. George. + +The wine made the young squire talkative. It is my belief that his +suspicions were not awake at that moment, and that, like any other young +country squire, having got a subject he could talk on, he did not care to +discontinue it. The Countess was past the effort to attempt to stop him. +She had work enough to keep her smile in the right place. + +Every dinner may be said to have its special topic, just as every age has +its marked reputation. They are put up twice or thrice, and have to +contend with minor lights, and to swallow them, and then they command the +tongues of men and flow uninterruptedly. So it was with the great Mel +upon this occasion. Curiosity was aroused about him. Aunt Bel agreed +with Lady Jocelyn that she would have liked to know the mighty tailor. +Mrs. Shorne but very imperceptibly protested against the notion, and from +one to another it ran. His Grace of Belfield expressed positive approval +of Mel as one of the old school. + +'Si ce n'est pas le gentilhomme, au moins, c'est le gentilhomme manque,' +said Lady Jocelyn. 'He is to be regretted, Duke. You are right. The +stuff was in him, but the Fates were unkind. I stretch out my hand to +the pauvre diable.' + +'I think one learns more from the mock magnifico than from anything +else,' observed his Grace. + +'When the lion saw the donkey in his own royal skin, said Aunt Bel, 'add +the rhyme at your discretion--he was a wiser lion, that's all.' + +'And the ape that strives to copy one--he's an animal of judgement,' said +Lady Jocelyn. 'We will be tolerant to the tailor, and the Countess must +not set us down as a nation of shopkeepers: philosophically tolerant.' + +The Countess started, and ran a little broken 'Oh!' affably out of her +throat, dipped her lips to her tablenapkin, and resumed her smile. + +'Yes,' pursued her ladyship; 'old Mel stamps the age gone by. The +gallant adventurer tied to his shop! Alternate footman and marquis, out +of intermediate tailor! Isn't there something fine in his buffoon +imitation of the real thing? I feel already that old Mel belongs to me. +Where is the great man buried? Where have they, set the funeral brass +that holds his mighty ashes?' + +Lady Jocelyn's humour was fully entered into by the men. The women +smiled vacantly, and had a common thought that it was ill-bred of her to +hold forth in that way at table, and unfeminine of any woman to speak +continuously anywhere. + +'Oh, come!' cried Mr. George, who saw his own subject snapped away from +him by sheer cleverness; 'old Mel wasn't only a buffoon, my lady, you +know. Old Mel had his qualities. He was as much a "no-nonsense" fellow, +in his way, as a magistrate, or a minister.' + +'Or a king, or a constable,' Aunt Bel helped his illustration. + +'Or a prince, a poll-parrot, a Perigord-pie,' added Drummond, whose +gravity did not prevent Mr. George from seeing that he was laughed at. + +'Well, then, now, listen to this,' said Mr. George, leaning his two hands +on the table resolutely. Dessert was laid, and, with a full glass beside +him, and a pear to peel, he determined to be heard. + +The Countess's eyes went mentally up to the vindictive heavens. She +stole a glance at Caroline, and was alarmed at her excessive pallor. +Providence had rescued Evan from this! + +'Now, I know this to be true,' Mr. George began. 'When old Mel was +alive, he and I had plenty of sparring, and that--but he's dead, and I'll +do him justice. I spoke of Burley Bennet just now. Now, my lady, old +Burley was, I think, Mel's half-brother, and he came, I know, somewhere +out of Drury Lane-one of the courts near the theatre--I don't know much +of London. However, old Mel wouldn't have that. Nothing less than being +born in St. James's Square would content old Mel, and he must have a +Marquis for his father. I needn't be more particular. Before ladies-- +ahem! But Burley was the shrewd hand of the two. Oh-h-h! such a card! +He knew the way to get into company without false pretences. Well, I +told you, he had lots more than L100,000--some said two--and he gave up +Ryelands; never asked for it, though he won it. Consequence was, he +commanded the services of somebody pretty high. And it was he got +Admiral Harrington made a captain, posted, commodore, admiral, and +K.C.B., all in seven years! In the Army it 'd have been half the time, +for the H.R.H. was stronger in that department. Now, I know old Burley +promised Mel to leave him his money, and called the Admiral an ungrateful +dog. He didn't give Mel much at a time--now and then a twenty-pounder or +so--I saw the cheques. And old Mel expected the money, and looked over +his daughters like a turkey-cock. Nobody good enough for them. Whacking +handsome gals--three! used to be called the Three Graces of Lymport. And +one day Burley comes and visits Mel, and sees the girls. And he puts his +finger on the eldest, I can tell you. She was a spanker! She was the +handsomest gal, I think, ever I saw. For the mother's a fine woman, and +what with the mother, and what with old Mel--' + +'We won't enter into the mysteries of origin,' quoth Lady Jocelyn. + +'Exactly, my lady. Oh, your servant, of course. Before ladies. A Burley +Bennet, I said. Long and short was, he wanted to take her up to London. +Says old Mel: "London 's a sad place."--" Place to make money," says +Burley. "That's not work for a young gal," says Mel. Long and short +was, Burley wanted to take her, and Mel wouldn't let her go.' Mr. George +lowered his tone, and mumbled, 'Don't know how to explain it very well +before ladies. What Burley wanted was--it wasn't quite honourable, you +know, though there was a good deal of spangles on it, and whether a real +H.R.H., or a Marquis, or a Viscount, I can't say, but--the offer was +tempting to a tradesman. "No," says Mel; like a chap planting his +flagstaff and sticking to it. I believe that to get her to go with him, +Burley offered to make a will on the spot, and to leave every farthing of +his money and property--upon my soul, I believe it to be true--to Mel and +his family, if he'd let the gal go. "No," says Mel. I like the old +bird! And Burley got in a rage, and said he'd leave every farthing to +the sailor. Says Mel: "I'm a poor tradesman; but I have and I always +will have the feelings of a gentleman, and they're more to me than hard +cash, and the honour of my daughter, sir, is dearer to me than my blood. +Out of the house!" cries Mel. And away old Burley went, and left every +penny to the sailor, Admiral Harrington, who never noticed 'em an inch. +Now, there!' + +All had listened to Mr. George attentively, and he had slurred the +apologetic passages, and emphasized the propitiatory 'before ladies' in a +way to make himself well understood a generation back. + +'Bravo, old Mel!' rang the voice of Lady Jocelyn, and a murmur ensued, in +the midst of which Rose stood up and hurried round the table to Mrs. +Strike, who was seen to rise from her chair; and as she did so, the ill- +arranged locks fell from their unnatural restraint down over her +shoulders; one great curl half forward to the bosom, and one behind her +right ear. Her eyes were wide, her whole face, neck, and fingers, white +as marble. The faintest tremor of a frown on her brows, and her shut +lips, marked the continuation of some internal struggle, as if with her +last conscious force she kept down a flood of tears and a wild outcry +which it was death to hold. Sir Franks felt his arm touched, and looked +up, and caught her, as Rose approached. The Duke and other gentlemen +went to his aid, and as the beautiful woman was borne out white and still +as a corpse, the Countess had this dagger plunged in her heart from the +mouth of Mr. George, addressing Miss Carrington: + +'I swear I didn't do it on purpose. She 's Carry Harrington, old Mel's +daughter, as sure as she 's flesh and blood!' + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +TREATS OF A HANDKERCHIEF + +Running through Beckley Park, clear from the chalk, a little stream gave +light and freshness to its pasturage. Near where it entered, a bathing- +house of white marble had been built, under which the water flowed, and +the dive could be taken to a paved depth, and you swam out over a pebbly +bottom into sun-light, screened by the thick-weeded banks, loose-strife +and willow-herb, and mint, nodding over you, and in the later season +long-plumed yellow grasses. Here at sunrise the young men washed their +limbs, and here since her return home English Rose loved to walk by +night. She had often spoken of the little happy stream to Evan in +Portugal, and when he came to Beckley Court, she arranged that he should +sleep in a bed-room overlooking it. The view was sweet and pleasant to +him, for all the babbling of the water was of Rose, and winding in and +out, to East, to North, it wound to embowered hopes in the lover's mind, +to tender dreams; and often at dawn, when dressing, his restless heart +embarked on it, and sailed into havens, the phantom joys of which +coloured his life for him all the day. But most he loved to look across +it when the light fell. The palest solitary gleam along its course spoke +to him rich promise. The faint blue beam of a star chained all his +longings, charmed his sorrows to sleep. Rose like a fairy had breathed +her spirit here, and it was a delight to the silly luxurious youth to lie +down, and fix some image of a flower bending to the stream on his brain, +and in the cradle of fancies that grew round it, slide down the tide of +sleep. + +From the image of a flower bending to the stream, like his own soul to +the bosom of Rose, Evan built sweet fables. It was she that exalted him, +that led him through glittering chapters of adventure. In his dream of +deeds achieved for her sake, you may be sure the young man behaved +worthily, though he was modest when she praised him, and his limbs +trembled when the land whispered of his great reward to come. The longer +he stayed at Beckley the more he lived in this world within world, and if +now and then the harsh outer life smote him, a look or a word from Rose +encompassed him again, and he became sensible only of a distant pain. + +At first his hope sprang wildly to possess her, to believe, that after he +had done deeds that would have sent ordinary men in the condition of +shattered hulks to the hospital, she might be his. Then blow upon blow +was struck, and he prayed to be near her till he died: no more. Then +she, herself, struck him to the ground, and sitting in his chamber, sick +and weary, on the evening of his mishap, Evan's sole desire was to obtain +the handkerchief he had risked his neck for. To have that, and hold it +to his heart, and feel it as a part of her, seemed much. + +Over a length of the stream the red round harvest-moon was rising, and +the weakened youth was this evening at the mercy of the charm that +encircled him. The water curved, and dimpled, and flowed flat, and the +whole body of it rushed into the spaces of sad splendour. The clustered +trees stood like temples of darkness; their shadows lengthened +supernaturally; and a pale gloom crept between them on the sward. He had +been thinking for some time that Rose would knock at his door, and give +him her voice, at least; but she did not come; and when he had gazed out +on the stream till his eyes ached, he felt that he must go and walk by +it. Those little flashes of the hurrying tide spoke to him of a secret +rapture and of a joy-seeking impulse; the pouring onward of all the blood +of life to one illumined heart, mournful from excess of love. + +Pardon me, I beg. Enamoured young men have these notions. Ordinarily +Evan had sufficient common sense and was as prosaic as mankind could wish +him; but he has had a terrible fall in the morning, and a young woman +rages in his brain. Better, indeed, and 'more manly,' were he to strike +and raise huge bosses on his forehead, groan, and so have done with it. +We must let him go his own way. + +At the door he was met by the Countess. She came into the room without a +word or a kiss, and when she did speak, the total absence of any euphuism +gave token of repressed excitement yet more than her angry eyes and eager +step. Evan had grown accustomed to her moods, and if one moment she was +the halcyon, and another the petrel, it no longer disturbed him, seeing +that he was a stranger to the influences by which she was affected. The +Countess rated him severely for not seeking repose and inviting sympathy. +She told him that the Jocelyns had one and all combined in an infamous +plot to destroy the race of Harrington, and that Caroline had already +succumbed to their assaults; that the Jocelyns would repent it, and +sooner than they thought for; and that the only friend the Harringtons +had in the house was Miss Bonner, whom Providence would liberally reward. + +Then the Countess changed to a dramatic posture, and whispered aloud, +'Hush: she is here. She is so anxious. Be generous, my brother, and let +her see you!' + +'She?' said Evan, faintly. 'May she come, Louisa?' He hoped for Rose. + +'I have consented to mask it,' returned the Countess. 'Oh, what do I not +sacrifice for you!' + +She turned from him, and to Evan's chagrin introduced Juliana Bonner. + +'Five minutes, remember!' said the Countess. ' I must not hear of more.' +And then Evan found himself alone with Miss Bonner, and very uneasy. +This young lady had restless brilliant eyes, and a contraction about the +forehead which gave one the idea of a creature suffering perpetual +headache. She said nothing, and when their eyes met she dropped hers in +a manner that made silence too expressive. Feeling which, Evan began: + +'May I tell you that I think it is I who ought to be nursing you, not you +me?' + +Miss Bonner replied by lifting her eyes and dropping them as before, +murmuring subsequently, 'Would you do so?' + +'Most certainly, if you did me the honour to select me.' + +The fingers of the young lady commenced twisting and intertwining on her +lap. Suddenly she laughed: + +'It would not do at all. You won't be dismissed from your present +service till you 're unfit for any other.' + +'What do you mean?' said Evan, thinking more of the unmusical laugh than +of the words. + +He received no explanation, and the irksome silence caused him to look +through the window, as an escape for his mind, at least. The waters +streamed on endlessly into the golden arms awaiting them. The low moon +burnt through the foliage. In the distance, over a reach of the flood, +one tall aspen shook against the lighted sky. + +'Are you in pain?' Miss Bonner asked, and broke his reverie. + +'No; I am going away, and perhaps I sigh involuntarily.' + +'You like these grounds?' + +'I have never been so happy in any place.' + +'With those cruel young men about you?' + +Evan now laughed. 'We don't call young men cruel, Miss Bonner.' + +'But were they not? To take advantage of what Rose told them--it was +base!' + +She had said more than she intended, possibly, for she coloured under his +inquiring look, and added: 'I wish I could say the same as you of +Beckley. Do you know, I am called Rose's thorn?' + +'Not by Miss Jocelyn herself, certainly!' + +'How eager you are to defend her. But am I not--tell me--do I not look +like a thorn in company with her?' + +'There is but the difference that ill health would make.' + +'Ill health? Oh, yes! And Rose is so much better born.' + +'To that, I am sure, she does not give a thought.' + +'Not Rose? Oh!' + +An exclamation, properly lengthened, convinces the feelings more +satisfactorily than much logic. Though Evan claimed only the hand- +kerchief he had won, his heart sank at the sound. Miss Bonner watched +him, and springing forward, said sharply: + +'May I tell you something?' + +'You may tell me what you please.' + +'Then, whether I offend you or not, you had better leave this.' + +'I am going,' said Evan. 'I am only waiting to introduce your tutor to +you.' + +She kept her eyes on him, and in her voice as well there was a depth, as +she returned: + +'Mr. Laxley, Mr. Forth, and Harry, are going to Lymport to-morrow.' + +Evan was looking at a figure, whose shadow was thrown towards the house +from the margin of the stream. + +He stood up, and taking the hand of Miss Bonner, said: + +'I thank you. I may, perhaps, start with them. At any rate, you have +done me a great service, which I shall not forget.' + +The figure by the stream he knew to be that of Rose. He released Miss +Bonner's trembling moist hand, and as he continued standing, she moved to +the door, after once following the line of his eyes into the moonlight. + +Outside the door a noise was audible. Andrew had come to sit with his +dear boy, and the Countess had met and engaged and driven him to the +other end of the passage, where he hung remonstrating with her. + +'Why, Van,' he said, as Evan came up to him, 'I thought you were in a +profound sleep. Louisa said--' + +'Silly Andrew!' interposed the Countess, 'do you not observe he is sleep- +walking now?' and she left them with a light laugh to go to Juliana, whom +she found in tears. The Countess was quite aware of the efficacy of a +little bit of burlesque lying to cover her retreat from any petty +exposure. + +Evan soon got free from Andrew. He was under the dim stars, walking to +the great fire in the East. The cool air refreshed him. He was simply +going to ask for his own, before he went, and had no cause to fear what +would be thought by any one. A handkerchief! A man might fairly win +that, and carry it out of a very noble family, without having to blush +for himself. + +I cannot say whether he inherited his feeling for rank from Mel, his +father, or that the Countess had succeeded in instilling it, but Evan +never took Republican ground in opposition to those who insulted him, +and never lashed his 'manhood' to assert itself, nor compared the +fineness of his instincts with the behaviour of titled gentlemen. +Rather he seemed to admit the distinction between his birth and that +of a gentleman, admitting it to his own soul, as it were, and struggled +simply as men struggle against a destiny. The news Miss Bonner had given +him sufficed to break a spell which could not have endured another week; +and Andrew, besides, had told him of Caroline's illness. He walked to +meet Rose, honestly intending to ask for his own, and wish her good-bye. + +Rose saw him approach, and knew him in the distance. She was sitting on +a lower branch of the aspen, that shot out almost from the root, and +stretched over the intervolving rays of light on the tremulous water. +She could not move to meet him. She was not the Rose whom we have +hitherto known. Love may spring in the bosom of a young girl, like +Helper in the evening sky, a grey speck in a field of grey, and not be +seen or known, till surely as the circle advances the faint planet +gathers fire, and, coming nearer earth, dilates, and will and must be +seen and known. When Evan lay like a dead man on the ground, Rose turned +upon herself as the author of his death, and then she felt this presence +within her, and her heart all day had talked to her of it, and was +throbbing now, and would not be quieted. She could only lift her eyes +and give him her hand; she could not speak. She thought him cold, and he +was; cold enough to think that she and her cousin were not unlike in +their manner, though not deep enough to reflect that it was from the same +cause. + +She was the first to find her wits: but not before she spoke did she +feel, and start to feel, how long had been the silence, and that her hand +was still in his. + +'Why did you come out, Evan? It was not right.' + +'I came to speak to you. I shall leave early to-morrow, and may not see +you alone.' + +'You are going----?' + +She checked her voice, and left the thrill of it wavering in him. + +'Yes, Rose, I am going; I should have gone before.' + +'Evan!' she grasped his hand, and then timidly retained it. 'You have +not forgiven me? I see now. I did not think of any risk to you. I only +wanted you to beat. I wanted you to be first and best. If you knew how +I thank God for saving you! What my punishment would have been!' + +Till her eyes were full she kept them on him, too deep in emotion to be +conscious of it. + +He could gaze on her tears coldly. + +'I should be happy to take the leap any day for the prize you offered. +I have come for that.' + +'For what, Evan?' But while she was speaking the colour mounted in her +cheeks, and she went on rapidly: + +'Did you think it unkind of me not to come to nurse you. I must tell +you, to defend myself. It was the Countess, Evan. She is offended with +me--very justly, I dare say. She would not let me come. What could I +do? I had no claim to come.' + +Rose was not aware of the import of her speech. Evan, though he felt +more in it, and had some secret nerves set tingling and dancing, was not +to be moved from his demand. + +'Do you intend to withhold it, Rose?' + +'Withhold what, Evan? Anything that you wish for is yours.' + +'The handkerchief. Is not that mine?' + +Rose faltered a word. Why did he ask for it? Because he asked for +nothing else, and wanted no other thing save that. + +Why did she hesitate? Because it was so poor a gift, and so unworthy of +him. + +And why did he insist? Because in honour she was bound to surrender it. + +And why did she hesitate still? Let her answer. + +'Oh, Evan! I would give you anything but that; and if you are going +away, I should beg so much to keep it.' + +He must have been in a singular state not to see her heart in the +refusal, as was she not to see his in the request. But Love is blindest +just when the bandage is being removed from his forehead. + +'Then you will not give it me, Rose? Do you think I shall go about +boasting "This is Miss Jocelyn's handkerchief, and I, poor as I am, have +won it"?' + +The taunt struck aslant in Rose's breast with a peculiar sting. She +stood up. + +'I will give it you, Evan.' + +Turning from him she drew it forth, and handed it to him hurriedly. +It was warm. It was stained with his blood. He guessed where it had +been nestling, and, now, as if by revelation, he saw that large sole star +in the bosom of his darling, and was blinded by it and lost his senses. + +'Rose! beloved!' + +Like the flower of his nightly phantasy bending over the stream, he +looked and saw in her sweet face the living wonders that encircled his +image; she murmuring: 'No, you must hate me.' + +'I love you, Rose, and dare to say it--and it 's unpardonable. Can you +forgive me?' + +She raised her face to him. + +'Forgive you for loving me?' she said. + +Holy to them grew the stillness: the ripple suffused in golden moonlight: +the dark edges of the leaves against superlative brightness. Not a chirp +was heard, nor anything save the cool and endless carol of the happy +waters, whose voices are the spirits of silence. Nature seemed +consenting that their hands should be joined, their eyes intermingling. +And when Evan, with a lover's craving, wished her lips to say what her +eyes said so well, Rose drew his fingers up, and, with an arch smile and +a blush, kissed them. The simple act set his heart thumping, and from +the look of love, she saw an expression of pain pass through him. Her +fealty--her guileless, fearless truth--which the kissing of his hand +brought vividly before him, conjured its contrast as well in this that +was hidden from her, or but half suspected. Did she know--know and love +him still? He thought it might be: but that fell dead on her asking: + +'Shall I speak to Mama to-night?' + +A load of lead crushed him. + +'Rose!' he said; but could get no farther. + +Innocently, or with well-masked design, Rose branched off into little +sweet words about his bruised shoulder, touching it softly, as if she +knew the virtue that was in her touch, and accusing her selfish self as +she caressed it: + +'Dearest Evan! you must have been sure I thought no one like you. Why +did you not tell me before? I can hardly believe it now! Do you know,' +she hurried on, 'they think me cold and heartless,--am I? I must be, to +have made you run such risk; but yet I'm sure I could not have survived +you.' + +Dropping her voice, Rose quoted Ruth. As Evan listened, the words were +like food from heaven poured into his spirit. + +'To-morrow,' he kept saying to himself, 'to-morrow I will tell her all. +Let her think well of me a few short hours.' + +But the passing minutes locked them closer; each had a new link--in a +word, or a speechless breath, or a touch: and to break the marriage of +their eyes there must be infinite baseness on one side, or on the other +disloyalty to love. + +The moon was a silver ball, high up through the aspen-leaves. Evan +kissed the hand of Rose, and led her back to the house. He had appeased +his conscience by restraining his wild desire to kiss her lips. + +In the hall they parted. Rose whispered, 'Till death!' giving him her +hands. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE COUNTESS MAKES HERSELF FELT + +There is a peculiar reptile whose stroke is said to deprive men of +motion. On the day after the great Mel had stalked the dinner-table of +Beckley Court, several of the guests were sensible of the effect of this +creature's mysterious touch, without knowing what it was that paralyzed +them. Drummond Forth had fully planned to go to Lymport. He had special +reasons for making investigations with regard to the great Mel. Harry, +who was fond of Drummond, offered to accompany him, and Laxley, for the +sake of a diversion, fell into the scheme. Mr. George Uplift was also to +be of the party, and promised them fun. But when the time came to start, +not one could be induced to move: Laxley was pressingly engaged by Rose: +Harry showed the rope the Countess held him by; Mr. George made a +singular face, and seriously advised Drummond to give up the project. + +'Don't rub that woman the wrong way,' he said, in a private colloquy they +had. 'By Jingo, she's a Tartar. She was as a gal, and she isn't +changed, Lou Harrington. Fancy now: she knew me, and she faced me out, +and made me think her a stranger! Gad, I'm glad I didn't speak to the +others. Lord's sake, keep it quiet. Don't rouse that woman, now, if you +want to keep a whole skin.' + +Drummond laughed at his extreme earnestness in cautioning him, and +appeared to enjoy his dread of the Countess. Mr. George would not tell +how he had been induced to change his mind. He repeated his advice with +a very emphatic shrug of the shoulder. + +'You seem afraid of her,' said Drummond. + +'I am. I ain't ashamed to confess it. She's a regular viper, my boy!' +said Mr. George. 'She and I once were pretty thick--least said soonest +mended, you know. I offended her. Wasn't quite up to her mark--a +tailor's daughter, you know. Gad, if she didn't set an Irish Dragoon +Captain on me!--I went about in danger of my life. The fellow began to +twist his damned black moustaches the moment he clapped eyes on me-- +bullied me till, upon my soul, I was almost ready to fight him! Oh, she +was a little tripping Tartar of a bantam hen then. She's grown since +she's been countessed, and does it peacocky. Now, I give you fair +warning, you know. She's more than any man's match.' + +'I dare say I shall think the same when she has beaten me,' quoth cynical +Drummond, and immediately went and gave orders for his horse to be +saddled, thinking that he would tread on the head of the viper. + +But shortly before the hour of his departure, Mrs. Evremonde summoned him +to her, and showed him a slip of paper, on which was written, in an +uncouth small hand: + +'Madam: a friend warns you that your husband is coming here. Deep +interest in your welfare is the cause of an anonymous communication. The +writer wishes only to warn you in time.' + +Mrs. Evremonde told Drummond that she had received it from one of the +servants when leaving the breakfast-room. Beyond the fact that a man on +horseback had handed it to a little boy, who had delivered it over to the +footman, Drummond could learn nothing. Of course, all thought of the +journey to Lymport was abandoned. If but to excogitate a motive for the +origin of the document, Drummond was forced to remain; and now he had it, +and now he lost it again; and as he was wandering about in his maze, the +Countess met him with a 'Good morning, Mr., Forth. Have I impeded your +expedition by taking my friend Mr. Harry to cavalier me to-day?' + +Drummond smilingly assured her that she had not in any way disarranged +his projects, and passed with so absorbed a brow that the Countess could +afford to turn her head and inspect him, without fear that he would +surprise her in the act. Knocking the pearly edge of her fan on her +teeth, she eyed him under her joined black lashes, and deliberately read +his thoughts in the mere shape of his back and shoulders. She read him +through and through, and was unconscious of the effective attitude she +stood in for the space of two full minutes, and even then it required one +of our unhappy sex to recall her. This was Harry Jocelyn. + +'My friend,' she said to him, with a melancholy smile, 'my one friend +here!' + +Harry went through the form of kissing her hand, which he had been +taught, and practised cunningly as the first step of the ladder. + +'I say, you looked so handsome, standing as you did just now,' he +remarked; and she could see how far beneath her that effective attitude +had precipitated the youth. + +'Ah!' she sighed, walking on, with the step of majesty in exile. + +'What the deuce is the matter with everybody to-day?' cried Harry. +'I 'm hanged if I can make it out. There's the Carrington, as you call +her, I met her with such a pair of eyes, and old George looking as if +he'd been licked, at her heels; and there's Drummond and his lady fair +moping about the lawn, and my mother positively getting excited--there's +a miracle! and Juley 's sharpening her nails for somebody, and if +Ferdinand don't look out, your brother 'll be walking off with Rosey-- +that 's my opinion.' + +'Indeed,' said the Countess. 'You really think so?' + +'Well, they come it pretty strong together.' + +'And what constitutes the "come it strong," Mr. Harry?' + +'Hold of hands; you know,' the young gentleman indicated. + +'Alas, then! must not we be more discreet?' + +'Oh! but it's different. With young people one knows what that means.' + +'Deus!' exclaimed the Countess, tossing her head weariedly, and Harry +perceived his slip, and down he went again. + +What wonder that a youth in such training should consent to fetch and +carry, to listen and relate, to play the spy and know no more of his +office than that it gave him astonishing thrills of satisfaction, and now +and then a secret sweet reward? + +The Countess had sealed Miss Carrington's mouth by one of her most +dexterous strokes. On leaving the dinner-table over-night, and seeing +that Caroline's attack would preclude their instant retreat, the gallant +Countess turned at bay. A word aside to Mr. George Uplift, and then the +Countess took a chair by Miss Carrington. She did all the conversation, +and supplied all the smiles to it, and when a lady has to do that she. +is justified in striking, and striking hard, for to abandon the pretence +of sweetness is a gross insult from one woman to another. + +The Countess then led circuitously, but with all the ease in the world, +to the story of a Portuguese lady, of a marvellous beauty, and who was +deeply enamoured of the Chevalier Miguel de Rasadio, and engaged to be +married to him: but, alas for her! in the insolence of her happiness she +wantonly made an enemy in the person of a most unoffending lady, and she +repented it. While sketching the admirable Chevalier, the Countess drew +a telling portrait of Mr. George Uplift, and gratified her humour and her +wrath at once by strong truth to nature in the description and animated +encomiums on the individual. The Portuguese lady, too, a little +resembled Miss Carrington, in spite of her marvellous beauty. And it was +odd that Miss Carrington should give a sudden start and a horrified +glance at the Countess just when the Countess was pathetically relating +the proceeding taken by the revengeful lady on the beautiful betrothed of +the Chevalier Miguel de Rasadio: which proceeding was nothing other than +to bring to the Chevalier's knowledge that his beauty had a defect +concealed by her apparel, and that the specks in his fruit were not one, +or two, but, Oh! And the dreadful sequel to the story the Countess could +not tell: preferring ingeniously to throw a tragic veil over it. Miss +Carrington went early to bed that night. + +The courage that mounteth with occasion was eminently the attribute of +the Countess de Saldar. After that dreadful dinner she (since the +weaknesses of great generals should not be altogether ignored), did pray +for flight and total obscurity, but Caroline could not be left in her +hysteric state, and now that she really perceived that Evan was +progressing and on the point of sealing his chance, the devoted lady +resolved to hold her ground. Besides, there was the pic-nic. The +Countess had one dress she had not yet appeared in, and it was for the +picnic she kept it. That small motives are at the bottom of many +illustrious actions is a modern discovery; but I shall not adopt the +modern principle of magnifying the small motive till it overshadows my +noble heroine. I remember that the small motive is only to be seen by +being borne into the range of my vision by a powerful microscope; and if +I do more than see--if I carry on my reflections by the aid of the glass, +I arrive at conclusions that must be false. Men who dwarf human nature +do this. The gods are juster. The Countess, though she wished to remain +for the pic-nic, and felt warm in anticipation of the homage to her new +dress, was still a gallant general and a devoted sister, and if she said +to herself, 'Come what may, I will stay for that pic-nic, and they shall +not brow-beat me out of it,' it is that trifling pleasures are noisiest +about the heart of human nature: not that they govern us absolutely. +There is mob-rule in minds as in communities, but the Countess had her +appetites in excellent drill. This pic-nic surrendered, represented to +her defeat in all its ignominy. The largest longest-headed of schemes +ask occasionally for something substantial and immediate. So the +Countess stipulated with Providence for the pic-nic. It was a point to +be passed: 'Thorough flood, thorough fire.' + +In vain poor Andrew Cogglesby, to whom the dinner had been torture, and +who was beginning to see the position they stood in at Beckley, begged to +be allowed to take them away, or to go alone. The Countess laughed him +into submission. As a consequence of her audacious spirits she grew more +charming and more natural, and the humour that she possessed, but which, +like her other faculties, was usually subordinate to her plans, gave +spontaneous bursts throughout the day, and delighted her courtiers. Nor +did the men at all dislike the difference of her manner with them, and +with the ladies. I may observe that a woman who shows a marked +depression in the presence of her own sex will be thought very superior +by ours; that is, supposing she is clever and agreeable. Manhood +distinguishes what flatters it. A lady approaches. 'We must be proper,' +says the Countess, and her hearty laugh dies with suddenness and is +succeeded by the maturest gravity. And the Countess can look a profound +merriment with perfect sedateness when there appears to be an equivoque +in company. Finely secret are her glances, as if under every eye-lash +there lurked the shade of a meaning. What she meant was not so clear. +All this was going on, and Lady Jocelyn was simply amused, and sat as at +a play. + +'She seems to have stepped out of a book of French memoirs,' said her +ladyship. 'La vie galante et devote--voila la Comtesse.' + +In contradistinction to the other ladies, she did not detest the Countess +because she could not like her. + +'Where 's the harm in her?' she asked. 'She doesn't damage the men, that +I can see. And a person you can laugh at and with, is inexhaustible.' + +'And how long is she to stay here?' Mrs. Shorne inquired. Mrs. Melville +remarking: 'Her visit appears to be inexhaustible.' + +'I suppose she'll stay till the Election business is over,' said Lady +Jocelyn. + +The Countess had just driven with Melville to Fallow field in Caroline's +black lace shawl. + +'Upwards of four weeks longer!' Mrs. Melville interjected. + +Lady Jocelyn chuckled. + +Miss Carrington was present. She had been formerly sharp in her +condemnation of the Countess--her affectedness, her euphuism, and her +vulgarity. Now she did not say a word, though she might have done it +with impunity. + +'I suppose, Emily, you see what Rose is about?' said Mrs. Melville. +'I should not have thought it adviseable to have that young man here, +myself. I think I let you know that.' + +'One young man's as good as another,' responded her ladyship. 'I 've my +doubts of the one that's much better. I fancy Rose is as good a judge by +this time as you or I.' + +Mrs. Melville made an effort or two to open Lady Jocelyn's eyes, and then +relapsed into the confident serenity inspired by evil prognostications. + +'But there really does seem some infatuation about these people!' +exclaimed Mrs. Shorne, turning to Miss Current. 'Can you understand it? +The Duke, my dear! Things seem to be going on in the house, that really +--and so openly.' + +'That's one virtue,' said Miss Current, with her imperturbable metallic +voice, and face like a cold clear northern sky. 'Things done in secret +throw on the outsiders the onus of raising a scandal.' + +'You don't believe, then?' suggested Mrs. Shorne. + +Miss Current replied: 'I always wait for a thing to happen first.' + +'But haven't you seen, my dear?' + +'I never see anything, my dear.' + +'Then you must be blind, my dear.' + +'On the contrary, that 's how I keep my sight, my dear.' + +'I don't understand you,' said Mrs. Shorne. + +'It's a part of the science of optics, and requires study,' said Miss +Current. + +Neither with the worldly nor the unworldly woman could the ladies do +anything. But they were soon to have their triumph. + +A delicious morning had followed the lovely night. The stream flowed +under Evan's eyes, like something in a lower sphere, now. His passion +took him up, as if a genie had lifted him into mid-air, and showed him +the world on a palm of a hand; and yet, as he dressed by the window, +little chinks in the garden wall, and nectarines under their shiny +leaves, and the white walks of the garden, were stamped on his hot brain +accurately and lastingly. Ruth upon the lips of Rose: that voice of +living constancy made music to him everywhere. 'Thy God shall be my +God.' He had heard it all through the night. He had not yet broken the +tender charm sufficiently to think that he must tell her the sacrifice +she would have to make. When partly he did, the first excuse he clutched +at was, that he had not even kissed her on the forehead. Surely he had +been splendidly chivalrous? Just as surely he would have brought on +himself the scorn of the chivalrous or of the commonly balanced if he had +been otherwise. The grandeur of this or of any of his proceedings, then, +was forfeited, as it must needs be when we are in the false position: we +can have no glory though martyred. The youth felt it, even to the seeing +of why it was; and he resolved, in justice to the dear girl, that he +would break loose from his fetters, as we call our weakness. Behold, +Rose met him descending the stairs, and, taking his hand, sang, +unabashed, by the tell-tale colour coming over her face, a stave of a +little Portuguese air that they had both been fond of in Portugal; and +he, listening to it, and looking in her eyes, saw that his feelings in-- +the old time had been hers. Instantly the old time gave him its breath, +the present drew back. + +Rose, now that she had given her heart out, had no idea of concealment. +She would have denied nothing to her aunts: she was ready to confide it +to her mother. Was she not proud of the man she loved? When Evan's hand +touched hers she retained it, and smiled up at him frankly, as it were to +make him glad in her gladness. If before others his eyes brought the +blood to her cheeks, she would perhaps drop her eye-lids an instant, +and then glance quickly level again to reassure him. And who would have +thought that this boisterous, boyish creature had such depths of eye! +Cold, did they call her? Let others think her cold. The tender +knowledge of her--the throbbing secret they held in common sang at his +heart. Rose made no confidante, but she attempted no mystery. Evan +should have risen to the height of the noble girl. But the dearer and +sweeter her bearing became, the more conscious he was of the dead weight +he was dragging: in truth her behaviour stamped his false position to +hard print the more he admired her for it, and he had shrinkings from the +feminine part it imposed on him to play. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +IN WHICH THE STREAM FLOWS MUDDY AND CLEAR + +An Irish retriever-pup of the Shannon breed, Pat by name, was undergoing +tuition on the sward close by the kennels, Rose's hunting-whip being +passed through his collar to restrain erratic propensities. The +particular point of instruction which now made poor Pat hang out his +tongue, and agitate his crisp brown curls, was the performance of the +'down-charge'; a ceremony demanding implicit obedience from the animal in +the midst of volatile gambadoes, and a simulation of profound repose when +his desire to be up and bounding was mighty. Pat's Irish eyes were +watching Rose, as he lay with his head couched between his forepaws in +the required attitude. He had but half learnt his lesson; and something +in his half-humorous, half-melancholy look talked to Rose more eloquently +than her friend Ferdinand at her elbow. Laxley was her assistant dog- +breaker. Rose would not abandon her friends because she had accepted a +lover. On the contrary, Rose was very kind to Ferdinand, and perhaps +felt bound to be so to-day. To-day, also, her face was lighted; a +readiness to colour, and an expression of deeper knowledge, which she now +had, made the girl dangerous to friends. This was not Rose's fault but +there is no doubt among the faculty that love is a contagious disease, +and we ought not to come within miles of the creatures in whom it lodges. + +Pat's tail kept hinting to his mistress that a change would afford him +satisfaction. After a time she withdrew her wistful gaze from him, and +listened entirely to Ferdinand: and it struck her that he spoke +particularly well to-day, though she did not see so much in his eyes as +in Pat's. The subject concerned his departure, and he asked Rose if she +should be sorry. Rose, to make him sure of it, threw a music into her +voice dangerous to friends. For she had given heart and soul to Evan, +and had a sense, therefore, of being irredeemably in debt to her old +associates, and wished to be doubly kind to them. + +Pat took advantage of the diversion to stand up quietly and have a shake. +He then began to kiss his mistress's hand, to show that all was right on +both sides; and followed this with a playful pretence at a bite, that +there might be no subsequent misunderstanding, and then a bark and a +whine. As no attention was paid to this amount of plain-speaking, Pat +made a bolt. He got no farther than the length of the whip, and all he +gained was to bring on himself the terrible word of drill once more. But +Pat had tasted liberty. Irish rebellion against constituted authority +was exhibited. Pat would not: his ears tossed over his head, and he +jumped to right and left, and looked the raggedest rapparee that ever his +ancestry trotted after. Rose laughed at his fruitless efforts to get +free; but Ferdinand meditatively appeared to catch a sentiment in them. + +'Down-charge, Sir, will you? Ah, Pat! Pat! You'll have to obey me, my +boy. Now, down-charge!' + +While Rose addressed the language of reason to Pat, Ferdinand slipped in +a soft word or two. Presently she saw him on one knee. + +'Pat won't, and I will,' said he. + +'But Pat shall, and you had better not,' said she. 'Besides, my dear +Ferdinand,' she added, laughing, 'you don't know how to do it.' + +'Do you want me to prostrate on all fours, Rose?' + +'No. I hope not. Do get up, Ferdinand. You'll be seen from the +windows.' + +Instead of quitting his posture, he caught her hand, and scared her with +a declaration. + +'Of all men, you to be on your knees! and to me, Ferdinand!' she cried, +in discomfort. + +'Why shouldn't I, Rose?' was this youth's answer. + +He had got the idea that foreign cavalier manners would take with her; +but it was not so easy to make his speech correspond with his posture, +and he lost his opportunity, which was pretty. However, he spoke plain +English. The interview ended by Rose releasing Pat from drill, and +running off in a hurry. Where was Evan? She must have his consent to +speak to her mother, and prevent a recurrence of these silly scenes. + +Evan was with Caroline, his sister. + +It was contrary to the double injunction of the Countess that Caroline +should receive Evan during her absence, or that he should disturb the +dear invalid with a visit. These two were not unlike both in +organization and character, and they had not sat together long before +they found each other out. Now, to further Evan's love-suit, the +Countess had induced Caroline to continue yet awhile in the Purgatory +Beckley Court had become to her; but Evan, in speaking of Rose, expressed +a determination to leave her, and Caroline caught at it. + +'Can you?--will you? Oh, dear Van! have you the courage? I--look at +me--you know the home I go to, and--and I think of it here as a place to +be happy in. What have our marriages done for us? Better that we had +married simple stupid men who earn their bread, and would not have been +ashamed of us! And, my dearest, it is not only that. None can tell what +our temptations are. Louisa has strength, but I feel I have none; and +though, dear, for your true interest, I would indeed sacrifice myself-- +I would, Van! I would!--it is not good for you to stay,--I know it is +not. For you have Papa's sense of honour--and oh! if you should learn +to despise me, my dear brother!' + +She kissed him; her nerves were agitated by strong mental excitement. +He attributed it to her recent attack of illness, but could not help +asking, while he caressed her: + +'What's that? Despise you?' + +It may have been that Caroline felt then, that to speak of something was +to forfeit something. A light glimmered across the dewy blue of her +beautiful eyes. Desire to breathe it to him, and have his loving aid: +the fear of forfeiting it, evil as it was to her, and at the bottom of +all, that doubt we choose to encourage of the harm in a pleasant sin +unaccomplished; these might be read in the rich dim gleam that swept like +sunlight over sea-water between breaks of clouds. + +'Dear Van! do you love her so much?' + +Caroline knew too well that she was shutting her own theme with iron +clasps when she once touched on Evan's. + +Love her? Love Rose? It became an endless carol with Evan. Caroline +sighed for him from her heart. + +'You know--you understand me; don't you?' he said, after a breathless +excursion of his fancy. + +'I believe you love her, dear. I think I have never loved any one but my +one brother.' + +His love for Rose he could pour out to Caroline; when it came to Rose's +love for him his blood thickened, and his tongue felt guilty. He must +speak to her, he said,--tell her all. + +'Yes, tell her all,' echoed Caroline. 'Do, do tell her. Trust a woman +utterly if she loves you, dear. Go to her instantly.' + +'Could you bear it?' said Evan. He began to think it was for the sake of +his sisters that he had hesitated. + +'Bear it? bear anything rather than perpetual imposture. What have I +not borne? Tell her, and then, if she is cold to you, let us go. Let us +go. I shall be glad to. Ah, Van! I love you so.' Caroline's voice +deepened. 'I love you so, my dear. You won't let your new love drive me +out? Shall you always love me?' + +Of that she might be sure, whatever happened. + +'Should you love me, Van, if evil befel me?' + +Thrice as well, he swore to her. + +'But if I--if I, Van Oh! my life is intolerable! Supposing I should +ever disgrace you in any way, and not turn out all you fancied me. I am +very weak and unhappy.' + +Evan kissed her confidently, with a warm smile. He said a few words of +the great faith he had in her: words that were bitter comfort to +Caroline. This brother, who might save her, to him she dared not speak. +Did she wish to be saved? She only knew that to wound Evan's sense of +honour and the high and chivalrous veneration for her sex and pride in +himself and those of his blood, would be wicked and unpardonable, and +that no earthly pleasure could drown it. Thinking this, with her hands +joined in pale dejection, Caroline sat silent, and Evan left her to lay +bare his heart to Rose. On his way to find Rose he was stopped by the +announcement of the arrival of Mr. Raikes, who thrust a bundle of notes +into his hand, and after speaking loudly of 'his curricle,' retired on +important business, as he said, with a mysterious air. 'I 'm beaten in +many things, but not in the article Luck,' he remarked; 'you will hear of +me, though hardly as a tutor in this academy.' + +Scanning the bundle of notes, without a reflection beyond the thought +that money was in his hand; and wondering at the apparition of the +curricle, Evan was joined by Harry Jocelyn, and Harry linked his arm in +Evan's and plunged with extraordinary spontaneity and candour into the +state of his money affairs. What the deuce he was to do for money he did +not know. From the impressive manner in which he put it, it appeared to +be one of Nature's great problems that the whole human race were bound to +set their heads together to solve. A hundred pounds--Harry wanted no +more, and he could not get it. His uncles? they were as poor as rats; +and all the spare money they could club was going for Mel's Election +expenses. A hundred and fifty was what Harry really wanted; but he could +do with a hundred. Ferdinand, who had plenty, would not even lend him +fifty. Ferdinand had dared to hint at a debt already unsettled, and he +called himself a gentleman! + +'You wouldn't speak of money-matters now, would you, Harrington?' + +'I dislike the subject, I confess,' said Evan. + +'And so do I' Harry jumped at the perfect similarity between them. 'You +can't think how it bothers one to have to talk about it. You and I are +tremendously alike.' + +Evan might naturally suppose that a subject Harry detested, he would not +continue, but for a whole hour Harry turned it over and over with grim +glances at Jewry. + +'You see,' he wound up, 'I'm in a fix. I want to help that poor girl, +and one or two things--' + +'It 's for that you want it?' cried Evan, brightening to him. 'Accept it +from me.' + +It is a thing familiar to the experience of money-borrowers, that your +'last chance' is the man who is to accommodate you; but we are always +astonished, nevertheless; and Harry was, when notes to the amount of the +largest sum named by him were placed in his hand by one whom he looked +upon as the last to lend. + +'What a trump you are, Harrington!' was all he could say; and then he was +for hurrying Evan into the house, to find pen and paper, and write down a +memorandum of the loan: but Evan insisted upon sparing him the trouble, +though Harry, with the admirable scruples of an inveterate borrower, +begged hard to be allowed to bind himself legally to repay the money. + +''Pon my soul, Harrington, you make me remember I once doubted whether you +were one of us--rather your own fault, you know!' said Harry. 'Bury +that, won't you?' + +''Till your doubts recur,' Evan observed; and Harry burst out, 'Gad, if +you weren't such a melancholy beggar, you'd be the jolliest fellow I +know! There, go after Rosey. Dashed if I don't think you're ahead of +Ferdinand, long chalks. Your style does for girls. I like women.' + +With a chuckle and a wink, Harry swung-off. Evan had now to reflect that +he had just thrown away part of the price of his bondage to Tailordom; +the mention of Rose filled his mind. Where was she? Both were seeking +one another. Rose was in the cypress walk. He saw the star-like figure +up the length of it, between the swelling tall dark pillars, and was +hurrying to her, resolute not to let one minute of deception blacken +further the soul that loved so true a soul. She saw him, and stood +smiling, when the Countess issued, shadow-like, from a side path, and +declared that she must claim her brother for a few instants. Would her +sweet Rose pardon her? Rose bowed coolly. The hearts of the lovers were +chilled, not that they perceived any malice in the Countess, but their +keen instincts felt an evil fate. + +The Countess had but to tell Evan that she had met the insolvent in +apples, and recognized him under his change of fortune, and had no doubt +that at least he would amuse the company. Then she asked her brother the +superfluous question, whether he loved her, which Evan answered +satisfactorily enough, as he thought; but practical ladies require +proofs. + +'Quick,' said Evan, seeing Rose vanish, 'what do you want? I'll do +anything.' + +'Anything? Ah, but this will be disagreeable to you.' + +'Name it at once. I promise beforehand.' + +The Countess wanted Evan to ask Andrew to be the very best brother-in-law +in the world, and win, unknown to himself, her cheerful thanks, by +lending Evan to lend to her the sum of one hundred pounds, as she was in +absolute distress for money. + +'Really, Louisa, this is a thing you might ask him yourself,' Evan +remonstrated. + +'It would not become me to do so, dear,' said the Countess, demurely; and +inasmuch as she had already drawn on Andrew in her own person pretty +largely, her views of propriety were correct in this instance. + +Evan had to consent before he could be released. He ran to the end of +the walk through the portal, into the park. Rose was not to be seen. +She had gone in to dress for dinner. The opportunity might recur, but +would his courage come with it? His courage had sunk on a sudden; or it +may have been that it was worst for this young man to ask for a loan of +money, than to tell his beloved that he was basely born, vile, and +unworthy, and had snared her into loving him; for when he and Andrew were +together, money was not alluded to. Andrew, however, betrayed remarkable +discomposure. He said plainly that he wanted to leave Beckley Court, and +wondered why he didn't leave, and whether he was on his head or his feet, +and how he had been such a fool as to come. + +'Do you mean that for me?' said sensitive Evan. + +'Oh, you! You're a young buck,' returned Andrew, evasively. +'We common-place business men-we 're out of our element; and there's poor +Carry can't sit down to their dinners without an upset. I thank God I'm +a Radical, Van; one man's the same as another to me, how he's born, as +long as he's honest and agreeable. But a chap like that George Uplift to +look down on anybody! 'Gad, I've a good mind to bring in a Bill for the +Abolition of the Squirearchy.' + +Ultimately, Andrew somehow contrived to stick a hint or two about the +terrible dinner in Evan's quivering flesh. He did it as delicately as +possible, half begging pardon, and perspiring profusely. Evan grasped +his hand, and thanked him. Caroline's illness was now explained to him. + +'I'll take Caroline with me to-morrow,' he said. 'Louisa wishes to stay +--there 's a pic-nic. Will you look to her, and bring her with you?' + +'My dear Van,' replied Andrew, 'stop with Louisa? Now, in confidence, +it's as bad as a couple of wives; no disrespect to my excellent good +Harry at home; but Louisa--I don't know how it is--but Louisa, you lose +your head, you're in a whirl, you're an automaton, a teetotum! I haven't +a notion of what I've been doing or saying since I came here. My belief +is, I 've been lying right and left. I shall be found out to a +certainty: Oh! if she's made her mind up for the pic-nic, somebody must +stop. I can only tell you, Van, it's one perpetual vapour-bath to me. +There 'll be room for two in my trousers when I get back. I shall have +to get the tailor to take them in a full half.' + +Here occurred an opening for one of those acrid pleasantries which +console us when there is horrid warfare within. + +'You must give me the work,' said Evan, partly pleased with his hated +self for being able to jest on the subject, as a piece of preliminary +self-conquest. + +'Aha!' went Andrew, as if the joke were too good to be dwelt on; 'Hem'; +and by way of diverting from it cleverly and naturally, he remarked that +the weather was fine. This made Evan allude to his letter written from +Lymport, upon which Andrew said: 'tush! pish! humbug! nonsense! won't +hear a word. Don't know anything about it. Van, you're going to be a +brewer. I say you are. You're afraid you can't? I tell you, sir, I've +got a bet on it. You're not going to make me lose, are you--eh? I have, +and a stiff bet, too. You must and shall, so there's an end. Only we +can't make arrangements just yet, my boy. Old Tom--very good old fellow +--but, you know--must get old Tom out of the way, first. Now go and +dress for dinner. And Lord preserve us from the Great Mel to-day!' +Andrew mumbled as he turned away. + +Evan could not reach his chamber without being waylaid by the Countess. +Had he remembered the sister who sacrificed so much for him? 'There, +there!' cried Evan, and her hand closed on the delicious golden whispers +of bank-notes. And, 'Oh, generous Andrew! dear good Evan!' were the +exclamations of the gratified lady. + +There remained nearly another hundred. Evan laid out the notes, and eyed +them while dressing. They seemed to say to him, 'We have you now.' He +was clutched by a beneficent or a most malignant magician. The former +seemed due to him, considering the cloud on his fortunes. This enigma +might mean, that by submitting to a temporary humiliation, for a trial of +him--in fact, by his acknowledgement of the fact, loathed though it was, +--he won a secret overlooker's esteem, gained a powerful ally. Here was +the proof, he held the proof. He had read Arabian Tales and could +believe in marvels; especially could he believe in the friendliness of a +magical thing that astounded without hurting him. + +He, sat down in his room at night and wrote a fairly manful letter to +Rose; and it is to be said of the wretch he then saw himself, that he +pardoned her for turning from so vile a pretender. He heard a step in +the passage. It was Polly Wheedle. Polly had put her young mistress to +bed, and was retiring to her own slumbers. He made her take the letter +and promise to deliver it immediately. Would not to-morrow morning do, +she asked, as Miss Rose was very sleepy. He seemed to hesitate--he was +picturing how Rose looked when very sleepy. Why should he surrender this +darling? And subtler question--why should he make her unhappy? Why +disturb her at all in her sweet sleep? + +'Well,' said Evan. 'To-morrow will do.--No, take it to-night, for God's +sake!' he cried, as one who bursts the spell of an opiate. 'Go at once.' +The temptation had almost overcome him. + +Polly thought his proceedings queer. And what could the letter contain? +A declaration, of course. She walked slowly along the passage, +meditating on love, and remotely on its slave, Mr. Nicholas Frim. +Nicholas had never written her a letter; but she was determined that he +should, some day. She wondered what love-letters were like? Like +valentines without the Cupids. Practical valentines, one might say. Not +vapoury and wild, but hot and to the point. Delightful things! No harm +in peeping at a love-letter, if you do it with the eye of a friend. + +Polly spelt just a word when a door opened at her elbow. She dropped her +candle and curtsied to the Countess's voice. The Countess desired her to +enter, and all in a tremble Polly crept in. Her air of guilt made the +Countess thrill. She had merely called her in to extract daily gossip. +The corner of the letter sticking up under Polly's neck attracted her +strangely, and beginning with the familiar, 'Well, child,' she talked of +things interesting to Polly, and then exhibited the pic-nic dress. It +was a lovely half-mourning; airy sorrows, gauzy griefs, you might imagine +to constitute the wearer. White delicately striped, exquisitely trimmed, +and of a stuff to make the feminine mouth water! + +Could Polly refuse to try it on, when the flattering proposal met her +ears? Blushing, shame-faced, adoring the lady who made her look +adorable, Polly tried it on, and the Countess complimented her, and made +a doll of her, and turned her this way and that way, and intoxicated her. + +'A rich husband, Polly, child! and you are a lady ready made.' + +Infamous poison to poor Polly; but as the thunder destroys small insects, +exalted schemers are to be excused for riding down their few thousands. +Moreover, the Countess really looked upon domestics as being only half- +souls. + +Dressed in her own attire again, Polly felt in her pockets, and at her +bosom, and sang out: 'Oh, my--Oh, where! Oh!' + +The letter was lost. The letter could not be found. The Countess grew +extremely fatigued, and had to dismiss Polly, in spite of her eager +petitions to be allowed to search under the carpets and inside the bed. + +In the morning came Evan's great trial. There stood Rose. She turned to +him, and her eyes were happy and unclouded. + +'You are not changed?' he said. + +'Changed? what could change me?' + +The God of true hearts bless her! He could hardly believe it. + +'You are the Rose I knew yesterday?' + +'Yes, Evan. But you--you look as if you had not slept.' + +'You will not leave me this morning, before I go, Rose? Oh, my darling! +this that you do for me is the work of an angel-nothing less! I have +been a coward. And my beloved! to feel vile is agony to me--it makes me +feel unworthy of the hand I press. Now all is clear between us. I go: I +am forgiven.' + +Rose repeated his last words, and then added hurriedly: + +'All is clear between us? Shall I speak to Mama this morning? Dear +Evan! it will be right that I should.' + +For the moment he could not understand why, but supposing a scrupulous +honesty in her, said: 'Yes, tell Lady Jocelyn all.' + +'And then, Evan, you will never need to go.' + +They separated. The deep-toned sentence sang in Evan's heart. Rose and +her mother were of one stamp. And Rose might speak for her mother. To +take the hands of such a pair and be lifted out of the slough, he thought +no shame: and all through the hours of the morning the image of two +angels stooping to touch a leper, pressed on his brain like a reality, +and went divinely through his blood. + +Toward mid-day Rose beckoned to him, and led him out across the lawn into +the park, and along the borders of the stream. + +'Evan,' she said, 'shall I really speak to Mama?' + +'You have not yet?' he answered. + +'No. I have been with Juliana and with Drummond. Look at this, Evan.' +She showed a small black speck in the palm of her hand, which turned out, +on your viewing it closely, to be a brand of the letter L. 'Mama did +that when I was a little girl, because I told lies. I never could +distinguish between truth and falsehood; and Mama set that mark on me, +and I have never told a lie since. She forgives anything but that. She +will be our friend; she will never forsake us, Evan, if we do not deceive +her. Oh, Evan! it never is of any use. But deceive her, and she cannot +forgive you. It is not in her nature.' + +Evan paused before he replied: 'You have only to tell her what I have +told you. You know everything.' + +Rose gave him a flying look of pain: 'Everything, Evan? What do I know?' + +'Ah, Rose! do you compel me to repeat it?' + +Bewildered, Rose thought: 'Have I slept and forgotten it?' + +He saw the persistent grieved interrogation of her eyebrows. + +'Well!' she sighed resignedly: 'I am yours; you know that, Evan.' + +But he was a lover, and quarrelled with her sigh. + +'It may well make you sad now, Rose.' + +'Sad? no, that does not make me sad. No; but my hands are tied. +I cannot defend you or justify myself; and induce Mama to stand by us. +Oh, Evan! you love me! why can you not open your heart to me entirely, +and trust me?' + +'More?' cried Evan: 'Can I trust you more?' He spoke of the letter: Rose +caught his hand. + +'I never had it, Evan. You wrote it last night? and all was written in +it? I never saw it--but I know all.' + +Their eyes fronted. The gates of Rose's were wide open, and he saw no +hurtful beasts or lurking snakes in the happy garden within, but Love, +like a fixed star. + +'Then you know why I must leave, Rose.' + +'Leave? Leave me? On the contrary, you must stay by me, and support me. +Why, Evan, we have to fight a battle.' + +Much as he worshipped her, this intrepid directness of soul startled him- +almost humbled him. And her eyes shone with a firm cheerful light, as +she exclaimed: 'It makes me so happy to think you were the first to +mention this. You meant to be, and that's the same thing. I heard it +this morning: you wrote it last night. It's you I love, Evan. Your +birth, and what you were obliged to do--that's nothing. Of course I'm +sorry for it, dear. But I'm more sorry for the pain I must have +sometimes put you to. It happened through my mother's father being a +merchant; and that side of the family the men and women are quite sordid +and unendurable; and that's how it came that I spoke of disliking +tradesmen. I little thought I should ever love one sprung from that +class.' + +She turned to him tenderly. + +'And in spite of what my birth is, you love me, Rose?' + +'There's no spite in it, Evan. I do.' + +Hard for him, while his heart was melting to caress her, the thought that +he had snared this bird of heaven in a net! Rose gave him no time for +reflection, or the moony imagining of their raptures lovers love to dwell +upon. + +'You gave the letter to Polly, of course?' + +'Yes.' + +'Oh, naughty Polly! I must punish you,' Rose apostrophized her. 'You +might have divided us for ever. Well, we shall have to fight a battle, +you understand that. Will you stand by me?' + +Would he not risk his soul for her? + +'Very well, Evan. Then--but don't be sensitive. Oh, how sensitive you +are! I see it all now. This is what we shall have to do. We shall have +to speak to Mama to-day--this morning. Drummond has told me he is going +to speak to her, and we must be first. That 's decided. I begged a +couple of hours. You must not be offended with Drummond. He does it out +of pure affection for us, and I can see he's right--or, at least, not +quite wrong. He ought, I think, to know that he cannot change me. Very +well, we shall win Mama by what we do. My mother has ten times my wits, +and yet I manage her like a feather. I have only to be honest and +straightforward. Then Mama will gain over Papa. Papa, of course, won't +like it. He's quiet and easy, but he likes blood, but he also likes +peace better; and I think he loves Rosey--as well as somebody--almost? +Look, dear, there is our seat where we--where you would rob me of my +handkerchief. I can't talk any more.' + +Rose had suddenly fallen from her prattle, soft and short-breathed. + +'Then, dear,' she went on, 'we shall have to fight the family. Aunt +Shorne will be terrible. My poor uncles! I pity them. But they will +come round. They always have thought what I did was right, and why +should they change their minds now? I shall tell them that at their time +of life a change of any kind is very unwise and bad for them. Then there +is Grandmama Bonner. She can hurt us really, if she pleases. Oh, my +dear Evan! if you had only been a curate! Why isn't your name Parsley? +Then my Grandmama the Countess of Elburne. Well, we have a Countess on +our side, haven't we? And that reminds me, Evan, if we're to be happy +and succeed, you must promise one thing: you will not tell the Countess, +your sister. Don't confide this to her. Will you promise?' + +Evan assured her he was not in the habit of pouring secrets into any +bosom, the Countess's as little as another's. + +'Very well, then, Evan, it's unpleasant while it lasts, but we shall gain +the day. Uncle Melville will give you an appointment, and then?' + +'Yes, Rose,' he said, 'I will do this, though I don't think you can know +what I shall have to endure-not in confessing what I am, but in feeling +that I have brought you to my level.' + +'Does it not raise me?' she cried. + +He shook his head. + +'But in reality, Evan--apart from mere appearances--in reality it does! +it does!' + +'Men will not think so, Rose, nor can I. Oh, my Rose! how different you +make me. Up to this hour I have been so weak! torn two ways! You give +me double strength.' + +Then these lovers talked of distant days--compared their feelings on this +and that occasion with mutual wonder and delight. Then the old hours +lived anew. And--did you really think that, Evan? And--Oh, Rose! was +that your dream? And the meaning of that by-gone look: was it what they +fancied? And such and such a tone of voice; would it bear the wished +interpretation? Thus does Love avenge himself on the unsatisfactory Past +and call out its essence. + +Could Evan do less than adore her? She knew all, and she loved him! +Since he was too shy to allude more than once to his letter, it was +natural that he should not ask her how she came to know, and how much the +'all' that she knew comprised. In his letter he had told all; the +condition of his parents, and his own. Honestly, now, what with his +dazzled state of mind, his deep inward happiness, and love's endless +delusions, he abstained from touching the subject further. Honestly, +therefore, as far as a lover can be honest. + +So they toyed, and then Rose, setting her fingers loose, whispered: 'Are +you ready?' And Evan nodded; and Rose, to make him think light of the +matter in hand, laughed: 'Pluck not quite up yet?' + +'Quite, my Rose!' said Evan, and they walked to the house, not quite +knowing what they were going to do. + +On the steps they met Drummond with Mrs. Evremonde. Little imagining how +heart and heart the two had grown, and that Evan would understand him, +Drummond called to Rose playfully: 'Time's up.' + +'Is it?' Rose answered, and to Mrs. Evremonde + +'Give Drummond a walk. Poor Drummond is going silly.' + +Evan looked into his eyes calmly as he passed. + +'Where are you going, Rose?' said Mrs. Evremonde. + +'Going to give my maid Polly a whipping for losing a letter she ought to +have delivered to me last night,' said Rose, in a loud voice, looking at +Drummond. 'And then going to Mama. Pleasure first--duty after. Isn't +that the proverb, Drummond?' + +She kissed her fingers rather scornfully to her old friend. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Admirable scruples of an inveterate borrower +An obedient creature enough where he must be +Bound to assure everybody at table he was perfectly happy +Confident serenity inspired by evil prognostications +Enamoured young men have these notions +Gossip always has some solid foundation, however small +He kept saying to himself, 'to-morrow I will tell' +I always wait for a thing to happen first +I never see anything, my dear +Love is a contagious disease +Never to despise the good opinion of the nonentities +One seed of a piece of folly will lurk and sprout to confound us +Secrets throw on the outsiders the onus of raising a scandal +She did not detest the Countess because she could not like her +Thus does Love avenge himself on the unsatisfactory Past +Touching a nerve +Unfeminine of any woman to speak continuously anywhere +Vulgarity in others evoked vulgarity in her + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Evan Harrington, v4 +by George Meredith + + + + + + +EVAN HARRINGTON + +By GEORGE MEREDITH + + + +BOOK 5. + +XXVI. MRS. MEL MAKES A BED FOR HERSELF AND FAMILY +XXVII. EXHIBITS ROSE'S GENERALSHIP; EVAN'S PERFORMANCE ON THE SECOND + FIDDLE; AND THE WRETCHEDNESS OF THE COUNTESS +XXVIII. TOM COGGLESBY'S PROPOSITION +XXIX. PRELUDE TO AN ENGAGEMENT +XXX. THE BATTLE OF THE BULL-DOGS. PART I. +XXXI. THE BATTLE OF THE BULL-DOGS. PART II. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +MRS. MEL MAKES A BED FOR HERSELF AND FAMILY + +The last person thought of by her children at this period was Mrs. Mel: +nor had she been thinking much of them till a letter from Mr. Goren +arrived one day, which caused her to pass them seriously in review. +Always an early bird, and with maxims of her own on the subject of rising +and getting the worm, she was standing in a small perch in the corner of +the shop, dictating accounts to Mrs. Fiske, who was copying hurriedly, +that she might earn sweet intervals for gossip, when Dandy limped up and +delivered the letter. Mrs. Fiske worked hard while her aunt was occupied +in reading it, for a great deal of fresh talk follows the advent of the +post, and may be reckoned on. Without looking up, however, she could +tell presently that the letter had been read through. Such being the +case, and no conversation coming of it, her curiosity was violent. Her +aunt's face, too, was an index of something extraordinary. That +inflexible woman, instead of alluding to the letter in any way, folded it +up, and renewed her dictation. It became a contest between them which +should show her human nature first. Mrs. Mel had to repress what she +knew; Mrs. Fiske to control the passion for intelligence. The close +neighbourhood of one anxious to receive, and one capable of giving, waxed +too much for both. + +'I think, Anne, you are stupid this morning,' said Mrs. Mel. + +'Well, I am, aunt,' said Mrs. Fiske, pretending not to see which was the +first to unbend, 'I don't know what it is. The figures seem all dazzled +like. I shall really be glad when Evan comes to take his proper place.' + +'Ah!' went Mrs. Mel, and Mrs. Fiske heard her muttering. Then she cried +out: 'Are Harriet and Caroline as great liars as Louisa?' + +Mrs. Fiske grimaced. 'That would be difficult, would it not, aunt?' + +'And I have been telling everybody that my son is in town learning his +business, when he's idling at a country house, and trying to play his +father over again! Upon my word, what with liars and fools, if you go to +sleep a minute you have a month's work on your back.' + +'What is it, aunt?' Mrs. Fiske feebly inquired. + +'A gentleman, I suppose! He wouldn't take an order if it was offered. +Upon my word, when tailors think of winning heiresses it's time we went +back to Adam and Eve.' + +'Do you mean Evan, aunt?' interposed Mrs. Fiske, who probably did not see +the turns in her aunt's mind. + +'There--read for yourself,' said Mrs. Mel, and left her with the letter. + +Mrs. Fiske read that Mr. Goren had been astonished at Evan's non- +appearance, and at his total silence; which he did not consider +altogether gentlemanly behaviour, and certainly not such as his father +would have practised. Mr. Goren regretted his absence the more as he +would have found him useful in a remarkable invention he was about to +patent, being a peculiar red cross upon shirts--a fortune to the +patentee; but as Mr. Goren had no natural heirs of his body, he did not +care for that. What affected him painfully was the news of Evan's doings +at a noble house, Beckley Court, to wit, where, according to the report +of a rich young gentleman friend, Mr. Raikes (for whose custom Mr. Goren +was bound to thank Evan), the youth who should have been learning the +science of Tailoring, had actually passed himself off as a lord, or the +son of one, or something of the kind, and had got engaged to a wealthy +heiress, and would, no doubt, marry her if not found out. Where the +chances of detection were so numerous, Mr. Goren saw much to condemn in +the idea of such a marriage. But 'like father like son,' said Mr. Goren. +He thanked the Lord that an honest tradesman was not looked down upon in +this country; and, in fact, gave Mrs. Mel a few quiet digs to waken her +remorse in having missed the man that he was. + +When Mrs. Fiske met her aunt again she returned her the letter, and +simply remarked: 'Louisa.' + +Mrs. Mel nodded. She understood the implication. + +The General who had schemed so successfully to gain Evan time at Beckley +Court in his own despite and against a hundred obstructions, had now +another enemy in the field, and one who, if she could not undo her work, +could punish her. By the afternoon coach, Mrs. Mel, accompanied by Dandy +her squire, was journeying to Fallow field, bent upon things. The +faithful squire was kept by her side rather as a security for others than +for, his particular services. Dandy's arms were crossed, and his +countenance was gloomy. He had been promised a holiday that afternoon to +give his mistress, Sally, Kilne's cook, an airing, and Dandy knew in his +soul that Sally, when she once made up her mind to an excursion, would +go, and would not go alone, and that her very force of will endangered +her constancy. He had begged humbly to be allowed to stay, but Mrs. Mel +could not trust him. She ought to have told him so, perhaps. +Explanations were not approved of by this well-intended despot, and +however beneficial her resolves might turn out for all parties, it was +natural that in the interim the children of her rule should revolt, and +Dandy, picturing his Sally flaunting on the arm of some accursed low +marine, haply, kicked against Mrs. Mel's sovereignty, though all that he +did was to shoot out his fist from time to time, and grunt through his +set teeth: 'Iron!' to express the character of her awful rule. + +Mrs. Mel alighted at the Dolphin, the landlady of which was a Mrs. +Hawkshaw, a rival of Mrs. Sockley of the Green Dragon. She was welcomed +by Mrs. Hawkshaw with considerable respect. The great Mel had sometimes +slept at the Dolphin. + +'Ah, that black!' she sighed, indicating Mrs. Mel's dress and the story +it told. + +'I can't give you his room, my dear Mrs. Harrington, wishing I could! +I'm sorry to say it's occupied, for all I ought to be glad, I dare say, +for he's an old gentleman who does you a good turn, if you study him. +But there! I'd rather have had poor dear Mr. Harrington in my best bed +than old or young--Princes or nobodies, I would--he was that grand and +pleasant.' + +Mrs. Mel had her tea in Mrs. Hawkshaw's parlour, and was entertained +about her husband up to the hour of supper, when a short step and a +querulous voice were heard in the passage, and an old gentleman appeared +before them. + +'Who's to carry up my trunk, ma'am? No man here?' + +Mrs. Hawkshaw bustled out and tried to lay her hand on a man. Failing to +find the growth spontaneous, she returned and begged the old gentleman to +wait a few moments and the trunk would be sent up. + +'Parcel o' women!' was his reply. 'Regularly bedevilled. Gets worse and +worse. I 'll carry it up myself.' + +With a wheezy effort he persuaded the trunk to stand on one end, and then +looked at it. The exertion made him hot, which may account for the rage +he burst into when Mrs. Hawkshaw began flutteringly to apologize. + +'You're sure, ma'am, sure--what are you sure of? I'll tell you what I am +sure of--eh? This keeping clear of men's a damned pretence. You don't +impose upon me. Don't believe in your pothouse nunneries--not a bit. +Just like you! when you are virtuous it's deuced inconvenient. Let one +of the maids try? No. Don't believe in 'em.' + +Having thus relieved his spleen the old gentleman addressed himself to +further efforts and waxed hotter. He managed to tilt the trunk over, and +thus gained a length, and by this method of progression arrived at the +foot of the stairs, where he halted, and wiped his face, blowing lustily. + +Mrs. Mel had been watching him with calm scorn all the while. She saw +him attempt most ridiculously to impel the trunk upwards by a similar +process, and thought it time to interfere. + +'Don't you see you must either take it on your shoulders, or have a +help?' + +The old gentleman sprang up from his peculiarly tight posture to blaze +round at her. He had the words well-peppered on his mouth, but somehow +he stopped, and was subsequently content to growl: 'Where 's the help in +a parcel of petticoats?' + +Mrs. Mel did not consider it necessary to give him an answer. She went +up two or three steps, and took hold of one handle of the trunk, saying: +'There; I think it can be managed this way,' and she pointed for him to +seize the other end with his hand. + +He was now in that unpleasant state of prickly heat when testy old +gentlemen could commit slaughter with ecstasy. Had it been the maid +holding a candle who had dared to advise, he would have overturned her +undoubtedly, and established a fresh instance of the impertinence, the +uselessness and weakness of women. Mrs. Mel topped him by half a head, +and in addition stood three steps above him; towering like a giantess. +The extreme gravity of her large face dispersed all idea of an assault. +The old gentleman showed signs of being horribly injured: nevertheless, +he put his hand to the trunk; it was lifted, and the procession ascended +the stairs in silence. + +The landlady waited for Mrs. Mel to return, and then said: + +'Really, Mrs. Harrington, you are clever. That lifting that trunk's as +good as a lock and bolt on him. You've as good as made him a Dolphin-- +him that was one o' the oldest Green Dragons in Fallifield. My thanks to +you most sincere.' + +Mrs. Mel sent out to hear where Dandy had got to after which, she said: +'Who is the man?' + +'I told you, Mrs. Harrington--the oldest Green Dragon. His name, you +mean? Do you know, if I was to breathe it out, I believe he'd jump out +of the window. He 'd be off, that you might swear to. Oh, such a +whimsical! not ill-meaning--quite the contrary. Study his whims, and +you'll never want. There's Mrs. Sockley--she 's took ill. He won't go +there--that 's how I've caught him, my dear--but he pays her medicine, +and she looks to him the same. He hate a sick house: but he pity a sick +woman. Now, if I can only please him, I can always look on him as half a +Dolphin, to say the least; and perhaps to-morrow I'll tell you who he is, +and what, but not to-night; for there's his supper to get over, and that, +they say, can be as bad as the busting of one of his own vats. Awful!' + +'What does he eat?' said Mrs. Mel. + +'A pair o' chops. That seem simple, now, don't it? And yet they chops +make my heart go pitty-pat.' + +'The commonest things are the worst done,' said Mrs. Mel. + +'It ain't that; but they must be done his particular way, do you see, +Mrs. Harrington. Laid close on the fire, he say, so as to keep in the +juice. But he ups and bounces in a minute at a speck o' black. So, one +thing or the other, there you are: no blacks, no juices, I say.' + +'Toast the chops,' said Mrs. Mel. + +The landlady of the Dolphin accepted this new idea with much +enlightenment, but ruefully declared that she was afraid to go against +his precise instructions. Mrs. Mel then folded her hands, and sat in +quiet reserve. She was one of those numerous women who always know +themselves to be right. She was also one of those very few whom +Providence favours by confounding dissentients. She was positive the +chops would be ill-cooked: but what could she do? She was not in command +here; so she waited serenely for the certain disasters to enthrone her. +Not that the matter of the chops occupied her mind particularly: nor +could she dream that the pair in question were destined to form a part +of her history, and divert the channel of her fortunes. Her thoughts +were about her own immediate work; and when the landlady rushed in with +the chops under a cover, and said: 'Look at 'em, dear Mrs. Harrington!' +she had forgotten that she was again to be proved right by the turn of +events. + +'Oh, the chops!' she responded. 'Send them while they are hot.' + +'Send 'em! Why you don't think I'd have risked their cooling? I have +sent 'em; and what do he do but send 'em travelling back, and here they +be; and what objections his is I might study till I was blind, and I +shouldn't see 'em.' + +'No; I suppose not,' said Mrs. Mel. 'He won't eat 'em?' + +'Won't eat anything: but his bed-room candle immediately. And whether +his sheets are aired. And Mary says he sniffed at the chops; and that +gal really did expect he 'd fling them at her. I told you what he was. +Oh, dear!' + +The bell was heard ringing in the midst of the landlady's lamentations. + +'Go to him yourself,' said Mrs. Mel. 'No Christian man should go to +sleep without his supper.' + +'Ah! but he ain't a common Christian,' returned Mrs. Hawkshaw. + +The old gentleman was in a hurry to know when his bed-room candle was +coming up, or whether they intended to give him one at all that night; +if not, let them say so, as he liked plain-speaking. The moment Mrs. +Hawkshaw touched upon the chops, he stopped her mouth. + +'Go about your business, ma'am. You can't cook 'em. I never expected +you could: I was a fool to try you. It requires at least ten years' +instruction before a man can get a woman to cook his chop as he likes +it.' + +'But what was your complaint, sir?' said Mrs. Hawkshaw, imploringly. + +'That's right!' and he rubbed his hands, and brightened his eyes +savagely. 'That's the way. Opportunity for gossip! Thing's well done +--down it goes: you know that. You can't have a word over it--eh? +Thing's done fit to toss on a dungheap, aha! Then there's a cackle! My +belief is, you do it on purpose. Can't be such rank idiots. You do it +on purpose. All done for gossip!' + +'Oh, sir, no!' The landlady half curtsied. + +'Oh, ma'am, yes!' The old gentleman bobbed his head. + +'No, indeed, sir!' The landlady shook hers. + +'Damn it, ma'am, I swear you do.' + +Symptoms of wrath here accompanied the declaration; and, with a sigh and +a very bitter feeling, Mrs. Hawkshaw allowed him to have the last word. +Apparently this--which I must beg to call the lady's morsel--comforted +his irascible system somewhat; for he remained in a state of composure +eight minutes by the clock. And mark how little things hang together. +Another word from the landlady, precipitating a retort from him, and a +gesture or muttering from her; and from him a snapping outburst, and from +her a sign that she held out still; in fact, had she chosen to battle for +that last word, as in other cases she might have done, then would he have +exploded, gone to bed in the dark, and insisted upon sleeping: the +consequence of which would have been to change this history. Now while +Mrs. Hawkshaw was upstairs, Mrs. Mel called the servant, who took her to +the kitchen, where she saw a prime loin of mutton; off which she cut two +chops with a cunning hand: and these she toasted at a gradual distance, +putting a plate beneath them, and a tin behind, and hanging the chops +so that they would turn without having to be pierced. The bell rang +twice before she could say the chops were ready. The first time, the +maid had to tell the old gentleman she was taking up his water. Her next +excuse was, that she had dropped her candle. The chops ready--who was to +take them? + +'Really, Mrs. Harrington, you are so clever, you ought, if I might be so +bold as say so; you ought to end it yourself,' said the landlady. 'I +can't ask him to eat them: he was all but on the busting point when I +left him.' + +'And that there candle did for him quite,' said Mary, the maid. + +'I'm afraid it's chops cooked for nothing,' added the landlady. + +Mrs. Mel saw them endangered. The maid held back: the landlady feared. + +'We can but try,' she said. + +'Oh! I wish, mum, you'd face him, 'stead o' me,' said Mary; 'I do dread +that old bear's den.' + +'Here, I will go,' said Mrs. Mel. 'Has he got his ale? Better draw it +fresh, if he drinks any.' + +And upstairs she marched, the landlady remaining below to listen for the +commencement of the disturbance. An utterance of something certainly +followed Mrs. Mel's entrance into the old bear's den. Then silence. +Then what might have been question and answer. Then--was Mrs. Mel +assaulted? and which was knocked down? It really was a chair being +moved to the table. The door opened. + +'Yes, ma'am; do what you like,' the landlady heard. Mrs. Mel descended, +saying: 'Send him up some fresh ale.' + +'And you have made him sit down obedient to those chops?' cried the +landlady. 'Well might poor dear Mr. Harrington--pleasant man as he was! +--say, as he used to say, "There's lovely women in the world, Mrs. +Hawkshaw," he'd say, "and there's Duchesses," he'd say, "and there's they +that can sing, and can dance, and some," he says, "that can cook." But +he'd look sly as he'd stoop his head and shake it. "Roll 'em into one," +he says, "and not any of your grand ladies can match my wife at home." + +And, indeed, Mrs. Harrington, he told me he thought so many a time in the +great company he frequented.' + +Perfect peace reigning above, Mrs. Hawkshaw and Mrs. Mel sat down to +supper below; and Mrs. Hawkshaw talked much of the great one gone. His +relict did not care to converse about the dead, save in their practical +aspect as ghosts; but she listened, and that passed the time. By-and-by, +the old gentleman rang, and sent a civil message to know if the landlady +had ship's rum in the house. + +'Dear! here's another trouble,' cried the poor woman. 'No--none!' + +'Say, yes,' said Mrs. Mel, and called Dandy, and charged him to run down +the street to the square, and ask for the house of Mr. Coxwell, the +maltster, and beg of him, in her name, a bottle of his ship's rum. + +'And don't you tumble down and break the bottle, Dandy. Accidents with +spirit-bottles are not excused.' + +Dandy went on the errand, after an energetic grunt. + +In due time he returned with the bottle, whole and sound, and Mr. +Coxwell's compliments. Mrs. Mel examined the cork to see that no process +of suction had been attempted, and then said: + +'Carry it up to him, Dandy. Let him see there's a man in the house +besides himself.' + +'Why, my dear,' the landlady turned to her, 'it seems natural to you to +be mistress where you go. I don't at all mind, for ain't it my profit? +But you do take us off our legs.' + +Then the landlady, warmed by gratitude, told her that the old gentleman +was the great London brewer, who brewed there with his brother, and +brewed for himself five miles out of Fallow field, half of which and a +good part of the neighbourhood he owned, and his name was Mr. Tom +Cogglesby. + +'Oh!' said Mrs. Mel. 'And his brother is Mr. Andrew.' + +'That 's it,' said the landlady. 'And because he took it into his head +to go and to choose for himself, and be married, no getting his brother, +Mr. Tom, to speak to him. Why not, indeed? If there's to be no +marrying, the sooner we lay down and give up, the better, I think. But +that 's his way. He do hate us women, Mrs. Harrington. I have heard he +was crossed. Some say it was the lady of Beckley Court, who was a +Beauty, when he was only a poor cobbler's son.' + +Mrs. Mel breathed nothing of her relationship to Mr. Tom, but continued +from time to time to express solicitude about Dandy. They heard the door +open, and old Tom laughing in a capital good temper, and then Dandy came +down, evidently full of ship's rum. + +'He's pumped me!' said Dandy, nodding heavily at his mistress. + +Mrs. Mel took him up to his bed-room, and locked the door. On her way +back she passed old Tom's chamber, and his chuckles were audible to her. + +'They finished the rum,' said Mrs. Hawkshaw. + +'I shall rate him for that to-morrow,' said Mrs. Mel. 'Giving that poor +beast liquor!' + +'Rate Mr. Tom! Oh! Mrs. Harrington! Why, he'll snap your head off for a +word.' + +Mrs. Mel replied that her head would require a great deal of snapping to +come off. + +During this conversation they had both heard a singular intermittent +noise above. Mrs. Hawkshaw was the first to ask: + +'What can it be? More trouble with him? He's in his bed-room now.' + +'Mad with drink, like Dandy, perhaps,' said Mrs. Mel. + +'Hark!' cried the landlady. 'Oh!' + +It seemed that Old Tom was bouncing about in an extraordinary manner. +Now came a pause, as if he had sworn to take his rest: now the room shook +and the windows rattled. + +'One 'd think, really, his bed was a frying-pan, and him a live fish in +it,' said the landlady. 'Oh--there, again! My goodness! have he got a +flea?' + +The thought was alarming. Mrs. Mel joined in: + +'Or a ------' + +'Don't! don't, my dear!' she was cut short. 'Oh! one o' them little +things 'd be ruin to me. To think o' that! Hark at him! It must be. +And what's to do? I 've sent the maids to bed. We haven't a man. If I +was to go and knock at his door, and ask?' + +'Better try and get him to be quiet somehow.' + +'Ah! I dare say I shall make him fire out fifty times worse.' + +Mrs. Hawkshaw stipulated that Mrs. Mel should stand by her, and the two +women went up-stairs and stood at Old Tom's door. There they could hear +him fuming and muttering imprecations, and anon there was an interval of +silence, and then the room was shaken, and the cursings recommenced. + +'It must be a fight he 's having with a flea,' said the landlady. 'Oh! +pray heaven, it is a flea. For a flea, my dear-gentlemen may bring that +theirselves; but a b-----, that's a stationary, and born of a bed. +Don't you hear? The other thing 'd give him a minute's rest; but a +flea's hop-hop-off and on. And he sound like an old gentleman worried by +a flea. What are you doing?' + +Mrs. Mel had knocked at the door. The landlady waited breathlessly for +the result. It appeared to have quieted Old Tom. + +'What's the matter?' said Mrs. Mel, severely. + +The landlady implored her to speak him fair, and reflect on the desperate +things he might attempt. + +'What's the matter? Can anything be done for you?' + +Mr. Tom Cogglesby's reply comprised an insinuation so infamous regarding +women when they have a solitary man in their power, that it cannot be +placed on record. + +'Is anything the matter with your bed?' + +'Anything? Yes; anything is the matter, ma'am. Hope twenty live geese +inside it's enough-eh? Bed, do you call it? It's the rack! It's +damnation! Bed? Ha!' + +After delivering this, he was heard stamping up and down the room. + +'My very best bed!' whispered the landlady. 'Would it please you, sir, +to change--I can give you another?' + +'I'm not a man of experiments, ma'am-'specially in strange houses.' + +'So very, very sorry!' + +'What the deuce!' Old Tom came close to the door. 'You whimpering! You +put a man in a beast of a bed--you drive him half mad--and then begin to +blubber! Go away.' + +'I am so sorry, sir!' + +'If you don't go away, ma'am, I shall think your intentions are +improper.' + +'Oh, my goodness!' cried poor Mrs. Hawkshaw. 'What can one do with him?' +Mrs. Mel put Mrs. Hawkshaw behind her. + +'Are you dressed?' she called out. + +In this way Mrs. Mel tackled Old Tom. He was told that should he consent +to cover himself decently, she would come into his room and make his bed +comfortable. And in a voice that dispersed armies of innuendoes, she +bade him take his choice, either to rest quiet or do her bidding. +Had Old Tom found his master at last, and in one of the hated sex? +Breathlessly Mrs. Hawkshaw waited his answer, and she was an astonished +woman when it came. + +'Very well, ma'am. Wait a couple of minutes. Do as you like.' + +On their admission to the interior of the chamber, Old Tom was exhibited +in his daily garb, sufficiently subdued to be civil and explain the cause +of his discomfort. Lumps in his bed: he was bruised by them. He +supposed he couldn't ask women to judge for themselves--they'd be +shrieking--but he could assure them he was blue all down his back. +Mrs. Mel and Mrs. Hawkshaw turned the bed about, and punched it, and +rolled it. + +'Ha!' went Old Tom, 'what's the good of that? That's just how I found +it. Moment I got into bed geese began to put up their backs.' + +Mrs. Mel seldom indulged in a joke, and then only when it had a +proverbial cast. On the present occasion, the truth struck her forcibly, +and she said: + +'One fool makes many, and so, no doubt, does one goose.' + +Accompanied by a smile the words would have seemed impudent; but spoken +as a plain fact, and with a grave face, it set Old Tom blinking like a +small boy ten minutes after the whip. + +'Now,' she pursued, speaking to him as to an old child, 'look here. This +is how you manage. Knead down in the middle of the bed. Then jump into +the hollow. Lie there, and you needn't wake till morning.' + +Old Tom came to the side of the bed. He had prepared himself for a +wretched night, an uproar, and eternal complaints against the house, its +inhabitants, and its foundations; but a woman stood there who as much as +told him that digging his fist into the flock and jumping into the hole-- +into that hole under his, eyes--was all that was wanted! that he had +been making a noise for nothing, and because he had not the wit to hit on +a simple contrivance! Then, too, his jest about the geese--this woman +had put a stop to that! He inspected the hollow cynically. A man might +instruct him on a point or two: Old Tom was not going to admit that a +woman could. + +'Oh, very well; thank you, ma'am; that's your idea. I'll try it. Good +night.' + +'Good night,' returned Mrs. Mel. 'Don't forget to jump into the middle.' + +'Head foremost, ma'am?' + +'As you weigh,' said Mrs. Mel, and Old Tom trumped his lips, silenced if +not beaten. Beaten, one might almost say, for nothing more was heard of +him that night. + +He presented himself to Mrs. Mel after breakfast next morning. + +'Slept well, ma'am.' + +'Oh! then you did as I directed you,' said Mrs. Mel. + +'Those chops, too, very good. I got through 'em.' + +'Eating, like scratching, only wants a beginning,' said Mrs. Mel. + +'Ha! you've got your word, then, as well as everybody else. Where's +your Dandy this morning, ma'am?' + +'Locked up. You ought to be ashamed to give that poor beast liquor. He +won't get fresh air to-day.' + +'Ha! May I ask you where you're going to-day, ma'am?' + +'I am going to Beckley.' + +'So am I, ma'am. What d' ye say, if we join company. Care for +insinuations?' + +'I want a conveyance of some sort,' returned Mrs. Mel. + +'Object to a donkey, ma'am?' + +'Not if he's strong and will go.' + +'Good,' said Old Tom; and while he spoke a donkey-cart stopped in front +of the Dolphin, and a well-dressed man touched his hat. + +'Get out of that damned bad habit, will you?' growled Old Tom. What do +you mean by wearing out the brim o' your hat in that way? Help this +woman in.' + +Mrs. Mel helped herself to a part of the seat. + +'We are too much for the donkey,' she said. + +'Ha, that's right. What I have, ma'am, is good. I can't pretend to +horses, but my donkey's the best. Are you going to cry about him?' + +'No. When he's tired I shall either walk or harness you,' said Mrs. Mel. + +This was spoken half-way down the High Street of Fallow field. Old Tom +looked full in her face, and bawled out: + +'Deuce take it. Are you a woman?' + +'I have borne three girls and one boy,' said Mrs. Mel. + +'What sort of a husband?' + +'He is dead.' + +'Ha! that's an opening, but 'tain't an answer. I'm off to Beckley on a +marriage business. I 'm the son of a cobbler, so I go in a donkey-cart. +No damned pretences for me. I'm going to marry off a young tailor to a +gal he's been playing the lord to. If she cares for him she'll take him: +if not, they're all the luckier, both of 'em.' + +'What's the tailor's name?' said Mrs. Mel. + +'You are a woman,' returned Old Tom. 'Now, come, ma'am, don't you feel +ashamed of being in a donkeycart?' + +'I 'm ashamed of men, sometimes,' said Mrs. Mel; 'never of animals.' + +''Shamed o' me, perhaps.' + +'I don't know you.' + +'Ha! well! I'm a man with no pretences. Do you like 'em? How have you +brought up your three girls and one boy? No pretences--eh?' + +Mrs. Mel did not answer, and Old Tom jogged the reins and chuckled, and +asked his donkey if he wanted to be a racer. + +'Should you take me for a gentleman, ma'am?' + +'I dare say you are, sir, at heart. Not from your manner of speech.' + +'I mean appearances, ma'am.' + +'I judge by the disposition.' + +'You do, ma'am? Then, deuce take it, if you are a woman, you 're -----' +Old Tom had no time to conclude. + +A great noise of wheels, and a horn blown, caused them both to turn their +heads, and they beheld a curricle descending upon them vehemently, and a +fashionably attired young gentleman straining with all his might at the +reins. The next instant they were rolling on the bank. About twenty +yards ahead the curricle was halted and turned about to see the extent of +the mischief done. + +'Pardon, a thousand times, my worthy couple,' cried the sonorous Mr. +Raikes. 'What we have seen we swear not to divulge. Franco and Fred-- +your pledge!' + +'We swear!' exclaimed this couple. + +But suddenly the cheeks of Mr. John Raikes flushed. He alighted from the +box, and rushing up to Old Tom, was shouting, 'My bene--' + +'Do you want my toe on your plate?' Old Tom stopped him with. + +The mysterious words completely changed the aspect of Mr. John Raikes. +He bowed obsequiously and made his friend Franco step down and assist in +the task of reestablishing the donkey, who fortunately had received no +damage. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +EXHIBITS ROSE'S GENERALSHIP; EVAN'S PERFORMANCE ON THE SECOND FIDDLE; +AND THE WRETCHEDNESS OF THE COUNTESS + +We left Rose and Evan on their way to Lady Jocelyn. At the library-door +Rose turned to him, and with her chin archly lifted sideways, said: + +'I know what you feel; you feel foolish.' + +Now the sense of honour, and of the necessity of acting the part it +imposes on him, may be very strong in a young man; but certainly, as a +rule, the sense of ridicule is more poignant, and Evan was suffering +horrid pangs. We none of us like to play second fiddle. To play second +fiddle to a young woman is an abomination to us all. But to have to +perform upon that instrument to the darling of our hearts--would we not +rather die? nay, almost rather end the duet precipitately and with +violence. Evan, when he passed Drummond into the house, and quietly +returned his gaze, endured the first shock of this strange feeling. +There could be no doubt that he was playing second fiddle to Rose. And +what was he about to do? Oh, horror! to stand like a criminal, and say, +or worse, have said for him, things to tip the ears with fire! To tell +the young lady's mother that he had won her daughter's love, and meant-- +what did he mean? He knew not. Alas! he was second fiddle; he could +only mean what she meant. Evan loved Rose deeply and completely, but +noble manhood was strong in him. You may sneer at us, if you please, +ladies. We have been educated in a theory, that when you lead off with +the bow, the order of Nature is reversed, and it is no wonder therefore, +that, having stript us of one attribute, our fine feathers moult, and the +majestic cock-like march which distinguishes us degenerates. You unsex +us, if I may dare to say so. Ceasing to be men, what are we? If we are +to please you rightly, always allow us to play First. + +Poor Evan did feel foolish. Whether Rose saw it in his walk, or had a +loving feminine intuition of it, and was aware of the golden rule I have +just laid down, we need not inquire. She hit the fact, and he could only +stammer, and bid her open the door. + +'No,' she said, after a slight hesitation, 'it will be better that I +should speak to Mama alone, I see. Walk out on the lawn, dear, and wait +for me. And if you meet Drummond, don't be angry with him. Drummond is +very fond of me, and of course I shall teach him to be fond of you. He +only thinks . . . what is not true, because he does not know you. I +do thoroughly, and there, you see, I give you my hand.' + +Evan drew the dear hand humbly to his lips. Rose then nodded meaningly, +and let her eyes dwell on him, and went in to her mother to open the +battle. + +Could it be that a flame had sprung up in those grey eyes latterly? Once +they were like morning before sunrise. How soft and' warm and tenderly +transparent they could now be! Assuredly she loved him. And he, beloved +by the noblest girl ever fashioned, why should he hang his head, and +shrink at the thought of human faces, like a wretch doomed to the +pillory? He visioned her last glance, and lightning emotions of pride +and happiness flashed through his veins. The generous, brave heart! +Yes, with her hand in his, he could stand at bay--meet any fate. Evan +accepted Rose because he believed in her love, and judged it by the +strength of his own; her sacrifice of her position he accepted, because +in his soul he knew he should have done no less. He mounted to the level +of her nobleness, and losing nothing of the beauty of what she did, it +was not so strange to him. + +Still there was the baleful reflection that he was second fiddle to his +beloved. No harmony came of it in his mind. How could he take an +initiative? He walked forth on the lawn, where a group had gathered +under the shade of a maple, consisting of Drummond Forth, Mrs. Evremonde, +Mrs. Shorne, Mr. George Uplift, Seymour Jocelyn, and Ferdinand Laxley. +A little apart Juliana Bonner was walking with Miss Carrington. Juliana, +when she saw him, left her companion, and passing him swiftly, said, +'Follow me presently into the conservatory.' + +Evan strolled near the group, and bowed to Mrs. Shorne, whom he had not +seen that morning. + +The lady's acknowledgement of his salute was constrained, and but a shade +on the side of recognition. They were silent till he was out of earshot. +He noticed that his second approach produced the same effect. In the +conservatory Juliana was awaiting him. + +'It is not to give you roses I called you here, Mr. Harrington,' she +said. + +'Not if I beg one?' he responded. + +'Ah! but you do not want them from . . . It depends on the person.' + +'Pluck this,' said Evan, pointing to a white rose. + +She put her fingers to the stem. + +What folly!' she cried, and turned from it. + +'Are you afraid that I shall compromise you?' asked Evan. + +'You care for me too little for that.' + +'My dear Miss Bonner!' + +'How long did you know Rose before you called her by her Christian name?' + +Evan really could not remember, and was beginning to wonder what he had +been called there for. The little lady had feverish eyes and fingers, +and seemed to be burning to speak, but afraid. + +'I thought you had gone,' she dropped her voice, 'without wishing me +good-bye.' + +'I certainly should not do that, Miss Bonner.' + +'Formal!' she exclaimed, half to herself. 'Miss Bonner thanks you. Do +you think I wish you to stay? No friend of yours would wish it. You do +not know the selfishness--brutal!--of these people of birth, as they call +it.' + +'I have met with nothing but kindness here,' said Evan. + +'Then go while you can feel that,' she answered; 'for it cannot last +another hour. Here is the rose.' She broke it from the stem and handed +it to him. 'You may wear that, and they are not so likely to call you an +adventurer, and names of that sort. I am hardly considered a lady by +them.' + +An adventurer! The full meaning of the phrase struck Evan's senses when +he was alone. Miss Bonner knew something of his condition, evidently. +Perhaps it was generally known, and perhaps it was thought that he had +come to win Rose for his worldly advantage! The idea was overwhelmingly +new to him. Up started self-love in arms. He would renounce her. + +It is no insignificant contest when love has to crush self-love utterly. +At moments it can be done. Love has divine moments. There are times +also when Love draws part of his being from self-love, and can find no +support without it. + +But how could he renounce her, when she came forth to him,--smiling, +speaking freshly and lightly, and with the colour on her cheeks which +showed that she had done her part? How could he retract a step? + +'I have told Mama, Evan. That's over. She heard it first from me.' + +'And she?' + +'Dear Evan, if you are going to be sensitive, I'll run away. You that +fear no danger, and are the bravest man I ever knew! I think you are +really trembling. She will speak to Papa, and then--and then, I suppose, +they will both ask you whether you intend to give me up, or no. I'm +afraid you'll do the former.' + +'Your mother--Lady Jocelyn listened to you, Rose? You told her all?' + +'Every bit.' + +'And what does she think of me?' + +'Thinks you very handsome and astonishing, and me very idiotic and +natural, and that there is a great deal of bother in the world, and that +my noble relatives will lay the blame of it on her. No, dear, not all +that; but she talked very sensibly to me, and kindly. You know she is +called a philosopher: nobody knows how deep-hearted she is, though. My +mother is true as steel. I can't separate the kindness from the sense, +or I would tell you all she said. When I say kindness, I don't mean any +"Oh, my child," and tears, and kisses, and maundering, you know. You +mustn't mind her thinking me a little fool. You want to know what she +thinks of you. She said nothing to hurt you, Evan, and we have gained +ground so far, and now we'll go and face our enemies. Uncle Mel expects +to hear about your appointment, in a day or two, and----' + +'Oh, Rose!' Evan burst out. + +'What is it?' + +'Why must I owe everything to you?' + +'Why, dear? Why, because, if you do, it's very much better than your +owing it to anybody else. Proud again?' + +Not proud: only second fiddle. + +'You know, dear Evan, when two people love, there is no such thing as +owing between them.' + +'Rose, I have been thinking. It is not too late. I love you, God knows! +I did in Portugal: I do now--more and more. But Oh, my bright angel!' he +ended the sentence in his breast. + +'Well? but--what?' + +Evan sounded down the meaning of his 'but.' Stripped of the usual +heroics, it was, 'what will be thought of me?' not a small matter to any +of us. He caught a distant glimpse of the little bit of bare +selfishness, and shrank from it. + +'Too late,' cried Rose. 'The battle has commenced now, and, Mr. +Harrington, I will lean on your arm, and be led to my dear friends +yonder. Do they think that I am going to put on a mask to please them? +Not for anybody! What they are to know they may as well know at once.' + +She looked in Evan's face. + +'Do you hesitate?' + +He felt the contrast between his own and hers; between the niggard spirit +of the beggarly receiver, and the high bloom of the exalted giver. +Nevertheless, he loved her too well not to share much of her nature, and +wedding it suddenly, he said: + +'Rose; tell me, now. If you were to see the place where I was born, +could you love me still?' + +'Yes, Evan.' + +'If you were to hear me spoken of with contempt--' + +'Who dares?' cried Rose. 'Never to me!' + +'Contempt of what I spring from, Rose. Names used . . . Names are +used . . .' + +'Tush!--names!' said Rose, reddening. 'How cowardly that is! Have you +finished? Oh, faint heart! I suppose I'm not a fair lady, or you +wouldn't have won me. Now, come. Remember, Evan, I conceal nothing; and +if anything makes you wretched here, do think how I love you.' + +In his own firm belief he had said everything to arrest her in her +course, and been silenced by transcendent logic. She thought the same. + +Rose made up to the conclave under the maple. + +The voices hushed as they approached. + +'Capital weather,' said Rose. 'Does Harry come back from London +to-morrow--does anybody know?' + +'Not aware,' Laxley was heard to reply. + +'I want to speak a word to you, Rose,' said Mrs. Shorne. + +'With the greatest pleasure, my dear aunt': and Rose walked after her. + +'My dear Rose,' Mrs. Shorne commenced, 'your conduct requires that I +should really talk to you most seriously. You are probably not aware of +what you are doing: Nobody likes ease and natural familiarity more than I +do. I am persuaded it is nothing but your innocence. You are young to +the world's ways, and perhaps a little too headstrong, and vain.' + +'Conceited and wilful,' added Rose. + +'If you like the words better. But I must say--I do not wish to trouble +your father--you know he cannot bear worry--but I must say, that if you +do not listen to me, he must be spoken to.' + +'Why not Mama?' + +'I should naturally select my brother first. No doubt you understand +me.' + +'Any distant allusion to Mr. Harrington?' + +'Pertness will not avail you, Rose.' + +'So you want me to do secretly what I am doing openly?' + +'You must and shall remember you are a Jocelyn, Rose.' + +'Only half, my dear aunt!' + +'And by birth a lady, Rose.' + +'And I ought to look under my eyes, and blush, and shrink, whenever I +come near a gentleman, aunt!' + +'Ah! my dear. No doubt you will do what is most telling. Since you +have spoken of this Mr. Harrington, I must inform you that I have it on +certain authority from two or three sources, that he is the son of a +small shopkeeper at Lymport.' + +Mrs. Shorne watched the effect she had produced. + +'Indeed, aunt?' cried Rose. 'And do you know this to be true?' + +'So when you talk of gentlemen, Rose, please be careful whom you +include.' + +'I mustn't include poor Mr. Harrington? Then my Grandpapa Bonner is out +of the list, and such numbers of good worthy men?' + +Mrs. Shorne understood the hit at the defunct manufacturer. She said: +'You must most distinctly give me your promise, while this young +adventurer remains here--I think it will not be long--not to be +compromising yourself further, as you now do. Or--indeed I must--I shall +let your parents perceive that such conduct is ruin to a young girl in +your position, and certainly you will be sent to Elburne House for the +winter.' + +Rose lifted her hands, crying: 'Ye Gods!--as Harry says. But I'm very +much obliged to you, my dear aunt. Concerning Mr. Harrington, +wonderfully obliged. Son of a small-----! Is it a t-t-tailor, aunt?' + +'It is--I have heard.' + +'And that is much worse. Cloth is viler than cotton! And don't they +call these creatures sn-snips? Some word of that sort?' + +'It makes little difference what they are called.' + +'Well, aunt, I sincerely thank you. As this subject seems to interest +you, go and see Mama, now. She can tell you a great deal more: and, if +you want her authority, come back to me.' + +Rose then left her aunt in a state of extreme indignation. It was a +clever move to send Mrs. Shorne to Lady Jocelyn. They were antagonistic, +and, rational as Lady Jocelyn was, and with her passions under control, +she was unlikely to side with Mrs. Shorne. + +Now Rose had fought against herself, and had, as she thought, conquered. +In Portugal Evan's half insinuations had given her small suspicions, +which the scene on board the Jocasta had half confirmed: and since she +came to communicate with her own mind, she bore the attack of all that +rose against him, bit by bit. She had not been too blind to see the +unpleasantness of the fresh facts revealed to her. They did not change +her; on the contrary, drew her to him faster--and she thought she had +completely conquered whatever could rise against him. But when Juliana +Bonner told her that day that Evan was not only the son of the thing, +but the thing himself, and that his name could be seen any day in +Lymport, and that he had come from the shop to Beckley, poor Rosey had a +sick feeling that almost sank her. For a moment she looked back wildly +to the doors of retreat. Her eyes had to feed on Evan, she had to taste +some of the luxury of love, before she could gain composure, and then her +arrogance towards those she called her enemies did not quite return. + +'In that letter you told me all--all--all, Evan?' + +'Yes, all-religiously.' + +'Oh, why did I miss it!' + +'Would it give you pleasure?' + +She feared to speak, being tender as a mother to his sensitiveness. The +expressive action of her eyebrows sufficed. She could not bear +concealment, or doubt, or a shadow of dishonesty; and he, gaining force +of soul to join with hers, took her hands and related the contents of the +letter fully. She was pale when he had finished. It was some time +before she was able to get free from the trammels of prejudice, but when +she did, she did without reserve, saying: 'Evan, there is no man who +would have done so much.' These little exaltations and generosities bind +lovers tightly. He accepted the credit she gave him, and at that we need +not wonder. It helped him further to accept herself, otherwise could he +--his name known to be on a shop-front--have aspired to her still? But, +as an unexampled man, princely in soul, as he felt, why, he might kneel +to Rose Jocelyn. So they listened to one another, and blinded the world +by putting bandages on their eyes, after the fashion of little boys and +girls. + +Meantime the fair being who had brought these two from the ends of the +social scale into this happy tangle, the beneficent Countess, was +wretched. When you are in the enemy's country you are dependent on the +activity and zeal of your spies and scouts, and the best of these--Polly +Wheedle, to wit--had proved defective, recalcitrant even. And because a +letter had been lost in her room! as the Countess exclaimed to herself, +though Polly gave her no reasons. The Countess had, therefore, to rely +chiefly upon personal observation, upon her intuitions, upon her +sensations in the proximity of the people to whom she was opposed; and +from these she gathered that she was, to use the word which seemed +fitting to her, betrayed. Still to be sweet, still to smile and to +amuse,--still to give her zealous attention to the business of the +diplomatist's Election, still to go through her church-services devoutly, +required heroism; she was equal to it, for she had remarkable courage; +but it was hard to feel no longer at one with Providence. Had not +Providence suggested Sir Abraham to her? killed him off at the right +moment in aid of her? And now Providence had turned, and the assistance +she had formerly received from that Power, and given thanks for so +profusely, was the cause of her terror. It was absolutely as if she had +been borrowing from a Jew, and were called upon to pay fifty-fold +interest. + +'Evan!' she writes in a gasp to Harriet. 'We must pack up and depart. +Abandon everything. He has disgraced us all, and ruined himself. +Impossible that we can stay for the pic-nic. We are known, dear. +Think of my position one day in this house! Particulars when I embrace +you. I dare not trust a letter here. If Evan had confided in me! He is +impenetrable. He will be low all his life, and I refuse any more to +sully myself in attempting to lift him. For Silva's sake I must +positively break the connection. Heaven knows what I have done for this +boy, and will support me in the feeling that I have done enough. My +conscience at least is safe.' + +Like many illustrious Generals, the Countess had, for the hour, lost +heart. We find her, however, the next day, writing: + +'Oh! Harriet! what trials for sisterly affection! Can I possibly-- +weather the gale, as the old L---- sailors used to say? It is dreadful. +I fear I am by duty bound to stop on. Little Bonner thinks Evan quite a +duke's son, has been speaking to her Grandmama, and to-day, this morning, +the venerable old lady quite as much as gave me to understand that an +union between our brother and her son's child would sweetly gratify her, +and help her to go to her rest in peace. Can I chase that spark of +comfort from one so truly pious? Dearest Juliana! I have anticipated +Evan's feeling for her, and so she thinks his conduct cold. Indeed, I +told her, point blank, he loved her. That, you know, is different from +saying, dying of love, which would have been an untruth. But, Evan, of +course! No getting him! Should Juliana ever reproach me, I can assure +the child that any man is in love with any woman--which is really the +case. It is, you dear humdrum! what the dictionary calls "nascent." +I never liked the word, but it stands for a fact.' + +The Countess here exhibits the weakness of a self-educated intelligence. +She does not comprehend the joys of scholarship in her employment of +Latinisms. It will be pardoned to her by those who perceive the profound +piece of feminine discernment which precedes it. + +'I do think I shall now have courage to stay out the pic-nic,' she +continues. 'I really do not think all is known. Very little can be +known, or I am sure I could not feel as I do. It would burn me up. +George Up--- does not dare; and his most beautiful lady-love had far +better not. Mr. Forth may repent his whispers. But, Oh! what Evan may +do! Rose is almost detestable. Manners, my dear? Totally deficient! + +'An ally has just come. Evan's good fortune is most miraculous. His low +friend turns out to be a young Fortunatus; very original, sparkling, and +in my hands to be made much of. I do think he will--for he is most +zealous--he will counteract that hateful Mr. Forth, who may soon have +work enough. Mr. Raikes (Evan's friend) met a mad captain in Fallow +field! Dear Mr. Raikes is ready to say anything; not from love of +falsehood, but because he is ready to think it. He has confessed to me +that Evan told him! Louisa de Saldar has changed his opinion, and much +impressed this eccentric young gentleman. Do you know any young girl who +wants a fortune, and would be grateful? + +'Dearest! I have decided on the pic-nic. Let your conscience be clear, +and Providence cannot be against you. So I feel. Mr. Parsley spoke very +beautifully to that purpose last Sunday in the morning service. A little +too much through his nose, perhaps; but the poor young man's nose is a +great organ, and we will not cast it in his teeth more than nature has +done. I said so to my diplomatist, who was amused. If you are +sparklingly vulgar with the English, you are aristocratic. Oh! what +principle we women require in the thorny walk of life. I can show you a +letter when we meet that will astonish humdrum. Not so diplomatic as the +writer thought! Mrs. Melville (sweet woman!) must continue to practise +civility; for a woman who is a wife, my dear, in verity she lives in a +glass house, and let her fling no stones. "Let him who is without sin." +How beautiful that Christian sentiment! I hope I shall be pardoned, but +it always seems to me that what we have to endure is infinitely worse +than any other suffering, for you find no comfort for the children of +T----s in Scripture, nor any defence of their dreadful position. +Robbers, thieves, Magdalens! but, no! the unfortunate offspring of that +class are not even mentioned: at least, in my most diligent perusal of +the Scriptures, I never lighted upon any remote allusion; and we know the +Jews did wear clothing. Outcasts, verily! And Evan could go, and write +--but I have no patience with him. He is the blind tool of his mother, +and anybody's puppet.' + +The letter concludes, with horrid emphasis: + +'The Madre in Beckley! Has sent for Evan from a low public-house! I +have intercepted the messenger. Evan closeted with Sir Franks. Andrew's +horrible old brother with Lady Jocelyn. The whole house, from garret to +kitchen, full of whispers!' + +A prayer to Providence closes the communication. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +TOM COGGLESEY'S PROPOSITION + +The appearance of a curricle and a donkey-cart within the gates of +Beckley Court, produced a sensation among the men of the lower halls, +and a couple of them rushed out, with the left calf considerably in +advance, to defend the house from violation. Toward the curricle they +directed what should have been a bow, but was a nod. Their joint +attention was then given to the donkey-cart, in which old Tom Cogglesby +sat alone, bunchy in figure, bunched in face, his shrewd grey eyes +twinkling under the bush of his eyebrows. + +'Oy, sir--you! my man!' exclaimed the tallest of the pair, resolutely. +'This won't do. Don't you know driving this sort of conveyance slap +along the gravel 'ere, up to the pillars, 's unparliamentary? Can't be +allowed. Now, right about!' + +This address, accompanied by a commanding elevation of the dexter hand, +seemed to excite Mr. Raikes far more than Old Tom. He alighted from his +perch in haste, and was running up to the stalwart figure, crying, +'Fellow!' when, as you tell a dog to lie down, Old Tom called out, 'Be +quiet, Sir!' and Raikes halted with prompt military obedience. + +The sight of the curricle acting satellite to the donkey-cart staggered +the two footmen. + +'Are you lords?' sang out Old Tom. + +A burst of laughter from the friends of Mr. Raikes, in the curricle, +helped to make the powdered gentlemen aware of a sarcasm, and one with no +little dignity replied that they were not lords. + +'Oh! Then come and hold my donkey.' + +Great irresolution was displayed at the injunction, but having consulted +the face of Mr. Raikes, one fellow, evidently half overcome by what was +put upon him, with the steps of Adam into exile, descended to the gravel, +and laid his hand on the donkey's head. + +'Hold hard!' cried Old Tom. 'Whisper in his ear. He'll know your +language.' + +'May I have the felicity of assisting you to terra firma?' interposed Mr. +Raikes, with the bow of deferential familiarity. + +'Done that once too often,' returned Old Tom, jumping out. 'There. +What's the fee? There's a crown for you that ain't afraid of a live +donkey; and there 's a sixpenny bit for you that are--to keep up your +courage; and when he's dead you shall have his skin--to shave by.' + +'Excellent!' shouted Raikes. + +'Thomas!' he addressed a footman, 'hand in my card. Mr. John Feversham +Raikes.' + +'And tell my lady, Tom Cogglesby's come,' added the owner of that name. + +We will follow Tom Cogglesby, as he chooses to be called. + +Lady Jocelyn rose on his entering the library, and walking up to him, +encountered him with a kindly full face. + +'So I see you at last, Tom?' she said, without releasing his hand; and +Old Tom mounted patches of red in his wrinkled cheeks, and blinked, and +betrayed a singular antiquated bashfulness, which ended, after a mumble +of 'Yes, there he was, and he hoped her ladyship was well,' by his +seeking refuge in a chair, where he sat hard, and fixed his attention on +the leg of a table. + +'Well, Tom, do you find much change in me?' she was woman enough to +continue. + +He was obliged to look up. + +'Can't say I do, my lady.' + +'Don't you see the grey hairs, Tom?' + +'Better than a wig,' rejoined he. + +Was it true that her ladyship had behaved rather ill to Old Tom in her +youth? Excellent women have been naughty girls, and young Beauties will +have their train. It is also very possible that Old Tom had presumed +upon trifles, and found it difficult to forgive her his own folly. + +'Preferable to a wig? Well, I would rather see you with your natural +thatch. You're bent, too. You look as if you had kept away from Beckley +a little too long.' + +'Told you, my lady, I should come when your daughter was marriageable.' + +'Oho! that's it? I thought it was the Election! + +'Election be ------ hem!--beg pardon, my lady.' + +'Swear, Tom, if it relieves you. I think it bad to check an oath or a +sneeze.' + +'I 'm come to see you on business, my lady, or I shouldn't have troubled +you.' + +'Malice?' + +'You 'll see I don't bear any, my lady.' + +'Ah! if you had only sworn roundly twenty-five years ago, what a much +younger man you would have been! and a brave capital old friend whom I +should not have missed all that time.' + +'Come!' cried Old Tom, varying his eyes rapidly between her ladyship's +face and the floor, 'you acknowledge I had reason to.' + +'Mais, cela va sans dire.' + +'Cobblers' sons ain't scholars, my lady.' + +'And are not all in the habit of throwing their fathers in our teeth, I +hope!' + +Old Tom wriggled in his chair. 'Well, my lady, I'm not going to make a +fool of myself at my time o' life. Needn't be alarmed now. You've got +the bell-rope handy and a husband on the premises.' + +Lady Jocelyn smiled, stood up, and went to him. 'I like an honest fist,' +she said, taking his. 'We 're not going to be doubtful friends, and we +won't snap and snarl. That's for people who're independent of wigs, Tom. +I find, for my part, that a little grey on the top of any head cools the +temper amazingly. I used to be rather hot once.' + +'You could be peppery, my lady.' + +'Now I'm cool, Tom, and so must you be; or, if you fight, it must be in +my cause, as you did when you thrashed that saucy young carter. Do you +remember?' + +'If you'll sit ye down, my lady, I'll just tell you what I'm come for,' +said Old Tom, who plainly showed that he did remember, and was alarmingly +softened by her ladyship's retention of the incident. + +Lady Jocelyn returned to her place. + +'You've got a marriageable daughter, my lady?' + +'I suppose we may call her so,' said Lady Jocelyn, with a composed glance +at the ceiling. + +''Gaged to be married to any young chap?' + +'You must put the question to her, Tom.' + +'Ha! I don't want to see her.' + +At this Lady Jocelyn looked slightly relieved. Old Tom continued. + +'Happen to have got a little money--not so much as many a lord's got, +I dare say; such as 'tis, there 'tis. Young fellow I know wants a wife, +and he shall have best part of it. Will that suit ye, my lady?' + +Lady Jocelyn folded her hands. 'Certainly; I've no objection. What it +has to do with me I can't perceive.' + +'Ahem!' went Old Tom. 'It won't hurt your daughter to be married now, +will it?' + +'Oh! my daughter is the destined bride of your "young fellow,"' said +Lady Jocelyn. 'Is that how it's to be?' + +'She'--Old Tom cleared his throat 'she won't marry a lord, my lady; but +she--'hem--if she don't mind that--'ll have a deuced sight more hard cash +than many lord's son 'd give her, and a young fellow for a husband, sound +in wind and limb, good bone and muscle, speaks grammar and two or three +languages, and--' + +'Stop!' cried Lady Jocelyn. 'I hope this is not a prize young man? If +he belongs, at his age, to the unco quid, I refuse to take him for a son- +in-law, and I think Rose will, too.' + +Old Tom burst out vehemently: 'He's a damned good young fellow, though he +isn't a lord.' + +'Well,' said Lady Jocelyn, 'I 've no doubt you're in earnest, Tom. It 's +curious, for this morning Rose has come to me and given me the first +chapter of a botheration, which she declares is to end in the common rash +experiment. What is your "young fellow's" name? Who is he? What is +he?' + +'Won't take my guarantee, my lady?' + +'Rose--if she marries--must have a name, you know?' + +Old Tom hit his knee. 'Then there's a pill for ye to swallow, for he +ain't the son of a lord.' + +'That's swallowed, Tom. What is he?' + +'He's the son of a tradesman, then, my lady.' And Old Tom watched her to +note the effect he had produced. + +'More 's the pity,' was all she remarked. + +'And he 'll have his thousand a year to start with; and he's a tailor, my +lady.' + +Her ladyship opened her eyes. + +'Harrington's his name, my lady. Don't know whether you ever heard of +it.' + +Lady Jocelyn flung herself back in her chair. 'The queerest thing I ever +met!' said she. + +'Thousand a year to start with,' Old Tom went on, 'and if she marries-- +I mean if he marries her, I'll settle a thousand per ann. on the first +baby-boy or gal.' + +'Hum! Is this gross collusion, Mr. Tom?' Lady Jocelyn inquired. + +'What does that mean?' + +'Have you spoken of this before to any one?' + +'I haven't, my lady. Decided on it this morning. Hem! you got a son, +too. He's fond of a young gal, or he ought to be. I'll settle him when +I've settled the daughter.' + +'Harry is strongly attached to a dozen, I believe,' said his mother. +'Well, Tom, we'll think of it. I may as well tell you: Rose has just +been here to inform me that this Mr. Harrington has turned her head, and +that she has given her troth, and all that sort of thing. I believe such +was not to be laid to my charge in my day.' + +'You were open enough, my lady,' said Old Tom. 'She's fond of the young +fellow? She'll have a pill to swallow! poor young woman!' + +Old Tom visibly chuckled. Lady Jocelyn had a momentary temptation to +lead him out, but she did not like the subject well enough to play with +it. + +'Apparently Rose has swallowed it,' she said. + +'Goose, shears, cabbage, and all!' muttered Old Tom. 'Got a stomach!-- +she knows he's a tailor, then? The young fellow told her? He hasn't +been playing the lord to her?' + +'As far as he's concerned, I think he has been tolerably honest, Tom, for +a man and a lover.' + +'And told her he was born and bound a tailor?' + +'Rose certainly heard it from him.' + +Slapping his knee, Old Tom cried: 'Bravo!' For though one part of his +nature was disappointed, and the best part of his plot disarranged, he +liked Evan's proceeding and felt warm at what seemed to him Rose's scorn +of rank. + +'She must be a good gal, my lady. She couldn't have got it from t' other +side. Got it from you. Not that you--' + +'No,' said Lady Jocelyn, apprehending him. 'I'm afraid I have no +Republican virtues. I 'm afraid I should have rejected the pill. Don't +be angry with me,' for Old Tom looked sour again; 'I like birth and +position, and worldly advantages, and, notwithstanding Rose's pledge of +the instrument she calls her heart, and in spite of your offer, I shall, +I tell you honestly, counsel her to have nothing to do with--' + +'Anything less than lords,' Old Tom struck in. 'Very well. Are you +going to lock her up, my lady?' + +'No. Nor shall I whip her with rods.' + +'Leave her free to her choice?' + +'She will have my advice. That I shall give her. And I shall take care +that before she makes a step she shall know exactly what it leads to. +Her father, of course, will exercise his judgement.' (Lady Jocelyn said +this to uphold the honour of Sir Franks, knowing at the same time +perfectly well that he would be wheedled by Rose.) 'I confess I like this +Mr. Harrington. But it's a great misfortune for him to have had a +notorious father. A tailor should certainly avoid fame, and this young +man will have to carry his father on his back. He 'll never throw the +great Mel off.' + +Tom Cogglesby listened, and was really astonished at her ladyship's calm +reception of his proposal. + +'Shameful of him! shameful!' he muttered perversely: for it would have +made him desolate to have had to change his opinion of her ladyship after +cherishing it, and consoling himself with it, five-and-twenty years. +Fearing the approach of softness, he prepared to take his leave. + +'Now--your servant, my lady. I stick to my word, mind: and if your +people here are willing, I--I 've got a candidate up for Fall'field-- +I'll knock him down, and you shall sneak in your Tory. Servant, my +lady.' + +Old Tom rose to go. Lady Jocelyn took his hand cordially, though she +could not help smiling at the humility of the cobbler's son in his manner +of speaking of the Tory candidate. + +'Won't you stop with us a few days?' + +'I 'd rather not, I thank ye.' + +'Won't you see Rose?' + +'I won't. Not till she's married.' + +'Well, Tom, we're friends now?' + +'Not aware I've ever done you any harm, my lady.' + +'Look me in the face.' + +The trial was hard for him. Though she had been five-and-twenty years a +wife, she was still very handsome: but he was not going to be melted, and +when the perverse old fellow obeyed her, it was with an aspect of +resolute disgust that would have made any other woman indignant. Lady +Jocelyn laughed. + +'Why, Tom, your brother Andrew's here, and makes himself comfortable with +us. We rode by Brook's farm the other day. Do you remember Copping's +pond--how we dragged it that night? What days we had!' + +Old Tom tugged once or twice at his imprisoned fist, while these youthful +frolics of his too stupid self and the wild and beautiful Miss Bonner +were being recalled. + +'I remember!' he said savagely, and reaching the door hurled out: 'And I +remember the Bull-dogs, too! servant, my lady.' With which he effected a +retreat, to avoid a ringing laugh he heard in his ears. + +Lady Jocelyn had not laughed. She had done no more than look and smile +kindly on the old boy. It was at the Bull-dogs, a fall of water on the +borders of the park, that Tom Cogglesby, then a hearty young man, had +been guilty of his folly: had mistaken her frank friendliness for a +return of his passion, and his stubborn vanity still attributed her +rejection of his suit to the fact of his descent from a cobbler, or, +as he put it, to her infernal worship of rank. + +'Poor old Tom!' said her ladyship, when alone. 'He 's rough at the rind, +but sound at the core.' She had no idea of the long revenge Old Tom +cherished, and had just shaped into a plot to be equal with her for the +Bull-dogs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +PRELUDE TO AN ENGAGEMENT + +Money was a strong point with the Elburne brood. The Jocelyns very +properly respected blood; but being, as Harry, their youngest +representative, termed them, poor as rats, they were justified in +considering it a marketable stuff; and when they married they married for +money. The Hon. Miss Jocelyn had espoused a manufacturer, who failed in +his contract, and deserved his death. The diplomatist, Melville, had not +stepped aside from the family traditions in his alliance with Miss Black, +the daughter of a bold bankrupt, educated in affluence; and if he touched +nothing but L5000 and some very pretty ringlets, that was not his fault. +Sir Franks, too, mixed his pure stream with gold. As yet, however, the +gold had done little more than shine on him; and, belonging to +expectancy, it might be thought unsubstantial. Beckley Court was in the +hands of Mrs. Bonner, who, with the highest sense of duty toward her only +living child, was the last to appreciate Lady Jocelyn's entire absence of +demonstrative affection, and severely reprobated her daughter's +philosophic handling of certain serious subjects. Sir Franks, no doubt, +came better off than the others; her ladyship brought him twenty thousand +pounds, and Harry had ten in the past tense, and Rose ten in the future; +but living, as he had done, a score of years anticipating the demise of +an incurable invalid, he, though an excellent husband and father, could +scarcely be taught to imagine that the Jocelyn object of his bargain was +attained. He had the semblance of wealth, without the personal glow +which absolute possession brings. It was his habit to call himself a +poor man, and it was his dream that Rose should marry a rich one. Harry +was hopeless. He had been his Grandmother's pet up to the years of +adolescence: he was getting too old for any prospect of a military career +he had no turn for diplomacy, no taste for any of the walks open to blood +and birth, and was in headlong disgrace with the fountain of goodness at +Beckley Court, where he was still kept in the tacit understanding that, +should Juliana inherit the place, he must be at hand to marry her +instantly, after the fashion of the Jocelyns. They were an injured +family; for what they gave was good, and the commercial world had not +behaved honourably to them. Now, Ferdinand Laxley was just the match for +Rose. Born to a title and fine estate, he was evidently fond of her, and +there had been a gentle hope in the bosom of Sir Franks that the family +fatality would cease, and that Rose would marry both money and blood. + +From this happy delusion poor Sir Franks was awakened to hear that his +daughter had plighted herself to the son of a tradesman: that, as the +climax to their evil fate, she who had some blood and some money of her +own--the only Jocelyn who had ever united the two--was desirous of +wasting herself on one who had neither. The idea was so utterly opposed +to the principles Sir Franks had been trained in, that his intellect +could not grasp it. He listened to his sister, Mrs. Shorne: he listened +to his wife; he agreed with all they said, though what they said was +widely diverse: he consented to see and speak to Evan, and he did so, and +was much the most distressed. For Sir Franks liked many things in life, +and hated one thing alone--which was 'bother.' A smooth world was his +delight. Rose knew this, and her instruction to Evan was: 'You cannot +give me up--you will go, but you cannot give me up while I am faithful to +you: tell him that.' She knew that to impress this fact at once on the +mind of Sir Franks would be a great gain; for in his detestation of +bother he would soon grow reconciled to things monstrous: and hearing the +same on both sides, the matter would assume an inevitable shape to him. +Mr. Second Fiddle had no difficulty in declaring the eternity of his +sentiments; but he toned them with a despair Rose did not contemplate, +and added also his readiness to repair, in any way possible, the evil +done. He spoke of his birth and position. Sir Franks, with a +gentlemanly delicacy natural to all lovers of a smooth world, begged him +to see the main and the insurmountable objection. Birth was to be +desired, of course, and position, and so forth: but without money how can +two young people marry? Evan's heart melted at this generous way of +putting it. He said he saw it, he had no hope: he would go and be +forgotten: and begged that for any annoyance his visit might have caused +Sir Franks and Lady Jocelyn, they would pardon him. Sir Franks shook him +by the hand, and the interview ended in a dialogue on the condition of +the knees of Black Lymport, and on horseflesh in Portugal and Spain. + +Following Evan, Rose went to her father and gave him a good hour's +excitement, after which the worthy gentleman hurried for consolation to +Lady Jocelyn, whom he found reading a book of French memoirs, in her +usual attitude, with her feet stretched out and her head thrown back, as +in a distant survey of the lively people screening her from a troubled +world. Her ladyship read him a piquant story, and Sir Franks capped it +with another from memory; whereupon her ladyship held him wrong in one +turn of the story, and Sir Franks rose to get the volume to verify, and +while he was turning over the leaves, Lady Jocelyn told him incidentally +of old Tom Cogglesby's visit and proposal. Sir Franks found the passage, +and that her ladyship was right, which it did not move her countenance to +hear. + +'Ah!' said he, finding it no use to pretend there was no bother in the +world, 'here's a pretty pickle! Rose says she will have that fellow.' + +'Hum!' replied her ladyship. 'And if she keeps her mind a couple of +years, it will be a wonder.' + +'Very bad for her this sort of thing--talked about,' muttered Sir Franks. +'Ferdinand was just the man.' + +'Well, yes; I suppose it's her mistake to think brains an absolute +requisite,' said Lady Jocelyn, opening her book again, and scanning down +a column. + +Sir Franks, being imitative, adopted a similar refuge, and the talk +between them was varied by quotations and choice bits from the authors +they had recourse to. Both leaned back in their chairs, and spoke with +their eyes on their books. + +'Julia's going to write to her mother,' said he. + +'Very filial and proper,' said she. + +'There'll be a horrible hubbub, you know, Emily.' + +'Most probably. I shall get the blame; 'cela se concoit'.' + +'Young Harrington goes the day after to-morrow. Thought it better not to +pack him off in a hurry.' + +'And just before the pic-nic; no, certainly. I suppose it would look +odd.' + +'How are we to get rid of the Countess?' + +'Eh? This Bautru is amusing, Franks; but he's nothing to Vandy. 'Homme +incomparable!' On the whole I find Menage rather dull. The Countess? +what an accomplished liar that woman is! She seems to have stepped out +of Tallemant's Gallery. Concerning the Countess, I suppose you had +better apply to Melville.' + +'Where the deuce did this young Harrington get his breeding from?' + +'He comes of a notable sire.' + +'Yes, but there's no sign of the snob in him.' + +'And I exonerate him from the charge of "adventuring" after Rose. George +Uplift tells me--I had him in just now--that the mother is a woman of +mark and strong principle. She has probably corrected the too luxuriant +nature of Mel in her offspring. That is to say in this one. 'Pour les +autres, je ne dis pas'. Well, the young man will go; and if Rose chooses +to become a monument of constancy, we can do nothing. I shall give my +advice; but as she has not deceived me, and she is a reasonable being, I +shan't interfere. Putting the case at the worst, they will not want +money. I have no doubt Tom Cogglesby means what he says, and will do it. +So there we will leave the matter till we hear from Elburne House.' + +Sir Franks groaned at the thought. + +'How much does he offer to settle on them?' he asked. + +'A thousand a year on the marriage, and the same amount to the first +child. I daresay the end would be that they would get all.' + +Sir Franks nodded, and remained with one eye-brow pitiably elevated above +the level of the other. + +'Anything but a tailor!' he exclaimed presently, half to himself. + +'There is a prejudice against that craft,' her ladyship acquiesced. +'Beranger--let me see--your favourite Frenchman, Franks, wasn't it his +father?--no, his grandfather. "Mon pauvre et humble grand-pyre," I +think, was a tailor. Hum! the degrees of the thing, I confess, don't +affect me. One trade I imagine to be no worse than another.' + +'Ferdinand's allowance is about a thousand,' said Sir Franks, +meditatively. + +'And won't be a farthing more till he comes to the title,' added her +ladyship. + +'Well,' resumed Sir Franks, 'it's a horrible bother!' + +His wife philosophically agreed with him, and the subject was dropped. + +Lady Jocelyn felt with her husband, more than she chose to let him know, +and Sir Franks could have burst into anathemas against fate and +circumstances, more than his love of a smooth world permitted. He, +however, was subdued by her calmness; and she, with ten times the weight +of brain, was manoeuvred by the wonderful dash of General Rose Jocelyn. +For her ladyship, thinking, 'I shall get the blame of all this,' rather +sided insensibly with the offenders against those who condemned them +jointly; and seeing that Rose had been scrupulously honest and +straightforward in a very delicate matter, this lady was so constituted +that she could not but applaud her daughter in her heart. A worldly +woman would have acted, if she had not thought, differently; but her +ladyship was not a worldly woman. + +Evan's bearing and character had, during his residence at Beckley Court, +become so thoroughly accepted as those of a gentleman, and one of their +own rank, that, after an allusion to the origin of his breeding, not a +word more was said by either of them on that topic. Besides, Rose had +dignified him by her decided conduct. + +By the time poor Sir Franks had read himself into tranquillity, Mrs. +Shorne, who knew him well, and was determined that he should not enter +upon his usual negociations with an unpleasantness: that is to say, to +forget it, joined them in the library, bringing with her Sir John Loring +and Hamilton Jocelyn. Her first measure was to compel Sir Franks to put +down his book. Lady Jocelyn subsequently had to do the same. + +'Well, what have you done, Franks?' said Mrs. Shorne. + +'Done?' answered the poor gentleman. 'What is there to be done? I've +spoken to young Harrington.' + +'Spoken to him! He deserves horsewhipping! Have you not told him to +quit the house instantly?' + +Lady Jocelyn came to her husband's aid: 'It wouldn't do, I think, to kick +him out. In the first place, he hasn't deserved it.' + +'Not deserved it, Emily!--the commonest, low, vile, adventuring +tradesman!' + +'In the second place,' pursued her ladyship, 'it's not adviseable to do +anything that will make Rose enter into the young woman's sublimities. +It 's better not to let a lunatic see that you think him stark mad, and +the same holds with young women afflicted with the love-mania. The sound +of sense, even if they can't understand it, flatters them so as to keep +them within bounds. Otherwise you drive them into excesses best +avoided.' + +'Really, Emily,' said Mrs. Shorne, 'you speak almost, one would say, as +an advocate of such unions.' + +'You must know perfectly well that I entirely condemn them,' replied her +ladyship, who had once, and once only, delivered her opinion of the +nuptials of Mr. and Mrs. Shorne. + +In self-defence, and to show the total difference between the cases, Mrs. +Shorne interjected: 'An utterly penniless young adventurer!' + +'Oh, no; there's money,' remarked Sir Franks. + +'Money is there?' quoth Hamilton, respectfully. + +'And there's wit,' added Sir John, 'if he has half his sister's talent.' + +'Astonishing woman!' Hamilton chimed in; adding, with a shrug, +'But, egad!' + +'Well, we don't want him to resemble his sister,' said Lady Jocelyn. +'I acknowledge she's amusing.' + +'Amusing, Emily!' Mrs. Shorne never encountered her sister-in-law's +calmness without indignation. 'I could not rest in the house with such a +person, knowing her what she is. A vile adventuress, as I firmly +believe. What does she do all day with your mother? Depend upon it, you +will repent her visit in more ways than one.' + +'A prophecy?' asked Lady Jocelyn, smiling. + +On the grounds of common sense, on the grounds of propriety, and +consideration of what was due to themselves, all agreed to condemn the +notion of Rose casting herself away on Evan. Lady Jocelyn agreed with +Mrs. Shorne; Sir Franks with his brother, and Sir John. But as to what +they were to do, they were divided. Lady Jocelyn said she should not +prevent Rose from writing to Evan, if she had the wish to do so. + +'Folly must come out,' said her ladyship. 'It's a combustible material. +I won't have her health injured. She shall go into the world more. She +will be presented at Court, and if it's necessary to give her a dose or +two to counteract her vanity, I don't object. This will wear off, or, +'si c'est veritablement une grande passion, eh bien' we must take what +Providence sends us.' + +'And which we might have prevented if we had condescended to listen to +the plainest worldly wisdom,' added Mrs. Shorne. + +'Yes,' said Lady Jocelyn, equably, 'you know, you and I, Julia, argue +from two distinct points. Girls may be shut up, as you propose. I don't +think nature intended to have them the obverse of men. I 'm sure their +mothers never designed that they should run away with footmen, riding- +masters, chance curates, as they occasionally do, and wouldn't if they +had points of comparison. My opinion is that Prospero was just saved by +the Prince of Naples being wrecked on his island, from a shocking mis- +alliance between his daughter and the son of Sycorax. I see it clearly. +Poetry conceals the extreme probability, but from what I know of my sex, +I should have no hesitation in turning prophet also, as to that.' + +What could Mrs. Shorne do with a mother who talked in this manner? +Mrs. Melville, when she arrived to take part in the conference, which +gradually swelled to a family one, was equally unable to make Lady +Jocelyn perceive that her plan of bringing up Rose was, in the present +result of it, other than unlucky. + +Now the two Generals--Rose Jocelyn and the Countess de Saldar-- +had brought matters to this pass; and from the two tactical extremes: +the former by openness and dash; the latter by subtlety, and her own +interpretations of the means extended to her by Providence. I will not +be so bold as to state which of the two I think right. Good and evil +work together in this world. If the Countess had not woven the tangle, +and gained Evan time, Rose would never have seen his blood,--never have +had her spirit hurried out of all shows and forms and habits of thought, +up to the gates of existence, as it were, where she took him simply as +God created him and her, and clave to him. Again, had Rose been secret, +when this turn in her nature came, she would have forfeited the strange +power she received from it, and which endowed her with decision to say +what was in her heart, and stamp it lastingly there. The two Generals +were quite antagonistic, but no two, in perfect ignorance of one +another's proceedings, ever worked so harmoniously toward the main +result. The Countess was the skilful engineer: Rose the General of +cavalry. And it did really seem that, with Tom Cogglesby and his +thousands in reserve, the victory was about to be gained. The male +Jocelyns, an easy race, decided that, if the worst came to the worst, and +Rose proved a wonder, there was money, which was something. + +But social prejudice was about to claim its champion. Hitherto there had +been no General on the opposite side. Love, aided by the Countess, had +engaged an inert mass. The champion was discovered in the person of the +provincial Don Juan, Mr. Harry Jocelyn. Harry had gone on a mysterious +business of his own to London. He returned with a green box under his +arm, which, five minutes after his arrival, was entrusted to Conning, in +company with a genial present for herself, of a kind not perhaps so fit +for exhibition; at least they both thought so, for it was given in the +shades. Harry then went to pay his respects to his mother, who received +him with her customary ironical tolerance. His father, to whom he was an +incarnation of bother, likewise nodded to him and gave him a finger. +Duty done, Harry looked round him for pleasure, and observed nothing but +glum faces. Even the face of John Raikes was, heavy. He had been +hovering about the Duke and Miss Current for an hour, hoping the Countess +would come and give him a promised introduction. The Countess stirred +not from above, and Jack drifted from group to group on the lawn, and +grew conscious that wherever he went he brought silence with him. His +isolation made him humble, and when Harry shook his hand, and said he +remembered Fallow field and the fun there, Mr. Raikes thanked him. + +Harry made his way to join his friend Ferdinand, and furnished him with +the latest London news not likely to appear in the papers. Laxley was +distant and unamused. From the fact, too, that Harry was known to be the +Countess's slave, his presence produced the same effect in the different +circles about the grounds, as did that of John Raikes. Harry began to +yawn and wish very ardently for his sweet lady. She, however, had too +fine an instinct to descend. + +An hour before dinner, Juliana sent him a message that she desired to see +him. + +'Jove! I hope that girl's not going to be blowing hot again,' sighed the +conqueror. + +He had nothing to fear from Juliana. The moment they were alone she +asked him, 'Have you heard of it?' + +Harry shook his head and shrugged. + +'They haven't told you? Rose has engaged herself to Mr. Harrington, a +tradesman, a tailor!' + +'Pooh! have you got hold of that story?' said Harry. 'But I'm sorry for +old Ferdy. He was fond of Rosey. Here's another bother!' + +'You don't believe me, Harry?' + +Harry was mentally debating whether, in this new posture of affairs, his +friend Ferdinand would press his claim for certain moneys lent. + +'Oh, I believe you,' he said. 'Harrington has the knack with you women. +Why, you made eyes at him. It was a toss-up between you and Rosey once.' + +Juliana let this accusation pass. + +'He is a tradesman. He has a shop in Lymport, I tell you, Harry, and his +name on it. And he came here on purpose to catch Rose. And now he has +caught her, he tells her. And his mother is now at one of the village +inns, waiting to see him. Go to Mr. George Uplift; he knows the family. +Yes, the Countess has turned your head, of course; but she has schemed, +and schemed, and told such stories--God forgive her!' + +The girl had to veil her eyes in a spasm of angry weeping. + +'Oh, come! Juley!' murmured her killing cousin. Harry boasted an +extraordinary weakness at the sight of feminine tears. 'I say! Juley! +you know if you begin crying I'm done for, and it isn't fair.' + +He dropped his arm on her waist to console her, and generously declared +to her that he always had been, very fond of her. These scenes were not +foreign to the youth. Her fits of crying, from which she would burst in +a frenzy of contempt at him, had made Harry say stronger things; and the +assurances of profound affection uttered in a most languid voice will +sting the hearts of women. + +Harry still went on with his declarations, heating them rapidly, so as to +bring on himself the usual outburst and check. She was longer in coming +to it this time, and he had a horrid fear, that instead of dismissing him +fiercely, and so annulling his words, the strange little person was going +to be soft and hold him to them. There were her tears, however, which +she could not stop. + +'Well, then, Juley, look. I do, upon my honour, yes--there, don't cry +any more--I do love you.' + +Harry held his breath in awful suspense. Juliana quietly disengaged her +waist, and looking at him, said, 'Poor Harry! You need not lie any more +to please me.' + +Such was Harry's astonishment, that he exclaimed, + +'It isn't a lie! I say, I do love you.' And for an instant he thought +and hoped that he did love her. + +'Well, then, Harry, I don't love you,' said Juliana; which revealed to +our friend that he had been mistaken in his own emotions. Nevertheless, +his vanity was hurt when he saw she was sincere, and he listened to her, +a moody being. This may account for his excessive wrath at Evan +Harrington after Juliana had given him proofs of the truth of what she +said. + +But the Countess was Harrington's sister! The image of the Countess swam +before him. Was it possible? Harry went about asking everybody he met. +The initiated were discreet; those who had the whispers were open. A +bare truth is not so convincing as one that discretion confirms. Harry +found the detestable news perfectly true. + +'Stop it by all means if you can,' said his father. + +'Yes, try a fall with Rose,' said his mother. + +'And I must sit down to dinner to-day with a confounded fellow, the son +of a tailor, who's had the impudence to make love to my sister!' cried +Harry. 'I'm determined to kick him out of the house!--half.' + +'To what is the modification of your determination due?' Lady Jocelyn +inquired, probably suspecting the sweet and gracious person who divided +Harry's mind. + +Her ladyship treated her children as she did mankind generally, from her +intellectual eminence. Harry was compelled to fly from her cruel shafts. +He found comfort with his Aunt Shorne, and she as much as told Harry that +he was the head of the house, and must take up the matter summarily. It +was expected of him. Now was the time for him to show his manhood. + +Harry could think of but one way to do that. + +'Yes, and if I do--all up with the old lady,' he said, and had to explain +that his Grandmama Bonner would never leave a penny to a fellow who had +fought a duel. + +'A duel!' said Mrs. Shorne. 'No, there are other ways. Insist upon his +renouncing her. And Rose--treat her with a high hand, as becomes you. +Your mother is incorrigible, and as for your father, one knows him of +old. This devolves upon you. Our family honour is in your hands, +Harry.' + +Considering Harry's reputation, the family honour must have got low: +Harry, of course, was not disposed to think so. He discovered a great +deal of unused pride within him, for which he had hitherto not found an +agreeable vent. He vowed to his aunt that he would not suffer the +disgrace, and while still that blandishing olive-hued visage swam before +his eyes, he pledged his word to Mrs. Shorne that he would come to an +understanding with Harrington that night. + +'Quietly,' said she. 'No scandal, pray.' + +'Oh, never mind how I do it,' returned Harry, manfully. 'How am I to do +it, then?' he added, suddenly remembering his debt to Evan. + +Mrs. Shorne instructed him how to do it quietly, and without fear of +scandal. The miserable champion replied that it was very well for her +to tell him to say this and that, but--and she thought him demented-- +he must, previous to addressing Harrington in those terms, have money. + +'Money!' echoed the lady. 'Money!' + +'Yes, money!' he iterated doggedly, and she learnt that he had borrowed a +sum of Harrington, and the amount of the sum. + +It was a disastrous plight, for Mrs. Shorne was penniless. + +She cited Ferdinand Laxley as a likely lender. + +'Oh, I'm deep with him already,' said Harry, in apparent dejection. + +'How dreadful are these everlasting borrowings of yours!' exclaimed his +aunt, unaware of a trifling incongruity in her sentiments. 'You must +speak to him without--pay him by-and-by. We must scrape the money +together. I will write to your grandfather.' + +'Yes; speak to him! How can I when I owe him? I can't tell a fellow +he's a blackguard when I owe him, and I can't speak any other way. +I ain't a diplomatist. Dashed if I know what to do!' + +'Juliana,' murmured his aunt. + +'Can't ask her, you know.' + +Mrs. Shorne combated the one prominent reason for the objection: but +there were two. Harry believed that he had exhausted Juliana's treasury. +Reproaching him further for his wastefulness, Mrs. Shorne promised him +the money should be got, by hook or by crook, next day. + +'And you will speak to this Mr. Harrington to-night, Harry? No allusion +to the loan till you return it. Appeal to his sense of honour.' + +The dinner-bell assembled the inmates of the house. Evan was not among +them. He had gone, as the Countess said aloud, on a diplomatic mission +to Fallow field, with Andrew Cogglesby. The truth being that he had +finally taken Andrew into his confidence concerning the letter, the +annuity, and the bond. Upon which occasion Andrew had burst into a +laugh, and said he could lay his hand on the writer of the letter. + +'Trust Old Tom for plots, Van! He'll blow you up in a twinkling, the +cunning old dog! He pretends to be hard--he 's as soft as I am, if it +wasn't for his crotchets. We'll hand him back the cash, and that's +ended. And--eh? what a dear girl she is! Not that I'm astonished. +My Harry might have married a lord--sit at top of any table in the land! +And you're as good as any man. + +That's my opinion. But I say she's a wonderful girl to see it.' + +Chattering thus, Andrew drove with the dear boy into Fallow field. Evan +was still in his dream. To him the generous love and valiant openness of +Rose, though they were matched in his own bosom, seemed scarcely human. +Almost as noble to him were the gentlemanly plainspeaking of Sir Franks +and Lady Jocelyn's kind commonsense. But the more he esteemed them, the +more unbounded and miraculous appeared the prospect of his calling their +daughter by the sacred name, and kneeling with her at their feet. Did +the dear heavens have that in store for him? The horizon edges were +dimly lighted. + +Harry looked about under his eye-lids for Evan, trying at the same time +to compose himself for the martyrdom he had to endure in sitting at table +with the presumptuous fellow. The Countess signalled him to come within +the presence. As he was crossing the room, Rose entered, and moved to +meet him, with: 'Ah, Harry! back again! Glad to see you.' + +Harry gave her a blunt nod, to which she was inattentive. + +'What!' whispered the Countess, after he pressed the tips of her fingers. +'Have you brought back the grocer?' + +Now this was hard to stand. Harry could forgive her her birth, and pass +it utterly by if she chose to fall in love with him; but to hear the +grocer mentioned, when he knew of the tailor, was a little too much, and +what Harry felt his ingenuous countenance was accustomed to exhibit. The +Countess saw it. She turned her head from him to the diplomatist, and he +had to remain like a sentinel at her feet. He did not want to be thanked +for the green box: still he thought she might have favoured him with one +of her much-embracing smiles: + +In the evening, after wine, when he was warm, and had almost forgotten +the insult to his family and himself, the Countess snubbed him. It was +unwise on her part, but she had the ghastly thought that facts were +oozing out, and were already half known. She was therefore sensitive +tenfold to appearances; savage if one failed to keep up her lie to her, +and was guilty of a shadow of difference of behaviour. The pic-nic over, +our General would evacuate Beckley Court, and shake the dust off her +shoes, and leave the harvest of what she had sown to Providence. Till +then, respect, and the honours of war! So the Countess snubbed him, and +he being full of wine, fell into the hands of Juliana, who had witnessed +the little scene. + +'She has made a fool of others as well as of you,' said Juliana. + +'How has she?' he inquired. + +'Never mind. Do you want to make her humble and crouch to you?' + +'I want to see Harrington,' said Harry. + +'He will not return to-night from Fallow field. He has gone there to get +Mr. Andrew Cogglesby's brother to do something for him. You won't have +such another chance of humbling them both--both! I told you his mother +is at an inn here. The Countess has sent Mr. Harrington to Fallow field +to be out of the way, and she has told her mother all sorts of +falsehoods.' + +'How do you know all that?' quoth Harry. 'By Jove, Juley! talk about +plotters! No keeping anything from you, ever!' + +'Never mind. The mother is here. She must be a vulgar woman. Oh! if +you could manage, Harry, to get this woman to come--you could do it so +easily! while they are at the pie-nic tomorrow. It would have the best +effect on Rose. She would then understand! And the Countess!' + +'I could send the old woman a message!' cried Harry, rushing into the +scheme, inspired by Juliana's fiery eyes. 'Send her a sort of message to +say where we all were.' + +'Let her know that her son is here, in some way,' Juley resumed. + +'And, egad! what an explosion!' pursued Harry. 'But, suppose--' + +'No one shall know, if you leave it to me-if you do just as I tell you, +Harry. You won't be treated as you were this evening after that, if you +bring down her pride. And, Harry, I hear you want money--I can give you +some.' + +'You're a perfect trump, Juley!' exclaimed her enthusiastic cousin. + +'But, no; I can't take it. I must kiss you, though.' + +He put a kiss upon her cheek. Once his kisses had left a red waxen +stamp; she was callous to these compliments now. + +'Will you do what I advise you to-morrow?' she asked. + +After a slight hesitation, during which the olive-hued visage flitted +faintly in the distances of his brain, Harry said: + +'It 'll do Rose good, and make Harrington cut. Yes! I declare I will.' + +Then they parted. Juliana went to her bed-room, and flung herself upon +the bed hysterically. As the tears came thick and fast, she jumped up to +lock the door, for this outrageous habit of crying had made her +contemptible in the eyes of Lady Jocelyn, and an object of pity to Rose. +Some excellent and noble natures cannot tolerate disease, and are +mystified by its ebullitions. It was very sad to see the slight thin +frame grasped by those wan hands to contain the violence of the frenzy +that possessed her! the pale, hapless face rigid above the torment in +her bosom! She had prayed to be loved like other girls, and her +readiness to give her heart in return had made her a by-word in the +house. She went to the window and leaned out on the casement, looking +towards Fallowfield over the downs, weeping bitterly, with a hard shut +mouth. One brilliant star hung above the ridge, and danced on her tears. + +'Will he forgive me?' she murmured. 'Oh, my God! I wish we were dead +together!' + +Her weeping ceased, and she closed the window, and undressed as far away +from the mirror as she could get; but its force was too much for her, and +drew her to it. Some undefined hope had sprung in her suddenly. With +nervous slow steps she approached the glass, and first brushing back the +masses of black hair from her brow, looked as for some new revelation. +Long and anxiously she perused her features: the wide bony forehead; the +eyes deep-set and rounded with the scarlet of recent tears, the thin +nose-sharp as the dead; the weak irritable mouth and sunken cheeks. She +gazed like a spirit disconnected from what she saw. Presently a sort of +forlorn negative was indicated by the motion of her head. + +'I can pardon him,' she said, and sighed. 'How could he love such a +face!' + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE BATTLE OF THE BULL-DOGS. PART I + +At the South-western extremity of the park, with a view extending over +wide meadows and troubled mill waters, yellow barn-roofs and weather-gray +old farm-walls, two grassy mounds threw their slopes to the margin of the +stream. Here the bull-dogs held revel. The hollow between the slopes +was crowned by a bending birch, which rose three-stemmed from the root, +and hung a noiseless green shower over the basin of green it shadowed. +Beneath it the interminable growl sounded pleasantly; softly shot the +sparkle of the twisting water, and you might dream things half-fulfilled. +Knots of fern were about, but the tops of the mounds were firm grass, +evidently well rolled, and with an eye to airy feet. Olympus one +eminence was called, Parnassus the other. Olympus a little overlooked +Parnassus, but Parnassus was broader and altogether better adapted for +the games of the Muses. Round the edges of both there was a well-trimmed +bush of laurel, obscuring only the feet of the dancers from the observing +gods. For on Olympus the elders reclined. Great efforts had +occasionally been made to dispossess and unseat them, and their security +depended mainly on a hump in the middle of the mound which defied the +dance. + +Watteau-like groups were already couched in the shade. There were ladies +of all sorts: town-bred and country-bred: farmers' daughters and +daughters of peers: for this pic-nic, as Lady Jocelyn, disgusting the +Countess, would call it, was in reality a 'fete champetre', given +annually, to which the fair offspring of the superior tenants were +invited the brothers and fathers coming to fetch them in the evening. +It struck the eye of the Countess de Saldar that Olympus would be a +fitting throne for her, and a point whence her shafts might fly without +fear of a return. Like another illustrious General at Salamanca, she +directed a detachment to take possession of the height. Courtly Sir John +Loring ran up at once, and gave the diplomatist an opportunity to thank +her flatteringly for gaining them two minutes to themselves. Sir John +waved his handkerchief in triumph, welcoming them under an awning where +carpets and cushions were spread, and whence the Countess could eye the +field. She was dressed ravishingly; slightly in a foreign style, the +bodice being peaked at the waist, as was then the Portuguese persuasion. +The neck, too, was deliciously veiled with fine lace--and thoroughly +veiled, for it was a feature the Countess did not care to expose to the +vulgar daylight. Off her gentle shoulders, as it were some fringe of +cloud blown by the breeze this sweet lady opened her bosom to, curled a +lovely black lace scarf: not Caroline's. If she laughed, the tinge of +mourning lent her laughter new charms. If she sighed, the exuberant +array of her apparel bade the spectator be of good cheer. Was she witty, +men surrendered reason and adored her. Only when she entered the +majestic mood, and assumed the languors of greatness, and recited musky +anecdotes of her intimacy with it, only then did mankind, as represented +at Beckley Court, open an internal eye and reflect that it was wonderful +in a tailor's daughter. And she felt that mankind did so reflect. Her +instincts did not deceive her. She knew not how much was known; in the +depths of her heart she kept low the fear that possibly all might be +known; and succeeding in this, she said to herself that probably nothing +was known after all. George Uplift, Miss Carrington, and Rose, were the +three she abhorred. Partly to be out of their way, and to be out of the +way of chance shots (for she had heard names of people coming that +reminded her of Dubbins's, where, in past days, there had been on one +awful occasion a terrific discovery made), the Countess selected Olympus +for her station. It was her last day, and she determined to be happy. +Doubtless, she was making a retreat, but have not illustrious Generals +snatched victory from their pursuers? Fair, then, sweet, and full of +grace, the Countess moved. As the restless shifting of colours to her +motions was the constant interchange of her semisorrowful manner and +ready archness. Sir John almost capered to please her, and the +diplomatist in talking to her forgot his diplomacy and the craft of his +tongue. + +It was the last day also of Caroline and the Duke. The Countess clung to +Caroline and the Duke more than to Evan and Rose. She could see the +first couple walking under an avenue of limes, and near them that young +man or monkey, Raikes, as if in ambush. Twice they passed him, and twice +he doffed his hat and did homage. + +'A most singular creature!' exclaimed the Countess. 'It is my constant +marvel where my brother discovered such a curiosity. Do notice him.' + +'That man? Raikes?' said the diplomatist. 'Do you know he is our rival? +Harry wanted an excuse for another bottle last night, and proposed the +"Member" for Fallowfield. Up got this Mr. Raikes and returned thanks.' + +'Yes?' the Countess negligently interjected in a way she had caught from +Lady Jocelyn. + +'Cogglesby's nominee, apparently.' + +'I know it all,' said the Countess. 'We need have no apprehension. He +is docile. My brother-in-law's brother, you see, is most eccentric. We +can manage him best through this Mr. Raikes, for a personal application +would be ruin. He quite detests our family, and indeed all the +aristocracy.' + +Melville's mouth pursed, and he looked very grave. + +Sir John remarked: 'He seems like a monkey just turned into a man.' + +'And doubtful about the tail,' added the Countess. + +The image was tolerably correct, but other causes were at the bottom of +the air worn by John Raikes. The Countess had obtained an invitation for +him, with instructions that he should come early, and he had followed +them so implicitly that the curricle was flinging dust on the hedges +between Fallow field and Beckley but an hour or two after the chariot of +Apollo had mounted the heavens, and Mr. Raikes presented himself at the +breakfast table. Fortunately for him the Countess was there. After the +repast she introduced him to the Duke: and he bowed to the Duke, and the +Duke bowed to him: and now, to instance the peculiar justness in the mind +of Mr. Raikes, he, though he worshipped a coronet and would gladly have +recalled the feudal times to a corrupt land, could not help thinking that +his bow had beaten the Duke's and was better. He would rather not have +thought so, for it upset his preconceptions and threatened a revolution +in his ideas. For this reason he followed the Duke, and tried, if +possible, to correct, or at least chasten the impressions he had of +possessing a glaring advantage over the nobleman. The Duke's second +notice of him was hardly a nod. 'Well!' Mr. Raikes reflected, 'if this +is your Duke, why, egad! for figure and style my friend Harrington beats +him hollow.' And Raikes thought he knew who could conduct a conversation +with superior dignity and neatness. The torchlight of a delusion was +extinguished in him, but he did not wander long in that gloomy cavernous +darkness of the disenchanted, as many of us do, and as Evan had done, +when after a week at Beckley Court he began to examine of what stuff his +brilliant father, the great Mel, was composed. On the contrary, as the +light of the Duke dwindled, Raikes gained in lustre. 'In fact,' he said, +'there's nothing but the title wanting.' He was by this time on a level +with the Duke in his elastic mind. + +Olympus had been held in possession by the Countess about half an hour, +when Lady Jocelyn mounted it, quite unconscious that she was scaling a +fortified point. The Countess herself fired off the first gun at her. + +'It has been so extremely delightful up alone here, Lady Jocelyn: to look +at everybody below! I hope many will not intrude on us!' + +'None but the dowagers who have breath to get up,' replied her ladyship, +panting. 'By the way, Countess, you hardly belong to us yet. You +dance?' + +'Indeed, I do not.' + +'Oh, then you are in your right place. A dowager is a woman who doesn't +dance: and her male attendant is--what is he? We will call him a fogy.' + +Lady Jocelyn directed a smile at Melville and Sir John, who both +protested that it was an honour to be the Countess's fogy. + +Rose now joined them, with Laxley morally dragged in her wake. + +'Another dowager and fogy!' cried the Countess, musically. 'Do you not +dance, my child?' + +'Not till the music strikes up,' rejoined Rose. 'I suppose we shall have +to eat first.' + +'That is the Hamlet of the pic-nic play, I believe,' said her mother. + +'Of course you dance, don't you, Countess?' Rose inquired, for the sake +of amiable conversation. + +The Countess's head signified: 'Oh, no! quite out of the question': she +held up a little bit of her mournful draperies, adding: 'Besides, you, +dear child, know your company, and can select; I do not, and cannot do +so. I understand we have a most varied assembly!' + +Rose shut her eyes, and then looked at her mother. Lady Jocelyn's face +was undisturbed; but while her eyes were still upon the Countess, she +drew her head gently back, imperceptibly. If anything, she was admiring +the lady; but Rose could be no placid philosophic spectator of what was +to her a horrible assumption and hypocrisy. For the sake of him she +loved, she had swallowed a nauseous cup bravely. The Countess was too +much for her. She felt sick to think of being allied to this person. +She had a shuddering desire to run into the ranks of the world, and hide +her head from multitudinous hootings. With a pang of envy she saw her +friend Jenny walking by the side of William Harvey, happy, untried, +unoffending: full of hope, and without any bitter draughts to swallow! + +Aunt Bel now came tripping up gaily. + +'Take the alternative, 'douairiere or demoiselle'?' cried Lady Jocelyn. +'We must have a sharp distinction, or Olympus will be mobbed.' + +'Entre les deux, s'il vous plait,' responded Aunt Bel. 'Rose, hurry +down, and leaven the mass. I see ten girls in a bunch. It's shocking. +Ferdinand, pray disperse yourself. Why is it, Emily, that we are always +in excess at pic-nics? Is man dying out?' + +'From what I can see,' remarked Lady Jocelyn, 'Harry will be lost to his +species unless some one quickly relieves him. He's already half eaten up +by the Conley girls. Countess, isn't it your duty to rescue him?' + +The Countess bowed, and murmured to Sir John: + +'A dismissal!' + +'I fear my fascinations, Lady Jocelyn, may not compete with those fresh +young persons.' + +'Ha! ha! "fresh young persons,"' laughed Sir John for the ladies in +question were romping boisterously with Mr. Harry. + +The Countess inquired for the names and condition of the ladies, and was +told that they sprang from Farmer Conley, a well-to-do son of the soil, +who farmed about a couple of thousand acres between Fallow field and +Beckley, and bore a good reputation at the county bank. + +'But I do think,' observed the Countess, 'it must indeed be pernicious +for any youth to associate with that class of woman. A deterioration of +manners!' + +Rose looked at her mother again. She thought 'Those girls would scorn to +marry a tradesman's son!' + +The feeling grew in Rose that the Countess lowered and degraded her. Her +mother's calm contemplation of the lady was more distressing than if she +had expressed the contempt Rose was certain, according to her young +ideas, Lady Jocelyn must hold. + +Now the Countess had been considering that she would like to have a word +or two with Mr. Harry, and kissing her fingers to the occupants of +Olympus, and fixing her fancy on the diverse thoughts of the ladies and +gentlemen, deduced from a rapturous or critical contemplation of her +figure from behind, she descended the slope. + +Was it going to be a happy day? The well-imagined opinions of the +gentleman on her attire and style, made her lean to the affirmative; but +Rose's demure behaviour, and something--something would come across her +hopes. She had, as she now said to herself, stopped for the pic-nic, +mainly to give Caroline a last opportunity of binding the Duke to visit +the Cogglesby saloons in London. Let Caroline cleverly contrive this, +as she might, without any compromise, and the stay at Beckley Court would +be a great gain. Yes, Caroline was still with the Duke; they were +talking earnestly. The Countess breathed a short appeal to Providence +that Caroline might not prove a fool. Overnight she had said to +Caroline: 'Do not be so English. Can one not enjoy friendship with a +nobleman without wounding one's conscience or breaking with the world? +My dear, the Duke visiting you, you cow that infamous Strike of yours. +He will be utterly obsequious! I am not telling you to pass the line. +The contrary. But we continentals have our grievous reputation because +we dare to meet as intellectual beings, and defy the imputation that +ladies and gentlemen are no better than animals.' + +It sounded very lofty to Caroline, who, accepting its sincerity, replied: + +'I cannot do things by halves. I cannot live a life of deceit. A life +of misery--not deceit.' + +Whereupon, pitying her poor English nature, the Countess gave her advice, +and this advice she now implored her familiars to instruct or compel +Caroline to follow. + +The Countess's garment was plucked at. She beheld little Dorothy Loring +glancing up at her with the roguish timidity of her years. + +'May I come with you?' asked the little maid, and went off into a +prattle: 'I spent that five shillings--I bought a shilling's worth of +sweet stuff, and nine penn'orth of twine, and a shilling for small wax +candles to light in my room when I'm going to bed, because I like plenty +of light by the looking-glass always, and they do make the room so hot! +My Jane declared she almost fainted, but I burnt them out! Then I only +had very little left for a horse to mount my doll on; and I wasn't going +to get a screw, so I went to Papa, and he gave me five shillings. And, +oh, do you know, Rose can't bear me to be with you. Jealousy, I suppose, +for you're very agreeable. And, do you know, your Mama is coming to-day? +I've got a Papa and no Mama, and you've got a Mama and no Papa. Isn't it +funny? But I don't think so much of it, as you 're grown up. Oh, I'm +quite sure she is coming, because I heard Harry telling Juley she was, +and Juley said it would be so gratifying to you.' + +A bribe and a message relieved the Countess of Dorothy's attendance on +her. + +What did this mean? Were people so base as to be guilty of hideous plots +in this house? Her mother coming! The Countess's blood turned deadly +chill. Had it been her father she would not have feared, but her mother +was so vilely plain of speech; she never opened her mouth save to deliver +facts: which was to the Countess the sign of atrocious vulgarity. + +But her mother had written to say she would wait for Evan in Fallow +field! The Countess grasped at straws. Did Dorothy hear that? And if +Harry and Juliana spoke of her mother, what did that mean? That she was +hunted, and must stand at bay! + +'Oh, Papa! Papa! why did you marry a Dawley?' she exclaimed, plunging to +what was, in her idea, the root of the evil. + +She had no time for outcries and lamentations. It dawned on her that +this was to be a day of battle. Where was Harry? Still in the midst of +the Conley throng, apparently pooh-poohing something, to judge by the +twist of his mouth. + +The Countess delicately signed for him to approach her. The extreme +delicacy of the signal was at least an excuse for Harry to perceive +nothing. It was renewed, and Harry burst into a fit of laughter at some +fun of one of the Conley girls. The Countess passed on, and met Juliana +pacing by herself near the lower gates of the park. She wished only to +see how Juliana behaved. The girl looked perfectly trustful, as much so +as when the Countess was pouring in her ears the tales of Evan's growing +but bashful affection for her. + +'He will soon be here,' whispered the Countess. 'Has he told you he will +come by this entrance?' + +'No,' replied Juliana. + +'You do not look well, sweet child.' + +'I was thinking that you did not, Countess?' + +'Oh, indeed, yes! With reason, alas! All our visitors have by this time +arrived, I presume?' + +'They come all day.' + +The Countess hastened away from one who, when roused, could be almost as +clever as herself, and again stood in meditation near the joyful Harry. +This time she did not signal so discreetly. Harry could not but see it, +and the Conley girls accused him of cruelty to the beautiful dame, which +novel idea stung Harry with delight, and he held out to indulge in it a +little longer. His back was half turned, and as he talked noisily, he +could not observe the serene and resolute march of the Countess toward +him. The youth gaped when he found his arm taken prisoner by the +insertion of a small deliciously-gloved and perfumed hand through it. +'I must claim you for a few moments,' said the Countess, and took the +startled Conley girls one and all in her beautiful smile of excuse. + +'Why do you compromise me thus, sir?' + +These astounding words were spoken out of the hearing of the Conley +girls. + +'Compromise you!' muttered Harry. + +Masterly was the skill with which the Countess contrived to speak angrily +and as an injured woman, while she wore an indifferent social +countenance. + +'I repeat, compromise me. No, Mr. Harry Jocelyn, you are not the +jackanapes you try to make people think you: you understand me.' + +The Countess might accuse him, but Harry never had the ambition to make +people think him that: his natural tendency was the reverse: and he +objected to the application of the word jackanapes to himself, and was +ready to contest the fact of people having that opinion at all. However, +all he did was to repeat: 'Compromise!' + +'Is not open unkindness to me compromising me?' + +'How?' asked Harry. + +'Would you dare to do it to a strange lady? Would you have the impudence +to attempt it with any woman here but me? No, I am innocent; it is my +consolation; I have resisted you, but you by this cowardly behaviour +place me--and my reputation, which is more--at your mercy. Noble +behaviour, Mr. Harry Jocelyn! I shall remember my young English +gentleman.' + +The view was totally new to Harry. + +'I really had no idea of compromising you,' he said. 'Upon my honour, I +can't see how I did it now!' + +'Oblige me by walking less in the neighbourhood of those fat-faced +glaring farm-girls,' the Countess spoke under her breath; 'and don't look +as if you were being whipped. The art of it is evident--you are but +carrying on the game.--Listen. If you permit yourself to exhibit an +unkindness to me, you show to any man who is a judge, and to every woman, +that there has been something between us. You know my innocence--yes! +but you must punish me for having resisted you thus long.' + +Harry swore he never had such an idea, and was much too much of a man and +a gentleman to behave in that way.--And yet it seemed wonderfully clever! +And here was the Countess saying: + +'Take your reward, Mr. Harry Jocelyn. You have succeeded; I am your +humble slave. I come to you and sue for peace. To save my reputation I +endanger myself. This is generous of you.' + +'Am I such a clever fellow?' thought the young gentleman. 'Deuced lucky +with women': he knew that: still a fellow must be wonderfully, +miraculously, clever to be able to twist and spin about such a woman as +this in that way. He did not object to conceive that he was the fellow +to do it. Besides, here was the Countess de Saldar-worth five hundred of +the Conley girls--almost at his feet! + +Mollified, he said: 'Now, didn't you begin it?' + +'Evasion!' was the answer. 'It would be such pleasure to you so see a +proud woman weep! And if yesterday, persecuted as I am, with dreadful +falsehoods abroad respecting me and mine, if yesterday I did seem cold to +your great merits, is it generous of you to take this revenge?' + +Harry began to scent the double meaning in her words. She gave him no +time to grow cool over it. She leaned, half abandoned, on his arm. Arts +feminine and irresistible encompassed him. It was a fatal mistake of +Juliana's to enlist Harry Jocelyn against the Countess de Saldar. He +engaged, still without any direct allusion to the real business, to move +heaven and earth to undo all that he had done, and the Countess implied +an engagement to do--what? more than she intended to fulfil. + +Ten minutes later she was alone with Caroline. + +'Tie yourself to the Duke at the dinner,' she said, in the forcible +phrase she could use when necessary. 'Don't let them scheme to separate +you. Never mind looks--do it!' + +Caroline, however, had her reasons for desiring to maintain appearances. +The Countess dashed at her hesitation. + +'There is a plot to humiliate us in the most abominable way. The whole +family have sworn to make us blush publicly. Publicly blush! They have +written to Mama to come and speak out. Now will you attend to me, +Caroline? You do not credit such atrocity? I know it to be true.' + +'I never can believe that Rose would do such a thing,' said Caroline.' +We can hardly have to endure more than has befallen us already.' + +Her speech was pensive, as of one who had matter of her own to ponder +over. A swift illumination burst in the Countess's mind. + +'No? Have you, dear, darling Carry? not that I intend that you should! +but to-day the Duke would be such ineffable support to us. May I deem +you have not been too cruel to-day? You dear silly English creature, +"Duck," I used to call you when I was your little Louy. All is not yet +lost, but I will save you from the ignominy if I can. I will!' + +Caroline denied nothing--confirmed nothing, just as the Countess had +stated nothing. Yet they understood one another perfectly. Women have a +subtler language than ours: the veil pertains to them morally as bodily, +and they see clearer through it. + +The Countess had no time to lose. Wrath was in her heart. She did not +lend all her thoughts to self-defence. + +Without phrasing a word, or absolutely shaping a thought in her head, she +slanted across the sun to Mr. Raikes, who had taken refreshment, and in +obedience to his instinct, notwithstanding his enormous pretensions, had +commenced a few preliminary antics. + +'Dear Mr. Raikes!' she said, drawing him aside, 'not before dinner!' + +'I really can't contain the exuberant flow!' returned that gentleman. +'My animal spirits always get the better of me,' he added confidentially. + +'Suppose you devote your animal spirits to my service for half an hour.' + +'Yours, Countess, from the 'os frontis' to the chine!' was the exuberant +rejoinder. + +The Countess made a wry mouth. + +'Your curricle is in Beckley?' + +'Behold!' said Jack. 'Two juveniles, not half so blest as I, do from the +seat regard the festive scene o'er yon park palings. They are there, +even Franko and Fred. I 'm afraid I promised to get them in at a later +period of the day. Which sadly sore my conscience doth disturb! But +what is to be done about the curricle, my Countess?' + +'Mr. Raikes,' said the Countess, smiling on him fixedly, 'you are +amusing; but in addressing me, you must be precise, and above all things +accurate. I am not your Countess!' + +He bowed profoundly. 'Oh, that I might say my Queen!' + +The Countess replied: 'A conviction of your lunacy would prevent my +taking offence, though I might wish you enclosed and guarded.' + +Without any further exclamations, Raikes acknowledged a superior. + +'And, now, attend to me,' said the Countess. 'Listen: + +You go yourself, or send your friends instantly to Fallow field. Bring +with you that girl and her child. Stop: there is such a person. Tell +her she is to be spoken to about the prospects of the poor infant. I +leave that to your inventive genius. Evan wishes her here. Bring her, +and should you see the mad captain who behaves so oddly, favour him with +a ride. He says he dreams his wife is here, and he will not reveal his +name! Suppose it should be my own beloved husband! I am quite anxious.' + +The Countess saw him go up to the palings and hold a communication with +his friends Franko and Fred. One took the whip, and after mutual +flourishes, drove away. + +'Now!' mused the Countess, 'if Captain Evremonde should come!' It would +break up the pic-nic. Alas! the Countess had surrendered her humble +hopes of a day's pleasure. But if her mother came as well, what a +diversion that would be! If her mother came before the Captain, his +arrival would cover the retreat; if the Captain preceded her, she would +not be noticed. Suppose her mother refrained from coming? In that case +it was a pity, but the Jocelyns had brought it on themselves. + +This mapping out of consequences followed the Countess's deeds, and did +not inspire them. Her passions sharpened her instincts, which produced +her actions. The reflections ensued: as in nature, the consequences were +all seen subsequently! Observe the difference between your male and +female Generals. + +On reflection, too, the Countess praised herself for having done all that +could be done. She might have written to her mother: but her absence +would have been remarked: her messenger might have been overhauled and, +lastly, Mrs. Mel--'Gorgon of a mother!' the Countess cried out: for Mrs. +Mel was like a Fate to her. She could remember only two occasions in her +whole life when she had been able to manage her mother, and then by lying +in such a way as to distress her conscience severely. + +'If Mama has conceived this idea of coming, nothing will impede her. My +prayers will infuriate her!' said the Countess, and she was sure that she +had acted both rightly and with wisdom. + +She put on her armour of smiles: she plunged into the thick of the enemy. +Since they would not allow her to taste human happiness--she had asked +but for the pic-nic! a small truce! since they denied her that, rather +than let them triumph by seeing her wretched, she took into her bosom the +joy of demons. She lured Mr. George Uplift away from Miss Carrington, +and spoke to him strange hints of matrimonial disappointments, looking +from time to time at that apprehensive lady, doating on her terrors. +And Mr. George seconded her by his clouded face, for he was ashamed not +to show that he did not know Louisa Harrington in the Countess de Saldar, +and had not the courage to declare that he did. The Countess spoke +familiarly, but without any hint of an ancient acquaintance between them. +'What a post her husband's got!' thought Mr. George, not envying the +Count. He was wrong: she was an admirable ally. All over the field the +Countess went, watching for her mother, praying that if she did come, +Providence might prevent her from coming while they were at dinner. How +clearly Mrs. Shorne and Mrs. Melville saw her vulgarity now! By the new +light of knowledge, how certain they were that they had seen her ungentle +training in a dozen little instances. + +'She is not well-bred, 'cela se voit',' said Lady Jocelyn. + +'Bred! it's the stage! How could such a person be bred?' said Mrs. +Shorne. + +Accept in the Countess the heroine who is combating class-prejudices, and +surely she is pre-eminently noteworthy. True, she fights only for her +family, and is virtually the champion of the opposing institution +misplaced. That does not matter: the Fates may have done it purposely: +by conquering she establishes a principle. A Duke adores her sister, the +daughter of the house her brother, and for herself she has many +protestations in honour of her charms: nor are they empty ones. She can +confound Mrs. Melville, if she pleases to, by exposing an adorer to lose +a friend. Issuing out of Tailordom, she, a Countess, has done all this; +and it were enough to make her glow, did not little evils, and angers, +and spites, and alarms so frightfully beset her. + +The sun of the pic-nic system is dinner. Hence philosophers may deduce +that the pic-nic is a British invention. There is no doubt that we do +not shine at the pic-nic until we reflect the face of dinner. To this, +then, all who were not lovers began seriously to look forward, and the +advance of an excellent county band, specially hired to play during the +entertainment, gave many of the guests quite a new taste for sweet music; +and indeed we all enjoy a thing infinitely more when we see its meaning. + +About this time Evan entered the lower park-gates with Andrew. The first +object he encountered was John Raikes in a state of great depression. He +explained his case: + +'Just look at my frill! Now, upon my honour, you know, I'm good- +tempered; I pass their bucolic habits, but this is beyond bearing. I was +near the palings there, and a fellow calls out, "Hi! will you help the +lady over?" Holloa! thinks I, an adventure! However, I advised him to +take her round to the gates. The beast burst out laughing. "Now, then," +says he, and I heard a scrambling at the pales, and up came the head of a +dog. "Oh! the dog first," says I. "Catch by the ears," says he. I did +so. "Pull," says he. "'Gad, pull indeed!", The beast gave a spring and +came slap on my chest, with his dirty wet muzzle on my neck! I felt +instantly it was the death of my frill, but gallant as you know me, I +still asked for the lady. "If you will please, or an it meet your +favour, to extend your hand to me!" I confess I did think it rather odd, +the idea of a lady coming in that way over the palings! but my curst +love of adventure always blinds me. It always misleads my better sense, +Harrington. Well, instead of a lady, I see a fellow--he may have been a +lineal descendant of Cedric the Saxon. "Where's the lady?" says I. +"Lady?" says he, and stares, and then laughs: "Lady! why," he jumps +over, and points at his beast of a dog, "don't you know a bitch when you +see one?" I was in the most ferocious rage! If he hadn't been a big +burly bully, down he'd have gone. "Why didn't you say what it was?" I +roared. "Why," says he, "the word isn't considered polite!" I gave him +a cut there. I said, "I rejoice to be positively assured that you uphold +the laws and forms of civilization, sir." My belief is he didn't feel +it.' + +'The thrust sinned in its shrewdness,' remarked Evan, ending a laugh. + +'Hem!' went Mr. Raikes, more contentedly: 'after all, what are +appearances to the man of wit and intellect? Dress, and women will +approve you: but I assure you they much prefer the man of wit in his +slouched hat and stockings down. I was introduced to the Duke this +morning. It is a curious thing that the seduction of a Duchess has +always been one of my dreams.' + +At this Andrew Cogglesby fell into a fit of laughter. + +'Your servant,' said Mr. Raikes, turning to him. And then he muttered +'Extraordinary likeness! Good Heavens! Powers!' + +From a state of depression, Mr. Raikes--changed into one of bewilderment. +Evan paid no attention to him, and answered none of his hasty undertoned +questions. Just then, as they were on the skirts of the company, the +band struck up a lively tune, and quite unconsciously, the legs of +Raikes, affected, it may be, by supernatural reminiscences, loosely +hornpiped. It was but a moment: he remembered himself the next: but in +that fatal moment eyes were on him. He never recovered his dignity in +Beckley Court: he was fatally mercurial. + +'What is the joke against this poor fellow?' asked Evan of Andrew. + +'Never mind, Van. You'll roar. Old Tom again. We 'll see by-and-by, +after the champagne. He--this young Raikes-ha! ha!--but I can't tell +you.' And Andrew went away to Drummond, to whom he was more +communicative. Then he went to Melville, and one or two others, and the +eyes of many became concentrated on Raikes, and it was observed as a +singular sign that he was constantly facing about, and flushing the +fiercest red. Once he made an effort to get hold of Evan's arm and drag +him away, as one who had an urgent confession to be delivered of, +but Evan was talking to Lady Jocelyn, and other ladies, and quietly +disengaged his arm without even turning to notice the face of his friend. +Then the dinner was announced, and men saw the dinner. The Countess went +to shake her brother's hand, and with a very gratulatory visage, said +through her half-shut teeth. + +'If Mama appears, rise up and go away with her, before she has time to +speak a word.' An instant after Evan found himself seated between Mrs. +Evremonde and one of the Conley girls. The dinner had commenced. The +first half of the Battle of the Bull-dogs was as peaceful as any ordinary +pic-nic, and promised to the general company as calm a conclusion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE BATTLE OF THE BULL-DOGS. PART II. + +If it be a distinct point of wisdom to hug the hour that is, then does +dinner amount to a highly intellectual invitation to man, for it +furnishes the occasion; and Britons are the wisest of their race, for +more than all others they take advantage of it. In this Nature is +undoubtedly our guide, seeing that he who, while feasting his body allows +to his soul a thought for the morrow, is in his digestion curst, and +becomes a house of evil humours. Now, though the epicure may complain of +the cold meats, a dazzling table, a buzzing company, blue sky, and a band +of music, are incentives to the forgetfulness of troubles past and +imminent, and produce a concentration of the faculties. They may not +exactly prove that peace is established between yourself and those who +object to your carving of the world, but they testify to an armistice. + +Aided by these observations, you will understand how it was that the +Countess de Saldar, afflicted and menaced, was inspired, on taking her +seat, to give so graceful and stately a sweep to her dress that she was +enabled to conceive woman and man alike to be secretly overcome by it. +You will not refuse to credit the fact that Mr. Raikes threw care to the +dogs, heavy as was that mysterious lump suddenly precipitated on his +bosom; and you will think it not impossible that even the springers of +the mine about to explode should lose their subterranean countenances. +A generous abandonment to one idea prevailed. As for Evan, the first +glass of champagne rushed into reckless nuptials with the music in his +head, bringing Rose, warm almost as life, on his heart. Sublime are the +visions of lovers! He knew he must leave her on the morrow; he feared he +might never behold her again; and yet he tasted bliss, for it seemed +within the contemplation of the Gods that he should dance with his +darling before dark-haply waltz with her! Oh, heaven! he shuts his +eyes, blinded. The band wheels off meltingly in a tune all cadences, and +twirls, and risings and sinkings, and passionate outbursts trippingly +consoled. Ah! how sweet to waltz through life with the right partner. +And what a singular thing it is to look back on the day when we thought +something like it! Never mind: there may be spheres where it is so +managed--doubtless the planets have their Hanwell and Bedlam. + +I confess that the hand here writing is not insensible to the effects of +that first glass of champagne. The poetry of our Countess's achievements +waxes rich in manifold colours: I see her by the light of her own pleas +to Providence. I doubt almost if the hand be mine which dared to make a +hero play second fiddle, and to his beloved. I have placed a bushel over +his light, certainly. Poor boy! it was enough that he should have +tailordom on his shoulders: I ought to have allowed him to conquer +Nature, and so come out of his eclipse. This shall be said of him: +that he can play second fiddle without looking foolish, which, for my +part, I call a greater triumph than if he were performing the heroics we +are more accustomed to. He has steady eyes, can gaze at the right level +into the eyes of others, and commands a tongue which is neither struck +dumb nor set in a flutter by any startling question. The best instances +to be given that he does not lack merit are that the Jocelyns, whom he +has offended by his birth, cannot change their treatment of him, and that +the hostile women, whatever they may say, do not think Rose utterly +insane. At any rate, Rose is satisfied, and her self-love makes her a +keen critic. The moment Evan appeared, the sickness produced in her by +the Countess passed, and she was ready to brave her situation. With no +mock humility she permitted Mrs. Shorne to place her in a seat where +glances could not be interchanged. She was quite composed, calmly +prepared for conversation with any one. Indeed, her behaviour since the +hour of general explanation had been so perfectly well-contained, that +Mrs. Melville said to Lady Jocelyn: + +'I am only thinking of the damage to her. It will pass over--this fancy. +You can see she is not serious. It is mere spirit of opposition. She +eats and drinks just like other girls. You can see that the fancy has +not taken such very strong hold of her.' + +'I can't agree with you,' replied her ladyship. 'I would rather have her +sit and sigh by the hour, and loathe roast beef. That would look nearer +a cure.' + +'She has the notions of a silly country girl,' said Mrs. Shorne. + +'Exactly,' Lady Jocelyn replied. 'A season in London will give her +balance.' + +So the guests were tolerably happy, or at least, with scarce an +exception, open to the influences of champagne and music. Perhaps +Juliana was the wretchedest creature present. She was about to smite on +both cheeks him she loved, as well as the woman she despised and had been +foiled by. Still she had the consolation that Rose, seeing the vulgar +mother, might turn from Evan: a poor distant hope, meagre and shapeless +like herself. Her most anxious thoughts concerned the means of getting +money to lockup Harry's tongue. She could bear to meet the Countess's +wrath, but not Evan's offended look. Hark to that Countess! + +'Why do you denominate this a pic-nic, Lady Jocelyn? It is in verity a +fete!' + +'I suppose we ought to lie down 'A la Grecque' to come within the term,' +was the reply. 'On the whole, I prefer plain English for such matters.' + +'But this is assuredly too sumptuous for a pic-nic, Lady Jocelyn. From +what I can remember, pic-nic implies contribution from all the guests. +It is true I left England a child!' + +Mr. George Uplift could not withhold a sharp grimace: The Countess had +throttled the inward monitor that tells us when we are lying, so +grievously had she practised the habit in the service of her family. + +'Yes,' said Mrs. Melville, 'I have heard of that fashion, and very stupid +it is.' + +'Extremely vulgar,' murmured Miss Carrington. + +'Possibly,' Lady Jocelyn observed; 'but good fun. I have been to pic- +nics, in my day. I invariably took cold pie and claret. I clashed with +half-a-dozen, but all the harm we did was to upset the dictum that there +can be too much of a good thing. I know for certain that the bottles +were left empty.' + +'And this woman,' thought the Countess, 'this woman, with a soul so +essentially vulgar, claims rank above me!' The reflection generated +contempt of English society, in the first place, and then a passionate +desire for self-assertion. + +She was startled by a direct attack which aroused her momentarily lulled +energies. + +A lady, quite a stranger, a dry simpering lady, caught the Countess's +benevolent passing gaze, and leaning forward, said: 'I hope her ladyship +bears her affliction as well as can be expected?' + +In military parlance, the Countess was taken in flank. Another would +have asked--What ladyship? To whom do you allude, may I beg to inquire? +The Countess knew better. Rapid as light it shot through her that the +relict of Sir Abraham was meant, and this she divined because she was +aware that devilish malignity was watching to trip her. + +A little conversation happening to buzz at the instant, the Countess +merely turned her chin to an angle, agitated her brows very gently, and +crowned the performance with a mournful smile. All that a woman must +feel at the demise of so precious a thing as a husband, was therein +eloquently expressed: and at the same time, if explanations ensued, there +were numerous ladyships in the world, whom the Countess did not mind +afflicting, should she be hard pressed. + +'I knew him so well!' resumed the horrid woman, addressing anybody. +'It was so sad! so unexpected! but he was so subject to affection of +the throat. And I was so sorry I could not get down to him in time. I +had not seen him since his marriage, when I was a girl!--and to meet one +of his children!--But, my dear, in quinsey, I have heard that there is +nothing on earth like a good hearty laugh.' + +Mr. Raikes hearing this, sucked down the flavour of a glass of champagne, +and with a look of fierce jollity, interposed, as if specially charged by +Providence to make plain to the persecuted Countess his mission and +business there: 'Then our vocation is at last revealed to us! Quinsey- +doctor! I remember when a boy, wandering over the paternal mansion, and +envying the life of a tinker, which my mother did not think a good omen +in me. But the traps of a Quinsey-doctor are even lighter. Say twenty +good jokes, and two or three of a practical kind. A man most enviable!' + +'It appears,' he remarked aloud to one of the Conley girls, 'that quinsey +is needed before a joke is properly appreciated.' + +'I like fun,' said she, but had not apparently discovered it. + +What did that odious woman mean by perpetually talking about Sir Abraham? +The Countess intercepted a glance between her and the hated Juliana. She +felt it was a malignant conspiracy: still the vacuous vulgar air of the +woman told her that most probably she was but an instrument, not a +confederate, and was only trying to push herself into acquaintance with +the great: a proceeding scorned and abominated by the Countess, who +longed to punish her for her insolent presumption. The bitterness of her +situation stung her tenfold when she considered that she dared not. + +Meantime the champagne became as regular in its flow as the Bull-dogs, +and the monotonous bass of these latter sounded through the music, like +life behind the murmur of pleasure, if you will. The Countess had a not +unfeminine weakness for champagne, and old Mr. Bonner's cellar was well +and choicely stocked. But was this enjoyment to the Countess?--this +dreary station in the background! 'May I emerge?' she as much as +implored Providence. + +The petition was infinitely tender. She thought she might, or it may be +that nature was strong, and she could not restrain herself. + +Taking wine with Sir John, she said: + +'This bowing! Do you know how amusing it is deemed by us Portuguese? +Why not embrace? as the dear Queen used to say to me.' + +'I am decidedly of Her Majesty's opinion,' observed Sir John, with +emphasis, and the Countess drew back into a mingled laugh and blush. + +Her fiendish persecutor gave two or three nods. 'And you know the +Queen!' she said. + +She had to repeat the remark: whereupon the Countess murmured, +'Intimately.' + +'Ah, we have lost a staunch old Tory in Sir Abraham,' said the lady, +performing lamentation. + +What did it mean? Could design lodge in that empty-looking head with its +crisp curls, button nose, and diminishing simper? Was this pic-nic to be +made as terrible to the Countess by her putative father as the dinner had +been by the great Mel? The deep, hard, level look of Juliana met the +Countess's smile from time to time, and like flimsy light horse before a +solid array of infantry, the Countess fell back, only to be worried +afresh by her perfectly unwitting tormentor. + +'His last days?--without pain? Oh, I hope so!' came after a lapse of +general talk. + +'Aren't we getting a little funereal, Mrs. Perkins?' Lady Jocelyn asked, +and then rallied her neighbours. + +Miss Carrington looked at her vexedly, for the fiendish Perkins was +checked, and the Countess in alarm, about to commit herself, was a +pleasant sight to Miss Carrington. + +'The worst of these indiscriminate meetings is that there is no +conversation,' whispered the Countess, thanking Providence for the +relief. + +Just then she saw Juliana bend her brows at another person. This was +George Uplift, who shook his head, and indicated a shrewd-eyed, thin, +middle-aged man, of a lawyer-like cast; and then Juliana nodded, and +George Uplift touched his arm, and glanced hurriedly behind for +champagne. The Countess's eyes dwelt on the timid young squire most +affectionately. You never saw a fortress more unprepared for dread +assault. + +'Hem!' was heard, terrific. But the proper pause had evidently not yet +come, and now to prevent it the Countess strained her energies and tasked +her genius intensely. Have you an idea of the difficulty of keeping up +the ball among a host of ill-assorted, stupid country people, who have no +open topics, and can talk of nothing continuously but scandal of their +neighbours, and who, moreover, feel they are not up to the people they +are mixing with? Darting upon Seymour Jocelyn, the Countess asked +touchingly for news of the partridges. It was like the unlocking of a +machine. Seymour was not blythe in his reply, but he was loud and +forcible; and when he came to the statistics--oh, then you would have +admired the Countess!--for comparisons ensued, braces were enumerated, +numbers given were contested, and the shooting of this one jeered at, and +another's sure mark respectfully admitted. And how lay the coveys? And +what about the damage done by last winter's floods? And was there good +hope of the pheasants? Outside this latter the Countess hovered. Twice +the awful 'Hem!' was heard. She fought on. She kept them at it. If it +flagged she wished to know this or that, and finally thought that, +really, she should like herself to try one shot. The women had +previously been left behind. This brought in the women. Lady Jocelyn +proposed a female expedition for the morrow. + +'I believe I used to be something of a shot, formerly,' she said. + +'You peppered old Tom once, my lady,' remarked Andrew, and her ladyship +laughed, and that foolish Andrew told the story, and the Countess, to +revive her subject, had to say: 'May I be enrolled to shoot?' though she +detested and shrank from fire-arms. + +'Here are two!' said the hearty presiding dame. 'Ladies, apply +immediately to have your names put down.' + +The possibility of an expedition of ladies now struck Seymour vividly, +and said he: 'I 'll be secretary'; and began applying to the ladies for +permission to put down their names. Many declined, with brevity, +muttering, either aloud or to themselves, 'unwomanly'; varied by +'unladylike': some confessed cowardice; some a horror of the noise close +to their ears; and there was the plea of nerves. But the names of half- +a-dozen ladies were collected, and then followed much laughter, and +musical hubbub, and delicate banter. So the ladies and gentlemen fell +one and all into the partridge pit dug for them by the Countess: and that +horrible 'Hem!' equal in force and terror to the roar of artillery +preceding the charge of ten thousand dragoons, was silenced--the pit +appeared impassable. Did the Countess crow over her advantage? Mark +her: the lady's face is entirely given up to partridges. 'English sports +are so much envied abroad,' she says: but what she dreads is a +reflection, for that leads off from the point. A portion of her mind she +keeps to combat them in Lady Jocelyn and others who have the tendency: +the rest she divides between internal-prayers for succour, and casting +about for another popular subject to follow partridges. Now, mere +talent, as critics say when they are lighting candles round a genius, +mere talent would have hit upon pheasants as the natural sequitur, and +then diverged to sports--a great theme, for it ensures a chorus of sneers +at foreigners, and so on probably to a discussion of birds and beasts +best adapted to enrapture the palate of man. Stories may succeed, but +they are doubtful, and not to be trusted, coming after cookery. After an +exciting subject which has made the general tongue to wag, and just +enough heated the brain to cause it to cry out for spiced food--then +start your story: taking care that it be mild; for one too marvellous +stops the tide, the sense of climax being strongly implanted in all +bosoms. So the Countess told an anecdote--one of Mel's. Mr. George +Uplift was quite familiar with it, and knew of one passage that would +have abashed him to relate 'before ladies.' The sylph-like ease with +which the Countess floated over this foul abysm was miraculous. Mr. +George screwed his eye-lids queerly, and closed his jaws with a report, +completely beaten. The anecdote was of the character of an apologue, and +pertained to game. This was, as it happened, a misfortune; for Mr. +Raikes had felt himself left behind by the subject; and the stuff that +was in this young man being naturally ebullient, he lay by to trip it, +and take a lead. His remarks brought on him a shrewd cut from the +Countess, which made matters worse; for a pun may also breed puns, as +doth an anecdote. The Countess's stroke was so neat and perfect that it +was something for the gentlemen to think over; and to punish her for +giving way to her cleverness and to petty vexation, 'Hem!' sounded once +more, and then: 'May I ask you if the present Baronet is in England?' + +Now Lady Jocelyn perceived that some attack was directed against her +guest. She allowed the Countess to answer: + +'The eldest was drowned in the Lisbon waters' + +And then said: 'But who is it that persists in serving up the funeral +baked meats to us?' + +Mrs. Shorne spoke for her neighbour: 'Mr. Farnley's cousin was the +steward of Sir Abraham Harrington's estates.' + +The Countess held up her head boldly. There is a courageous exaltation +of the nerves known to heroes and great generals in action when they feel +sure that resources within themselves will spring up to the emergency, +and that over simple mortals success is positive. + +'I had a great respect for Sir Abraham,' Mr. Farnley explained, 'very +great. I heard that this lady' (bowing to the Countess) 'was his +daughter.' + +Lady Jocelyn's face wore an angry look, and Mrs. Shorne gave her the +shade of a shrug and an expression implying, 'I didn't!' + +Evan was talking to Miss Jenny Graine at the moment rather earnestly. +With a rapid glance at him, to see that his ears were closed, the +Countess breathed: + +'Not the elder branch!--Cadet!' + +The sort of noisy silence produced by half-a-dozen people respirating +deeply and moving in their seats was heard. The Countess watched Mr. +Farnley's mystified look, and whispered to Sir John: 'Est-ce qu'il +comprenne le Francais, lui?' + +It was the final feather-like touch to her triumph. She saw safety and a +clear escape, and much joyful gain, and the pleasure of relating her +sufferings in days to come. This vista was before her when, harsh as an +execution bell, telling her that she had vanquished man, but that +Providence opposed her, 'Mrs. Melchisedec Harrington!' was announced to +Lady Jocelyn. + +Perfect stillness reigned immediately, as if the pic-nic had heard its +doom. + +'Oh! I will go to her,' said her ladyship, whose first thought was to +spare the family. 'Andrew, come and give me your arm.' + +But when she rose Mrs. Mel was no more than the length of an arm from her +elbow. + +In the midst of the horrible anguish she was enduring, the Countess could +not help criticizing her mother's curtsey to Lady Jocelyn. Fine, but a +shade too humble. Still it was fine; all might not yet be lost. + +'Mama!' she softly exclaimed, and thanked heaven that she had not denied +her parent. + +Mrs. Mel did not notice her or any of her children. There was in her +bosom a terrible determination to cast a devil out of the one she best +loved. For this purpose, heedless of all pain to be given, or of +impropriety, she had come to speak publicly, and disgrace and humiliate, +that she might save him from the devils that had ruined his father. + +'My lady,' said the terrible woman, thanking her in reply to an +invitation that she should be seated, 'I have come for my son. I hear he +has been playing the lord in your house, my lady. I humbly thank your +ladyship for your kindness to him, but he is nothing more than a tailor's +son, and is bound a tailor himself that his father may be called an +honest man. I am come to take him away.' + +Mrs. Mel seemed to speak without much effort, though the pale flush of +her cheeks showed that she felt what she was doing. Juliana was pale as +death, watching Rose. Intensely bright with the gem-like light of her +gallant spirit, Rose's eyes fixed on Evan. He met them. The words of +Ruth passed through his heart. But the Countess, who had given Rose to +Evan, and the Duke to Caroline, where was her supporter? The Duke was +entertaining Caroline with no less dexterity, and Rose's eyes said to +Evan: 'Feel no shame that I do not feel!' but the Countess stood alone. +It is ever thus with genius! to quote the numerous illustrious authors +who have written of it. + +What mattered it now that in the dead hush Lady Jocelyn should assure her +mother that she had been misinformed, and that Mrs. Mel was presently +quieted, and made to sit with others before the fruits and wines? All +eyes were hateful--the very thought of Providence confused her brain. +Almost reduced to imbecility, the Countess imagined, as a reality, that +Sir Abraham had borne with her till her public announcement of +relationship, and that then the outraged ghost would no longer be +restrained, and had struck this blow. + +The crushed pic-nic tried to get a little air, and made attempts at +conversation. Mrs. Mel sat upon the company with the weight of all +tailordom. + +And now a messenger came for Harry. Everybody was so zealously employed +in the struggle to appear comfortable under Mrs. Mel, that his departure +was hardly observed. The general feeling for Evan and his sisters, by +their superiors in rank, was one of kindly pity. Laxley, however, did +not behave well. He put up his glass and scrutinized Mrs. Mel, and then +examined Evan, and Rose thought that in his interchange of glances with +any one there was a lurking revival of the scene gone by. She signalled +with her eyebrows for Drummond to correct him, but Drummond had another +occupation. Andrew made the diversion. He whispered to his neighbour, +and the whisper went round, and the laugh; and Mr. Raikes grew extremely +uneasy in his seat, and betrayed an extraordinary alarm. But he also was +soon relieved. A messenger had come from Harry to Mrs. Evremonde, +bearing a slip of paper. This the lady glanced at, and handed it to +Drummond. A straggling pencil had traced these words: + +'Just running by S.W. gates--saw the Captain coming in--couldn't stop to +stop him--tremendous hurry--important. Harry J.' + +Drummond sent the paper to Lady Jocelyn. After her perusal of it a scout +was despatched to the summit of Olympus, and his report proclaimed the +advance in the direction of the Bull-dogs of a smart little figure of a +man in white hat and white trousers, who kept flicking his legs with a +cane. + +Mrs. Evremonde rose and conferred with her ladyship an instant, and then +Drummond took her arm quietly, and passed round Olympus to the East, and +Lady Jocelyn broke up the sitting. + +Juliana saw Rose go up to Evan, and make him introduce her to his mother. +She turned lividly white, and went to a corner of the park by herself, +and cried bitterly. + +Lady Jocelyn, Sir Franks, and Sir John, remained by the tables, but +before the guests were out of ear-shot, the individual signalled from +Olympus presented himself. + +'There are times when one can't see what else to do but to lie,' said her +ladyship to Sir Franks, 'and when we do lie the only way is to lie +intrepidly.' + +Turning from her perplexed husband, she exclaimed: + +'Ah! Lawson?' + +Captain Evremonde lifted his hat, declining an intimacy. + +'Where is my wife, madam?' + +'Have you just come from the Arctic Regions?' + +'I have come for my wife, madam!' + +His unsettled grey eyes wandered restlessly on Lady Jocelyn's face. The +Countess standing near the Duke, felt some pity for the wife of that +cropped-headed, tight-skinned lunatic at large, but deeper was the +Countess's pity for Lady Jocelyn, in thinking of the account she would +have to render on the Day of Judgement, when she heard her ladyship reply + +'Evelyn is not here.' + +Captain Evremonde bowed profoundly, trailing his broad white hat along +the sward. + +'Do me the favour to read this, madam,' he said, and handed a letter to +her. + +Lady Jocelyn raised her brows as she gathered the contents of the letter. + +'Ferdinand's handwriting!' she exclaimed. + +'I accuse no one, madam,--I make no accusation. I have every respect for +you, madam,--you have my esteem. I am sorry to intrude, madam, an +intrusion is regretted. My wife runs away from her bed, madam, and I +have the law, madam, the law is with the husband. No force!' He lashed +his cane sharply against his white legs. 'The law, madam. No brute +force!' His cane made a furious whirl, cracking again on his legs, as he +reiterated, 'The law!' + +'Does the law advise you to strike at a tangent all over the country in +search for her?' inquired Lady Jocelyn. + +Captain Evremonde became ten times more voluble and excited. + +Mrs. Mel was heard by the Countess to say: 'Her ladyship does not know +how to treat madmen.' + +Nor did Sir Franks and Sir John. They began expostulating with him. + +'A madman gets madder when you talk reason to him,' said Mrs. Mel. + +And now the Countess stepped forward to Lady Jocelyn, and hoped she would +not be thought impertinent in offering her opinion as to how this frantic +person should be treated. The case indeed looked urgent. Many gentlemen +considered themselves bound to approach and be ready in case of need. +Presently the Countess passed between Sir Franks and Sir John, and with +her hand put up, as if she feared the furious cane, said: + +'You will not strike me?' + +'Strike a lady, madam?' The cane and hat were simultaneously lowered. + +'Lady Jocelyn permits me to fetch for you a gentleman of the law. Or +will you accompany me to him?' + +In a moment, Captain Evremonde's manners were subdued and civilized, and +in perfectly sane speech he thanked the Countess and offered her his arm. +The Countess smilingly waved back Sir John, who motioned to attend on +her, and away she went with the Captain, with all the glow of a woman who +feels that she is heaping coals of fire on the heads of her enemies. + +Was she not admired now? + +'Upon my honour,' said Lady Jocelyn, 'they are a remarkable family,' +meaning the Harringtons. + +What farther she thought she did not say, but she was a woman who looked +to natural gifts more than the gifts of accidents; and Evan's chance +stood high with her then. So the battle of the Bull-dogs was fought, and +cruelly as the Countess had been assailed and wounded, she gained a +victory; yea, though Demogorgon, aided by the vindictive ghost of Sir +Abraham, took tangible shape in the ranks opposed to her. True, Lady +Jocelyn, forgetting her own recent intrepidity, condemned her as a liar; +but the fruits of the Countess's victory were plentiful. Drummond Forth, +fearful perhaps of exciting unjust suspicions in the mind of Captain +Evremonde, disappeared altogether. Harry was in a mess which threw him +almost upon Evan's mercy, as will be related. And, lastly, Ferdinand +Laxley, that insufferable young aristocrat, was thus spoken to by Lady +Jocelyn. + +'This 'letter addressed to Lawson, telling him that his wife is here, is +in your handwriting, Ferdinand. I don't say you wrote it--I don't think +you could have written it. But, to tell you the truth, I have an +unpleasant impression about it, and I think we had better shake hands and +not see each other for some time.' + +Laxley, after one denial of his guilt, disdained to repeat it. He met +her ladyship's hand haughtily, and, bowing to Sir Franks, turned on his +heel. + +So, then, in glorious complete victory, the battle of the Bull-dogs +ended! + +Of the close of the pic-nic more remains to be told. + +For the present I pause, in observance of those rules which demand that +after an exhibition of consummate deeds, time be given to the spectator +to digest what has passed before him. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A madman gets madder when you talk reason to him +Ah! how sweet to waltz through life with the right partner +And not any of your grand ladies can match my wife at home +Any man is in love with any woman +Believed in her love, and judged it by the strength of his own +Eating, like scratching, only wants a beginning +Feel no shame that I do not feel! +Feel they are not up to the people they are mixing with +Found it difficult to forgive her his own folly +Good and evil work together in this world +Hated one thing alone--which was 'bother' +He has been tolerably honest, Tom, for a man and a lover +I cannot live a life of deceit. A life of misery--not deceit +If we are to please you rightly, always allow us to play First +It is no insignificant contest when love has to crush self-love +Listened to one another, and blinded the world +Maxims of her own on the subject of rising and getting the worm +My belief is, you do it on purpose. Can't be such rank idiots +No conversation coming of it, her curiosity was violent +One fool makes many, and so, no doubt, does one goose +Play second fiddle without looking foolish +Second fiddle; he could only mean what she meant +Sense, even if they can't understand it, flatters them so +The commonest things are the worst done +The thrust sinned in its shrewdness +Those numerous women who always know themselves to be right +Two people love, there is no such thing as owing between them +Waited serenely for the certain disasters to enthrone her +What will be thought of me? not a small matter to any of us +When testy old gentlemen could commit slaughter with ecstasy +Why, he'll snap your head off for a word + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Evan Harrington, v5 +by George Meredith + + + + + + +EVAN HARRINGTON + +By GEORGE MEREDITH + + + +BOOK 6. + +XXXII. IN WHICH EVAN'S LIGHT BEGINS TO TWINKLE AGAIN +XXXIII. THE HERO TAKES HIS RANK IN THE ORCHESTRA +XXXIV. A PAGAN SACRIFICE +XXXV. ROSE WOUNDED +XXXVI. BEFORE BREAKFAST +XXXVII. THE RETREAT FROM BECKLEY +XXXVIII. IN WHICH WE HAVE TO SEE IN THE DARK + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +IN WHICH EVANS LIGHT BEGINS TO TWINKLE AGAIN + +The dowagers were now firmly planted on Olympus. Along the grass lay the +warm strong colours of the evening sun, reddening the pine-stems and +yellowing the idle aspen-leaves. For a moment it had hung in doubt +whether the pic-nic could survive the two rude shocks it had received. +Happily the youthful element was large, and when the band, refreshed by +chicken and sherry, threw off half-a-dozen bars of one of those +irresistible waltzes that first catch the ear, and then curl round the +heart, till on a sudden they invade and will have the legs, a rush up +Parnassus was seen, and there were shouts and laughter and commotion, as +over other great fields of battle the corn will wave gaily and mark the +reestablishment of nature's reign. + +How fair the sight! Approach the twirling couples. They talk as they +whirl. 'Fancy the run-away tailor!' is the male's remark, and he expects +to be admired for it, and is. + +'That make-up Countess--his sister, you know--didn't you see her? she +turned green,' says Creation's second effort, almost occupying the place +of a rib. + +'Isn't there a run-away wife, too?' + +'Now, you mustn't be naughty!' + +They laugh and flatter one another. The power to give and take flattery +to any amount is the rare treasure of youth. + +Undoubtedly they are a poetical picture; but some poetical pictures talk +dreary prose; so we will retire. + +Now, while the dancers carried on their business, and distance lent them +enchantment, Rose stood by Juliana, near an alder which hid them from the +rest. + +'I don't accuse you,' she was saying; 'but who could have done this but +you? Ah, Juley! you will never get what you want if you plot for it. +I thought once you cared for Evan. If he had loved you, would I not have +done all that I could for you both? I pardon you with all my heart.' + +'Keep your pardon!' was the angry answer. 'I have done more for you, +Rose. He is an adventurer, and I have tried to open your eyes and make +you respect your family. You may accuse me of what you like, I have my +conscience.' + +'And the friendship of the Countess,' added Rose. + +Juliana's figure shook as if she had been stung. + +'Go and be happy--don't stay here and taunt me,' she said, with a ghastly +look. 'I suppose he can lie like his sister, and has told you all sorts +of tales.' + +'Not a word--not a word!' cried Rose. 'Do you think my lover could tell +a lie?' + +The superb assumption of the girl, and the true portrait of Evan's +character which it flashed upon Juliana, were to the latter such intense +pain, that she turned like one on the rack, exclaiming: + +'You think so much of him? You are so proud of him? Then, yes! I love +him too, ugly, beastly as I am to look at! Oh, I know what you think! +I loved him from the first, and I knew all about him, and spared him +pain. I did not wait for him to fall from a horse. I watched every +chance of his being exposed. I let them imagine he cared for me. +Drummond would have told what he knew long before--only he knew there +would not be much harm in a tradesman's son marrying me. And I have +played into your hands, and now you taunt me!' + +Rose remembered her fretful unkindness to Evan on the subject of his +birth, when her feelings toward him were less warm. Dwelling on that +alone, she put her arms round Juliana's stiffening figure, and said: +'I dare say I am much more selfish than you. Forgive me, dear.' + +Staring at her, Juliana replied, 'Now you are acting.' + +'No,' said Rose, with a little effort to fondle her; 'I only feel that I +love you better for loving him.' + +Generous as her words sounded, and were, Juliana intuitively struck to +the root of them, which was comfortless. For how calm in its fortune, +how strong in its love, must Rose's heart be, when she could speak in +this unwonted way! + +'Go, and leave me, pray,' she said. + +Rose kissed her burning cheek. 'I will do as you wish, dear. Try and +know me better, and be sister Juley as you used to be. I know I am +thoughtless, and horribly vain and disagreeable sometimes. Do forgive +me. I will love you truly.' + +Half melting, Juliana pressed her hand. + +'We are friends?' said Rose. 'Good-bye'; and her countenance lighted, +and she moved away, so changed by her happiness! Juliana was jealous of +a love strong as she deemed her own to overcome obstacles. She called to +her: 'Rose! Rose, you will not take advantage of what I have told you, +and repeat it to any one?' + +Instantly Rose turned with a glance of full contempt over her shoulder. + +'To whom?' she asked. + +'To any one.' + +'To him? He would not love me long if I did!' + +Juliana burst into fresh tears, but Rose walked into the sunbeams and the +circle of the music. + +Mounting Olympus, she inquired whether Ferdinand was within hail, as they +were pledged to dance the first dance together. A few hints were given, +and then Rose learnt that Ferdinand had been dismissed. + +'And where is he?' she cried with her accustomed impetuosity. 'Mama!--of +course you did not accuse him--but, Mama! could you possibly let him go +with the suspicion that you thought him guilty of writing an anonymous +letter?' + +'Not at all,' Lady Jocelyn replied. 'Only the handwriting was so +extremely like, and he was the only person who knew the address and the +circumstances, and who could have a motive--though I don't quite see what +it is--I thought it as well to part for a time.' + +'But that's sophistry!' said Rose. 'You accuse or you exonerate. Nobody +can be half guilty. If you do not hold him innocent you are unjust!' +Lady Jocelyn rejoined: 'Yes? It's singular what a stock of axioms young +people have handy for their occasions.' + +Rose loudly announced that she would right this matter. + +'I can't think where Rose gets her passion for hot water,' said her +mother, as Rose ran down the ledge. + +Two or three young gentlemen tried to engage her for a dance. She gave +them plenty of promises, and hurried on till she met Evan, and, almost +out of breath, told him the shameful injustice that had been done to her +friend. + +'Mama is such an Epicurean! I really think she is worse than Papa. This +disgraceful letter looks like Ferdinand's writing, and she tells him so; +and, Evan! will you believe that instead of being certain it's +impossible any gentleman could do such a thing, she tells Ferdinand she +shall feel more comfortable if she doesn't see him for some time? Poor +Ferdinand! He has had so much to bear!' + +Too sure of his darling to be envious now of any man she pitied, Evan +said, 'I would forfeit my hand on his innocence!' + +'And so would I,' echoed Rose. 'Come to him with me, dear. Or no,' she +added, with a little womanly discretion, 'perhaps it would not be so +well--you're not very much cast down by what happened at dinner?' + +'My darling! I think of you.' + +'Of me, dear? Concealment is never of any service. What there is to be +known people may as well know at once. They'll gossip for a month, and +then forget it. Your mother is dreadfully outspoken, certainly; but she +has better manners than many ladies--I mean people in a position: you +understand me? But suppose, dear, this had happened, and I had said +nothing to Mama, and then we had to confess? Ah, you'll find I'm wiser +than you imagine, Mr. Evan.' + +'Haven't I submitted to somebody's lead?' + +'Yes, but with a sort of "under protest." I saw it by the mouth. Not +quite natural. You have been moody ever since--just a little. I suppose +it's our manly pride. But I'm losing time. Will you promise me not to +brood over that occurrence.? Think of me. Think everything of me. I am +yours; and, dearest, if I love you, need you care what anybody else +thinks? We will soon change their opinion.' + +'I care so little,' said Evan, somewhat untruthfully, 'that till you +return I shall go and sit with my mother.' + +'Oh, she has gone. She made her dear old antiquated curtsey to Mama and +the company. "If my son has not been guilty of deception, I will leave +him to your good pleasure, my lady." That's what she said. Mama likes +her, I know. But I wish she didn't mouth her words so precisely: it +reminds me of--' the Countess, Rose checked herself from saying. 'Good- +bye. Thank heaven! the worst has happened. Do you know what I should +do if I were you, and felt at all distressed? I should keep repeating,' +Rose looked archly and deeply up under his eyelids, "'I am the son of a +tradesman, and Rose loves me," over and over, and then, if you feel +ashamed, what is it of?' + +She nodded adieu, laughing at her own idea of her great worth; an idea +very firmly fixed in her fair bosom, notwithstanding. Mrs. Melville said +of her, 'I used to think she had pride.' Lady Jocelyn answered, 'So she +has. The misfortune is that it has taken the wrong turning.' + +Evan watched the figure that was to him as that of an angel--no less! +She spoke so frankly to them as she passed: or here and there went on +with a light laugh. It seemed an act of graciousness that she should +open her mouth to one! And, indeed, by virtue of a pride which raised +her to the level of what she thought it well to do, Rose was veritably on +higher ground than any present. She no longer envied her friend Jenny, +who, emerging from the shades, allured by the waltz, dislinked herself +from William's arm, and whispered exclamations of sorrow at the scene +created by Mr. Harrington's mother. Rose patted her hand, and said: +'Thank you, Jenny dear but don't be sorry. I'm glad. It prevents a +number of private explanations.' + +'Still, dear!' Jenny suggested. + +'Oh! of course, I should like to lay my whip across the shoulders of the +person who arranged the conspiracy,' said Rose. 'And afterwards I don't +mind returning thanks to him, or her, or them.' + +William cried out, 'I 'm always on your side, Rose.' + +'And I'll be Jenny's bridesmaid,' rejoined Rose, stepping blithely away +from them. + +Evan debated whither to turn when Rose was lost to his eyes. He had no +heart for dancing. Presently a servant approached, and said that Mr. +Harry particularly desired to see him. From Harry's looks at table, Evan +judged that the interview was not likely to be amicable. He asked the +direction he was to take, and setting out with long strides, came in +sight of Raikes, who walked in gloom, and was evidently labouring under +one of his mountains of melancholy. He affected to be quite out of the +world; but finding that Evan took the hint in his usual prosy manner, was +reduced to call after him, and finally to run and catch him. + +'Haven't you one single spark of curiosity?' he began. + +'What about?' said Evan. + +'Why, about my amazing luck! You haven't asked a question. A matter of +course.' + +Evan complimented him by asking a question: saying that Jack's luck +certainly was wonderful. + +'Wonderful, you call it,' said Jack, witheringly. 'And what's more +wonderful is, that I'd give up all for quiet quarters in the Green +Dragon. I knew I was prophetic. I knew I should regret that peaceful +hostelry. Diocletian, if you like. I beg you to listen. I can't walk +so fast without danger.' + +'Well, speak out, man. What's the matter with you?' cried Evan, +impatiently. + +Jack shook his head: 'I see a total absence of sympathy,' he remarked. +'I can't.' + +'Then stand out of the way.' + +Jack let him pass, exclaiming, with cold irony, 'I will pay homage to a +loftier Nine!' + +Mr. Raikes could not in his soul imagine that Evan was really so little +inquisitive concerning a business of such importance as the trouble that +possessed him. He watched his friend striding off, incredulously, and +then commenced running in pursuit. + +'Harrington, I give in; I surrender; you reduce me to prose. Thy nine +have conquered my nine!--pardon me, old fellow. I'm immensely upset. +This is the first day in my life that I ever felt what indigestion is. +Egad, I've got something to derange the best digestion going! + +'Look here, Harrington. What happened to you today, I declare I think +nothing of. You owe me your assistance, you do, indeed; for if it hadn't +been for the fearful fascinations of your sister--that divine Countess-- +I should have been engaged to somebody by this time, and profited by the +opportunity held out to me, and which is now gone. I 'm disgraced. I 'm +known. And the worst of it is, I must face people. I daren't turn tail. +Did you ever hear of such a dilemma?' + +'Ay,' quoth Evan, 'what is it?' + +Raikes turned pale. 'Then you haven't heard of it?' 'Not a word.' + +'Then it's all for me to tell. I called on Messrs. Grist. I dined at +the Aurora afterwards. Depend upon it, Harrington, we're led by a star. +I mean, fellows with anything in them are. I recognized our Fallow field +host, and thinking to draw him out, I told our mutual histories. Next +day I went to these Messrs. Grist. They proposed the membership for +Fallow field, five hundred a year, and the loan of a curricle, on +condition. It 's singular, Harrington; before anybody knew of the +condition I didn't care about it a bit. It seemed to me childish. Who +would think of minding wearing a tin plate? But now!--the sufferings of +Orestes--what are they to mine? He wasn't tied to his Furies. They did +hover a little above him; but as for me, I'm scorched; and I mustn't say +where: my mouth is locked; the social laws which forbid the employment of +obsolete words arrest my exclamations of despair. What do you advise?' + +Evan stared a moment at the wretched object, whose dream of meeting a +beneficent old gentleman had brought him to be the sport of a cynical +farceur. He had shivers on his own account, seeing something of himself +magnified, and he loathed the fellow, only to feel more acutely what a +stigma may be. + +'It 's a case I can't advise in,' he said, as gently as he could. +'I should be off the grounds in a hurry.' + +'And then I'm where I was before I met the horrid old brute!' Raikes +moaned. + +'I told him over a pint of port-and noble stuff is that Aurora port!-- +I told him--I amused him till he was on the point of bursting--I told him +I was such a gentleman as the world hadn't seen--minus money. So he +determined to launch me. He said I should lead the life of such a +gentleman as the world had not yet seen--on that simple condition, which +appeared to me childish, a senile whim; rather an indulgence of his.' + +Evan listened to the tribulations of his friend as he would to those of a +doll--the sport of some experimental child. By this time he knew +something of old Tom Cogglesby, and was not astonished that he should +have chosen John Raikes to play one of his farces on. Jack turned off +abruptly the moment he saw they were nearing human figures, but soon +returned to Evan's side, as if for protection. + +'Hoy! Harrington!' shouted Harry, beckoning to him. 'Come, make haste! +I'm in a deuce of a mess.' + +The two Wheedles--Susan and Polly--were standing in front of him, and +after his call to Evan, he turned to continue some exhortation or appeal +to the common sense of women, largely indulged in by young men when the +mischief is done. + +'Harrington, do speak to her. She looks upon you as a sort of parson. +I can't make her believe I didn't send for her. Of course, she knows +I 'm fond of her. My dear fellow,' he whispered, 'I shall be ruined if +my grandmother hears of it. Get her away, please. Promise anything.' + +Evan took her hand and asked for the child. + +'Quite well, sir,' faltered Susan. + +'You should not have come here.' + +Susan stared, and commenced whimpering: 'Didn't you wish it, sir?' + +'Oh, she's always thinking of being made a lady of,' cried Polly. 'As if +Mr. Harry was going to do that. It wants a gentleman to do that.' + +'The carriage came for me, sir, in the afternoon,' said Susan, +plaintively, 'with your compliments, and would I come. I thought--' + +'What carriage?' asked Evan. + +Raikes, who was ogling Polly, interposed grandly, 'Mine!' + +'And you sent in my name for this girl to come here?' Evan turned +wrathfully on him. + +'My dear Harrington, when you hit you knock down. The wise require but +one dose of experience. The Countess wished it, and I did dispatch.' + +'The Countess!' Harry exclaimed; 'Jove! do you mean to say that the +Countess--' + +'De Saldar,' added Jack. 'In Britain none were worthy found.' + +Harry gave a long whistle. + +'Leave at once,' said Evan to Susan. 'Whatever you may want send to me +for. And when you think you can meet your parents, I will take you to +them. Remember that is what you must do.' + +'Make her give up that stupidness of hers, about being made a lady of, +Mr. Harrington,' said the inveterate Polly. + +Susan here fell a-weeping. + +'I would go, sir,' she said. 'I 'm sure I would obey you: but I can't. +I can't go back to the inn. They 're beginning to talk about me, +because--because I can't--can't pay them, and I'm ashamed.' + +Evan looked at Harry. + +'I forgot,' the latter mumbled, but his face was crimson. He put his +hands in his pockets. 'Do you happen to have a note or so?' he asked. + +Evan took him aside and gave him what he had; and this amount, without +inspection or reserve, Harry offered to Susan. She dashed his hand +impetuously from her sight. + +'There, give it to me,' said Polly. 'Oh, Mr. Harry! what a young man +you are!' + +Whether from the rebuff, or the reproach, or old feelings reviving, Harry +was moved to go forward, and lay his hand on Susan's shoulder and mutter +something in her ear that softened her. + +Polly thrust the notes into her bosom, and with a toss of her nose, as +who should say, 'Here 's nonsense they 're at again,' tapped Susan on the +other shoulder, and said imperiously: 'Come, Miss!' + +Hurrying out a dozen sentences in one, Harry ended by suddenly kissing +Susan's cheek, and then Polly bore her away; and Harry, with great +solemnity, said to Evan: + +''Pon my honour, I think I ought to! I declare I think I love that girl. +What's one's family? Why shouldn't you button to the one that just suits +you? That girl, when she's dressed, and in good trim, by Jove! nobody +'d know her from a born lady. And as for grammar, I'd soon teach her +that.' + +Harry began to whistle: a sign in him that he was thinking his hardest. + +'I confess to being considerably impressed by the maid Wheedle,' said +Raikes. + +'Would you throw yourself away on her?' Evan inquired. + +Apparently forgetting how he stood, Mr. Raikes replied: + +'You ask, perhaps, a little too much of me. One owes consideration to +one's position. In the world's eyes a matrimonial slip outweighs a +peccadillo. No. To much the maid might wheedle me, but to Hymen! She's +decidedly fresh and pert--the most delicious little fat lips and cocky +nose; but cease we to dwell on her, or of us two, to! one will be +undone.' + +Harry burst into a laugh: 'Is this the T.P. for Fallow field?' + +'M.P. I think you mean,' quoth Raikes, serenely; but a curious glance +being directed on him, and pursuing him pertinaciously, it was as if the +pediment of the lofty monument he topped were smitten with violence. He +stammered an excuse, and retreated somewhat as it is the fashion to do +from the presence of royalty, followed by Harry's roar of laughter, in +which Evan cruelly joined. + +'Gracious powers!' exclaimed the victim of ambition, 'I'm laughed at by +the son of a tailor!' and he edged once more into the shade of trees. + +It was a strange sight for Harry's relatives to see him arm-in-arm with +the man he should have been kicking, challenging, denouncing, or whatever +the code prescribes: to see him talking to this young man earnestly, +clinging to him affectionately, and when he separated from him, heartily +wringing his hand. Well might they think that there was something +extraordinary in these Harringtons. Convicted of Tailordom, these +Harringtons appeared to shine with double lustre. How was it? They were +at a loss to say. They certainly could say that the Countess was +egregiously affected and vulgar; but who could be altogether complacent +and sincere that had to fight so hard a fight? In this struggle with +society I see one of the instances where success is entirely to be +honoured and remains a proof of merit. For however boldly antagonism may +storm the ranks of society, it will certainly be repelled, whereas +affinity cannot be resisted; and they who, against obstacles of birth, +claim and keep their position among the educated and refined, have that +affinity. It is, on the whole, rare, so that society is not often +invaded. I think it will have to front Jack Cade again before another +Old Mel and his progeny shall appear. You refuse to believe in Old Mel? +You know not nature's cunning. + +Mrs. Shorne, Mrs. Melville, Miss Carrington, and many of the guests who +observed Evan moving from place to place, after the exposure, as they +called it, were amazed at his audacity. There seemed such a quietly +superb air about him. He would not look out of his element; and this, +knowing what they knew, was his offence. He deserved some commendation +for still holding up his head, but it was love and Rose who kept the +fires of his heart alive. + +The sun had sunk. The figures on the summit of Parnassus were seen +bobbing in happy placidity against the twilight sky. The sun had sunk, +and many of Mr. Raikes' best things were unspoken. Wandering about in +his gloom, he heard a feminine voice: + +'Yes, I will trust you.' + +'You will not repent it,' was answered. + +Recognizing the Duke, Mr. Raikes cleared his throat. + +'A-hem, your Grace! This is how the days should pass. I think we should +diurnally station a good London band on high, and play his Majesty to +bed--the sun. My opinion is, it would improve the crops. I'm not, as +yet, a landed proprietor--' + +The Duke stepped aside with him, and Raikes addressed no one for the next +twenty minutes. When he next came forth Parnassus was half deserted. It +was known that old Mrs. Bonner had been taken with a dangerous attack, +and under this third blow the pic-nic succumbed. Simultaneously with the +messenger that brought the news to Lady Jocelyn, one approached Evan, and +informed him that the Countess de Saldar urgently entreated him to come +to the house without delay. He also wished to speak a few words to her, +and stepped forward briskly. He had no prophetic intimations of the +change this interview would bring upon him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE HERO TAKES HIS RANK IN THE ORCHESTRA + +The Countess was not in her dressing-room when Evan presented himself. +She was in attendance on Mrs. Bonner, Conning said; and the primness of +Conning was a thing to have been noticed by any one save a dreamy youth +in love. Conning remained in the room, keeping distinctly aloof. Her +duties absorbed her, but a presiding thought mechanically jerked back her +head from time to time: being the mute form of, 'Well, I never!' in +Conning's rank of life and intellectual capacity. Evan remained quite +still in a chair, and Conning was certainly a number of paces beyond +suspicion, when the Countess appeared, and hurling at the maid one of +those feminine looks which contain huge quartos of meaning, vented the +cold query: + +'Pray, why did you not come to me, as you were commanded?' + +'I was not aware, my lady,' Conning drew up to reply, and performed with +her eyes a lofty rejection of the volume cast at her, and a threat of +several for offensive operations, if need were. + +The Countess spoke nearer to what she was implying 'You know I object to +this: it is not the first time.' + +'Would your ladyship please to say what your ladyship means?' + +In return for this insolent challenge to throw off the mask, the Countess +felt justified in punishing her by being explicit. 'Your irregularities +are not of yesterday,' she said, kindly making use of a word of double +signification still. + +'Thank you, my lady.' Conning accepted the word in its blackest meaning. +'I am obliged to you. If your ladyship is to be believed, my character +is not worth much. But I can make distinctions, my lady.' + +Something very like an altercation was continued in a sharp, brief +undertone; and then Evan, waking up to the affairs of the hour, heard +Conning say: + +'I shall not ask your ladyship to give me a character.' + +The Countess answering with pathos: 'It would, indeed, be to give you +one.' + +He was astonished that the Countess should burst into tears when Conning +had departed, and yet more so that his effort to console her should bring +a bolt of wrath upon himself. + +'Now, Evan, now see what you have done for us-do, and rejoice at it. The +very menials insult us. You heard what that creature said? She can make +distinctions. Oh! I could beat her. They know it: all the servants know +it: I can see it in their faces. I feel it when I pass them. The +insolent wretches treat us as impostors; and this Conning--to defy me! +Oh! it comes of my devotion to you. I am properly chastized. I passed +Rose's maid on the stairs, and her reverence was barely perceptible.' + +Evan murmured that he was very sorry, adding, foolishly: 'Do you really +care, Louisa, for what servants think and say?' + +The Countess sighed deeply: 'Oh! you are too thickskinned! Your mother +from top to toe! It is too dreadful! What have I done to deserve it? +Oh, Evan, Evan!' + +Her head dropped in her lap. There was something ludicrous to Evan in +this excess of grief on account of such a business; but he was tender- +hearted and wrought upon to declare that, whether or not he was to blame +for his mother's intrusion that afternoon, he was ready to do what he +could to make up to the Countess for her sufferings: whereat the Countess +sighed again: asked him what he possibly could do, and doubted his +willingness to accede to the most trifling request. + +'No; I do in verity believe that were I to desire you to do aught for +your own good alone, you would demur, Van.' + +He assured her that she was mistaken. + +'We shall see,' she said. + +'And if once or twice, I have run counter to you, Louisa--' + +'Abominable language!' cried the Countess, stopping her ears like a +child. 'Do not excruciate me so. You laugh! My goodness! what will +you come to!' + +Evan checked his smile, and, taking her hand, said: + +'I must tell you; that, on the whole, I see nothing to regret in what has +happened to-day. You may notice a change in the manners of the servants +and some of the country squiresses, but I find none in the bearing of the +real ladies, the true gentlemen, to me.' + +'Because the change is too fine for you to perceive it,' interposed the +Countess. + +'Rose, then, and her mother, and her father!' Evan cried impetuously. + +'As for Lady Jocelyn!' the Countess shrugged: + +'And Sir Franks!' her head shook: 'and Rose, Rose is, simply self-willed; +a "she will" or "she won't" sort of little person. No criterion! +Henceforth the world is against us. We have to struggle with it: it does +not rank us of it!' + +'Your feeling on the point is so exaggerated, my dear Louisa', said Evan, +'one can't bring reason to your ears. The tattle we shall hear we shall +outlive. I care extremely for the good opinion of men, but I prefer my +own; and I do not lose it because my father was in trade.' + +'And your own name, Evan Harrington, is on a shop,' the Countess struck +in, and watched him severely from under her brow, glad to mark that he +could still blush. + +'Oh, heaven!' she wailed to increase the effect, 'on a shop! a brother +of mine!' + +'Yes, Louisa. It may not last . . . I did it--is it not better that a +son should blush, than cast dishonour on his father's memory?' + +'Ridiculous boy-notion!' + +'Rose has pardoned it, Louisa--cannot you? I find that the naturally +vulgar and narrow-headed people, and cowards who never forego mean +advantages, are those only who would condemn me and my conduct in that.' + +'And you have joy in your fraction of the world left to you!' exclaimed +his female-elder. + +Changeing her manner to a winning softness, she said: + +'Let me also belong to the very small party! You have been really +romantic, and most generous and noble; only the shop smells! But, never +mind, promise me you will not enter it.' + +'I hope not,' said Evan. + +'You do hope that you will not officiate? Oh, Evan the eternal +contemplation of gentlemen's legs! think of that! Think of yourself +sculptured in that attitude!' Innumerable little prickles and stings +shot over Evan's skin. + +'There--there, Louisa!' he said, impatiently; 'spare your ridicule. We +go to London to-morrow, and when there I expect to hear that I have an +appointment, and that this engagement is over.' He rose and walked up +and down the room. + +'I shall not be prepared to go to-morrow,' remarked the Countess, drawing +her figure up stiffly. + +'Oh! well, if you can stay, Andrew will take charge of you, I dare say.' + +'No, my dear, Andrew will not--a nonentity cannot--you must.' + +'Impossible, Louisa,' said Evan, as one who imagines he is uttering a +thing of little consequence. 'I promised Rose.' + +'You promised Rose that you would abdicate and retire? Sweet, loving +girl!' + +Evan made no answer. + +'You will stay with me, Evan.' + +'I really can't,' he said in his previous careless tone. + +'Come and sit down,' cried the Countess, imperiously. + +'The first trifle is refused. It does not astonish me. I will honour +you now by talking seriously to you. I have treated you hitherto as a +child. Or, no--' she stopped her mouth; 'it is enough if I tell you, +dear, that poor Mrs. Bonner is dying, and that she desires my attendance +on her to refresh her spirit with readings on the Prophecies, and +Scriptural converse. No other soul in the house can so soothe her.' + +'Then, stay,' said Evan. + +'Unprotected in the midst of enemies! Truly!' + +'I think, Louisa, if you can call Lady Jocelyn an enemy, you must read +the Scriptures by a false light.' + +'The woman is an utter heathen!' interjected the Countess. 'An infidel +can be no friend. She is therefore the reverse. Her opinions embitter +her mother's last days. But now you will consent to remain with me, dear +Van!' + +An implacable negative responded to the urgent appeal of her eyes. + +'By the way,' he said, for a diversion, 'did you know of a girl stopping +at an inn in Fallow field?' + +'Know a barmaid?' the Countess's eyes and mouth were wide at the +question. + +'Did you send Raikes for her to-day?' + +'Did Mr. Raikes--ah, Evan! that creature reminds me, you have no sense +of contrast. For a Brazilian ape--he resembles, if he is not truly one +--what contrast is he to an English gentleman! His proximity and +acquaintance--rich as he may be--disfigure you. Study contrast!' + +Evan had to remind her that she had not answered him: whereat she +exclaimed: 'One would really think you had never been abroad. Have you +not evaded me, rather?' + +The Countess commenced fanning her languid brows, and then pursued: 'Now, +my dear brother, I may conclude that you will acquiesce in my moderate +wishes. You remain. My venerable. friend cannot last three days. She +is on the brink of a better world! I will confide to you that it is of +the utmost importance we should be here, on the spot, until the sad +termination! That is what I summoned you for. You are now at liberty. +Ta-ta, as soon as you please.' + +She had baffled his little cross-examination with regard to Raikes, but +on the other point he was firm. She would listen to nothing: she +affected that her mandate had gone forth, and must be obeyed; tapped with +her foot, fanned deliberately, and was a consummate queen, till he turned +the handle of the door, when her complexion deadened, she started up, +trembling, and tripping towards him, caught him by the arm, and said: +'Stop! After all that I have sacrificed for you! As well try to raise +the dead as a Dawley from the dust he grovels in! Why did I consent to +visit this place? It was for you. I came, I heard that you had +disgraced yourself in drunkenness at Fallow field, and I toiled to +eclipse that, and I did. Young Jocelyn thought you were what you are I +could spit the word at you! and I dazzled him to give you time to win +this minx, who will spin you like a top if you get her. That Mr. Forth +knew it as well, and that vile young Laxley. They are gone! Why are +they gone? Because they thwarted me--they crossed your interests--I said +they should go. George Uplift is going to-day. The house is left to us; +and I believe firmly that Mrs. Bonner's will contains a memento of the +effect of our frequent religious conversations. So you would leave now? +I suspect nobody, but we are all human, and Wills would not have been +tampered with for the first time. Besides, and the Countess's +imagination warmed till she addressed her brother as a confederate, 'we +shall then see to whom Beckley Court is bequeathed. Either way it may be +yours. Yours! and you suffer their plots to drive you forth. Do you +not perceive that Mama was brought here to-day on purpose to shame us and +cast us out? We are surrounded by conspiracies, but if our faith is pure +who can hurt us? If I had not that consolation--would that you had it, +too!--would it be endurable to me to see those menials whispering and +showing their forced respect? As it is, I am fortified to forgive them. +I breathe another atmosphere. Oh, Evan! you did not attend to Mr. +Parsley's beautiful last sermon. The Church should have been your +vocation.' + +From vehemence the Countess had subsided to a mournful gentleness. She +had been too excited to notice any changes in her brother's face during +her speech, and when he turned from the door, and still eyeing her +fixedly, led her to a chair, she fancied from his silence that she had +subdued and convinced him. A delicious sense of her power, succeeded by +a weary reflection that she had constantly to employ it, occupied her +mind, and when presently she looked up from the shade of her hand, it was +to agitate her head pitifully at her brother. + +'All this you have done for me, Louisa,' he said. + +'Yes, Evan,--all!' she fell into his tone. + +'And you are the cause of Laxley's going? Did you know anything of that +anonymous letter?' + +He was squeezing her hand-with grateful affection, as she was deluded to +imagine. + +'Perhaps, dear,--a little,' her conceit prompted her to admit. + +'Did you write it?' + +He gazed intently into her eyes, and as the question shot like a javelin, +she tried ineffectually to disengage her fingers; her delusion waned; she +took fright, but it was too late; he had struck the truth out of her +before she could speak. Her spirit writhed like a snake in his hold. +Innumerable things she was ready to say, and strove to; the words would +not form on her lips. + +'I will be answered, Louisa.' + +The stern manner he had assumed gave her no hope of eluding him. With an +inward gasp, and a sensation of nakedness altogether new to her, dismal, +and alarming, she felt that she could not lie. Like a creature forsaken +of her staunchest friend, she could have flung herself to the floor. The +next instant her natural courage restored her. She jumped up and stood +at bay. + +'Yes. I did.' + +And now he was weak, and she was strong, and used her strength. + +'I wrote it to save you. Yes. Call on your Creator, and be my judge, if +you dare. Never, never will you meet a soul more utterly devoted to you, +Evan. This Mr. Forth, this Laxley, I said, should go, because they were +resolved to ruin you, and make you base. They are gone. The +responsibility I take on myself. Nightly--during the remainder of my +days--I will pray for pardon.' + +He raised his head to ask sombrely: 'Is your handwriting like Laxley's?' + +'It seems so,' she answered, with a pitiful sneer for one who could +arrest her exaltation to inquire about minutiae. 'Right or wrong, it is +done, and if you choose to be my judge, think whether your own conscience +is clear. Why did you come here? Why did you stay? You have your free +will,--do you deny that? Oh, I will take the entire blame, but you must +not be a hypocrite, Van. You know you were aware. We had no +confidences. I was obliged to treat you like a child; but for you to +pretend to suppose that roses grow in your path--oh, that is paltry! +You are a hypocrite or an imbecile, if that is your course.' + +Was he not something of the former? The luxurious mist in which he had +been living, dispersed before his sister's bitter words, and, as she +designed he should, he felt himself her accomplice. But, again, reason +struggled to enlighten him; for surely he would never have done a thing +so disproportionate to the end to be gamed! It was the unconnected +action of his brain that thus advised him. No thoroughly-fashioned, +clear-spirited man conceives wickedness impossible to him: but wickedness +so largely mixed with folly, the best of us may reject as not among our +temptations. Evan, since his love had dawned, had begun to talk with his +own nature, and though he knew not yet how much it would stretch or +contract, he knew that he was weak and could not perform moral wonders +without severe struggles. The cynic may add, if he likes--or without +potent liquors. + +Could he be his sister's judge? It is dangerous for young men to be too +good. They are so sweeping in their condemnations, so sublime in their +conceptions of excellence, and the most finished Puritan cannot out-do +their demands upon frail humanity. Evan's momentary self-examination +saved him from this, and he told the Countess, with a sort of cold +compassion, that he himself dared not blame her. + +His tone was distinctly wanting in admiration of her, but she was +somewhat over-wrought, and leaned her shoulder against him, and became +immediately his affectionate, only too-zealous, sister; dearly to be +loved, to be forgiven, to be prized: and on condition of inserting a +special petition for pardon in her orisons, to live with a calm +conscience, and to be allowed to have her own way with him during the +rest of her days. + +It was a happy union--a picture that the Countess was lured to admire in +the glass. + +Sad that so small a murmur should destroy it for ever! + +'What?' cried the Countess, bursting from his arm. + +'Go?' she emphasized with the hardness of determined unbelief, as if +plucking the words, one by one, out of her reluctant ears. 'Go to Lady +Jocelyn, and tell her I wrote the letter?' + +'You can do no less, I fear,' said Evan, eyeing the floor and breathing a +deep breath. + +'Then I did hear you correctly? Oh, you must be mad-idiotic! There, +pray go away, Evan. Come in the morning. You are too much for my +nerves.' + +Evan rose, putting out his hand as if to take hers and plead with her. +She rejected the first motion, and repeated her desire for him to leave +her; saying, cheerfully + +'Good night, dear; I dare say we shan't meet till the morning.' + +'You can't let this injustice continue a single night, Louisa?' said he. + +She was deep in the business of arrangeing a portion of her attire. + +'Go-go; please,' she responded. + +Lingering, he said: 'If I go, it will be straight to Lady Jocelyn.' + +She stamped angrily. + +'Only go!' and then she found him gone, and she stooped lower to the +glass, to mark if the recent agitation were observable under her eyes. +There, looking at herself, her heart dropped heavily in her bosom. She +ran to the door and hurried swiftly after Evan, pulling him back +speechlessly. + +'Where are you going, Evan?' + +'To Lady Jocelyn.' + +The unhappy victim of her devotion stood panting. + +'If you go, I--I take poison!' It was for him now to be struck; but he +was suffering too strong an anguish to be susceptible to mock tragedy. +The Countess paused to study him. She began to fear her brother. +'I will!' she reiterated wildly, without moving him at all. And the +quiet inflexibility of his face forbade the ultimate hope which lies in +giving men a dose of hysterics when they are obstinate. She tried by +taunts and angry vituperations to make him look fierce, if but an +instant, to precipitate her into an exhibition she was so well prepared +for. + +'Evan! what! after all my love, my confidence in you--I need not have +told you--to expose us! Brother? would you? Oh!' + +'I will not let this last another hour,' said Evan, firmly, at the same +time seeking to caress her. She spurned his fruitless affection, +feeling, nevertheless, how cruel was her fate; for, with any other save a +brother, she had arts at her disposal to melt the manliest resolutions. +The glass showed her that her face was pathetically pale; the tones of +her voice were rich and harrowing. What did they avail with a brother? +'Promise me,' she cried eagerly, 'promise me to stop here--on this spot- +till I return.' + +The promise was extracted. The Countess went to fetch Caroline. +Evan did not count the minutes. One thought was mounting in his brain- +the scorn of Rose. He felt that he had lost her. Lost her when he had +just won her! He felt it, without realizing it. The first blows of an +immense grief are dull, and strike the heart through wool, as it were. +The belief of the young in their sorrow has to be flogged into them, on +the good old educational principle. Could he do less than this he was +about to do? Rose had wedded her noble nature to him, and it was as much +her spirit as his own that urged him thus to forfeit her, to be worthy of +her by assuming unworthiness. + +There he sat neither conning over his determination nor the cause for it, +revolving Rose's words about Laxley, and nothing else. The words were so +sweet and so bitter; every now and then the heavy smiting on his heart +set it quivering and leaping, as the whip starts a jaded horse. + +Meantime the Countess was participating in a witty conversation in the +drawing-room with Sir John and the Duke, Miss Current, and others; and it +was not till after she had displayed many graces, and, as one or two +ladies presumed to consider, marked effrontery, that she rose and drew +Caroline away with her. Returning to her dressing-room, she found that +Evan had faithfully kept his engagement; he was on the exact spot where +she had left him. + +Caroline came to him swiftly, and put her hand to his forehead that she +might the better peruse his features, saying, in her mellow caressing +voice: 'What is this, dear Van, that you will do? Why do you look so +wretched?' + +'Has not Louisa told you?' + +'She has told me something, dear, but I don't know what it is. That you +are going to expose us? What further exposure do we need? I'm sure, +Van, my pride--what I had--is gone. I have none left!' + +Evan kissed her brows warmly. An explanation, full of the Countess's +passionate outcries of justification, necessity, and innocence in higher +than fleshly eyes, was given, and then the three were silent. + +'But, Van,' Caroline commenced, deprecatingly, 'my darling! of what use +--now! Whether right or wrong, why should you, why should you, when the +thing is done, dear?--think!' + +'And you, too, would let another suffer under an unjust accusation?' said +Evan. + +'But, dearest, it is surely your duty to think of your family first. +Have we not been afflicted enough? Why should you lay us under this +fresh burden?' + +'Because it 's better to bear all now than a life of remorse,' answered +Evan. + +'But this Mr. Laxley--I cannot pity him; he has behaved so insolently to +you throughout! Let him suffer.' + +'Lady Jocelyn,' said Evan, 'has been unintentionally unjust to him, and +after her kindness--apart from the right or wrong--I will not--I can't +allow her to continue so.' + +'After her kindness!' echoed the Countess, who had been fuming at +Caroline's weak expostulations. 'Kindness! Have I not done ten times +for these Jocelyns what they have done for us? 0 mio Deus! why, I have +bestowed on them the membership for Fallow field: I have saved her from +being a convicted liar this very day. Worse! for what would have been +talked of the morals of the house, supposing the scandal. Oh! indeed I +was tempted to bring that horrid mad Captain into the house face to face +with his flighty doll of a wife, as I, perhaps, should have done, acting +by the dictates of my conscience. I lied for Lady Jocelyn, and handed +the man to a lawyer, who withdrew him. And this they owe to me! +Kindness? They have given us bed and board, as the people say. I have +repaid them for that.' + +'Pray be silent, Louisa,' said Evan, getting up hastily, for the sick +sensation Rose had experienced came over him. His sister's plots, her +untruth, her coarseness, clung to him and seemed part of his blood. He +now had a personal desire to cut himself loose from the wretched +entanglement revealed to him, whatever it cost. + +'Are you really, truly going?' Caroline exclaimed, for he was near the +door. + +'At a quarter to twelve at night!' sneered the Countess, still imagining +that he, like herself, must be partly acting. + +'But, Van, is it--dearest, think! is it manly for a brother to go and +tell of his sister? And how would it look?' + +Evan smiled. 'Is it that that makes you unhappy? Louisa's name will not +be mentioned--be sure of that.' + +Caroline was stooping forward to him. Her figure straightened: 'Good +Heaven, Evan! you are not going to take it on yourself? Rose!--she will +hate you.' + +'God help me!' he cried internally. + +'Oh, Evan, darling! consider, reflect!' She fell on her knees, catching +his hand. 'It is worse for us that you should suffer, dearest! Think of +the dreadful meanness and baseness of what you will have to acknowledge.' + +'Yes!' sighed the youth, and his eyes, in his extreme pain, turned to the +Countess reproachfully. + +'Think, dear,' Caroline hurried on, 'he gains nothing for whom you do +this--you lose all. It is not your deed. You will have to speak an +untruth. Your ideas are wrong--wrong, I know they are. You will have to +lie. But if you are silent, the little, little blame that may attach to +us will pass away, and we shall be happy in seeing our brother happy.' + +'You are talking to Evan as if he had religion,' said the Countess, with +steady sedateness. And at that moment, from the sublimity of his pagan +virtue, the young man groaned for some pure certain light to guide him: +the question whether he was about to do right made him weak. He took +Caroline's head between his two hands, and kissed her mouth. The act +brought Rose to his senses insufferably, and she--his Goddess of truth +and his sole guiding light-spurred him afresh. + +'My family's dishonour is mine, Caroline. Say nothing more--don't think +of me. I go to Lady Jocelyn tonight. To-morrow we leave, and there's +the end. Louisa, if you have any new schemes for my welfare, I beg you +to renounce them.' + +'Gratitude I never expected from a Dawley!' the Countess retorted. + +'Oh, Louisa! he is going!' cried Caroline; 'kneel to him with me: stop +him: Rose loves him, and he is going to make her hate him.' + +'You can't talk reason to one who's mad,' said the Countess, more like +the Dawley she sprang from than it would have pleased her to know. + +'My darling! My own Evan! it will kill me,' Caroline exclaimed, and +passionately imploring him, she looked so hopelessly beautiful, that Evan +was agitated, and caressed her, while he said, softly: 'Where our honour +is not involved I would submit to your smallest wish.' + +'It involves my life--my destiny!' murmured Caroline. + +Could he have known the double meaning in her words, and what a saving +this sacrifice of his was to accomplish, he would not have turned to do +it feeling abandoned of heaven and earth. + +The Countess stood rigidly as he went forth. Caroline was on her knees, +sobbing. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +A PAGAN SACRIFICE + +Three steps from the Countess's chamber door, the knot of Evan's +resolution began to slacken. The clear light of his simple duty grew +cloudy and complex. His pride would not let him think that he was +shrinking, but cried out in him, 'Will you be believed?' and whispered +that few would believe him guilty of such an act. Yet, while something +said that full surely Lady Jocelyn would not, a vague dread that Rose +might, threw him back on the luxury of her love and faith in him. He +found himself hoping that his statement would be laughed at. Then why +make it? + +No: that was too blind a hope. Many would take him at his word; all--all +save Lady Jocelyn! Rose the first! Because he stood so high with her +now he feared the fall. Ah, dazzling pinnacle! our darlings shoot us up +on a wondrous juggler's pole, and we talk familiarly to the stars, and +are so much above everybody, and try to walk like creatures with two +legs, forgetting that we have but a pin's point to stand on up there. +Probably the absence of natural motion inspires the prophecy that we must +ultimately come down: our unused legs wax morbidly restless. Evan +thought it good that Rose should lift her head to look at him; +nevertheless, he knew that Rose would turn from him the moment he +descended from his superior station. Nature is wise in her young +children, though they wot not of it, and are always trying to rush away +from her. They escape their wits sooner than their instincts. + +But was not Rose involved in him, and part of him? Had he not sworn +never to renounce her? What was this but a betrayal? + +Go on, young man: fight your fight. The little imps pluck at you: the +big giant assails you: the seductions of the soft-mouthed siren are not +wanting. Slacken the knot an instant, and they will all have play. And +the worst is, that you may be wrong, and they may be right! For is it, +can it be proper for you to stain the silvery whiteness of your skin by +plunging headlong into yonder pitch-bath? Consider the defilement! +Contemplate your hideous aspect on issuing from that black baptism! + +As to the honour of your family, Mr. Evan Harrington, pray, of what sort +of metal consists the honour of a tailor's family? + +One little impertinent imp ventured upon that question on his own +account. The clever beast was torn back and strangled instantaneously by +his experienced elders, but not before Evan's pride had answered him. +Exalted by Love, he could dread to abase himself and strip off his +glittering garments; lowered by the world, he fell back upon his innate +worth. + +Yes, he was called on to prove it; he was on his way to prove it. +Surrendering his dearest and his best, casting aside his dreams, his +desires, his aspirations, for this stern duty, he at least would know +that he made himself doubly worthy of her who abandoned him, and the +world would scorn him by reason of his absolute merit. Coming to this +point, the knot of his resolve tightened again; he hugged it with the +furious zeal of a martyr. + +Religion, the lack of which in him the Countess deplored, would have +guided him and silenced the internal strife. But do not despise a virtue +purely Pagan. The young who can act readily up to the Christian light +are happier, doubtless: but they are led, they are passive: I think they +do not make such capital Christians subsequently. They are never in such +danger, we know; but some in the flock are more than sheep. The heathen +ideal it is not so very easy to attain, and those who mount from it to +the Christian have, in my humble thought, a firmer footing. + +So Evan fought his hard fight from the top of the stairs to the bottom. +A Pagan, which means our poor unsupported flesh, is never certain of his +victory. Now you will see him kneeling to his Gods, and anon drubbing +them; or he makes them fight for him, and is complacent at the issue. +Evan had ceased to pick his knot with one hand and pull it with the +other: but not finding Lady Jocelyn below, and hearing that she had +retired for the night, he mounted the stairs, and the strife recommenced +from the bottom to the top. Strange to say, he was almost unaware of any +struggle going on within him. The suggestion of the foolish little imp +alone was loud in the heart of his consciousness; the rest hung more in +his nerves than in his brain. He thought: 'Well, I will speak it out to +her in the morning'; and thought so sincerely, while an ominous sigh of +relief at the reprieve rose from his over-burdened bosom. + +Hardly had the weary deep breath taken flight, when the figure of Lady +Jocelyn was seen advancing along the corridor, with a lamp in her hand. +She trod heavily, in a kind of march, as her habit was; her large fully- +open grey eyes looking straight ahead. She would have passed him, and he +would have let her pass, but seeing the unusual pallor on her face, his +love for this lady moved him to step forward and express a hope that she +had no present cause for sorrow. + +Hearing her mother's name, Lady Jocelyn was about to return a +conventional answer. Recognizing Evan, she said: + +'Ah! Mr. Harrington! Yes, I fear it's as bad as it can be. She can +scarcely outlive the night.' + +Again he stood alone: his chance was gone. How could he speak to her in +her affliction? Her calm sedate visage had the beauty of its youth, when +lighted by the animation that attends meetings or farewells. In her bow +to Evan, he beheld a lovely kindness more unique, if less precious, than +anything he had ever seen on the face of Rose. Half exultingly, he +reflected that no opportunity would be allowed him now to teach that +noble head and truest of human hearts to turn from him: the clear-eyed +morrow would come: the days of the future would be bright as other days! + +Wrapped in the comfort of his cowardice, he started to see Lady Jocelyn +advancing to him again. + +'Mr. Harrington,' she said, 'Rose tells me you leave us early in the +morning. I may as well shake your hand now. We part very good friends. +I shall always be glad to hear of you.' + +Evan pressed her hand, and bowed. 'I thank you, madam,' was all he could +answer. + +'It will be better if you don't write to Rose.' + +Her tone was rather that of a request than an injunction. + +'I have no right to do so, my lady.' + +'She considers that you have: I wish her to have, a fair trial.' + +His voice quavered. The philosophic lady thought it time to leave him. + +'So good-bye. I can trust you without extracting a promise. If you ever +have need of a friend, you know you are at liberty to write to me.' + +'You are tired, my lady?' He put this question more to dally with what he +ought to be saying. + +'Tolerably. Your sister, the Countess, relieves me in the night. I +fancy my mother finds her the better nurse of the two.' + +Lady Jocelyn's face lighted in its gracious pleasant way, as she just +inclined her head: but the mention of the Countess and her attendance on +Mrs. Bonner had nerved Evan: the contrast of her hypocrisy and vile +scheming with this most open, noble nature, acted like a new force within +him. He begged Lady Jocelyn's permission to speak with her in private. +Marking his fervid appearance, she looked at him seriously. + +'Is it really important?' + +'I cannot rest, madam, till it is spoken.' + +'I mean, it doesn't pertain to the delirium? We may sleep upon that.' + +He divined her sufficiently to answer: 'It concerns a piece of injustice +done by you, madam, and which I can help you to set right.' + +Lady Jocelyn stared somewhat. 'Follow me into my dressing-room,' she +said, and led the way. + +Escape was no longer possible. He was on the march to execution, and +into the darkness of his brain danced John Raikes, with his grotesque +tribulations. It was the harsh savour of reality that conjured up this +flighty being, who probably never felt a sorrow or a duty. The farce +Jack lived was all that Evan's tragic bitterness could revolve, and +seemed to be the only light in his mind. You might have seen a smile on +his mouth when he was ready to ask for a bolt from heaven to crush him. + +'Now,' said her ladyship, and he found that the four walls enclosed them, +'what have I been doing?' + +She did not bid him be seated. Her brevity influenced him to speak to +the point. + +'You have dismissed Mr. Laxley, my lady: he is innocent.' + +'How do you know that?' + +'Because,'--a whirl of sensations beset the wretched youth, 'because I am +guilty.' + +His words had run ahead of his wits; and in answer to Lady Jocelyn's +singular exclamation he could but simply repeat them. + +Her head drew back; her face was slightly raised; she looked, as he had +seen her sometimes look at the Countess, with a sort of speculative +amazement. + +'And why do you come to tell me?' + +'For the reason that I cannot allow you to be unjust, madam.' + +'What on earth was your motive?' + +Evan stood silent, flinching from her frank eyes. + +'Well, well, well!' Her ladyship dropped into a chair, and thumped her +knees. + +There was lawyer's blood in Lady Jocelyn's veins she had the judicial +mind. A confession was to her a confession. She tracked actions up to a +motive; but one who came voluntarily to confess needed no sifting. She +had the habit of treating things spoken as facts. + +'You absolutely wrote that letter to Mrs. Evremonde's husband!' + +Evan bowed, to avoid hearing his own lie. + +'You discovered his address and wrote to him, and imitated Mr. Laxley's +handwriting, to effect the purpose you may have had?' + +Her credulity did require his confirmation of it, and he repeated: ' It +is my deed.' + +'Hum! And you sent that premonitory slip of paper to her?' + +'To Mrs. Evremonde?' + +'Somebody else was the author of that, perhaps?' + +'It is all on me.' + +'In that case, Mr. Harrington, I can only say that it's quite right you +should quit this house to-morrow morning.' + +Her ladyship commenced rocking in her chair, and then added: 'May I ask, +have you madness in your family? No? Because when one can't discern a +motive, it's natural to ascribe certain acts to madness. Had Mrs. +Evremonde offended you? or Ferdinand--but one only hears of such +practices towards fortunate rivals, and now you have come to undo what +you did! I must admit, that taking the monstrousness of the act and the +inconsequence of your proceedings together, the whole affair becomes more +incomprehensible to me than it was before. Would it be unpleasant to you +to favour me with explanations?' + +She saw the pain her question gave him, and, passing it, said: + +'Of course you need not be told that Rose must hear of this?' + +'Yes,' said Evan, 'she must hear it.' + +'You know what that 's equivalent to? But, if you like, I will not speak +to her till you, have left us.' + +'Instantly,' cried Evan. 'Now-to-night! I would not have her live a +minute in a false estimate of me.' + +Had Lady Jocelyn's intellect been as penetrating as it was masculine, she +would have taken him and turned him inside out in a very short time; for +one who would bear to see his love look coldly on him rather than endure +a minute's false estimate of his character, and who could yet stoop to +concoct a vile plot, must either be mad or simulating the baseness for +some reason or other. She perceived no motive for the latter, and she +held him to be sound in the head, and what was spoken from the mouth she +accepted. Perhaps, also, she saw in the complication thus offered an +escape for Rose, and was the less inclined to elucidate it herself. But +if her intellect was baffled, her heart was unerring. A man proved +guilty of writing an anonymous letter would not have been allowed to +stand long in her room. She would have shown him to the door of the +house speedily; and Evan was aware in his soul that he had not fallen +materially in her esteem. He had puzzled and confused her, and partly +because she had the feeling that this young man was entirely trustworthy, +and because she never relied on her feelings, she let his own words +condemn him, and did not personally discard him. In fact, she was a +veritable philosopher. She permitted her fellows to move the world on as +they would, and had no other passions in the contemplation of the show +than a cultured audience will usually exhibit. + +'Strange,--most strange! I thought I was getting old!' she said, and +eyed the culprit as judges generally are not wont to do. 'It will be a +shock to Rose. I must tell you that I can't regret it. I would not have +employed force with her, but I should have given her as strong a taste of +the world as it was in my power to give. Girls get their reason from +society. But, come! if you think you can make your case out better to +her, you shall speak to her first yourself.' + +'No, my lady,' said Evan, softly. + +'You would rather not?' + +'I could not.' + +'But, I suppose, she'll want to speak to you when she knows it.' + +'I can take death from her hands, but I cannot slay myself.' + +The language was natural to his condition, though the note was pitched +high. Lady Jocelyn hummed till the sound of it was over, and an idea +striking her, she said: + +'Ah, by the way, have you any tremendous moral notions?' + +'I don't think I have, madam.' + +'People act on that mania sometimes, I believe. Do you think it an +outrage on decency for a wife to run away from a mad husband whom they +won't shut up, and take shelter with a friend? Is that the cause? Mr. +Forth is an old friend of mine. I would trust my daughter with him in a +desert, and stake my hand on his honour.' + +'Oh, Lady Jocelyn!' cried Evan. 'Would to God you might ever have said +that of me! Madam, I love you. I shall never see you again. I shall +never meet one to treat me so generously. I leave you, blackened in +character--you cannot think of me without contempt. I can never hope +that this will change. But, for your kindness let me thank you.' + +And as speech is poor where emotion is extreme--and he knew his own to be +especially so--he took her hand with petitioning eyes, and dropping on +one knee, reverentially kissed it. + +Lady Jocelyn was human enough to like to be appreciated. She was a +veteran Pagan, and may have had the instinct that a peculiar virtue in +this young one was the spring of his conduct. She stood up and said: +'Don't forget that you have a friend here.' + +The poor youth had to turn his head from her. + +'You wish that I should tell Rose what you have told me at once, Mr. +Harrington?' + +'Yes, my lady; I beg that you will do so.' + +'Well!' + +And the queer look Lady Jocelyn had been wearing dimpled into absolute +wonder. A stranger to Love's cunning, she marvelled why he should desire +to witness the scorn Rose would feel for him. + +'If she's not asleep, then, she shall hear it now,' said her ladyship. +'You understand that it will be mentioned to no other person.' + +'Except to Mr. Laxley, madam, to whom I shall offer the satisfaction he +may require. But I will undertake that.' + +'Just as you think proper on that matter,' remarked her philosophical +ladyship, who held that man was a fighting animal, and must not have his +nature repressed. + +She lighted him part of the way, and then turned off to Rose's chamber. + +Would Rose believe it of him? Love combated his dismal foreboding. +Strangely, too, now that he had plunged into his pitch-bath, the guilt +seemed to cling to him, and instead of hoping serenely, or fearing +steadily, his spirit fell in a kind of abject supplication to Rose, and +blindly trusted that she would still love even if she believed him base. +In his weakness he fell so low as to pray that she might love that +crawling reptile who could creep into a house and shrink from no vileness +to win her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +ROSE WOUNDED + +The light of morning was yet cold along the passages of the house when +Polly Wheedle, hurrying to her young mistress, met her loosely dressed +and with a troubled face. + +'What 's the matter, Polly? I was coming to you.' + +'O, Miss Rose! and I was coming to you. Miss Bonner's gone back to her +convulsions again. She's had them all night. Her hair won't last till +thirty, if she keeps on giving way to temper, as I tell her: and I know +that from a barber.' + +'Tush, you stupid Polly! Does she want to see me?' + +'You needn't suspect that, Miss. But you quiet her best, and I thought +I'd come to you. But, gracious!' + +Rose pushed past her without vouchsafing any answer to the look in her +face, and turned off to Juliana's chamber, where she was neither welcomed +nor repelled. Juliana said she was perfectly well, and that Polly was +foolishly officious: whereupon Rose ordered Polly out of the room, and +said to Juliana, kindly: 'You have not slept, dear, and I have not +either. I am so unhappy.' + +Whether Rose intended by this communication to make Juliana eagerly +attentive, and to distract her from her own affair, cannot be said, but +something of the effect was produced. + +'You care for him, too,' cried Rose, impetuously. 'Tell me, Juley: do +you think him capable of any base action? Do you think he would do what +any gentleman would be ashamed to own? Tell me.' + +Juliana looked at Rose intently, but did not reply. + +Rose jumped up from the bed. 'You hesitate, Juley? What? Could you +think so?' + +Young women after a common game are shrewd. Juliana may have seen that +Rose was not steady on the plank she walked, and required support. + +'I don't know,' she said, turning her cheek to her pillow. + +'What an answer!' Rose exclaimed. 'Have you no opinion? What did you +say yesterday? It's silent as the grave with me: but if you do care for +him, you must think one thing or the other.' + +'I suppose not, then--no,' said Juliana. + +Repeating the languid words bitterly, Rose continued: + +'What is it to love without having faith in him you love? You make my +mind easier.' + +Juliana caught the implied taunt, and said, fretfully: + +'I'm ill. You're so passionate. You don't tell me what it is. How can +I answer you?' + +'Never mind,' said Rose, moving to the door, wondering why she had spoken +at all: but when Juliana sprang forward, and caught her by the dress to +stop her, and with a most unwonted outburst of affection, begged of her +to tell her all, the wound in Rose's breast began to bleed, and she was +glad to speak. + +'Juley, do you-can you believe that he wrote that letter which poor +Ferdinand was--accused of writing?' + +Juliana appeared to muse, and then responded: 'Why should he do such a +thing?' + +'O my goodness, what a girl!' Rose interjected. + +'Well, then, to please you, Rose, of course I think he is too +honourable.' + +'You do think so, Juley? But if he himself confessed it--what then? +You would not believe him, would you?' + +'Oh, then I can't say. Why should he condemn himself?' + +'But you would know--you would know that he was a man to suffer death +rather than be guilty of the smallest baseness. His birth--what is +that!' Rose filliped her fingers: 'But his acts--what he is himself you +would be sure of, would you not? Dear Juley! Oh, for heaven's sake, +speak out plainly to me.' + +A wily look had crept over Juliana's features. + +'Certainly,' she said, in a tone that belied it, and drawing Rose to her +bosom, the groan she heard there was passing sweet to her. + +'He has confessed it to Mama,' sobbed Rose. 'Why did he not come to me +first? He has confessed it--the abominable thing has come out of his own +mouth. He went to her last night . . .' + +Juliana patted her shoulders regularly as they heaved. When words were +intelligible between them, Juliana said: + +'At least, dear, you must admit that he has redeemed it.' + +'Redeemed it? Could he do less?' Rose dried her eyes vehemently, as if +the tears shamed her. 'A man who could have let another suffer for his +crime--I could never have lifted my head again. I think I would have cut +off this hand that plighted itself to him! As it is, I hardly dare look +at myself. But you don't think it, dear? You know it to be false! +false! false!' + +'Why should Mr. Harrington confess it?' said Juliana. + +'Oh, don't speak his name!' cried Rose. + +Her cousin smiled. 'So many strange things happen,' she said, and +sighed. + +'Don't sigh: I shall think you believe it!' cried Rose. An appearance of +constrained repose was assumed. Rose glanced up, studied for an instant, +and breathlessly uttered: 'You do, you do believe it, Juley?' + +For answer, Juliana hugged her with much warmth, and recommenced the +patting. + +'I dare say it's a mistake,' she remarked. ' He may have been jealous of +Ferdinand. You know I have not seen the letter. I have only heard of +it. In love, they say, you ought to excuse . . . And the want of +religious education! His sister . . .' + +Rose interrupted her with a sharp shudder. Might it not be possible that +one who had the same blood as the Countess would stoop to a momentary +vileness. + +How changed was Rose from the haughty damsel of yesterday! + +'Do you think my lover could tell a lie?' 'He--would not love me long if +I did!' + +These phrases arose and rang in Juliana's ears while she pursued the task +of comforting the broken spirit that now lay prone on the bed, and now +impetuously paced the room. Rose had come thinking the moment Juliana's +name was mentioned, that here was the one to fortify her faith in Evan: +one who, because she loved, could not doubt him. She moaned in a terror +of distrust, loathing her cousin: not asking herself why she needed +support. And indeed she was too young for much clear self-questioning, +and her blood was flowing too quickly for her brain to perceive more than +one thing at a time. + +'Does your mother believe it?' said Juliana, evading a direct assault. + +'Mama? She never doubts what you speak,' answered Rose, disconsolately. + +'She does?' + +'Yes.' + +Whereat Juliana looked most grave, and Rose felt that it was hard to +breathe. + +She had grown very cold and calm, and Juliana had to be expansive +unprovoked. + +'Believe nothing, dear, till you hear it from his own lips. If he can +look in your face and say that he did it . . . well, then! But of +course he cannot. It must be some wonderful piece of generosity to his +rival.' + +'So I thought, Juley! so I thought,' cried Rose, at the new light, and +Juliana smiled contemptuously, and the light flickered and died, and all +was darker than before in the bosom of Rose. She had borne so much that +this new drop was poison. + +'Of course it must be that, if it is anything,' Juliana pursued. 'You +were made to be happy, Rose. And consider, if it is true, people of very +low birth, till they have lived long with other people, and if they have +no religion, are so very likely to do things. You do not judge them as +you do real gentlemen, and one must not be too harsh--I only wish to +prepare you for the worst.' + +A dim form of that very idea had passed through Rose, giving her small +comfort. + +'Let him tell you with his own lips that what he has told your mother is +true, and then, and not till then, believe him,' Juliana concluded, and +they kissed kindly, and separated. Rose had suddenly lost her firm step, +but no sooner was Juliana alone than she left the bed, and addressed her +visage to the glass with brightening eyes, as one who saw the glimmer of +young hope therein. + +'She love him! Not if he told me so ten thousand times would I believe +it! and before he has said a syllable she doubts him. Asking me in that +frantic way! as if I couldn't see that she wanted me to help her to her +faith in him, as she calls it. Not name his name? Mr. Harrington! I +may call him Evan: some day!' + +Half-uttered, half-mused, the unconscious exclamations issued from her, +and for many a weary day since she had dreamed of love, and studied that +which is said to attract the creature, she had not been so glowingly +elated or looked so much farther in the glass than its pale reflection. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +BEFORE BREAKFAST + +Cold through the night the dark-fringed stream had whispered under Evan's +eyes, and the night breeze voiced 'Fool, fool!' to him, not without a +distant echo in his heart. By symbols and sensations he knew that Rose +was lost to him. There was no moon: the water seemed aimless, passing on +carelessly to oblivion. Now and then, the trees stirred and talked, or a +noise was heard from the pastures. He had slain the life that lived in +them, and the great glory they were to bring forth, and the end to which +all things moved. Had less than the loss of Rose been involved, the +young man might have found himself looking out on a world beneath notice, +and have been sighing for one more worthy of his clouded excellence but +the immense misery present to him in the contemplation of Rose's sad +restrained contempt, saved him from the silly elation which is the last, +and generally successful, struggle of human nature in those who can so +far master it to commit a sacrifice. The loss of that brave high young +soul-Rose, who had lifted him out of the mire with her own white hands: +Rose, the image of all that he worshipped: Rose, so closely wedded to him +that to be cut away from her was to fall like pallid clay from the +soaring spirit: surely he was stunned and senseless when he went to utter +the words to her mother! Now that he was awake, and could feel his self- +inflicted pain, he marvelled at his rashness and foolishness, as perhaps +numerous mangled warriors have done for a time, when the battle-field was +cool, and they were weak, and the uproar of their jarred nerves has beset +them, lying uncherished. + +By degrees he grew aware of a little consolatory touch, like the point of +a needle, in his consciousness. Laxley would certainly insult him! In +that case he would not refuse to fight him. The darkness broke and +revealed this happy prospect, and Evan held to it an hour, and could +hardly reject it when better thoughts conquered. For would it not be +sweet to make the strength of his arm respected? He took a stick, and +ran his eye musingly along the length, trifling with it grimly. The +great Mel had been his son's instructor in the chivalrous science of +fence, and a maitre d'armes in Portugal had given him polish. In Mel's +time duels with swords had been occasionally fought, and Evan looked on +the sword as the weapon of combat. Face to face with his adversary--what +then were birth or position? Action!--action! he sighed for it, as I +have done since I came to know that his history must be morally +developed. A glow of bitter pleasure exalted him when, after hot +passages, and parryings and thrusts, he had disarmed Ferdinand Laxley, +and bestowing on him his life, said: 'Accept this worthy gift of the son +of a tailor!' and he wiped his sword, haply bound up his wrist, and +stalked off the ground, the vindicator of man's natural dignity. And +then he turned upon himself with laughter, discovering a most wholesome +power, barely to be suspected in him yet; but of all the children of +glittering Mel and his solid mate, Evan was the best mixed compound of +his parents. + +He put the stick back in its corner and eyed his wrist, as if he had +really just gone through the pretty scene he had just laughed at. It was +nigh upon reality, for it suggested the employment of a handkerchief, and +he went to a place and drew forth one that had the stain of his blood on +it, and the name of Rose at one end. The beloved name was half-blotted +by the dull-red mark, and at that sight a strange tenderness took hold of +Evan. His passions became dead and of old date. This, then, would be +his for ever! Love, for whom earth had been too small, crept exultingly +into a nut-shell. He clasped the treasure on his breast, and saw a life +beyond his parting with her. + +Strengthened thus, he wrote by the morning light to Laxley. The letter +was brief, and said simply that the act of which Laxley had been accused, +Evan Harrington was responsible for. The latter expressed regret that +Laxley should have fallen under a false charge, and, at the same time, +indicated that if Laxley considered himself personally aggrieved, the +writer was at his disposal. + +A messenger had now to be found to convey it to the village-inn. Footmen +were stirring about the house, and one meeting Evan close by his door, +observed with demure grin, that he could not find the gentleman's nether- +garments. The gentleman, it appeared, was Mr. John Raikes, who according +to report, had been furnished with a bed at the house, because of a +discovery, made at a late period over-night, that farther the gentleman +could not go. Evan found him sleeping soundly. How much the poor youth +wanted a friend! Fortune had given him instead a born buffoon; and it is +perhaps the greatest evil of a position like Evan's, that, with cultured +feelings, you are likely to meet with none to know you. Society does not +mix well in money-pecking spheres. Here, however, was John Raikes, and +Evan had to make the best of him. + +'Eh?' yawned Jack, awakened; 'I was dreaming I was Napoleon Bonaparte's +right-hand man.' + +'I want you to be mine for half-an-hour,' said Evan. + +Without replying, the distinguished officer jumped out of bed at a bound, +mounted a chair, and peered on tip-toe over the top, from which, with a +glance of self-congratulation, he pulled the missing piece of apparel, +sighed dejectedly as he descended, while he exclaimed: + +'Safe! but no distinction can compensate a man for this state of +intolerable suspicion of everybody. I assure you, Harrington, I wouldn't +be Napoleon himself--and I have always been his peculiar admirer--to live +and be afraid of my valet! I believe it will develop cancer sooner or +later in me. I feel singular pains already. Last night, after crowning +champagne with ale, which produced a sort of French Revolution in my +interior--by the way, that must have made me dream of Napoleon last +night, with my lower members in revolt against my head, I had to sit and +cogitate for hours on a hiding-place for these-call them what you will. +Depend upon it, Harrington, this world is no such funny affair as we +fancy.' + +'Then it is true, that you could let a man play pranks on you,' said +Evan. 'I took it for one of your jokes.' + +'Just as I can't believe that you're a tailor,' returned Jack. 'It 's +not a bit more extraordinary.' + +'But, Jack, if you cause yourself to be contemptible----' + +'Contemptible!' cried Jack. 'This is not the tone I like. Contemptible! +why it's my eccentricity among my equals. If I dread the profane vulgar, +that only proves that I'm above them. Odi, etc. Besides, Achilles had +his weak point, and egad, it was when he faced about! By Jingo! I wish +I'd had that idea yesterday. I should have behaved better.' + +Evan could see that the creature was beginning to rely desperately on his +humour. + +'Come,' he said, 'be a man to-day. Throw off your motley. When I met +you that night so oddly, you had been acting like a worthy fellow, trying +to earn your bread in the best way you could--' + +'And precisely because I met you, of all men, I've been going round and +round ever since,' said Jack. 'A clown or pantaloon would have given me +balance. Say no more. You couldn't help it. We met because we were the +two extremes.' + +Sighing, 'What a jolly old inn!' Raikes rolled himself over in the +sheets, and gave two or three snug jolts indicative of his determination +to be comfortable while he could. + +'Do you intend to carry on this folly, Jack?' + +'Say, sacrifice,' was the answer. 'I feel it as much as you possibly +could, Mr. Harrington. Hear the facts,' Jack turned round again. 'Why +did I consent to this absurdity? Because of my ambition. That old +fellow, whom I took to be a clerk of Messrs. Grist, said: "You want to +cut a figure in the world--you're armed now." A sort of Fortunatus's +joke. It was his way of launching me. But did he think I intended this +for more than a lift? I his puppet? He, sir, was my tool! Well, I +came. All my efforts were strained to shorten the period of penance. I +had the best linen, and put on captivating manners. I should undoubtedly +have won some girl of station, and cast off my engagement like an old +suit, but just mark!--now mark how Fortune tricks us! After the pic-nic +yesterday, the domestics of the house came to clear away, and the band +being there, I stopped them and bade them tune up, and at the same time +seizing the maid Wheedle, away we flew. We danced, we whirled, we +twirled. Ale upon this! My head was lost. "Why don't it last for +ever?" says I. "I wish it did," says she. The naivete enraptured me. +"Oooo!" I cried, hugging her, and then, you know, there was no course +open to a man of honour but to offer marriage and make a lady of her. +I proposed: she accepted me, and here I am, eternally tied to this +accurst insignia, if I'm to keep my promise! Isn't that a sacrifice, +friend H.? There's no course open to me. The poor girl is madly in +love. She called me a "rattle!" As a gentleman, I cannot recede.' + +Evan got up and burst into damnable laughter at this burlesque of +himself. Telling the fellow the service he required, and receiving a +groaning assurance that the letter should, without loss of time, be +delivered in proper style, the egoist, as Jack heartily thought him, fell +behind his; knitted brows, and, after musing abstractedly, went forth to +light upon his fate. + +But a dread of meeting had seized both Rose and Evan. She had exhausted +her first sincerity of unbelief in her interview with Juliana: and he had +begun to consider what he could say to her. More than the three words 'I +did it,' would not be possible; and if she made him repeat them, facing +her truthful eyes, would he be man enough to strike her bared heart +twice? And, ah! the sullen brute he must seem, standing before her +dumb, hearing her sigh, seeing her wretched effort not to show how +unwillingly her kind spirit despised him. The reason for the act--she +would ask for that! Rose would not be so philosophic as her mother. She +would grasp at every chance to excuse the deed. He cried out against his +scheming sister in an agony, and while he did so, encountered Miss +Carrington and Miss. Bonner in deep converse. Juliana pinched her arm,, +whereupon Miss Carrington said: 'You look merry this morning, Mr. +Harrington': for he was unawares smiling at the image of himself in the +mirror of John Raikes. That smile, transformed to a chuckling grimace, +travelled to Rose before they met. + +Why did she not come to him? + +A soft voice at his elbow made his blood stop. It was Caroline. She +kissed him, answering his greeting: ' Is it good morning?' + +'Certainly,' said he. 'By the way, don't forget that the coach leaves +early.' + +'My darling Evan! you make me so happy. For it was really a mistaken +sense of honour. For what can at all excuse a falsehood, you know, +Evan!' + +Caroline took his arm, and led him into the sun, watching his face at +times. Presently she said: 'I want just to be assured that you thought +more wisely than when you left us last night.' + +'More wisely?' Evan turned to her with a playful smile. + +'My dear brother! you did not do what you said you would do?' + +'Have you ever known me not to do what I said I would do?' + +'Evan! Good heaven! you did it? Then how can you remain here an +instant? Oh, no, no!--say no, darling!' + +'Where is Louisa?' he inquired. + +'She is in her room. She will never appear at breakfast, if she knows +this.' + +'Perhaps more solitude would do her good,' said Evan. + +'Remember, if this should prove true, think how you punish her!' + +On that point Evan had his own opinion. + +'Well, I shall never have to punish you in this way, my love, he said +fondly, and Caroline dropped her eyelids. + +'Don't think that I am blaming her,' he added, trying to feel as honestly +as he spoke. 'I was mad to come here. I see it all now. Let us keep to +our place. We are all the same before God till we disgrace ourselves.' +Possibly with that sense of shame which some young people have who are +not professors of sounding sentences, or affected by missionary zeal, +when they venture to breathe the holy name, Evan blushed, and walked on +humbly silent. Caroline murmured: 'Yes, yes! oh, brother!' and her +figure drew to him as if for protection. Pale, she looked up. + +'Shall you always love me, Evan?' + +'Whom else have I to love?' + +'But always--always? Under any circumstances?' + +'More and more, dear. I always have, and shall. I look to you now. I +have no home but in your heart now.' + +She was agitated, and he spoke warmly to calm her. + +The throb of deep emotion rang in her rich voice. 'I will live any life +to be worthy of your love, Evan,' and she wept. + +To him they were words and tears without a history. + +Nothing further passed between them. Caroline went to the Countess: Evan +waited for Rose. The sun was getting high. The face of the stream +glowed like metal. Why did she not come? She believed him guilty from +the mouth of another? If so, there was something less for him to lose. +And now the sacrifice he had made did whisper a tale of mortal +magnificence in his ears: feelings that were not his noblest stood up +exalted. He waited till the warm meadow-breath floating past told that +the day had settled into heat, and then he waited no more, but quietly +walked into the house with the strength of one who has conquered more +than human scorn. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +THE RETREAT FROM BECKLEY + +Never would the Countess believe that brother of hers, idiot as by nature +he might be, and heir to unnumbered epithets, would so far forget what +she had done for him, as to drag her through the mud for nothing: and so +she told Caroline again and again, vehemently. + +It was about ten minutes before the time for descending to the breakfast- +table. She was dressed, and sat before the glass, smoothing her hair, +and applying the contents of a pot of cold cream to her forehead between- +whiles. With perfect sincerity she repeated that she could not believe +it. She had only trusted Evan once since their visit to Beckley; and +that this once he should, when treated as a man, turn traitor to +their common interests, and prove himself an utter baby, was a piece of +nonsense her great intelligence indignantly rejected. + +'Then, if true,' she answered Caroline's assurances finally, 'if true, he +is not his father's son!' + +By which it may be seen that she had indeed taken refuge in the Castle of +Negation against the whole army of facts. + +'He is acting, Carry. He is acting the ideas of his ridiculous empty +noddle!' + +'No,' said Caroline, mournfully, 'he is not. I have never known Evan to +lie.' + +'Then you must forget the whipping he once had from his mother--little +dolt! little selfish pig! He obtains his reputation entirely from his +abominable selfishness, and then stands tall, and asks us to admire him. +He bursts with vanity. But if you lend your credence to it, Carry, how, +in the name of goodness, are you to appear at the breakfast? + +'I was going to ask you whether you would come,' said Caroline, coldly. + +'If I can get my hair to lie flat by any means at all, of course!' +returned the Countess. 'This dreadful horrid country pomade! Why did we +not bring a larger stock of the Andalugian Regenerator? Upon my honour, +my dear, you use a most enormous quantity; I must really tell you that.' + +Conning here entered to say that Mr. Evan had given orders for the boxes +to be packed and everything got ready to depart by half-past eleven +o'clock, when the fly would call for them and convey them to Fallow field +in time to meet the coach for London. + +The Countess turned her head round to Caroline like an astonished +automaton. + +'Given orders!' she interjected. + +'I have very little to get ready,' remarked Caroline. + +'Be so good as to wait outside the door one instant,' said the Countess +to Conning, with particular urbanity. + +Conning heard a great deal of vigorous whispering within, and when +summoned to re-appear, a note was handed to her to convey to Mr. +Harrington immediately. He was on the lawn; read it, and wrote back +three hasty lines in pencil. + +'Louisa. You have my commands to quit this house, at the hour named, +this day. You will go with me. E. H.' + +Conning was again requested to wait outside the Countess's door. She was +the bearer of another note. Evan read it likewise; tore it up, and said +that there was no answer. + +The Castle of Negation held out no longer. Ruthless battalions poured +over the walls, blew up the Countess's propriety, made frightful ravages +in her complexion. Down fell her hair. + +'You cannot possibly go to breakfast,' said Caroline. + +'I must! I must!' cried the Countess. 'Why, my dear, if he has done it- +wretched creature! don't you perceive that, by withholding our +presences, we become implicated with him?' And the Countess, from a +burst of frenzy, put this practical question so shrewdly, that Caroline's +wits succumbed to her. + +'But he has not done it; he is acting!' she pursued, restraining her +precious tears for higher purposes, as only true heroines can. 'Thinks +to frighten me into submission!' + +'Do you not think Evan is right in wishing us to leave, after--after--' +Caroline humbly suggested. + +'Say, before my venerable friend has departed this life,' the Countess +took her up. 'No, I do not. If he is a fool, I am not. No, Carry: I do +not jump into ditches for nothing. I will have something tangible for +all that I have endured. We are now tailors in this place, remember. +If that stigma is affixed to us, let us at least be remunerated for it. +Come.' + +Caroline's own hard struggle demanded all her strength yet she appeared +to hesitate. 'You will surely not disobey Evan, Louisa?' + +'Disobey?' The Countess amazedly dislocated the syllables. 'Why, the boy +will be telling you next that he will not permit the Duke to visit you! +Just your English order of mind, that cannot--brutes!--conceive of +friendship between high-born men and beautiful women. Beautiful as you +truly are, Carry, five years more will tell on you. But perhaps my +dearest is in a hurry to return to her Maxwell? At least he thwacks +well!' + +Caroline's arm was taken. The Countess loved an occasional rhyme when a +point was to be made, and went off nodding and tripping till the time for +stateliness arrived, near the breakfast-room door. She indeed was +acting. At the bottom of her heart there was a dismal rage of passions: +hatred of those who would or might look tailor in her face: terrors +concerning the possible re-visitation of the vengeful Sir Abraham: dread +of Evan and the efforts to despise him: the shocks of many conflicting +elements. Above it all her countenance was calmly, sadly sweet: even as +you may behold some majestic lighthouse glimmering over the tumult of a +midnight sea. + +An unusual assemblage honoured the breakfast that morning. The news of +Mrs. Bonner's health was more favourable. How delighted was the Countess +to hear that! Mrs. Bonner was the only firm ground she stood on there, +and after receiving and giving gentle salutes, she talked of Mrs. Bonner, +and her night-watch by the sick bed, in a spirit of doleful hope. This +passed off the moments till she could settle herself to study faces. +Decidedly, every lady present looked glum, with the single exception of +Miss Current. Evan was by Lady Jocelyn's side. Her ladyship spoke to +him; but the Countess observed that no one else did. To herself, +however, the gentlemen were as attentive as ever. Evan sat three chairs +distant from her. + +If the traitor expected his sister to share in his disgrace, by noticing +him, he was in error. On the contrary, the Countess joined the +conspiracy to exclude him, and would stop a mild laugh if perchance he +looked up. Presently Rose entered. She said 'Good morning' to one or +two, and glided into a seat. + +That Evan was under Lady Jocelyn's protection soon became generally +apparent, and also that her ladyship was angry: an exhibition so rare +with her that it was the more remarked. Rose could see that she was a +culprit in her mother's eyes. She glanced from Evan to her. Lady +Jocelyn's mouth shut hard. The girl's senses then perceived the +something that was afloat at the table; she thought with a pang of +horror: 'Has Juliana told?' Juliana smiled on her; but the aspect of Mrs. +Shorne, and of Miss Carrington, spoke for their knowledge of that which +must henceforth be the perpetual reproof to her headstrong youth. + +'At what hour do you leave us?' said Lady Jocelyn to Evan. + +'When I leave the table, my lady. The fly will call for my sisters at +half-past eleven.' + +'There is no necessity for you to start in advance?' + +'I am going over to see my mother.' + +Rose burned to speak to him now. Oh! why had she delayed! Why had she +swerved from her good rule of open, instant explanations? But Evan's +heart was stern to his love. Not only had she, by not coming, shown her +doubt of him,--she had betrayed him! + +Between the Countess, Melville, Sir John, and the Duke, an animated +dialogue was going on, over which Miss Current played like a lively iris. +They could not part with the Countess. Melville said he should be left +stranded, and numerous pretty things were uttered by other gentlemen: by +the women not a word. Glancing from certain of them lingeringly to her +admirers, the Countess smiled her thanks, and then Andrew, pressed to +remain, said he was willing and happy, and so forth; and it seemed that +her admirers had prevailed over her reluctance, for the Countess ended +her little protests with a vanquished bow. Then there was a gradual +rising from table. Evan pressed Lady Jocelyn's hand, and turning from +her bent his head to Sir Franks, who, without offering an exchange of +cordialities, said, at arm's length: 'Good-bye, sir.' Melville also gave +him that greeting stiffly. Harry was perceived to rush to the other end +of the room, in quest of a fly apparently. Poor Caroline's heart ached +for her brother, to see him standing there in the shadow of many faces. +But he was not left to stand alone. Andrew quitted the circle of Sir +John, Seymour Jocelyn, Mr. George Uplift, and others, and linked his arm +to Evan's. Rose had gone. While Evan looked for her despairingly to say +his last word and hear her voice once more, Sir Franks said to his wife: + +'See that Rose keeps up-stairs.' + +'I want to speak to her,' was her ladyship's answer, and she moved to the +door. + +Evan made way for her, bowing. + +'You will be ready at half-past eleven, Louisa,' he said, with calm +distinctness, and passed from that purgatory. + +Now honest Andrew attributed the treatment Evan met with to the exposure +of yesterday. He was frantic with democratic disgust. + +'Why the devil don't they serve me like that; eh? 'Cause I got a few +coppers! There, Van! I'm a man of peace; but if you'll call any man of +'em out I'll stand your second--'pon my soul, I will. They must be +cowards, so there isn't much to fear. Confound the fellows, I tell 'em +every day I'm the son of a cobbler, and egad, they grow civiller. What +do they mean? Are cobblers ranked over tailors?' + +'Perhaps that's it,' said Evan. + +'Hang your gentlemen!' Andrew cried. + +'Let us have breakfast first,' uttered a melancholy voice near them in +the passage. + +'Jack!' said Evan. 'Where have you been?' + +'I didn't know the breakfast-room,' Jack returned, 'and the fact is, my +spirits are so down, I couldn't muster up courage to ask one of the +footmen. I delivered your letter. Nothing hostile took place. I bowed +fiercely to let him know what he might expect. That generally stops it. +You see, I talk prose. I shall never talk anything else!' + +Andrew recommenced his jests of yesterday with Jack. The latter bore +them patiently, as one who had endured worse. + +'She has rejected me!' he whispered to Evan. 'Talk of the ingratitude of +women! Ten minutes ago I met her. She perked her eyebrows at me!--tried +to run away. "Miss Wheedle": I said. "If you please, I 'd rather not," +says she. To cut it short, the sacrifice I made to her was the cause. +It's all over the house. She gave the most excruciating hint. Those +low-born females are so horribly indelicate. I stood confounded. +Commending his new humour, Evan persuaded him to breakfast immediately, +and hunger being one of Jack's solitary incitements to a sensible course +of conduct, the disconsolate gentleman followed its dictates. 'Go with +him, Andrew,' said Evan. 'He is here as my friend, and may be made +uncomfortable.' + +'Yes, yes,--ha! ha! I'll follow the poor chap,' said Andrew. 'But what +is it all about? Louisa won't go, you know. Has the girl given you up +because she saw your mother, Van? I thought it was all right. Why the +deuce are you running away?' + +'Because I've just seen that I ought never to have come, I suppose,' Evan +replied, controlling the wretched heaving of his chest. + +'But Louisa won't go, Van.' + +'Understand, my dear Andrew, that I know it to be quite imperative. Be +ready yourself with Caroline. Louisa will then make her choice. Pray +help me in this. We must not stay a minute more than is necessary in +this house.' + +'It's an awful duty,' breathed Andrew, after a pause. 'I see nothing but +hot water at home. Why--but it's no use asking questions. My love to +your mother. I say, Van,--now isn't Lady Jocelyn a trump?' + +'God bless her!' said Evan. And the moisture in Andrew's eyes affected +his own. + +'She's the staunchest piece of woman-goods I ever--I know a hundred cases +of her!' + +'I know one, and that 's enough,' said Evan. + +Not a sign of Rose! Can Love die without its dear farewell on which it +feeds, away from the light, dying by bits? In Evan's heart Love seemed +to die, and all the pangs of a death were there as he trod along the +gravel and stepped beneath the gates of Beckley Court. + +Meantime the gallant Countess was not in any way disposed to retreat on +account of Evan's defection. The behaviour toward him at the breakfast- +table proved to her that he had absolutely committed his egregious folly, +and as no General can have concert with a fool, she cut him off from her +affections resolutely. Her manifest disdain at his last speech, said as +much to everybody present. Besides, the lady was in her element here, +and compulsion is required to make us relinquish our element. Lady +Jocelyn certainly had not expressly begged of her to remain: the Countess +told Melville so, who said that if she required such an invitation she +should have it, but that a guest to whom they were so much indebted, was +bound to spare them these formalities. + +'What am I to do?' + +The Countess turned piteously to the diplomatist's wife. + +She answered, retiringly: 'Indeed I cannot say.' + +Upon this, the Countess accepted Melville's arm, and had some thoughts of +punishing the woman. + +They were seen parading the lawn. Mr. George Uplift chuckled singularly. + +'Just the old style,' he remarked, but corrected the inadvertence with a +'hem!' committing himself more shamefully the instant after. 'I'll wager +she has the old Dip. down on his knee before she cuts.' + +'Bet can't be taken,' observed Sir John Loring. 'It requires a spy.' + +Harry, however, had heard the remark, and because he wished to speak to +her, let us hope, and reproach her for certain things when she chose to +be disengaged, he likewise sallied out, being forlorn as a youth whose +sweet vanity is much hurt. + +The Duke had paired off with Mrs. Strike. The lawn was fair in sunlight +where they walked. The air was rich with harvest smells, and the scent +of autumnal roses. Caroline was by nature luxurious and soft. The +thought of that drilled figure to which she was returning in bondage, may +have thrown into bright relief the polished and gracious nobleman who +walked by her side, shadowing forth the chances of a splendid freedom. +Two lovely tears fell from her eyes. The Duke watched them quietly. + +'Do you know, they make me jealous?' he said. + +Caroline answered him with a faint smile. + +'Reassure me, my dear lady; you are not going with your brother this +morning?' + +'Your Grace, I have no choice!' + +'May I speak to you as your warmest friend? From what I hear, it +appears to be right that your brother should not stay. To the best of my +ability I will provide for him: but I sincerely desire to disconnect you +from those who are unworthy of you. Have you not promised to trust in +me? Pray, let me be your guide.' + +Caroline replied to the heart of his words: 'I dare not.' + +'What has changed you?' + +'I am not changed, but awakened,' said Caroline. + +The Duke paced on in silence. + +'Pardon me if I comprehend nothing of such a change,' he resumed. +'I asked you to sacrifice much; all that I could give in return I +offered. Is it the world you fear?' + +'What is the world to such as I am?' + +'Can you consider it a duty to deliver yourself bound to that man again?' + +'Heaven pardon me, my lord, I think of that too little!' + +The Duke's next question: 'Then what can it be?' stood in his eyes. + +'Oh!' Caroline's touch quivered on his arm, 'Do not suppose me frivolous, +ungrateful, or--or cowardly. For myself you have offered more happiness +than I could have hoped for. To be allied to one so generous, I could +bear anything. Yesterday you had my word: give it me back to-day!' + +Very curiously the Duke gazed on her, for there was evidence of internal +torture across her forehead. + +'I may at least beg to know the cause for this request?' + +She quelled some throbbing in her bosom. 'Yes.' + +He waited, and she said: 'There is one--if I offended him, I could not +live. If now I followed my wishes, he would lose his faith in the last +creature that loves him. He is unhappy. I could bear what is called +disgrace, my lord--I shudder to say it--I could sin against heaven; but I +dare not do what would make him despise me.' + +She was trembling violently; yet the nobleman, in his surprise, could not +forbear from asking who this person might be, whose influence on her +righteous actions was so strong. + +'It is my brother, my lord,' she said. + +Still more astonished, 'Your brother!' the Duke exclaimed. 'My dearest +lady, I would not wound you; but is not this a delusion? We are so +placed that we must speak plainly. Your brother I have reason to feel +sure is quite unworthy of you.' + +'Unworthy? My brother Evan? Oh! he is noble, he is the best of men!' + +'And how, between yesterday and to-day, has he changed you?' + +'It is that yesterday I did not know him, and to-day I do.' + +Her brother, a common tradesman, a man guilty of forgery and the utmost +baseness--all but kicked out of the house! The Duke was too delicate to +press her further. Moreover, Caroline had emphasized the 'yesterday' and +'to-day,' showing that the interval which had darkened Evan to everybody +else, had illumined him to her. He employed some courtly eloquence, +better unrecorded; but if her firm resolution perplexed him, it threw a +strange halo round the youth from whom it sprang. + +The hour was now eleven, and the Countess thought it full time to retire +to her entrenchment in Mrs. Bonner's chamber. She had great things still +to do: vast designs were in her hand awaiting the sanction of Providence. +Alas! that little idle promenade was soon to be repented. She had joined +her sister, thinking it safer to have her upstairs till they were quit of +Evan. The Duke and the diplomatist loitering in the rear, these two fair +women sailed across the lawn, conscious, doubtless, over all their +sorrows and schemes, of the freight of beauty they carried. + +What meant that gathering on the steps? It was fortuitous, like +everything destined to confound us. There stood Lady Jocelyn with Andrew, +fretting his pate. Harry leant against a pillar, Miss Carrington, Mrs. +Shorne, and Mrs. Melville, supported by Mr. George Uplift, held +watchfully by. Juliana, with Master Alec and Miss Dorothy, were in the +background. + +Why did our General see herself cut off from her stronghold, as by a +hostile band? She saw it by that sombre light in Juliana's eyes, which +had shown its ominous gleam whenever disasters were on the point of +unfolding. + +Turning to Caroline, she said: 'Is there a back way?' + +Too late! Andrew called. + +'Come along, Louisa, Just time, and no more. Carry, are you packed?' + +This in reality was the first note of the retreat from Beckley; and +having blown it, the hideous little trumpeter burst into scarlet +perspirations, mumbling to Lady Jocelyn: 'Now, my lady, mind you stand by +me.' + +The Countess walked straight up to him. + +'Dear Andrew! this sun is too powerful for you. I beg you, withdraw +into the shade of the house.' + +She was about to help him with all her gentleness. + +'Yes, yes. All right, Louisa rejoined Andrew. 'Come, go and pack. The +fly 'll be here, you know--too late for the coach, if you don't mind, my +lass. Ain't you packed yet?' + +The horrible fascination of vulgarity impelled the wretched lady to +answer: 'Are we herrings?' And then she laughed, but without any +accompaniment. + +'I am now going to dear Mrs. Bonner,' she said, with a tender glance at +Lady Jocelyn. + +'My mother is sleeping,' her ladyship remarked. + +'Come, Carry, my darling!' cried Andrew. + +Caroline looked at her sister. The Countess divined Andrew's shameful +trap. + +'I was under an engagement to go and canvass this afternoon,' she said. + +'Why, my dear Louisa, we've settled that in here this morning,' said +Andrew. 'Old Tom only stuck up a puppet to play with. We've knocked him +over, and march in victorious--eh, my lady?' + +'Oh!' exclaimed the Countess, 'if Mr. Raikes shall indeed have listened +to my inducements!' + +'Deuce a bit of inducements!' returned Andrew. 'The fellow's ashamed of +himself-ha! ha! Now then, Louisa.' + +While they talked, Juliana had loosed Dorothy and Alec, and these imps +were seen rehearsing a remarkable play, in which the damsel held forth a +hand and the cavalier advanced and kissed it with a loud smack, being at +the same time reproached for his lack of grace. + +'You are so English!' cried Dorothy, with perfect languor, and a +malicious twitter passed between two or three. Mr. George spluttered +indiscreetly. + +The Countess observed the performance. Not to convert the retreat into a +total rout, she, with that dark flush which was her manner of blushing, +took formal leave of Lady Jocelyn, who, in return, simply said: 'Good- +bye, Countess.' Mrs. Strike's hand she kindly shook. + +The few digs and slaps and thrusts at gloomy Harry and prim Miss +Carrington and boorish Mr. George, wherewith the Countess, torn with +wrath, thought it necessary to cover her retreat, need not be told. She +struck the weak alone: Juliana she respected. Masterly tactics, for they +showed her power, gratified her vengeance, and left her unassailed. On +the road she had Andrew to tear to pieces. O delicious operation! And O +shameful brother to reduce her to such joys! And, O Providence! may a +poor desperate soul, betrayed through her devotion, unremunerated for her +humiliation and absolute hard work, accuse thee? The Countess would have +liked to. She felt it to be the instigation of the devil, and decided to +remain on the safe side still. + +Happily for Evan, she was not ready with her packing by half-past eleven. +It was near twelve when he, pacing in front of the inn, observed Polly +Wheedle, followed some yards in the rear by John Raikes, advancing +towards him. Now Polly had been somewhat delayed by Jack's persecutions, +and Evan declining to attend to the masked speech of her mission, which +directed him to go at once down a certain lane in the neighbourhood of +the park, some minutes were lost. + +'Why, Mr. Harrington,' said Polly, 'it's Miss Rose: she's had leave from +her Ma. Can you stop away, when it's quite proper?' + +Evan hesitated. Before he could conquer the dark spirit, lo, Rose +appeared, walking up the village street. Polly and her adorer fell back. + +Timidly, unlike herself, Rose neared him. + +'I have offended you, Evan. You would not come to me: I have come to +you.' + +'I am glad to be able to say good-bye to you, Rose,' was his pretty +response. + +Could she have touched his hand then, the blood of these lovers rushing +to one channel must have made all clear. At least he could hardly have +struck her true heart with his miserable lie. But that chance was lost +they were in the street, where passions have no play. + +'Tell me, Evan,--it is not true.' + +He, refining on his misery, thought, She would not ask it if she trusted +me: and answered her: 'You have heard it from your mother, Rose.' + +'But I will not believe it from any lips but yours, Evan. Oh, speak, +speak!' + +It pleased him to think: How could one who loved me believe it even then? + +He said: 'It can scarcely do good to make me repeat it, Rose.' + +And then, seeing her dear bosom heave quickly, he was tempted to fall on +his knees to her with a wild outcry of love. The chance was lost. The +inexorable street forbade it. + +There they stood in silence, gasping at the barrier that divided them. + +Suddenly a noise was heard. 'Stop! stop!' cried the voice of John +Raikes. 'When a lady and gentleman are talking together, sir, do you +lean your long ears over them--ha?' + +Looking round, Evan beheld Laxley a step behind, and Jack rushing up to +him, seizing his collar, and instantly undergoing ignominious prostration +for his heroic defence of the privacy of lovers. + +'Stand aside'; said Laxley, imperiously. 'Rosey so you've come for me. +Take my arm. You are under my protection.' + +Another forlorn 'Is it true?' Rose cast toward Evan with her eyes. He +wavered under them. + +'Did you receive my letter?' he demanded of Laxley. + +'I decline to hold converse with you,' said Laxley, drawing Rose's hand +on his arm. + +'You will meet me to-day or to-morrow?' + +'I am in the habit of selecting my own company.' + +Rose disengaged her hand. Evan grasped it. No word of farewell was +uttered. Her mouth moved, but her eyes were hard shut, and nothing save +her hand's strenuous pressure, equalling his own, told that their parting +had been spoken, the link violently snapped. + +Mr. John Raikes had been picked up and pulled away by Polly. She now +rushed to Evan: 'Good-bye, and God bless you, dear Mr. Harrington. I'll +find means of letting you know how she is. And he shan't have her, +mind!' + +Rose was walking by Laxley's side, but not leaning on his arm. Evan +blessed her for this. Ere she was out of sight the fly rolled down the +street. She did not heed it, did not once turn her head. Ah, bitter +unkindness! + +When Love is hurt, it is self-love that requires the opiate. Conning +gave it him in the form of a note in a handwriting not known to him. It +said: + + 'I do not believe it, and nothing will ever make me. + 'JULIANA.' + +Evan could not forget these words. They coloured his farewell to +Beckley: the dear old downs, the hopgardens, the long grey farms walled +with clipped yew, the home of his lost love! He thought of them through +weary nights when the ghostly image with the hard shut eyelids and the +quivering lips would rise and sway irresolutely in air till a shape out +of the darkness extinguished it. Pride is the God of Pagans. Juliana +had honoured his God. The spirit of Juliana seemed to pass into the body +of Rose, and suffer for him as that ghostly image visibly suffered. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +IN WHICH WE HAVE TO SEE IN THE DARK + +So ends the fourth act of our comedy. + +After all her heroism and extraordinary efforts, after, as she feared, +offending Providence--after facing Tailordom--the Countess was rolled +away in a dingy fly unrewarded even by a penny, for what she had gone +through. For she possessed eminently the practical nature of her sex; +and though she would have scorned, and would have declined to handle coin +so base, its absence was upbraidingly mentioned in her spiritual +outcries. Not a penny! + +Nor was there, as in the miseries of retreat she affected indifferently +to imagine, a Duke fished out of the ruins of her enterprise, to wash the +mud off her garments and edge them with radiance. Caroline, it became +clear to her, had been infected by Evan's folly. Caroline, she +subsequently learnt, had likewise been a fool. Instead of marvelling at +the genius that had done so much in spite of the pair of fools that were +the right and left wing of her battle array, the simple-minded lady wept. +She wanted success, not genius. Admiration she was ever ready to forfeit +for success. + +Nor did she say to the tailors of earth: 'Weep, for I sought to +emancipate you from opprobrium by making one of you a gentleman; I fought +for a great principle and have failed.' Heroic to the end, she herself +shed all the tears; took all the sorrow + +Where was consolation? Would any Protestant clergyman administer comfort +to her? Could he? might he do so? He might listen, and quote texts; but +he would demand the harsh rude English for everything; and the Countess's +confessional thoughts were all innuendoish, aerial; too delicate to live +in our shameless tongue. Confession by implication, and absolution; she +could know this to be what she wished for, and yet not think it. She +could see a haven of peace in that picture of the little brown box with +the sleekly reverend figure bending his ear to the kneeling Beauty +outside, thrice ravishing as she half-lifts the veil of her sins and her +visage!--yet she started alarmed to hear it whispered that the fair +penitent was the Countess de Saldar; urgently she prayed that no +disgraceful brother might ever drive her to that! + +Never let it be a Catholic priest!--she almost fashioned her petition +into words. Who was to save her? Alas! alas! in her dire distress-- +in her sense of miserable pennilessness, she clung to Mr. John Raikes, of +the curricle, the mysteriously rich young gentleman; and on that picture, +with Andrew roguishly contemplating it, and Evan, with feelings regarding +his sister that he liked not to own, the curtain commiseratingly drops. + + +As in the course of a stream you come upon certain dips, where, but here +and there, a sparkle or a gloom of the full flowing water is caught +through deepening foliage, so the history that concerns us wanders out of +day for a time, and we must violate the post and open written leaves to +mark the turn it takes. + +First we have a letter from Mr. Goren to Mrs. Mel, to inform her that her +son has arrived and paid his respects to his future instructor in the +branch of science practised by Mr. Goren. + +'He has arrived at last,' says the worthy tradesman. 'His appearance in +the shop will be highly gentlemanly, and when he looks a little more +pleasing, and grows fond of it, nothing will be left to be desired. The +ladies, his sisters, have not thought proper to call. I had hopes of the +custom of Mr. Andrew Cogglesby. Of course you wish him to learn +tailoring thoroughly?' + +Mrs. Mel writes back, thanking Mr. Goren, and saying that 'she had shown +the letter to inquiring creditors, and that she does wish her son to +learn his business from the root. This produces a second letter from Mr. +Goren, which imparts to her that at the root of the tree, of tailoring +the novitiate must sit no less than six hours a day with his legs crossed +and doubled under him, cheerfully plying needle and thread; and that, +without this probation, to undergo which the son resolutely objects, all +hope of his climbing to the top of the lofty tree, and viewing mankind +from an eminence, must be surrendered. + +'If you do not insist, my dear Mrs. Harrington, I tell you candidly, your +son may have a shop, but he will be no tailor.' + +Mrs. Mel understands her son and his state of mind well enough not to +insist, and is resigned to the melancholy consequence. + +Then Mr. Goren discovers an extraordinary resemblance between Evan and +his father: remarking merely that the youth is not the gentleman his +father was in a shop, while he admits, that had it been conjoined to +business habits, he should have envied his departed friend. + +He has soon something fresh to tell; and it is that young Mr. Harrington +is treating him cavalierly. That he should penetrate the idea or +appreciate the merits of Mr. Goren's Balance was hardly to be expected at +present: the world did not, and Mr. Goren blamed no young man for his +ignorance. Still a proper attendance was requisite. Mr. Goren thought +it very singular that young Mr. Harrington should demand all the hours of +the day for his own purposes, up to half-past four. He found it +difficult to speak to him as a master, and begged that Mrs. Harrington +would, as a mother. + +The reply of Mrs. Mel is dashed with a trifle of cajolery. She has heard +from her son, and seeing that her son takes all that time from his right +studies, to earn money wherewith to pay debts of which Mr. Goren is +cognizant, she trusts that their oldest friend will overlook it. + +Mr. Goren rejoins that he considers that he need not have been excluded +from young Mr. Harrington's confidence. Moreover, it is a grief to him +that the young gentleman should refrain from accepting any of his +suggestions as to the propriety of requesting some, at least, of his rich +and titled acquaintance to confer on him the favour of their patronage. +'Which they would not repent,' adds Mr. Goren, 'and might learn to be +very much obliged to him for, in return for kindnesses extended to him.' + + +Notwithstanding all my efforts, you see, the poor boy is thrust into the +shop. There he is, without a doubt. He sleeps under Mr. Goren's roof: +he (since one cannot be too positive in citing the punishment of such a +Pagan) stands behind a counter: he (and, oh! choke, young loves, that +have hovered around him! shrink from him in natural horror, gentle +ladies!) handles the shears. It is not my fault. He would be a Pagan. +If you can think him human enough still to care to know how he feels it, +I must tell you that he feels it hardly-at all. After a big blow, a very +little one scarcely counts. What are outward forms and social ignominies +to him whose heart has been struck to the dust? His Gods have fought for +him, and there he is! He deserves no pity. + +But he does not ask it of you, the callous Pagan! Despise him, if you +please, and rank with the Countess, who despises him most heartily. +Dipping further into the secrets of the post, we discover a brisk +correspondence between Juliana Bonner and Mrs. Strike. + +'A thousand thanks to you, my dear Miss Bonner,' writes the latter lady. +'The unaffected interest you take in my brother touches me deeply. I +know him to be worthy of your good opinion. Yes, I will open my heart to +you, dearest Juliana; and it shall, as you wish, be quite secret between +us. Not to a soul! + +'He is quite alone. My sisters Harriet and Louisa will not see him, and +I can only do so by stealth. His odd other little friend sometimes +drives me out on Sundays, to a place where I meet him; and the Duke of +Belfield kindly lends me his carriage. Oh, that we might never part! +I am only happy with him! + +'Ah, do not doubt him, Juliana, for anything he does! You say, that now +the Duke has obtained for him the Secretaryship to my husband's Company, +he should not thing, and you do not understand why. I will tell you. +Our poor father died in debt, and Evan receives money which enables him +by degrees to liquidate these debts, on condition that he consents to be +what I dislike as much as you can. He bears it; you can have no idea of +his pride! He is too proud to own to himself that it debases him--too +proud to complain. It is a tangle--a net that drags him down to it but +whatever he is outwardly, he is the noblest human being in the world to +me, and but for him, oh, what should I be? Let me beg you to forgive it, +if you can. My darling has no friends. Is his temper as sweet as ever? +I can answer that. Yes, only he is silent, and looks--when you look into +his eyes--colder, as men look when they will not bear much from other +men. + +'He has not mentioned her name. I am sure she has not written. + +'Pity him, and pray for him.' + +Juliana then makes a communication, which draws forth the following:-- + +'Mistress of all the Beckley property-dearest, dearest Juliana! Oh! how +sincerely I congratulate you! The black on the letter alarmed me so, I +could hardly open it, my fingers trembled so; for I esteem you all at +Beckley; but when I had opened and read it, I was recompensed. You say +you are sorry for Rose. But surely what your Grandmama has done is quite +right. It is just, in every sense. But why am I not to tell Evan? I am +certain it would make him very happy, and happiness of any kind he needs +so much! I will obey you, of course, but I cannot see why. Do you know, +my dear child, you are extremely mysterious, and puzzle me. Evan takes a +pleasure in speaking of you. You and Lady Jocelyn are his great themes. +Why is he to be kept ignorant of your good fortune? The spitting of +blood is bad. You must winter in a warm climate. I do think that London +is far better for you in the late Autumn than Hampshire. May I ask my +sister Harriet to invite you to reside with her for some weeks? Nothing, +I know, would give her greater pleasure.' + +Juliana answers this-- + +'If you love me--I sometimes hope that you do--but the feeling of being +loved is so strange to me that I can only believe it at times--but, +Caroline--there, I have mustered up courage to call you by your Christian +name at last--Oh, dear Caroline! if you do love me, do not tell Mr. +Harrington. I go on my knees to you to beg you not to tell him a word. +I have no reasons indeed not any; but I implore you again never even to +hint that I am anything but the person he knew at Beckley. + +'Rose has gone to Elburne House, where Ferdinand, her friend, is to meet +her. She rides and sings the same, and keeps all her colour. + +'She may not, as you imagine, have much sensibility. Perhaps not enough. +I am afraid that Rose is turning into a very worldly woman! + +'As to what you kindly say about inviting me to London, I should like it, +and I am my own mistress. Do you know, I think I am older than your +brother! I am twenty-three. Pray, when you write, tell me if he is +older than that. But should I not be a dreadful burden to you? +Sometimes I have to keep to my chamber whole days and days. When that +happens now, I think of you entirely. See how I open my heart to you. +You say that you do to me. I wish I could really think it.' + +A postscript begs Caroline 'not to forget about the ages.' + +In this fashion the two ladies open their hearts, and contrive to read +one another perfectly in their mutual hypocrisies. + +Some letters bearing the signatures of Mr. John Raikes, and Miss Polly +Wheedle, likewise pass. Polly inquires for detailed accounts of the +health and doings of Mr. Harrington. Jack replies with full particulars +of her own proceedings, and mild corrections of her grammar. It is to be +noted that Polly grows much humbler to him on paper, which being +instantly perceived by the mercurial one, his caressing condescension to +her is very beautiful. She is taunted with Mr. Nicholas Frim, and +answers, after the lapse of a week, that the aforesaid can be nothing to +her, as he 'went in a passion to church last Sunday and got married.' +It appears that they had quarrelled, 'because I danced with you that +night.' To this Mr. Raikes rejoins in a style that would be signified by +'ahem!' in language, and an arrangement of the shirt collar before the +looking-glass, in action. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +After a big blow, a very little one scarcely counts +Because he stood so high with her now he feared the fall +Hope which lies in giving men a dose of hysterics +If I love you, need you care what anybody else thinks +Pride is the God of Pagans +Read one another perfectly in their mutual hypocrisies +Refuge in the Castle of Negation against the whole army of facts +Speech is poor where emotion is extreme +The power to give and take flattery to any amount +What a stock of axioms young people have handy +When Love is hurt, it is self-love that requires the opiate +Wrapped in the comfort of his cowardice +You accuse or you exonerate--Nobody can be half guilty + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Evan Harrington, v6 +by George Meredith + + + + + + +EVAN HARRINGTON + +By GEORGE MEREDITH + + + +BOOK 7. + +XXXIX. IN THE DOMAIN OF TAILORDOM +XL. IN WHICH THE COUNTESS STILL SCENTS GAME +XLI. REVEALS AN ABOMINABLE PLOT OF THE BROTHERS COGGLESBY +XLII. JULIANA +XLIII. ROSE +XLIV. CONTAINS A WARNING TO ALL CONSPIRATORS +XLV. IN WHICH THE SHOP BECOMES THE CENTRE OF ATTRACTION +XLVI. A LOVER'S PARTING +XLVII. A YEAR LATER THE COUNTESS DE SALDAR DE SANCORVO TO HER + SISTER CAROLINE + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +IN THE DOMAIN OF TAILORDOM + +There was peace in Mr. Goren's shop. Badgered Ministers, bankrupt +merchants, diplomatists with a headache--any of our modern grandees under +difficulties, might have envied that peace over which Mr. Goren presided: +and he was an enviable man. He loved his craft, he believed that he had +not succeeded the millions of antecedent tailors in vain; and, excepting +that trifling coquetry with shirt-fronts, viz., the red crosses, which a +shrewd rival had very soon eclipsed by representing nymphs triangularly +posed, he devoted himself to his business from morning to night; as rigid +in demanding respect from those beneath him, as he was profuse in +lavishing it on his patrons. His public boast was, that he owed no man +a farthing; his secret comfort, that he possessed two thousand pounds in +the Funds. But Mr. Goren did not stop here. Behind these external +characteristics he nursed a passion. Evan was astonished and pleased to +find in him an enthusiastic fern-collector. Not that Mr. Harrington +shared the passion, but the sight of these brown roots spread out, +ticketed, on the stained paper, after supper, when the shutters were up +and the house defended from the hostile outer world; the old man poring +over them, and naming this and that spot where, during his solitary +Saturday afternoon and Sunday excursions, he had lighted on the rare +samples exhibited this contrast of the quiet evening with the sordid day +humanized Mr. Goren to him. He began to see a spirit in the rigid +tradesman not so utterly dissimilar to his own, and he fancied that he, +too, had a taste for ferns. Round Beckley how they abounded! + +He told Mr. Goren so, and Mr. Goren said: + +'Some day we'll jog down there together, as the saying goes.' + +Mr. Goren spoke of it as an ordinary event, likely to happen in the days +to come: not as an incident the mere mention of which, as being probable, +stopped the breath and made the pulses leap. + +For now Evan's education taught him to feel that he was at his lowest +degree. Never now could Rose stoop to him. He carried the shop on his +back. She saw the brand of it on his forehead. Well! and what was Rose +to him, beyond a blissful memory, a star that he had once touched? Self- +love kept him strong by day, but in the darkness of night came his +misery; wakening from tender dreams, he would find his heart sinking +under a horrible pressure, and then the fair fresh face of Rose swam over +him; the hours of Beckley were revived; with intolerable anguish he saw +that she was blameless--that he alone was to blame. Yet worse was it +when his closed eyelids refused to conjure up the sorrowful lovely +nightmare, and he lay like one in a trance, entombed-wretched Pagan! +feeling all that had been blindly; when the Past lay beside him like a +corpse that he had slain. + +These nightly torments helped him to brave what the morning brought. +Insensibly also, as Time hardened his sufferings, Evan asked himself what +the shame of his position consisted in. He grew stiff-necked. His Pagan +virtues stood up one by one to support him. Andrew, courageously evading +the interdict that forbade him to visit Evan, would meet him by +appointment at City taverns, and flatly offered him a place in the +Brewery. Evan declined it, on the pretext that, having received Old +Tom's money for the year, he must at least work out that term according +to the conditions. Andrew fumed and sneered at Tailordom. Evan said +that there was peace in Mr. Goren's shop. His sharp senses discerned in +Andrew's sneer a certain sincerity, and he revolted against it. Mr John +Raikes, too, burlesqued Society so well, that he had the satisfaction of +laughing at his enemy occasionally. The latter gentleman was still a +pensioner, flying about town with the Countess de Saldar, in deadly fear +lest that fascinating lady should discover the seat of his fortune; +happy, notwithstanding. In the mirror of Evan's little world, he beheld +the great one from which he was banished. + +Now the dusk of a winter's afternoon was closing over London, when a +carriage drew up in front of Mr. Goren's shop, out of which, to Mr. +Goren's chagrin, a lady stepped, with her veil down. The lady entered, +and said that she wished to speak to Mr. Harrington. Mr. Goren made way +for her to his pupil; and was amazed to see her fall into his arms, and +hardly gratified to hear her say: 'Pardon me, darling, for coming to you +in this place.' + +Evan asked permission to occupy the parlour. + +'My place,' said Mr. Goren, with humble severity, over his spectacles, +'is very poor. Such as it is, it is at the lady's service.' + +Alone with her, Evan was about to ease his own feelings by remarking to +the effect that Mr. Goren was human like the rest of us, but Caroline +cried, with unwonted vivacity: + +'Yes, yes, I know; but I thought only of you. I have such news for you! +You will and must pardon my coming--that's my first thought, sensitive +darling that you are!' She kissed him fondly. 'Juliana Bonner is in +town, staying with us!' + +'Is that your news?' asked Evan, pressing her against his breast. + +'No, dear love--but still! You have no idea what her fortune-- +Mrs. Bonner has died and left her--but I mustn't tell you. Oh, my +darling! how she admires you! She--she could recompense you; if you +would! We will put that by, for the present. Dear! the Duke has begged +you, through me, to accept--I think it 's to be a sort of bailiff to his +estates--I don't know rightly. It's a very honourable post, that +gentlemen take: and the income you are to have, Evan, will be near a +thousand a year. Now, what do I deserve for my news?' + +She put up her mouth for another kiss, out of breath. + +'True?' looked Evan's eyes. + +'True!' she said, smiling, and feasting on his bewilderment. + +After the bubbling in his brain had a little subsided, Evan breathed as a +man on whom fresh air is blown. Were not these tidings of release? His +ridiculous pride must nevertheless inquire whether Caroline had been +begging this for him. + +'No, dear--indeed!' Caroline asserted with more than natural vehemence. +'It's something that you yourself have done that has pleased him. I +don't know what. Only he says, he believes you are a man to be trusted +with the keys of anything--and so you are. You are to call on him to- +morrow. Will you?' + +While Evan was replying, her face became white. She had heard the +Major's voice in the shop. His military step advanced, and Caroline, +exclaiming, 'Don't let me see him!' bustled to a door. Evan nodded, and +she slipped through. The next moment he was facing the stiff marine. + +'Well, young man,' the Major commenced, and, seating himself, added, 'be +seated. I want to talk to you seriously, sir. You didn't think fit to +wait till I had done with the Directors today. You're devilishly out in +your discipline, whatever you are at two and two. I suppose there's no +fear of being intruded on here? None of your acquaintances likely to be +introducing themselves to me?' + +'There is not one that I would introduce to you,' said Evan. + +The Major nodded a brief recognition of the compliment, and then, +throwing his back against the chair, fired out: 'Come, sir, is this your +doing?' + +In military phrase, Evan now changed front. His first thought had been +that the Major had come for his wife. He perceived that he himself was +the special object of his visitation. + +'I must ask you what you allude to,' he answered. + +'You are not at your office, but you will speak to me as if there was +some distinction between us,' said the Major. 'My having married your +sister does not reduce me to the ranks, I hope.' + +The Major drummed his knuckles on the table, after this impressive +delivery. + +'Hem!' he resumed. 'Now, sir, understand, before you speak a word, that +I can see through any number of infernal lies. I see that you're +prepared for prevarication. By George! it shall come out of you, if I +get it by main force. The Duke compelled me to give you that appointment +in my Company. Now, sir, did you, or did you not, go to him and +deliberately state to him that you believed the affairs of the Company to +be in a bad condition--infamously handled, likely to involve his honour +as a gentleman? I ask you, sir, did you do this, or did you not do it?' + +Evan waited till the sharp rattle of the Major's close had quieted. + +'If I am to answer the wording of your statement, I may say that I did +not.' + +'Very good; very good; that will do. Are you aware that the Duke has +sent in his resignation as a Director of our Company?' + +'I hear of it first from you.' + +'Confound your familiarity!' cried the irritable officer, rising. 'Am I +always to be told that I married your sister? Address me, sir, as +becomes your duty.' + +Evan heard the words 'beggarly tailor' mumbled 'out of the gutters,' and +'cursed connection.' He stood in the attitude of attention, while the +Major continued: + +'Now, young man, listen to these facts. You came to me this day last +week, and complained that you did not comprehend some of our transactions +and affairs. I explained them to your damned stupidity. You went away. +Three days after that, you had an interview with the Duke. Stop, sir! +What the devil do you mean by daring to speak while I am speaking? You +saw the Duke, I say. Now, what took place at that interview?' + +The Major tried to tower over Evan powerfully, as he put this query. +They were of a common height, and to do so, he had to rise on his toes, +so that the effect was but momentary. + +'I think I am not bound to reply,' said Evan. + +'Very well, sir; that will do.' The Major's fingers were evidently +itching for an absent rattan. 'Confess it or not, you are dismissed from +your post. Do you hear? You are kicked in the street. A beggarly +tailor you were born, and a beggarly tailor you will die.' + +'I must beg you to stop, now,' said Evan. 'I told you that I was not +bound to reply: but I will. If you will sit down, Major Strike, you +shall hear what you wish to know.' + +This being presently complied with, though not before a glare of the +Major's eyes had shown his doubt whether it might not be construed into +insolence, Evan pursued: + +'I came to you and informed you that I could not reconcile the cash- +accounts of the Company, and that certain of the later proceedings +appeared to me to jeopardize its prosperity. Your explanations did not +satisfy me. I admit that you enjoined me to be silent. But the Duke, +as a Director, had as strong a right to claim me as his servant, and when +he questioned me as to the position of the Company, I told him what I +thought, just as I had told you.' + +'You told him we were jobbers and swindlers, sir!' + +'The Duke inquired of me whether I would, under the circumstances, while +proceedings were going on which I did not approve of, take the +responsibility of allowing my name to remain--' + +'Ha! ha! ha!' the Major burst out. This was too good a joke. The name +of a miserable young tailor!' Go on, sir, go on!' He swallowed his +laughter like oil on his rage. + +'I have said sufficient.' + +Jumping up, the Major swore by the Lord, that he had said sufficient. + +'Now, look you here, young man.' He squared his finger before Evan, +eyeing him under a hard frown, 'You have been playing your game again, +as you did down at that place in Hampshire. I heard of it--deserved to +be shot, by heaven! You think you have got hold of the Duke, and you +throw me over. You imagine, I dare say, that I will allow my wife to be +talked about to further your interests--you self-seeking young dog! As +long as he lent the Company his name, I permitted a great many things. +Do you think me a blind idiot, sir? But now she must learn to be +satisfied with people who 've got no titles, or carriages, and who can't +give hundred guinea compliments. You're all of a piece-a set of . . .' + +The Major paused, for half a word was on his mouth which had drawn +lightning to Evan's eyes. + +Not to be baffled, he added: 'But look you, sir. I may be ruined. +I dare say the Company will go to the dogs--every ass will follow a Duke. +But, mark, this goes on no more. I will be no woman's tally. Mind, sir, +I take excellent care that you don't traffic in your sister!' + +The Major delivered this culminating remark with a well-timed deflection +of his forefinger, and slightly turned aside when he had done. + +You might have seen Evan's figure rocking, as he stood with his eyes +steadily levelled on his sister's husband. + +The Major, who, whatever he was, was physically no coward, did not fail +to interpret the look, and challenge it. + +Evan walked to the door, opened it, and said, between his teeth, 'You +must go at once.' + +'Eh, sir, eh? what's this?' exclaimed the warrior but the door was open, +Mr. Goren was in the shop; the scandal of an assault in such a house, and +the consequent possibility of his matrimonial alliance becoming bruited +in the newspapers, held his arm after it had given an involuntary jerk. +He marched through with becoming dignity, and marched out into the +street; and if necks unelastic and heads erect may be taken as the sign +of a proud soul and of nobility of mind, my artist has the Major for his +model. + +Evan displayed no such a presence. He returned to the little parlour, +shut and locked the door to the shop, and forgetting that one was near, +sat down, covered his eyes, and gave way to a fit of tearless sobbing. +With one foot in the room Caroline hung watching him. A pain that she +had never known wrung her nerves. His whole manhood seemed to be shaken, +as if by regular pulsations of intensest misery. She stood in awe of the +sight till her limbs failed her, and then staggering to him she fell on +her knees, clasping his, passionately kissing them. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +IN WHICH THE COUNTESS STILL SCENTS GAME + +Mr. Raikes and his friend Frank Remand, surnamed Franko, to suit the +requirements of metre, in which they habitually conversed, were walking +arm-in-arm along the drive in Society's Park on a fine frosty Sunday +afternoon of midwinter. The quips and jokes of Franko were lively, and +he looked into the carriages passing, as if he knew that a cheerful +countenance is not without charms for their inmates. Raikes' face, on +the contrary, was barren and bleak. Being of that nature that when a pun +was made he must perforce outstrip it, he fell into Franko's humour from +time to time, but albeit aware that what he uttered was good, and by +comparison transcendent, he refused to enjoy it. Nor when Franko started +from his arm to declaim a passage, did he do other than make limp efforts +to unite himself to Franko again. A further sign of immense depression +in him was that instead of the creative, it was the critical faculty he +exercised, and rather than reply to Franko in his form of speech, he +scanned occasional lines and objected to particular phrases. He had +clearly exchanged the sanguine for the bilious temperament, and was fast +stranding on the rocky shores of prose. Franko bore this very well, for +he, like Raikes in happier days, claimed all the glances of lovely woman +as his own, and on his right there flowed a stream of Beauties. At last +he was compelled to observe: 'This change is sudden: wherefore so +downcast? With tigrine claw thou mangiest my speech, thy cheeks are like +December's pippin, and thy tongue most sour!' + +'Then of it make a farce!' said Raikes, for the making of farces was +Franko's profession. 'Wherefore so downcast! What a line! There! +let's walk on. Let us the left foot forward stout advance. I care not +for the herd.' + +''Tis love!' cried Franko. + +'Ay, an' it be!' Jack gloomily returned. + +'For ever cruel is the sweet Saldar?' + +Raikes winced at this name. + +'A truce to banter, Franko!' he said sternly: but the subject was opened, +and the wound. + +'Love!' he pursued, mildly groaning. 'Suppose you adored a fascinating +woman, and she knew--positively knew--your manly weakness, and you saw +her smiling upon everybody, and she told you to be happy, and egad, when +you came to reflect, you found that after three months' suit you were +nothing better than her errand-boy? A thing to boast of, is it not, +quotha?' + +'Love's yellow-fever, jealousy, methinks,' Franko commenced in reply; but +Raikes spat at the emphasized word. + +'Jealousy!--who's jealous of clergymen and that crew? Not I, by Pluto! +I carried five messages to one fellow with a coat-tail straight to his +heels, last week. She thought I should drive my curricle--I couldn't +afford an omnibus! I had to run. When I returned to her I was dirty. +She made remarks!' + +'Thy sufferings are severe--but such is woman!' said Franko. 'Gad, it's +a good idea, though.' He took out a note-book and pencilled down a point +or two. Raikes watched the process sardonically. + +'My tragedy is, then, thy farce!' he exclaimed. 'Well, be it so! I +believe I shall come to song-writing again myself shortly-beneath the +shield of Catnach I'll a nation's ballads frame. I've spent my income in +four months, and now I 'm living on my curricle. I underlet it. It 's +like trade--it 's as bad as poor old Harrington, by Jove! But that isn't +the worst, Franko!' Jack dropped his voice: 'I believe I'm furiously +loved by a poor country wench.' + +'Morals!' was Franko's most encouraging reproof. + +'Oh, I don't think I've even kissed her,' rejoined Raikes, who doubted +because his imagination was vivid. 'It 's my intellect that dazzles her. +I 've got letters--she calls me clever. By Jove! since I gave up +driving I've had thoughts of rushing down to her and making her mine in +spite of home, family, fortune, friends, name, position--everything! +I have, indeed.' + +Franko looked naturally astonished at this amount of self-sacrifice. +'The Countess?' he shrewdly suggested. + + 'I'd rather be my Polly's prince, + Than yon great lady's errand-boy!' + +Raikes burst into song. + +He stretched out his hand, as if to discard all the great ladies who were +passing. By the strangest misfortune ever known, the direction taken by +his fingers was toward a carriage wherein, beautifully smiling opposite +an elaborately reverend gentleman of middle age, the Countess de Saldar +was sitting. This great lady is not to be blamed for deeming that her +errand-boy was pointing her out vulgarly on a public promenade. +Ineffable disdain curled off her sweet olive visage. She turned her +head. + +'I 'll go down to that girl to-night,' said Raikes, with compressed +passion. And then he hurried Franko along to the bridge, where, behold, +the Countess alighted with the gentleman, and walked beside him into the +gardens. + +'Follow her,' said Raikes, in agitation. 'Do you see her? by yon long- +tailed raven's side? Follow her, Franko! See if he kisses her hand- +anything! and meet me here in half an hour. I'll have evidence!' + +Franko did not altogether like the office, but Raikes' dinners, singular +luck, and superiority in the encounter of puns, gave him the upper hand +with his friend, and so Franko went. + +Turning away from the last glimpse of his Countess, Raikes crossed the +bridge, and had not strolled far beneath the bare branches of one of the +long green walks, when he perceived a gentleman with two ladies leaning +on him. + +'Now, there,' moralized this youth; 'now, what do you say to that? Do +you call that fair? He can't be happy, and it's not in nature for them +to be satisfied. And yet, if I went up and attempted to please them all +by taking one away, the probabilities are that he would knock me down. +Such is life! We won't be made comfortable!' + +Nevertheless, he passed them with indifference, for it was merely the +principle he objected to; and, indeed, he was so wrapped in his own +conceptions, that his name had to be called behind him twice before he +recognized Evan Harrington, Mrs. Strike, and Miss Bonner. The +arrangement he had previously thought good, was then spontaneously +adopted. Mrs. Strike reposed her fair hand upon his arm, and Juliana, +with a timid glance of pleasure, walked ahead in Evan's charge. Close +neighbourhood between the couples was not kept. The genius of Mr. Raikes +was wasted in manoeuvres to lead his beautiful companion into places +where he could be seen with her, and envied. It was, perhaps, more +flattering that she should betray a marked disposition to prefer solitude +in his society. But this idea illumined him only near the moment of +parting. Then he saw it; then he groaned in soul, and besought Evan to +have one more promenade, saying, with characteristic cleverness in the +masking of his real thoughts: 'It gives us an appetite, you know.' + +In Evan's face and Juliana's there was not much sign that any protraction +of their walk together would aid this beneficent process of nature. He +took her hand gently, and when he quitted it, it dropped. + +'The Rose, the Rose of Beckley Court!' Raikes sang aloud. 'Why, this is +a day of meetings. Behold John Thomas in the rear-a tower of plush and +powder! Shall I rush-shall I pluck her from the aged stem?' + +On the gravel-walk above them Rose passed with her aristocratic +grandmother, muffled in furs. She marched deliberately, looking coldly +before her. Evan's face was white, and Juliana, whose eyes were fixed on +him, shuddered. + +'I'm chilled,' she murmured to Caroline. 'Let us go.' Caroline eyed Evan +with a meaning sadness. + +'We will hurry to our carriage,' she said. + +They were seen to make a little circuit so as not to approach Rose; after +whom, thoughtless of his cruelty, Evan bent his steps slowly, halting +when she reached her carriage. He believed--rather, he knew that she had +seen him. There was a consciousness in the composed outlines of her face +as she passed: the indifference was too perfect. Let her hate him if she +pleased. It recompensed him that the air she wore should make her +appearance more womanly; and that black dress and crape-bonnet, in some +way, touched him to mournful thoughts of her that helped a partial +forgetfulness of wounded self. + +Rose had driven off. He was looking at the same spot, where Caroline's +hand waved from her carriage. Juliana was not seen. Caroline requested +her to nod to him once, but she would not. She leaned back hiding her +eyes, and moving a petulant shoulder at Caroline's hand. + +'Has he offended you, my child?' + +Juliana answered harshly: + +'No-no.' + +The wheels rolled on, and Caroline tried other subjects, knowing possibly +that they would lead Juliana back to this of her own accord. + +'You saw how she treated him?' the latter presently said, without moving +her hand from before her eyes. + +'Yes, dear. He forgives her, and will forget it.' + +'Oh!' she clenched her long thin hand, ' I pray that I may not die before +I have made her repent it. She shall!' + +Juliana looked glitteringly in Caroline's face, and then fell a-weeping, +and suffered herself to be folded and caressed. The storm was long +subsiding. + +'Dearest! you are better now?' said Caroline. + +She whispered: 'Yes.' + +'My brother has only to know you, dear--' + +'Hush! That's past.' Juliana stopped her; and, on a deep breath that +threatened to break to sobs, she added in a sweeter voice than was common +to her, 'Ah, why--why did you tell him about the Beckley property?' + +Caroline vainly strove to deny that she had told him. Juliana's head +shook mournfully at her; and now Caroline knew what Juliana meant when +she begged so earnestly that Evan should be kept ignorant of her change +of fortune. + + +Some days after this the cold struck Juliana's chest, and she sickened. +The three sisters held a sitting to consider what it was best to do with +her. Caroline proposed to take her to Beckley without delay. Harriet +was of opinion that the least they could do was to write to her relatives +and make them instantly aware of her condition. + +But the Countess said 'No,' to both. Her argument was, that Juliana +being independent, they were by no means bound to 'bundle' her, in her +state, back to a place where she had been so shamefully maltreated: that +here she would live, while there she would certainly die: that absence of +excitement was her medicine, and that here she had it. Mrs. Andrew, +feeling herself responsible as the young lady's hostess, did not +acquiesce in the Countess's views till she had consulted Juliana; and +then apologies for giving trouble were breathed on the one hand; +sympathy, condolences, and professions of esteem, on the other. Juliana +said, she was but slightly ill, would soon recover. Entreated not to +leave them before she was thoroughly re-established, and to consent to be +looked on as one of the family, she sighed, and said it was the utmost +she could hope. Of course the ladies took this compliment to themselves, +but Evan began to wax in importance. The Countess thought it nearly time +to acknowledge him, and supported the idea by a citation of the doctrine, +that to forgive is Christian. It happened, however, that Harriet, who +had less art and more will than her sisters, was inflexible. She, living +in a society but a few steps above Tailordom, however magnificent in +expenditure and resources, abhorred it solemnly. From motives of +prudence, as well as personal disgust, she continued firm in declining to +receive her brother. She would not relent when the Countess pointed out +a dim, a dazzling prospect, growing out of Evan's proximity to the +heiress of Beckley Court; she was not to be moved when Caroline suggested +that the specific for the frail invalid was Evan's presence. As to this, +Juliana was sufficiently open, though, as she conceived, her art was +extreme. + +'Do you know why I stay to vex and trouble you?' she asked Caroline. +'Well, then, it is that I may see your brother united to you all: and +then I shall go, happy.' + +The pretext served also to make him the subject of many conversations. +Twice a week a bunch of the best flowers that could be got were sorted +and arranged by her, and sent namelessly to brighten Evan's chamber. + +'I may do such a thing as this, you know, without incurring blame,' she +said. + +The sight of a love so humble in its strength and affluence, sent +Caroline to Evan on a fruitless errand. What availed it, that accused of +giving lead to his pride in refusing the heiress, Evan should declare +that he did not love her? He did not, Caroline admitted as possible, but +he might. He might learn to love her, and therefore he was wrong in +wounding her heart. She related flattering anecdotes. She drew tearful +pictures of Juliana's love for him: and noticing how he seemed to prize +his bouquet of flowers, said: + +'Do you love them for themselves, or the hand that sent them?' + +Evan blushed, for it had been a struggle for him to receive them, as he +thought, from Rose in secret. The flowers lost their value; the song +that had arisen out of them, 'Thou livest in my memory,' ceased. But +they came still. How many degrees from love gratitude may be, I have not +reckoned. I rather fear it lies on the opposite shore. From a youth to +a girl, it may yet be very tender; the more so, because their ages +commonly exclude such a sentiment, and nature seems willing to make a +transition stage of it. Evan wrote to Juliana. Incidentally he +expressed a wish to see her. Juliana was under doctor's interdict: but +she was not to be prevented from going when Evan wished her to go. They +met in the park, as before, and he talked to her five minutes through the +carriage window. + +'Was it worth the risk, my poor child?' said Caroline, pityingly. + +Juliana cried: 'Oh! I would give anything to live!' + +A man might have thought that she made no direct answer. + +'Don't you think I am patient? Don't you think I am very patient?'she +asked Caroline, winningly, on their way home. + +Caroline could scarcely forbear from smiling at the feverish anxiety she +showed for a reply that should confirm her words and hopes. + +'So we must all be!'she said, tend that common-place remark caused +Juliana to exclaim: 'Prisoners have lived in a dungeon, on bread and +water, for years!' + +Whereat Caroline kissed her so tenderly that Juliana tried to look +surprised, and failing, her thin lips quivered; she breathed a soft +'hush,' and fell on Caroline's bosom. + +She was transparent enough in one thing; but the flame which burned +within her did not light her through. + +Others, on other matters, were quite as transparent to her. + +Caroline never knew that she had as much as told her the moral suicide +Evan had committed at Beckley; so cunningly had she been probed at +intervals with little casual questions; random interjections, that one +who loved him could not fail to meet; petty doubts requiring +elucidations. And the Countess, kind as her sentiments had grown toward +the afflicted creature, was compelled to proclaim her densely stupid in +material affairs. For the Countess had an itch of the simplest feminine +curiosity to know whether the dear child had any notion of accomplishing +a certain holy duty of the perishable on this earth, who might possess +worldly goods; and no hints--not even plain speaking, would do. Juliana +did not understand her at all. + +The Countess exhibited a mourning-ring on her finger, Mrs. Bonner's +bequest to her. + +'How fervent is my gratitude to my excellent departed friend for this! +A legacy, however trifling, embalms our dear lost ones in the memory!' + +It was of no avail. Juliana continued densely stupid. Was she not +worse? The Countess could not, 'in decency,' as she observed, reveal to +her who had prompted Mrs. Bonner so to bequeath the Beckley estates as to +'ensure sweet Juliana's future'; but ought not Juliana to divine it?-- +Juliana at least had hints sufficient. + + +Cold Spring winds were now blowing. Juliana had resided no less than two +months with the Cogglesbys. She was entreated still to remain, and she +did. From Lady Jocelyn she heard not a word of remonstrance; but from +Miss Carrington and Mrs. Shorne she received admonishing letters. +Finally, Mr. Harry Jocelyn presented himself. In London, and without any +of that needful subsistence which a young gentleman feels the want of in +London more than elsewhere, Harry began to have thoughts of his own, +without any instigation from his aunts, about devoting himself to +business. So he sent his card up to his cousin, and was graciously met +in the drawing-room by the Countess, who ruffled him and smoothed him, +and would possibly have distracted his soul from business had his +circumstances been less straitened. Juliana was declared to be too +unwell to see him that day. He called a second time, and enjoyed a +similar greeting. His third visit procured him an audience alone with +Juliana, when, at once, despite the warnings of his aunts, the frank +fellow plunged, 'medias res'. Mrs. Bonner had left him totally dependent +on his parents and his chances. + +'A desperate state of things, isn't it, Juley? I think I shall go for a +soldier--common, you know.' + +Instead of shrieking out against such a debasement of his worth and +gentility, as was to be expected, Juliana said: + +'That's what Mr. Harrington thought of doing.' + +'He! If he'd had the pluck he would.' + +'His duty forbade it, and he did not.' + +'Duty! a confounded tailor! What fools we were to have him at Beckley!' + +'Has the Countess been unkind to you Harry?' + +'I haven't seen her to-day, and don't want to. It's my little dear old +Juley I came for.' + +'Dear Harry!' she thanked him with eyes and hands. 'Come often, won't +you?' + +'Why, ain't you coming back to us, Juley?' + +'Not yet. They are very kind to me here. How is Rose?' + +'Oh, quite jolly. She and Ferdinand are thick again. Balls every night. +She dances like the deuce. They want me to go; but I ain't the sort of +figure for those places, and besides, I shan't dance till I can lead you +out.' + +A spur of laughter at Harry's generous nod brought on Juliana's cough. +Harry watched her little body shaken and her reddened eyes. Some real +emotion--perhaps the fear which healthy young people experience at the +sight of deadly disease--made Harry touch her arm with the softness of a +child's touch. + +'Don't be alarmed, Harry,' she said. 'It's nothing--only Winter. I'm +determined to get well.' + +'That's right,' quoth he, recovering. 'I know you've got pluck, or you +wouldn't have stood that operation.' + +'Let me see: when was that?' she asked slyly. + +Harry coloured, for it related to a time when he had not behaved prettily +to her. + +'There, Juley, that 's all forgotten. I was a fool-a scoundrel, if you +like. I 'm sorry for it now.' + +'Do you want money, Harry?' + +'Oh, money!' + +'Have you repaid Mr. Harrington yet?' + +'There--no, I haven't. Bother it! that fellow's name's always on your +tongue. I'll tell you what, Juley--but it's no use. He's a low, vulgar +adventurer.' + +'Dear Harry,' said Juliana, softly; 'don't bring your aunts with you when +you come to see me.' + +'Well, then I'll tell you, Juley. It's enough that he's a beastly +tailor.' + +'Quite enough,' she responded; 'and he is neither a fool nor a +scoundrel.' + +Harry's memory for his own speech was not quick. When Juliana's calm +glance at him called it up, he jumped from his chair, crying: 'Upon my +honour, I'll tell you what, Juley! If I had money to pay him to-morrow, +I'd insult him on the spot.' + +Juliana meditated, and said: 'Then all your friends must wish you to +continue poor.' + +This girl had once been on her knees to him. She had looked up to him +with admiring love, and he had given her a crumb or so occasionally, +thinking her something of a fool, and more of a pest; but now he could +not say a word to her without being baffled in an elderly-sisterly tone +exasperating him so far that he positively wished to marry her, and +coming to the point, offered himself with downright sincerity, and was +rejected. Harry left in a passion. Juliana confided the secret to +Caroline, who suggested interested motives, which Juliana would not hear +of. + +'Ah,' said the Countess, when Caroline mentioned the case to her, +'of course the poor thing cherishes her first offer. She would believe a +curate to be disinterested! But mind that Evan has due warning when she +is to meet him. Mind that he is dressed becomingly.' + +Caroline asked why. + +'Because, my dear, she is enamoured of his person. These little +unhealthy creatures are always attracted by the person. She thinks it to +be Evan's qualities. I know better: it is his person. Beckley Court may +be lost by a shabby coat!' + +The Countess had recovered from certain spiritual languors into which she +had fallen after her retreat. Ultimate victory hung still in the +balance. Oh! if Evan would only marry this little sufferer, who was so +sure to die within a year! or, if she lived (for marriage has often been +as a resurrection to some poor female invalids), there was Beckley Court, +a splendid basis for future achievements. Reflecting in this fashion, +the Countess pardoned her brother. Glowing hopes hung fresh lamps in her +charitable breast. She stepped across the threshold of Tailordom, won +Mr. Goren's heart by her condescension, and worked Evan into a sorrowful +mood concerning the invalid. Was not Juliana his only active friend? In +return, he said things which only required a little colouring to be very +acceptable to her. + +The game waxed exciting again. The enemy (the Jocelyn party) was alert, +but powerless. The three sisters were almost wrought to perform a +sacrifice far exceeding Evan's. They nearly decided to summon him to the +house: but the matter being broached at table one evening, Major Strike +objected to it so angrily that they abandoned it, with the satisfactory +conclusion that if they did wrong it was the Major's fault. + +Meantime Juliana had much on her conscience. She knew Evan to be +innocent, and she allowed Rose to think him guilty. Could she bring her +heart to join them? That was not in her power: but desiring to be lulled +by a compromise, she devoted herself to make his relatives receive him; +and on days of bitter winds she would drive out to meet him, answering +all expostulations with--'I should not go if he were here.' + +The game waxed hot. It became a question whether Evan should be admitted +to the house in spite of the Major. Juliana now made an extraordinary +move. Having the Count with her in the carriage one day, she stopped in +front of Mr. Goren's shop, and Evan had to come out. The Count returned +home extremely mystified. Once more the unhappy Countess was obliged to +draw bills on the fabulous; and as she had recommenced the system, which +was not without its fascinations to her, Juliana, who had touched the +spring, had the full benefit of it. The Countess had deceived her +before--what of that? She spoke things sweet to hear. Who could be +false that gave her heart food on which it lived? + +One night Juliana returned from her drive alarmingly ill. She was +watched through the night by Caroline and the Countess alternately. +In the morning the sisters met. + +'She has consented to let us send for a doctor,' said Caroline. + +'Her chief desire seems to be a lawyer,' said the Countess. + +'Yes, but the doctor must be sent for first.' + +'Yes, indeed! But it behoves us to previse that the doctor does not kill +her before the lawyer comes.' + +Caroline looked at Louisa, and said: 'Are you ignorant?' + +'No--what?' cried the Countess eagerly. + +'Evan has written to tell Lady Jocelyn the state of her health, and--' + +'And that naturally has aggravated her malady!' The Countess cramped her +long fingers. 'The child heard it from him yesterday! Oh, I could swear +at that brother!' + +She dropped into a chair and sat rigid and square-jawed, a sculpture of +unutterable rage. + +In the afternoon Lady Jocelyn arrived. The doctor was there--the lawyer +had gone. Without a word of protest Juliana accompanied her ladyship to +Beckley Court. Here was a blow! + +But Andrew was preparing one more mighty still. What if the Cogglesby +Brewery proved a basis most unsound? Where must they fall then? Alas! +on that point whence they sprang. If not to Perdition--Tailordom! + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +REVEALS AN ABOMINABLE PLOT OF THE BROTHERS COGGLESBY + +A lively April day, with strong gusts from the Southwest, and long +sweeping clouds, saluted the morning coach from London to Lymport. +Thither Tailordom triumphant was bearing its victim at a rattling pace, +to settle him, and seal him for ever out of the ranks of gentlemen: +Society, meantime, howling exclusion to him in the background: 'Out of +our halls, degraded youth: The smiles of turbaned matrons: the sighs of +delicate maids; genial wit, educated talk, refined scandal, vice in +harness, dinners sentineled by stately plush: these, the flavour of life, +are not for you, though you stole a taste of them, wretched impostor! +Pay for it with years of remorse!' + +The coach went rushing against the glorious high wind. It stirred his +blood, freshened his cheeks, gave a bright tone of zest to his eyes, as +he cast them on the young green country. Not banished from the breath of +heaven, or from self-respect, or from the appetite for the rewards that +are to follow duties done! Not banished from the help that is always +reached to us when we have fairly taken the right road: and that for him +is the road to Lymport. Let the kingdom of Gilt Gingerbread howl as it +will! We are no longer children, but men: men who have bitten hard at +experience, and know the value of a tooth: who have had our hearts +bruised, and cover them with armour: who live not to feed, but look to +food that we may live! What matters it that yonder high-spiced kingdom +should excommunicate such as we are? We have rubbed off the gilt, and +have assumed the command of our stomachs. We are men from this day! + +Now, you would have thought Evan's companions, right and left of him, +were the wretches under sentence, to judge from appearances. In contrast +with his look of insolent pleasure, Andrew, the moment an eye was on him, +exhibited the cleverest impersonation of the dumps ever seen: while Mr. +Raikes was from head to foot nothing better than a moan made visible. +Nevertheless, they both agreed to rally Evan, and bid him be of good +cheer. + +'Don't be down, Van; don't be down, my boy,' said Andrew, rubbing his +hands gloomily. + +'I? do I look it?' Evan answered, laughing. + +'Capital acting!' exclaimed Raikes. 'Try and keep it up.' + +'Well, I hope you're acting too,' said Evan. + +Raikes let his chest fall like a collapsing bellows. + +At the end of five minutes, he remarked: 'I've been sitting on it the +whole morning! There's violent inflammation, I'm persuaded. Another +hour, and I jump slap from the summit of the coach!' + +Evan turned to Andrew. + +'Do you think he'll be let off?' + +'Mr. Raikes? Can't say. You see, Van, it depends upon how Old Tom has +taken his bad luck. Ahem! Perhaps he'll be all the stricter; and as a +man of honour, Mr. Raikes, you see, can't very well--' + +'By Jove! I wish I wasn't a man of honour!' Raikes interposed, heavily. + +'You see, Van, Old Tom's circumstances'--Andrew ducked, to smother a sort +of laughter--'are now such that he'd be glad of the money to let him off, +no doubt; but Mr. Raikes has spent it, I can't lend it, and you haven't +got it, and there we all are. At the end of the year he's free, and he-- +ha! ha! I'm not a bit the merrier for laughing, I can tell you.' + +Catching another glimpse of Evan's serious face, Andrew fell into louder +laughter; checking it with doleful solemnity. + +Up hill and down hill, and past little homesteads shining with yellow +crocuses; across wide brown heaths, whose outlines raised in Evan's mind +the night of his funeral walk, and tossed up old feelings dead as the +whirling dust. At last Raikes called out: + +'The towers of Fallow field; heigho!' + +And Andrew said: + +'Now then, Van: if Old Tom's anywhere, he's here. You get down at the +Dragon, and don't you talk to me, but let me go in. It'll be just the +hour he dines in the country. Isn't it a shame of him to make me face +every man of the creditors--eh?' + +Evan gave Andrew's hand an affectionate squeeze, at which Andrew had to +gulp down something--reciprocal emotion, doubtless. + +'Hark,' said Raikes, as the horn of the guard was heard. 'Once that +sound used to set me caracoling before an abject multitude. I did +wonders. All London looked on me! It had more effect on me than +champagne. Now I hear it--the whole charm has vanished! I can't see a +single old castle. Would you have thought it possible that a small +circular bit of tin on a man's person could produce such changes in him?' + +'You are a donkey to wear it,' said Evan. + +'I pledged my word as a gentleman, and thought it small, for the money!' +said Raikes. 'This is the first coach I ever travelled on, without +making the old whip burst with laughing. I'm not myself. I'm haunted. +I'm somebody else.' + +The three passengers having descended, a controversy commenced between +Evan and Andrew as to which should pay. Evan had his money out; Andrew +dashed it behind him; Evan remonstrated. + +'Well, you mustn't pay for us two, Andrew. I would have let you do it +once, but--' + +'Stuff!' cried Andrew. 'I ain't paying--it 's the creditors of the +estate, my boy!' + +Evan looked so ingenuously surprised and hurt at his lack of principle, +that Andrew chucked a sixpence at a small boy, saying, + +'If you don't let me have my own way, Van, I 'll shy my purse after it. +What do you mean, sir, by treating me like a beggar?' + +'Our friend Harrington can't humour us,' quoth Raikes. 'For myself, I +candidly confess I prefer being paid for'; and he leaned contentedly +against one of the posts of the inn till the filthy dispute was arranged +to the satisfaction of the ignobler mind. There Andrew left them, and +went to Mrs. Sockley, who, recovered from her illness, smiled her usual +placid welcome to a guest. + +'You know me, ma'am?' + +'Oh, yes! The London Mr. Cogglesby!' + +'Now, ma'am, look here. I've come for my brother. Don't be alarmed. +No danger as yet. But, mind! if you attempt to conceal him from his +lawful brother, I'll summon here the myrmidons of the law.' + +Mrs. Sockley showed a serious face. + +'You know his habits, Mr. Cogglesby; and one doesn't go against any one +of his whimsies, or there's consequences: but the house is open to you, +sir. I don't wish to hide him.' + +Andrew accepted this intelligent evasion of Tom Cogglesby's orders as +sufficient, and immediately proceeded upstairs. A door shut on the first +landing. Andrew went to this door and knocked. No answer. He tried to +open it, but found that he had been forestalled. After threatening to +talk business through the key-hole, the door was unlocked, and Old Tom +appeared. + +'So! now you're dogging me into the country. Be off; make an +appointment. Saturday's my holiday. You know that.' + +Andrew pushed through the doorway, and, by way of an emphatic reply and a +silencing one, delivered a punch slap into Old Tom's belt. + +'Confound you, Nan!' said Old Tom, grimacing, but friendly, as if his +sympathies had been irresistibly assailed. + +'It 's done, Tom! I've done it. Won my bet, now,' Andrew exclaimed. +'The women-poor creatures! What a state they're in. I pity 'em.' + +Old Tom pursed his lips, and eyed his brother incredulously, but with +curious eagerness. + +'Oh, Lord! what a face I've had to wear!' Andrew continued, and while he +sank into a chair and rubbed his handkerchief over his crisp hair, Old +Tom let loose a convinced and exulting, 'ha! ha!' + +'Yes, you may laugh. I've had all the bother,' said Andrew. + +'Serve ye right--marrying such cattle,' Old Tom snapped at him. + +'They believe we're bankrupt--owe fifty thousand clear, Tom!' + +'Ha! ha!' + +'Brewery stock and household furniture to be sold by general auction, +Friday week.' + +'Ha! ha!' + +'Not a place for any of us to poke our heads into. I talked about +"pitiless storms" to my poor Harry--no shelter to be had unless we go +down to Lymport, and stop with their brother in shop!' + +Old Tom did enjoy this. He took a great gulp of air for a tremendous +burst of laughter, and when this was expended and reflection came, his +features screwed, as if the acidest of flavours had ravished his palate. + +'Bravo, Nan! Didn't think you were man enough. Ha! ha! Nan--I say-- +eh? how did ye get on behind. the curtains?' + +The tale, to guess by Andrew's face, appeared to be too strongly infused +with pathos for revelation. + +'Will they go, Nan, eh? d' ye think they 'll go?' + +'Where else can they go, Tom? They must go there, or on the parish, you +know.' + +'They'll all troop down to the young tailor--eh?' + +'They can't sleep in the parks, Tom.' + +'No. They can't get into Buckingham Palace, neither--'cept as +housemaids. 'Gad, they're howling like cats, I'd swear--nuisance to the +neighbourhood--ha! ha!' + +Old Tom's cruel laughter made Andrew feel for the unhappy ladies. He +stuck his forehead, and leaned forward, saying: 'I don't know--'pon my +honour, I don't know--can't think we've--quite done right to punish 'em +so.' + +This acted like cold water on Old Tom's delight. He pitched it back in +the shape of a doubt of what Andrew had told him. Whereupon Andrew +defied him to face three miserable women on the verge of hysterics; and +Old Tom, beginning to chuckle again, rejoined that it would bring them to +their senses, and emancipate him. + +'You may laugh, Mr. Tom,' said Andrew; 'but if poor Harry should find me +out, deuce a bit more home for me.' + +Old Tom looked at him keenly, and rapped the table. 'Swear you did it, +Nan.' + +'You promise you'll keep the secret,' said Andrew. + +'Never make promises.' + +'Then there's a pretty life for me! I did it for that poor dear boy. +You were only up to one of your jokes--I see that. Confound you, Old +Tom, you've been making a fool of me.' + +The flattering charge was not rejected by Old Tom, who now had his +brother to laugh at as well. Andrew affected to be indignant and +desperate. + +'If you'd had a heart, Tom, you'd have saved the poor fellow without any +bother at all. What do you think? When I told him of our smash--ha! +ha! it isn't such a bad joke-well, I went to him, hanging my head, and he +offered to arrange our affairs--that is--' + +'Damned meddlesome young dog!' cried Old Tom, quite in a rage. + +'There--you're up in a twinkling,' said Andrew. 'Don't you see he +believed it, you stupid Old Tom? Lord! to hear him say how sorry he was, +and to see how glad he looked at the chance of serving us!' + +'Serving us!' Tom sneered. + +'Ha!' went Andrew. 'Yes. There. You're a deuced deal prouder than +fifty peers. You're an upside-down old despot!' + +No sharper retort rising to Old Tom's lips, he permitted his brother's +abuse of him to pass, declaring that bandying words was not his business, +he not being a Parliament man. + +'How about the Major, Nan? He coming down, too?' + +'Major!' cried Andrew. 'Lucky if he keeps his commission. Coming down? +No. He's off to the Continent.' + +'Find plenty of scamps there to keep him company,' added Tom. 'So he's +broke--eh? ha! ha!' + +'Tom,' said Andrew, seriously, 'I'll tell you all about it, if you 'll +swear not to split on me, because it would really upset poor Harry so. +She 'd think me such a beastly hypocrite, I couldn't face her +afterwards.' + +'Lose what pluck you have--eh?' Tom jerked out his hand, and bade his +brother continue. + +Compelled to trust in him without a promise, Andrew said: 'Well, then, +after we'd arranged it, I went back to Harry, and begged her to have poor +Van at the house told her what I hoped you'd do for him about getting him +into the Brewery. She's very kind, Tom, 'pon my honour she is. She was +willing, only--' + +'Only--eh?' + +'Well, she was so afraid it'd hurt her sisters to see him there.' + +Old Tom saw he was in for excellent fun, and wouldn't spoil it for the +world. + +'Yes, Nan?' + +'So I went to Caroline. She was easy enough; and she went to the +Countess.' + +'Well, and she--?' + +'She was willing, too, till Lady Jocelyn came and took Miss Bonner home +to Beckley, and because Evan had written to my lady to fetch her, the +Countess--she was angry. That was all. Because of that, you know. +But yet she agreed. But when Miss Bonner had gone, it turned out that +the Major was the obstacle. They were all willing enough to have Evan +there, but the Major refused. I didn't hear him. I wasn't going to ask +him. I mayn't be a match for three women, but man to man, eh, Tom? +You'd back me there? So Harry said the Major 'd make Caroline miserable, +if his wishes were disrespected. By George, I wish I'd know, then. +Don't you think it odd, Tom, now? There's a Duke of Belfield the fellow +had hooked into his Company; and--through Evan I heard--the Duke had his +name struck off. After that, the Major swore at the Duke once or twice, +and said Caroline wasn't to go out with him. Suddenly, he insists that +she shall go. Days the poor thing kept crying! One day, he makes her +go. She hasn't the spirit of my Harry or the Countess. By good luck, +Van, who was hunting ferns for some friends of his, met them on Sunday in +Richmond Park, and Van took her away from the Duke. But, Tom, think of +Van seeing a fellow watching her wherever she went, and hearing the +Duke's coachman tell that fellow he had orders to drive his master and a +lady hard on to the sea that night. I don't believe it--it wasn't +Caroline! But what do you think of our finding out that beast of a spy +to be in the Major's pay? We did. Van put a constable on his track; we +found him out, and he confessed it. A fact, Tom! That decided me. If +it was only to get rid of a brute, I determined I 'd do it, and I did. +Strike came to me to get my name for a bill that night. 'Gad, he looked +blanker than his bill when he heard of us two bankrupt. I showed him one +or two documents I'd got ready. Says he: "Never mind; it'll only be a +couple of hundred more in the schedule." Stop, Tom! he's got some of +our blood. I don't think he meant it. He is hard pushed. Well, I gave +him a twentier, and he was off the next night. You 'll soon see all +about the Company in the papers.' + +At the conclusion of Andrew's recital, Old Tom thrummed and looked on the +floor under a heavy frown. His mouth worked dubiously, and, from moment +to moment, he plucked at his waistcoat and pulled it down, throwing back +his head and glaring. + +'I 've knocked that fellow over once,' he said. 'Wish he hadn't got up +again.' + +Andrew nodded. + +'One good thing, Nan. He never boasted of our connection. Much obliged +to him.' + +'Yes,' said Andrew, who was gladly watching Old Tom's change of mood with +a quiescent aspect. + +'Um!--must keep it quiet from his poor old mother.' + +Andrew again affirmatived his senior's remarks. That his treatment of +Old Tom was sound, he presently had proof of. The latter stood up, and +after sniffing in an injured way for about a minute, launched out his +right leg, and vociferated that he would like to have it in his power to +kick all the villains out of the world: a modest demand Andrew at once +chimed in with; adding that, were such a faculty extended to him, he +would not object to lose the leg that could benefit mankind so +infinitely, and consented to its following them. Then, Old Tom, who was +of a practical turn, meditated, swung his foot, and gave one grim kick at +the imaginary bundle of villains, discharged them headlong straight into +space. Andrew, naturally imitative, and seeing that he had now to kick +them flying, attempted to excel Old Tom in the vigour of his delivery. +No wonder that the efforts of both were heating: they were engaged in the +task of ridding the globe of the larger half of its inhabitants. Tom +perceived Andrew's useless emulation, and with a sound translated by +'yack,' sent his leg out a long way. Not to be outdone, Andrew +immediately, with a still louder 'yack,' committed himself to an effort +so violent that the alternative between his leg coming off, or his being +taken off his leg, was propounded by nature, and decided by the laws of +gravity in a trice. Joyful grunts were emitted by Old Tom at the sight +of Andrew prostrate, rubbing his pate. But Mrs. Sockley, to whom the +noise of Andrew's fall had suggested awful fears of a fratricidal +conflict upstairs, hurried forthwith to announce to them that the +sovereign remedy for human ills, the promoter of concord, the healer of +feuds, the central point of man's destiny in the flesh--Dinner, was +awaiting them. + +To the dinner they marched. + +Of this great festival be it simply told that the supply was copious and +of good quality--much too good and copious for a bankrupt host: that Evan +and Mr. John Raikes were formally introduced to Old Tom before the repast +commenced, and welcomed some three minutes after he had decided the +flavour of his first glass; that Mr. Raikes in due time preferred his +petition for release from a dreadful engagement, and furnished vast +amusement to the company under Old Tom's hand, until, by chance, he +quoted a scrap of Latin, at which the brothers Cogglesby, who would have +faced peers and princes without being disconcerted, or performing mental +genuflexions, shut their mouths and looked injured, unhappy, and in the +presence of a superior: Mr. Raikes not being the man to spare them. +Moreover, a surprise was afforded to Evan. Andrew stated to Old Tom that +the hospitality of Main Street, Lymport,--was open to him. Strange to +say, Old Tom accepted it on the spot, observing, 'You're master of the +house--can do what you like, if you 're man enough,' and adding that he +thanked him, and would come in a day or two. The case of Mr. Raikes was +still left uncertain, for as the bottle circulated, he exhibited such a +faculty for apt, but to the brothers, totally incomprehensible quotation, +that they fled from him without leaving him time to remember what special +calamity was on his mind, or whether this earth was other than an abode +conceived in great jollity for his life-long entertainment. + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +JULIANA + +The sick night-light burned steadily in Juliana's chamber. On a couch, +beside her bed, Caroline lay sleeping, tired with a long watch. Two +sentences had been passed on Juliana: one on her heart: one on her body: +'Thou art not loved'; and, 'Thou must die.' The frail passion of her +struggle against her destiny was over with her. Quiet as that quiet +which Nature was taking her to, her body reposed. Calm as the solitary +night-light before her open eyes, her spirit was wasting away. 'If I am +not loved, then let me die!' In such a sense she bowed to her fate. + +At an hour like this, watching the round of light on the ceiling, with +its narrowing inner rings, a sufferer from whom pain has fled looks back +to the shores she is leaving, and would be well with them who walk there. +It is false to imagine that schemers and workers in the dark are +destitute of the saving gift of conscience. They have it, and it is +perhaps made livelier in them than with easy people; and therefore, they +are imperatively spurred to hoodwink it. Hence, their self-delusion is +deep and endures. They march to their object, and gaining or losing it, +the voice that calls to them is the voice of a blind creature, whom any +answer, provided that the answer is ready, will silence. And at an hour +like this, when finally they snatch their minute of sight on the +threshold of black night, their souls may compare with yonder shining +circle on the ceiling, which, as the light below gasps for air, +contracts, and extends but to mingle with the darkness. They would be +nobler, better, boundlessly good to all;--to those who have injured them +to those whom they have injured. Alas! for any definite deed the limit +of their circle is immoveable, and they must act within it. The trick +they have played themselves imprisons them. Beyond it, they cease to be. + +Lying in this utter stillness, Juliana thought of Rose; of her beloved by +Evan. The fever that had left her blood, had left it stagnant, and her +thoughts were quite emotionless. She looked faintly on a far picture. +She saw Rose blooming with pleasures in Elburne House, sliding as a boat +borne by the river's tide to sea, away from her living joy. The breast +of Rose was lucid to her, and in that hour of insight she had clear +knowledge of her cousin's heart; how it scoffed at its base love, and +unwittingly betrayed the power on her still, by clinging to the world and +what it would give her to fill the void; how externally the lake was +untroubled, and a mirror to the passing day; and how within there pressed +a flood against an iron dam. Evan, too, she saw. The Countess was right +in her judgement of Juliana's love. Juliana looked very little to his +qualities. She loved him when she thought him guilty, which made her +conceive that her love was of a diviner cast than Rose was capable of. +Guilt did not spoil his beauty to her; his gentleness and glowing manhood +were unchanged; and when she knew him as he was, the revelation of his +high nature simply confirmed her impression of his physical perfections. +She had done him a wrong; at her death news would come to him, and it +might be that he would bless her name. Because she sighed no longer for +those dear lips and strong arms to close about her tremulous frame, it +seemed to her that she had quite surrendered him. Generous to Evan, she +would be just to Rose. Beneath her pillow she found pencil and paper, +and with difficulty, scarce seeing her letters in the brown light, she +began to trace lines of farewell to Rose. Her conscience dictated to her +thus, 'Tell Rose that she was too ready to accept his guilt; and that in +this as in all things, she acted with the precipitation of her character. +Tell her that you always trusted, and that now you know him innocent. +Give her the proofs you have. Show that he did it to shield his +intriguing sister. Tell her that you write this only to make her just to +him. End with a prayer that Rose may be happy.' + +Ere Juliana had finished one sentence, she resigned the pencil. Was it +not much, even at the gates of death, to be the instrument to send Rose +into his arms? The picture swayed before her, helping her weakness. She +found herself dreaming that he had kissed her once. Dorothy, she +remembered, had danced up to her one day, to relate what the maids of the +house said of the gentleman--(at whom, it is known, they look with the +licence of cats toward kings); and Dorothy's fresh careless mouth had +told how one observant maid, amorously minded, proclaimed of Evan, to a +companion of her sex, that, 'he was the only gentleman who gave you an +idea of how he would look when he was kissing you.' Juliana cherished +that vision likewise. Young ladies are not supposed to do so, if menial +maids are; but Juliana did cherish it, and it possessed her fancy. Bear +in your recollection that she was not a healthy person. Diseased little +heroines may be made attractive, and are now popular; but strip off the +cleverly woven robe which is fashioned to cover them, and you will find +them in certain matters bearing a resemblance to menial maids. + +While the thoughts of his kiss lasted, she could do nothing; but lay with +her two hands out on the bed, and her eyelids closed. Then waking, she +took the pencil again. It would not move: her bloodless fingers fell +from it. + +'If they do not meet, and he never marries, I may claim him in the next +world,' she mused. + +But conscience continued uneasy. She turned her wrist and trailed a +letter from beneath the pillow. It was from Mrs. Shorne. Juliana knew +the contents. She raised it unopened as high as her faltering hands +permitted, and read like one whose shut eyes read syllables of fire on +the darkness. + +'Rose has at last definitely engaged herself to Ferdinand, you will be +glad to hear, and we may now treat her as a woman.' + +Having absorbed these words, Juliana's hand found strength to write, with +little difficulty, what she had to say to Rose. She conceived it to be +neither sublime nor generous: not even good; merely her peculiar duty. +When it was done, she gave a long, low sigh of relief. + +Caroline whispered, 'Dearest child, are you awake?' + +'Yes,' she answered. + +'Sorrowful, dear?' + +' Very quiet.' + +Caroline reached her hand over to her, and felt the paper. 'What is +this?' + +'My good-bye to Rose. I want it folded now.' + +Caroline slipped from the couch to fulfil her wish. She enclosed the +pencilled scrap of paper, sealed it, and asked, ' Is that right?' + +'Now unlock my desk,' Juliana uttered, feebly. 'Put it beside a letter +addressed to a law-gentleman. Post both the morning I am gone.' + +Caroline promised to obey, and coming to Juliana to mark her looks, +observed a faint pleased smile dying away, and had her hand gently +squeezed. Juliana's conscience had preceded her contentedly to its last +sleep; and she, beneath that round of light on the ceiling, drew on her +counted breaths in peace till dawn. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +ROSE + +Have you seen a young audacious spirit smitten to the earth? It is a +singular study; and, in the case of young women, a trap for inexperienced +men. Rose, who had commanded and managed every one surrounding her since +infancy, how humble had she now become!--how much more womanly in +appearance, and more child-like at heart! She was as wax in Lady +Elburne's hands. A hint of that veiled episode, the Beckley campaign, +made Rose pliant, as if she had woven for herself a rod of scorpions. +The high ground she had taken; the perfect trust in one; the scorn of any +judgement, save her own; these had vanished from her. Rose, the tameless +heroine who had once put her mother's philosophy in action, was the +easiest filly that turbaned matron ever yet drove into the straight road +of the world. It even surprised Lady Jocelyn to see how wonderfully she +had been broken in by her grandmother. Her ladyship wrote to Drummond to +tell him of it, and Drummond congratulated her, saying, however: 'Changes +of this sort don't come of conviction. Wait till you see her at home. +I think they have been sticking pins into the sore part.' + +Drummond knew Rose well. In reality there was no change in her. She was +only a suppliant to be spared from ridicule: spared from the application +of the scourge she had woven for herself. + +And, ah! to one who deigned to think warmly still of such a disgraced +silly creature, with what gratitude she turned! He might well suppose +love alone could pour that profusion of jewels at his feet. + +Ferdinand, now Lord Laxley, understood the merits of his finger-nails +better than the nature of young women; but he is not to be blamed for +presuming that Rose had learnt to adore him. Else why did she like his +company so much? He was not mistaken in thinking she looked up to him. +She seemed to beg to be taken into his noble serenity. In truth she +sighed to feel as he did, above everybody!--she that had fallen so low! +Above everybody!--born above them, and therefore superior by grace +divine! To this Rose Jocelyn had come--she envied the mind of Ferdinand. + +He, you may be sure, was quite prepared to accept her homage. Rose he +had always known to be just the girl for him; spirited, fresh, and with +fine teeth; and once tied to you safe to be staunch. They walked +together, rode together, danced together. Her soft humility touched him +to eloquence. Say she was a little hypocrite, if you like, when the +blood came to her cheeks under his eyes. Say she was a heartless minx +for allowing it to be bruited that she and Ferdinand were betrothed. I +can but tell you that her blushes were blushes of gratitude to one who +could devote his time to such a disgraced silly creature, and that she, +in her abject state, felt a secret pleasure in the protection Ferdinand's +name appeared to extend over her, and was hardly willing to lose it. + +So far Lady Elburne's tact and discipline had been highly successful. +One morning, in May, Ferdinand, strolling with Rose down the garden made +a positive appeal to her common sense and friendly feeling; by which she +understood that he wanted her consent to his marriage with her. + +Rose answered: + +'Who would have me?' + +Ferdinand spoke pretty well, and ultimately got possession of her hand. +She let him keep it, thinking him noble for forgetting that another had +pressed it before him. + +Some minutes later the letters were delivered. One of them contained +Juliana's dark-winged missive. + +'Poor, poor Juley!' said Rose, dropping her head, after reading all that +was on the crumpled leaf with an inflexible face. And then, talking on, +long low sighs lifted her bosom at intervals. She gazed from time to +time with a wistful conciliatory air on Ferdinand. Rushing to her +chamber, the first cry her soul framed was: + +'He did not kiss me!' + +The young have a superstitious sense of something incontestably true in +the final protestations of the dead. Evan guiltless! she could not +quite take the meaning this revelation involved. That which had been +dead was beginning to move within her; but blindly: and now it stirred +and troubled; now sank. Guiltless all she had thought him! Oh! she +knew she could not have been deceived. But why, why had he hidden his +sacrifice from her? + +'It is better for us both, of course,' said Rose, speaking the world's +wisdom, parrot-like, and bursting into tears the next minute. Guiltless, +and gloriously guiltless! but nothing--nothing to her! + +She tried to blame him. It would not do. She tried to think of that +grovelling loathsome position painted to her by Lady Elburne's graphic +hand. Evan dispersed the gloomy shades like sunshine. Then in a sort of +terror she rejoiced to think she was partially engaged to Ferdinand, and +found herself crying again with exultation, that he had not kissed her: +for a kiss on her mouth was to Rose a pledge and a bond. + +The struggle searched her through: bared her weakness, probed her +strength; and she, seeing herself, suffered grievously in her self-love. +Am I such a coward, inconstant, cold? she asked. Confirmatory answers +coming, flung her back under the shield of Ferdinand if for a moment her +soul stood up armed and defiant, it was Evan's hand she took. + +To whom do I belong? was another terrible question. In her ideas, if +Evan was not chargeable with that baseness which had sundered them he +might claim her yet, if he would. If he did, what then? Must she go to +him? + +Impossible: she was in chains. Besides, what a din of laughter there +would be to see her led away by him. Twisting her joined hands: weeping +for her cousin, as she thought, Rose passed hours of torment over +Juliana's legacy to her. + +'Why did I doubt him?' she cried, jealous that any soul should have known +and trusted him better. Jealous and I am afraid that the kindling of +that one feature of love relighted the fire of her passion thus fervidly. +To be outstripped in generosity was hateful to her. Rose, naturally, +could not reflect that a young creature like herself, fighting against +the world, as we call it, has all her faculties at the utmost stretch, +and is often betrayed by failing nature when the will is still valiant. + +And here she sat-in chains! 'Yes! I am fit only to be the wife of an +idle brainless man, with money and a title,' she said, in extreme self- +contempt. She caught a glimpse of her whole life in the horrid tomb of +his embrace, and questions whether she could yield her hand to him-- +whether it was right in the eyes of heaven, rushed impetuously to console +her, and defied anything in the shape of satisfactory affirmations. +Nevertheless, the end of the struggle was, that she felt that she was +bound to Ferdinand. + +'But this I will do,' said Rose, standing with heat-bright eyes and deep- +coloured cheeks before the glass. 'I will clear his character at +Beckley. I will help him. I will be his friend. I will wipe out the +injustice I did him.' And this bride-elect of a lord absolutely added +that she was unworthy to be the wife of a tailor! + +'He! how unequalled he is! There is nothing he fears except shame. +Oh! how sad it will be for him to find no woman in his class to +understand him and be his helpmate!' + +Over, this sad subject, of which we must presume her to be accurately +cognizant, Rose brooded heavily. By mid-day she gave her Grandmother +notice that she was going home to Juliana's funeral. + +'Well, Rose, if you think it necessary to join the ceremony,' said Lady +Elburne. 'Beckley is bad quarters for you, as you have learnt. There +was never much love between you cousins.' + +'No, and I don't pretend to it,' Rose answered. 'I am sorry poor Juley's +gone.' + +'She's better gone for many reasons--she appears to have been a little +venomous toad,' said Lady Elburne; and Rose, thinking of a snakelike +death-bite working through her blood, rejoined: 'Yes, she isn't to be +pitied she 's better off than most people.' + +So it was arranged that Rose should go. Ferdinand and her aunt, Mrs. +Shorne, accompanied her. Mrs. Shorne gave them their opportunities, +albeit they were all stowed together in a carriage, and Ferdinand seemed +willing to profit by them; but Rose's hand was dead, and she sat by her +future lord forming the vow on her lips that they should never be touched +by him. + +Arrived at Beckley, she, to her great delight, found Caroline there, +waiting for the funeral. In a few minutes she got her alone, and after +kisses, looked penetratingly into her lovely eyes, shook her head, and +said: 'Why were you false to me?' + +'False?' echoed Caroline. + +'You knew him. You knew why he did that. Why did you not save me?' + +Caroline fell upon her neck, asking pardon. She spared her the recital +of facts further than the broad avowal. Evan's present condition she +plainly stated: and Rose, when the bitter pangs had ceased, made oath to +her soul she would rescue him from it. + +In addition to the task of clearing Evan's character, and rescuing him, +Rose now conceived that her engagement to Ferdinand must stand ice-bound +till Evan had given her back her troth. How could she obtain it from +him? How could she take anything from one so noble and so poor! Happily +there was no hurry; though before any bond was ratified, she decided +conscientiously that it must be done. + +You see that like a lithe snake she turns on herself, and must be +tracked in and out. Not being a girl to solve the problem with tears, +or outright perfidy, she had to ease her heart to the great shock little +by little--sincere as far as she knew: as far as one who loves may be. +The day of the funeral came and went. The Jocelyns were of their +mother's opinion: that for many reasons Juliana was better out of the +way. Mrs. Bonner's bequest had been a severe blow to Sir Franks. +However, all was now well. The estate naturally lapsed to Lady Jocelyn. +No one in the house dreamed of a will, signed with Juliana's name, +attested, under due legal forms, being in existence. None of the members +of the family imagined that at Beckley Court they were then residing on +somebody else's ground. + +Want of hospitable sentiments was not the cause that led to an intimation +from Sir Franks to his wife, that Mrs. Strike must not be pressed to +remain, and that Rose must not be permitted to have her own way in this. +Knowing very well that Mrs. Shorne spoke through her husband's mouth, +Lady Jocelyn still acquiesced, and Rose, who had pressed Caroline +publicly to stay, had to be silent when the latter renewed her faint +objections; so Caroline said she would leave on the morrow morning. + +Juliana, with her fretfulness, her hand bounties, her petty egoisms, and +sudden far-leaping generosities, and all the contradictory impulses of +her malady, had now departed utterly. The joys of a landed proprietor +mounted into the head of Sir Franks. He was up early the next morning, +and he and Harry walked over a good bit of the ground before breakfast. +Sir Franks meditated making it entail, and favoured Harry with a lecture +on the duty of his shaping the course of his conduct at once after the +model of the landed gentry generally. + +'And you may think yourself lucky to come into that catalogue--the son of +a younger son!' said Sir Franks, tapping Mr. Harry's shoulder. Harry +also began to enjoy the look and smell of land. At the breakfast, which, +though early, was well attended, Harry spoke of the adviseability of +felling timber here, planting there, and so forth, after the model his +father held up. Sir Franks nodded approval of his interest in the +estate, but reserved his opinion on matters of detail. + +'All I beg of you is,' said Lady Jocelyn, 'that you won't let us have +turnips within the circuit of a mile'; which was obligingly promised. + +The morning letters were delivered and opened with the customary +calmness. + +'Letter from old George,' Harry sings out, and buzzes over a few lines. +'Halloa!--Hum!' He was going to make a communication, but catching sight +of Caroline, tossed the letter over to Ferdinand, who read it and tossed +it back with the comment of a careless face. + +'Read it, Rosey?' says Harry, smiling bluntly. + +Rather to his surprise, Rose took the letter. Study her eyes if you wish +to gauge the potency of one strong dose of ridicule on an ingenuous young +heart. She read that Mr. George Uplift had met 'our friend Mr. Snip' +riding, by moonlight, on the road to Beckley. That great orbed night of +their deep tender love flashed luminously through her frame, storming at +the base epithet by which her lover was mentioned, flooding grandly over +the ignominies cast on him by the world. She met the world, as it were, +in a death-grapple; she matched the living heroic youth she felt him to +be, with that dead wooden image of him which it thrust before her. Her +heart stood up singing like a craven who sees the tide of victory setting +toward him. But this passed beneath her eyelids. When her eyes were +lifted, Ferdinand could have discovered nothing in them to complain of, +had his suspicions been light to raise: nor could Mrs. Shorne perceive +that there was the opening for a shrewd bodkin-thrust. Rose had got a +mask at last: her colour, voice, expression, were perfectly at command. +She knew it to be a cowardice to wear any mask: but she had been burnt, +horribly burnt: how much so you may guess from the supple dissimulation +of such a bold clear-visaged girl. She conquered the sneers of the world +in her soul: but her sensitive skin was yet alive to the pangs of the +scorching it had been subjected to when weak, helpless, and betrayed by +Evan, she stood with no philosophic parent to cry fair play for her, +among the skilful torturers of Elburne House. + +Sir Franks had risen and walked to the window. + +'News?' said Lady Jocelyn, wheeling round in her chair. + +The one eyebrow up of the easy-going baronet signified trouble of mind. +He finished his third perusal of a letter that appeared to be written in +a remarkably plain legal hand, and looking as men do when their +intelligences are just equal to the comprehension or expression of an +oath, handed the letter to his wife, and observed that he should be found +in the library. Nevertheless he waited first to mark its effect on Lady +Jocelyn. At one part of the document her forehead wrinkled slightly. + +'Doesn't sound like a joke!' he said. + +She answered: + +'No.' + +Sir Franks, apparently quite satisfied by her ready response, turned on +his heel and left the room quickly. + +An hour afterward it was rumoured and confirmed that Juliana Bonner had +willed all the worldly property she held in her own right, comprising +Beckley Court, to Mr. Evan Harrington, of Lymport, tailor. An abstract +of the will was forwarded. The lawyer went on to say, that he had +conformed to the desire of the testatrix in communicating the existence +of the aforesaid will six days subsequent to her death, being the day +after her funeral. + +There had been railing and jeering at the Countess de Saldar, the clever +outwitted exposed adventuress, at Elburne House and Beckley Court. What +did the crowing cleverer aristocrats think of her now? + +On Rose the blow fell bitterly. Was Evan also a foul schemer? Was he of +a piece with his intriguing sister? His close kinship with the Countess +had led her to think baseness possible to him when it was confessed by +his own mouth once. She heard black names cast at him and the whole of +the great Mel's brood, and incapable of quite disbelieving them merited, +unable to challenge and rebut them, she dropped into her recent state of +self-contempt: into her lately-instilled doubt whether it really was in +Nature's power, unaided by family-portraits, coats-of-arms, ball-room +practice, and at least one small phial of Essence of Society, to make a +Gentleman. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +CONTAINS A WARNING TO ALL CONSPIRATORS + +This, if you have done me the favour to read it aright, has been a +chronicle of desperate heroism on the part of almost all the principal +personages represented. But not the Countess de Saldar, scaling the +embattled fortress of Society; nor Rose, tossing its keys to her lover +from the shining turret-tops; nor Evan, keeping bright the lamp of self- +respect in his bosom against South wind and East; none excel friend +Andrew Cogglesby, who, having fallen into Old Tom's plot to humiliate his +wife and her sisters, simply for Evan's sake, and without any distinct +notion of the terror, confusion, and universal upset he was bringing on +his home, could yet, after a scared contemplation of the scene when he +returned from his expedition to Fallow field, continue to wear his rueful +mask; and persevere in treacherously outraging his lofty wife. + +He did it to vindicate the ties of blood against accidents of position. +Was he justified? I am sufficiently wise to ask my own sex alone. + +On the other side, be it said (since in our modern days every hero must +have his weak heel), that now he had gone this distance it was difficult +to recede. It would be no laughing matter to tell his solemn Harriet +that he had been playing her a little practical joke. His temptations to +give it up were incessant and most agitating; but if to advance seemed +terrific, there was, in stopping short, an awfulness so overwhelming that +Andrew abandoned himself to the current, his real dismay adding to his +acting powers. + +The worst was, that the joke was no longer his: it was Old Tom's. He +discovered that he was in Old Tom's hands completely. Andrew had thought +that he would just frighten the women a bit, get them down to Lymport for +a week or so, and then announce that matters were not so bad with the +Brewery as he had feared; concluding the farce with a few domestic +fireworks. Conceive his dismay when he entered the house, to find there +a man in possession. + +Andrew flew into such a rage that he committed an assault on the man. +So ungovernable was his passion, that for some minutes Harriet's measured +voice summoned him from over the banisters above, quite in vain. The +miserable Englishman refused to be taught that his house had ceased to be +his castle. It was something beyond a joke, this! The intruder, +perfectly docile, seeing that by accurate calculation every shake he got +involved a bottle of wine for him, and ultimate compensation probably to +the amount of a couple of sovereigns, allowed himself to be lugged up +stairs, in default of summary ejection on the point of Andrew's toe into +the street. There he was faced to the lady of the house, who apologized +to him, and requested her husband to state what had made him guilty of +this indecent behaviour. The man showed his papers. They were quite in +order. 'At the suit of Messrs. Grist.' + +'My own lawyers!' cried Andrew, smacking his forehead; and Old Tom's +devilry flashed on him at once. He sank into a chair. + +'Why did you bring this person up here?' said Harriet, like a speaking +statue. + +'My dear!' Andrew answered, and spread out his hand, and waggled his +head; 'My--please!--I--I don't know. We all want exercise.' + +The man laughed, which was kindly of him, but offensive to Mrs. +Cogglesby, who gave Andrew a glance which was full payment for his +imbecile pleasantry, and promised more. + +With a hospitable inquiry as to the condition of his appetite, and a +request that he would be pleased to satisfy it to the full, the man was +dismissed: whereat, as one delivered of noxious presences, the Countess +rustled into sight. Not noticing Andrew, she lisped to Harriet: +'Misfortunes are sometimes no curses! I bless the catarrh that has +confined Silva to his chamber, and saved him from a bestial exhibition.' + +The two ladies then swept from the room, and left Andrew to perspire at +leisure. + +Fresh tribulations awaited him when he sat down to dinner. Andrew liked +his dinner to be comfortable, good, and in plenty. This may not seem +strange. The fact is stated that I may win for him the warm sympathies +of the body of his countrymen. He was greeted by a piece of cold boiled +neck of mutton and a solitary dish of steaming potatoes. The blank +expanse of table-cloth returned his desolate stare. + +'Why, what's the meaning of this?' Andrew brutally exclaimed, as he +thumped the table. + +The Countess gave a start, and rolled a look as of piteous supplication +to spare a lady's nerves, addressed to a ferocious brigand. Harriet +answered: ' It means that I will have no butcher's bills.' + +'Butcher's bills!' butcher's bills!' echoed Andrew; 'why, you must have +butcher's bills; why, confound! why, you'll have a bill for this, won't +you, Harry? eh? of course!' + +'There will be no more bills dating from yesterday,' said his wife. + +'What! this is paid for, then?' + +'Yes, Mr. Cogglesby; and so will all household expenses be, while my +pocket-money lasts.' + +Resting his eyes full on Harriet a minute, Andrew dropped them on the +savourless white-rimmed chop, which looked as lonely in his plate as its +parent dish on the table. The poor dear creature's pocket-money had paid +for it! The thought, mingling with a rush of emotion, made his ideas +spin. His imagination surged deliriously. He fancied himself at the +Zoological Gardens, exchanging pathetic glances with a melancholy +marmoset. Wonderfully like one the chop looked! There was no use in +his trying to eat it. He seemed to be fixing his teeth in solid tears. +He choked. Twice he took up knife and fork, put them down again, and +plucking forth his handkerchief, blew a tremendous trumpet, that sent the +Countess's eyes rolling to the ceiling, as if heaven were her sole refuge +from such vulgarity. + +'Damn that Old Tom!' he shouted at last, and pitched back in his chair. + +'Mr. Cogglesby!' and 'In the presence of ladies!' were the admonishing +interjections of the sisters, at whom the little man frowned in turns. + +'Do you wish us to quit the room, sir?' inquired his wife. + +'God bless your soul, you little darling!' he apostrophized that stately +person. 'Here, come along with me, Harry. A wife's a wife, I say--hang +it! Just outside the room--just a second! or up in a corner will do.' + +Mrs. Cogglesby was amazed to see him jump up and run round to her. She +was prepared to defend her neck from his caress, and refused to go: but +the words, 'Something particular to tell you,' awakened her curiosity, +which urged her to compliance. She rose and went with him to the door. + +'Well, sir; what is it?' + +No doubt he was acting under a momentary weakness he was about to betray +the plot and take his chance of forgiveness; but her towering port, her +commanding aspect, restored his courage. (There may be a contrary view +of the case.) He enclosed her briskly in a connubial hug, and remarked +with mad ecstasy: 'What a duck you are, Harry! What a likeness between +you and your mother.' + +Mrs. Cogglesby disengaged herself imperiously. Had he called her aside +for this gratuitous insult? Contrite, he saw his dreadful error. + +'Harry! I declare!' was all he was allowed to say. Mrs. Cogglesby +marched back to her chair, and recommenced the repast in majestic +silence. + +Andrew sighed; he attempted to do the same. He stuck his fork in the +blanched whiskerage of his marmoset, and exclaimed: 'I can't!' + +He was unnoticed. + +'You do not object to plain diet?' said Harriet to Louisa. + +'Oh, no, in verity!' murmured the Countess. 'However plain it be! +Absence of appetite, dearest. You are aware I partook of luncheon at +mid-day with the Honourable and Reverend Mr. Duffian. You must not look +condemnation at your Louy for that. Luncheon is not conversion!' + +Harriet observed that this might be true; but still, to her mind, it was +a mistake to be too intimate with dangerous people. 'And besides,' she +added, 'Mr. Duffian is no longer "the Reverend." We deprive all +renegades of their spiritual titles. His worldly ones let him keep.' + +Her superb disdain nettled the Countess. + +'Dear Harriet!' she said, with less languor, 'You are utterly and totally +and entirely mistaken. I tell you so positively. Renegade! The +application of such a word to such a man! Oh! and it is false, Harriet +quite! Renegade means one who has gone over to the Turks, my dear. I am +almost certain I saw it in Johnson's Dictionary, or an: improvement upon +Johnson, by a more learned author. But there is the fact, if Harriet can +only bring her--shall I say stiff-necked prejudices to envisage it?' + +Harriet granted her sister permission to apply the phrases she stood in +need of, without impeaching her intimacy with the most learned among +lexicographers. + +'And is there no such thing as being too severe?' the Countess resumed. +'What our enemies call unchristian!' + +'Mr. Duffian has no cause to complain of us,' said Harriet. + +'Nor does he do so, dearest. Calumny may assail him; you may utterly +denude him--' + +'Adam!' interposed Andrew, distractedly listening. He did not disturb +the Countess's flow. + +'You may vilify and victimize Mr. Duffian, and strip him of the honours +of his birth, but, like the Martyrs, he will still continue the perfect +nobleman. Stoned, I assure you that Mr. Duffian would preserve his +breeding. In character he is exquisite; a polish to defy misfortune.' + +'I suppose his table is good?' said Harriet, almost ruffled by the +Countess's lecture. + +'Plate,' was remarked in the cold tone of supreme indifference. + +'Hem! good wines?' Andrew asked, waking up a little and not wishing to +be excluded altogether. + +'All is of the very best,' the Countess pursued her eulogy, not looking +at him. + +'Don't you think you could--eh, Harry?--manage a pint for me, my dear?' +Andrew humbly petitioned. 'This cold water--ha! ha! my stomach don't +like cold bathing.' + +His wretched joke rebounded from the impenetrable armour of the ladies. + +'The wine-cellar is locked,' said his wife. 'I have sealed up the key +till an inventory can be taken by some agent of the creditors.' + +'What creditors?' roared Andrew. + +'You can have some of the servants' beer,' Mrs. Cogglesby appended. + +Andrew studied her face to see whether she really was not hoisting him +with his own petard. Perceiving that she was sincerely acting according +to her sense of principle, he fumed, and departed to his privacy, unable +to stand it any longer. + +Then like a kite the Countess pounced upon his character. Would the +Honourable and Reverend Mr. Duflian decline to participate in the sparest +provender? Would he be guilty of the discourtesy of leaving table +without a bow or an apology, even if reduced to extremest poverty? No, +indeed! which showed that, under all circumstances, a gentleman was a +gentleman. And, oh! how she pitied her poor Harriet--eternally tied +to a most vulgar little man, without the gilding of wealth. + +'And a fool in his business to boot, dear!' + +'These comparisons do no good,' said Harriet. 'Andrew at least is not a +renegade, and never shall be while I live. I will do my duty by him, +however poor we are. And now, Louisa, putting my husband out of the +question, what are your intentions? I don't understand bankruptcy, but +I imagine they can do nothing to wife and children. My little ones must +have a roof over their heads; and, besides, there is little Maxwell. You +decline to go down to Lymport, of course.' + +'Decline!' cried the Countess, melodiously; 'and do not you?' + +'As far as I am concerned--yes. But I am not to think of myself.' + +The Countess meditated, and said: 'Dear Mr. Duflian has offered me his +hospitality. Renegades are not absolutely inhuman. They may be +generous. I have no moral doubt that Mr. Duflian would, upon my +representation--dare I venture?' + +'Sleep in his house! break bread with him!' exclaimed Harriet. 'What do +you think I am made of? I would perish--go to the workhouse, rather!' + +'I see you trooping there,' said the Countess, intent on the vision. + +'And have you accepted his invitation for yourself, Louisa?' + +The Countess was never to be daunted by threatening aspects. She gave +her affirmative with calmness and a deliberate smile. + +'You are going to live with him?' + +'Live with him! What expressions! My husband accompanies me.' + +Harriet drew up. + +'I know nothing, Louisa, that could give me more pain.' + +The Countess patted Harriet's knee. 'It succeeds to bankruptcy, +assuredly. But would you have me drag Silva to the--the shop, Harriet, +love? Alternatives!' + +Mrs. Andrew got up and rang the bell to have the remains of their dinner +removed. When this was done, she said, + +'Louisa, I don't know whether I am justified: you told me to-day I might +keep my jewels, trinkets, and lace, and such like. To me, I know they do +not belong now: but I will dispose of them to procure you an asylum +somewhere--they will fetch, I should think, L400,--to prevent your going +to Mr. Duffian.' + +No exhibition of great-mindedness which the Countess could perceive, ever +found her below it. + +'Never, love, never!' she said. + +'Then, will you go to Evan?' + +'Evan? I hate him!' The olive-hued visage was dark. It brightened as +she added, 'At least as much as my religious sentiments permit me to. A +boy who has thwarted me at every turn!--disgraced us! Indeed, I find it +difficult to pardon you the supposition of such a possibility as your own +consent to look on him ever again, Harriet.' + +'You have no children,' said Mrs. Andrew. + +The Countess mournfully admitted it. + +'There lies your danger with Mr. Duffian, Louisa!' + +'What! do you doubt my virtue?' asked the Countess. + +'Pish! I fear something different. You understand me. Mr. Duflian's +moral reputation is none of the best, perhaps.' + +'That was before he renegaded,' said the Countess. + +Harriet bluntly rejoined: 'You will leave that house a Roman Catholic.' + +'Now you have spoken,' said the Countess, pluming. ' Now let me explain +myself. My dear, I have fought worldly battles too long and too +earnestly. I am rightly punished. I do but quote Herbert Duffian's own +words: he is no flatterer though you say he has such soft fingers. I am +now engaged in a spiritual contest. He is very wealthy! I have resolved +to rescue back to our Church what can benefit the flock of which we form +a portion, so exceedingly!' + +At this revelation of the Countess's spiritual contest, Mrs. Andrew shook +a worldly head. + +'You have no chance with men there, Louisa.' + +'My Harriet complains of female weakness!' + +'Yes. We are strong in our own element, Louisa. Don't be tempted out of +it.' + +Sublime, the Countess rose: + +'Element! am I to be confined to one? What but spiritual solaces +could assist me to live, after the degradations I have had heaped on me? +I renounce the world. I turn my sight to realms where caste is unknown. +I feel no shame there of being a tailor's daughter. You see, I can bring +my tongue to name the thing in its actuality. Once, that member would +have blistered. Confess to me that, in spite of your children, you are +tempted to howl at the idea of Lymport--' + +The Countess paused, and like a lady about to fire off a gun, appeared to +tighten her nerves, crying out rapidly: + +'Shop! Shears! Geese! Cabbage! Snip! Nine to a man!' + +Even as the silence after explosions of cannon, that which reigned in the +room was deep and dreadful. + +'See,' the Countess continued, 'you are horrified you shudder. I name +all our titles, and if I wish to be red in my cheeks, I must rouge. It +is, in verity, as if my senseless clay were pelted, as we heard of Evan +at his first Lymport boys' school. You remember when he told us the +story? He lisped a trifle then. "I'm the thon of a thnip." Oh! it was +hell-fire to us, then; but now, what do I feel? Why, I avowed it to +Herbert Duffian openly, and he said, that the misfortune of dear Papa's +birth did not the less enable him to proclaim himself in conduct a +nobleman's offspring--' + +'Which he never was.' Harriet broke the rhapsody in a monotonous low +tone: the Countess was not compelled to hear: + +'--and that a large outfitter--one of the very largest, was in reality a +merchant, whose daughters have often wedded nobles of the land, and +become ancestresses! Now, Harriet, do you see what a truly religious +mind can do for us in the way of comfort? Oh! I bow in gratitude to +Herbert Duffian. I will not rest till I have led him back to our fold, +recovered from his error. He was our own preacher and pastor. He +quitted us from conviction. He shall return to us from conviction.' + +The Countess quoted texts, which I respect, and will not repeat. She +descanted further on spiritualism, and on the balm that it was to tailors +and their offspring; to all outcasts from Society. + +Overpowered by her, Harriet thus summed up her opinions: 'You were always +self-willed, Louisa.' + +'Say, full of sacrifice, if you would be just,' added the Countess; 'and +the victim of basest ingratitude.' + +'Well, you are in a dangerous path, Louisa.' + +Harriet had the last word, which usually the Countess was not disposed to +accord; but now she knew herself strengthened to do so, and was content +to smile pityingly on her sister. + +Full upon them in this frame of mind, arrived Caroline's great news from +Beckley. + +It was then that the Countess's conduct proved a memorable refutation of +cynical philosophy: she rejoiced in the good fortune of him who had +offended her! Though he was not crushed and annihilated (as he deserved +to be) by the wrong he had done, the great-hearted woman pardoned him! + +Her first remark was: 'Let him thank me for it or not, I will lose no +moment in hastening to load him with my congratulations.' + +Pleasantly she joked Andrew, and defended him from Harriet now. + +'So we are not all bankrupts, you see, dear brother-in-law.' + +Andrew had become so demoralized by his own plot, that in every turn of +events he scented a similar piece of human ingenuity. Harriet was angry +with his disbelief, or say, the grudging credit he gave to the glorious +news. Notwithstanding her calmness, the thoughts of Lymport had sickened +her soul, and it was only for the sake of her children, and from a sense +of the dishonesty of spending a farthing of the money belonging, as she +conceived, to the creditors, that she had consented to go. + +'I see your motive, Mr. Cogglesby,' she observed. 'Your measures are +disconcerted. I will remain here till my brother gives me shelter.' + +'Oh, that'll do,, my love; that's all I want,' said Andrew, sincerely. + +'Both of you, fools!' the Countess interjected. 'Know you Evan so +little? He will receive us anywhere: his arms are open to his kindred: +but to his heart the road is through humiliation, and it is to his heart +we seek admittance.' + +'What do you mean?' Harriet inquired. + +'Just this,' the Countess answered in bold English and her eyes were +lively, her figure elastic: ' We must all of us go down to the old shop +and shake his hand there--every man Jack of us!--I'm only quoting the +sailors, Harriet--and that's the way to win him.' + +She snapped her fingers, laughing. Harriet stared at her, and so did +Andrew, though for a different reason. She seemed to be transformed. +Seeing him inclined to gape, she ran up to him, caught up his chin +between her ten fingers, and kissed him on both cheeks, saying: + +'You needn't come, if you're too proud, you know, little man!' + +And to Harriet's look of disgust, the cause for which she divined with +her native rapidity, she said: 'What does it matter? They will talk, but +they can't look down on us now. Why, this is my doing!' + +She came tripping to her tall sister, to ask plaintively 'Mayn't I be +glad?' and bobbed a curtsey. + +Harriet desired Andrew to leave them. Flushed and indignant she then +faced the Countess. + +'So unnecessary!' she began. 'What can excuse your indiscretion, +Louisa?' + +The Countess smiled to hear her talking to her younger sister once more. +She shrugged. + +'Oh, if you will keep up the fiction, do. Andrew knows--he isn't an +idiot--and to him we can make light of it now. What does anybody's birth +matter, who's well off!' + +It was impossible for Harriet to take that view. The shop, if not the +thing, might still have been concealed from her husband, she thought. + +'It mattered to me when I was well off,' she said, sternly. + +'Yes; and to me when I was; but we've had a fall and a lesson since +that, my dear. Half the aristocracy of England spring from shops!-- +Shall I measure you?' + +Harriet never felt such a desire to inflict a slap upon mortal cheek. +She marched away from her in a tiff. On the other hand, Andrew was half +fascinated by the Countess's sudden re-assumption of girlhood, and +returned--silly fellow! to have another look at her. She had ceased, on +reflection, to be altogether so vivacious: her stronger second nature had +somewhat resumed its empire: still she was fresh, and could at times be +roguishly affectionate and she patted him, and petted him, and made much +of him; slightly railed at him for his uxoriousness and domestic +subjection, and proffered him her fingers to try the taste of. The truth +must be told: Mr. Duflian not being handy, she in her renewed earthly +happiness wanted to see her charms in a woman's natural mirror: namely, +the face of man: if of man on his knees, all the better and though a +little man is not much of a man, and a sister's husband is, or should be, +hardly one at all, still some sort of a reflector he must be. Two or +three jests adapted to Andrew's palate achieved his momentary +captivation. + +He said: 'Gad, I never kissed you in my life, Louy.' + +And she, with a flavour of delicate Irish brogue, 'Why don't ye catch +opportunity by the tail, then?' + +Perfect innocence, I assure you, on both sides. + +But mark how stupidity betrays. Andrew failed to understand her, and act +on the hint immediately. Had he done so, the affair would have been over +without a witness. As it happened, delay permitted Harriet to assist at +the ceremony. + +'It wasn't your mouth, Louy,' said Andrew. + +'Oh, my mouth!--that I keep for, my chosen,' was answered. + +'Gad, you make a fellow almost wish--' Andrew's fingers worked over his +poll, and then the spectre of righteous wrath flashed on him--naughty +little man that he was! He knew himself naughty, for it was the only +time since his marriage that he had ever been sorry to see his wife. +This is a comedy, and I must not preach lessons of life here: but I am +obliged to remark that the husband must be proof, the sister-in-law +perfect, where arrangements exist that keep them under one roof. She may +be so like his wife! Or, from the knowledge she has of his +circumstances, she may talk to him almost as his wife. He may forget +that she is not his wife! And then again, the small beginnings, which +are in reality the mighty barriers, are so easily slid over. But what is +the use of telling this to a pure generation? My constant error is in +supposing that I write for the wicked people who begat us. + +Note, however, the difference between the woman and the man! Shame +confessed Andrew's naughtiness; he sniggered pitiably: whereas the +Countess jumped up, and pointing at him, asked her sister what she +thought of that. Her next sentence, coolly delivered, related to some +millinery matter. If this was not innocence, what is? + +Nevertheless, I must here state that the scene related, innocent as it +was, and, as one would naturally imagine, of puny consequence, if any, +did no less a thing than, subsequently, to precipitate the Protestant +Countess de Saldar into the bosom of the Roman Catholic Church. A little +bit of play! + +It seems barely just. But if, as I have heard, a lady has trod on a +pebble and broken her nose, tremendous results like these warn us to be +careful how we walk. As for play, it was never intended that we should +play with flesh and blood. + +And, oh, be charitable, matrons of Britain! See here, Andrew Cogglesby, +who loved his wife as his very soul, and who almost disliked her sister; +in ten minutes the latter had set his head spinning! The whole of the +day he went about the house meditating frantically on the possibility of +his Harriet demanding a divorce. + +She was not the sort of woman to do that. But one thing she resolved to +do; and it was, to go to Lymport with Louisa, and having once got her out +of her dwelling-place, never to allow her to enter it, wherever it might +be, in the light of a resident again. Whether anything but the menace of +a participation in her conjugal possessions could have despatched her to +that hateful place, I doubt. She went: she would not let Andrew be out +of her sight. Growing haughtier toward him at every step, she advanced +to the strange old shop. EVAN HARRINGTON over the door! There the +Countess, having meantime returned to her state of womanhood, shared her +shudders. They entered, and passed in to Mrs. Mel, leaving their +footman, apparently, in the rear. Evan was not visible. A man in the +shop, with a yard measure negligently adorning his shoulders, said that +Mr. Harrington was in the habit of quitting the shop at five. + +'Deuced good habit, too,' said Andrew. + +'Why, sir,' observed another, stepping forward, 'as you truly say--yes. +But--ah! Mr. Andrew Cogglesby? Pleasure of meeting you once in Fallow +field! Remember Mr. Perkins?--the lawyer, not the maltster. Will you do +me the favour to step out with me?' + +Andrew followed him into the street. + +'Are you aware of our young friend's good fortune?' said Lawyer Perkins. +'Yes. Ah! Well!--Would you believe that any sane person in his +condition, now--nonsense apart--could bring his mind wilfully to continue +a beggar? No. Um! Well; Mr. Cogglesby, I may tell you that I hold here +in my hands a document by which Mr. Evan Harrington transfers the whole +of the property bequeathed to him to Lady Jocelyn, and that I have his +orders to execute it instantly, and deliver it over to her ladyship, +after the will is settled, probate, and so forth: I presume there will be +an arrangement about his father's debts. Now what do you think of that?' + +'Think, sir,--think!' cried Andrew, cocking his head at him like an +indignant bird, 'I think he's a damned young idiot to do so, and you're a +confounded old rascal to help him.' + +Leaving Mr. Perkins to digest his judgement, which he had solicited, +Andrew bounced back into the shop. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +IN WHICH THE SHOP BECOMES THE CENTRE OF ATTRACTION + +Under the first lustre of a May-night, Evan was galloping over the moon- +shadowed downs toward Beckley. At the ridge commanding the woods, the +park, and the stream, his horse stopped, as if from habit, snorted, and +puffed its sides, while he gazed steadily across the long lighted vale. +Soon he began to wind down the glaring chalk-track, and reached grass +levels. Here he broke into a round pace, till, gaining the first +straggling cottages of the village, he knocked the head of his whip +against the garden-gate of one, and a man came out, who saluted him, and +held the reins. + +'Animal does work, sir,' said the man. + +Evan gave directions for it to be looked to, and went on to the doorway, +where he was met by a young woman. She uttered a respectful greeting, +and begged him to enter. + +The door closed, he flung himself into a chair, and said: + +'Well, Susan, how is the child?' + +' Oh! he's always well, Mr. Harrington; he don't know the tricks o' +trouble yet.' + +'Will Polly be here soon?' + +'At a quarter after nine, she said, sir.' + +Evan bade her sit down. After examining her features quietly, he said: + +'I 'm glad to see you here, Susan. You don't regret that you followed my +advice?' + +' No, sir; now it's over, I don't. Mother's kind enough, and father +doesn't mention anything. She's a-bed with bile--father's out.' + +'But what? There's something on your mind.' + +'I shall cry, if I begin, Mr. Harrington.' + +'See how far you can get without.' + +'Oh! Sir, then,' said Susan, on a sharp rise of her bosom, 'it ain't my +fault. I wouldn't cause trouble to Mr. Harry, or any friend of yours; +but, sir, father have got hold of his letters to me, and he says, there +'s a promise in 'em--least, one of 'em; and it's as good as law, he says +--he heard it in a public-house; and he's gone over to Fall'field to a +law-gentleman there.' Susan was compelled to give way to some sobs. 'It +ain't for me--father does it, sir,' she pleaded. 'I tried to stop him, +knowing how it'd vex you, Mr. Harrington; but he's heady about points, +though a quiet man ordinary; and he says he don't expect--and I know now +no gentleman 'd marry such as me--I ain't such a stupid gaper at words as +I used to be; but father says it's for the child's sake, and he does it +to have him provided for. Please, don't ye be angry with me, sir.' + +Susan's half-controlled spasms here got the better of her. + +While Evan was awaiting the return of her calmer senses, the latch was +lifted, and Polly appeared. + +'At it again!' was her sneering comment, after a short survey of her +apron-screened sister; and then she bobbed to Evan. + +'It's whimper, whimper, and squeak, squeak, half their lives with some +girls. After that they go wondering they can't see to thread a needle! +The neighbours, I suppose. I should like to lift the top off some o' +their houses. I hope I haven't kept you, sir.' + +'No, Polly,' said Evan; 'but you must be charitable, or I shall think you +want a lesson yourself. Mr. Raikes tells me you want to see me. What is +it? You seem to be correspondents.' + +Polly replied: 'Oh, no, Mr. Harrington: only accidental ones--when +something particular's to be said. And he dances-like on the paper, so +that you can't help laughing. Isn't he a very eccentric gentleman, sir?' + +'Very,' said Evan. 'I 've no time to lose, Polly.' + +'Here, you must go,' the latter called to her sister. 'Now pack at once, +Sue. Do rout out, and do leave off thinking you've got a candle at your +eyes, for Goodness' sake!' + +Susan was too well accustomed to Polly's usage to complain. She murmured +a gentle 'Good night, sir,' and retired. Whereupon Polly exclaimed: +'Bless her poor dear soft heart! It 's us hard ones that get on best in +the world. I'm treated better than her, Mr. Harrington, and I know I +ain't worth half of her. It goes nigh to make one religious, only to see +how exactly like Scripture is the way Beckley treats her, whose only sin +is her being so soft as to believe in a man! Oh, dear! Mr. Harrington! +I wish I had good news for you.' + +In spite of all his self-control, Evan breathed quickly and looked +eagerly. + +'Speak it out, Polly.' + +'Oh, dear! I must, I suppose,' Polly answered. 'Mr. Laxley's become a +lord now, Mr. Harrington.' + +Evan tasted in his soul the sweets of contrast. 'Well?' + +'And my Miss Rose--she--' + +'What?' + +Moved by the keen hunger of his eyes, Polly hesitated. Her face betrayed +a sudden change of mind. + +'Wants to see you, sir,' she said, resolutely. + +'To see me?' + +Evan stood up, so pale that Polly was frightened. + +'Where is she? Where can I meet her?' + +'Please don't take it so, Mr. Harrington.' + +Evan commanded her to tell him what her mistress had said. + +Now up to this point Polly had spoken truth. She was positive her +mistress did want to see him. Polly, also, with a maiden's tender guile, +desired to bring them together for once, though it were for the last +time, and for no good on earth. She had been about to confide to him +her young mistress's position toward Lord Laxley, when his sharp +interrogation stopped her. Shrinking from absolute invention, she +remarked that of course she could not exactly remember Miss Rose's words; +which seemed indeed too much to expect of her. + +'She will see me to-night?' said Evan. + +'I don't know about to-night,' Polly replied. + +'Go to her instantly. Tell her I am ready. I will be at the West park- +gates. This is why you wrote, Polly? Why did you lose time? Don't +delay, my good girl! Come!' + +Evan had opened the door. He would not allow Polly an instant for +expostulation; but drew her out, saying, 'You will attend to the gates +yourself. Or come and tell me the day, if she appoints another.' + +Polly made a final effort to escape from the pit she was being pushed +into. + +'Mr. Harrington! it wasn't to tell you this I wrote. + +Miss Rose is engaged, sir.' + +'I understand,' said Evan, hoarsely, scarcely feeling it, as is the case +with men who are shot through the heart. + +Ten minutes later he was on horseback by the Fallow field gates, with the +tidings shrieking through his frame. The night was still, and stiller in +the pauses of the nightingales. He sat there, neither thinking of them +nor reproached in his manhood for the tears that rolled down his cheeks. +Presently his horse's ears pricked, and the animal gave a low neigh. +Evan's eyes fixed harder on the length of gravel leading to the house. +There was no sign, no figure. Out from the smooth grass of the lane a +couple of horsemen issued, and came straight to the gates. He heard +nothing till one spoke. It was a familiar voice. + +'By Jove, Ferdy, here is the fellow, and we've been all the way to +Lymport!' + +Evan started from his trance. + +'It 's you, Harrington?' + +'Yes, Harry.' + +'Sir!' exclaimed that youth, evidently flushed with wine, 'what the devil +do you mean by addressing me by my Christian name?' + +Laxley pushed his horse's head in front of Harry. In a manner apparently +somewhat improved by his new dignity, he said: 'We have ridden to Lymport +to speak to you, sir. Favour me by moving a little ahead of the lodge.' + +Evan bowed, and moved beside him a short way down the lane, Harry +following. + +'The purport of my visit, sir,' Laxley began, 'was to make known to you +that Miss Jocelyn has done me the honour to accept me as her husband. +I learn from her that during the term of your residence in the house, you +contrived to extract from her a promise to which she attaches certain +scruples. She pleases to consider herself bound to you till you release +her. My object is to demand that you will do so immediately.' + +There was no reply. + +'Should you refuse to make this reparation for the harm you have done to +her and her family,' Laxley pursued, 'I must let you know that there are +means of compelling you to it, and that those means will be employed.' + +Harry, fuming at these postured sentences, burst out: + +'What do you talk to the fellow in that way for? A fellow who makes a +fool of my cousin, and then wants to get us to buy off my sister! What's +he spying after here? The place is ours till we troop. I tell you +there's only one way of dealing with him, and if you don't do it, I +will.' + +Laxley pulled his reins with a jerk that brought him to the rear. + +'Miss Jocelyn has commissioned you to make this demand on me in her +name?' said Evan. + +'I make it in my own right,' returned--Laxley. 'I demand a prompt +reply.' + +'My lord, you shall have it. Miss Jocelyn is not bound to me by any +engagement. Should she entertain scruples which I may have it in my +power to obliterate, I shall not hesitate to do so--but only to her. +What has passed between us I hold sacred.' + +'Hark at that!' shouted Harry. 'The damned tradesman means money! You +ass, Ferdinand! What did we go to Lymport for? Not to bandy words. +Here! I've got my own quarrel with you, Harrington. You've been setting +that girl's father on me. Can you deny that?' + +It was enough for Harry that Evan did not deny it. The calm disdain +which he read on Evan's face acted on his fury, and digging his heels +into his horse's flanks he rushed full at him and dealt him a sharp flick +with his whip. Evan's beast reared. + +'Accept my conditions, sir, or afford me satisfaction,' cried Laxley. + +'You do me great honour, my lord; but I have told you I cannot,' said +Evan, curbing his horse. + +At that moment Rose came among them. Evan raised his hat, as did Laxley. +Harry, a little behind the others, performed a laborious mock salute, and +then ordered her back to the house. A quick altercation ensued; the end +being that Harry managed to give his sister the context of the previous +conversation. + +'Now go back, Rose,' said Laxley. 'I have particular business with Mr. +Harrington.' + +'I came to see him,' said Rose, in a clear voice. + +Laxley reddened angrily. + +'Then tell him at once you want to be rid of him,' her brother called to +her. + +Rose looked at Evan. Could he not see that she had no word in her soul +for him of that kind? Yes: but love is not always to be touched to +tenderness even at the sight of love. + +'Rose,' he said, 'I hear from Lord Laxley, that you fancy yourself not at +liberty; and that you require me to disengage you.' + +He paused. Did he expect her to say there that she wished nothing of the +sort? Her stedfast eyes spoke as much: but misery is wanton, and will +pull all down to it. Even Harry was checked by his tone, and Laxley sat +silent. The fact that something more than a tailor was speaking seemed +to impress them. + +'Since I have to say it, Rose, I hold you in no way bound to me. The +presumption is forced upon me. May you have all the happiness I pray God +to give you. + +Gentlemen, good night!' + +He bowed and was gone. How keenly she could have retorted on that false +prayer for her happiness! Her limbs were nerveless, her tongue +speechless. He had thrown her off--there was no barrier now between +herself and Ferdinand. Why did Ferdinand speak to her with that air of +gentle authority, bidding her return to the house? She was incapable of +seeing, what the young lord acutely felt, that he had stooped very much +in helping to bring about such a scene. She had no idea of having +trifled with him and her own heart, when she talked feebly of her bondage +to another, as one who would be warmer to him were she free. Swiftly she +compared the two that loved her, and shivered as if she had been tossed +to the embrace of a block of ice. + +'You are cold, Rose,' said Laxley, bending to lay his hand on her +shoulder. + +'Pray, never touch me,' she answered, and walked on hastily to the house. + +Entering it, she remembered that Evan had dwelt there. A sense of +desolation came over her. She turned to Ferdinand remorsefully, saying: +'Dear Ferdinand!' and allowed herself to be touched and taken close to +him. When she reached her bed-room, she had time to reflect that he had +kissed her on the lips, and then she fell down and shed such tears as had +never been drawn from her before. + +Next day she rose with an undivided mind. Belonging henceforth to +Ferdinand, it was necessary that she should invest him immediately with +transcendent qualities. The absence of character in him rendered this +easy. What she had done for Evan, she did for him. But now, as if the +Fates had been lying in watch to entrap her and chain her, that they +might have her at their mercy, her dreams of Evan's high nature--hitherto +dreams only--were to be realized. With the purposeless waywardness of +her sex, Pony Wheedle, while dressing her young mistress, and though +quite aware that the parting had been spoken, must needs relate her +sister's story and Evan's share in it. Rose praised him like one forever +aloof from him. Nay, she could secretly congratulate herself on not +being deceived. Upon that came a letter from Caroline: + +'Do not misjudge my brother. He knew Juliana's love for him and rejected +it. You will soon have proofs of his disinterestedness. Then do not +forget that he works to support us all. I write this with no hope save +to make you just to him. That is the utmost he will ever anticipate.' + +It gave no beating of the heart to Rose to hear good of Evan now: but an +increased serenity of confidence in the accuracy of her judgement of +persons. + +The arrival of Lawyer Perkins supplied the key to Caroline's +communication. No one was less astonished than Rose at the news that +Evan renounced the estate. She smiled at Harry's contrite stupefaction, +and her father's incapacity of belief in conduct so singular, caused her +to lift her head and look down on her parent. + +'Shows he knows nothing of the world, poor young fellow!' said Sir +Franks. + +'Nothing more clearly,' observed Lady Jocelyn. 'I presume I shall cease +to be blamed for having had him here?' + +'Upon my honour, he must have the soul of a gentleman!' said the baronet. +'There's nothing he can expect in return, you know!' + +'One would think, Papa, you had always been dealing with tradesmen!' +remarked Rose, to whom her father now accorded the treatment due to a +sensible girl. + +Laxley was present at the family consultation. What was his opinion? +Rose manifested a slight anxiety to hear it. + +'What those sort of fellows do never surprises me,' he said, with a semi- +yawn. + +Rose felt fire on her cheeks. + +'It's only what the young man is bound to do,' said Mrs. Shorne. + +'His duty, aunt? I hope we may all do it!' Rose interjected. + +'Championing him again?' + +Rose quietly turned her face, too sure of her cold appreciation of him to +retort. But yesterday night a word from him might have made her his; and +here she sat advocating the nobility of his nature with the zeal of a +barrister in full swing of practice. Remember, however, that a kiss +separates them: and how many millions of leagues that counts for in love, +in a pure girl's thought, I leave you to guess. + +Now, in what way was Evan to be thanked? how was he to be treated? Sir +Franks proposed to go down to him in person, accompanied by Harry. Lady +Jocelyn acquiesced. But Rose said to her mother: + +'Will not you wound his sensitiveness by going to him there?' + +'Possibly,' said her ladyship. 'Shall we write and ask him to come to +us?' + +'No, Mama. Could we ask him to make a journey to receive our thanks?' + +'Not till we have solid ones to offer, perhaps.' + +'He will not let us help him, Mama, unless we have all given him our +hands.' + +'Probably not. There's always a fund of nonsense in those who are +capable of great things, I observe. It shall be a family expedition, if +you like.' + +'What!' exclaimed Mrs. Shorne. 'Do you mean that you intend to allow +Rose to make one of the party? Franks! is that your idea?' + +Sir Franks looked at his wife. + +'What harm?' Lady Jocelyn asked; for Rose's absence of conscious guile in +appealing to her reason had subjugated that great faculty. + +'Simply a sense of propriety, Emily,' said Mrs. Shorne, with a glance at +Ferdinand. + +'You have no objection, I suppose!' Lady Jocelyn addressed him. + +'Ferdinand will join us,' said Rose. + +'Thank you, Rose, I'd rather not,' he replied. 'I thought we had done +with the fellow for good last night.' + +'Last night?' quoth Lady Jocelyn. + +No one spoke. The interrogation was renewed. Was it Rose's swift +instinct which directed her the shortest way to gain her point? or that +she was glad to announce that her degrading engagement was at an end? +She said: + +'Ferdinand and Mr. Harrington came to an understanding last night, in my +presence.' + +That, strange as it struck on their ears, appeared to be quite sufficient +to all, albeit the necessity for it was not so very clear. The carriage +was ordered forthwith; Lady Jocelyn went to dress; Rose drew Ferdinand +away into the garden. Then, with all her powers, she entreated him to +join her. + +'Thank you, Rose,' he said; 'I have no taste for the genus.' + +'For my sake, I beg it, Ferdinand.' + +'It's really too much to ask of me, Rose.' + +'If you care for me, you will.' + +''Pon my honour, quite impossible!' + +'You refuse, Ferdinand?' + +'My London tailor 'd find me out, and never forgive me.' + +This pleasantry stopped her soft looks. Why she wished him to be with +her, she could not have said. For a thousand reasons: which implies no +distinct one something prophetically pressing in her blood. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +A LOVERS' PARTING + +Now, to suppose oneself the fashioner of such a chain of events as this +which brought the whole of the Harrington family in tender unity together +once more, would have elated an ordinary mind. But to the Countess de +Saldar, it was simply an occasion for reflecting that she had +misunderstood--and could most sincerely forgive--Providence. She +admitted to herself that it was not entirely her work; for she never +would have had their place of meeting to be the Shop. Seeing, however, +that her end was gained, she was entitled to the credit of it, and could +pardon the means adopted. Her brother lord of Beckley Court, and all of +them assembled in the old 193, Main Street, Lymport! What matter for +proud humility! Providence had answered her numerous petitions, but in +its own way. Stipulating that she must swallow this pill, Providence +consented to serve her. She swallowed it with her wonted courage. In +half an hour subsequent to her arrival at Lymport, she laid siege to the +heart of Old Tom Cogglesby, whom she found installed in the parlour, +comfortably sipping at a tumbler of rum-and-water. Old Tom was +astonished to meet such an agreeable unpretentious woman, who talked of +tailors and lords with equal ease, appeared to comprehend a man's habits +instinctively, and could amuse him while she ministered to them. + +'Can you cook, ma'am?' asked Old Tom. + +'All but that,' said the Countess, with a smile of sweet meaning. + +'Ha! then you won't suit me as well as your mother.' + +'Take care you do not excite my emulation,' she returned, graciously, +albeit disgusted at his tone. + +To Harriet, Old Tom had merely nodded. There he sat, in the arm-chair, +sucking the liquor, with the glimpse of a sour chuckle on his cheeks. +Now and then, during the evening, he rubbed his hands sharply, but spoke +little. The unbending Harriet did not conceal her disdain of him. When +he ventured to allude to the bankruptcy, she cut him short. + +'Pray, excuse me--I am unacquainted with affairs of business--I cannot +even understand my husband.' + +'Lord bless my soul!' Old Tom exclaimed, rolling his eyes. + +Caroline had informed her sisters up-stairs that their mother was +ignorant of Evan's change of fortune, and that Evan desired her to +continue so for the present. Caroline appeared to be pained by the +subject, and was glad when Louisa sounded his mysterious behaviour by +saying: + +'Evan has a native love of concealment--he must be humoured.' + +At the supper, Mr. Raikes made his bow. He was modest and reserved. It +was known that this young gentleman acted as shopman there. With a +tenderness for his position worthy of all respect, the Countess spared +his feelings by totally ignoring his presence; whereat he, unaccustomed +to such great-minded treatment, retired to bed, a hater of his kind. +Harriet and Caroline went next. The Countess said she would wait up for +Evan, but hearing that his hours of return were about the chimes of +matins, she cried exultingly: 'Darling Papa all over!' and departed +likewise. Mrs. Mel, when she had mixed Old Tom's third glass, wished the +brothers good night, and they were left to exchange what sentiments they +thought proper for the occasion. The Countess had certainly, +disappointed Old Tom's farce, in a measure; and he expressed himself +puzzled by her. 'You ain't the only one,' said his brother. Andrew, +with some effort, held his tongue concerning the news of Evan--his +fortune and his folly, till he could talk to the youth in person. + +All took their seats at the early breakfast next morning. + +'Has Evan not come--home yet?' was the Countess's first question. + +Mrs. Mel replied, 'No.' + +'Do you know where he has gone, dear Mama?' + +'He chooses his own way.' + +'And you fear that it leads somewhere?' added the Countess. + +'I fear that it leads to knocking up the horse he rides.' + +'The horse, Mama! He is out on a horse all night! But don't you see, +dear old pet! his morals, at least, are safe on horseback.' + +'The horse has to be paid for, Louisa,' said her mother, sternly; and +then, for she had a lesson to read to the guests of her son, 'Ready money +doesn't come by joking. What will the creditors think? If he intends to +be honest in earnest, he must give up four-feet mouths.' + +'Fourteen-feet, ma'am, you mean,' said Old Tom, counting the heads at +table. + +'Bravo, Mama!' cried the Countess, and as she was sitting near her +mother, she must show how prettily she kissed, by pouting out her playful +lips to her parent. 'Do be economical always! And mind! for the sake +of the wretched animals, I will intercede for you to be his inspector of +stables.' + +This, with a glance of intelligence at her sisters. + +'Well, Mr. Raikes,' said Andrew, 'you keep good hours, at all events-- +eh?' + +'Up with the lark,' said Old Tom. 'Ha! 'fraid he won't be so early when +he gets rid of his present habits--eh?' + +'Nec dierum numerum, ut nos, sed noctium computant,' said Mr. Raikes, and +both the brothers sniffed like dogs that have put their noses to a hot +coal, and the Countess, who was less insensible to the aristocracy of the +dead languages than are women generally, gave him the recognition that is +occasionally afforded the family tutor. + +About the hour of ten Evan arrived. He was subjected to the hottest +embrace he had ever yet received from his sister Louisa. + +'Darling!' she called him before them all. 'Oh! how I suffer for this +ignominy I see you compelled for a moment to endure. But it is but for a +moment. They must vacate; and you will soon be out of this horrid hole.' + +'Where he just said he was glad to give us a welcome,' muttered Old Tom. + +Evan heard him, and laughed. The Countess laughed too. + +'No, we will not be impatient. We are poor insignificant people!' she +said; and turning to her mother, added: 'And yet I doubt not you think +the smallest of our landed gentry equal to great continental seigneurs. +I do not say the contrary.' + +'You will fill Evan's head with nonsense till you make him knock up a +horse a week, and never go to his natural bed,' said Mrs. Mel, angrily. +'Look at him! Is a face like that fit for business?' + +'Certainly, certainly not!' said the Countess. + +'Well, Mother, the horse is dismissed,--you won't have to complain any +more,' said Evan, touching her hand. 'Another history commences from +to-day.' + +The Countess watched him admiringly. Such powers of acting she could not +have ascribed to him. + +'Another history, indeed!' she said. 'By the way, Van, love! was it out +of Glamorganshire--were we Tudors, according to Papa? or only Powys +chieftains? It's of no moment, but it helps one in conversation.' + +'Not half so much as good ale, though!' was Old Tom's comment. + +The Countess did not perceive its fitness, till Evan burst into a laugh, +and then she said: + +'Oh! we shall never be ashamed of the Brewery. Do not fear that, Mr. +Cogglesby.' + +Old Tom saw his farce reviving, and encouraged the Countess to patronize +him. She did so to an extent that called on her Mrs. Mel's reprobation, +which was so cutting and pertinent, that Harriet was compelled to defend +her sister, remarking that perhaps her mother would soon learn that +Louisa was justified in not permitting herself and family to be classed +too low. At this Andrew, coming from a private interview with Evan, +threw up his hands and eyes as one who foretold astonishment but +counselled humility. What with the effort of those who knew a little to +imply a great deal; of those who knew all to betray nothing; and of those +who were kept in ignorance to strain a fact out of the conflicting +innuendos the general mystification waxed apace, and was at its height, +when a name struck on Evan's ear that went through his blood like a touch +of the torpedo. + +He had been called into the parlour to assist at a consultation over the +Brewery affairs. Raikes opened the door, and announced, 'Sir Franks and +Lady Jocelyn.' + +Them he could meet, though it was hard for his pride to pardon their +visit to him there. But when his eyes discerned Rose behind them, the +passions of his lower nature stood up armed. What could she have come +for but to humiliate, or play with him? + +A very few words enabled the Countess to guess the cause for this visit. +Of course, it was to beg time! But they thanked Evan. For something +generous, no doubt. + +Sir Franks took him aside, and returning remarked to his wife that she +perhaps would have greater influence with him. All this while Rose sat +talking to Mrs. Andrew Cogglesby, Mrs. Strike, and Evan's mother. She +saw by his face the offence she had committed, and acted on by one of her +impulses, said: 'Mama, I think if I were to speak to Mr. Harrington--' + +Ere her mother could make light of the suggestion, Old Tom had jumped up, +and bowed out his arm. + +'Allow me to conduct ye to the drawing room, upstairs, young lady. He'll +follow, safe enough!' + +Rose had not stipulated for that. Nevertheless, seeing no cloud on her +mother's face, or her father's, she gave Old Tom her hand, and awaited a +movement from Evan. It was too late to object to it on either side. Old +Tom had caught the tide at the right instant. Much as if a grim old +genie had planted them together, the lovers found themselves alone. + +'Evan, you forgive me?' she began, looking up at him timidly. + +'With all my heart, Rose,' he answered, with great cheerfulness. + +'No. I know your heart better. Oh, Evan! you must be sure that we +respect you too much to wound you. We came to thank you for your +generosity. Do you refuse to accept anything from us? How can we take +this that you thrust on us, unless in some way--' + +'Say no more,' he interposed. 'You see me here. You know me as I am, +now.' + +'Yes, yes!' the tears stood in her eyes. 'Why did I come, you would ask? +That is what you cannot forgive! I see now how useless it was. Evan! +why did you betray me?' + +'Betray you, Rose?' + +'You said that you loved me once.' + +She was weeping, and all his spirit melted, and his love cried out: 'I +said "till death," and till death it will be, Rose.' + +'Then why, why did you betray me, Evan? I know it all. But if you +blackened yourself to me, was it not because you loved something better +than me? And now you think me false! Which of us two has been false? +It 's silly to talk of these things now too late! But be just. I wish +that we may be friends. Can we, unless you bend a little?' + +The tears streamed down her cheeks, and in her lovely humility he saw the +baseness of that pride of his which had hitherto held him up. + +'Now that you are in this house where I was born and am to live, can you +regret what has come between us, Rose?' + +Her lips quivered in pain. + +'Can I do anything else but regret it all my life, Evan?' + +How was it possible for him to keep his strength? + +'Rose!' he spoke with a passion that made her shrink, 'are you bound to +this man?' and to the drooping of her eyes, 'No. Impossible, for you do +not love him. Break it. Break the engagement you cannot fulfil. Break +it and belong to me. It sounds ill for me to say that in such a place. +But Rose, I will leave it. I will accept any assistance that your +father--that any man will give me. Beloved--noble girl! I see my +falseness to you, though I little thought it at the time--fool that I +was! Be my help, my guide-as the soul of my body! Be mine!' + +'Oh, Evan!' she clasped her hands in terror at the change in him, that +was hurrying her she knew not whither, and trembling, held them +supplicatingly. + +'Yes, Rose: you have taught me what love can be. You cannot marry that +man.' + +'But, my honour, Evan! No. I do not love him; for I can love but one. +He has my pledge. Can I break it?' + +The stress on the question choked him, just as his heart sprang to her. + +'Can you face the world with me, Rose?' + +'Oh, Evan! is there an escape for me? Think Decide!--No--no! there is +not. My mother, I know, looks on it so. Why did she trust me to be with +you here, but that she thinks me engaged to him, and has such faith in +me? Oh, help me!--be my guide. Think whether you would trust me +hereafter! I should despise myself.' + +Not if you marry him!' said Evan, bitterly. And then thinking as men +will think when they look on the figure of a fair girl marching serenely +to a sacrifice, the horrors of which they insist that she ought to know: +half-hating her for her calmness--adoring her for her innocence: he said: +'It rests with you, Rose. The world will approve you, and if your +conscience does, why--farewell, and may heaven be your help.' + +She murmured, 'Farewell.' + +Did she expect more to be said by him? What did she want or hope for +now? And yet a light of hunger grew in her eyes, brighter and brighter, +as it were on a wave of yearning. + +'Take my hand once,' she faltered. + +Her hand and her whole shape he took, and she with closed eyes let him +strain her to his breast. + +Their swoon was broken by the opening of the door, where Old Tom +Cogglesby and Lady Jocelyn appeared. + +'Gad! he seems to have got his recompense--eh, my lady?' cried Old Tom. +However satisfactorily they might have explained the case, it certainly +did seem so. + +Lady Jocelyn looked not absolutely displeased. Old Tom was chuckling at +her elbow. The two principal actors remained dumb. + +'I suppose, if we leave young people to settle a thing, this is how they +do it,' her ladyship remarked. + +'Gad, and they do it well!' cried Old Tom. + +Rose, with a deep blush on her cheeks, stepped from Evan to her mother. +Not in effrontery, but earnestly, and as the only way of escaping from +the position, she said: 'I have succeeded, Mama. He will take what I +offer.' + +'And what's that, now?' Old Tom inquired. + +Rose turned to Evan. He bent and kissed her hand. + +'Call it "recompense" for the nonce,' said Lady Jocelyn. 'Do you still +hold to your original proposition, Tom?' + +'Every penny, my lady. I like the young fellow, and she's a jolly little +lass--if she means it:--she's a woman.' + +'True,' said Lady Jocelyn. 'Considering that fact, you will oblige me by +keeping the matter quiet.' + +'Does she want to try whether the tailor's a gentleman still, my lady- +eh?' + +'No. I fancy she will have to see whether a certain nobleman may be +one.' + +The Countess now joined them. Sir Franks had informed her of her +brother's last fine performance. After a short, uneasy pause, she said, +glancing at Evan:-- + +'You know his romantic nature. I can assure you he was sincere; and even +if you could not accept, at least--' + +'But we have accepted, Countess,' said Rose. + +'The estate!' + +'The estate, Countess. And what is more, to increase the effect of his +generosity, he has consented to take a recompense.' + +'Indeed!' exclaimed the Countess, directing a stony look at her brother. + +'May I presume to ask what recompense?' + +Rose shook her head. 'Such a very poor one, Countess! He has no idea of +relative value.' + +The Countess's great mind was just then running hot on estates, and +thousands, or she would not have played goose to them, you may be sure. +She believed that Evan had been wheedled by Rose into the acceptance of a +small sum of money, in return for his egregious gift. + +With an internal groan, the outward aspect of which she had vast +difficulty in masking, she said: 'You are right--he has no head. Easily +cajoled!' + +Old Tom sat down in a chair, and laughed outright. Lady Jocelyn, in pity +for the poor lady, who always amused her, thought it time to put an end +to the scene. + +'I hope your brother will come to us in about a week,' she said. 'May I +expect the favour of your company as well?' + +The Countess felt her dignity to be far superior as she responded: +'Lady Jocelyn, when next I enjoy the gratification of a visit to your +hospitable mansion, I must know that I am not at a disadvantage. +I cannot consent to be twice pulled down to my brother's level.' + +Evan's heart was too full of its dim young happiness to speak, or care +for words. The cold elegance of the Countess's curtsey to Lady Jocelyn: +her ladyship's kindly pressure of his hand: Rose's stedfast look into his +eyes: Old Tom's smothered exclamation that he was not such a fool as he +seemed: all passed dream-like, and when he was left to the fury of the +Countess, he did not ask her to spare him, nor did he defend himself. +She bade adieu to him and their mutual relationship that very day. But +her star had not forsaken her yet. Chancing to peep into the shop, to +intrust a commission to Mr. John Raikes, who was there doing penance for +his career as a gentleman, she heard Old Tom and Andrew laughing, utterly +unlike bankrupts. + +'Who 'd have thought the women such fools! and the Countess, too!' + +This was Andrew's voice. He chuckled as one emancipated. The Countess +had a short interview with him (before she took her departure to join her +husband, under the roof of the Honourable Herbert Duffian), and Andrew +chuckled no more. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +A YEAR LATER, THE COUNTESS DE SALDAR DE SANCORVO TO HER SISTER CAROLINE + + 'Rome. +'Let the post-mark be my reply to your letter received through the +Consulate, and most courteously delivered with the Consul's compliments. +We shall yet have an ambassador at Rome--mark your Louisa's words. Yes, +dearest! I am here, body and spirit! I have at last found a haven, a +refuge, and let those who condemn me compare the peace of their spirits +with mine. You think that you have quite conquered the dreadfulness of +our origin. My love, I smile at you! I know it to be impossible for the +Protestant heresy to offer a shade of consolation. Earthly-born, it +rather encourages earthly distinctions. It is the sweet sovereign +Pontiff alone who gathers all in his arms, not excepting tailors. Here, +if they could know it, is their blessed comfort! + +'Thank Harriet for her message. She need say nothing. By refusing me +her hospitality, when she must have known that the house was as free of +creditors as any foreigner under the rank of Count is of soap, she drove +me to Mr. Duflian. Oh! how I rejoice at her exceeding unkindness! How +warmly I forgive her the unsisterly--to say the least--vindictiveness of +her unaccountable conduct! Her sufferings will one day be terrible. +Good little Andrew supplies her place to me. Why do you refuse his +easily afforded bounty? No one need know of it. I tell you candidly, I +take double, and the small good punch of a body is only too delighted. +But then, I can be discreet. + +'Oh! the gentlemanliness of these infinitely maligned Jesuits! They +remind me immensely of Sir Charles Grandison, and those frontispiece +pictures to the novels we read when girls--I mean in manners and the +ideas they impose--not in dress or length of leg, of course. The same +winning softness; the same irresistible ascendancy over the female mind! +They require virtue for two, I assure you, and so I told Silva, who +laughed. + +'But the charms of confession, my dear! I will talk of Evan first. +I have totally forgiven him. Attache to the Naples embassy, sounds tol- +lol. In such a position I can rejoice to see him, for it permits me to +acknowledge him. I am not sure that, spiritually, Rose will be his most +fitting helpmate. However, it is done, and I did it, and there is no +more to be said. The behaviour of Lord Laxley in refusing to surrender +a young lady who declared that her heart was with another, exceeds all I +could have supposed. One of the noble peers among his ancestors must +have been a pig! Oh! the Roman nobility! Grace, refinement, intrigue, +perfect comprehension of your ideas, wishes--the meanest trifles! Here +you have every worldly charm, and all crowned by Religion! This is my +true delight. I feel at last that whatsoever I do, I cannot go far wrong +while I am within hail of my gentle priest. I never could feel so +before. + +'The idea of Mr. Parsley proposing for the beautiful widow Strike! It +was indecent to do so so soon--widowed under such circumstances! But I +dare say he was as disinterested as a Protestant curate ever can be. +Beauty is a good dowry to bring a poor, lean, worldly curate of your +Church, and he knows that. Your bishops and arches are quite susceptible +to beautiful petitioners, and we know here how your livings and benefices +are dispensed. What do you intend to do? Come to me; come to the bosom +of the old and the only true Church, and I engage to marry you to a Roman +prince the very next morning or two. That is, if you have no ideas about +prosecuting a certain enterprise which I should not abandon. In that +case, stay. As Duchess of B., Mr. Duffian says you would be cordially +welcome to his Holiness, who may see women. That absurd report is all +nonsense. We do not kiss his toe, certainly, but we have privileges +equally enviable. Herbert is all charm. I confess he is a little +wearisome with his old ruins, and his Dante, the poet. He is quite of my +opinion, that Evan will never wash out the trade stain on him until he +comes over to the Church of Rome. I adjure you, Caroline, to lay this +clearly before our dear brother. In fact, while he continues a +Protestant, to me he is a tailor. But here Rose is the impediment. +I know her to be just one of those little dogged minds that are incapable +of receiving new impressions. Was it not evident in the way she stuck to +Evan after I had once brought them together? I am not at all astonished +that Mr. Raikes should have married her maid. It is a case of natural +selection. But it is amusing to think of him carrying on the old +business in 193, and with credit! I suppose his parents are to be +pitied; but what better is the creature fit for? Mama displeases me in +consenting to act as housekeeper to old Grumpus. I do not object to the +fact, for it is prospective; but she should have insisted on another +place of resort than Fallow field. I do not agree with you in thinking +her right in refusing a second marriage. Her age does not shelter her +from scandal in your Protestant communities. + +'I am every day expecting Harry Jocelyn to turn up. + +He was rightly sent away, for to think of the folly Evan put into his +empty head! No; he shall have another wife, and Protestantism shall be +his forsaken mistress! + +'See how your Louy has given up the world and its vanities! You expected +me to creep up to you contrite and whimpering? On the contrary, I never +felt prouder. And I am not going to live a lazy life, I can assure you. +The Church hath need of me! If only for the peace it hath given me on +one point, I am eternally bound to serve it. + +'Postscript: I am persuaded of this; that it is utterly impossible for a +man to be a true gentleman who is not of the true Church. What it is I +cannot say; but it is as a convert that I appreciate my husband. Love is +made to me, dear, for Catholics are human. The other day it was a +question whether a lady or a gentleman should be compromised. It +required the grossest fib. The gentleman did not hesitate. And why? +His priest was handy. Fancy Lord Laxley in such a case. I shudder. +This shows that your religion precludes any possibility of the being the +real gentleman, and whatever Evan may think of himself, or Rose think of +him, I KNOW THE THING.' + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A man to be trusted with the keys of anything +Because you loved something better than me +Bitten hard at experience, and know the value of a tooth +From head to foot nothing better than a moan made visible +Glimpse of her whole life in the horrid tomb of his embrace +Gratuitous insult +How many degrees from love gratitude may be +In truth she sighed to feel as he did, above everybody +It 's us hard ones that get on best in the world +It is better for us both, of course +Never intended that we should play with flesh and blood +She was unworthy to be the wife of a tailor +Sincere as far as she knew: as far as one who loves may be +Small beginnings, which are in reality the mighty barriers +Spiritualism, and on the balm that it was +We deprive all renegades of their spiritual titles + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Evan Harrington, v7 +by George Meredith + + + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS, EVAN HARRINGTON, COMPLETE: + +A woman rises to her husband. But a man is what he is +A share of pity for the objects she despised +A sixpence kindly meant is worth any crown-piece that's grudged +A youth who is engaged in the occupation of eating his heart +A man who rejected medicine in extremity +A lover must have his delusions, just as a man must have a skin +A madman gets madder when you talk reason to him +A man to be trusted with the keys of anything +Abject sense of the lack of a circumference +Accustomed to be paid for by his country +Adept in the lie implied +Admirable scruples of an inveterate borrower +After a big blow, a very little one scarcely counts +Ah! how sweet to waltz through life with the right partner +Amiable mirror as being wilfully ruffled to confuse +An obedient creature enough where he must be +And not any of your grand ladies can match my wife at home +Any man is in love with any woman +Because you loved something better than me +Because men can't abide praise of another man +Because he stood so high with her now he feared the fall +Believed in her love, and judged it by the strength of his own +Bitten hard at experience, and know the value of a tooth +Bound to assure everybody at table he was perfectly happy +Brief negatives are not re-assuring to a lover's uneasy mind +British hunger for news; second only to that for beef +Brotherhood among the select who wear masks instead of faces +But a woman must now and then ingratiate herself +By forbearance, put it in the wrong +Can you not be told you are perfect without seeking to improve +Cheerful martyr +Command of countenance the Countess possessed +Commencement of a speech proves that you have made the plunge +Common voice of praise in the mouths of his creditors +Confident serenity inspired by evil prognostications +Damsel who has lost the third volume of an exciting novel +Eating, like scratching, only wants a beginning +Embarrassments of an uncongenial employment +Empty stomachs are foul counsellors +Enamoured young men have these notions +English maids are domesticated savage animals +Equally acceptable salted when it cannot be had fresh +Every woman that's married isn't in love with her husband +Eyes of a lover are not his own; but his hands and lips are +Far higher quality is the will that can subdue itself to wait +Feel no shame that I do not feel! +Feel they are not up to the people they are mixing with +Few feelings are single on this globe +Forty seconds too fast, as if it were a capital offence +Found it difficult to forgive her his own folly +Friend he would not shake off, but could not well link with +From head to foot nothing better than a moan made visible +Gentlefolks like straight-forwardness in their inferiors +Glimpse of her whole life in the horrid tomb of his embrace +Good nature, and means no more harm than he can help +Good and evil work together in this world +Gossip always has some solid foundation, however small +Graduated naturally enough the finer stages of self-deception +Gratuitous insult +Habit, what a sacred and admirable thing it is +Hated one thing alone--which was 'bother' +Have her profile very frequently while I am conversing with her +He has been tolerably honest, Tom, for a man and a lover +He grunted that a lying clock was hateful to him +He was in love, and subtle love will not be shamed and smothered +He kept saying to himself, 'to-morrow I will tell' +He had his character to maintain +He squandered the guineas, she patiently picked up the pence +His wife alone, had, as they termed it, kept him together +Hope which lies in giving men a dose of hysterics +How many degrees from love gratitude may be +I 'm a bachelor, and a person--you're married, and an object +I cannot live a life of deceit. A life of misery--not deceit +I take off my hat, Nan, when I see a cobbler's stall +I always wait for a thing to happen first +I never see anything, my dear +I did, replied Evan. 'I told a lie.' +I'll come as straight as I can +If we are to please you rightly, always allow us to play First +If I love you, need you care what anybody else thinks +In truth she sighed to feel as he did, above everybody +Incapable of putting the screw upon weak excited nature +Informed him that he never played jokes with money, or on men +Is he jealous? 'Only when I make him, he is.' +It 's us hard ones that get on best in the world +It is better for us both, of course +It was in a time before our joyful era of universal equality +It is no insignificant contest when love has to crush self-love +It's no use trying to be a gentleman if you can't pay for it +It's a fool that hopes for peace anywhere +Lay no petty traps for opportunity +Listened to one another, and blinded the world +Looked as proud as if he had just clapped down the full amount +Love is a contagious disease +Make no effort to amuse him. He is always occupied +Man without a penny in his pocket, and a gizzard full of pride +Married a wealthy manufacturer--bartered her blood for his money +Maxims of her own on the subject of rising and getting the worm +Men they regard as their natural prey +Men do not play truant from home at sixty years of age +Most youths are like Pope's women; they have no character +My belief is, you do it on purpose. Can't be such rank idiots +Never intended that we should play with flesh and blood +Never to despise the good opinion of the nonentities +No great harm done when you're silent +No conversation coming of it, her curiosity was violent +Notoriously been above the honours of grammar +Occasional instalments--just to freshen the account +Oh! I can't bear that class of people +One fool makes many, and so, no doubt, does one goose +One seed of a piece of folly will lurk and sprout to confound us +Our comedies are frequently youth's tragedies +Partake of a morning draught +Patronizing woman +Play second fiddle without looking foolish +Pride is the God of Pagans +Propitiate common sense on behalf of what seems tolerably absurd +Rare as epic song is the man who is thorough in what he does +Read one another perfectly in their mutual hypocrisies +Rebukes which give immeasurable rebounds +Recalling her to the subject-matter with all the patience +Refuge in the Castle of Negation against the whole army of facts +Remarked that the young men must fight it out together +Requiring natural services from her in the button department +Rose was much behind her age +Rose! what have I done? 'Nothing at all,' she said +Said she was what she would have given her hand not to be +Says you're so clever you ought to be a man +Second fiddle; he could only mean what she meant +Secrets throw on the outsiders the onus of raising a scandal +Sense, even if they can't understand it, flatters them so +She did not detest the Countess because she could not like her +She was unworthy to be the wife of a tailor +She, not disinclined to dilute her grief +She believed friendship practicable between men and women +She was at liberty to weep if she pleased +Sincere as far as she knew: as far as one who loves may be +Small beginnings, which are in reality the mighty barriers +Speech is poor where emotion is extreme +Speech that has to be hauled from the depths usually betrays +Spiritualism, and on the balm that it was +Such a man was banned by the world, which was to be despised? +Taking oath, as it were, by their lower nature +Tears that dried as soon as they had served their end +Tenderness which Mrs. Mel permitted rather than encouraged +That plain confession of a lack of wit; he offered combat +That beautiful trust which habit gives +The ass eats at my table, and treats me with contempt +The Countess dieted the vanity according to the nationality +The letter had a smack of crabbed age hardly counterfeit +The commonest things are the worst done +The thrust sinned in its shrewdness +The power to give and take flattery to any amount +The grey furniture of Time for his natural wear +Those numerous women who always know themselves to be right +Thus does Love avenge himself on the unsatisfactory Past +To be both generally blamed, and generally liked +To let people speak was a maxim of Mrs. Mel's, and a wise one +Took care to be late, so that all eyes beheld her +Touching a nerve +Toyed with little flowers of palest memory +Tradesman, and he never was known to have sent in a bill +Tried to be honest, and was as much so as his disease permitted +True enjoyment of the princely disposition +Two people love, there is no such thing as owing between them +Unfeminine of any woman to speak continuously anywhere +Virtuously zealous in an instant on behalf of the lovely dame +Vulgarity in others evoked vulgarity in her +Waited serenely for the certain disasters to enthrone her +We deprive all renegades of their spiritual titles +What a stock of axioms young people have handy +What will be thought of me? not a small matter to any of us +What he did, she took among other inevitable matters +What's an eccentric? a child grown grey! +When testy old gentlemen could commit slaughter with ecstasy +When you run away, you don't live to fight another day +When Love is hurt, it is self-love that requires the opiate +Whose bounty was worse to him than his abuse +Why, he'll snap your head off for a word +With good wine to wash it down, one can swallow anything +With a proud humility +Wrapped in the comfort of his cowardice +You do want polish +You talk your mother with a vengeance +You accuse or you exonerate--Nobody can be half guilty +You rides when you can, and you walks when you must +You're the puppet of your women! +Youth is not alarmed by the sound of big sums + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Evan Harrington, complete +by George Meredith + diff --git a/old/gm40v10.zip b/old/gm40v10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a0b234c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/gm40v10.zip |